Friday, October 04, 2013
To what extremes will they go?
Despite the agitprop
press’s best attempts to aid their statist allies in blaming the Republicans
and especially the “tiny faction of Tea Party extremists” for the partial
government shutdown, the Democrats are exposing their own complicity by their
actions. And their actions speak much
louder than their lying words. The
shutdown was too well orchestrated, too targeted, too orderly to have been a
spontaneous reaction to Republicans carrying a point too far. The administration planned to do it, not just
respond to it.
Elderly American veterans of World War II, exercising what
is probably their sole opportunity to visit the memorial erected by a grateful
nation in their honor, were faced with barricades erected overnight before the
first day of the government “shutdown.”
Uniformed Park Police prohibited them from entering the area. Some Republican Congressmen accompanying veteran
groups, whose members were their constituents, distracted the police and the
veterans “stormed” the monument, completing their mission.
Thinking that perhaps some overzealous “mission essential”
bureaucrat had misunderstood his/her marching orders, representatives asked President Obama for permission to continue to allow these old veterans to visit the memorial
during the shutdown. Permission was
denied! The RNC offered to pay the
expenses of maintaining and policing the monument so that the veterans could
visit. Permission was still denied and
the offer was refused. Conveniently
hiding behind a law prohibiting the National Park Service from accepting
donations to run the parks and monuments, why, they were just helpless since
they had to comply with the law
(where was that sense of legal compliance when the administration refused to
enforce the Defense of Marriage Act? Deportation of illegals?)!
In other words, Democrats were unable to put politics aside
long enough to show some respect for those heroes who answered the call of
their nation in a time of crisis.
Vice President Biden actually congratulated the Park
Police officer who denied the veterans access to their memorial. “Good job,” he told her. Translation:
Who the hell do these people think
they are anyway? Really, Mr. Vice
President? Is a display of callous
indifference toward these heroes and their families a job well done? Is that what’s meant by serving the people?
These visits by the last surviving veterans of World War II
give them an opportunity to visit with each other, meet veterans who served in
other theaters, and to remember the friends and comrades they lost in combat
and to other causes. They are dying in the thousands every day. Their trips are
often carefully planned months in advance and orchestrated by Honor Flight, who
covers all the expenses from charitable contributions – not government funding. For anybody who has participated in or seen
the documentaries on Honor Flight, it’s demonstrably evident that these visits
are very emotional and meaningful to these veterans.
Maybe the Patriot Guard Rider motorcyclists need to escort these veterans past the Park Police so that they can finally see their memorial.
The pettiness and disrespect displayed by all the “caring”
liberals who oppose permission and legislation to exempt these members of the
Greatest Generation from being denied what may likely be their only opportunity
to visit the memorial tells far more about these arrogant statists than any of
their other disingenuous pronouncements.
When Senate Majority Leader Reid
(D-NV) was asked by reporter Dana Bash about making an exception and
authorizing a vote for funding the National Institute of Health to provide
cancer treatment clinical trials that might save the life of a little girl
whose plight had been highlighted earlier, his answer was anything but
compassionate.
BASH: “But if you can help one child
who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?”
REID: “Why would we want to do that? I
have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force Base that are sitting home. They have a
few problems of their own.”
The LIFE of one child is less
important to Senator Reid than the INCONVENIENCE of some of his
constituents. How’s that for compassion?
Be sure to remember that when liberals
moan that we must pass more gun
restrictions “if it saves the life of just one child.” We now have an answer for them from one of
their own: “What? And inconvenience millions of law-abiding gun
owners? Why would we want to do that,
Senator Reid?”
The fact is that the National Park
Service and other agencies were pre-prepared to spring into action with
brand-new signs and “barrycades” at the stroke of midnight. Anything that the administration could think
of to inconvenience taxpayers or cause emotional pain to citizens and
government employees was ready to be implemented on the moment of shut down.
Claude Moore Colonial Farm is a living
history, family-friendly site that, according to 1771.org,
“authentically portrays the life of an 18th Century American family building a
life on the nearer edges of civilized society.” It is also the only National
Park in the country run by a non-profit organization. Yet, even this privately
funded space, which has not received a
penny from the Federal government since 1980, was not safe from Monday's
shutdown. The NPS was on it first thing
Tuesday morning with orders, demands, and threats. Why?
The State of Arizona offered to pay to
keep the Grand Canyon open. That’s not
private donations “in violation of federal law,” yet their request was
denied. Why?
The IRS kept collecting taxes, but furloughed
90% of its employees so that refunds would be delayed. Why?
How many of those refunds do you suppose would have been going to other
furloughed government employees who could really use them right now?
Yet the inauguration of signing up for
Obamacare went ahead, despite the fact that the flawed software wasn’t nearly
ready and the “navigators” were too poorly trained to provide correct outcomes. Why?
Bash pressed Reid on why he and his
Democratic caucus wouldn’t sign off on the National
Institutes of Health funding bill.
BASH: “Given what you said, will you at least pass
that, and if not, aren’t you playing the same political games that Republicans
are?”
REID:
“What right do they have to pick and choose what part of government is
going to be funded? It’s obvious what’s going on here. You talk about reckless
and irresponsible. Wow! What this is all about is Obamacare. They are obsessed.
I don’t know what other word I can use. I don’t know what other word I can use.
They are obsessed with this Obamacare thing.”
Well, for one thing, picking and
choosing what part of government is going to be funded is part of their job,
Senator. It’s listed in Article 1,
Section 8: “The Congress shall have
Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts
and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States . .
. .”
On the other hand, Article 2, Section
3 requires the president to: “ . . . from
time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such
Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; . . . he shall take Care that the Laws be
faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United
States. How does that translate into "if they don't act, I will!"?
With respect to the Senator’s imagined
“obsession” by the House members “with this Obamacare thing,” methinks he doth
protest too much. It’s Reid and Obama
who decided to hold fast against any changes to the “Obamacare thing” to
the point of obsession. They refused to
discuss it at any time up to the passage of the Continuing Resolution by the
House, and they‘re still refusing to discuss it. That doesn’t sound much like “recommending
for their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient.”
Instead, they have drawn a red line
(didn’t they learn anything about declaring red lines from their hollow threats
against Syria?) that will scuttle any continued funding of government
operations before they will agree to even talk about any proposed changes. And they’re ready to sacrifice anybody who
gets in their way: elderly veterans,
government employees, mothers with children, retirees, park visitors.
Their carefully orchestrated plan to
shut down the government, inflict pain on its citizens, and blame it on their
nemesis, the “rightwing extremist minority Tea Party faction” of the Republicans,
is blowing up in their faces.
Unfortunately, the continued shutdown
is having its effect on some faint-hearted Republicans who appear to be eager
to bolt and acquiesce to Obama and Reid’s demands. Either they’re blind or being bought. They’d rather sell their mothers into
whoredom than acknowledge anything positive about their conservative brethren.
However, despite the propaganda
machine’s drumbeat that the Republicans are about to split asunder, it’s Obama
and Reid who are panicking. They and the agitprop press are
already trying to confuse low-information voters by tying the CR and the
shutdown to the debt ceiling increase in order to divert attention from the
failure of Obamacare to live up to its promise of expanded coverage and lowered
costs for those who need it.
It’s very much like what they did
during the height of the immigration reform push, casually interchanging the
terms “immigration” and “illegal immigration” to best distort any rational
discussion (this comprehensive bill will control illegal immigration, but the
Republicans want border control because they’re opposed to immigration) of the
issue.
It’s also the clearest sign yet that
people are listening to what conservatives are saying about the flaws in Obamacare,
and are starting to think for themselves rather than lap up the KoolAid
propaganda of the agitprop press.
They’re also starting to understand
that this president, far from “taking
care that the laws be faithfully executed,” acts like he has discretion to
ignore laws or sections which don’t interest him or further his agenda – more
like a dictator than a president.
They’re beginning to understand that the
IRS abuses, the NSA abuses, the executive privilege cover-ups, the crony
capitalism, the non-stop campaign, the shrill name-calling and targeting of
groups and individuals, the dissembling and lying on a massive scale, the
bullying of innocent old men and anybody else who disagrees with their agenda form a
disturbing pattern not associated with democracy, tolerance, and freedom of
expression and choice.
They may be finally recognizing that
this regime, and the party that supports it, is about controlling the people, not
working for the people.
And that realization scares the crap
out of Senator Reid and President Obama.
