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House GOP Blinks: Will Lift Debt and Reopen Government (+video)

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Photo Credit: Reuters House Republicans have sent the White House a revised proposal to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks, as well as reopen government through December 15th, which was their original spending proposal before the partial shutdown. The revised GOP plan reflects the demands Obama made in a meeting with House GOP Leaders on Thursday. It also reflects the unwillingness of the DC GOP to face a fiscal showdown with Democrats.

Aside from reopening the government and agreeing to raise America’s debt over the current $16.7 trillion limit, the Republicans made several other concession to President Obama and the Democrats. One such example is that Obamacare would receive funding. The Republicans would get to take out a portion of the president’s signature legislation, but the law would substantially remain intact. The AP reports:

Under a proposal she and other GOP senators have been developing, a medical device tax that helps finance the health care law would be repealed, and millions of individuals eligible for subsidies to purchase health insurance under the program would be subject to stronger income verification.

Read more from this story HERE.

No Towel Service? Dem. Bruce Braley Complains About Doing Own Laundry (+video)

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Photo Credit: APU.S. Rep. Bruce Braley is likely sweating it after a remark about the lack of towel service at an exclusive gym that has remained open to lawmakers during the government shutdown.

The Iowa congressman defended the backlash for the gym’s continued operation, while thousands of government employees are furloughed, including workers at the fitness center.

He said on the “Bill Press Show:” “There’s hardly anybody working down there. There’s no towel service. So we’re doing our own laundry down there. And we pay a fee to belong to the House gym. So this is no different than if you’re working for an employer that offers a wellness program, you pay a fee to belong. That’s what we do there.”

Read more from this story HERE.

October 13, 2013: America’s Showdown Veterans March on DC and Truckers Roll

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Photo Credit: Truckers Ride For The Constitution/Facebook On October 13, 2013, American veterans and other patriots are going to launch a major protest. President Obama has been using the government shutdown as an excuse to commit a string of almost unbelievable public outrages against Americans everywhere. These include the following unbelievable eye-poppers:

Denying treatments for children suffering from cancer.

Denying death benefit payments to families of fallen soldiers, while keeping the Andrews Air Base golf course open so Obama can continue to play.

Ordering the Park Service to hold elderly Yellowstone Park visitors in their hotel rooms under armed guard, then ordering them out of the park on busses and denying even a bathroom stop on the 2.5 hour drive out.

Forcing people out of their own homes, including the elderly, when situated on park land.

Closing access to all national parks, monuments and park land, and beefing up patrols to keep people out.

Trying to prevent people from even looking at Mount Rushmore.

All military memorials, including the D-Day memorial and 23 other overseas memorials.

Forcing veterans at the Vietnam War memorial to leave.

Breitbart has included a complete compendium, here.

Three things to note: 1. none of the 17 prior shutdowns closed any of these activities; 2. virtually all of these activities are either costless or “essential,” like medicines for the kids with cancer; many are privately funded; 3. enforcing these extreme measures has cost more than they spent before the shutdown.

All of these outrages can be laid directly at Obama’s feet. The only reason he is getting away with it is because the media continues to largely give him a pass. The media needs to know how angry we are about their shameless cheerleading!

But people are really fed up. Acts of defiance have sprouted up all over the country.

North Carolina innkeeper Bruce O’Connell tried to reopen the Pisgah Inn, a scenic spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Now he is taking his case to court

Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources, under Republican Governor Scott Walker, has ignored a federal directive to close seven state park properties that get federal funding

An estimated 1,000 hikers and bikers entered Acadia National Park in Maine on Monday, bypassing barricades and signs declaring the park and its roads closed

Dozens of fishing guides in Florida’s Everglades planned to gather on the outskirts of the national park on Wednesday to protest its closing, Who ever heard of closing bodies of water?

These small acts of defiance, while encouraging, are only a prelude to what is coming.

When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty. Thomas Jefferson

Million Vet March on the Memorials

This Sunday, October 13, 2013, the Million Vets March is descending on Washington, DC.

Here is what the organizer has to say:

I want you to circle the date of Sunday, October 13, 2013.

And then I want you to help “circle the wagons” on that day to help protect and defend our brave veterans who risked their lives for our freedom – and now are being barred from visiting the memorials erected to honor their deeds.

In a mean-spirited fit of selfish anger, Barack Obama has shut down our nation’s war memorials. And he has declared open war on our honored veterans!

The World War II memorial … the Vietnam Veterans Memorial … the Korean War Veterans Memorial – Obama has shut them all down to force his will on the House of Representatives and frankly, to get revenge on the American people who oppose Obamacare and his other naked power grabs.

Let’s put it plainly: Barack Obama is behaving like a vicious tyrant. And if he succeeds in this assault on the democratic system, the Republic we love is at mortal risk. It’s just that simple.

You can support this effort in numerous ways:

Sign the petition, HERE.

Donate to the cause, HERE.

Circle the date: October 13, 2013, and show up!

Truckers for the Constitution

Beginning Friday, October 11, 2013, independent long haul truckers are going on a nationwide strike. They will not haul freight anywhere. Instead, coming from all across the nation, truckers will clog the Washington, DC beltway for the first day of their three-day Ride for the Constitution. The truckers are asking Americans nationwide to participate, either by joining them on the road, joining the DC vets march, or in spirit by spreading the word:

Like them on Facebook, now having 119,000 likes

Keep abreast of news with their hashtag #T2SDA

Go to their website, www.ridefortheconstitution.org for regular updates
Is Obama Planning to Collapse the Economy?

We are all fed up with Obama’s shutdown showdown antics. What is not generally known is that Obama may also be setting America up to default on its debt. That could set off a financial markets crisis that would dwarf 2008. He is hoping to blame republicans and help Democrats take back the House in 2014. That is how corrupt he and the Democrats are.

This could lead to the collapse of the dollar, which suggests the hidden hand of George Soros, who has destroyed the currencies of countless countries, including Great Britain, and has said that America must stop resisting “the orderly decline of the dollar.” An examination of his recent investments, as well as those of Obama and his other cronies, would reveal if they plan to capitalize on this evil plan. They are certainly not above it.

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James Simpson is an economist, businessman and investigative journalist. His articles have been published at American Thinker, Accuracy in Media, Breitbart, PJ Media, Washington Times, WorldNetDaily and others. His regular column is DC Independent Examiner. Follow Jim on Twitter & Facebook

The Bigger Battle Behind the Shutdown

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Photo Credit: saul loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesAt its core, the shutdown is part of a much bigger battle to restrain the federal government. It is spending $3.6 trillion per year without a budget, and its expenditures are expected to increase rapidly in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, the government has piled up $17 trillion in debt and $60 trillion more in unfunded spending promises. The Federal Reserve will borrow $1.1 trillion in 2013 alone to buy bonds—and it reserves the right to borrow unlimited amounts for future bond purchases without congressional or presidential permission.

These are crisis-level problems. Whether the government is open or closed, they are surely grounds for immediate talks between the president and Congress on ways to pare ineffective federal programs, restrain spending and reduce borrowing.

Ducking governance decisions year after year will leave the U.S. too weak to face global challenges. Big government has meant slow growth, painfully high youth and minority unemployment and falling median incomes—except in the Washington, D.C., area, which recent census data show is growing ever richer.

Under current law, the federal government and Federal Reserve are in a sharp upward trajectory in their power and the riskiness of their policies. Federal domination of the economy and financial markets is only increasing. The government shutdown reflects a Republican demand for permanent new checks and balances—to restrain a government that spends wildly without a budget, buys $1 trillion per year in overpriced bonds from an already-rich Wall Street, and micromanages federal medical care but exempts unions and Congress from the sting of regulations that affect others.

Read more from this story HERE.

End the Tyranny

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Over the last week we have witnessed unprecedented steps taken by our imperial President and his allies in the Democratically-controlled Senate to inflict pain on the American people.

Consider the spectacle of the administration spending money and resources in this time of dire fiscal crisis to enforce a shutdown of the World War II and Marine Corps Iwo Jima memorials, going so far as to threaten our elderly veterans with arrest if they dared to visit these monuments built in their honor.

Undoubtedly, these actions have consumed more time, energy and resources than would have been expended by simply leaving them open to the public.

On Saturday, Todd Starnes of Fox News reported that the administration has threatened to arrest contract chaplains for the military should they offer religious rites to our soldiers.

And across the country, national forests, parks and boat landings are closed to public use, including barricades set up to keep tourists from viewing Mount Rushmore. How patriotic is that?

Here in Alaska the federal government is denying hunters access to federal lands, which have remained open during previous shutdowns.

In North Carolina, the Mt. Pisgah Inn, a family-owned business on land leased from the federal government on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, was ordered to close despite the fact that the Parkway remained opened.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Saturday that private citizens were forced by federal agents to evacuate their own homes inside the Lake Mead National Recreation area.

Armed Rangers at Yellowstone National Park detained tourists in their hotel, in order to keep them from catching a glimpse of the “closed” Old Faithful. Foreign visitors with the group thought they were being arrested.

Federal agents also prevented their tour bus from stopping to take pictures of buffalo on their way out of the park, and forbade the use of private restroom facilities during their 2.5 hour drive.

It was further reported recently on the Mark Levin radio program that federal employees were expressly told to “make the shutdown as painful as possible.”

Make no mistake about it, we are witnessing the birth-pangs of 21st Century tyranny!

We cannot allow “the last best hope of man on earth” to be subjugated to the whim and will of despotic government action, be it by the Congress, the President, or an overreaching federal bureaucracy.

Our Founders knew that the object of JUST government was the protection of God-given Rights.

Sadly, Alaska’s Senator Mark Begich has joined Barack Obama and Harry Reid’s contemptible campaign to make this government shutdown as painful as possible.

When constituents tried to reach out to his office this past week, they received only a voice mail telling them that there would be no service until the government was funded.

You can listen to the voice message below

One might be able to excuse Mr. Begich if other senators weren’t still serving their constituents, even under the funding shortfall.

Senator Mike Lee’s office informed us that every office was given the choice of whether they would provide constituent services. Senator Lee has made the choice to do exactly that, as has the rest of Alaska’s Congressional delegation.

If Mark Begich is more interested in playing political games than serving the people of Alaska, it is time for him to find a new line of work. With your help, we can send Senator Begich packing.

Senator Begich is now running radio ads calling the patriots who would save us from the devastating consequences of Obamacare “knuckleheads.”

It’s time for new representation in Washington. It’s time to serve the good of all, including our children who will pay the steepest price for Congress’ reckless behavior.

If I am elected to the United States Senate, I will confront the increasingly lawless Obama Administration and work tirelessly to restore the birthright of all Americans: to live in a land where our Constitutional freedoms are secure, and all are free to pursue their God-given dreams to the best of their ability.

I can’t do this without your help; but together, we can accomplish great things for the country we love.

Thank you for your support.

Obama: Won’t Negotiate ‘With a Gun At My Head’

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Photo Credit: APBy Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan, Burgess Everett and Jonathan Allen.

President Barack Obama told House Democrats on Wednesday that he would negotiate with Republicans but “not with a gun at my head,” according to one lawmaker who attended a caucus-wide meeting at the White House.

As he has before, Obama said he was open to short-term agreements to open the government and raise the debt ceiling if that’s what it took to help Republicans out of what he described as a political box, the lawmaker said.

After the meeting, House Democratic leaders suggested that they would accept short-term deals on both matters.

“All we want is a short-term CR because we think the number is unacceptable,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, using shorthand for a continuing resolution that would fund the government for as little as a few weeks at current levels.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: CHARLES DHARAPAK/APObama Apologizes for Shutdown – but Says it’s Other Guy’s Fault

By Anita Kumar and William Douglas.

President Barack Obama apologized to the American people Tuesday for the bitter fiscal impasse that’s shut down parts of the federal government, but he continued to blame Republicans for it.

“I know the American people are tired of it,” Obama said at a White House news conference. “I apologize that you have to go through this stuff every three months, it seems like. And Lord knows I’m tired of it.”

The president again urged Republicans in the House of Representatives to pass bills immediately to reopen the government and increase the nation’s borrowing limit, even while continuing to call them irresponsible hostage takers.

An hour later, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, scolded Obama for his remarks, saying the president must negotiate before they pass the bills.

Boehner said Congress and the White House had negotiated on government funding and the debt limit dozens of times over the years, resulting in “significant policy changes that would in fact reduce spending and put us on a saner fiscal path.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama’s Negative Polling Worse than Clinton’s in 1995 Shutdown

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Photo Credit: Breitbart Gallup released a poll last week showing President Barack Obama’s negative polling among Americans during the current government shutdown is substantially worse in comparison to the numbers the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, had during his administration’s shutdown in 1995.

According to Gallup:

A majority of Americans, 57%, say they now view President Obama more negatively as a result of the shutdown, while 28% see him more positively. By contrast, during the December 1995 shutdown, 49% of Americans viewed Clinton more negatively and 35% more positively. Clinton’s overall approval rating would tumble to 42% by the end of the 1995-96 shutdown, but rebounded later in 1996.

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska Slams Feds for Keeping Hunters off Land

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Photo Credit: Alex SlitzAlaska lawmakers accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of violating federal law by shutting down hunting on its lands during the government shutdown, saying a 1980 law guarantees state residents must have access to the land.

“It seems that agencies are working harder to keep people off federal lands than they have ever worked before to get them to visit federal lands,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Republican, who questioned the Obama administration’s decisions during the week-old shutdown.

The National Park Service has faced scorching criticism for closing not just parks, but even parking lots and drives that don’t require continual monitoring or upkeep. Other federal land management agencies also are facing criticism.

A tour guide who had a group at Yellowstone National Park accused the Park Service of “Gestapo tactics” in trying to prevent visitors from viewing any of the sites, saying that while they were allowed to remain at the lodge in the park, they were not allowed to do much else — including walk on the boardwalk paths outside the lodge or visit the park’s geysers.

And when he took the tour bus with his group along the road and stopped to photograph bison, he said, a ranger drove up behind them and told them they could be charged with trespassing.

Read more from this story HERE.

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.

Read more from this story HERE.

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.

Read more from this story HERE.