Don's Tuesday column

        THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   10/8/2013

    Feds close parks, punish the people

The headline in last Thursday’s Daily News, “Rec Area closes,” provided the local evidence and “exhibit A” of the dysfunctional government “shutdown.” Scenes of locked gates, blocked roads and parking are playing out from Florida to Alaska and Hawaii. Monuments, agencies, campgrounds, highways, even private businesses catering to visitors and citizens are closed and people denied access, hurting local economies.

The Red Bluff Recreation Area, U.S. Forest Service, is mostly a passive facility requiring virtually zero staffing for we, the people, to use. We’ve paid for it; we collectively own it and it is preserved for our enjoyment without fee-collectors, traffic managers or trail supervisors. The Sycamore Grove campground needs staff but its gate could easily be locked, leaving the rest open. Am I missing something to see a bias against the users of America’s federal lands, to intentionally inconvenience the people?

I parked my car in the lot outside the main gate and strolled down the path to the site of the boat ramp that, sadly, served the boat drag races. A blue passenger coup exited the gate, paying me no mind; while returning to my car, a white Suburban left, also. If I routinely walked, ran or biked throughout the grounds, I would pay no mind whatsoever to the statement that it is “currently closed … (but) the campground will reopen once Congress restores funding.”

That proves my point that, other than the campground, all of the trails and paths have no reason to be closed during the best time of year to be using them. No Forest Service employee should have the temerity to say otherwise; besides, Congress has authorized payment for their time on furlough, so, figure out a way to allow the people to enjoy their own land.

It was about 16 years ago that Barbara and I took a sightseeing drive south on I-5 to the Delevan National Wildlife Refuge during that year’s federal government shutdown. We drove around saw-horse-type barriers, parked and went to the visitor center to find a sign similar to what “greets” you at our Recreation Area. I was as incensed then as I am now, knowing that workers would get paid, and that they persisted in inconveniencing visitors with the ruse that the entire refuge was closed. I left a note to that effect on the door, admonishing them to do their jobs rather than take what would effectively be a paid vacation. However, individual rangers or workers doing the administration’s bidding should not be put on the spot, as a Republican congressman did at the WWII memorial—they are truly pawns in the Obamacrats’ brinkmanship game.

This is where the propaganda excrement hits the Obamacrat blades and gets flung far and wide, making it difficult to form a coherent, truthful narrative refuting the Democrat/news media story line: It’s the intransigent “Republican/Tea Party/Ted Cruz/John Boehner and other “hostage-takers-with-guns-to-heads” gumming up the legislative works. Examples: Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid astonishingly blurted, “Why would we want to do that?” when asked why he wouldn’t agree to open the National Institute of Health if it would save the life of one child (House Republicans did, indeed, authorize funding for NIH, veterans services, the parks, WIC, D.C. and many other things; Reid/Obama say “NO”). He said his 1100 furloughed workers at Nellis Air Force Base have problems (Republicans have authorized funding all of government except Obamacare); they will get paid, remember, but the dozens of children that apply each day to receive treatment won’t get timely attention.

Reid illustrated the “death panel” mentality perfectly: He couldn’t possibly prioritize sick children over well-paid but inconvenienced government employees. HHS Secretary Sebelius similarly provided “death panel” logic when she disapproved an available transplant of some sort to a girl in desperate need, saying “Some live and some die”!?#*! (My exclamation points) Reid also had the gall to say, “Understand, we’re dealing with anarchists (Republicans),” insulting the sincere outrage and concern over trillions in deficit spending and unfunded Obamacare costs.

Obama saying, “I shouldn’t have to offer anything” belies the history of 17 government shutdowns, most of which came under Democratic House Leader “Tip” O’Neill, wherein all leaders, the President included, negotiated and gave a little. Obama is immersed in his self-serving, “my way or the highway” mentality, with compliant media mouthpieces and echo chambers. Republicans are unsurprisingly taking significant political blame, in spite of having absolute Constitutional funding authority (Article 1, Section 7). However, Bloomberg, CNN and CBS polling all find disapproval for Obama and Democrats increasing; President Obama has dropped to 41 % approval vs. 52 % disapproval (Gallup) over the shutdown.

Back to our Recreation Area: it joins unnecessarily shut memorials for WWII, Iwo Jima, Vietnam Veterans, the Normandy Cemetery, Mount Rushmore, privately-owned Mount Vernon, D.C-area trails, privately-operated Claude Moore Colonial Farm, Shenandoah National Park (hurting local economies), even the ocean! Want to fish in Florida Bay or Biscayne National Park? Sorry! Park Service ranger: “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.” Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior under George W. Bush, stated that it’s part of the Park Services’ “long history of dramatizing budget issues by inconveniencing the public.” Obama is fishing for sob stories: “How has the government shutdown affected you?” Shame on Obama’s administration, top to bottom.