ONLY 51,000 PEOPLE signed up for ObamaCare through the federal exchange during first week. [Note from the embedded link that we have to depend on British newspapers for well written, factual U.S. news.]

MORE SHUTDOWN SLOWDOWN THEATER: Get off my beach! says the president.

GO TO HELL: Blistering letter follows.

A NEW LOW: White House says death benefits bill 'not necessary'. That's only because a private foundation has already agreed to pick up the tab.

And yet a private individual is not allowed to pick up the trash and mow the lawn around the Lincoln Memorial. [Don't want to embarrass the Occupy Wall Streeters? - Ed.]

And in the state of Arizona dependent communities can't pick up the tab for keeping the Grand Canyon open. And private businesses leasing space on national park properties aren't allowed to stay open.

The stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming.

SIX SIGNS that you’re a liberal who is out of touch with reality.

Actually, the proper phrasing should be "in touch with 'reality'."

RANDOM THOUGHT from the retirement lane: Republicans ought to agree to a 'clean' CR (continuing resolution) and increase in the debt ceiling in return for Harry Reid's immediate resignation from the Senate.

YES, WE CAN CONE.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY...

We are always hearing about how Social Security is going to run out of money. How come we never hear about Welfare running out of money?

From my email.

CONSENSUS BUILDING for a short-term debt-ceiling hike? There's always a consensus for kicking the can down the road....

GRADE SCHOOL BANS HALLOWEEN because maybe it’s religious. It is appalling beyond belief that a pin-headed, arrogant mini-dictator can ban something because a few hypersensitive twits insist that the world must make way for their reality.

It's time for some straightforward, in-your-face, aggressive civil disobedience.

FIGHTING BACK AND WINNING: Roadside inn reopens after feds tried to shut it down over budget impasse.

NO, LIBERALS, the Koch brothers aren't behind the government shutdown.

Instapundit comments: "Of course not. If they were, it would be handled competently."

NOW PLAYING:

Read the post.

IT'S RAINING IN D.C.; that'll keep those pesky Tea Partiers out of our Obama's national parks and monuments.

IF THE GOVERNMENT CAN’T MOW THE LAWN, no one can!

COWARDS! I was online earlier today at the Senate web site looking for email/telephone/fax numbers to contact my Senators. Here's what I found:

I thought it strange, but Sen. Kaine has always made email contact difficult. So I tried my other Senator, Mark Warner. Same thing.

But ... try a Republican Senator. I checked theTexas senators, Cruz and Cornyn. There web sites are up and running; the email contact forms are available. My wife checked a number of other senators, and the rule seems to be this: if your Senator is Republican, no problems; if your Senator is a Democrat from a deep blue state (think California), no problem; if your Senator is a Democrat from a red or purple state (e.g., Virginia), big problem. It's not the shutdown slowdown, the cowards are afraid to hear from you.

One teeny, tiny little problem they missed: you can still find their district office phone and fax numbers on their home pages ... and I have a fax modem!

RAISE MY DEBT LIMIT. Where are the grandkids when you need them?

OBAMA: for the first time in 17 years, Republicans shut down the Federal government. Oh?

MENS REA: Lois Lerner sent confidential taxpayer information through private emails. Sometimes I have to wonder if that isn't a good thing given the government's repeatedly demonstrated incompetence at protecting citizen privacy.

POOR BABIES: Shutdown leaves lawmakers reusing their towels at House gym. Maybe they can learn how to use a washing machine like the rest of us....