> Did you catch Senator Cruz claiming victory? What a pinhead.

You mean a genius. You should watch him work a crowd. He's looking ahead to bigger things - for himself.

And, in fact, people did suffer. The furloughed employees didn't know when (or if) they'd be paid, they haven't been paid yet, mortgages and rents have fallen due, and thousands of small businesses connected with the National Parks lost income.

Huge suffering? Probably for no more than a few. Was the attempt to sandbag a law of the land, while studiously avoiding a thousand real problems like immigration reform and costing the GNP a couple of billion bucks worth it? You be the judge.

"The price of freedom" means what it will take to get these idiots out of office.