The Daily Gouge, Monday, October 7th, 2013

On October 6, 2013, in Uncategorized, by magoo1310

It’s Monday, October 7th, 2013…and here’s The Gouge!

First up, Thomas Sowell provides the facts regarding what inquiring minds really want to know:

Who Shut Down the Government?

 

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Even when it comes to something as basic, and apparently as simple and straightforward, as the question of who shut down the federal government, there are diametrically opposite answers, depending on whether you talk to Democrats or to Republicans.

There is really nothing complicated about the facts. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted all the money required to keep all government activities going — except for ObamaCare. This is not a matter of opinion. You can check the Congressional Record.

As for the House of Representatives’ right to grant or withhold money, that is not a matter of opinion either. You can check the Constitution of the United States. All spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives, which means that Congressmen there have a right to decide whether or not they want to spend money on a particular government activity.

Whether ObamaCare is good, bad or indifferent is a matter of opinion. But it is a matter of fact that members of the House of Representatives have a right to make spending decisions based on their opinion.

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ObamaCare is indeed “the law of the land,” as its supporters keep saying, and the Supreme Court has upheld its Constitutionality. But the whole point of having a division of powers within the federal government is that each branch can decide independently what it wants to do or not do, regardless of what the other branches do, when exercising the powers specifically granted to that branch by the Constitution.

The hundreds of thousands of government workers who have been laid off are not idle because the House of Representatives did not vote enough money to pay their salaries or the other expenses of their agencies — unless they are in an agency that would administer ObamaCare. Since we cannot read minds, we cannot say who — if anybody — “wants to shut down the government.” But we do know who had the option to keep the government running and chose not to. The money voted by the House of Representatives covered everything that the government does, except for ObamaCare.

The Senate chose not to vote to authorize that money to be spent, because it did not include money for ObamaCare. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that he wants a “clean” bill from the House of Representatives, and some in the media keep repeating the word “clean” like a mantra. But what is unclean about not giving Harry Reid everything he wants?

If Senator Reid and President Obama refuse to accept the money required to run the government, because it leaves out the money they want to run ObamaCare, that is their right. But that is also their responsibility. You cannot blame other people for not giving you everything you want. And it is a fraud to blame them when you refuse to use the money they did vote, even when it is ample to pay for everything else in the government.

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When Barack Obama keeps claiming that it is some new outrage for those who control the money to try to change government policy by granting or withholding money, that is simply a bald-faced lie. You can check the history of other examples of “legislation by appropriation” as it used to be called. Whether legislation by appropriation is a good idea or a bad idea is a matter of opinion. But whether it is both legal and not unprecedented is a matter of fact.

Perhaps the biggest of the big lies is that the government will not be able to pay what it owes on the national debt, creating a danger of default. Tax money keeps coming into the Treasury during the shutdown, and it vastly exceeds the interest that has to be paid on the national debt. Even if the debt ceiling is not lifted, that only means that government is not allowed to run up new debt. But that does not mean that it is unable to pay the interest on existing debt.

None of this is rocket science. But unless the Republicans get their side of the story out — and articulation has never been their strong suitthe lies will win. More important, the whole country will lose.

As Peter Wehner noted last Thursday in Commentary Magazine

…In the current debate about the continuing resolution and the government shutdown, and because of their determination to begin to unwind the highly unpopular Affordable Care Act, Republicans are being referred to as jihadists, arsonists, anarchists, terrorists, extortionists, racists, gun-to-the-head hostage takers, grave threats to American democracy, the heirs of Joe McCarthy . . .

There are several points to be made about this, the most obvious of which is that these charges are being leveled by President Obama and the aides and allies of Mr. Obamaa man, it’s worth recalling, who promised he would “turn the page” on the “old politics” of division and anger. He would end a politics that “breeds division and conflict and cynicism.” He would help us to “rediscover our bonds to each other and … get out of this constant petty bickering that’s come to characterize our politics.”

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Yet things are worse now than before; and they are worse in large measure because of Mr. Obama himself.

Now, even if you believe what the GOP is doing is unwise—even if you believe the Affordable Care Act is one of the great achievements in American history—the characterization of Republicans by the left is not just unfair but slanderous. One can actually believe the Affordable Care Act is harmful and should be undone without being”people with a bomb strapped to their chest,” in the words of White House aide Dan Pfeiffer. But the kind of sulfuric rhetoric that’s being commonly used these days is also, on a deep level, damaging to our country.

Yet the MSM dutifully echoes, without question…and as gospelevery falsehood these liars utter.  Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise us if they hadn’t a clue what the Constitution actually says…about anything!

Meanwhile, as every day evidence mounts this White House is going out of its way to make the closing of some 15% of government as painful as possible for taxpaying Americans:

Homeowners Forced out of Private Homes Due to Shutdown

 

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First, the National Park Service “closed” the open-air WWII Memorial. Next, they attempted to block people from even looking at Mount Rushmore. Now, park rangers are forcing private citizens out of privately owned homes due to the government shutdown. They have even barricaded the road, ensuring that they will not be allowed to return to their homes.

From KTNV News:

Joyce Spencer is 77-years-old and her husband Ralph is 80. They’ve been spending most of their time in the family ice cream store since going home isn’t an option.

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.”I had to go to town today and buy Ralph undershirts and jeans because I forgot his pants,” Joyce Spencer told Action News.

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.

In the interests of fairness, we must note “The Lake Mead properties are considered vacation homes”, and “one of the lease requirements to own a plot is people must have an alternative residence”.  Still, any question Team Tick-Tock’s under orders to play this as pettily as possible?!?

Speaking of petty, in a related item forward by Jeff Foutch, as Breitbart.com reports, under orders from Der Obafuhrere, the…

Feds Try to Close the OCEAN Because of Shutdown

 

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Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was “closed” due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored, the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean. Fishing is also prohibited at Biscayne National Park during the shutdown.

The Park Service will also have rangers on duty to police the ban. Of access to an ocean. The government will probably use more personnel and spend more resources to attempt to close the ocean, than it would in its normal course of business.

This is governing by temper-tantrum. It is on par with the government’s ham-fisted attempts to close the DC WWII Memorial, an open-air public monument that is normally accessible 24 hours a day. By accessible I mean, you walk up to it. When you have finished reflecting, you then walk away for it.

At least that Memorial is an actual structure, with some kind of perimeter that can be fenced off. Florida Bay is the ocean. How, pray tell, do you “close” 1,100 square miles of ocean? Why would one even need to do so? Apparently, according to an anonymous Park Service ranger, “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”

Centuries ago, King Canute famously failed to command the ocean tide to stop. His display was actually a means to educate his subjects on the limits of royal power. Today, however, our President actually believes he has the power to control the oceans.

When in reality, he’s nothing more than a dusky version of…

…George Costanza; and amazingly enough, even less-qualified than George for any of the jobs he’s ever held.

Turning from the unqualified to the untrue, as Conn Carroll details…

Obamacare Poster Boy Hasn’t Actually Enrolled in Obamacare

 

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Shortly before 7 PM on Tuesday, the first day online enrollment was available, Obama for American volunteer Chad Henderson tweeted out: “Enrolled in #Obamacare just now! Looking forward to having affordable healthcare for the first time!” Chad also included the twitter handles of some local news media organizations to ensure that the Georgia native’s announcement would get attention. And it did. The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post all interviewed Chad.

There’s just one problem. His story isn’t true.

Doubt’s about Chad’s account began today when Reason health care write Peter Suderman reported that, contra Chad’s claims, Chad’s dad Bill, had not signed up for a health care plan. “We haven’t decided which plans to enroll in yet,” Bill told Suderman.

Now The Washington Post’s Sara Kliff has circled back with Chad, who has recanted half of his story:

Sarah Kliff: So let me make sure I understand things right here. You went through the part of the website where you entered in your information and found out what you qualified for, and that’s done. And you got to the part where you can compare plans, but you have not purchased a plan?

Chad Henderson: We have not purchased a specific. The application has information and once you submit it, it reviews eligibility. Obviously I’m not eligible for Medicaid because our governor isn’t expanding it. And that’s what I meant by enrollment. (You know…like what the definition of “is” is!) I had assumed that I never said I purchased a plan or enrolled in marketplace. I’m not backing down on my comments. I have not misled anyone.

Sarah Kliff: I think where a lot of us got confused is you said you had enrolled in a plan when you haven’t purchased a health plan. You told us the amount of the premium you were going to pay.

Chad Henderson: I understand that. I was giving you guys a number as to what I’m choosing.

But here is what Chad told multiple outlets Tuesday, including The Post. “I had to wait like everybody else,” he said. “Millions of people apparently got on the Web site. It took me til about 3 a.m. to create an account. That was probably the longest thing. After creating an account and getting logged in, it was pretty smooth sailing.”

But if all Chad did Tuesday was submit an application, and he still has not actually enrolled in a specific plan yet, then what exactly “was pretty smooth sailing”? And if it took him till 3AM to create an account, why the tweet at 7 PM?

Considering how much of President Obama’s autobiography turned out to be complete fiction, it is quite fitting that the story of the first person enrolled in his health care plan is fiction too.

Along with almost everything else the man or his minions have ever sought to represent as truth; as this blast from the all-too-recent past confirms…

…from top to bottom, stem to stern, right…er,…Left to Farthest Left, the truth simply is not in them.

For more on the twisted standards which typify contemporary Progressive thought, we turn to Special Report, where Bret Baier recounts two recent examples of Liberal lunacy; first…

Car Pool Dress Code

 

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Sure beats Adam Lanza taking them to class!

A police officer in Arizona has been asked by his daughter’s school not to wear his uniform when he drops his daughter off. He said the school principal made the request because some parents did not like the idea of anyone having a gun at school — even a cop — apparently. A school spokeswoman apologized if he was offended, suggesting he took the request the wrong way.

And this after The Obamao allocated over $45 MILLION to put more armed cops in the nation’s schools!

Next…

Hands Off

 

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Which of course calls The Obamao’s entire academic record into question…AGAIN!!!

And finally, another young boy has been suspended from school for dangerous behavior involving a fake gun. In this case, it was his own finger.

8-year-old Jordan Bennett was playing cops and robbers with a friend at school in Harmony, Florida. His mom says he pointed his finger at another child and made a gun sound. The school decided the gesture was an act of violence and kicked him out for a day.

School officials say it’s against the rules to play with invisible guns.

Which makes the “school officials”…along with The Obamao…totally ignorant a-holes!

Since we’re on the subject of totally ignorant a-holes, it’s time for today’s Environmental Moment, as the WSJ‘s Stephen Moore reveals how the Environazis and their supporters in the federal government are…

Using ‘Sue and Settle’ to Thwart Oil and Gas Drillers

The Endangered Species Act is being employed more than ever to block development.

 

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…Next March, Fish and Wildlife will make a determination about whether to add the lesser prairie chicken, found in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kansas to the list. Harold Hamm, president of Continental Resources, says that the habitat for the prairie chicken overlaps “some of the most promising land for oil and gas leases in the country.”

Many Westerners suspect that this environmental activism isn’t only or even mostly about saving species and obscure subspecies. Instead, it is about restricting land use on hundreds of thousands of acres of private and state land. The concern is that if these species are listed as endangered, their habitat could be placed off limits for economic development.

In the 1980s, environmentalists successfully used a listing of the Northern Spotted Owl as threatened to cripple the timber industry in Oregon and Washington, throwing many thousands out of jobs. This is the playbook now being used by groups like the CBD—which boasts on its website of its desire to end most oil and gas production in the United States.

Gee…we’d have thought 10,000+ acres of their own habitat…

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…would have been more than enough.  Oh…sorry, this particular 10,000+ acres is intended for the ATTWATER prairie chicken…

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…NOT the…

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lesser prairie chicken.  Then again, if 10,000+ acres is good enough for the Attwater prairie chicken, should Progressive standards of fairness accord the lesser prairie chicken more range?!?

And yes, THIS is truly representative of the idiocy of the modern Environmental Movement.

On the Lighter Side…

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Then there’s this representation of tortured Liberal logic from Joe Flood:

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Finally, we’ll call it a day with the Sports Section, as…

Obama weighs in on Redskins name

 

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President Barack Obama says he would “think about changing” the Washington Redskins’ name if he owned the football team as he waded into the controversy involving a word many consider offensive to Native Americans.

Obama, in an interview with The Associated Press, said team names such as the Redskins offend “a sizable group of people.” He said that while fans get attached to the names, nostalgia may not be a good enough reason to keep them in place. “I don’t know whether our attachment to a particular name should override the real legitimate concerns that people have about these things,” he said in the interview, which was conducted Friday at the White House.

Which is of course why, when millions of Christians strenuously and rightly objected to federal funding for Robert Mapplethorpe’s peculiar pornography, photos of crucifixes in urine and representations of the Virgin Mary smeared with elephant dung, The Obamao’s respect for their “real legitimate concerns” caused him override Liberals’ unreasoning attachment to trash.

White House Silent Over Demands to Denounce ‘Piss Christ’ Artwork

 

Oh…

Ain’t Liberalism grand?!?

Magoo



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