FOD 2013.10.14

We interrupt this regularly scheduled FOD post to say "Happy (belated) Birthday" to the United States Navy.

Born on Oct. 13, 1775, the U.S. Navy has grown from two sailing vessels with 80 men and 10 carriage guns to the most powerful Navy in the world - despite the best efforts of obama and his posse.

To all past, present, and future members of the Navy, thank you for your service.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled FOD.

If you've been paying attention to the fiasco known as obamacare, you've undoubtedly come to the realization that barry overpromised and underdeliverd. In fact, I'll go farther.

obama flat-out lied to the American people.

Obama’s promise: “I can make a firm pledge under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes” (September 12, 2008).

He lied.

Obama’s promise: “We’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year ... We’ll do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States” (June 5, 2008).

He lied.

Obama’s promise: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits” (September 9, 2009).

He lied.

Obama’s promise: “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what” (June 15, 2009).

He lied, he lied, he lied.

Aided and abetted by his accomplices masquerading as journalists.

"If only we had a free press, Obamacare would be a bloody, unrelenting scandal, like Abu Ghraib, or Watergate."

If you think it's bad now, just wait.

3000 Words

It's been said that a picture is worth 1000 words. Here's 3000 words of commentary on the government shutdown.

Sunday Funnies 2013.10.13

Retirement is like any other job. You have to work at it. I'm currently working on my golf game. It's slowly inching up from "very bad" to "bad." But at least I've kept my sense of humor.

Barely...

I was addressing the ball when an announcement came over the loud-speaker: "Will the gentleman on hole number one please not hit from the Ladies' tee box."

I backed away, a little distracted, then approaches the ball again. As I did so, the same announcement comes over the loud-speaker: "Will the gentleman on hole number one please not hit from the Ladies' tee box."

I was getting irritated now. I backed away from the ball, and then approached it one more time. This time the announcement came: "We really need the gentleman on hole number one to move off of the Ladies' tee box!"

That's when I turned around and yelled, "And I really need the announcer to shut up and let me play my second shot!"

A married couple played golf together everyday.

One day the man and his wife were on the first tee of their local course. He was on the white tee and she was waiting in front of him by the ladies tee.

He teed off and caught the ball perfectly; unfortunately it hit his wife smack in the back of the head killing her instantly.

She fell face down on the tee, didn't know what hit her.

They had an inquest on the wife's death, the coroner said it was clear how she died, she was killed by a golf ball, and that there was a perfect imprint of a golf ball on the back of her head.

The husband said, "Yes, that was my ball"

The coroner then went on to say that he was a bit concerned to find a ball inserted up the woman's backside, and could the husband throw some light on this?

The husband said, "Oh that must have been my provisional. I wondered where it went."

Four old men went into the pro shop after playing 18 holes of golf.

The pro asked, "Did you guys have a good game today?"

The first old guy said, "Yes, I had three riders today."

The second old guy said, "I had the most riders ever. I had five."

The third old guy said, "I had seven riders, the same as last time."

The last old man said, "I beat my old record. I had 12 riders today."

After they went into the locker room, another golfer who had heard the old guys talking about their game went to the pro and said, "I've been playing golf for a long time and thought I knew all the terminology of the game, but what's a rider?"

The pro said, "A rider is when you hit the ball far enough to actually get in the golf cart and ride to it."

Play it where it lies...

An Oldie But A Goodie

This one's been around for a while, but it's worth revisiting as we watch our elected leaders clowns comically cavort around pretending to care about the plight of us commoners, while at the same time drawing full paychecks, being exempted from the disaster known as obamacare, and otherwise enjoying the obscene perks that come with their office.

Assholes...

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from you, I'm doing community service this week.' The cop was happy and left the shop. The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen doughnuts waiting for him at his door.

Then a Member of Congress came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The Member of Congress was very happy and left the shop. The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen Members of Congress lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the politicians who run it.

They've Got A Point

The shutdown is bad. The media's treatment of it is worse. But you know we've hit rock bottom when a terrorist organization at war with us points out our government's foolishness with more accuracy and clarity than our own press.

Taliban mock US over government shutdown

Taliban militants fighting US troops in Afghanistan taunted Washington over the government shutdown on Wednesday, accusing US politicians of "sucking the blood of their own people".

A little hyperbolic, perhaps, but pretty accurate nonetheless.

The Islamist militants issued a statement describing how US institutions were "paralysed", the Statue of Liberty was closed and a fall in tourist numbers had hit shops, restaurants and hotels in the capital.

What a sad state of affairs when a militant group sworn to destroy our country does a more accurate and unbiased job of reporting than our own mainstream media.

The insurgents accused "selfish and empty-minded American leaders" of taking US citizens' money "earned with great difficulty" and then "lavishly spending the same money..."

Like I said, accurate reporting.

The US embassy in Kabul has said that it expects "to function normally in the short term" due to the shutdown, though its Twitter feed would not be regularly updated.

OMG! No Twitter. Our democracy is in danger of falling.

Embassy press staff were not immediately available to comment on the rebels' statement.

Of course not. They've been furloughed. But rest easy, America. The National Park Service is still on duty protecting our parks and monuments from access by citizens and tourists.

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2013.10.11

All the dupes who voted for obama should take this message to heart:

"You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything."

Thanks, Dad, for teaching me this at an early age.

One Bit Of Positive News

Finally, after much searching, I came up with a news story that makes me proud to be an American. The money quote is at the end (bolded for emphasis).

Honoring a Fallen Marine

“Ladies and gentlemen, there is a uniformed Marine on this flight. He is accompanying the body of a fallen comrade back to Washington, D.C. When we land, please keep your seats and allow him to deplane first.”

The flight attendant on Delta 1838 from Atlanta to Reagan National Airport repeated the announcement when we landed. No one complained. In fact, I heard no sound at all.

Those of us on the right-hand side of the plane looked out and saw seven Marines standing at attention, a very sad older couple in blue jeans, and a gaggle of airport workers–red jackets, runway workers in bright yellow vests, and gate agents in Delta blue–standing respectfully behind the parents.

Looking out, we could see the flag-covered coffin respectfully lowered from the plane. After an interval the Marines slowly marched to the plane and carried the coffin to an SUV that somehow appeared on the apron. They paused before sliding the coffin into the SUV and a white-gloved Marine slowly marched to the parents, said a few words we could not hear, and shook their hands. He slow marched back and his mates loaded their comrade into the vehicle.

I looked around. A young airport worker in a a yellow vest was holding a salute. Sniffling and sobbing surrounded me. My seat mate, a Swiss-born surgeon who had recently become an American citizen, had red eyes. Back outside, another Marine, this one ungloved, perhaps to establish more empathy, shook hands with the parents and said more words unheard on the plane.

The ceremony was completed and we silently entered the terminal.

The passengers on this airplane demonstrated why America is great. While our government might be broken, our country isn’t.

Gotta Luv It

I made a pretty good living designing and implementing large scale information systems, and then teaching college students how to do the same. The obamacare debacle would make a fascinating case study in how not to do things. Rather than bore you with the technical details, I'll just hit a few of the highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective).

We, the taxpayers, seem to have forked up more than $500 million of the federal purse to build the digital equivalent of a rock.

We paid over $500 million for the Obamacare sites and all we got was this lousy 404.

When things still go wrong, they simply throw ‘more money at the same people who caused the problem to fix the problem.’

For a more comprehensive (and less tongue-in-cheek)discussion of the problems with the obamacare website go here.

The website launched to process customers through the new ObamaCare marketplace may experience significant technical glitches for months...

Our tax dollars at work.

Sigh...

Now He's Gone Too Friggin' Far

I know obama has nothing but contempt for the history, traditions, and values of this country. Now he's made it obvious that he has nothing but contempt for its citizens as well.

Rent-a-cops hired to ring Philly's Independence Hall, threaten arrests

Armed private security guards are on the job to keep the public away from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, and one even threatened to arrest a political activist if he stepped on the sidewalk beside the iconic building where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and adopted.

“You will be arrested,” said one of the hired guards to activist Craig Bergman as a video team filmed his stop at the downtown historical center.

Independence Hall. Where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Where the Constitution was written. Where our nation was formed. The birthplace of the United States of America.

And now this petty little man, this hater of all things American, this wanna-be tinhorn dictator, has the unmitigated gall to deny us access to the cradle of American liberty.

It's time for all Americans to recall the indelible words penned there by the giants of our country:

"When in the course of human events..."

"We the people of the United States..."

It's time for us to take back our country from those who would destroy everything we hold dear.

Starting with that empty suit propped up by the media, reading socialist nonsense from his teleprompter...

More Shutdown Nonsense Part II

As long as we're barrycading our national parks and monuments, why not do this?

(H/T iOTW)

And then there's this:

(H/T Jeff)

More Shutdown Nonsense

Yesterday I posted a partial list of the absurd and vindictive actions taken so far by the obama administration to make life as miserable as possible for Americans during the government shutdown.

In response, Bear commented:

I keep hoping that someone finally tells me that all of the aforementioned stories are satire, but it ain't happened yet...

Well, Bear, the feds must have heard you. They went out and did something that's even more absurd than anything they've done previously.

In what looks like a spiteful move, the NPS (National Park Service) even removed handles from water spigots along the Chesapeake and Ohio canal where bikers and joggers exercise as well as along the Great Allegheny Passage, just to ensure people don't get any water from them.

You can't make this stuff up...

How To Put A Smile On Your Face

I'm sick and tired/fed up/disgusted/insert your own term here with all the depressing media coverage concerning the government shutdown and the impending potential debt default. I've had it up to here (hand hovers near neck) with forecasts of gloom and doom unless the government starts spending and borrowing ever increasing and unfathomable amounts of money. I'm desperate for a little good news.

That's why I was so happy when I read this story.

Sex Better Than Money for Happiness

Good news for folks whose bedrooms have more activity than their bank accounts: Research shows that sex is better for your happiness than money.

Okay, that's not exactly earth-shaking news (although the earth may move...). Millions of teenage boys have discovered that for themselves over the years. But it is nice to have it confirmed by official scientific researchers.

The researchers went on to calculate just how much an active sex life is worth in terms of dollars; a happiness price tag, so to speak.

That's not to say that being financially poor but sexually active is the secret to a happy life. But despite common theory, more money doesn't get you more sex, say "happiness economics" researchers ... sex "enters so strongly (and) positively in happiness equations" that they estimate increasing intercourse from once a month to once a week is equivalent to the amount of happiness generated by getting an additional $50,000 in income for the average American.

Overall, the happiest folks are those getting the most sex...

If that's the case then we Americans must be the happiest people on the face of the earth. After all, the government is screwing us every single day.

God help us if the IRS ever finds out that Americans can generate more 'income' by having more sex. There'll be a new form (Form 1069?) that we'll have to fill out every year listing our sexual activities. Maybe even a new regulation requiring a minimum level of sex - kind of like obamacare.

On second thought, that story didn't cheer me as much as I thought...

Stuff And Nonsense

Stuff and Nonsense from the political theater that is barry's shutdown. You've probably seen most of these, but there likely will be a few that are new to you (my favorite is the mom revolt against the closing of 'Turtle Park').

These stories came out in dribs and drabs. This is a long post, and a far from all-inclusive list of the gestapo-like tactics employed by obama and his goons. But when you see all of this at once it really drives home the petty and vindictive nature of the obama administration.

Runner fined $100 at Valley Forge amid shutdown

A marathoner says he was fined $100 for running in Valley Forge National Historical Park during the government shutdown.

John Bell, 56, said he parked his car on Sunday in a remote parking lot, not one blocked by a barrier. Bell, of Chadds Ford, said two rangers were waiting with their car lights flashing when he returned.

Bell said he plans to fight the ticket in federal court. He said he saw many other runners and bikers in the park.

Maine’s Acadia National Park had trouble keeping visitors out during the shutdown and was issuing fines to campers, bikers and hikers. On Saturday, 16 hikers hopped a gate to gain entry to Utah’s closed Zion National Park to protest the shutdown.

FAA Halts All Aircraft Sales

... planemakers, brokers and owners of airplanes can’t complete sales of aircraft because of the closure of a key federal office.

The shutdown is also affecting maintenance and repair facilities and other aviation-related businesses. And those in the aviation industry say the effects will get more painful with each passing day.

Sales of aircraft can’t close because aircraft registrations can no longer be obtained through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft Registry Branch in Oklahoma City. With the partial shutdown of the FAA, the registry office is closed.

The closure is unprecedented, according to GAMA officials. In previous shutdowns, the registry office was considered an essential function and remained open.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting got $445 million on first day of government shutdown

Funding for clinical cancer trials and other life-saving research under the National Institutes of Health was cut off in response to the government slimdown, but it looks like the cookie monster will still be knee-deep in chocolate chips (or is it carrots now?)

According to the Daily Treasury Statement and first reported by CNS News, the administration dished out $445 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) on the first day of the slimdown, which means funds for the likes of PBS Newshour, NPR and “Sesame Street” are being spent before cancer research.

Obama Forces Couple, 80 and 77 Years Old, From Their Home

Joyce Spencer is 77-years-old and her husband Ralph is 80. They’ve been spending most of their time in the family ice cream store since going home isn’t an option.

The Spencers never expected to be forced out of their Lake Mead home, which they’ve owned since the 70s, but on Thursday, a park ranger said they had 24 hours to get out.

The Stewart’s Point home sits on federal land, so even though the Spencers own their cabin outright, they’re not allowed in until the government reopens.

obama yields to Big Oil

Last week, we learned that the National Park Service is ordering privately run businesses that operate on federal land — from inns, to restaurants, private camp grounds, and even marinas — to close up shop until the government shutdown ends.  Park Rangers have even gone so far as to physically block and patrol entrances to private concessions to make sure not a single, errant customer steps foot on the premises.

But you know what else operates on federally owned land?  A sizable portion of U.S. oil and gas production.  And, yet, those commercial concerns have not been similarly and summarily halted.

"Let's Move" Trumps Amber Alert

Over the weekend, the FBI took its Amber Alert missing child website offline, blaming the shutdown. At the same time, First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” web site stayed up and running.

Amber Alert is back online, after the closure of the site generated negative publicity.

Scenic Overlooks? Really?

... overlooks  are "unmanned places where motorists can pull in, park for a couple minutes, look around, maybe snap a photo, and then move on with their day. There are no amenities. It’s just a small parking lot."

According to a spokeswoman, any area that falls under NPS jurisdiction is subject to these rules because "Congress has not appropriated any funds to the NPS, the agency can’t maintain the areas, collect trash or sweep road debris."

One wonders how they managed the last time the government shut down, and the parks remained open. Did the trash and road debris become an overwhelming problem --- or more likely did the lack of maintenance actually make very little difference?

Website Foolishness

Federal agencies created new websites to tell visitors that they don’t have enough funding to run their old websites.

Angry moms launch full-scale assault to reopen D.C. turtle park.

According to sources, angry moms near the Eastern Market are of Washington, D.C. have been diligently tearing down barriers erected by the National Park Service around Marion Park, or the turtle park as it is commonly referred to because of the fake turtles that children like to play on.

Sources said that the park was blocked off by park officials, but the source suspected that neighborhood moms have been taking down barriers to the park so their children could play there. In response, park officials keep erecting new ones, which the moms promptly tear down.

The park is extremely small and sort of seems pointless to block off.

Not closing parks near Democratic senators’ houses.

Sources tell TheDCNF that Lincoln Park in D.C., which maintained by the NPS, was not closed down, nor were any signs put up that indicated it was closed due to the government shutdown. According to the same source, it’s close to the homes of “quite a few” Democratic senators, and the source has previously seen Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus walking in the park.

While Lincoln Park remains seemingly open for Baucus and other senators to go for a walk, national parks all across Montana have been closed down and thousands of tourists have been turned away.

The NPS did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment, probably because no one is working in their press office.

Now contrast that with the following.

Bus-loads of WWII veterans were forced to storm their own monument after it was blocked off by the National Park Service. A group of lawmakers led by Mississippi Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo pushed aside the park rangers’ barriers and allowed veterans to get into the memorial.

“Some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades so they couldn’t see the monument. People had to spend hours setting up barricades where there are never barricades to prevent people from seeing the World War II monument because they’re trying to play a charade,” Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said...

Shutdown spreads to beaches of Normandy

Tourists traveling to Omaha Beach to pay their respects to the 9,387 military dead at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial will find it closed, a victim of the U.S. government’s partial shutdown.

The site overlooking the D-Day invasion beaches is one of 24 U.S. military cemeteries overseas that have closed to visitors since Monday. Ten more cemeteries in France, as well as others in various European countries as well as Mexico, Panama, Tunisia and the Philippines, will remain closed for the duration of the shutdown.

'Gestapo' tactics meet senior citizens at Yellowstone

Pat Vaillancourt went on a trip last week that was intended to showcase some of America’s greatest treasures.

Instead, the Salisbury resident said she and others on her tour bus witnessed an ugly spectacle that made her embarrassed, angry and heartbroken for her country.

Vaillancourt was one of thousands of people who found themselves in a national park as the federal government shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1. For many hours her tour group, which included senior citizen visitors from Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States, were locked in a Yellowstone National Park hotel under armed guard.

The tourists were treated harshly by armed park employees, she said, so much so that some of the foreign tourists with limited English skills thought they were under arrest.

Feds shut down major roadway, block access to graveyard

Folks who live in the Great Smoky Mountains have just about reached their breaking point with the federal government.

“It’s almost like they are pushing to see how far they can push before the American people say enough is enough,” said Ed Mitchell, the mayor of Blount County, Tenn. “We were founded on a declaration of independence. And they are about to push the people to the line again.”

Nearly a third of Blount County is inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. So when the federal government shut down the park, it also shut down one of the area’s chief sources of revenue.

The National Park Service also closed the Foothills Parkway, a major thoroughfare in the county. The closure came without warning and left the local school district scrambling to get children back to their homes.

The children live in the eastern Tennessee community of Top of the World – serviced by School Bus 49. Normally, the bus travels along the Foothills Parkway. Other roads leading to the isolated mountain community are impassible by bus.

“It’s dangerous,” said Nancy Kemp, the spokesperson for Blount County Schools.”It’s very curvy and straight up the mountain. It’s just not a safe route.”

One local resident told Knoxville television station WBIR that the alternative roads are “white knuckle routes.”

The closure caught locals by surprise and left the school district scrambling to alert parents that they would need to find a way to get their kids back home. And until the partial government shutdown ends, school buses will not run. That means parents will have to transport their children to and from school using treacherous “white knuckle routes.”

And so long as the shutdown is in effect – that means no fishing, hiking, horse-back riding, or camping inside the park.

“That’s a slap in the face to the American people,” Mitchell said. “They should have never, ever let this happen.”

One of the areas shut down is the popular Cades Cove – an old community that was donated by local residents to the federal government some 75 years ago, the mayor said.

“Hundreds of families gave up that land, packed up their stuff and moved out to give the country that park,” he said. ‘Now, they’re watching the government shut the gate on it.”

Even more insulting is the National Park Service won’t allow family members to visit old grave sites.

“Some of them have family members buried there,” the mayor said. “And they go and visit every week at the churches still in the cove. They are not able to do that.”

It’s gotten to the point where Mayor Mitchell said Americans are ready to start fighting back.
“It’s almost like they are pushing to see how far they can push before the American people say enough is enough,” he said.

obama Closes Ocean

The Obama administration has closed off parts of the ocean around Florida to public access as part of the government shutdown...

Priests threatened with arrest if they minister to military during shutdown

In a stunning development, some military priests are facing arrest if they celebrate mass or practice their faith on military bases during the federal government shutdown.

“With the government shutdown, many [government service] and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer,” wrote John Schlageter, the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, in an op-ed this week. “During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so."

More shutdown nonsense here.

On the bright side, it's beginning to look like the American people are getting fed up with the tin horn dictators little temper tantrum. Acts of defiance are springing up across the country, prompted by the WWII vet's storming of the barricades at the World War II Memorial.

As the U.S. government shutdown enters its second week, squeezed businessmen, exasperated citizens and even a few fed-up politicians have joined forces across the United States in acts of defiance large and small.

From re-opening monuments and scaling park barricades to hiring lawyers, individuals and institutions have stopped waiting for the House Republicans and the White House to end the feud that has tied up many government services.

Who knows? With any luck these little sparks will ignite a giant conflagration that reduces the obama administration and the overreaching federal government to an impotent heap of ashes.

Hey, a guy can dream...

(H/T The Whited Sepulchre)

Cradle To Grave, Air Force Style

Would you buy a new car and, once you get it home, lock it up in your garage and never drive it?

Of course not.

But that's what the Air Force is doing with its new cargo planes.

New Air Force cargo planes fly straight into mothballs

The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn’t stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.

A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans...

Italian-built?!? Whatever happened to the American military buying American-made aircraft from an American company? I know I'm out of touch with military purchasing procedures, and I can see the conflict between being a good steward of taxpayer dollars vs. supporting our national economy and jobs, but still ... Italian-built?!?

... have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News.  The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson...

 a.k.a. "The Boneyard." Or, in Air Force speak, "recoverable storage."

Local politics appear to have played a role in the planes continued manufacture...

Politics played a role?!? I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!!!

... Ohio's senators, Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman, were both defenders of the C-27J when 800 jobs and a mission at Mansfield Air National Guard Base depended on it. Brown urged the military in a 2011 letter to purchase up to 42 of the aircraft, saying too few planes "will weaken our national and homeland defense."

$567 million spent in order to preserve 800 jobs. If you do the math that works out to over $7 million per job. Is that the going rate to buy votes in Ohio?

Not to mention the example it sets for others. Spend money that's not yours to improve your political standing.

That's a lesson the politicians have learned all too well...

The C-27J. Note that this one belongs to the Lithuanian Air Force. (The C-27J has been sold to numerous air forces around the world.)

For those of you interested in the backstory behind the C-27J more information can be found here.

More FOD 2013.10.07

I've got to quit browsing the Internet. I keep finding things that send me screaming down the driveway ... like this story.

Despite Obama Shutdown, Parks Service to Allow Illegal Alien Rally

In Obama’s America, illegal aliens have more rights that regular citizens, especially World War II vets.

A planned immigration reform rally will take place on the National Mall on Tuesday even though the site is closed due to the government shutdown.

Organizers for the “Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform” were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday.

A few scattered barriers around the park have signs informing visitors that the area is closed as a result of the government shutdown.

Susana Flores, a spokesperson for the rally, confirmed for the Washington Examiner that the Park Service will allow the event to take place under the group’s rights granted by the First Amendment.

About 30 members of Congress are expected to attend the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

The event is hosted by several immigration activist groups, together with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO.

The hypocrisy meter just shattered.

FOD 2013.10.07

Sorry today's post is late, but it took me a while to get my blood pressure back down where it belongs after reading the statement below. (We also were without power for a few hours this morning, but that's beside the point.)

In a Sep. 17 memo from the person in charge of shutting down the U.S. government,* White House Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Burwell, she provided the following instruction to federal agencies.

"The determination of which services continue during an appropriations lapse is not affected by whether the costs of shutdown exceed the costs of maintaining services."

That, in a nutshell, is the perfect illustration of how far out of touch with reality the obama administration is.

* A single person shut down the entire U.S. government for the first time in 17 years.

Not a congressman, but an unelected woman named Sylvia Burwell who, as the relatively new director of the Office of Management and Budget, sent the email that initiated the process that has closed national parks, visitors’ centers and even the “panda-cam” at the National Zoo.

I also ran across this snippet which very cleverly creates a word that quite appropriately describes what obama has done to prevent access to our national landmarks - barrycading.

Over the past week we have witnessed the impressive shutdown theater engineered by the Obama administration. By shutdown theater I am referring to the closing or Barrycading of such landmarks as the WWII memorial, Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Iwo Jima Memorial.

Finally, to further highlight the pettiness of obama and his minions in unnecessarily closing federal parks and lands, we have this story of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker basically telling obama to stick it where the sun don't shine.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is defying a directive from the National Park Service to close down several state parks that receive federal funding in the wake of the partial government shutdown.

The Republican governor has directed the state Natural Resources Department to keep open parks that receive a majority of their funding from the state, The Hill reported.

The department recently intervened after the Fish and Wildlife Service placed barricades near a  Mississippi River boat launch because it was on federal land. The barricades were removed because of a decades-old agreement between Wisconsin and the federal government, state officials said.

State officials also said Wisconsin will not not fully follow a Fish and Wildlife Service directive that hunting and fishing be prohibited on federal lands during the partial shutdown...

Could this be the present-day equivalent of the firing on Ft. Sumter?

One can only hope.

Not for an actual Civil War, of course, but for an organized, impassioned, and resolute pushback against the petty tyranny of obama and his administration.

Sunday Funnies 2013.10.06

We'll start today with a few classics (Yay!), and then segue into politics (Boo!).

How many are worried about a government shutdown? How many are more worried about it starting back up? -- Jay Leno

I'm glad the government has shut down. Think about it, for the first time in years it's safe to talk on the phone and send emails without anybody listening in. -- Jay Leno

Jimmy Fallon said that there were reports that some members of Congress were caught drinking while they were debating the bill that could have avoided the government shutdown. "See, Congress is just like most Americans; they need to get drunk before they screw people."

Jimmy Kimmel said: “I want the names of the idiots who elected these people. Oh, wait — it was us? Never mind.”

One of my own: obama promised to shut down Guantanamo Bay. Instead, he shut down the federal government. (I think we came out ahead on this one.)

Shutdown pick-up lines:

"Ted Cruz isn't the only one who can go for 21 hours."

"The Lincoln Bedroom is shut down, but mine is open."

And from Doug Ross, a bittersweet comment:

"...without non-essential workers, who would barricade the open-air World War II Memorial from veterans?"

Business As Usual - Not

Wouldn't it be nice if the government was run like a business? Revenues would have to match or exceed expenses. Customers would have to be satisfied. The government would have to be efficient and effective, or it wouldn't survive. Which brings us to this bit of news.

Lost in all the hullabaloo surrounding the ongoing government shutdown was the news that the U.S. Post Office has defaulted on its debt - again.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) defaulted on its debt last night. No, it has nothing to do with the partial shutdown of the government. The USPS is not affected by that. Rather, it has its very own, parallel fiscal crisis that threatens its viability as an institution.

Yesterday’s default—on $5.6 billion owed to the U.S. Treasury for funding of retiree health benefits—will be the third such default in as many years. The USPS just doesn’t have the money. After seven straight years of deficits, the USPS is just about out of cash. And things are likely to get worse before they get better: Postmaster General Patrick Donahue reports that by mid-October, the government-owned enterprise will have no more than five days’ worth of cash on hand.

The Post Office's solution?

Raise the price of stamps.

This week, the United States Postal Service unveiled its grand plan to raise revenues, close its budget deficit, and save the Post Office now and forever. It's going to ... raise stamp prices by 3 cents.

As grand plans go, this one is kind of underwhelming. Worse, it won't work. Not by a long shot -- and I'll tell you why.

The United States Postal Service just finished reporting a $740 million quarterly operating loss last month. As things currently stand, the USPS is on track to lose $6 billion this year. Yet by the Postmaster General's own admission, raising stamp prices by 3 cents will raise only about $2 billion in revenue. It won't come close to fixing the problem.

That's a perfect example of what's wrong with government 'thinking.' Fewer and fewer people are using the post office; its customer base is decreasing. The government response: "Hey, we know how to attract more customers. Let's raise the price."

Which leads to my next point. If I buy an airplane ticket and the flight is cancelled, I expect a refund. If I pay to see a movie and the show is cancelled, I expect my money back. That's just basic business practice.

Well, I've paid my money to the federal government via a bevy of taxes to numerous to mention. Since the government is currently closed for business and I'm not receiving the products and services which I've already paid for, I'm entitled to a refund. If I don't get it, someone (everyone!) should be fired.

We wouldn't accept being treated like this by a business. Why do we sit still for it from our government?

Friday Follies Happy Hour 2013.10.04

From the movie 1776: "While General George Washington is conducting the struggle against the British Empire on the battlefield, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia piddles away its time over trivial matters and cannot begin debating the question of American independence."

The money quote takes place during the first 30 seconds.

Some things never change...

Busy Busy Busy

I thought that life would be slower paced once I retired.

As Johnny Carson would say, "Wrong again, leisure breath!"

I won't bore you with everything I've been doing (or 'volunteered' to do - but that's another story). But I will mention what I spent all day yesterday doing.

My 95-year-old father lives in an assisted living facility. It's a pretty nice place. He's got his own apartment there - a two room efficiency with a bedroom, bathroom, and living area complete with kitchenette.

It also comes with faulty plumbing, which managed to soak his carpet a couple of weeks ago. We got the plumbing repaired PDQ (the management was very accommodating, especially once the "M" word (Mold) was mentioned). It did, however, take a while to get the carpet replaced.

That's what we did yesterday. He had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so my wife took him to that while my BIL and I moved his furniture out. The carpet guys then took over; out with the old and in with the new.

While all that was going on Dad finished with the doctor. We met him for lunch at Jim's, where he had his favorite - biscuits and gravy (my favorite as well).

After that it was back to the assisted living facility, where the whole famn damily took a nap in the sun room.

Around 3:00 the carpet guys were finished, so we moved everything back in, than said good-bye to Dad ... just in time to get stuck in the San Antonio rush hour traffic heading out of town.

Got home just in time to start dinner. Since I'm retired now my wife expects me to cook

So I spent the next couple of hours bouncing around the kitchen making Mustard-Lime Chicken, accompanied by Baked Sweet Potatoes with Lime and Cilantro and a fresh garden salad.

Meanwhile, my wife sat in an easy chair and read the paper while drinking a beer.

Just who the hell is retired around here, anyway...?

Quick Hits 2013.10.03

A collection of random observations concerning the ongoing government shutdown:

Darrell Issa gets it right.

Speaking of obama, the  California Republican said "I think he's nonessential personnel..."

Harry Reid gets it wrong.

CNN reporter Dana Bash asked Reid if he would consider passing a bill that funds the National Institute of Health:

BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?

REID: Why would we want to do that?

The National Park Service runs amok.

More personnel sent to WWII memorial than Benghazi; Park Service closes park it doesn't run

-- At the World War II Memorial on The Mall in Washington, where veterans have been staging protests to keep it open, Washington Examiner's Charlie Spiering reports that at least seven officials were dispatched Wednesday morning to set up a ring of barricades to block tourists from the memorial. That is two more than the State Department had in Benghazi a year ago on the night of the terrorist attack that killed four, including the U.S. ambassador.

-- National Park Officials closed down the educational Claude Moore Colonial Farm near the CIA in McLean, Va., even though the federal government doesn't fund or staff the park popular with children and schools. Just because the privately-operated park is on Park Service land, making the federal government simply its landlord, the agency decided to close it.

Pointing to Park Service claims that parks have to be closed because the agency can’t afford staff during the government closure, (Anna Eberly, the managing director wrote: “What utter crap. We have operated the Farm successfully for 32 years after the NPS cut the Farm from its budget in 1980 and are fully staffed and prepared to open today. But there are barricades at the Pavilions and entrance to the Farm. And if you were to park on the grass and visit on your own, you run the risk of being arrested. Of course, that will cost the NPS staff salaries to police the Farm against intruders while leaving it open will cost them nothing.”

She added: “In all the years I have worked with the National Park Service, first as a volunteer for six years in Richmond where I grew up, then as an NPS employee at the for eight very long years and now enjoyably as managing director for the last 32 years — I have never worked with a more arrogant, arbitrary and vindictive group representing the NPS. I deeply apologize that we have to disappoint you today by being closed but know that we are working while the National Park Service is not — as usual.”

Cutting Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face

Cancelling the military academy football games this weekend, as threatened by the obama administration, is not only unnecessary, but costly. The games don't use federal funds. They are paid for through the athletic associations at the academies, which are privately funded. In fact, cancelling the games will result in a revenue loss of around $4 million.

The potential revenue loss to the Naval Academy Athletic Association would likely exceed $4 million, he said. That money comes from ticket sales, sponsorship, parking and concession revenue. The largest revenue stream is the payout NAAA receives from CBS Sports Television…

The Naval Academy Athletic Association is a private organization not funded by the government...

But the Naval Academy and its sister schools report to the Defense Deprtment, which obeys the orders of its political master - obama.

This is nothing but cheap and transparent grandstanding at its sleaziest. But it's what we've come to expect from obama and the democrats.

The Ten Percent Solution

I'm a little busy these days, so I'm cobbling together today's post from a couple of sources. But I think they fit together nicely. Judge for yourself.

Congress Sinks To An All-Time Low

With the government shut down over a bitter partisan battle over the new health care law, the approval rating for Congress is plummeting to historic lows ... just 10% of Americans say they approve of the job Congress is doing, an all-time low in a CNN poll.

There are around 300 million or so people in this country. That means approximately 30 million of our fellow Americans think congress is doing a good job.

Who are these cretins?

If you actually think Congress is doing a good job, something is terribly awry in your life. People in your family need to stage an immediate intervention.

...If you do know people who actually believe Congress is doing a good job, please watch over them carefully. These are the type of people that lead to warning labels on products like bleach that state "Do not drink" and on blow dryers that read: "For external use only."

It's not enough to identify a problem, though. Like I tell my kids, "Don't curse the darkness. Light a candle."
Their response? Sighs, eye rolls, and a weary "Yes, Dad..."

But, dear readers, I can't hear your sighs or see your eyes roll. So you'll have to indulge me while I answer my own unasked, but implied, question.

Some say we should impeach or recall Congress. Well, you can't. The Constitution only provides one procedure to remove members of Congress. Want to guess who decides on when that happens? Yup, it's Congress.

We all know that congress flat out refuses to expel its members, even when they're guilty of egregious behavior. Don't believe that? Just google Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters, and ethics.

Only five members have been expelled in the history of the House ... Since 1789, the Senate has expelled only 15 of its members - and 14 of them had been charged with support of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

 That trend continues through today.

Can we realistically hope that since the congressional approval rating is so low that there will be a big house cleaning in the 2014 midterm elections on its own? Unlikely.

Even in 2012, when Congress was riding "high" with an abysmal 18% approval rating, did we see many members of Congress booted? Nope. In fact, 90% of the members of Congress who sought re-election in 2012 won.

There's a depressing symmetry in those statistics. 10% disapproval rating, 90% re-election rate. As the folks around here say, "¿Por qué?"

The reality is that Congressional districts have been crafted (aka gerrymandered) by state legislatures in an often grotesque fashion, rendering a large number of congressional seats uncompetitive. Consequently, congressional reps have the freedom to be more unbearable and less compromising than ever before.

So what else can we do? Some call for term limits -- which I think is a great idea -- although you never know if the same politicians would just be voted in again. And to implement that, we would have to amend the U.S. Constitution. There are two procedures to do that: Congress starts the process by passing a resolution in support of the proposition with a two-thirds vote. Ain't gonna happen.

The other method is by way of a Constitutional Convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. That is a possibility if a large grassroots movement emerged, but it's challenging. Not one of the 27 amendments to our Constitution were enacted by this procedure.

The easiest way is to effect change is to pledge to collectively put aside partisan politics and vote only for candidates in the 2014 primaries and general election who run on a platform of going to Congress to work in a bipartisan manner for our common good. It's time we send home those people who would want the world to burn because it helps them get on TV and furthers their own political ambitions.

That's great advice. It's also very unlikely to occur. Still, as my father used to say, "If enough people beat their heads against a brick wall it will eventually fall over.

If we can only get that unhappy 90% to turn into head-bangers, we might have a chance...

First Impression Of The Government Shutdown

In an extended shutdown, most of the federal workforce would go without pay, but the checks will keep coming to the 535 current members of congress.

I thought we'd furloughed all the non-essential workers...

(I posted an earlier version of this and then accidentally deleted it ... oops!)

Call Me Pessimistic - Part II

Following up on my previous post, evidently I'm not the only one who thinks the democrats have pwned the GOP over this whole government shutdown business.

Tonight House Republicans offered a series of measures to restore funding to the national parks, District of Columbia operations and veterans’ services. But House Democrats voted against all three measures, sending them down to defeat. So the Democrats’ hypocrisy is revealed: they wring their hands over those poor Americans who want to visit the parks, but when they have the opportunity to fund the parks, they turn it down.

Of course, the Republicans could have passed these measures without any Democratic votes, but they followed a procedure that required a two-thirds majority, hoping either to pressure Democrats into voting for the bills, or embarrass them if they didn’t. So the whole thing was political theater.

The Democrats say they won’t pick and choose; either the whole government is funded, or none of it. They evidently don’t see any political risk from keeping popular government  services shut down, and they are probably right. The whole shutdown dance is, if not a disaster, then certainly a setback for the Republican Party. Whose idea was it, anyway? Today’s headlines should have been all about the countless problems that attended the launch of Obamacare’s insurance exchanges, but instead, that story was mostly lost in the shuffle. Moreover, Syria has been forgotten and Iran is off the radar screen; the Republicans’ effort to defund or delay Obamacare, which was doomed from the start, has sucked the oxygen out of every other story. It would have been hard to come up with a strategy that more effectively took Democrats off the hook.

Politics is a game played by politicians–a game with very high stakes–and it helps if your side’s politicians are good at it.

Yes, the democrats are worthless hypocrites. And yes, the republicans are on the side of the angels in this fight. But in the court of public opinion, the dems are kicking the repubs' ass (aided and abetted, of course, by their accomplices in the media).

John Boehner et al. need to pull a rabbit out of a hat if they want to snatch victory from the jaws of this impending defeat.

Call Me Pessimistic, But...

Like I told my wife last night, "The government may be shut down, but Old Faithful is still open for business."

But seriously, folks...

I wonder if the government shutdown isn't some master plan orchestrated by the evil geniuses of the left. In one fell swoop they have reversed the slump in obama's approval ratings and weakened the GOPs chances of picking up seats in the 2014 elections.

Is it Election 2012 déjà vu as the government shutdown battle escalates?

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Obama's job performance. Forty-seven percent (47%) disapprove ... The president’s job approval ratings continue to improve and now mark his best showing since mid-April.

Democrats have now extended their lead over Republicans to four points – 42% to 38% - in the latest Generic Congressional Ballot. This is their biggest lead and highest level of support since mid-April.

As one commentator puts it:

Ironically, the Obamacare exchanges are launching despite the shutdown (just as Sen. Coburn said they would). What's more, if the government shutdown wasn't taking up all the space, the front page of every major daily in the country would have had an above-the-fold story on how the Obamacare exchanges aren't actually working as planned because of software and other tech problems.

So the score is: conservatives didn't manage to stop Obamacare. Conservatives are oddly celebrating a shutdown they claimed they did not want. The GOP is getting blamed. Oh, and how are voters looking at this? A new Quinnipiac poll out this morning finds voters opposed 72%–22% to Congress shutting down the fed govt to block implementation of Obamacare.

Brilliant work. And, of course, we still have the eventual GOP surrender to look forward to, wherein the ultimate pointlessness of this strategy is revealed for all to see.

Given these poll results, I don't see the democrats giving in. It's far more likely that Boehner and the House will cave and pass some sort of funding bill without any changes to obamacare.

This is not about whether or not obamacare is a good law. It's not. It's a terrible piece of legislation for many reasons, from moral to practical. But that doesn't matter now. The republicans are facing the political fallout from a misguided and futile effort to link the repeal or defunding of obamacare to keeping the federal government up and running, warts and all.

The GOP resistance is futile. Its inevitable defeat will be total and embarrassing.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it...

I Couldn't Agree More