UPDATE October 6. The National Park Service has now closed fishing in Florida Bay, and Obama considers Florida National Guard personnel in the path of an oncoming hurricane to be "nonessential." It needs to be restated again and again: this is unprecedented. Since when was open water "closed" due to lack of government funding? Never, because it is costless. But not now, because law enforcement personnel are needed onsite all the time to enforce the "closure." And since when are critical duties like those performed by the National Guard during emergencies considered "nonessential?" This is beyond despicable - threatening life and livelihood for political advantage! When will the trial for high crimes and misdemeanors begin?
Meanwhile, with each new outrage, deliberately selected for maximum exposure, our eyes are averted from the fact that, besides these unprecedented closures that have cost more than they save, the vast majority of nonessential personnel sent home during this shutdown have not and will not be missed. This entire dog and pony show has been manufactured for two reasons: 1. to exert maximum pressure on Republicans, who for once in their sorry lives are actually standing up like they pledged to do, and 2. to distract us from the fact that a goodly portion of government activity really is non-essential. Why should it be funded ever? But don't ask Obama and the Democrats that. Without the massive government, they and their friends rely on for sustenance, they would be relegated to janitorial duties or some other menial task worthy of their limited talents.
This has gone beyond absurd. First we have the spectacle of WW II veterans being denied access to the WW II Memorial, an open air monument that never closes and is never specifically attended by anyone except the normal Park Police patrol. The patrol goes on by the way. It took added manpower to erect barriers to the monument. More insane still, the Park Police erected barriers to parking lots on federal land that serve the privately-managed and funded Mount Vernon, home of America's first president, George Washington. Finally, they shuttered a privately-owned and financed museum resting on park land in northern Virginia. This was the first time the museum was closed in 40 years. Let me repeat that: they use NO government dollars but were ordered to shut down anyway by law enforcement officers.
Now we have this outrage: the National Park Service has erected cones blocking entrance to roadside pull-overs where travelers can otherwise view Mt. Rushmore. This is unprecedented. And orders for these outrages come directly from the White House Office of Management and Budget. Obama has spent money to enforce this insanity where money was never spent before. In doing this, our president - can we even call him that? - is telling America "buzz off!"
What's more, South Dakots's Democratic Senator, Tim Johnson, is defending the action! Nothing about the safety factor, nothing about denying public access to roadside pull-offs that have never been denied access before. Johnson spokesman Perry Plumart said, “The best way to restore access to all national parks, including Mount Rushmore, is for Speaker Boehner and the House to pass a clean continuing resolution and end the government shutdown.”
This deliberate, costly effort is all to make Republicans look bad. Meanwhile, in response to Republicans helping WW II vets access the memorial, Obama megadonor Bill Maher, the obnoxious leftist TV talk show host said of the vets: "They’re the greatest generation – nobody said they were the brightest generation." The entire leftist infrastructure, from Obama on down, has to be relegated to the trash heap of history, where communists and all their sycophantic copycats belong.
For their part, I hope Republicans don't back down. They are doing the right thing for a change. Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster and this President needs to learn that there is limit to the abuse he can dish out beyond which we will say "enough."
