The Shutdown: Plain as the nose on your face.

Plain as the nose on your face; that's how my mother used to put it.

And yet, I feel I need to reiterate what the shutdown is all about.

1.  The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) passed both houses of Congress, and was signed by the President; it is therefore the law.

2.  The law has already been tested by the Supreme Court, and found to be Constitutional.

3.  The Republicans in the House of Representatives, led by their Tea Party wing, do not want Obamacare to be implemented.

4.  Instead of using democratic methods to try to repeal a law, the Republicans in the House of Representatives have shut down the government by sending the Senate a budget tied to a delay of implementation of Obamacare.

Now, in my opinion, what the House Republicans are doing ought to be illegal, but I guess it isn't.  It really amounts to extortion.

As for people who are claiming that there is "plenty of blame to go around" and that "both sides are refusing to negotiate," they seem to be ignoring the obviously outrageous behavior of the House Republicans.