By order of the King.

The Colonial Williamsburg-type historical recreation never closed through all the shutdowns of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Because, of course, it was self-sufficient, as it charges money for entry, and keeps (shock!) a balanced budget.

The difference this time?

Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. And the Unified Caucus of the Leftist Media.

The National Park Service has ordered the closure of a Virginia park that sits on federal land, even though the government provides no resources for its maintenance or operation.

The Claude Moore Colonial Farm announced on Wednesday that NPS has ordered it to suspend operations until Congress agrees to a deal to fund the federal government.

According to Anna Eberly, managing director of the farm, NPS sent law enforcement agents to the park on Tuesday evening to remove staff and volunteers from the property.

“You do have to wonder about the wisdom of an organization that would use staff they don’t have the money to pay to evict visitors from a park site that operates without costing them any money,” she said.

The park withstood prior government shutdowns, noting in a news release that the farm will be closed to the public for the first time in 40 years.

“In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm,” Eberly explained in an emailed statement.

“In all the years I have worked with the National Park Service … I have never worked with a more arrogant, arbitrary and vindictive group representing the NPS,” Eberly said.

...

She called the decision “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,” Eberly explained.

Gabe actually had this very early, but couldn't get to it. I'm getting to it late.

Below, Eberly's full letter. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:24 AM | Comments (288)
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Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity.

And sometimes they make it obvious.

When bureaucrats are threatened with irrelevance or face appearing unneeded, they respond by inflicting as much pain as possible, in hopes that they can prove they’re necessary and get their budgets increased. And even worse, an administration trying to make a political point — as Obama’s is — has every incentive to make a shutdown felt as acutely as possible. So obviously, we need to cancel the Navy-Air Force game as quickly as possible, even if the event is a voluntary activity by students requiring no expenditure of taxpayer funds.

The barricading of the World War II Memorial has now become the most visible incident in this case — and to be clear, it’s not a “closing” because there’s no such thing as “closing an open-air stone memorial in the middle of the National Mall. People walk past and through this memorial unaccompanied at all hours of the day and night. (And really, if they’re going to close that, why aren’t they closing the entire National Mall?)

To my knowledge, no one has been arrested yet for walking through Sherman Circle (pictured above, in a completely residential section of D.C.), but technically, thatÂ’s an NPS park, too. (And theyÂ’ve always done a lousy job keeping the grass mowed, so I doubt the shutdown will even be noticed there.) If NPS wants to be consistent, they should rope it off. But they wonÂ’t do that, because nobody from out of town visits Sherman Circle. The entire point here is to harass people only in the higher-profile parts of town that NPS controls.

The agents of the Party of Government should remember that Obama may sign their checks, but we actually pay their salaries.

For no-ow-ww...

Things may change.

Things will change.

We cannot endure a government which has evolved from a greedy parasite to an actual predator.

Posted by: Ace at 09:29 AM | Comments (297)
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The "barricade" at the WWI memorial is just a single six-foot length of fence, barricading nothing at all, and a sign:

Now let's look at the WWII memorial.

Wow, it's almost like Fort Knox, if Fort Knox is where we guarded our precious stores of grass and concrete.

What's the difference?

Simple, really: There are Honor Flights of vets scheduled to see the latter but not the former.

Thus this isn't about "maintenance" or "saving money" or CPR, as the Park Service claimed yesterday. (That they had staff trained in CPR administration, who were not actually at the site, but I guess theoretically if someone stopped breathing they could take a cab and get there in 20 minutes or something.)

This is about the fact that a lot of people are coming to see the WWII Memorial, and the Administration wishes to hurt them.

Very few people are coming to see the WWI Memorial (sadly), and thus suddenly these worries about "CPR" and "maintenance" (of concrete) and "funding" no longer apply.

By the way, let's look at the funding for the WWII Memorial.

The National World War II Memorial was funded almost entirely by private contributions, as specified in Public Law 103-32. The campaign received more than $197 million in cash and pledges. Support came from hundreds of thousands of individual Americans, hundreds of corporations and foundations, veterans groups, dozens of civic, fraternal and professional organizations, states and one territory, and students in 1,200 schools across the country.

Donated and pledged funds were used to cover the total project costs of approximately $182 million. These costs include site selection and design, construction and sculpture, a National Park Service maintenance fee required by the Commemorative Works Act, groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies, fund raising, and the 11-year administrative costs of the project from its inception in 1993 through completion in 2004.

Remaining funds are held on deposit with the U.S. Treasury in a National WWII Memorial Trust Fund. The funds will be used by the American Battle Monuments Commission solely to benefit the World War II Memorial.

Hey Barack Obama -- you didn't fucking build that. Someone else did, and someone else is paying for its upkeep.

Via @mccormackjohn and @lochnar

Posted by: Ace at 08:43 AM | Comments (394)
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I'm stealth underposting this due to timeliness of the information.
Bottom line: Obama blinked and wants to talk now.

The "optics" of Obama's petulant gambit at the WWII monument were changing faster than the shape of a Hatteras sand bar in a hurricane. more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:56 AM | Comments (45)
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Love this guy.

Now understand why Obama feels free to ignore Congress: Because he's claimed all the power of Congress in his own person. In a different age, if a President wanted a one-year delay in a law he'd have to go to Congress to have the law changed.

Not Obama. He decided he has the power to freely suspend the law at will.

Now, if he had come to Congress, there would have been negotiations, such as for a one or two year delay for the whole thing.

He decided he didn't feel like doing that so he just assumed Untrammeled Executive Power.

This orthodontist wants him to live with the law as written.

They'll probably dismiss his suit for want of standing -- the Supreme Court's favorite way of enabling a tyrannical government, claiming that individual citizens just don't have the right to demand that the government obey the letter of the Constitution.

I don't know if a few Congressmen joining him would avoid the standing hurdle, but I think they ought to try.

The lawsuit, filed by Dr. Larry Kawa, claims that the regulatory changes violate the Administrative Procedure Act and go beyond President ObamaÂ’s constitutional powers.

'He has no more power to do that than your or I,' Kawa told reporters during a press conference Tuesday. 'In fact, he has an affirmative duty to enforce the law, and we are here to make sure that he does that.'

'I've made investments of both time and money, as a law abiding citizen and a local business owner,' he complained, 'to make sure that my business was in compliance with the law. And as soon as I did that this president moved the goal posts.'

'I am tired of government picking winners and losers, victors and victims, and I suggest it ends here today,' Kawa said.

So there he is swearing to actual harm he suffered due to Obama's lawlessness. But I still think the Court will say "No standing."

Posted by: Ace at 07:57 AM | Comments (212)
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• Obama's Park Service Plan To Arrest WW 2 Vets
  
• Wow, Obama Is Really Doing This, Huh?
  
• Obama Closes Memorials That Weren't Closed In The 1995 Shutdown
  
• Government Shutdowns: A History
  
• Dems Vote Down Funding For Veterans
  
• Dems Pretty Excited About Obamacare Website Meltdown Part 1
  
• Dems Pretty Excited About Obamacare Website Meltdown Part 2
  
• Celebrities Sign On To Sell Obamacare
  
• Taranto: The Case Against Hope
  
• Letting Obama Force A Constitutional Crisis Is The Best Republican Choice
  
• The Real Debt Ceiling
  
• Powers Separated On Purpose
  
• 10% Of Student Loan Borrowers Default Within 2 Years
  
• Revolt At Microsoft?
  
• Yeah, Police Need This In A Town Of 7,700 People
  
• Seven Ridiculous Claims About The Shutdown
  
• 10,000 Walrus Come Ashore In Northwest Alaska
  
• GreenPeace Activists Arrested By Russia And Charged With Piracy
  
• This Is Simultaneously Hilarious And Pathetic
  

[Update] DC Area Morons. There is probably going to be a 10am gathering at the WW II memorial. The Honor Vets arrive at 11. If you have the free time, be sure to get down there.

Follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:30 AM | Comments (821)
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Day 2.

In the history of clumsy attempts to use Washington Monument syndrome, Obama's has to be the most clumsy. Here is the National Park Services' excuse for barricading the World War II Memorial: lack of CPR-trained staff and lack of maintenance crews. Our WWII heroes aren't letting him get away with it.

Yesterday, it was veterans from Iowa and Mississippi. (Read about the Mississippi group's homecoming, courtesy BenK). Today, veterans from Missouri and from Chicago will arrive. If you're in the D.C. area and happen to be not working, hie thee down to the Mall and talk to these guys. The Missouri groups are going to be there around 11am.

Tomorrow, it'll be a group of veterans from the Quad Cities, who have also declined to be turned away by Obama.

So where is all this going? Today, the House will again try and pass its mini-CRs on specific items. These three mini-CRs were defeated yesterday, but the House is reportedly going to take a second swing at them, this time under a rule allowing a majority vote. Sen. Reid says he won't take them up even if the House passes them.

House Republicans are getting the sense that this whole thing could stretch on until we hit the debt ceiling impasse around October 17.

“We’re in this fight. This is the moment. We all talk about doing something for our kids and our grandkids. If you want to do something for them, now is the time. We have to work together and win this fight,” Boehner told members, according to a Republican in the room.

I still think this was poor strategy (and poor logic, too), that the debt ceiling fight was the way to go, and all the insults in the world haven't changed my mind. Well, it's looking pretty likely we'll get to try both! Allah had a noteworthy non-Eeyore post yesterday looking at political winners and losers in this fight. The winners: Sen. Paul and Govs. Christie, Walker, and Bush. I'd add Gov. Jindal to that.

Below the fold, check out How Star Trek Into Darkness Should Have Ended, and if you haven't checked out last week's very funny podcast with Iowahawk, those links are there too. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:56 AM | Comments (198)
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Non-essential commenters should put their pants back on and go do something productive.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:20 PM | Comments (721)
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[BUMPED 10/2 -- GM.]

Allow me to introduce myself: I’m a federal civilian employed by the Department of Defense here in Washington, D.C. In my personal life, I consider myself a small-government conservative with a strong libertarian streak—essentially, your stereotypical Tea Partier.

And IÂ’ve just been furloughed, thanks to the shutdown.

(Long post to follow... yes, longer even than Ace's movie reviews...) more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:01 AM | Comments (330)
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Before we go any further, let us note once again how contrived it is to shut down entryways to a wide open space out in the middle of a park.

This is not a building, like a museum, that has doors and staffers and guides. This is fucking scenery.

And yet the erected artificial barriers to block people from walking through outdoor scenery.

Voila! Now we can pretend a memorial standing unsupervised out in the open is a "National Park" or "Open Air Museum" and close it to pedestrian traffic (and people can in fact just walk through this thing in their normal transversing of the city).

Now, that out of the way: They then took the next step.

When they were informed that the Honor Flight was on the way, and that they should make one exception for the veterans of WWII and open up the artificial barriers they had erected to make a political point, they refused.

Palazzo, a Gulf War Marine veteran who has participated in all five of the Honor Flights, blames the White House for making it harder on veterans and playing politics. “At first I thought it was a huge bureaucratic oversight,” Palazzo told The Daily Caller, “but having talked with the officials I can’t help but think this was politically motivated. Honor Flights, which bring WWII veterans to the nation’s memorials, are planned a year in advance and cost anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000. How low can you get with playing politics over our nation’s veterans?”

In a statement, Palazzo noted that he is introducing legislation to ensure that all Honor Flights are granted access this week. “This is an open-air memorial that the public has 24/7 access to under normal circumstances — even when Park Service personnel aren’t present,” Palazzo said in the statement. “It actually requires more effort and expense to shut out these veterans from their Memorial than it would to simply let them through. My office has been in touch with NPS officials and the Administration to try to resolve this issue.”

There are no "schedule hours" for scenery. The monument does not close on weekends, or at night.

Because it's scenery.

It is a feature of the landscape.

And yet these See You Next Tuesdays attempted to create a fake "entryway" into a landscape feature so they could block it off and say "the Building is closed."

And then they doubled down.

Note The Lack of Walls and Gates and Barriers: From @slublog, here's what we're talking about.

Look at the gigantic "entrance" -- I don't know if you can call it an "entrance" when it's just a huge area of No Walls out in the middle of a grassy lawn.

Think about all the work it took to turn an open air landscape feature into a blocked off Instant National Park Which Is Now Shut Down You Guys.

[Update - Andy]: It's even worse:

Posted by: Ace at 03:32 PM | Comments (701)
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