Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Obama Administration Decided to Block Access to Memorials
The Obama Administration has decided to block access to public memorials on the National Mall as a result of the government shutdown. Like its decision to end White House tours when the sequester cuts took effect, there is no rational reason for this. The Park Police, nominally in charge of monitoring these spaces, isn't even effected by the shutdown. Shutting off access to these sites is gratuitous and petulant. On Monday, the first day of the government shutdown, a number of WWII
veterans showed up at a memorial to their service to find that access
had been blocked. The memorial is in a public space and is open 24/7,
with almost no oversight from Park Police personnel. (Who, by the way,
are exempt from the government shutdown.) The White House was, according to reports, informed of the veterans' visit and chose to block access. Having lived in DC for 18 years, I can tell you, the WWII Memorial is
simply an architectural structure in an open public space. There is no
official "access" to it. There are no guards. It's a building in a park.
Yet, the Obama Administration tried to block veterans from viewing the
public memorial, even after hearing about the planned visit. Fortunately, the "greatest generation" was having nothing of this and
easily overcame the government barricades. (Do we yet again have to
rely on this generation to show the promise of America?)...more
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