Year: 2013

The sadism of Harry Reid.

11:52 am

The sadism of Harry Reid.

Harry Reid drags his feet on alleviating the financial anxiety of hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers, and he’s refused to bring to the floor seven continuing resolutions, all passed by the House, all passed by wide and fairly bipartisan majorities (all or almost all of the Republicans, and another 20 or so House Democrats):

  • Authorizing military chaplains to do their duties during the shutdown;
  • Continuing appropriations for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children for fiscal year 2014 (food stamps).
  • Continuing appropriations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
  • Continuing appropriations for veterans benefits.
  • Continuing appropriations for the National Institutes of Health.
  • Continuing appropriations for National Park Service operations, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  • Continuing appropriations of local funds of the District of Columbia.

Not a single one of those resolutions says anything about Obamacare. We know why Harry Reid isn’t bringing them to the floor. If he did, they would pass. Senate Democrats wouldn’t be able to vote “no” on any of those priorities without providing fodder for attack ads next fall (maybe the District of Columbia). And if they pass, the pain of the shutdown is mitigated in part.

Harry Reid doesn’t want to minimize the pain of the shutdown. He wants to maximize it.

Posted from wet and rainy Maryland. And in case you didn’t know it, it is generally wet in the east, even when it isn’t raining. I had lived in the east for most of my life, and now cannot wait to get back to Arizona where I don’t feel sticky all the time from humidity.

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Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said that the House will pass no bills to re-open the federal government or raise the debt limit until President Obama sits down to negotiate.

7:32 pm

Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said that the House will pass no bills to re-open the federal government or raise the debt limit until President Obama sits down to negotiate.

In his first extended TV interview since shutdown Tuesday, a defiant Boehner placed the blame for the fiscal impasse firmly on Obama, who has refused to sit down with House Republicans until they re-open the government at current spending levels. “The president just can’t sit there and say, ‘I’m not going to negotiate,'” Boehner said. Boehner said that there aren’t enough votes in the Republican-led House to simply re-open the government with no other strings attached. “There are not votes in the House to pass a clean (continuing resolution),” he said.

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A nine-year-old boy was able to board a plane in Minnesota and fly to Nevada with no ticket or boarding pass.

6:56 pm

Does this make you feel safer? A nine-year-old boy was able to board a plane in Minnesota and fly to Nevada with no ticket or boarding pass.

The big question in this case is how did this boy get through at least three layers of security at the airport? There are three levels of security he would need to have passed through. The first checkpoint is the screening by the TSA, including metal detectors. Then he would have had to get by the Delta Airlines gate agents before boarding the plane. The last level of security would be the flight crew themselves who should have questioned why the boy had no boarding pass before the plane took off.

This only provides further proof that the entire TSA is a complete waste of money.

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NASA and JPL have now stated that the government shutdown will not interfere with their promised support for India’s Mars Orbiter Mission.

6:38 pm

NASA and JPL have now stated that the government shutdown will not interfere with their promised support for India’s Mars Orbiter Mission.

Earlier reports had suggested that NASA’s Deep Space Network, used to communicate with planetary probes, would not be available because of the shutdown, and the mission would have to be delayed because of this.

Posted from Columbia, Maryland.

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The Obama administration has ordered 1100 square miles of open ocean off limits to private fisherman and tourists because of the government shutdown.

6:05 am

Shutdown fascism: The Obama administration has ordered 1100 square miles of open ocean off limits to private fisherman and tourists because of the government shutdown.

The article above also has a link to a story where voluntary unpaid Catholic priests have been told by the Obama administration that they will face arrest if they try to serve mass at military chapels or minister to military personnel during the shutdown.

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Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years.

11:00 pm

Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years.

This is unfortunate news indeed. However, if I was India (as well as other countries) I would consider this a call to develop their own deep space network.

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“Government shuts down, nation descends into riots, looting and cannibalism.”

11:10 pm

“Government shuts down, nation descends into riots, looting and cannibalism.”

“The government shut down! We can do anything we like,” shouted Sam Hasbley of Grassley, Iowa, while tearing the tag off a mattress despite an explicit warning label forbidding such a dangerous course of action. “Tear yours off. The government is shut down. It can’t stop you.”

Eyewitnesses spoke of further horrors. On a quiet street in suburban Massachusetts, a man brought out a set of highly illegal lawn darts. In Maryland, there were allegations that an entire family had begun digging ditches to collect rainwater runoff. With the fall of the government, citizen activists took it upon themselves to chronicle the culture of lawlessness. Men played Gibson guitars made of wood imported from India, but not finished by Indian workers. Women bought cold medicine without a photo ID. Children went hours without hearing lectures about the environment.

Heh. Read it all. You will be horrified.

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Stratolaunch has now released some preliminary details about its commercial rocket, including images.

11:00 pm

Stratolaunch has now released some preliminary details about its commercial rocket, including images.

Work has also begun on assembling the giant carrier airplane that will be used to take the rocket aloft.

Posted from lovely Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Tomorrow I will be busy visiting old friends as well as poking around an old Pennsylvania ghost town, so posting should be light.

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Even as the military announces it must eliminate TV broadcasts of sporting events for the troops overseas because of the govermnent shutdown, it continues to operate the golf courses and Camp David for President Obama’s entertainment.

8:17 am

Even as the military announces it must eliminate TV broadcasts of sporting events for the troops overseas because of the govermnent shutdown, it continues to operate the golf courses and Camp David for President Obama’s entertainment.

Posted as we crossed the Tennessee-Virginia border on I-81, heading north.

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