BarbaWire, April 6

Get It Together
President Obama told Congress on Tuesday that he is done messing around with temporary extensions to keep our government functioning. House Republicans aren’t budging. Senate Democrats aren’t budging. The Democrats have agreed to $33 billion in spending cuts, Republicans want $40 billion. Government could shut down as soon as Friday. Obama seems to have picked up some of his old gusto lately. Read his direct quotes in the story. The dude seems hungry. More.
This does a good job of explaining what a government shutdown really means. More.

No Means No Even If She is Wearing a Red Dress
Can’t a girl just wear her tube top and daisy dukes in peace? More 3,000 people gathered on Sunday in Toronto for a SlutWalk, defending women's rights to not be violated despite their attire. You see, a few months ago a police officer told a classroom at York University that women who don’t want to be sexually assaulted should avoid dressing like sluts. Essentially, if you look like a mannequin in the window of Bebe (you know what I’m talking about), you are asking for it. That’s not cool, dude. If that’s true, does that mean a woman wearing sweatpants can run willy-nilly through dark alleys? I think not. Anyway, people organized, threw on their Saturday night’s best and marched to police headquarters to protest the cop’s misaligned advice. More.

Secrets Don't Make Friends
Mike Huckabee, the well-liked Republican that could be a GOP frontrunner in 2012, is not a fan of open records. He was governor of Arkansas for 12 years and quickly and promptly destroyed all of his administration’s hard drives after leaving office. There is a back-up, but the holder of it doesn't answer the phone. So much for our process of vetting our leaders. Please file this under stuff you should know. More.

Born To Write
Nick Maxim has both a rad name and a rad story. The Maine fifth grader entered a national penmanship contest. Maxim doesn’t have hands or forearms, yet he managed to write more legibly than you. He taught himself how to write with his arms and said he loves to write. The sponsors of the contest were so inspired by his story that they have taken his rad name and put it out a new category for entries from students with disabilities. More.

Fun
Some people have too much money. Richard Branson is one of those people. He owns an airline, he owns spaceships and now he owns a submarine that he plans to take to 36,000 feet deep. Branson has paired with a not-as-rich dude from Newport Beach, Calif., to help finance the $17 million project. The U.S. stopped exploring such depths years ago and the guys are not sure what they are going to find but say they are doing it because of the human need to push limits and explore. I actually love that idea. More.