Reign of Pain: Hurt Me Again!

The administration continues it's efforts to bring the government shutdown slowdown, (83% of the federal government is still operating), by making the lives of its citizens more painful with small and spiteful actions. If closing the ocean, or at least a 1,100 square miles or so of it is small.

On Friday, Park Police forced veterans to leave the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Again, this is an open sculpture with many entrances, and not an enclosed building with facilities to be maintained.

The military television service for troops serving abroad announced that due to the "shutdown", the Armed Forces Network will be reduced to a single news channel, and will not be able to bring them college or NFL football. Hat tip to Maggy.

Catholic priests were threatened with arrest if they volunteered to hold services for Catholic troops.  Because of insufficient Catholic priests in in the military, the DOD actually contracts with priests to hold services for them.  But God Obama forbid the priests being allowed to volunteer their services during this pseudo-emergency.

Mt. Rushmore is a patriotic symbol of the United States, so ginormous that it is visible from nearby highways.  Some bright asshole at the NPS decided to place cones in front of viewing sites along public highways to prevent citizens from stealing illicit views of the federal site.

A report by the Sioux Falls Business Journal reveals that members of the National Park Service placed traffic cones on public highways leading up to the South Dakota monument, to keep visitors from pulling over to see the landmark. With the government shutdown, The Park Service has closed the park to visitors, so the only way to view or take pictures of Mt. Rushmore is by pulling over on highways leading up to the monument. Viewing areas along the highway are made for tourists to pull over and view the monument, and are not under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

What's next, closing the interstate highway system?

Even a reliable liberal demagogue like Kathleen Parker at the Washington Post has called the Administration's policy for extracting concessions from the public by hurting them in their memorial "A Monumental Mistake."

While one may sympathize with Obama’s contempt for his congressional adversaries, he may have cut off his own nose with an unforced error of magnified proportions. Spite is unbecoming a president, as Richard Nixon proved in another era of national disruption. But beyond personality, it is baffling to imagine anyone thinking that the way to winning hearts and minds is by disrespecting the nation’s most beloved demographic.

But good news!  Although the IRS has stopped sending tax refunds for the duration, they're still collecting taxes.  They have also decided that this is a good excuse for not responding to Congressional subpoenas for information on the Tea Party tax exempt slowdown shutdown policy, not that they were producing much to begin with.