Roadside Inn Reopens After Feds Tried to Shut It Down Over Budget Impasse

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Photo Credit: PISGAH INN The owner of a privately run inn along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina is back in business five days after the federal government forced him to close as a byproduct of the D.C. slimdown.

Bruce O’Connell, owner of the Pisgah Inn, told FoxNews.com on Tuesday he was “hopeful” that his business would reopen — and by Wednesday, it had.

A posting on the company’s Facebook page said the inn was reopening at 5 p.m. Suggesting an agreement was reached with the feds, the post thanked the National Park Service “for working with us through all of this mess.” An employee also confirmed to FoxNews.com that the inn was re-opening.

O’Connell was among a growing group of business owners who argued that the federal government was needlessly choking off their ability to earn a living, and were fighting back. O’Connell had been vocal about looking into his legal options following the forced closing.

Congress’s inability to come to a compromise on bills that would have kept the government fully funded forced the inn, which is in a leased building on federal land, to shut down last Thursday.

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Jerry Brown Signs Bill Permitting Non-Physician Abortions in California

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Photo Credit: Rose Palmisano, Orange County RegisterCalifornia on Wednesday became the only state in the nation this year to increase access to abortions, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill allowing more medical professionals to perform abortions.

AB154 by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, would let nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives and physician assistants with special training perform abortion by aspiration — in which the uterus’ contents are suctioned out — which is the most common kind of first-trimester abortion. The Assembly passed the bill on a 50-25 vote in May, and the state Senate passed it on a 50-25 vote in August, with most Democrats and no Republicans voting for it.

“California is moving in a different direction than the rest of the country. So far this year we have seen 68 abortion restrictions become law, and California is the only state to make real progress to protect abortion rights,” said Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-rights research group.

“This is just a common sense measure,” she said. “The state recognizes that abortion is not always available when needed and that advanced practice clinicians are well-placed to provide those services.”

But Brian Johnston, executive director of the California ProLife Council, said the bill “isn’t about helping women so much as about promoting abortion.”

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Democrats to America: We Own the Government!

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Photo Credit: APIn the current fight over the government shutdown, Republicans are simply representing the views of the American people.

Americans didn’t ask for Obamacare, they don’t want it, but now their insurance premiums are going through the roof, their doctors aren’t accepting it, and their employers are moving them into part-time work — or firing them — to avoid the law’s mandates.

Contrary to Obama’s promises, it turns out: You can’t keep your doctor, you can’t keep your insurance — you can’t even keep your job. In other words, it’s a typical government program, but this one wrecks your health care.

Also, the president did raise taxes on the middle class in defiance of his well-worn campaign promise not to. Indeed, Obamacare is the largest tax hike in U.S. history.

Among the other changes effected by this law are:

— Obamacare will allow insurers to charge 50 percent higher premiums for smokers, but prohibits insurers from increasing premiums for those with HIV/AIDS.

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NSA Reforms Threatened by ‘Business-as-Usual Brigade’, Ron Wyden Warns

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Photo Credit: Win McNamee/GettyThe Democratic senator leading congressional efforts to rein in the National Security Agency warned on Wednesday that senior intelligence and administration officials will attempt to block any meaningful change while publicly speaking the language of reform.

Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, told a conference on the NSA and privacy at the Cato Institute in Washington that the reform campaign was at a pivotal moment, with the Senate and the House of Representatives to examine new surveillance legislation over the next few weeks.

But, Wyden said, the American public should not be fooled by what he called the “business-as-usual brigade” – made up of intelligence officials, their supporters in Congress, thinktanks and the media.

They will “try mightily to fog up the surveillance debate and convince Congress and the public that the real problem here is not overly intrusive, constitutionally flawed domestic surveillance, but sensationalistic media reporting”, Wyden said. “Their endgame is ensuring that any surveillance reforms are only skin deep.”

The Oregon senator is a part of a bipartisan Senate group who unveiled the first comprehensive surveillance reform bill two weeks ago. It would end the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records, first revealed by the Guardian in June, change the secret court that oversees the agency’s foreign intelligence programs and close the loophole that allows analysts to review Americans’ communications without a warrant.

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James Woods: ‘I Don’t Expect to Work Again’ in Hollywood

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesThe actor has been critical of Democrats and the president and presumes his political opinions will cost him jobs.

After repeatedly criticizing President Barack Obama, actor James Woods suggested in a tweet late Tuesday that his politics may cost him work in Hollywood.

Woods has been critical of Obama before but in the past few days seems particularly incensed at the president’s handling of the partial government shutdown. He tweeted, for example: “This President is a true abomination. To have barricaded the WW2 vets, but allow illegal aliens privilege…” The tweet linked to a USA Today article.

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Recent College Grad Claims Obamacare Has ‘Raped My Future’

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Photo Credit: NObamaNoMasA university graduate, 26 year old Ashley Dionne, posted an open letter on the Facebook page of conservative radio host, Dennis Praeger detailing the negative effects Obamacare has had on her life. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2009 and went back to school to obtain a second degree but has not been able to get a job that offers more than 32 hours a week. Obamacare takes her monthly health costs from $75.00 to $319.00 with a $6,000.00 deductible. She feels her future has been “raped” and she qualifies as the very same “working poor” this law was supposed to help.

Whenever proponents of Obamacare are told of these anecdotal stories outlining the harm that the Affordable Care Act has inflicted on people, they respond with either a denial of it being true, that it only applies to a “small” percentage of people or that the “sacrifice” is worth it to supply health care to those who did not previously have it…

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Taliban Mocks Shutdown: Lawmakers ‘Sucking The Blood Of Their Own People’

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Photo Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesEven the Taliban is mocking the U.S. government over the shutdown.

In a statement released to AFP, the terrorist group accused American lawmakers of “sucking the blood of their own people.”

“The American people should realize that their politicians play with their destinies as well as the destinies of other oppressed nations for the sake of their personal vested interests,” the Taliban said in a statement.

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Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) Confronts Obama About Failure to Support House Funding Bill

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Photo Credit: IntangibleArtsDel. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) had what some colleagues called “a heated exchange” and what she described as “a conversation” with President Obama during a White House meeting Wednesday afternoon regarding the District’s budget constraints as a result of the partial government shutdown.

Norton attended the meeting in the White House East Room with nearly 200 House Democrats and was one of a handful given the opportunity to ask the president a question. When she was called upon, Norton pressed Obama to support a House-passed bill that would permit the District to use its locally raised tax funds to maintain operations until Dec. 15.

Democrats, including Obama, have held fast in opposition to such piecemeal funding bills, saying Republicans must come to a deal to fund the entire government, not just favored segments.

Making her point, Norton spoke over the president and refused to yield the microphone, according to a lawmaker who attended the event. The lawmaker described Norton as “strident,” “self-absorbed” and “parochial” in her exchange with Obama.

But Obama held firm to his belief that Republicans should work to reopen the entire federal government and not pass stand-alone spending measures, said the lawmaker, who asked not to be identified in o

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Riverside Cop Tricks Autistic Teen into Buying Pot (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube “We felt like our family was totally violated by the sheriff’s department and the school district,” says Doug and Catherine Snodgrass of Temecula, California. Last December their 17-year-old autistic high school son was arrested after twice buying marijuana for an undercover Riverside county police officer.

The undercover operation, titled “Operation Glass House,” spanned a few months and included undercover officers in three area high schools: Chaparral, Temecula Valley, and Rancho Vista Continuation. The officers posed as regular high school students and would ask other students for drugs. Twenty-two students were arrested – the majority of them are reported to be special needs students like the Snodgrass’ son.

Their son, who wished to remain unnamed, is noticeably handicapped and has been diagnosed with autism as well as bipolar disorder, Tourettes, and several anxiety disorders…

His new friend, who went under the name of Daniel Briggs, was known as “Deputy Dan” to many students because it was so apparent to them that he was an undercover officer. However, to their son, whose disabilities make it hard for him to gauge social cues, Dan was his only real friend.

Dan reportedly sent 60 text messages to their son begging for drugs. According to his parents, the pressure to buy drugs was too much for the autistic teen who began physically harming himself.

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Million Vet March on the Memorials Slated (+video)

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Photo Credit: WNDVeterans first fought America’s wars, then they fought the National Park Service over White House-ordered closures of war memorials because of the partial shutdown of the federal government.

Now they’re developing a response to President Obama’s “war” against them: A rally.

The Million Vet March on the Memorials has announced plans for an event Sunday, Oct. 13, at 9 a.m. Eastern at the World War II memorial on the National Mall, the location where rangers under orders from the White House tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent vets from visiting in recent days.

Announcement said “Special Operations Speaks” will be taking the action because, “The Obama administration is using the government shutdown as an excuse to keep our veterans from acknowledging the debt owed to them and their predecessors. This is unforgivable. It is also unjustified, as no taxpayer funds are spent by keeping these shrines open. We will open them ourselves, if that’s what it takes.

“We know that there may be some degree of confrontation, given the anti-military attitude of the administration. It is our intention to avoid confrontation, and we request that you join us in avoiding any kind of physical contact with park rangers, police, or other law-enforcement personnel. Give them no excuse to hijack the moment,” the organization announced.

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