Collision course: CR and debt ceiling  —  A harsh reality began setting into Capitol Hill on Tuesday: The U.S. government may not reopen until the two parties reach a deal to raise the national debt ceiling.  —  Hours after federal agencies shuttered their doors for the first time in nearly two decades …

Why Boehner doesn't just ditch the hard right  —  Robert Costa is the National Review's Washington editor and one of the best-sourced reporters among House Republicans.  Like many others, I've relied on his reporting in recent days about how House Republicans are strategizing around the government shutdown.

Veterans Plot To Expand Revolt Against Government Shutdown  —  They might tear down the barricades at the Lincoln Memorial next — and pee on the trees — to protest Washington dysfunction.  “People here need to be thinking about serving their country and not their own sorry butts.”

Staunch Group of Republicans Outflanks House Leaders  —  WASHINGTON — They have had their fleeting moments on cable television.  Their closed-door run-ins with Speaker John A. Boehner spill occasionally into the pages of Capitol Hill newspapers.  But outside their districts …

The real story of the shutdown: 50 years of GOP race-baiting  —  A House minority from white districts want to destroy the first black president, and the GOP majority abets them  —  On the day the Affordable Care Act takes effect, the U.S. government is shut down, and it may be permanently broken.

Jellyfish Invasion Paralyzes Swedish Reactor  —  In an episode that evokes B-grade sci-fi movie plots from the 1950s, but actually reflects a continuing global problem, nuclear engineers in southeastern Sweden have been wrestling with a giant swarm of jellyfish that forced the shutdown of the world's largest boiling-water reactor.

The Saddest Paragraph You'll Read About the Government Shutdown Today  —  With NIH furloughs, children with cancer are being turned away from clinical trials.  —  You've heard about the Pandacam, the closed monuments and national parks, and the furloughed federal workers.

Unskewing Obama's Sexuality  —  Dean Chambers, the man who helped “unskew” polls during the 2012 presidential campaign to show Mitt Romney was actually leading, now says President Obama is gay.  —  “I think Sullivan is right, but not for the right reason.  I do believe that Barack Obama is in fact our first gay president.

Conservative Organization Moves Forward With Hillary Clinton Movie Plans  —  Citizens United, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court over a film about the former first lady five years ago, is making a doc about her role as secretary of state to be released in 2016.

Here's A Tally Of Which House Republicans Are Ready To Fund The Government, No Strings Attached  —  WASHINGTON — Less than a day after the government shut down, House Republicans are slowly but steadily coming forward to say they're ready to just pass a bill to fund the government with no strings attached.

With Traditional GOP Allies Defecting, Big Business Takes Sides With Obama  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Having failed to persuade their traditional Republican allies in Congress to avert a government shutdown, business leaders fear bigger problems ahead, and they're taking sides …

Remarks by the President on the Affordable Care Act and the Government Shutdown  —  PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning, everybody.  At midnight last night, for the first time in 17 years, Republicans in Congress chose to shut down the federal government.  Let me be more specific: One faction …

Food stamp myths abound  —  A man waits to apply for food stamps in Florida.  Donna Brazile says many people have misconceptions about food stamps. … (CNN) — After the vote in the House of Representatives to slash the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, I wrote a column against cutting food stamps.

Grayson blames shutdown on GOP literally drinking on the job  —  “Many of them seem loaded,” the liberal congressman says, charging his GOP colleagues smelled like alcohol  —  In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated …

President Obama shortens Asia trip  —  President Barack Obama is canceling part of his planned trip to Asia this weekend because of the government shutdown, the White House announced on Wednesday.  —  Obama called the presidents of the Philippines and Malaysia on Tuesday night …