Posted on 10/12/2013 1:08:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
"...................But perhaps the most extraordinary story to emerge from the NPS is that of the tour group of foreign seniors whose bus was trapped in Yellowstone Park on the day the shutdown began. They were pulled over photographing a herd of bison when an armed ranger informed them, with the insouciant ad-hoc unilateral lawmaking to which the armed bureaucrat is distressingly prone, that taking photographs counts as illegal “recreation.” “Sir, you are recreating,” the ranger informed the tour guide. And we can’t have that, can we? They were ordered back to the Old Faithful Inn, next to the geyser of the same name, but forbidden to leave said inn to look at said geyser. Armed rangers were posted at the doors, and, just in case one of the wily Japanese or Aussies managed to outwit his captors by escaping through one of the inn’s air ducts and down to the geyser, a fleet of NPS SUVs showed up every hour and a half throughout the day, ten minutes before Old Faithful was due to blow, to surround the geyser and additionally ensure that any of America’s foreign visitors trying to photograph the impressive natural phenomenon from a second-floor hotel window would still wind up with a picture full of government officials. The following morning the bus made the two-and-a-half-hour journey to the park boundary but was prevented from using any of the bathrooms en route, including at a private dude ranch whose owner was threatened with the loss of his license if he allowed any tourist to use the facilities.
At the same time as the National Park Service was holding legal foreign visitors under house arrest, it was also allowing illegal immigrants to hold a rally on the supposedly closed National Mall. At this bipartisan amnesty bash, the Democrat House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said she wanted to “thank the president for enabling us to gather here” and Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balart also expressed his gratitude to the administration for “allowing us to be here.”
Is this for real? It’s not King Barack’s land; it’s supposed to be the people’s land, and his most groveling and unworthy subjects shouldn’t require a dispensation by His Benign Majesty to set foot on it. It is disturbing how easily large numbers of Americans lapse into a neo-monarchical prostration that few subjects of actual monarchies would be comfortable with these days. But then in actual monarchies the king takes a more generous view of “public lands.”...................
The playbook is amazingly similar to some things I have read in the past...
If they are willing to do this to foreign visitors, doing so to the citizenry is not too far behind...
Almost like being caught behind enemy lines...
In your very own country...
I beg to differ. Most are comfortable with the situation Steyn calls monarchy. It's the default. One-man rule and a bunch of goons to enforce his will, is something everyone understands instinctively. All other systems require thought, and that's not comfortable.
If this type activity had taken place in the first half of the last century, millions would be marching on Washington with their arms locked and loaded. Today, it brings a grimace and comments about how bad it all seems. We are doomed.
We the People - Ronald Reagan 1:38 video
People in that area of the part need to realize these liberal tyrannical ideologues have to leave to park to shop, get services, etc. They should be banned and ignored. Let them eat one of their precious trees. Slimey government goons.
nps employees as well as ALL gubmint employees ought be treated like shit,
same as they’ve treated the people.
I tend to agree with Kengor. This is probably one of the most overtly cruel and vicious things Obama has done yet. And the target was carefully picked: average Americans, the type of people Obama hates with a passion and to whom he wants to demonstrate his power and to intimidate.
Another thing he has done is destroy and corrupt one of the few federal things that was viewed favorably by most people, the National Park system and it’s employees. I went to the Grand Canyon this summer and has a wonderful time, and I particularly liked the ranger talks. But I honestly don’t think I’ll ever feel the same way again about either the parks or the rangers. Now it all seems to me like a symbol of cruelty and oppression, the magnificence rendered small and ugly and ominous by the petty, vindictive cruelty of a dictator.
That was my thought exactly!
Divide. Divide. Divide. That is Obama's motto.
Mark Steyn ping.
Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.
Thanks for the ping Slings and Arrows.
You can’t take pictures of the King’s Bison.
Thanks
Great analogy. I hope it spreads, that and "NPS Brownshirts". I hope they hear that phrase and it shames them to no end.
Also interesting is how there is no mention of the “news” media trying to interview any NPS personnel to get their story. Almost as if the word is out to black out any possible dissent from the ranks.
Too right, and thanks for posting great article and comments!
Thanks for the ping JLS...Steyn’s right on, as always!
The point about the King’s deer is a telling one. The park police seem to believe that we use those lands (and even see the sights) by permission rather than by right. And since Obama hasn’t called them off, it would seem likely that he agrees.
This is not the way a free country operates. Why don’t more people see that?
There isn’t any legal fine print justifying brownshirts closing open air parks or failing to pay death benefits to war widows. The Pay Our Military Act was designed to pay those benefits. But the White House and DOJ ordered the Pentagon to “make things as painful as possible.” I do wonder how long people are going to put up with this.
And we need to recall how pain-free Obama’s government made it for Occupy Wall Street scum to assemble, occupy and trash every place they wanted to be.
Mornin’ Citizen:
Most of the land in question is west of the Mississippi. It was purchased from France or ceded by Spain. It was and still is the property of the Federal government. Territories and then states were created on government lands occupied by people and cities that were deeded the lands by various congressional mandated methods.
The western states never having been colonies with grants by the King and being outgrowths of the Federal government never owned the land. Most of the presently undeveloped land is undeveloped because no one wanted it. It is unsuited for most habitation. Most is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Forest Service, not the NPS.
In a manner of speaking, they are the king’s lands. A treacherous tyrant that shows selfish stewardship will find himself out on the street
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.