I don't get why there is more anger and bluster over parks being closed...

[Drunken Irishman]

...than people's livelihoods being at stake here. Where are our priorities? Yeah, it sucks the Grand Canyon was closed for a week. Guess what? People aren't being paid - those who collect Social Security, a great deal whose income is solely that, are wondering what next ... and you're making this about a monument in Washington?

Really?

The shutdown is more than just the Lincoln Memorial being closed ... it's about the economy and lives and jobs. If that's what we're truly concerned over, I ask again: where the fuck are our priorities?

I damn well know veterans didn't serve for a memorial. What they served for - the greatness of this country - is crumbling while we all focus on the fact you can't go visit the Grand Canyon for a weekend.

Okay?

[Tikki]

1. I think the exact thing as you do....

But those freaks are going to pretend like the Park barriers are their Berlin Wall..





Tikki

[tecelote]

24. Want to see how far they go?

Check out the comments here:

Shutdown Hits Normandy, But Some U.S. Landmarks Reopen
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304500404579130093623884898.html

[Cleita]

2. Because middle class families missing out on their

vacations are more likely to be campaign donors than poor families who could starve. It's always been that way. The poor are always on the bottom of priorities because they have nothing to give back.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. They are easily tipped cows.

[flamingdem]

4. It is being covered breathlessly on CNN right now

and the teabaggers are eating it up.

All for internal consumption before the caving begins.

[Scootaloo]

5. Same reason an injured animal garners more sympathy than an injured person

Our culture is strongly misanthropic, with the belief that human suffering is more often than not the deserved reward of whoever's doing the suffering.

so when we look at the financial suffering of our fellow Americans, we tend to go "yeah well, tighten your belt!" or "should have put it in savings!" - but when the same problem is closing our parks and impinging on our access to American sites, it bothers us. One could be cynical and attribute this to selfishness - "I don't get my vacation!" or optimistic and say it's because Americans still have a concept of the commons. Either way though, the people get dismissed because we're taught to dismiss them.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

45. Just like Tony Soprano was really upset about his ducks dying, though torturing, maiming

and murdering human beings he seemed to enjoy.

[TwilightGardener]

6. I don't think anyone is all that outraged over parks.

Inconvenienced and annoyed, maybe. Mostly it's Repubs pretending that the National Park Service is full of Nazi goons doing Obama's nefarious bidding--after they caused the shutdown, of course.

[ChazII]

7. Perhaps the bluster is for

those who make a living by working at the small mom and pop businesses that are located outside the parks. They own their own business and hire local town folks. But I guess those folks don't matter.

My uncle once owned one of the small hotels in Kanab, Utah. He and my aunt ran the hotel and hired two gals to help with the cleaning of the rooms in season. Those small towns depend on the tourist and not just wealthy tourists.

[Drunken Irishman]

12. Obviously they matter a lot more than anyone else...

Because it's been the focus of the entire shutdown - parks closed! Vets can't even visit the WWII Memorial! We're gonna tear down these barriers and storm the memorials! HEY! The Grand Canyon is open again!

Guess what? I live in Utah. My state's entire economy is built around the tourism industry (either from the national parks or skiing). It doesn't mean it's the most vital aspect of this shutdown, though. When it's our sole focus, it shows our priorities suck. The Grand Canyon being closed down for a week is not a bigger story than the Republicans purposely crashing the economy.

Because guess what - if the economy goes south, families won't be able to afford those vacations anymore and those small mom and pop shops in small towns all across this country will dry up.

[Mass]

8. Because you may want to go to a national park, so you can identify with those who cannot.

When it comes to people's livelihood, people who are not involved prefer not to be bothered (including here way too often).

Try posting a thread about poverty on DU. You will be surprised how much nobody is interested. And most politicians are not either: poor people do not vote.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. Well said.

[Nevernose]

27. Yep. Poverty threads drop faster than lead balloons.

But if it's "Guess what my Republican coworker said" or "Obama is in league with the Koch brothers" or "Some crazy lady has way too many kids" or "Pit Bulls are the devil"...Well, if it's one of those things, you've hit DU gold.

Point out that twenty thousand people in the world starved to death today, or that poverty in America is escalating rapidly, or that the poor have so little political sway that they might as well be invisible, and your thread will probably die a quick, pain free death of being ignored.

I'm as guilty as anyone else of posting about relatively trivial stuff, but it seems like many posters here don't spend a lot of time multitasking beyond whatever bullshit is in the news lately.

[Cha]

9. Thank you!

[wandy]

10. If you were the GOP, how would you pitch this............

Would you make a news item that children weren't being feed?
Would you spread concern about the EPA?
Would you shine a light on Head Start closings?
Would you brag that this is causing the VA difficulties?

Heck no! You would find a nice shiny object that you're base can get behind.

Oh, that poor family traveled all the way to Jelleystone and the park was closed.
Those poor kids, they can't see the possums in the zoo.
Veterans have a right to get into the European war memorial.

These are the stories you want the corporate media to highlight!
Its easy, you have the same owners.

[liberalmuse]

13. Try taking away people's TV or Play Stations.

Sadly, a good number of Americans are simply numbed to the fact that other people are suffering. They don't care. If they did, Republicans would never be voted into office. You want to get people in the streets? Take away their Play Stations and ability to buy designer bags or go site seeing. Whatever it takes. I read an article this morning about how this situation is being caused because fundamentalist "Christians" are so far removed from reality that they cannot even comprehend the consequences of their actions. Take away hardcore religion and kick these people back into reality, and I guarantee that most of the world's problems would be resolved. Frankly, I don't see much difference between a meth addict and a religious fundamentalist, except the former mostly harms themselves and their immediate families while the latter has the capability of harming a helluva lot more people.

[sad-cafe]

14. manufactured outrage

it is the latest rage

[kmlisle]

36. Exactly!

And its handy - just run across the Mall and the Beltway Press is easy to marshal. Opportunists at work doing what they do best promoting themselves and nobody else.

[Lifelong Dem]

15. Republicans want to shut down government and then yell bad government

for shutting things down. They think they can reflect a bad approval onto the government which reflects onto Obama. But people are not falling for this game as the recent NBC poll showed.

[pnwmom]

16. For a lot of people these are once in a lifetime family activities,

planned ahead for a year or more. To have them fall apart at the end must be very disappointing.

[yuiyoshida]

17. Tea Party Republicans have no sense of what is really Important...

To them its really about "ME!, ME! ME!"

Well we Knew that, right??




Somebody's party needs a TIME OUT!

[spanone]

18. because it's total bullshit. it's the 'today show' reporting the news.

it's all tabloid news.....forever and ever....

[murielm99]

19. My husband is still getting Social Security,

but we are getting worried. It is not our only source of income, but the loss would make it hard to pay all the bills.

I am doing some substitute teaching, but that money was supposed to go into savings for a down payment on a better car. We may need it to supplement our income.

I feel great anger and sympathy for the people who rely on a meager Social Security check every month.

My son's place of work only has three more weeks, and it will have to close. They need both of their incomes every month. Are they supposed to lose their home and have their car repossessed, because of some shit-head tea baggers? Granted, they are not going without food, the way some people will.

Something needs to be done, and NOW.

[SoCalDem]

20. Because "poorer" folks can afford a car trip to a National Park/Museum

We do not jet away to Bali for a few days or fly first class to Hawaii for the weekend at a rich friend's house

People still pile into the family car/SUV/van or take bus tours to nearby places run by the federal government.. Those places are about all we have left..

Most families cannot afford $1k for a trip to Disneyland..

Even modest roadtrips cost a LOT when you have to stay at motels..

We stayed at some pretty 1-2 star places on our recent driving trip to Seattle.. a week there (Extended Stay Hotel $797.00 for 9 nights) $75 at an old Travel Lodge in Roseburg, OR... $83 at a place in Albany OR on the way back and $77 at a very underwhelming place in Stockton CA.. add in the gas & food & even a grueling driving trip is costly..
Back when we had all three boys tagging along we had to have TWO rooms

When "middle class" families and older folks plan a vacation, they do not have financial wiggle room to add extra costs to their trips.. They feel the p[inch when the place they planned to go is closed down and they have to make last minute costly changes in plans

[jtuck004]

21. If we really gave a shit about jobs we wouldn't be paying banks $85 billion a month to keep

the assets of people like Mi$$ RobMe intact after letting 10 million families...not individuals, but families, be yanked out of their homes in foreclosure, letting hungry people try to eat on less money than we pay to private prisons to profit from in feeding their incarcerees, letting entire cities go bankrupt and no longer be able to provide for the safety and welfare of their most vulnerable citizens, or manufacturing excuses to spend money on killing lots of innocent children with drones, etc.

We would be opening tution-free training centers, paying for tuition at all the state-run colleges, providing government-run health care and plenty of support for people to start their own business or cooperative in their community, working with parents so they can become educated enough to help teach their kids, and putting the criminal's known collectively, and euphemistically, as "Wall Street investment bankers and mortgage brokers" on trial for betraying the fiduciary trust place in them by the American people, even though they were large donors to the Democratic Party.

Been going on for several years now, so this is just the latest in a series of diversions.

[RainDog]

22. because govt. employee is code word for black

Conservatives don't want the federal govt. to pay its employees because they see federal employees as a special interest group that Democrats pander to to win elections.

Because, yeah, they're that out of touch with reality.

[backscatter712]

23. Because that's where the Kochs are mustering their teabagger orcs.

The Koch-whores wouldn't be rallied to protest loss of WIC benefits...

[quakerboy]

25. I deserve Benefits, you do not

Thats what it comes down to. The Tea party and the rest of the Republicans love government that benefits them directly. Good government is government they benefit from and can pretend isn't really government. If they dont understand that it benefits them, or if it provides more benefit to someone else, then its bad government.

Mark my words. In 20 years when the teeparty is a historical comedy and the money behind it has moved on to fund the new and totaly different ____ party, fighting for lower taxes on the rich and getting rid of government and minorities, Their protestors will be out there with signs saying "keep government out of my ACA". and no idea how ironic it is.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. It's standard hypocritical Republican "Support Our Troops" grandstanding

[texanwitch]

28. Just a dog and pony show for the republican types.

They don't seem to care about the workers not getting paid..

[Squinch]

29. Kick!

[gopiscrap]

30. I agree

[Va Lefty]

31. Easy photo op and soundbite

That's what passes for journalism today

[intheflow]

47. Yep. Parks are highly identifiable props.

Any given worker who's been laid off might offend some group out there (black, white, brown skins, or even just the fact that they "live off the government.&quot But who could be offended by the Lincoln Monument or Yellowstone?

Not to mention, parks don't have opinions. They're mute on all topics. Very convenient for the Teabaggers to appropriate for their own nefarious purposes.

[XemaSab]

32. I wonder why there isn't more said about private businesses and concessionaires

in and near the parks and other public lands.

There are whole towns that depend on tourism, and even if the rangers get back pay, the people who have a hotel near Yosemite aren't going to see that money replaced.

This is a huge hit to the economy in some rural areas.

[TalkingDog]

33. Because the one thing Republicans regularly do much better than Democrats is

Message with a Hook They don't really care if it "makes sense" in the larger scheme of things. They just need it to capture the popular imagination.

Dems are rational and often lose voters because they expect voters to also be rational.

The downside is that once people do start thinking it through, they become disenchanted: read Sarah Palin, Tea Party, etc. But in this case the Repubs only need it to work long enough to leverage it to their benefit.

[valerief]

34. The RW media is hyping up the bullshit stuff to make it seem more like a "slowdown" than

an actual "shutdown". They're pretending the RW Congress isn't hurting people in a real way but pretending "parks" are the worst of it.

[Jackpine Radical]

35. The Tea Party glories in empty "patriotic" symbolism--

lapel flag pins, OMG Obama didn't put his hand over his heart, yellow ribbons & fish thingies on their cars, etc. These meaningless symbols are sort of like gang colors--let you identify "your kind" without having to think.

[Blue_Tires]

51. That's why so many people were losing their minds

when it looked like the Air Force-Navy football game wasn't going to happen...You'd have thought it was the end of the world to hear some talk about it...

[Lordquinton]

37. This is probably the first time most of them even care the parks are still around

Many places are trying desperately to close parks so developers can come in and turn them into condos, or lock them off from the public in some libertarian paradise. It's manufactured, they don't love the parks, they hate them with a passion, and they will turn around and use all this in some way to try and pave over all of them. Probably by saying "Look how much they take from tax dollars, we could run them more efficiently if they were private, and they would never close again if the Democrats refuse to negotiate a budget and force the government to shutdown yet again!"

[Spitfire of ATJ]

38. The funny thing is when they scream, "This doesn't belong to the government! It belongs to US!!!"

[ProSense]

39. Food bank sending trucks to feed furloughed Grand Canyon workers

Food bank sending trucks to feed furloughed Grand Canyon workers

by Laura Clawson

An Arizona food bank is distributing food to furloughed workers at the Grand Canyon, trucking in 600 food boxes on Tuesday and making another delivery on Friday after a plea for help from Rev. Patrick Dotson of the Grand Canyon Community Church:

"Even if the government shutdown lasts two weeks, that is an entire paycheck lost to many employees who live paycheck-to-paycheck to provide food and necessities for their families," Dotson wrote to a Phoenix-area nonprofit called the St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance. "I anticipate a great need for food resources beyond my ability to supply from my garage food bank."

The 2,200 furloughed park workers are not the only ones struggling; businesses near the park entrance are also being hit hard by the loss of tourist traffic. According to Dotson, "local concessionaires are supporting their furloughed employees and their families by providing free rent and limited meal support." Still, the loss of income hitting the entire community is making outside help important. Piling on, St. Mary's Food Bank is stepping in despite already facing shortages.

It's just staggering that people who have jobs to do, who want to work, and whose workplace should be a thriving tourist destination are instead left waiting for food bank deliveries. Good job, Republicans!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/08/1245258/-Food-bank-sending-trucks-to-feed-furloughed-Grand-Canyon-workers

Texas food banks feel shutdown squeeze
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023806982




http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023760563

[ChazII]

44. +100

but the only people affected, according to folks in other threads, are the tourists. Those who depend on the parks for their living and to pay their bills do not really matter. And I don't care which party is too blame when it comes to those jobs in the Utah/Arizona area. Yes, I am too emotional on this topic but it is not the tourist who is getting hurt. The third paragraph in your post sums up my thoughts.

[fizzgig]

40. the parks being closed is also about economy and lives and jobs

and people's livelihoods are at stake.

rocky mountain national park being closed is just another blow to estes park, which was devastated and largely cut off by the flooding we had last month. this is a community whose economy relies heavily on tourism and it has already taken a horrible, horrible hit. trail rides, fishing expeditions, restaurants, hotels and shops all depend on the tourist traffic attracted by the park. as xemasab said upthread, those owners are not going to get back the money they lost due to the closures.

i'm not saying that i'm anymore outraged by this, but it can have very serious repercussions on the furloughed employees and the local economies.

[Drunken Irishman]

41. Except it's not about the furloughed employees or the local economies...

It's about people being able to freely roam THEIR parks. I don't see any of the tea-party assholes coming to the defense of furloughed employees. No one cares about 'em - they care about whether a family can visit the Grand Canyon or a veteran can view the WWII Memorial.

[Skittles]

42. they get upset over what their dittomasters TELL them is outrageous

parks and memorials closed? BAD!!! War based on lies? NOT SO MUCH!!!

[Pretzel_Warrior]

43. Of course it is a red herring to invoke mindless patriotism

Of white folks who can somehow pretend this shutdown is a moratorium on Obama's support of the troops.

Hey, Palin, Cruz, and Klayman--your Public threesome was grotesque to behold.

[Decaffeinated]

46. Perception....

Perception of handout vs something earned...

It's low hanging fruit...

[jmondine]

48. To me, the parks being closed is tied to livelihoods.

This summer, I got stranded overnight with 65 others at the trailhead of Cascade Pass in North Cascades National Park due to an unseasonal flash flood that washed out the road. The NPS had rangers out there to assist us almost the entire time. When the parks closed, my thoughts went out to rangers Ray and Anton, who worked tirelessly through the night and the next day to help us in every possible way. They are heroes and angels of mercy. And they are now not receiving a paycheck.
That is just wrong. They deserve better from their government and their country.

[Roland99]

49. Cuz it's hurtin' good 'Murikan Vetrins!!

That Obummer hates are miluhtary!


or something....

[dana_b]

50. thank you

I've wondered the same thing. The parks may actually thrive without all of the traffic however the federal employees who depend upon a paycheck will not. It seems that at least some of us are more concerned with them.

As a recipient of SSDI, I am concerned about what comes next with this debt ceiling crap but right now I'm feeling worse for the furloughed federal employees and worry about the CDC, USDA being so severely cut, and the private companies that depend upon business from the federal government to get by. So many PEOPLE are struggling now because of this that it makes it difficult to worry about people having to change vacation plans.

[Sheepshank]

52. I have been completely against 'parts' of government being opened

...as if to make this shut down more palatable for everyone but the poor and hungry. Reps will use this as a "hey, see? It wasn't so bad after all" conversation.

People need to feel and experience the full breadth and depth of what their government does for them. The Reps need to understand the full impact of the postion they have declared....not the watered down palatable position.

[1000words]

53. Football!

[Skidmore]

54. The Rs do not want the face of their "we closed the

government but it is not our fault" PR campaign doesn't convey cookie cutter patriotism if the faces of it are hungry women and children or old people without income. It's better to wrap it in a flag and hijack a veteran's event.