HALF-FULL REPORT 10/11/13

Gunwalker.  Benghazi.  IRS audits.  NSA surveillance.  All are overshadowed by Smokey the Bear becoming a Nazi, thinks the Weekly Standard.

 "The Park Service, which is supposed to serve the public by administering parks, is now in the business of forcing parks they don’t administer to close. As Homer Simpson famously asked, did we lose a war?"

Here’s what these "public servants" have been doing:

*At Yellowstone National Park, armed rangers kept senior citizens locked in a hotel to make certain they couldn’t catch a glimpse of the famous geyser "Old Faithful."  As their bus was leaving the park, the Brownshirts wouldn’t let them stop for a bathroom break.

*Along the Chesapeake & Ohio canal in Maryland, where many people jog or bike, the brownshirts removed the handles from drinking fountains.

*In Newport News, Va., Karen Trevett wrote to the Weekly Standard to say:

I was astounded [Wednesday] when I went to my doctor’s office for some [lab work] . . . Across the parking lot, where there is a lovely little nature path [through the Lake Maury Natural Area] for patients, etc. to stroll . . . [and] there sits a park ranger in his car, lights on, blocking anyone from taking a stroll. I cannot imagine how much it costs to have a ranger there 24/7 to keep this path closed.

*In San Francisco, the privately owned Cliff House Restaurant, which is located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, was shut down by the Brown Shirts, putting 170 people out of work.  But the Presidio Golf Club, where many bigshot Dems play and is located in the same national park as the Cliff House, has been left open.

*Also in San Francisco, the Brownshirts forced cancellation of the annual sandcastle contest on Ocean Beach even though it "normally has no lifeguards, no rangers, is permanently open to the public, and requires no funds for day-to-day operations."

*In Tennessee, when the Brownshirts closed the Foothills Parkway that runs through the Smoky Mountain National Park, they effectively cut off from civilization a residential community near the park.

*When Chris Cox brought his lawn mower to the Lincoln Memorial Wednesday to do some free groundskeeping, he was ordered to cease and desist. Only a British newspaper chose to interview him about his experience with "bully robocops." 

 How much are you spending to close off the memorials from the people, 94 GOP Congressmen asked Jonathan Jarvis, obersturmbahnfuhrer of the National Socialist Park Service, in this letter.

Following the example of the WWII vets at the WWII Memorial, Americans are pushing back against the Brownshirts. Here and here and here and here are other examples.

Resistance is having an effect.  Both the Pisgah Inn in North Carolina and the Claude Moore Colonial Farm in the Virginia suburbs of DC have reopened.

* * * *

By refusing to pay death benefits to the loved ones of service members killed in action, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel found a way to be more despicable that the National Socialist Parks Service. 

Before the shutdown began, Congress passed the "Pay Our Military" act, which provided "such sums as are necessary to provide pay and allowances to members of the Armed Forces."  Arnold Ahlert describes here the excuse Hagel contrived not to pay the death benefit. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Cal, a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, told Megyn Kelly that what Hagel did was such a betrayal of our troops he should resign.

It was "obnoxious" for Hagel to force the Armed Forces Network to stop broadcasting NFL games to our troops, but this decision was "depraved," said the San Diego Union Tribune.

As shock and anger mounted, Zero pretended he’d just learned of the decision to deny death benefits, and was "outraged" by it.  But apparently the cutoff in death benefits had been discussed at the Pentagon before the shutdown began.  White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dodged questions about when the President knew death benefits would not be paid.

Hagel and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney blamed House Republicans.  The Union-Tribune wasn’t buying.  The "tell" that the cutoff was administration policy was President Obama’s claim legislation wasn’t required to overturn it.

"It is an appalling commentary on the president and his administration that they chose to bully the families of dead American soldiers for perceived political gain," the Union-Tribune said.

* * * *

Megyn Kelly’s new show on the Fox News Channel is killing the competition in the ratings.  Katie Couric is bombing once again.

* * * *

Zero is a lot more fond of the Muslim Brotherhood than he is of vets or our troops.  He’s planning to slash aid to Egypt as punishment for ousting his buddy Mohamed Morsi.  Egyptians aren’t happy about it. It will backfire, they say. Patrick Brennan explains why.

Robert Spencer writes here about our Muslim Brotherhood President.

* * * *

There were developments this week in the older scandals.

*The IRS apparently provided confidential taxpayer information to the White House, which is a felony.  At a hearing Wednesday, Sarah Hall Ingram, who oversees IRS enforcement of Obamacare, denied she consorts with the Devil. Ms.Ingram visited the White House 155 times. In must see TV, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH, lights into her here.

*A federal judge has ruled for the House Oversight Committee in its suit against the Justice Department for stonewalling in the Gunwalker/Fast and Furious scandal.  The ATF is trying to quash a whistleblower’s book because it hurts their feelings.

*The mammoth new NSA data collection center in Utah is plagued by meltdowns.  NSA Director Keith Alexander admitted Wednesday he’s been misleading the public about foiling terror plots.  NSA’s data sweeps haven’t foiled any terror plots, a Dutch analyst charges.  The CIA warned about Edward Snowden, the whistleblower turned traitor, in 2009, but NSA hired him anyway.

* * * *

Week 2 of the Obamacare rollout went about as well as Week 1, which was FUBAR.  It’s been "nothing short of disastrous," said Jan Crawford of CBS News. A "complete mess," said NBC News.

The problems that plague Healthcare.gov aren’t going to be fixed anytime soon, because, experts told the Washington Post, the "root cause is not simply a matter of flawed computer code but rather the government’s habit of buying outdated, costly and buggy technology."

A Canadian firm got a sole source contract for $634 million to build it, so the worst built Web site ever is also the most expensive ever. 

The Obamunists got lots of warnings about the bugs in the system, but went ahead anyway.  Avik Roy describes here "how Obamacare exchanges turned into a Third World Experience." Charles Cooke recounts here the gulf between what the administration said about the system, and reality.

Only one person in 10 who wanted to sign up could, according to this poll for the AP.  The relative few who can get into the federal Obamacare Web site have trouble getting out of it.  Insurance companies are getting incomplete information on those who do sign up.

Many who did get through experienced sticker shock, reports the San Jose Mercury News:

"Cindy Vinson and Tom Waschura are big believers in the Affordable Care Act. They vote independent and are proud to say they helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama.

Yet, like many other Bay Area residents who pay for their own medical insurance, they were floored last week when they opened their bills: Their policies were being replaced with pricier plans that conform to all the requirements of the new health care law.

Vinson, of San Jose, will pay $1,800 more a year for an individual policy, while Waschura, of Portola Valley, will cough up almost $10,000 more for insurance for his family of four.

"Of course, I want people to have health care," Vinson said. "I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is ducking questions about how many have actually signed up.  It’s "unfair" even to ask, said Rep. Debbie Dimwit, chair of the Democrat National Committee.  CNN’s Anderson Cooper doesn’t buy their explanations for why they can’t release Obamacare data.

Reports from the states suggest why they’re reluctant to talk. No doctors have signed up in Minnesota. Nobody has signed up in Hawaii.  It’s been zilch in Delaware, too. A reporter in El Paso couldn’t find anyone there who had signed up.  The Des Moines Register found just five in Iowa.  In Ohio, enrollment is in the "double digits."  In Pittsburgh Thursday, an Obamacare rally featuring HHS Kathleen Sebelius and Steelers owner Dan Rooney flopped as badly as the 0-4 Steelers have so far this season.

Nationwide, only 51,000 filled out application forms the first week, reports the London Daily Mail.

This will be Obamacare’s next big problem, predicts National Review’s Jim Geraghty.

"Maybe the GOP is right that Democrats should delay Obamacare for a year," said CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

* * * *

Last month Coloradans upset by draconian gun control laws passed a year ago by the Democrat-controlled state legislature recalled the Senate president, John Morse, D-Colo Springs, and State Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo, a committee chair. 

Gun rights advocates have begun collecting signatures to recall a third state senator, Evie Hudak, who represents a district in the suburbs north of Denver.

"Hudak’s district is more conservative than either Morse’s or Giron’s," notes the Washington Post. 

I’ll say. Ms.Hudak was re-elected in 2012 by fewer than 600 votes, chiefly because a Libertarian Party candidate got more than 5,000 votes.  If she’s ousted, control of the state senate will flip to the Republicans.  And if she’s ousted, don’t expect Democrat candidates next year to utter a peep about gun control.

* * * *

TTPer Carol Kirkstadt, who lives in Colorado, has produced two videos about the dangers of the "Common Core" curriculum the Left is pushing for in public schools.  To get copies of the videos, you can get in touch with Carol here.

* * * *

North Korea has opened a luxury ski resort.  The Swiss are "human rights abusers," the Norks say, because the Swiss won’t sell them ski lifts.

* * * *

Respondents to the Newark Star-Ledger’s online poll said Republican Steve Lonegan bested Democrat Cory Booker in their acrimonious final debate Wednesday night, 75 percent to 22 percent.  The special election for the Senate seat is next Wednesday, Oct. 16.

It would be an enormous upset if Lonegan were to win.  But he’s run a superb campaign, while Booker’s has been very poor.  Turnout typically is much lower for special elections, so an upset is possible.  His internal polling indicates the race is neck and neck, Lonegan says. Keep your fingers crossed.

* * * *

After liberal Democrats in the Senate balked at his first choice, President Obama nominated their choice, Janet Yellen, to head the Federal Reserve Board.  She’ll keep the printing presses humming.

* * * *

Both sides are losing in the shutdown showdown, polls indicate.

So far, Republicans are by far the bigger losers.  According to this Gallup poll Wednesday, support for the GOP has fallen 10 percentage points since last month, to 28 percent, the lowest level ever recorded. 

According to this poll – which led the NBC Nightly News last night – support for Republicans has plummeted to 24 percent, support for Obamacare is rising.  The shutdown is increasing support for big government among swing voters, said GOP pollster Bill McInturff.

This may be why President Obama rejected yesterday the latest offer from Republicans to end the standoff.  It must be my way or the highway, he insists.  After the shutdown ends – however it ends – he may come to regret his intransigence.

Americans are angry about the shutdown, for which they mostly blame Republicans.  But they want Obama to negotiate with them.  In this poll for the AP Wednesday, Zero’s job approval fell to 37 percent.  And at the same time support for the GOP was plummeting, this Rasmussen poll Monday indicated Democrats have lost the two point lead they had last month in the generic Congressional ballot.

At the moment, Americans are madder at Republicans.  But they are really really mad at both parties, and at Washington in general. Dysfunctional government has replaced the economy as their foremost concern.  Throw everyone in Congress out, said 60 percent of respondents in the NBC/WSJ poll.  In a Gallup poll last month, trust in government was at 49 percent, an all time low.  In this Pew poll Sept. 23, a majority of respondents said they view government as a threat to their personal rights.

There’s no getting around the fact that this week’s polls are very bad news for Republicans.  But the news isn’t quite as bad as it at first appears.  The NBC/WSJ poll oversampled Democrats and the families of furloughed federal workers.  Much of the decline in support for the GOP has come from disaffected conservatives, who are unlikely to vote for Democrats.

Unless the shutdown ends in a catastrophe for which Republicans are blamed, what matters are the polls that will be taken several months after it ends.  My respect for poll stats geek Nate Silver grew by leaps and bounds after he was so right (and I was so wrong) about the 2012 election.  Read carefully his Six Takeaways from the shutdown.   The media overstates its political impact, he says, and "we lack data on the most important measures of voter preferences."

Health care expert Jeffrey Anderson writes here about the question pollsters didn’t ask.  Anderson was opposed to the shutdown strategy, but thinks now Republicans "are poised for victory" if they can get their story out to the American people.

Media bias is why so many Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown, and why so few Americans know what it is Republicans seek.  The younger conservatives who are stepping forward deal with it better than their elders did.  I think you’ll enjoy as much as I did watching Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis, read the Riot Act to Andrea Mitchell:

What happens next?  It appears as if Republicans will rely on Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis, to negotiate a deal.  Both Charles Krauthammer, who opposed the shutdown, and Hugh Hewitt, who supported it, think this is  good.  I agree. Ryan is very smart, solidly conservative, and he drives Zero bats.

It’s important for conservatives to have realistic expectations.  If the shutdown ends the sequester cuts intact, or expanded upon, and any concession on Obamacare, Republicans win.  Krauthammer thinks Obama "will blink" and agree to repeal of the medical device tax.

Even without a concession on Obamacare, Republicans win, because when the media can no longer distract attention from it with phony angst over the "shut-down," reality takes over.  And the reality is that Obamacare is a colossal failure. 

And Americans will remember how Obama deliberately tried to inflict pain on them.  I’m inclined to agree with the Weekly Standard’s Jonathan Last that the "Gestapo tactics" of the National Socialist Park Service will gain a traction the other scandals have not. 

Media bias is, of course, the primary reason why Gunwalker, Benghazi, the IRS, etc. haven’t gained traction.  But it is also because there are so many lofos, and they are so low information.  To be concerned about the other scandals, you have to have a modicum of understanding of and interest in what’s going on in the world.  Most lofos have neither.  But you don’t need to know much to be appalled by what NPS has done in the last week.

I’m running way long.  I’ve got to end here.  The Heroes of the Week, of course, are all of those who resisted the National Socialist Park Service.