I think every cable news channel should have a little clock in one corner of the screen showing us how long the Shutdown has been going on. Then they should have another clock in another part of the screen showing us how long it will be until America defaults on its debts. Then they should have another clock that shows long we have until the time after that when we have to raise the debt ceiling. Then they should add in a clock to the next time we'll need to pass a new funding bill. Then five more clocks counting down the times to the five subsequent needs to raise the debt ceiling, plus a clock telling us how long we have until the 2014 and 2016 elections.
If they can get all these clocks and timers on the screen, there'll be no room to show Senators and Representatives in Washington arguing over whose fault it is that all this has taken the place of actual governing. And that, of course, is the whole point of the clocks.