On Day One of obamamess, federal workers stay home; Tampa downs Texas in Game No. 163

BALTIMORE, Maryland October 1, 2013 - Obamamess kicks in and federal workers stay home:  It is a great day in America, the very first day that all Americans can go on line and sign up for obamamess (aka obamacare, aka Affordable Care Act).  The Federal Government is so elated at the news that it has shut down.  Thousands of federal workers have been told to go home or stay home or both.  And you know what? Most Americans will be completely unaffected.  The Post Office is open, the Military is on duty (and getting paid), and the police are responding when they are called.  Most police don't work for the federal government and the military and post office are unaffected by the shut down.  Now, if you were planning a visit to the Smithsonian or the National Gallery, you might have to change those plans.  If you are Harry Reid, you are all excited because the main stream media wants you to appear on TV today.  It is the exact same reason that the GOP is pretty excited: the meanly-mouthed Nevadan, disliked by well over half of all Americans, is going to appear on TV today as the Democratic reason that there is a shut down.  As for obamamess, most of the websites set to handle the crowds trying to sign up are said to be broke.  And the federal workers that are sent home, and can be seen on TV whining that they aren't being paid, well, remember this:  in all previous government shutdowns the affected federal work force received 100% of their back pay.  The Congress needed to enact funding for the federal government to keep it open since the previous finding bill ended yesterday.  Both houses of Congress enacted such funding, but the House bill did not contain money for obamamess while the Democratically controlled Senate enacted a spending bill which fully funded obamamess.  Normally when the two houses enact similarly purposed bills that are not alike, the bills are sent to a conference comprised of representatives of both houses and this conference attempts to resolve the differences.  But this time the Senate won't agree to conference the bills.  Dingy Harry says he will not compromise on fully funding obamamess.  So, if you are a Democrat and if you also fully support obamamess, you support Harry Reid.  Otherwise, you support the House position that the Leviathan obamamess needs reform.  And, lest you forget, there is a debt ceiling fight looming in two weeks and many don't believe the shutdown can be solved until the debt ceiling mess is solved.  If you are confused about the debt ceiling, consider this.  Besides enacting gobs of funding bills, the Congress has also enacted a debt ceiling.  The ceiling is the total amount of debt the federal government can be in.  All of obama's plans cannot be fit under the current ceiling, so he wants the ceiling to be raised.  Some stalwart GOP members won't agree to any hike.  Tampa beats back Texas to gain final Wildcard berth in MLB playoffs:  David Price bucked the odds last night and pitched a complete game against the hard-hitting Rangers in Arlington, Texas last night as the Rays won, 4-2.  The win provided the Rays with the final berth in the MLB playoffs starting today.  The Rays now will travel to Cleveland to face the Indians in the one-game Wild Card Playoff tomorrow night.  The winner of that game will advance to a best of five Division Series with the Red Sox beginning Friday night in Boston.  The other American League Playoff teams, Detroit and Oakland, will square off against each other in a best of five series beginning Friday night in Oakland (9:30 pm EDST).  The National League one-game Wild Card Playoff is tonight in Pittsburgh where the Pirates host the Reds.  It is the first playoff game for the Pirates since 1992.  Gametime is 8 pm on TBS.  The winner of that game plays a best of five with the Cardinals beginning Thursday afternoon, 5 pm, in St. Louis.  The other National League Series has the Dodgers and Braves squaring off starting Thursday night, 8:30 pm in Atlanta.  Most games are on TBS, although the MLB channel has a few of the games.  This web page has the complete schedule, including game times and networks:  http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/ps.jsp?tcid=mm_mlb_schedule.