Obama Shutdown Spreads to D-Day Beaches of Normandy & Cemeteries

I wonder how, come election day, American vets will feel about Barack Obama considering those who preserve and maintain the sacred sites of their supreme sacrifice,...as 'NON-ESSENTIAL'.

This is just pathetic.
Obama really is trying to control all American citizens 'cradle-to grave'.

Gov’t shutdown spreads to beaches of Normandy

PARIS — Tourists travelling to Omaha Beach to pay their respects to the 9,387 military dead at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial will find it closed, a victim of the U.S. government’s partial shutdown.

The site overlooking the D-Day invasion beaches is one of 24 U.S. military cemeteries overseas that have closed to visitors since Monday. Ten more cemeteries in France, as well as others in various European countries as well as Mexico, Panama, Tunisia and the Philippines, will remain closed for the duration of the shutdown.

The cemeteries are maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, set up after the First World War. Nearly 125,000 U.S. servicemen and women are buried at its cemeteries, and an additional 94,000 are commemorated on tablets of the missing.

nypost.com...

www.france24.com...

Well, now there is a Commander and Chief to be proud of.

It was just a couple days ago the headlines were running about the fights over who was and wasn't essential, so it's not like it was carved in stone with nothing to be done about some of these more serious situations, IMO.

It shows a man's priorities and values. It definitely does. Politics shouldn't impact the memorial or resting places of our vets. This is 100% pure politics for sending people home one day vs. coming back a few days later. Nothing but politics.

Obama really is trying to control all American citizens 'cradle-to grave'.

Oh please.

A cemetery in a foreign country is non essential. This cemetery shouldn't exist in the first place. They should have been brought back home and buried at Arlington cemetery. Not left in another country where most of their families will never be able to pay their respects.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

It's ridiculous, they also tried to shut down the privately-funded parking lot at Mount Vernon.
We can all guess why.

The feds shut down the parking lot of Mt. Vernon, but not the park itself.

In another brilliant move, the National Park Service closed off the parking lot to Mt. Vernon, the home of the country’s first president George Washington. Since Mt. Vernon is privately owned, the NPS can’t shut down the park, so they instead opted to shut down the parking lot at the popular tourist attraction.

The news came from one brave man on Twitter who has been tweeting to the world all day about how the parking lot (well, at least one parking lot at the time this report was being written) was closed, despite Mt. Vernon officials saying it was open.

1 parking lot directly out front of Mount Vernon remains closed in spite of dispute with Park Service pic.twitter.com/8SoKfTllvj— Stephen Gutowski (@collegepolitico) October 2, 2013

dailycaller.com...

Why are people trying to blame Obama for this when the Republicans are the ones who caused it by wanting to defund something that was passed through congress and declared consitutional?

Thats like trying to blame an apple for being an orange.

reply to post by neformore


No, It's Obama who is comparing Obamacare to Apple.

reply to post by IAMTAT


"Obama Shutdown".

Yup, no political agenda to spread here. Carry on.

neformore
Why are people trying to blame Obama for this when the Republicans are the ones who caused it by wanting to defund something that was passed through congress and declared consitutional?

Thats like trying to blame an apple for being an orange.

Any excuse to blame Obama for the biggest piece of political stupidity that the Republicans have ever committed.

reply to post by IAMTAT


I'm (hesitantly) fine with closing of various public parts. I don't think it's needed (hence the hesitant part), but one thing that should never close down is various remembrance parks to our fallen.

It makes me literally ill. These people died so people like Obama could become president. He should show the utmost respect to these people. I've never said this before not because I don't believe in it, but I honestly think Obama doesn't give two s**** about veterans or America in general.

Republicans and democrats both should be ashamed of themselves. This is why I no longer adhere to any political party.

neformore
Why are people trying to blame Obama for this when the Republicans are the ones who caused it by wanting to defund something that was passed through congress and declared consitutional?

Thats like trying to blame an apple for being an orange.

I have to say the blame goes around and spreads quite equally between 3 individual men above all others. Obama, Reid and Boehner. Perhaps, Boehner can be said to take a bit more since the House does have original budget responsibility ..but we aren't passing budgets so it's not as important. It cannot happen without all three of the men agreeing and two of them, carrying support among their respective sub-sections of the Legislative branch.

Right now, I don't hear any of the 3 talking deals except back channel ones they won't even claim as their own for the bad nature of them. Nothing in good faith.

Obama gets it most, probably because he's unique among those 3 for being the Executive with no 99 or 434 or other people to have to get agreement among. Obama does what Obama chooses to do where the other two can't. It makes him more capable of impacting solutions ...or the lack of them, IMO.

reply to post by IAMTAT


The Obama shutdown? If you are not a paid shill, you certainly should be. You've nailed the central theme of GOP propaganda efforts.

Take some kind of action taken by the GOP and/or it's super PAC, turn it 180 degrees and put Obama's face or his name on it. Finally, feign righteous rage. The only thing missing is the camera crew.

Yawn.

reply to post by IAMTAT


How are a cemetery and memorial more essential than things like the FAA? One third of the FAA has been declared non-essential and furloughed, military academies are canceling classes and events, but we should keep a cemetery in France open as essential? Seriously?

reply to post by InverseLookingGlass


My views are my own...which is why I posted them under my thread.
But, thank you; I'm encouraged by your extremely defensive response....MUHAAAAHAAAHAAA!

reply to post by Zaphod58


I disagree with ya a bit on this one. Yes, they are more essential.

The Military Cemeteries and Battlefield Memorials were established in perpetuity and to honor the best as at least the generation that created the place saw those at rest there. They weren't supposed to be at the pleasure or whims of politics winds blowing one day to the next. In fact, somehow, this seems like the worst insult of all. The very Government who sent them ...is directly behind the insult to them.

If we cannot care for this most basic level of importance in society, maybe we need to ask ourselves how much we deserve all those other 'essential' things anymore. We've lost our way and in such a profound way, it hurts to see, IMO.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I agree they shouldn't fall under the whims of a politician, but the money to maintain them has to come from somewhere, and that falls under appropriated funds. If they were under NAF instead it would be a non-issue, but then the funds would be subject to the whims of donors, and this could happen any time, not just in a shutdown.

Well all this can end if the speaker just calls for a vote for the funding without the Obamacare crap tied in. Enough Republicans have said they would vote for it and are calling on the vote to be called. That is all that is holding things up now. One guy.

reply to post by Zaphod58

....but the money to maintain them has to come from somewhere, and that falls under appropriated funds.

Does it? In time, it would become a major issue, true enough. Gas for the lawn maintenance equipment. Maintenance itself, eventually and things like fence repair and grounds upkeep for supplies as well. You're right that, in time, all this would come to matter.

I'd also say I put my name in with the National Cemetery here in the area and where my Dad lay at rest to volunteer if they needed support from the community. It was a general offer, noted, and quite some time back in other context. It was a standing one though. They're welcome to give my otherwise unoccupied tail a call. I'll be happy to donate free time during this petty shutdown.

...and I really have no doubt in my mind that, with possible isolated exceptions, none of the Battle sites or Cemeteries would have any issue finding 100% free labor to fill in for the time this lasts. If only they were allowed to even ask. I'll bet there is a law.... Like closing the parking at Mount Vernon, despite the paved parking area basically being the ONLY part the National Park Service has ...only partial control over.

It's about pain..so I'll just bet, thinking about it, they couldn't ask for help even if the individual people at the locations wanted to. What a nation we're becoming some days.

hmm ATS was also out of air after the shutdouwn... perhaps they are also paid by the gov. ?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000



Cemeteries and memorials fall under the facilities maintenance in the DoD budget IIRC. That means no budget for the DoD, no budget for them.

It's not like Obama sat there and decided he was going to close them.

reply to post by ressiv


Its more likely that the kind of people who promote such theories are people who have been banned off ATS because of their own stupidity, and their D-Ego's are so massive that they can't let things go or admit their mistakes so they have to spew crap, because if you think about it, their theory implies that the big bad all powerful government that alledgedly hides aliens, runs a chemtrail programme, ran 9/11, listens to everyones calls, wants to take your guns away, is forcing GMO on you by stealth and is trying to enslave the people suddenly went astoundingly and shockingly dumb, which runs counter to every conspiracy ethos out there.