U.S. Government Shuts Down

[Night Strike]

Only 28% of the federal government's workforce has been furloughed because they are non-essential. A 28% cut to federal government would balance the budget. Sounds like we know where to start cutting.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/govt-shutdown-28-percent-workforce-furloughed-38-percent-black-teens

[Phatscotty]

besides people directly impacted, I think the media are the only ones having a hissy fit all day and trying to juxtapose their own hype as the American people's hype. It's BS I don't even listen to what Pelosi or Reid or Obama say. why would anyone when you can predict with 100% certainty what they are going to say before they even say it.

For the most part, the only things I have heard the last couple days from people is "So then I don't have to pay taxes?" upon which I chide them harshly "WHERE IS YOUR PATRIOTISM! IT'S FOR THE POOR PEOPLE HAVE YOU NO COMPASSION!!!" then one of them got angry and looked at me and said "dude, I am poor!!"

[Phatscotty]

btw, anyone following how Obama (who for sure does not hate America) is treating WW2 vets?

The Obama administration has decided to block access to public memorials on the National Mall as a result of the government shutdown.

The decision is similar to the cancellation of White House tours when the sequester cuts took effect.

On Monday, the first day of the government shutdown, a number of veterans showed up at the World War II memorial to find access blocked by barricades, despite the fact the memorial is a public space open at all times with very little oversight from the Park Police.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued a statement blaming the barricaded memorials on the Republican Party.

“Thanks to the Republican government shutdown, tourists lined up outside Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area outside Las Vegas but couldn’t get in. Thanks to the Republican government shutdown, a group of World War II veterans, some of them in wheelchairs, who traveled from Iowa and Mississippi had to break down barricades to visit a Washington, D.C. memorial in their honor.”

However, the White House was informed of the veterans’ visit and chose to block access.

A report from the Daily Caller said Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., had requested permission from the White House for veterans to have access to the public sidewalk leading to the memorial.

The veterans were visiting the memorial as part of Honor Flight, a non-profit group that provides veterans free transport to the nation’s capital to visit the memorials to the wars they fought in.

Palazzo’s office was in touch with the heads of the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and the Capitol Police. He said every agency rejected his request to allow entry to the veterans, many of whom are octogenarians and some of whom are in poor health.

“We got the heads up that they will be barricaded and specifically asked for an exception for these heroes,” Palazzo told the Daily Caller. “We were denied and told, ‘It’s a government shutdown, what do you expect?’ when we contacted the liaison for the White House.

“At first I thought it was a huge bureaucratic oversight,” Palazzo said in the report, “but having talked with the officials I can’t help but think this was politically motivated.”

Palazzo said veterans from all over the nation will be coming to D.C. this week, so he and other congressmen “took an informal vote” to move the barricade.

“Sometime it’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission,” he said with a smile.

“This is the best civil disobedience we’ve seen in Washington in a while,” added Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich.

On Wednesday, a new wave of veterans who flew in from Ohio, Kansas and Missouri were forced to move barricades at the same memorial, a spokeswoman for Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., told Fox News.

“We plan on going through the barricades unless we are forcefully stopped,” John Doole of Heartland Honor Flight told WDAF-TV. “For some of these gentlemen, this is the only time they’ve been to D.C., they’re not going to have the opportunity to come back, so this will be their only time to see the memorial, so it’s critical they go there today.”

World War II veteran Pete Kesser was resolute.

“I’m not going to say we’re going to storm the barricades, wouldn’t be allowed too, but this is a tough group of guys, so don’t screw with them,” he said.

“A lot of my old comrades were lost in World War II,” Ian Drake told the TV station. “Eighteen of 100 in my graduating class were lost in World War II, so it’s important for me to show my respect at the memorial.”

The Honor Flight Network recognizes American veterans for their sacrifices and achievements by flying them to Washington, D.C., to see their memorials at no cost. Top priority is given to World War II and terminally ill veterans from all wars.

Photo: Lachlan Markay

Veterans have been stacked up for months on Honor Flight rosters, awaiting their chance to visit the memorial.

“They’re in their mid-80s to 90s, and this is the only opportunity they’re ever going to have to be able to see that memorial,” says Diane Gresse, Honor Flight’s executive director. “Most of these men and women have been on a waiting list for one or two years, sometimes longer.”

“Time is of the essence,” Honor Flight makes clear on its website.

Gresse told Time magazine: “A lot of these veterans hang on until they can experience an Honor Flight trip.”

One congressman is suggesting the Obama administration is now spending money to make sure the public is impacted by the government shutdown by dispatching special crews to set up barricades around public sidewalks so that people are kept away from patriotic locations like the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.

“This administration thinks this is a political game,” Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, said on Fox News Wednesday. “This is outrageous. This is a sidewalk. Leave it open.

“And I’m wondering what are they going to do next — hang a drapery over Mt. Rushmore? I mean, this is ridiculous!”

Gohmert said the open areas should be accessible to passersby even if lights and fountains are turned off.

He also offered a solution for similar problems.

“For those of use who voted to create memorials and have oversight, we’re authorized to go in and inspect them, even if it’s a surprise inspection,” he said.

And the best “inspectors” for such work?

“World War II veterans are the very best people,” he said.

Gohmert said he was at the World War II memorial on Tuesday when a group of veterans arrived from Mississippi.

“We were out there … magically the tape parted and the barriers opened,” he said.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., also charged that the barricades – one commentator spelled them “barrycades” – were political.

“It’s open air … let these people in. They deserve it,” she said.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blasted the federal government for trying to block World War II vets from visiting their memorial, saying “some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades.”

“If Harry Reid and the President want to keep the parks closed – I mean did you read the story today? 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,” Rand said Tuesday on the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.”

The U.S. House will try again, as early as Wednesday, to provide funding for the National Park Service and other government functions, even though Democrats in the Senate said they would refused to cooperate with the effort on Tuesday.

WND reported Tuesday when the confrontation developed in Washington and the barricades proved to be no barrier to determined defenders of the nation.

According to the Atlantic Wire, Rep. Steve King helped distract a park police officer while the vets tore down the fences.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Bachmann arrived at the scene after receiving panicked emails about the closure and cut the police tape to let veterans inside.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., greets veterans in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 1, 2013

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he believed the Park Service opened the gates. Huizenga said the congressmen did it. Palazzo said the barricades just seemed to part.

“I’m not going to enforce the ‘no stopping or standing’ sign for a group of 90 World War II veterans,” said a Park Police officer, who declined to give his name. “I’m a veteran myself.”

“It just goes to show you why we won World War II,” said Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio President Lee Armstrong.

“The Germans and the Japanese couldn’t contain us. They weren’t going to let barriers contain them today. They wanted to see their memorial,” Armstrong told WNWO-TV.

Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio has a trip scheduled to depart from Toledo Oct. 9.

“We will make the call this Friday to determine if the flight is still a go, or if we will have to re-schedule.”

When Armstrong called the parks service, he was told they would face arrest.

“I said, are you kidding me? You’re going to arrest a 90/91-year-old veteran from seeing his memorial? If it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t be there. She said, ‘That’s correct sir.’”

When Armstrong asked for her name, he said, she promptly hung up the phone.

On Twitter, the actions of the 91-member tour group that had traveled on an Honor Flight from Mississippi were getting a lot of attention.

“Honor flight vets just knocked over the barriers at the WWII Memorial to get inside, #shutdown or no,” wrote Leo Shane.

“Do NOT mess with WWII vets. … No sign of folks leaving. The vets have control of the memorial,” said Sarah Winman.

Photo: Lachlan Markay

Atlantic Wire said: “It’s now a party down there, with Iowa veterans joining in on the fun. … Shane reports park police have completely given up trying to keep people out of the memorial.”

Writer Connor Simpson explained, “These are your first, and probably only, bad a– heroes of the government shutdown.”

In a Twitter post from a Bill Murphy, a park officer is seen making a phone call as the vets gathered at the memorial.

Adam DeAngelis commented: “The officer is probably getting an answering machine and immediately realizing ‘oh right, no one’s there.’”

The Obama administration ordered all national parks and some other federal facilities closed because the Republicans in the U.S. House want to address the massive problems with the highly unpopular Obamacare.

Refusing compromise, Democrats in the Senate allowed the budget money for federal government operations to run out.

Forbes pointed out the politics at work in the sequester cuts last winter.
“American families cannot take a tour of the White House because of a cut of $352,000, which equals the cost of operating Air Force One for two hours. My guess is that they would prefer for the president to helicopter down to Camp David for his next outing to save enough to keep the White House open to the American public.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/obamas-barry ... RQMu9l7.99

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/obamas-barry ... RQMu9l7.99

[Night Strike]

besides people directly impacted, I think the media are the only ones having a hissy fit all day and trying to juxtapose their own hype as the American people's hype. It's BS I don't even listen to what Pelosi or Reid or Obama say. why would anyone when you can predict with 100% certainty what they are going to say before they even say it.

To be fair, I don't think anyone expected Reid to say he didn't care about kids with cancer, especially with Obama's crusade to enact any legislation that will save just 1 child's life.

[karel]

the shut down is a good thing,you all need to stop over reacting,we not spending money,we saving..and for the debt ceiling,f*ck it,you dont have the cash you cant spend it,so shut both down

[DoomYoshi]

Due to a lapse in federal funding, employees have been furloughed. We will not be able to update this page until the furlough has ended. We regret the inconvenience that this may cause.

The amount of times I have reached this message is ridiculous. I can`t believe how many people got paid to put these messages up over the internet.

[karel]

Due to a lapse in federal funding, employees have been furloughed. We will not be able to update this page until the furlough has ended. We regret the inconvenience that this may cause.

The amount of times I have reached this message is ridiculous. I can`t believe how many people got paid to put these messages up over the internet.

so..the feds have way to many employes anyways,we need \to make cuts anyways

[rishaed]

Turn off the fancitries, but let the parks be open? You pay to get in parks/see memorials (and if you lower the costs associated with them I'm sure they could actually support themselves. As well as keeping cash in reserve (away from sticky politicians hands) ,if they get a surplus, in case of years where they run a deficit.)
SO yeah cut the parts of the government that actually generate some form of income, but keep the most expensive ones running. Great Idea!! {BTW if they stopped paying the rank and file military personal they should be ashamed of themselves.]

[Metsfanmax]

Turn off the fancitries, but let the parks be open? You pay to get in parks/see memorials (and if you lower the costs associated with them I'm sure they could actually support themselves. As well as keeping cash in reserve (away from sticky politicians hands) ,if they get a surplus, in case of years where they run a deficit.)
SO yeah cut the parts of the government that actually generate some form of income, but keep the most expensive ones running. Great Idea!! {BTW if they stopped paying the rank and file military personal they should be ashamed of themselves.]

So you're criticizing the government for keeping active the expensive operations that don't generate any income... but suggesting that we should continue paying for over a million active duty military personnel?

[DoomYoshi]

The poll ... its gone!!!!

[Phatscotty]

What's up with all the crazy's? Is the closing of a park really a reason for self immolation? Or is this how much the Democrats are scaring the unwashed masses? Or was this another one of those paranoid crazy's who thinks the government is watching them and listening to their phone calls and reading their emails? I'm being serious here, this might be a major unintended consequence of the NSA big-brother revelations. All those people freak out when their belief is confirmed.

Chaos in DC as man sets himself on FIRE on the Mall a day after woman was shot dead after ramming White House gates

Man was sitting on the National Mall when witnesses saw him douse himself with gasoline and light himself on fire
First responders were on the scene in minutes and said that he was conscious and breathing before being airlifted to a local hospital
Comes one day after police shot and killed a woman after she rammed her car into a barricade near the White House
Man was conscious and breathing when police arrive and is now said to be in critical condition

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -Mall.html

[rishaed]

Turn off the fancitries, but let the parks be open? You pay to get in parks/see memorials (and if you lower the costs associated with them I'm sure they could actually support themselves. As well as keeping cash in reserve (away from sticky politicians hands) ,if they get a surplus, in case of years where they run a deficit.)
SO yeah cut the parts of the government that actually generate some form of income, but keep the most expensive ones running. Great Idea!! {BTW if they stopped paying the rank and file military personal they should be ashamed of themselves.]

So you're criticizing the government for keeping active the expensive operations that don't generate any income... but suggesting that we should continue paying for over a million active duty military personnel?

As much as I realize that the military is a huge expense, I also realize that it is not the fault of the rank and file military personnel who are half way around the world away from their families, risking their lives by order of said government, and could be doing many other things. So yes I am in favor of paying all those who are actively serving overseas (in particular) or at home. Exceptions to this would be NSA/CIA? activities. Because at the end of the day even though its not "utilitarian" they deserve not to get the shaft. (Note this does not mean go ahead and start another war....)

[DoomYoshi]

I have an assignment in my Food Microbiology class that uses information from the USDA. Now we can`t do the assignment, so it has been postponed indefinitely.

It`s only a matter of time before all assignments are done on Wikipedia.

[Phatscotty]

[Nobunaga]

Uh oh. The Feds are closing the ocean.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government ... f-Shutdown

[crispybits]

Can't be bothered reading the whole thread, so if this has been posted already forgive me, but I found it amusing:

http://ceedubb.com/2013/10/bill-is-a-fucking-jackass/

So, Imagine that the company you work for held a poll, and asked everyone if they thought it would be a good idea to put a soda machine in the break room. The poll came back, and the majority of your colleagues said “Yes”, indicating that they would like a soda machine. Some said no, but the majority said yes. So, a week later, there’s a soda machine.

Now imagine that Bill in accounting voted against the soda machine. He has a strong hatred for caffeinated soft drinks, thinks they are bad you you, whatever. He campaigns throughout the office to get the machine removed. Well, management decides “OK, we’ll ask again” and again, the majority of people say “Yes, lets keep the soda machine.”

Bill continues to campaign, and management continues to ask the employees, and every time, the answer is in favor of the soda machine. This happens, lets say… 35 times. Eventually, Bill says “OK, I’M NOT PROCESSING PAYROLL ANYMORE UNTIL THE SODA MACHINE IS REMOVED”, so nobody will get paid unless management removes the machine.

What should we do???

Answer: Fire Bill and get someone who will do the fucking job.

Bonus: Bill tells everyone that he was willing to “Negotiate”, to come to a solution where everyone got their payroll checks, but only so long as that negotiation capitulated to his demand to remove the soda machine.

Bill is a fucking jackass.

-Anonymous

[saxitoxin]

almost

So, Imagine that the company you work for held a poll, and asked everyone if they thought it would be a good idea to put a soda machine in the break room. The poll came back, and the majority of your colleagues said “Yes”, indicating that they would like a soda machine. Some said no, but the majority said yes. So, a week later, there’s a soda machine.

The week after that the board fires 25% of the employees and hires new ones.

Now imagine that Bill in accounting voted against the soda machine. He has a strong hatred for caffeinated soft drinks, thinks they are bad you you, whatever. He campaigns throughout the office to get the machine removed. Well, management decides “OK, we’ll ask again” and again, this time, the majority of people - with the aid of the new employees who, like Bill, hate soda - say “Yes, lets keep the soda machine.” let's blow-up the soda machine.

Bill continues to campaign, and management continues to ask the employees, and every time, the answer is against the new soda machine. in favor of the soda machine. This happens, lets say… 35 times. Eventually, Bill says “OK, I’M NOT PROCESSING PAYROLL ANYMORE UNTIL THE SODA MACHINE IS REMOVED”, so nobody will get paid unless management removes the machine.

This standoff continues until the day the soda machine is supposed to be plugged in when everyone finds out management forgot to put soda in it in the first place.

[Phatscotty]

He's Cut! He's Cut!

[patches70]

[saxitoxin]

Uh oh ... the Senate/White House is starting to look like Lord of the Flies. And they only lasted a week before they started going after each other -

Democratic cracks

For the past several weeks, Senate Democrats and the White House have shown a remarkable amount of unity in the controversial fight surrounding the debt ceiling.

Then came shutdown Day Seven. Just as top Senate Democrats began to lay the groundwork to raise the U.S. government’s borrowing limit through 2014, senior White House officials refused to rule out a short-term increase. “This is very disconcerting to us,” a senior Senate Democratic leadership aide said on condition of anonymity, referring to comments by the president’s top economic adviser, Gene Sperling, at POLITICO’S Playbook Breakfast on Monday. “All along, the president and White House have been firm on what they want, both in a [government funding bill] and debt ceiling. So we’re concerned about this.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/d ... 97955.html

[Falkomagno]

Well, actually the solution is quite easy. Give Obama's first child to the republicans, that will placate them

[Phatscotty]

...about to match Bush's lowest rating on his worst week over an 8 year period.

Obama approval rating drops to 37%, but Obama is a Democrat so the media won't report it as they are 100% carrying Obama's waterbucket and putting out pure propaganda. Cable news host are meeting with Obama behind closed doors on a monthly basis.

I just checked CNN.com, and Obama's new all time low is not even on their site. Not on MSNBC either. If either of these are your primary news source, you gotta know by now they are intentionally misleading you.

This is how CNN dealt with Bush at 36%.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN: It's 4 p.m. here in Washington. So you're getting the first look right now at our brand-new poll. The president's job approval rating has taken a downward turn again, falling to only 36%. [break] This represents his lowest rating ever in the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. [break] The president's poll numbers are pretty bad, pretty awful right now, rock bottom as far as the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. [break] The president's Iraq problem and his new low point in the polls. [break] His approval and policies now are at new lows. [break] The president's job approval number in this new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, rock bottom, the lowest it's ever been. [break] It's 5 p.m. here in Washington where President Bush takes a beating in our latest poll. His approval rating at a low ebb. [break] Our latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll just out in the past hour shows the president at an all-time low. [break] His job approval rating at a new low. [break] That's rock bottom as far as our poll is concerned. [break] It's 7 p.m. here in Washington. The war in Iraq comes home to roost for President Bush. Our latest poll numbers showing his approval rating at a new low. [break] Also: President Bush hits a new low in the polls. [break] Now back to our lead story: President Bush's approval rating now at an all-time low. [break] As we noted, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows his job approval rating at a new low. [break] President Bush's approval rating at a new low, 36%.

that, along with all the other media, back when they had credibility, is the reason why Democrats won on 2006.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/36 ... c-mccarthy

Talk about burying the lede. Seven paragraphs into a report it headlines “Poll: GOP Gets The Blame In Shutdown,” which purports to show how lopsidedly an angry public has come down against Republicans over the so-called shutdown of the government, the Associated Press grudgingly drops this little detail:

Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it.

In fact, the spin notwithstanding, the poll is full of bad news for the administration. While the AP/GfK poll finds that 62 percent blame Republicans for the shutdown, “about half” blame Obama and congressional Democrats. Eighty percent of respondents “felt no personal impact from the shutdown” (even though 68 perecnt say it’s “a major problem for the country”). Fifty-two percent say Obama is not doing enough to cooperate with Republicans.

As some of us argued when pre-”shutdown” polls indicated heavy opposition to shutting the government down as part of an anti-Obamacare strategy, (a) people would be much less upset about the ho-hum reality of a “shutdown” — the ongoing farce doesn’t actually come close to shutting the government down — than about the abstract but dread prospect of a shutdown as hysterically foretold by the Obamedia; and (b) as it emerged over time, despite the Obamedia’s best efforts, that the GOP was willing to fund the government (at current astronomical levels) and that it was Obama keeping the government shut down to protect Obamacare (an unpopular program that is clearly not ready for implementation and from which Obama exempts corporations, Congress, and cronies), the Democrats’ position would be increasingly hard to defend. What we did not anticipate (but should have based on Obama’s Alinskyite proclivities) was how much worse the Left could make things by stridently refusing even to negotiate, cutting off access to national parks and cemetaries (to say nothing of private homes and the ocean), and letting it slip that the administration is staying up nights thinking of new ways to make the “shutdown” as painful as possible (something that requires a good deal of thinking given that, for the most part, the government — unlike Obamacare exchanges — continues to muddle along).

If the shutdown is a coup for the president, what would a defeat look like?