We're fast approaching the midnight hour and there is no agreement on the national budget. News headlines are borderline sensationalistic while informing the public on what will and will not actually shutdown should a government go onto effect after midnight tonight.

Most of us don't want the shutdown to go into effect but, hold up, we've down this road before. Let's not be mislead by what we see and hear in the media even if the person spewing the exaggeration looks and sounds authoritative and credible.

Check this out. On a national level, the U.S. endured this twice during the Clinton presidency. It was those shutdowns that eerily made then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gringrich more infamous and disliked. Also, the topics of difference regarding the budget are much the same as 15 years ago, go figure.

If our federal government goes into shutdown mode as some Republicans clearly want it to, then they must prepare for the backlash. While the Republicans want to paint this situation as one to be blamed on Democrats, clearly they do not see how President Obama has made them appear uncooperative. The President has been conciliatory; a little too much for me but I get the strategy even if I don't like it.

If midnight comes and we go into shutdown, so be it. We've been through this before and we'll overcome again.

Meanwhile the most enlightening and simultaneously shameful factor in this hoopla is the fact the Congress continues to be paid while furloughed workers are not. The truth always come to light. It may not be revealed when you want it to but it definitely will be revealed.

Prayerfully a shutdown will be avoided. If it's not avoided and the Republicans get their way; prepare for more lies, pandering and other foolishness.

Read more about the U.S. Federal Government Shutdown of 1995 and 1996.