a long time...

[imaginethat]

What is a dream that has stuck with you for a very very long time?

[Karin M Fichtner]

I feel your pain, luvy.......and I'm not being facetious.....but my mind is having difficulty getting around the logistics of closing 1,218,000 acres of open canyon!! I mean, it's not like there's a door you can lock.  And you can't build a fence around that (we have trouble building fences at the border!).  Now I see they've "closed" 1100 coastal miles of ocean!!  Are these people nuts??  Close a canyon and an ocean??  I don't remember Bill Clinton doing that back when they shut the government down......or is my memory in error?

Here in DC, they've "closed" the Washington Monument!  Are they kidding?  You can see the danged thing from blocks away!!  It would be different if you could go inside it, and they forbade that.....but it's so damaged from our earthquake it hasn't been "open" to the public since.  In fact, right now, it's surrounded on all sides by scaffolding!!  Close it????  Are these people insane??  It's not like there has to be an armed guard there; I've been there at least 6 times since I moved here, and never saw a security guard anywhere....not even during Cherry Blossom Festival!  And you can't "close" the Iwo Jima Memorial.....not technically.....so what they did is deny access to handicapped and wheelchair-bound veterans, who used to be able to be driven up there so they didn't have to go all the way up the hill.  Able-bodied tourists can walk around the blockade and see the monument......but the aged, frail veterans who actually fought in that war can't??? 

Tell me this isn't political.....on both sides!!  Grow up, Congress!  Get a set, ok?  We elected you because supposedly you were smarter than us.  Fooled us, didn't you? 

[flippr 2.0]

[ProblemAgain]

we live in a very litigious society

("I'm Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer. If you've been hurt, someone should PAY. My client got hurt in a car wreck and got a collapsed LUNG. I hammered and got 148 thousand dollars IN HER POCKET. CALL ME RIGHT NOW!")..

there is a law (the Antideficiency Law of 1874 that deems it illegal for anyone to incur debts on behalf of the federal government that are not budgeted for. thus the furlough is mandated by that law. the fact that there would be no park rangers or employees etc etc means due warning must be given the public that there is no staff thus the parks etc are CLOSED. and this means that anyone venturing onto the properties would be essentially duly warned and can expect no help or guidance. thus if someone gets hurt , the federal government is not liable. in fact since the parks etc are 'closed', a person who gets hurt is also trespassing....