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AFN cuts off sports coverage to deployed troops.

Military keeps Camp David open, cuts NFL, baseball coverage to troops overseas
BY PAUL BEDARD | OCTOBER 4, 2013 AT 2:12 PM

President Obama has visited the Navy-run presidential retreat Camp David in central Maryland only 32 times, but it is being kept open during the government shutdown for his entertainment and security at the same time the Pentagon is cutting sports coverage to hundreds of thousands of troops around the world.

A phone call to the retreat found it open, confirming a TMZ report.

Camp David is one of the most highly secure areas in the nation and provides the president with a safe haven. The president has been known to shoot skeet at Camp David, which he most recently used for his 52nd birthday, according to CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

Obama has spent just 78 days at the retreat, choosing instead to spend his weekends in Washington and hitting military golf courses, which are also being kept open during the government shutdown.

In the meantime, overseas troops who typically look forward to watching NFL games and the baseball playoffs provided by the American Forces Network, will get little if any service due to the shutdown. A notice on the AFN page reads:

“GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. Due to the government shutdown, the Defense Department can only provide limited overseas television, radio, print and web services.”

The virtual elimination of sports coverage was noticed by the New England Sports Network, co-owned by the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins. “AFN provides a form of escape for many troops stationed around the world. Let's hope the popular station gets back on the air soon,” they reported.

After WWII Vets move barricades to visit their Memorial, NPS wires the barricades together:

http://twitter.com/McCormackJohn/status ... 80/photo/1

Meanwhile, WWI Memorial goes unguarded:

https://mobile.twitter.com/McCormackJoh ... ormackJohn

93henfan was seen shooting guns.

I especially like the ones where they barricaded off the scenic overlook to view Mount Rushmore.

It's a conktastrophe.

AZGrizFan wrote:I especially like the ones where they barricaded off the scenic overlook to view Mount Rushmore.

Don't the guys blocking access to these sites draw a paycheck?

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Obama's Golf Course (on Federal Lands) Somehow Remains Open

Ace of Spades ^

What they say is that the golf course is paid for by private funds.

But the WWII Memorial was paid for by private funds. They claimed that the need to protect federal lands required barrycading it nevertheless.

ASUG8 wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:I especially like the ones where they barricaded off the scenic overlook to view Mount Rushmore.

Don't the guys blocking access to these sites draw a paycheck?

Yes. Positions able to cause inconvenience to the public were deemed "essential".

I understand that the park service briefly barracaded the parking lot to Mt. Vernon, which is owned by the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association.

Does anyone know if this is right?

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It was closed for three hours

Feds made a mistake

Obviously I'm biased but I still think believing that the Obama Administration is making choices for political reasons is very plausible. You've got the thing with Camp David open. There is no good reason for that. No way that's critical to life, safety, etc. Now this morning I hear that Michelle Obama's web site on proper nutrition remains up while the Amber Alert system web site is closed.

The pattern is, I think, completely consistent with using Executive power to make choices inspired by the desire for political impact.

93henfan wrote:

ASUG8 wrote:
Don't the guys blocking access to these sites draw a paycheck?

Yes. Positions able to cause inconvenience to the public were deemed "essential".

They're not paid though. Not now. They have to work but they won't be paid for time spent working during the partial shutdown until this is over. The irony is that if someone is deemed "essential" they have to work but if a person is not deemed that they not only don't work but can't volunteer any of their time; yet the overwhelming likelihood is that they will all be treated the same as far as pay goes. None of them will be paid while this is going on but the overwhelming likelihood is that all of them, including those not deemed essential, will get back pay for all the work days within the shutdown period. So when all is said and done people not deemed essential will probably kind of come out better off except that depending on what they do they may be behind in their work and have some catch-up to do.

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Happy the post office is still on the job..expecting a package today



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs_9s31Je7Y[/youtube]

JohnStOnge wrote:Obviously I'm biased but I still think believing that the Obama Administration is making choices for political reasons is very plausible. You've got the thing with Camp David open. There is no good reason for that. No way that's critical to life, safety, etc. Now this morning I hear that Michelle Obama's web site on proper nutrition remains up while the Amber Alert system web site is closed.

The pattern is, I think, completely consistent with using Executive power to make choices inspired by the desire for political impact.

The Gov't shutdown is happening because BOTH parties are making choices for political purposes. Of course the Obama Admin is making choices for political purposes.

The shutdown is supposed to be inconvenient and of course the Obama Admin is going to make it as inconvenient as possible for the GOP. As long as they do it within the rules, it is to be expected.

93henfan wrote:After WWII Vets move barricades to visit their Memorial, NPS wires the barricades together:

http://twitter.com/McCormackJohn/status ... 80/photo/1

Meanwhile, WWI Memorial goes unguarded:

https://mobile.twitter.com/McCormackJoh ... ormackJohn

Someone should use wire cutters to let the vets in, and dare the idiots at the NPS (management, not the rank and file Rangers) to arrest them....

I read somewhere that Rangers are blocking entrances to private businesses along Skyline Dr down in the BlueRidge area of VA.

andy7171 wrote:I read somewhere that Rangers are blocking entrances to private businesses along Skyline Dr down in the BlueRidge area of VA.

Yes I posted that in the shutdown thread. Pay attention waterhead!

Lake Mead property owners forced out until shutdown ends

"............Joyce Spencer is 77-years-old and her husband Ralph is 80................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.....

...........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.................."
http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/Lake-Mea ... 57661.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BDKJMU wrote:Lake Mead property owners forced out until shutdown ends

"............Joyce Spencer is 77-years-old and her husband Ralph is 80................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.....

...........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.................."
http://www.ktnv.com/news/local/Lake-Mea ... 57661.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They should refuse to leave. Maybe they will be placed under house arrest.

I agree the cabin thing is stupid... BUT, those cabins were let with a contract that states they are for vacation residence and are not a primary residence.

The big gov haters should be angry at those people treating the cabins as an entitlement.

More idiocy out of the NPS:

"....The National Park Service has closed privately run marinas, restaurants and inns throughout the country and in some cases even posted guards to keep people from using them during the government shutdown, arguing that it doesn’t have the money, manpower or authority to let them operate.
But the moves, which likely have thrown thousands of people out of work, are drawing scrutiny from Congress and don’t rest well with many voters who believe the administration is making the effects of the shutdown worse than necessary.

On Friday, the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina decided it would buck the Park Service’s order and remain open — only to find park rangers come and block the driveway to the inn to prevent anyone from entering. The parkway itself remained open, but the administration said all concessions in national parks must shut.

“I’m questioning their authority to shut me,” Pisgah Inn owner Bruce O'Connell told The Washington Times on Friday as he fought to stay open.

Mr. O'Connell said his workers are not federal employees, and his fire, police and rescue services all come from the county, so he isn’t drawing any federal funds. Indeed, the rangers posted at his driveway to turn away patrons Friday likely used more resources — and made it tougher for them to respond to an actual emergency had one occurred elsewhere on the parkway, he said.

Mr. O’Connell, who runs the Pisgah Inn, said he never received a certified letter or even a call from the park superintendent telling him to close, but rather got an email from someone in the park business office.
Other concessions had similar stories......."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... ut/?page=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More from the same article:

....One man wondered why Skyline Drive, the road running through Shenandoah National Park, was closed but the Blue Ridge Parkway remained open.

Derrick A. Crandall, a counselor at the National Park Hospitality Association, an organization for park concessionaires, said the Park Service is showing less leniency this time than it did during the 1995 and 1996 shutdowns.

“Last time around, we saw some superintendents that tended to recognize hardship and perhaps be a little more forgiving of hard deadlines, just attempting to make sure any special needs were accommodated,” he said. “This year, from what I’m being told, there were some superintendents who acted to shut down ops before the Thursday 6 p.m. deadline.”

He said his organization plans to sit down with the Park Service and ask about trying to find “creative ways” to let the concessionaires get back up and running.

House Republicans have passed a bill that would open the national parks, but President Obama has vowed to veto it. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said either all of the government must be funded or none of it will be funded."

".......Several congressional committees have said they would look into the Park Service’s decisions, accusing the Obama administration of trying to make the shutdown as painful as possible for Americans.
In the meantime, Americans across the country have embraced the chance to flout the closures as a defiant act of civil disobedience.

The Internet has been flooded with photos of people going around traffic cones and vehicle barricades to get to parking lots, bicycle paths and hiking trails......"

Good. They don't have even remotely close to enough Rangers to stop everybody. F'ing NPS....

I still say we should shut everything down. Everyone needs to feel some pain. It's the principled thing to do.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/huffpos-sam- ... the-world/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The White House is govt owned. How about kicking out the jackazz that currently occupies it until the shutdown is over...