Senate strips House language to delay ObamaCare

Let's get this Right

On Monday (Sep 30th) the Senate voted 54-46 to strip language from a House funding bill that delayed ObamaCare which resulted in the government shutdown.  That last time this happened was December 1995 when the government was closed for business for 21 days.

OMG the sky is once again falling... Not Really....

I've said repeatedly I don't agree with what the GOP is doing.  It's not good politics regardless on how this plays out Republicans will be blamed for the pain associated with the shut down and voters will remember.  Although I support the principled argument of those wanting to shut down the government I can't figure out why the GOP continues to fall on a live grenade with a smile.

It's also important to note that this last House vote was to delay the Affordable Health Care Act, not defund.  This delay vote was widely reported as trying to defund the Affordable Health Care Act, but just like the President delaying the employer mandate the Republicans, albeit at the last minute, compromised and just attempted to delay the personal mandate.

Let's make this clear... The House Continuing Resolution (CR) was asking for a one year delay in the individual mandate and the reversal of the medical device tax.

A few things to remember:

CBO now projects that the insurance coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act will have a net cost to the federal government of $1,363 billion over the next 10 years and you can bet that's an understatement.

In 2012 the federal government collected $2,902 billion in taxes (all time record) but spent $3,803 billion.

That has us spending $901 billion a year or $17.3 billion a week we don't have.

That's roughly what it would cost to build three nuclear aircraft carriers... Every week.

The TEA Party Republicans of the House... All 49 of them... have taken a stance against government expansion.  They have alienated themselves with their party, the media and likely the American public but I for one support their efforts even though I don't agree with their methods.

My views are more inline with my Congressman Scott Rigell:

representative-scott-rigell--republican-traitor

*** UPDATE *** 

The one year delay of the personal mandate requested by the House Republican's which is what actually closed the government... Well the President, through executive mandate, ordered a one year extension for the personal mandate.  How do I know?  I was one of the people who took the President up on this and had affordable, substandard, health care insurance for an extra year. 

ARGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Feds Shut Down Privately Owned Mount Vernon

“Deliberate effort to hurt the public”

The National Park Service erected barricades to shut down parking lots surrounding Mount Vernon despite the fact that the tourist destination is privately owned, another example of how the feds are deliberately worsening the government shut down.

Mount Vernon is the former plantation of George Washington and is owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which doesn’t receive any government funding. The attraction’s official website reads, “NO SHUTDOWN HERE – The Federal government may be shut down, but Washington’s home remains open. Mount Vernon has remained a private non-profit for more than 150 years.”

However, a dispute began when the National Park Service began putting up barricades to block off the facility’s car park, blockading the entrance as well as a spot where tour buses turn around.

The parking lots are co-owned by Mount Vernon and the NPS, but require no immediate maintenance at all, meaning the decision to close them down was completely unnecessary.

The feds even blocked off a small area consisting of just three parking spaces.

After blogger Stephen Gutowski exposed the situation, Newt Gingrich got in on the act, tweeting, “The tour bus turnaround at Mount Vernon has been closed by federal police. This is deliberate effort by Obama to hurt the public. Disgusting.”

Numerous other sites around DC have been unnecessarily closed by the NPS and other federal agencies in what critics are labeling a cynical political stunt which only serves to punish the American people.

In some cases, efforts to shut down these sites actually require more manpower and resources than if they had been left open, highlighting the fact that this is an act of partisan theater by the Obama administration to pin the blame for the government shutdown on Republicans and opponents of Obamacare.

- Numerous hiking and biking trails throughout the greater DC region, despite requiring zero immediate maintenance or patrols, have been closed down. Irate citizens are merely flouting the law and using them anyway.

- The NPS has stationed officers along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that runs 184 miles from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland to make sure nobody uses the bike paths. It would have required less manpower to keep this trail open. The handles on all the well pumps have also been removed.

- The feds also shut down a tiny park in which children play on fake turtles, prompting angry mothers to remove the barriers, only to see them put back up. “The park is extremely small and sort of seems pointless to block off,” reports the Daily Caller.

- Lincoln Park in DC, which is known to be used by several Democratic Senators, was not shut down, but numerous national parks across Montana were closed.

- The most widely reported case occurred at the World War II memorial in DC, where the NPS tried to prevent veterans from seeing the monument by erecting barriers and even threatening vets with arrest. The veterans stormed through the barricades anyway. “People had to spend hours setting up barricades where there are never barricades to prevent people from seeing the World War II monument because they’re trying to play a charade,” Senator Rand Paul told Fox News.

Senior Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee are considering opening up an investigation into where the Obama administration directly ordered the “outrageous” closure of the memorial as part of a ploy to “make the current lapse in appropriations as conspicuous and painful to the public as possible,” according to the letter from chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., and subcommittee chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah.

Paul Joseph Watson
October 3, 2013

-------------------------

I want the NPS management who ordered these venues closed fired.  For personal reasons they took it upon themselves to expend resources during a government shut down to close things that actually require effort to close.  If it's determined that the administration ordered these closures that connection needs to be established and those responsible held accountable.  Sounds like a good use of the freedom of information act... Once the shut down is over of course.

Founding Fathers' Tavern Closed by Government Shutdown

"City Tavern's operators are told to lock up"

The restaurant, which opened for the first time in 1773 and was frequented by the nation's founding fathers, sits inside Independence National Historical Park and the building is owned by the U.S. National Parks Service.

Both have been shut down since Tuesday when the federal government began its new fiscal year without agreeing on how to fund non-essential agencies. Nearly 200 park employees were also furloughed because of the funding issue.

Since the park is closed, officials told City Tavern operator Chef Water Staib on Wednesday the restaurant had to lock up as well.

Restaurant public relations director Molly Yun said they were notified there was a possibility a closure might happen, but they were allowed to remain open during the last government shutdown 17 years ago.

"We were somewhat shocked when we received the news today that we would have to close at 3 p.m.," she said. "Unfortunately, we're going to have to stay closed until the government re-opens and our hands are tied."

Shut it Down - Even if it's Always Open?

Shut it Down - Even if it's Always Open?

The government is shut down but it has the resources to order Park Service Personal to erect barriers at various, always open to the public, Washington D.C. Memorials.  I've visited many of our nations memorials after hours and some of my most memorable visits have been reading the words of Lincoln and Jefferson late at night.  To walk the mall as the sun sets and see the Koren and Vietnam memorial in the dimming light is nothing more than moving.

Why did the admistration think it was a good idea to close something that's not normally closed.  The WWII memorial “is an open-air memorial that the public has 24/7 access to under normal circumstance - even when Park Service personnel aren’t present. 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.”

"On Wednesday, the veterans' group is planning to visit the Lincoln Memorial, which the Obama Administration has also vowed to close to visitors. I have regularly visited this memorial at one or two in the morning. At those hours, it is a peaceful and reflective place. It is an open space. There is no access that needs to be blocked. It is only by a conscious decision, and a great deal of work, that access would be blocked."

The shut down is going to cause much real pain.  Imagine your a mother of five, you're out of food and you need food stamps to feed your children but that agency is closed.  Imagine your a family that's about to get approval for your home loan only to find out FHA or VA loans are on hold.  Everything is planned, your household goods are coming and you have no extra cash to get a hotel for a few weeks while the government is shut down.

I understand this type of hardship and the shut down angers me.  But going out of your way to shut down something that's normally open to the public, something that is as open as the National Mall or the Korean War memorial is "gratuitous and petulant" and shows insight to what our countries leadership has become.

This is how it works?

JPMorgan Chase Stock Holders

Lets say you own a BUNCH of JPMorgan Chase stock.  JPMorgan Chase lost approx $9 billion with that overseas trading debacle which hurt your stock and reduced the dividend to share holders.

So what is the governments response?

Not a single person is punished... BUT the company has agreed to pay $920 million to the "government" to settle?   ABC News

WHICH MEANS THE SHARE HOLDERS GET HAMMERED A SECOND TIME?

Is this really how things work?

---------

Update - October 21, 2013

The Department of Justice and JP Morgan agree to a $13 billion settlement and shareholders get hammered yet again!  At the lowest point of the recession The Federal Government strong arms JP Morgan to buy Bear Stears & Washington Mutual.  Turns out those company's problems and miss steps and included illegal activity which no become the problem of JP Morgan (who didn't want them in the first place) which results in one of the largest fines in history.?

We are not holding the people who caused the problems responsible... It's the shareholders who are taking it in the shorts!  Welcome to the new world order.  What the hell is wrong with this country?