Reign of Pain Update - Hurts So Good!

Monday of the 2nd week of the 2013 government shutdown slowdown dawns, and Congress is reportedly back in session working on it.  As Mark Twain once noted:

“No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

Having passed a smorgasbord of legislation designed to help fund the government and end the shutdown without giving the individual mandate to the Democrats in the Senate to no avail,  the Republicans in the House have offered to pay the federal bureaucrats for their current vacation.  Myself, I wouldn't bother.  As a class, federal workers know what side of their bread the butter is on and are unlikely to respond positively to the gesture favorably anyway. But in all probability the Senate will approve this sop while continuing to stonewall negotiations to end the stand off.

Speaking of Federal workers, how is their independently organized campaign to hurt the citizens of the country to convince them to knuckle under going?  Swimmingly:

Park Rangers at Lake Meade, Arizona, are evicting people from their private homes because they lie on federal property:

Joyce Spencer is 77-years-old and her husband Ralph is 80. They've been spending most of their time in the family ice cream store since going home isn't an option. The Spencers never expected to be forced out of their Lake Mead home, which they've owned since the 70s, but on Thursday, a park ranger said they had 24 hours to get out.

"I had to go to town today and buy Ralph undershirts and jeans because I forgot his pants," Joyce Spencer told Action News.

The Stewart's Point home sits on federal land, so even though the Spencers own their cabin outright, they're not allowed in until the government reopens. Park officials said property owners can visit only to retrieve belongings; they sent Action News a statement which reads in part, "Unfortunately overnight stays are not permitted until a budget is passed and the park can reopen."

If I were in Congress, I would attempt to pass laws forcing the Federal Government to divest itself of such land.  It's ridiculous that such a large fraction of the western states still remain in Federal hands today.  Nevada, Colorado, Utah, etc. should have the same fraction of government land as New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey.  You could fund the Feds for years on land sales.  Or you could have a lot of land confiscated in the East.

Ann Althouse, former Obama voter and libertarian law blogger from Wisconsin posts this shutdown notice for the federal half of Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin.  This indicates to me that not only the Park Service has been told to exclude citizens from their domain during the "shutdown", but the Fish and Wildlife Service has as well.  Notice that they are still open for deliveries.

Brian Cain sent me this photo from a boat ramp somewhere along the Potomac River:

Looks like the natives are getting restless.  They don't spell well...

A 9 year old child managed to evade the multiple levels of TSA security in Minneapolis and board a plane for Las Vegas.  TSA spokespeople blamed the shutdown:

WCCO contacted the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) Sunday morning, during which a spokesperson said staffing is currently low due to the number of employees furloughed in the wake of the federal government shutdown.

In an email sent Sunday afternoon, the spokesperson clarified that front-line officers are working during the furlough. “The child was screened along with all other passengers to ensure that he was not a threat to the aircraft,” said the TSA spokesperson.

Apparently, the tears in the front-line officers eyes over the shutdown concealed the 9 year old as he passed through the TSA checks without parents, ID or boarding pass.  Either that, or a 9 year old is smarter than the front-line TSA officers.  You pick.

Tracy McCain offers this summary of the shutdown in two tweets:

But there is some good news from the government shutdown.  The golf course at Andrews Air Force Base is still open for business, and on last Saturday (before the shutdown) the Preznit played his 35th game of the year.  No word on whether he hit the links this weekend, yet.

One of Obama's preferred golf courses, the course on Andrews Airforce Base remains open during the government shutdown. The grocery stores on the base, where troops get discounted groceries for their families are, however, closed. They will shop "at local stores that cost about 30 percent more, Lieutenant General Raymond Mason, the service’s deputy chief of staff for logistics, said yesterday at a House hearing."

The Andrews Air Force Base golf course is funded through user fees and that’s why it remains open, said Air Force Captain Lindy Singleton, chief of public affairs for the 11th Wing at Andrews.

So the rule invoke above for Lake Meade, that the private houses on government land and accessed using government roads needed to closed does not apply in this case.  Ah, it's good to be the king!

I guess little old Johnny Cougar said it best "Come on Baby, Make it Hurt So Good!"