Anatomy of shutdown: How collapse of governing led to closing of D.C.'s WW II memorial BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

WASHINGTON — The World War II veterans from Mississippi’s Gulf Coast had been planning their trip to Washington’s World War II memorial since the spring.

On Oct. 1, at 7 a.m., the 91 veterans boarded a US Airways charter at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, bound for the nation’s capital.

They flew into a media firestorm.

Their buses pulled up to a memorial surrounded by metal barricades, closed as part of the partial federal-government shutdown. A handful of congressmen and senators awaited them, many accusing President Barack Obama of coldly ordering the memorial closed just to show the human toll of a shutdown driven by Republicans. All of it played out for the TV cameras.

In fact, the decisions that put the memorial at risk of being closed were made at key points months earlier, not just in the week the government shut down. More than a single flash point in a partisan clash, the closing of the war memorial serves as a case study in the collapse of governing in Washington.

Today, little has been resolved. The shutdown ended with a temporary spending pact that will expire soon. Congressional negotiators have until next Friday to craft a federal budget before money runs out again on Jan. 15. Even if they forge an agreement, it probably will be an affirmation of the new reality of lurching from crisis to crisis, not a return to the deliberative process of deciding spending item by item.

Via: McClatchyDC

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OFA plans Tuesday rally at Capitol

The tea party had its protest Sunday at the World War II Memorial, now President Barack Obama’s supporters are set to respond at the Capitol.

Organizing for Action is holding a “Budget shutdown Day of Action event” at noon Tuesday at the reflecting pool west of the Capitol.

“Tuesday is the start of the third week of the government shutdown,” OFA wrote in a message to supporters. “With every day that passes, these members of Congress need to feel more pressure from the constituents who sent them to Washington. Millions of Americans across the country are feeling the effects of the shutdown -- and it's only getting worse.”

OFA executive director Jon Carson tweeted Monday urging supporters to "Come join OFA at an event tomorrow to say #EnoughAlready to the #TeaPartyShutdown.” 

OFA, despite its fundraising success, has shown little results in moving public opinion or members of Congress to support Obama’s agenda. A planned climate change event in August in Georgetown drew zero attendees during a rainstorm.

Tuesday will mark OFA’s first attempt to stage a large rally at the Capitol.

OFA officials did not respond to requests for comment about the event

Via: Politico

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Rep. Steve King: Obama a 'Spiteful' President

Rep. Steve King Thursday called Barack Obama a "spiteful" president and accused him of using the government sequester and shutdown to hurt Americans.

"This is a spiteful president . . . The American people need to understand that," the Iowa Republican told CNN. "Trying to run a government with a spiteful president, that locks our veterans out of the World War II Memorial — there's never been a barricade around there before." 

"This is a president that is not trying to do, with the tools he's got, the best that can be done for the American people," King added.

The president has so far refused to negotiate with Republicans over the a temporary spending measure tied to defunding Obamacare and the debt limit, and King wondered if a meeting scheduled Thursday between the White House and Republicans would be fruitful.

"He will be sitting down a second time, in the last week or so, talking to Republican leadership and a select team of Republican negotiators. We don't know if they'll negotiate it," King said.

King said he's "serious about entitlement spending," and added he supports a long-term approach through a balanced-budget amendment.

"I'd rather have a balanced-budget amendment, as a condition to raise the debt ceiling. If we could get that done, the states would ratify, and we could fix this problem for all time. We should talk about being on point how we solve the problem for the long-term," he said.

Via: Newsmax

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We’re not gonna take it! Americans use 1st Amendment to storm shutdown barriers

Taking their lead from the veterans who first pushed through the barricades to visit the World War II Memorial, Americans nationwide are defying the federal government shutdown, tossing aside traffic cones and toppling wooden fences to get to national parks and other federal lands that the administration has deemed out of bounds.

As the shutdown hits the middle of its second week, civil disobedience has become a sensation. Some proudly post online photos of themselves overcoming the government’s obstacles, and others use more subtle ways to make their point.

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PHOTOS: Civil disobedience: Angry Americans flout shutdown rules

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In Arizona, one road-stop inn is quietly giving visitors directions on how to use Forest Service roads to get a glimpse of the Grand Canyon, a national park that has been shut down.

In Washington, D.C., a South Carolina man said he has spent the past week picking up trash around the shuttered Lincoln Memorial, taking the place of National Park Service employees who have been furloughed.

In Massachusetts, Minuteman National Park is closed, but that hasn’t stopped the leaf-peepers from crossing the barricades to watch as autumn blooms in the Northeast.

Via: Washington Times

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Occupy America! Park Visitors Storm the Barrycades by Michelle Malkin

Could this be the end of Monument Syndrome? Across the country, ordinary Americans are rising up in revolt against the old Washington tactic of closing public parks and memorials during selective government "shutdowns" to score political points. Tax-paying tourists are tossing off the orange traffic cones and "Barrycades." Enough is enough.

The movement started with waves of World War II veterans who flew to D.C. last week as part of the Honor Flight Network. (The nonprofit group brings our surviving heroes to visit the memorials that honor their service and sacrifice.) The vets and volunteers breached the fences last week, exposing the tone-deaf tactics of President Obama's Spite House. Honor Flight visits continue this week, and more vets vowed to defy the cynical closures.

They are not alone. At Gettysburg National Military Park, tourists broke through barriers and posed for pictures on the battlefields with notes reading, "Catch us if you can." One visitor reported that motorists formed impromptu caravans as rangers chased them. "Strength in numbers," they tweeted.

At Mount Rushmore and in the Badlands of South Dakota, families barreled over hazard cones. Their photos went viral on Facebook. In Wisconsin, GOP Gov. Scott Walker defied the National Park Service and opened state parks that Obama-crats wanted closed because they receive some federal dollars. At the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Missouri, a group of 20 protesters defied threats of arrest to enter the park.

Via: Townhall

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NPS Threatened WWII Vets With Arrest But Now Opens Mall For Union Bosses’ Immigration Rally During #Shutdown

Updated.

It truly seemed like we’re living in a world dictated to us by Lilliputian bureaucrats when a group of World War II veterans were threatened with arrest for having the temerity last week to visit the World War II Memorial during the government shutdown.

Now, however, said Lilliputian bureaucrats who attempted to block America’s octogenarian war heroes last week are showing their two-faced true colors by opening the National Mall Tuesday to union bosses holding an immigrant rights rally.

Several immigrant groups, as well as the AFL-CIO and SEIU will be hosting Camino Americano: March for Immigrant Dignity and Respect on Tuesday–merely a week after the National Parks Service initially refused to allow World War II veterans’ visit to the World War Memorial.

Although the NPS retroactively gave the vets access to the memorial, it wasn’t until after vets and several members of Congress pushed the barricades aside under the watchful gaze of the National Park Police.

Via: Red State

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6 Groups Targeted to Make the Shutdown Look Worse

A partial government shutdown just wasn't going to hit people the way the Obama administration needed it to, so officials resorted to some unprecedented acts to make Americans feel the pain, as Conservative Intel's David Freddoso notes:

Most people — even the poor in state-run safety net programs — don’t have that many interactions with the federal government agencies affected right now by the shutdown.

So it’s a challenge to make people notice that your agency is vital to the survival of the Republic. The feds have to apply a lot of force and behave in unsubtle ways to make you angry with Congress.

1. Veterans

No group has been more visible during the shutdown than veterans. Memorials were closed, and House Democrats voted against bills that would restore funding to veterans programs.

A short list of some of the monuments closed (note that veterans moved barricades to see their monuments anyway):

» World War II Memorial

» Normandy cemetery

» Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

» Iwo Jima Memorial

Just 4 percent of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs have been furloughed, according to Government Executive magazine, making it even more odd that the department’s funding wasn’t restored.

Via: Fox News

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MAHER: VETERANS NOT BRIGHT FOR PROTESTING WITH MICHELE BACHMANN

Bill Maher disparaged World War II veterans and members of the "greatest generation" on Friday, saying the heroes who fought to preserve the freedoms that he enjoys were dumb. 

On HBO's Real Time on Friday, Maher seemed puzzled by why Republicans felt it was important to allow World War II veterans to see their memorial on their "Honor Flights"to Washington, D.C. during the federal government shutdown. He then blamed Republicans for the memorial being barricaded and mocked World War II veterans for taking photos with a Republican--Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)--Maher asserted was "one of the people most responsible" for shutting down the memorial:

The other thing that apparently was so important for the Republicans to keep open was the World War II Memorial in Washington. That was closed, so a bunch of the World War II vets knocked down the barriers and stormed it.

And then I loved this, they posed for pictures with Michele Bachmann who showed up. Michele Bachmann, one of the people most responsible for shutting the f--king thing down. They’re the greatest generation – nobody said they were the brightest generation.

Unlike Maher, conservatives like Mark Levin understood the importance of allowing veterans on their "Honor Flights" to see their memorial. Levin said he would bring "a half million people" to the memorial if anyone from the Obama administration "lays one damn hand" on a veteran trying to see his memorial. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called for Obama administration employees to engage in acts of civil disobedience at the "Barrycades" and allow veterans unfettered access to their World War II memorial.

Via: Breitbart

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FEDS TRY TO CLOSE THE OCEAN BECAUSE OF SHUTDOWN

Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was "closed" due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored, the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean. Fishing is also prohibited at Biscayne National Park during the shutdown. 

The Park Service will also have rangers on duty to police the ban... of access to an ocean. The government will probably use more personnel and spend more resources to attempt to close the ocean, than it would in its normal course of business. 

This is governing by temper-tantrum. It is on par with the government's ham-fisted attempts to close the DC WWII Memorial, an open-air public monument that is normally accessible 24 hours a day. By accessible I mean, you walk up to it. When you have finished reflecting, you then walk away from it. 

At least that Memorial is an actual structure, with some kind of perimeter that can be fenced off. Florida Bay is the ocean. How, pray tell, do you "close" 1,100 square miles of ocean? Why would one even need to do so?

Apparently, according to an anonymous Park Service ranger, “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.” 

Centuries ago, King Canute famously failed to command the ocean tide to stop. His display was actually a means to educate his subjects on the limits of royal power. Today, however, our President actually believes he has the power to control the oceans. 

Via: Breitbart

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Blue Ridge hotel defies Park Service shutdown

The Pisgah Inn, a private hotel that holds a concession on the Blue Ridge Parkway, has become a national sensation as it defies “intimidation” and a National Park Service order to close its doors.

After a tumultuous few days, inn owner Bruce O'Connell told The Washington Times on Friday morning that he had just reopened his doors for customers, despite the park service telling him he had to shut down. He says he’s essentially private property, on a road that’s still open, and uses no government personnel, so he sees no reason to quit operating.

“I’m questioning their authority to shut me,” Mr. O'Connell said.

The National Park Service is involved in several high-profile battles during the shutdown, including having barricaded open-air monuments and memorials in Washington. Veterans busted through barricades at the National World War II Memorial earlier this week, gaining national attention.

But the Park Service closures extend throughout the country, shuttering parks — and many of the private businesses that run concessions in them, such as City Tavern in Philadelphia, and Nauset Knoll Motor Lodge on Cape Cod.

Pisgah Inn, which Mr. O'Connell described as one of the last mom-and-pop places along the Blue Ridge, is just southwest of Asheville, N.C. And while most national parks are closed, the Park Service has deemed the Blue Ridge Parkway a thoroughfare and has left it open.

Mr. O'Connell said since the road is open, and he uses no federal personnel — even his fire and police services would come from town — he isn’t drawing on federal resources and sees no reason he should have to shut down.

Via: Washington Times

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Union Front Group Protests Republicans At World War II Memorial

A front group for a large labor federation has shifted from pressuring President Barack Obama to hike pay for federal workers to pressuring Republicans to end the government shutdown.

The group Good Jobs Nation staged a protest at the World War II memorial on the National Mall this week, calling for an end to the shutdown.

According to WhoIs information on the group’s website, it is owned by Change to Win, a labor federation that includes the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the United Farm Workers unions.

The website’s registered agent is Jason Lefkowitz, who until 2010 was Change to Win’s online campaigns manager.

The Huffington Post reported that about two-dozen union members turned out to the protest on Tuesday.

The group has organized several small strikes and protests to draw attention to the estimated 2 million workers directly or indirectly employed by the federal government for low wages.

On Wednesday, they protested no wages. […]

Several conservative Republican members of the House of Representatives had arrived at the memorial to help veterans get past a barrier erected by the National Park Service. They blamed the Obama administration for the shuttered memorial even though their faction is the most opposed to a clean spending bill that would reopen the government. The protesters had hoped to see House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), but he didn’t show up.

This entry was posted in Issues and tagged Government Shutdown, SEIU, World War II. Bookmark the permalink.

Via: WFB

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Stunt at WW II Memorial Shows More Evidence Obama is a Thug

Incensed: Obama tried to keep the courageous men who saved this nation from seeing their memorial

Imagine you are a veteran of World War II approaching your 90th birthday. This may be your last opportunity to visit the memorial that was erected to honor your service. You have come to your nation’s Capital, only to find that your president has ordered that memorial barricaded to keep you out.

As a teenager, you jumped off a landing craft into the surf at Omaha Beach and watched as your buddies were cut to pieces in the sand. Or maybe you endured the horrors of Iwo Jima or Guadalcanal battling the Japanese in the Pacific.

You did your duty, endured the horrors of war, and miraculously survived it all to come home, asking only for the opportunity to start a family, perhaps build a business, and generally enjoy the liberties you had fought so hard to defend. You paid taxes all your life to support your government.

So why would the Obama administration choose to close your memorial? Because it was calculated that it might be useful to this man’s propaganda campaign to convince the American people that the current government “shutdown” is the fault of the opposing political party. It’s as simple as that. And yes, he really is that petty.

Via: Canada Free Press

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