Monuments and parks weren't closed during the LAST shutdown.

I'm glad somebody looked into this, its one of the things that's been bugging me about this shutdown thingy. I couldn't remember anything like this happening in the 90's when the gubment got shut down under Clinton.

It seems Obama is playing Chicago-style politics with our national monuments just to create some symbolic pressure to get the gubment funded again. His message is; if you won't fund the gubment, I'm gonna take my ball home and NOBODY gets to play.

Monuments and memorials remained open during previous shutdown

Although President Obama claims that he can’t avoid shutting down public sites and monuments, war memorials were in fact kept open during the 1995/1996 government shutdowns. The administration’s decision to barricade the Lincoln Memorial marks the first time in its history the memorial has been totally off limits to visitors during a shutdown.

It is not clear how much taxpayer money the Obama administration is paying to ensure that government sites and services remain shuttered to taxpayers. Popular Washington spots such as the World War II memorial are now guarded by more security personnel than they are during normal operations, while federal employees have been dispatched to put up barricades on capital bike paths and other public grounds that are not usually patrolled at all.

Daily Caller

This way the administration has handled this shutdown has been just childish and petulant IMO. Instead of trying to bring about a compromise and getting the gubment funded before we go into default, they are only interested in pointing fingers and winning political points with their supporters.

reply to post by FortAnthem

Monuments and memorials remained open during previous shutdown

Well that's darn interesting, of course he is being spiteful, and fear mongering.

Even tried to shut down privately owned Mount Vernon
twitter.com...

this
Gov’t shutdown spreads to beaches of Normandy
nypost.com...

It makes you wonder what kind of people these are.

How low can they go?

times-news.com...

House Republicans probe DC monument closures
www.foxnews.com...

Beyond the parks there are all these .gov websites that are perfectly fine and accessible but somebody had to redirect them to a "There's a shutdown so you can't see what's already here" page.

So much waste. It costs nothing to leave it be and walk away. It costs something to pointlessly redirect.

reply to post by FortAnthem


How much reasearch did you do on this topic, aside from reading the one article you linked? Here is the truth of the matter:

"The park closures in 1995 made a tangible difference," said Joan Anzelmo, who worked that year as a spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park. "The visual of park rangers closing down national parks, closing down the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument -- keeping Americans out of these iconic American sites -- those visuals were really a strong factor in people understanding what a government shutdown meant. People got mad."

www.mercurynews.com...

Based on the experience of 1995-96, a wide variety of businesses, local governments and ordinary citizens across the country could expect to feel a pinch from closures or disruptions at national parks

www.latimes.com...

If the government shuts down on Tuesday, all 401 national parks, monuments, battlefields, and other park units would be closed. In 1995-96, the closure of those parks cost businesses and local governments $295 million by preventing 7 million park visits, as political scientist Roy Meyers points out.

tv.msnbc.com...

There is 3 sources I found in less than one minute that all refute your OP. However, I consider myself the most reliable source because I had a trip planned to a national park during the last shutdown. I made my trip, but the park was closed.

I honestly think that just about everyone can agree these b******* need to go.

Can't we just have a massive vote of no confidence, throw them all out; and more or less start the election process over fresh?

Makes you wonder why there is a shutdown, its all a game, right/left and everything is a script with them. Ison interacted electrically with mars, and maybe we're not supposed to know whats coming, this is the Electric Universe and Ison gives off xrays or a charge. Maybe they think they can prohibit the people from accessing their own land in emergencies.

reply to post by LeatherNLace


The article points out that open air monuments and parks were not barricaded off and closed to the public. People weren't threatened back then with arrest just for walking on a piece of gubment land.

Sure, you still couldn't go inside the Washington Monument and the big National Parks would have to be closed if there are no rangers to man them and insure visitor safety but, people were NOT prohibited from walking on the National Mall or Lincoln Memorial as they are this time.

Looking at the barricades they put up, they seem to be quite expensive looking and not something that they just had lying around. It makes you wonder how long those things have been in the gubment possession, just waiting for something like this shutdown to pull them out and put them into action. I'll bet Obama had this whole monument shut-down planned in advance in case the Republicans ever came through on their threats to shut down the government.

They should take a lesson from all of this and padlock the entire House in the House chamber..

padlock the Senate in the Senate chamber

padlock the President in the Oval Office

Until..

They do the job they were elected to do..

No MSM BS blame game photo ops, they all have enough raving pundits to fill the air time, the only time I want to see any of the elected is when they are on their respected workplaces, and being aired on CSpan..

The President can check in with the daily press spinning should he have anything productive to report on the negotiations..


They colllectively have made it quite clear that they cannot secure the borders with a fence, but have proven that without funding or budget, they can certainly build fences around open air national monuments to make a point?

Get real... and get back to work!!! Folks are watching

Stormdancer777

I love it! (no more laughing face....)

Its all just the pre-game show for Agenda 21.

"Lets try this out and see how people react."

More people really need to read the darn thing, it makes so much of what is going on make sense. It really does. Of course, the amount of conspiracy stuff surrounding it makes it a bit hard to take seriously, but you can always go to the UN itself and read a lot about it, as well as order (on your dime, of course) an actual copy of the Agenda.

*Hint* It really doesnt do anything to address sustainability and "green living."

reply to post by JacKatMtn



Personally I think a prison cell would be more appropriate.

reply to post by LeatherNLace

The ones specifically mentioned in the OP are the Lincoln Memorial and WWII Memorial.

Did you happen to take any pictures of those sites barricaded when you visited them during the previous shutdown?

FortAnthem
It seems Obama is playing Chicago-style politics with our national monuments

Of course he is. It's his M.O. He did the same thing by closing the White House to tours and by grounding the Blue Angels. (all while he still found the money to go golfing every week and take his family on mega expensive vacations that the tax payer had to pick up security and Air Force One expenses on)

Also the US has a very odd system. To not have enough unity in the houses to pass a budget or legislation of any kind would mean a lack of confidence, and folding of goverment, and an election call. So, why is he still there?

I don't understand how someone can be so unpopular with the people and their representatives, albeit corrupt representatives, and still be allowed to continue to govern.

reply to post by FortAnthem


You need to stop treating the Daily Caller" like a news source. They are a political tabloid...

In this Wednesday, Nov. 15, 1995, file photo, U.S. Park Service Police Officer P.G. Carroll stands in front of closed signs at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, during a partial shutdown of the federal government. There have been 17 government shutdowns since 1976, ranging in length from one to 21 days. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File)

photos.mercurynews.com...

A sign hangs in the window of an information booth Saturday Dec. 16, 1995 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington announcing the temporary closure of the attraction due to the government shutdown. Parts of the federal government were ordered shut down Saturday as President Clinton blamed the Republican Congress for attempting to force unacceptable cuts in programs affecting the lives of children, the elderly and the poor.(AP Photo/Mark Wilson)

photos.mercurynews.com...

Personally, I would be a tiny bit more concerned if the supposed "Posers in Charge" began threatening to tear down these monuments and memorials to keep from having to spend money on them in future budgets.

If the corporate mindset has taken over the country, as it appears to have done, that would be the most cost effective approach to avoiding problems with funding in the future.

If there is no profit generated it will be eliminated, food stamps generate more profits than national parks.

Self maintaining slaves we are....we discuss what's happening right now, there is no tomorrow after all, for everyone eventually.

The U.S. Government is a Corporation....

Unity_99
So, why is he still there?

Because, unfortunately, the majority of the voting population bought into his 'hope and change' rhetoric and voted him in. So unless it can be proven in a court of law that he broke the law, and unless someone is willing to go after him and brave the full fury of his administration, we are stuck with him until the next election.

reply to post by Unity_99

Humorous how people who are paid the most to do the least can refuse to do their jobs and stay employed at all.

Must be that they write laws to guarantee they will stay employed or something, eh?.

Something really needs to change. They need to be held accountable like any other "employee".

We need to be able to fire them until we find somebody who actually does what they said they would do in their campaign for election.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

reply to post by Indigo5


I had a feeling this article was a lie. Political sensationalism is getting extreme on both ends of the spectrum and the mass media is buying into it all to rile everyone up. We need to stop dividing on the issues and unite. Our country is tearing itself apart.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I'm calling Liar, Liar, pants on fire at both, yourself and the source link you provide in your OP.

I was in Hawaii during the last government shutdown and my wife & I were denied access to the Pearl Harbor Memorial as well as other national parks located in Maui because they were closed due to the government shutdown.

Lies, lies and more lies. Don't you tea baggers have any strategy other than lying?

This thread belongs in the "Hoax forum" or at the very least it belongs in the LOL or "ludicrous online lies" forum.