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Yosemite celebrates birthday by shutting down

October 1, 2013

123rd-anniversary-of-yosemite-national-park-6124274398003200-hpYosemite National Park celebrated its 123rd birthday Tuesday by closing its gates due to a federal government shutdown. [LA Times]

The U.S. House and Representatives and Senate failed to agree Monday night on how to renew funding of the federal government. The dispute, which centered around the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, caused nonessential services across the country to shut down Tuesday.

As with all 401 national parks, 26 of which are located in California, Yosemite began to close Tuesday.

“Anyone who’s hoping to arrive, even for a day visit, would see gates closed and would be turned away,” said National Parks Service spokesman Mike Litterst.

Park employees are allowing visitors already staying in campgrounds or lodges 48 hours to make other arrangements and leave.

Despite the closure, Yosemite received a birthday acknowledgement from Google, which changed its website icon Tuesday to a Yosemite tribute.

Nationwide, the park service employs 23,000 people. Twenty thousand of the employees will be furloughed during the shutdown.

President Barack Obama issued a statement to all federal government employees Tuesday, stating the shutdown should never have happened.

“None of this is fair to you,” Obama said. “And should it continue, it will make it more difficult to keep attracting the kind of driven, patriotic, idealistic Americans to public service that our citizens deserve and that our system of self-government demands.”

The last government shutdown lasted for 28 days in 1995. It, too, occurred when a Republican controlled House sparred with a Democratic president. Nearly twice as many people blamed the 1995 shutdown on the Republicans than on President Bill Clinton, according to a CBS/New York Times poll.

 


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The great state of Arizona offered to keep the Grand Canyon open and the White House says no…


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Don’t you just hate it when you go to pay for a cup of coffee only to discover that you have somehow misplaced that $10 bill you thought you had in your pocket?


The IRS, who has been charged with the task of overseeing the enforcement of Obamacare, has done exactly that. Only it’s not a $10 bill; it’s $67 million they have misplaced.


In April of 2012, the Obama Administration shifted half a billion dollars from the DHS to the IRS to disguise the fact that the IRS had run out the necessary funds to enforce the Obamacare mandates that were not even in effect. The Obama Administration set up this slush fund for the IRS to dip from to offset their costs, but have, somehow, been unable to account for $67 million that appears to have been siphoned off bit-by-bit.


Government shutdown my butt…maybe $67 million would have kept the parks open for a while.


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“Don’t you just hate it when you go to pay for a cup of coffee only to discover that you have somehow misplaced that $10 bill you thought you had in your pocket?


That happens to you often…I’m guessing ?


“Government shutdown my butt…”


Yes. Please. That and other orifices.


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Anger is a sign of mental weakness….I bet if Bush were still in office $67 million would raise your eyebrows.


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Ahh yes, public land overtaken by corrupt, unorganized morons and closed for all to enjoy because they cant make up their minds on who gets what.


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When the federal Government becomes so big that it can physically close a section of our nation we have all already lost…


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the only thing lost was some marbles. this is the united states btw,

a government of people by people, just to be how it happens in this country (self government) don’t choke, it is true,

who ever told you different is misinforming you.


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You’re right Zaph…we have a government of people by people. We are supposed to have a government of The people by The people. But our leaders say today they will not negotiate. That’s government of some people by some people. I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way.


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Great idea Slowerfaster. Actually, Yosemite, if you look it up, sort of is credited to Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt did work with Muir and others to get it properly surrounded and put into the national system.


So, some Abe quotes:


While we must, by all available means, prevent the overthrow of the government, we should avoid planting and cultivating too many thorns in the bosom of society.

–March 18, 1864 Letter to Edwin M. Stanton


And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.

–July 4, 1861 Message to Congress


Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.

–June 28, 1862 Letter to Quintin Campbell


Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.

–March 4, 1861 First Inaugural Address


I don’t believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. So while we do not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else.

–March 6, 1860 Speech at New Haven, Connecticut


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The pundits cry that it’s the Republicans in the House that are responsible for the shutdown.


The pundits fail to mention that it takes two to Compromise, and Obama/Senate were unwilling to meet in the middle. The Democrats are equally responsible for the shutdown.


(Incidentally, I am noticing nothing different in my life today, this first day of the shut down. Perhaps it’s not all that bad a thing for these parts to remain closed until the impasse clears.)


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Not just pundits, but people with common sense also blame the Republicans for harming our nation in the most reprehensible, selfish and foolish manner.


Why do you claim that it is “not all that bad” for citizens to be shut out of parks and other facilities that by right are owned by the public?


To ask for a “compromise” at this point, when there has already been too many compromises already,is like electing a Democrats to President and Vice-President, but the Republicans refusing to go to work unless the Democrats “compromise” and let a Republican be the Vice-President.


What Osama Bin Ladin wasn’t able to do to harm the U.S., certain Republicans are now doing for him and his cause–harming the United States.


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Blah blah blah blah … if the feds can’t afford to manage it, maybe they should return it to the states … blah blah blah.


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The Fed can “afford” to manage the National Parks because the U.S. taxpayers have provided and authorized funds to do just that. But the Republicans are disregarding the will and law of the people of the United States. They are harming the best interests of our nation and our citizenry.


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Gee, wiserguy, how on Earth did that Obamacare funding rider get put in that Continuing Resolution, anyhow?


I’m guessing you don’t want to go there, either.


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Oh no….LET’S go there 1


It’s not an “Obamacare funding rider” that was attached to the C.R….it’s an Obamacare DE-funding rider attached by the House Suicide Caucus of Tea Party extortionists that are trying to force this poison pill downs the throats of all Americans.


These anti-government nihilists are like suicide terrorists with explosives strapped to their torsos, threatening to blow everything up, unless the President submits to their demand to let them execute his child.


Obamacare IS the law, voted on and passed, signed by the President, and affirmed as constitutional by the Supreme Court.

They don’t like the LAW and are trying to kill it so they don’t have to obey the LAW.

We call people like that LAWBREAKERS…criminals…hijackers….kidnappers…anarchists!


This country does not negotiate with this type.


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Yeah, remember how bad it was in 1995? Me, either.


I only wish we’d lay some off, rather than furlough with pay to come at a later date. Time for government to tighten its belt, as many private citizens already have.


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Everyone is quick to blame the republicans, yet there are three houses of government, the POTUS, the Senate and the Congress and each has a specific purpose. Each is supposed to do their job and what have today is a majority of Dems and a Dem POTUS who both point the finger yet do not compromise. The POTUS negotiated with Putin and Iran yet won’t walk across the aisle to negotiate with the republicans.

The government shut down is a bluff game played up to the last minute on Friday just before both houses leave town. It has happened for decades and each time the country has been fine.

IMHO, we need a part time legislature (because they only work part time) and we need a president who can actually lead by example…


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You are a little confused.


There are three BRANCHES of goverment: the ‘Executive’ ( the president, vice president, and the cabinet ), the ‘Judiciary’ ( Supreme Court and lower Federl courts ), and the ‘Legislature’ which is bi-cameral…( House of Representatives and the Senate ).


A minority in a slight majority in one chamber of Congress does NOT get to dictate…not for very long.


We will soon see how the fate of would be dictators plays out, and I am certainly anxious that they end a similar way as their historical predecessors have so often.


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On this anniversary, I call on the ghost of President Teddy Roosevelt, who was most directly responsible for the preservation of Yosemite and for the establishment of the National Parks System:


Quotes ( all by TR ) :


“The government is us; we are the government, you and I”.


“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people”.


“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones”.


“The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead”.


“Don’t hit if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft”.


“Obedience of the law is demanded; not asked as a favor”.


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Teddy Roosevelt would be soooo proud!


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