This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden

  • Bite Me thanks Park Ranger for standing against vets

    Chief Tango sends us a link to a brief Washington Examiner article about Joe Bite Me who thanked a Park Ranger at the World War II Memorial for trying to stop veterans from entering the Memorial;

    On Thursday, video surfaced online of Neugebauer, a Texas Republican, angrily lecturing the ranger for setting up barricades to the memorial.

    “I’m proud of you,” Biden said, according to his office’s Twitter account, revealing that the vice president had called the ranger to thank her for her service.

    Actually, I don’t blame the Park Ranger for doing her job. I think Neugebauer’s anger was misplaced. I’m sure that she wouldn’t have blocked veterans without directions and resources from the administration. I’ve watched the hippies do the same thing that Neugebauer did – take their anger out on the people who just happened to be there, but they’re just doing their job.

    Biden, on the other hand, was just sticking his finger in veterans’ collective eye – he’s one of the people responsible for putting that ranger in a position to draw the ire of veterans and congress. You can be sure that Bite Me would never put himself in the position of that ranger. Unless Jill was there with her shotgun to protect him.

  • MCPO NYC USN (Ret.) isn’t taking the shutdown well

    MCPO NYC USN (Ret.) sends this photo as evidence that the shutdown is impacting him. I don’t know why he just doesn’t go to a nice golf course and play until the growling in his stomach subsides;

    Times is Tuff!

    Me? I’m hoping it goes on for another couple of weeks. I’m kind of liking sleeping in until 7am – especially when I think about the work that is piling up while I’m away that’s all going to be marked “Rush”. That sleeping in thing makes me want OMB to “rush” my retirement paperwork.

  • Navy-Air Force academy game back on

    The Defense Department announced that this weekend’s football game between the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy will be played as scheduled, according to The Navy Times;

    The official said Wednesday the decision affects this weekend’s games only, and future games will be evaluated as events unfold in the coming days.

    The teams will be allowed to play because the games are paid for with non-appropriated funds, and have been long planned. Army is scheduled to travel to Boston College this weekend, and Air Force will play at Navy in Annapolis, Md.

    So the threat still lingers over future games. Meanwhile, MCPO Ret. In TN sends us a link to United Airlines’ offer to fly the Air Force Academy team to Annapolis for the game on their dime;

    “We hate cancellations, so we’re offering to fly @AF_Academy to this year’s Air Force-Navy game. Retweet if you agree.”

    United confirmed to Today in the Sky that the offer is a serious one.

    “At United, we love football, we love our troops and, of course, we love flying,” United says in its statement to Today in the Sky. “We want to make sure fans of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy get to see their teams out on the field Saturday.”

    “United is a strong supporter of our veterans and active-duty service men and women, with so many of our own co-workers having served,” the statement adds. “And with our commitment to both Colorado and the D.C. area, we thought this was a great opportunity to keep the long-standing tradition alive.”

    So the Navy makes this video to get ready for the game; “What does a Zoomie say?”

  • Navy-Air Force Academy game cancelled by shutdown

    Country Singer sends us a link from Ace of Spades who claims that despite the fact that service academy games are fully self-sufficient, the Department of Defense have suspended the series due to the government shutdown. From the Capital Gazette;

    The Naval Academy Athletic Association is a private organization not funded by the government. Gladchuk said the Air Force-Navy game could be held without any “appropriated funding.” Air Force recently created a similar athletic association that operates using private funds, donations and revenue from intercollegiate contests.

    “We could run our entire athletics program and conduct events as we always do without any government funds,” Gladchuk said. “In talking to the Air Force athletic director, their football team could execute the trip without government funding.”

    Asked why the Department of Defense was suspending intercollegiate athletic contests if government funds are not required, Gladchuk said he was told it was about “optics.”

    “It’s a perception thing. Apparently it doesn’t resonate with all the other government agencies that have been shut down,” Gladchuk said.

    I’m also reading that some parks that happen to be on Federal land, but entirely funded privately are also forced to be closed.

    I guess shutting down the government isn’t painful enough on it’s own, they have to make shit up.

  • Too Late Opened, Too Sacred to Be Closed

    The news that a group of WWII veterans and their caring companions had defied a federal closure order and visited the National World War II memorial on the Mall in Washington warmed my and millions of other Americans’ hearts. While it is still uncertain exactly how the barriers were removed, if this Obama administration isn’t completely tin-eared, it is obvious that those barriers should remain removed.

    It took far too long for our WWII memorial to be authorized and constructed; it didn’t open until April 2004, just a year short of six decades after the closing of the worldwide effort, heroism, and sacrifice it was erected to honor. Amazingly, there were those who believed that process to be too hasty even while the men and women the site was to honor were dying in increasing numbers with every year that passed. Fortunately, the memorial was able to open in time for millions of those it honored to experience their nation’s tribute personally.

    One of those who did that was my father-in-law, who at the age of 25 and as a father of two was drafted to serve in the 65th Infantry Division, one of those several unique units whose two-year existence on the world stage was for the sole purpose of storming Fortress Europe. Although he spoke little of his service, he and I shared the bond of both being combat infantrymen, though in vastly different wars. When the memorial opened in 2004, I called him in New Mexico and offered to take him to see it on a guys-only trip. Somewhat to my surprise, he enthusiastically accepted.

    A friend in Virginia, also a Vietnam veteran, agreed to provide local transportation and serve as our Washington guide. That trip turned out to be one of the most memorable and moving events of my life, worth every penny of the cost. As we pushed the wheelchair-bound old warrior around his beautiful memorial, he was beaming with pride and engaging in happy conversation with many others just like him. Unlike my own memorial, that long black, solemn Wall, this striking marble monument was a place of joy and celebration, not one of grief and regret. I feel blessed that I was able to share that experience with my father-in-law and his fellow celebrants.

    From that experience I hold a reverence for that memorial and the waning old warriors it honors, which tells me it is totally dishonorable for the Obama administration to deliberately and spitefully use this sacred site of tribute as nothing more than just another pawn in the political chess game it is now playing with the Republicans in Congress. As commander-in-chief, Barack Obama again demonstrates to the nation and to the world that he is tin-eared, tone-deaf, and totally unqualified when it comes to leading and honoring those who now serve this country as well as those who once did. Only an inexperienced and incompetent fool could fail to recognize that of all the federal edifices in Washington, there are many that could and should be closed before this one: a tribute built decades too late and now too sacred to be closed.

    Crossposted at American Thinker

  • White House denied vets’ exception request

    You remember the World War II vets who stormed the barricades at the World War II Memorial yesterday, right? Well, it seems that they had asked the White House and the Interior Department for permission to see the memorial days before the government shutdown according to the reportage at the Daily Caller;

    “We got the heads up that they will be barricaded and specifically asked for an exception for these heroes,” [Representative Stephen] Palazzo told TheDC. “We were denied and told, ‘It’s a government shutdown, what do you expect?’ when we contacted the liaison for the White House.”

    Palazzo’s office was in touch with the heads of the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and the Capitol Police. He says all these officials rejected his request to allow the veterans, many of whom are octogenarians and some of whom are in poor health, to attend.

    Palazzo, a Gulf War Marine veteran who has participated in all five of the Honor Flights, blames the White House for making it harder on veterans and playing politics. “At first I thought it was a huge bureaucratic oversight,” Palazzo told The Daily Caller, “but having talked with the officials I can’t help but think this was politically motivated. Honor Flights, which bring WWII veterans to the nation’s memorials, are planned a year in advance and cost anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000. How low can you get with playing politics over our nation’s veterans?”

    The next flight, from Ohio has been threatened with arrest if they try the same thing that the group yesterday did, according to a link sent by Country Singer;

    Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio has a trip scheduled to depart from Toledo next Wednesday, October 9.

    “We will make the call this Friday to determine if the flight is still a go, or if we will have to re-schedule,” [Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio President Lee] Armstrong explains.

    He says they are considering going ahead with the trip even if the government is still on shutdown, but when he called the parks service, he was told they would face arrest.

    Armstrong says, “I said, are you kidding me? You’re going to arrest a 90/91-year-old veteran from seeing his memorial? If it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t be there. She said, ‘That’s correct sir.’”

    When he asked for her name, he says she did not give it to him and then promptly hung up the phone.

    Yeah, I guess the shutdown isn’t painful enough, so the Obama Administration is going to make it so.

  • Government shut down stuff

    I’ve been shutting down my portion of the government this morning. It’s harder work than my real job. But some of us got this nice letter from the President; Message from the President to U.S. Government Employees-2. basically none of this is his fault – you know that’s real leadership.

    The House passed a funding bill that was rejected, so the compromised – you know that cryptic term, that no one on the liberal (in the neo-liberal sense) side of government understands and the compromise was shot down. But somehow Republicans are “the party of “no”” according to my liberal friends on Facebook. And, oh, yeah, it’s all about race, too.

    Republicans only wanted to do the same favor for individuals and families what the administration has done for employers – give us a break on the Affordable Care Act for a year. And, the administration was so prepared for the launch of that healthcare beast this morning that the website for signing up is down for four hours.

    We’re in this shut-down mess because Congress hasn’t passed a budget since 2007 – when Democrats took control of the House and the Senate. I listened to Harry Reid call conservatives “anarchists” this morning. And he said that conservatives are doing the same thing over-and-over which caused this. I submit that the Democrats have been doing the same broke-dick things over-and-over for fifty years.

    Reid forgot that for two years that the Democrat Congress’ only focus was defunding the Iraq War – a vote they took over-and-over again instead of passing a budget. Who knows what their excuse is now, other than the fact that they don’t want to do their job.

    Me? I’m doing fine – I have three months of money stashed in my checking account since this budget mess started. Now I’m going to take a nap.

    ADDED: From MCPO NYC USN (Ret.), apparently computers don’t trust the Affordable Care Act either;

    Untrusted

  • Iran refuses to meet with President

    The Washington Times reports that Iran rejected the White House offer to stage a meeting between President Obama and new Iranian President Hasan Rouhani because Iran considered the meeting “too complicated” at this point;

    The offer was not, the administration said, for a formal bilateral U.S.-Iran meeting, but rather a conversation “on the margins” between the two men.

    “I think the takeaway is that the Iranians, number one, have an internal dynamic that they have to manage. And the relationship with the United States is clearly quite different than the relationship that Iran has with other Western countries, even,” a senior administration official said. “Again, I will underscore part of the reason we were able to get international sanctions is because the United States demonstrated that we were willing to engage.

    Yeah, I think it’s because a meeting with The Great Satan would undermine the Iranians’ desire to destroy us. Obama mentioned in comments this morning that he wants to accept at face value the Iranian president’s statements last week that Iran would never build nuclear weapons – well, that’s just ridiculous, and dangerous. It’s as if we have college students running our foreign policy. The war over the last twelve years has been a proxy war with Iran, but seein’s how they have John Kerry on the job, I’m sure there won’t be anything to worry about.