Tag: budget

The National Park Service is permitting a leftwing rally for illegal immigrants to take place on the National Mall, supposedly closed because of the government shutdown.

12:03 pm

Working for the left and the Democratic Party: The National Park Service is permitting a leftwing rally for illegal immigrants to take place on the National Mall, supposedly closed because of the government shutdown.

Much like the favoritism exhibited by the IRS, the park service is now clearly favoring leftwing protest. Want to gather at the World War II monument to celebrate the courage of Americans to free the world from Nazism and fascism? No! Want to gather on the National Mall to celebrate illegal immigrants? Yes!

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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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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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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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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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NASA has decided to exempt its Mars probe, MAVEN, from the government shutdown, allowing preparations to resume for its November launch.

7:28 am

NASA has decided to exempt its Mars probe, MAVEN, from the government shutdown, allowing preparations to resume for its November launch.

NASA Headquarters in Washington determined that Maven’s preparations should go ahead on an emergency basis — not because of its scientific objectives, but because of its expected role as a communications relay satellite for the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers on Mars. “Both Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Odyssey have been acting as communication relays, but they’ve passed their design lifetime,” Jakosky explained. “Maven carries communication equipment to take over that job as necessary. Getting us launched at this opportunity is a way to preserve that ability to communicate.”

As I’ve said before, as much as I am in favor of launching this kind of science mission, the number of arbitrary decisions relating to this shutdown makes the whole thing look ridiculous. NASA can act to protect its investments on Mars, but the National Park Service is required to interfere with the normal actions of private restaurants here on Earth?

The truth is that these science missions really don’t fall under the intended definition of “essential operations”. The federal bureaucracy, under the direction of the White House, is simply stretching that definition for their own convenience, wherever they like.

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After developing the J-2X engine for the upper stage of its SLS heavy-lift rocket, NASA now plans to mothball it.

7:18 am

NASA marches on! After developing the J-2X engine for the upper stage of its SLS heavy-lift rocket, NASA now plans to mothball it.

While the agency is actively seeking other missions for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) in the planetary science and military arenas, most of the human flights it has in sight for the big new rocket probably can be accomplished with an upper stage powered by the RL-10 engine instead of the J-2X. “The J-2X for certain [design reference missions] is somewhat overpowered,” said Todd May, NASA’s SLS program manager.

The main cause of this absurd situation is Congress, which has micro-managed the development of SLS from day one.

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Freeing the Smoky Mountains

6:36 pm

Maddron Bald trailhead during the federal shutdown
The Maddron Bald trailhead on October 3, 2013, during
the government shutdown.

Today we did our last hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As I described yesterday, we decided to go to a place where we could park on private land and easily hike to a trail in the park. That way, we would reduce the level of power any fascist-minded ranger from the National Park Service might have over us should they confront us for being in our park.

As it turns out, there was no evidence at all of a shutdown at the trailhead we choose. We went to the Maddron Bald trailhead, just off state route 321. The parking area here is small, capable of holding no more than 5 or 6 cars. When we arrived there were three cars there, so we had no problem finding room, as you can see from the image to the left.

There were also no signs indicating the park was closed. Nor were there any barricades or cones. As far as we could tell, it was a normal day in the national park, which to me proved that the restrictions the park service is imposing on New Found Gap Road (as well as elsewhere across the nation) has absolutely nothing to do with their lack of funds. This particular trailhead is not as well known or visited, and is off the beaten track. Moreover, it would be hard to monitor. Thus, the park service chose to make believe it wasn’t there. Smart tourists could come here and enjoy the park, as intended, despite the shutdown.

If the shutdown really required the closure of the park, the park service would have sent a ranger here as well. They did not, proving that their obnoxious efforts are really aimed at causing problems for as many Americans as possible, not securing the park as they dishonestly might tell us.
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House Republicans plan to pass more narrow funding bills in an effort to get some of the government running again.

4:36 pm

House Republicans plan to pass more narrow funding bills in an effort to get some of the government running again.

In recent days, House Republicans have advanced several bills targeting high-profile areas of the government impacted by the shutdown, such as national parks, veterans’ benefits and the National Institutes of Health. In turn, they have pressed Senate Democrats to take up the measures and ensure that at least some portions of the government can be funded while the two sides search for a broader compromise. Thus far, Senate Democrats and the White House have rejected that approach, pushing back on Republicans to accept a plan to fund the entire government at sequester levels.

Bills to fund the government have been passed by the House, controlled by Republicans. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, refuses to even look at them, even though those bills contain nothing in them that the Democrats specifically disagree with. Whose causing this shutdown then?

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The Obama administration has demanded that hundreds of private venues close, merely because they are on federal land.

2:02 pm

Shutdown fascism: The Obama administration has demanded that hundreds of private venues close, merely because they are on federal land, and even if they use no federal funds to operate. Key quote:

“I can only assume their intention is to artificially increase the cost of the shutdown as some sort of political ploy,” Meyer said in his letter. “The point of the shutdown is to close non-essential operations that require Federal money and manpower to stay open. So why is the White House closing private operations that require no government money to keep open and actually pay a percentage of their gate revenues back to the Treasury? We are a tenant of the U.S. Forest Service, and a tenant does not have to close his business just because his landlord goes on a vacation.”

A spokeswoman for the National Park Service told MyFoxDC that it is still federal land, and the rule is that if there’s no Congressional appropriation, no visitors are allowed. [emphasis mine]

That last so-called rule is absolute hogwash. It doesn’t exist. All the lack of an appropriation means is that the federal government should hang a “closed” sign on the door of the buildings and lockable facilities and go home. Public lands are exactly that, public. They have no right to keep the public off them, since it is the public that actually owns them. The park service is merely a maintenance crew. Their attempt to close these parks is like the janitor at the Empire State Building standing at the door and telling its owner he or she cannot enter.

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The Obama administration has ordered the closure of a park that gets no federal funding.

9:04 pm

Shut down fascism: The Obama administration has ordered the closure of a park that gets no federal funding.

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.

The park officials should defy the order, publicly and with vigor.

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Even as the Republicans in the House continue to pass budget bills for funding the government — with some Democratic support — Obama and the Democratic leadership continue to refuse to negotiate.

7:12 pm

Even as the Republicans in the House continue to pass budget bills for funding the government — with some Democratic support — Obama and the Democratic leadership continue to refuse to negotiate.

I find it revealing that the author of the article above claims that “Republican unity is beginning to fray” when it is the Democrats who are beginning to vote with the Republicans. For example, in the very next paragraph after making this claim the article states that

The bill to fund the national parks passed on a 252-173 vote, while the measure to fund NIH cleared on a 254-171 vote. In both cases, about two dozen Democrats joined with the GOP. [emphasis mine]

On all these votes it is the Republicans in the House who have been united, while the Democrats unity is failing. It seems to me that if the Republicans keep submitting these bills, the Democrats will eventually fold. For example, today Harry Reid was asked why he has even blocked a funding bill that would fund children’s cancer research and answered most awkwardly, “Why would I do that?”

Politically, the Democrats cannot survive more of these kinds of embarrassments.

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Shut down fascism in the Smoky Mountains

6:56 pm

See my October 2, 2013 update here.

Today, October 1, 2013, my wife Diane and I went hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We did this despite the news from Washington that the federal government had shut down due to the lack of a funding from Congress and that all the national parks were closed.

The news reports had said that the National Park Service would close all roads into the park except for New Found Gap Road, the one road that crossed over the mountains from Tennessee to North Carolina. They couldn’t close this road because it was a main thoroughfare used by the public for basic transportation. Moreover, my research into the hikes we wished to do told me that several of those hikes originated on trailheads along this road. In traveling the road the day before, we had seen that these trailheads would not only be difficult to close, it would be dangerous and stupid to close them. For one, the road was windy and narrow. If there was a car accident or someone had car problems, any one of these parking areas might be essential for the use of the driver as well as local police and ambulances. For another, there are people still backpacking in the mountains who will at some point need to either exit with their cars or be picked up at these trailheads. Closing the trailheads will strand these hikers in the park, with dangerous consequences.

So, despite the shutdown, off we went to hike the Appalachian Trail, going to a well known lookout called the Jump Off, an easy 6.5 mile hike that leaves from the parking area at New Found Gap, the highest point on New Found Gap Road that is also on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. It is also probably one of the most popular stopping points along the road, visited by practically every tourist as they drive across.
Smokies from the Appalachian trail

The hike itself was beautiful, if a bit foggy and damp. The picture above shows one of the clearest views we had all day. Nor were we alone on this hike. We probably saw one to two dozen other hikers, heading out to either the Jump Off or Charles Bunion (another well known day hike destination along this section of trail).
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The House Republicans plan to offer separate funding bills to the Democrats in an effort to get parts of the government back in operation.

4:37 pm

The House Republicans plan to offer separate funding bills to the Democrats in an effort to get parts of the government back in operation.

This is about the fifth proposal the Republicans have offered to fund the government, all of which have been rejected by the Democrats without even the courtesy of polite conversation. And it appears that the Democrats are already saying they will reject these bills as well.

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With a launch window from November 18 to December7, the government shutdown might delay NASA’s next Mars unmanned probe MAVEN until 2016.

4:11 pm

Chicken Little report: With a launch window from November 18 to December7, the government shutdown might delay NASA’s next Mars unmanned probe MAVEN until 2016.

It is absolutely possible that the shutdown could cause MAVEN to miss its launch window. Such is life. The world won’t end, and as much as I am a big supporter of space exploration, I also recognize that there are actually bigger issues than NASA hanging in the balance.

Note that the article above bleeds tears for the poor government officials who might not get paid during the shutdown. Well, the economy has sucked for the past five years, with no signs of improvement and plenty of evidence that Obama and Congress have done a great deal to make things worse, especially with the passage of Obamacare. Maybe we should instead have some sympathy for the people who earn the money to pay for NASA and the government and have been screaming at these politicians to just leave them alone.

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In straight party line votes, the Democrats in Congress once again voted for Obamacare, refusing to even consider a one year delay in some of its provisions in order to keep the government running.

7:18 pm

In straight party line votes, the Democrats in Congress today once again voted for Obamacare, refusing to even consider a one year delay in some of its provisions in order to keep the government running.

The Senate voted for the second time Monday to kill a Republican counter-offer that would rein in ObamaCare while funding the government, kicking the bill back to the House with only a couple hours left on the clock before the government begins to shut down. Lawmakers are facing a midnight deadline to reach an agreement on a government spending bill. Senate Democrats vow they will not accept any proposal that targets ObamaCare. The latest House bill would have delayed the law’s individual mandate while prohibiting lawmakers, their staff and top administration officials from getting government subsidies for their health care.

The Senate voted 54-46 along party lines to reject it. [emphasis mine]

My description of this story above is not how most news outlets are covering the story, since it spins the story in favor of the Republicans. However, the fact remains that the Democrats continue to demand that Obamacare be enforced, come hell or high water. No compromise, no negotiation, no discussion will be allowed, even if that means the entire federal government will go down in flames.

Personally, I am not worried about a government shutdown. It will be generally as harmless as sequestration was, especially since both parties came to an agreement to fund the military, which will not shutdown. Stories like this, about how NASA will be shutdown almost entirely, are mostly repeating overstatements and lies by the administration. Some projects will get delayed, others stalled, but nothing important will likely be lost.

And yes, we still intend to hike tomorrow in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, even if the Park Service tells us it is closed.

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Why the House should stand firm.

3:33 pm

Why the House should stand firm.

When President Barack Obama is willing to negotiate with Russian, Syrian and Iranian leaders but unwilling to negotiate with the U.S. House of Representatives, it is time for the House to stand firm. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says, according to unnamed sources quoted in Politico, that he will refuse to attend a negotiation at the White House because House Republicans have to cave and surrender to his terms, it is time to stand firm. When a senior, unnamed Democratic official is quoted Monday morning calling for no negotiations and saying “it’s time to punch the bully in the nose,” it is time to stand firm. When Obama spends a week making three partisan speeches attacking Republicans and then calls House Speaker John Boehner to tell him, “I will not negotiate,” it is time to stand firm.

It is a sad commentary on Obama’s attitude toward the elected majority of the House of Representatives that he could have a more pleasant conversation with the head of the Iranian dictatorship than with the elected leader of the U.S. House.

Just once in my life I would like to see the conservatives stand firm and not back down. What the Republicans are demanding is not unreasonable, and considering the numerous problems being caused by Obamacare, quite relevant and appropriate. If the Democrats discover they can get their way in even these circumstances, then their behavior in the coming years will become far more intolerant and uncompromising.

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“It is the Democrats who have taken an absolutist position.”

5:04 pm

“It is the Democrats who have taken an absolutist position.”

The rest of the quote makes this point even clearer.

I’d like to repeal every word of the law. But that wasn’t my position even in this fight – my position in this fight was, we should defund it, which is different from repeal….Even now what the House of Representatives has done is a step removed from defunding – it’s delaying it. Now that’s the essence of a compromise. For all of us who want to see it repealed, simply delaying it for American families on the same terms as has been done for American corporations – that’s a compromise.

Guess who said it.

I repeat that this budget battle illustrates to everyone that the Democrats are willing to shut down the government rather than deal with the terrible problems their terrible law has caused. They imposed Obamcare on everyone without any negotiation or compromise, and remain unwilling to even consider any discussion or changes.

It is their baby, and since they are willing to practically die for it, maybe the voters should give them what they want.

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The Treasury Inspector General has found that the IRS cannot account for $67 million of Obamacare funds.

3:06 pm

We’ve only just begun: The Treasury Inspector General has found that the IRS cannot account for $67 million of Obamacare funds.

he “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law. The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare. According to the report: “Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million [from the slush fund] of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012.”

The report also found other spending abuses, including using the money for travel that was unjustified.

But everything’s under control. The Democratic Party will make sure Obamacare is funded, no matter what!

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The Obamacare wars are just beginning.

10:35 am

The Obamacare wars are just beginning.

This is war—turning sectors of the economy into partisan battlefields is a cost of their agenda that liberals, with their pure faith in “programs,” never factor in. But wars also have a way of leading to unexpected outcomes.

Read the whole thing. The author outlines how this terrible law, defended again today by the Democrats in the Senate, will have numerous unintended consequences that were unexpected and are generally bad.

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Obamacare was written and passed solely by Democrats.

9:53 am

A reminder: Obamacare was written and passed solely by the Democrats.

The no-trespass sign to the GOP during the writing of the Affordable Care Act deprived it of the benefits of critical scrutiny and helpful ideas from the business community that is a primary GOP constituent. That kind of input might have prevented many of the calamities caused by ObamaCare: the uncertainty prompting employers to put off hiring; the high costs provoking big businesses like Delta and Walgreens to shed coverage, and others to shift parts of their workforce from full to part time; the threat to union-negotiated medical insurance, and the unpopularity of the law.

While Social Security and Medicare always had hard-core foes on the right, that was nothing like the broad, persistent and combative enmity directed at ObamaCare. Democrats have no one to blame but their our-way-or-the-highway approach. [emphasis mine]

This law is the fault of the Democrats, and no one should allow them to distract us into forgetting that. Moreover, when or if the government shuts down, it will be because the Democrats in power once again voted in support of this terrible law. And they did it now, when its destructive consequences have become all too evident.

As much as they like to blame others for their failures, this failure is their responsibility, through and through.

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Senator Cruz’s speech today in trying to get the Senator to pass the House bill funding the government but defunding Obamacare.

7:06 pm

An evening pause: Senator Cruz’s (R-Texas) speech today in trying to get the Senate to pass the House continuing resolution funding the government but defunding Obamacare. His speech begins at 6:25, after Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) rejected that bill.

I think it worthwhile for everyone to watch this speech, as Cruz makes it very clear that the only people willing to shut the government down are the Democrats. Moreover, Reid’s rejection establishes unequivocally the fact that the Democrats are once again endorsing Obamacare, despite its now very obvious disastrous problems.

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