Seems that stopping at a Ranger station and taking a picture is worth $125. 

These peoples names need to be publicized. they have to live somewhere, and their neighbors should be informed as to what who lives near them….in order that they can shun them as they would a pedophile.

One would hope that their local barista would refuse to serve them…their local diner would at best give surly, slow service…

Their community needs to know what kind of assholes are living in their midst so that they can apply some “negative reinforcement”.

NBC news tonight was FULL of stories about the soon to be reached Federal Credit Limit and the coming “default” of the US on its debt and the resultant armageddon which will happen worldwide shortly thereafter…..They suggested that everyone’s mortgage rates would go up, no one would be able to get a loan, etc.

Which is, of course, a lie.

The US may not be able to spend into the future devalue the dollar even further go farther into debt, but no matter what, it is law that the interest and other obligations MUST BE PAID.

And it will. Anyone who states differently is either ignorant of the law or, more likely, is a liar.

There may be severe spending cuts, but the US debt will be paid. Personally, I hope we reach the debt limit and start living on a balanced budget.

New mortgage rates may increase, and new loans may be a bit harder to get and my be more expensive, but old ones won’t increase until the end of their term…

Of course, it is more likely that the GOP will fold and allow a debt limit increase.

Some say that the Feds are gonna cut off EBT/SNAP.

I dunno.

If true, then things might get all…”sporty”. Especially in the higher density “Blue” areas.

I’d take the time to think about that, if I lived in or near such an area.

Then again it might just be disinformation.

But having a plan never hurts.

‘Cause a significant portion of our population will get upset if the free food runs out. They might not behave as you or I would….

If you live in or near Chicago (or the State of Illinois, for that matter), you are generally aware how things work when the Government (State, County, and Local) spend money….

Someone, somewhere, gets a kickback. Usually the person who has the power to grant a contract….often without competitive bids, or that person provides enough information that the vendor of goods or services has inside info to tailor his/her bid to make sure that they are awarded the contract…maybe not in all cases, but in most. Or someones family member is given a “ghost” job that pays way more than the title for that job would suggest.

It is the “Chicago Way”. Been going on for years. There are rules as to how it works and how to do it legally, and most politicians are very careful to not get caught doing anything illegal. They may toe the line, but (with the exception of the past few Governors of Illinois) the line is never crossed.

Now we find out that the contract for the (totally unworkable) Healthcare.Gov website was granted WITHOUT ANY COMPETITIVE BIDDING. (and, likely no oversight either).

Barry matured in politics, tutored by the best Democratic Machine politicians in the area, in Chicago, as did many of his closest advisors…..Draw your own conclusions.

And whoever signed off on it won’t be fired, either. Betcha.

ETA: “I will finally end the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all,”

S0 the $634 Million dollar Obamacare website still doesn’t work.

But the contractor still got paid, and the government employees responsible for oversight are, somehow, still employed.

Yet the Amazon website, for which people are responsible and who MUST make work in order to KEEP THEIR JOBS works, and works well.  In fact, their entire IT system works, as without it, Amazon would lose millions every minute that it doesn’t.

See for yourself:

You can buy tar HERE

And your choice of feathers from THIS page.

Get ’em now, before the rush. Just sayin’.

Strange how Amazon can get it right and yet those responsible for ObamaCare can’t….

You just know that the GOP will fold and give the DNC a raise in the debt limit for the US.
in 2013.

They have, in fact, already proposed it, albeit with some concessions.

Eventually they will, like in the past, fold and let things happen the DNC way.

If they do this (again!), then everything you have saved, every dollar in your IRA and in your bank account, will be worth even less. That $10/20/40/50/80/100 thousand you have put back for your “Golden Years” will buy even less in your retirement than it does today.

Forget being able to go shooting and travelling in your retirement, you are gonna be happy you can buy enough to eat…..

Everytime they raise the debt limit of the US, they generate dollars out of free air. Just conjure them up into existence.

This makes the existing dollars worth, proportionately, less.

Now, if you are paying off long term debt, then this isn’t a bad thing…sorta. If you are paying off a mortgage or business loan, then this is kinda nice. You are paying off a loan taken out in, say, 2000 in dollars that are worth about half as much in 2013. Same dollar number, they just have less value…they’ll buy less.

This is part of why food and fuel and ammo cost more than they did 5 or 10 or 20 years ago. THat dollar you use to buy is worth less because it has no real value except for what someone else will give you for it. It is based, not in gold or silver or other tangibles, but on the “full faith and credit of the United States”. Which means very little when the dollar supply keeps growing.The rest of the world has evaluated what the “full faith and credit” is worth….less every day.

Now if you were a Saudi, or a Chinese, and you were selling your oil or labor or tin or lead or whatever to a guy who just keeps making more money, with nothing backing it, would’nt you want more of those dollars for your stuff? They are only worth what some other guy will give you for them, and you can’t buy as much with them  as you did last year…

I sincerely hope that the debt limit becomes a hard ceiling. It’ll stop the devaluation of my retirement.

I’d like to have enough to spend on wild women and good whiskey, rather than dog food and cheap wine.

On that debt limit issue:

” We believe the government would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt even in the event that the debt limit is not raised, leaving its creditworthiness intact,” the memo says. “The debt limit restricts government expenditures to the amount of its incoming revenues; it does not prohibit the government from servicing its debt.”

See: all the debt limit does is stop the deficit spending. Much like a limit on a credit card, you can only go into debt so far….then, as you pay down the debt, you can spend some more, but your debt only can be so high. It doesn’t mean that you can’t write a check to the power company or your landlord, just that you can’t buy more stuff without finding a way to pay for it. Congress wants to keep Barry and the DNC Senate from getting another credit card. Barry says that not raising the limit will cause “Economic Chaos!”….and it will for some…if they depend on further government spending for their livelihood….For the rest of us though….

Either Barry and the DNC are stupid, or they believe that you and I and all our neighbors are stupid. I think that they are lying, and a significant portion of the country doesn’t understand well enough (or at all) to detect the lie….Especially when the News Media isn’t calling them on that lie.

All this does is put the USA on a balanced budget. Cuts WILL have to be made (strangely, the Sequester didn’t keep this from happening) and the screaming as to exactly where those cuts will have to be made will be loud, strident, and cries of “Calamity!!!” will come from every quarter. But ultimately, for the first time in decades, the US will be on a balanced budget (at least, kinda/sorta, because both parties will play games with the numbers….but it’ll be closer to balanced than we have been in many years.

Fewer and fewer people (who aren’t already dependent on the feds for their livelihood) believe that anymore.

Daily, the numbers are dropping.

The actions of park rangers and other minions of the Feds show that they will follow orders, no matter how stupid.

People are beginning to realize that the government and the federal personnel no longer believe themselves to be servant of the citizens, but rather the other way around….master of the citizens. They believe that the citizens are subject their whim. Many of us knew that, but now, Joe average-low-information-voter is realizing it. and that is bad for the State.

They have forgotten that they govern only by the consent of the governed.

Bad precedents being set here. Not for us….for them.

Even if we have to spend extra money to show you how bad our fonances are…

Why, if you won’t stay out of our parks, then we will remove the handles from the water fountains just to make you extra more unhappy.

Petulance.

Barry: You look like an ass more and more every day

So the veil of competence is being torn from the face of government.

As is the veil of respectability.

And people are beginning to wonder why they have to obey the orders of the minions of the government. The actions of the Obama administration, in that the capricious blocking of certain parks and other portions of our government apparatus in an attempt to cause the greatest possible inconvenience to the American people irritates us and shows that the Administration considers us stupid enough to believe the hype and undermines the respect that we (generally) had for our government and our leaders.

It could be that the Obama administration is trying to anger enough people by inconveniencing them in the hope that the people will pressure their legislators to fold.

Instead it is encouraging disobedience. Lots and lots of disobedience. People are posting and tweeting their disobedience without fear of reprisal.

What is happening instead of people begging for their government to continue as it was is that people are realizing that they really don’t need (or care) for that government.

If the petty, vindictive actions of our government.continue, there will be more civil disobedience.

And if the government continues it’s actions, eventually, civil war.

Most people, conservative or liberal, upper, middle or lower class are decent people, not wishing to engage in a fight. Most are passive and choose other paths than fighting.

If they can.
If those other paths actually change things. If the government doesn’t continue to ratchet up the pressure.

But piss them off enough, give them a good enough reason, and even those passive people will stand up and say “ENOUGH!”.

How much longer will the Obama folks keep up the pressure? How many people have suddenly realized that they can only visit a park if Barry says so, or risk arrest?

How many have just, in the last few days, felt the urge to go to a federal park, just because some guy says that they can’t?

How long until people’s anger makes them realize that disobedience isn’t so bad, and that the consequences aren’t either.

And how many steps is it from civil disobedience to civil war?