Call It What It Is: Terrorism

I am tired of reading headlines such as this one from the PBS newsletter: "Shutdown Nears as Congress Remains Deadlocked."

The word "deadlocked" suggests a false equivalency, as if both parties are equally to blame for this current impasse. What is really going on is one party holding the government hostage in order to extort what it could not gain from the voters.

It is also very angry making when House leaders claim to be reasonable and willing to compromise, if only the Democratic Senate were not so intransigent, and they go unchallenged. They are willing to compromise in the sense that they are ready to reduce their unreasonable demands by two, while still holding the gun to the head of the country.

I hope Obama and the Senate leadership are explicit in explaining that "we do not negotiate with terrorists, period."