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The House Oversight Committee wants to find out why the Park Service behaved so bizarrely. ... Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a former prosecutor, almost drove National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis into incoherence with his relentless questioning. Gowdy wanted to know why Jarvis had allowed “pot-smoking” Occupy Wall Street protesters to camp overnight illegally in Washington’s McPherson Square park for 100 days, yet put up barricades to keep veterans out of war memorials on the first day of the shutdown. By not issuing a single citation to the Occupy campers, Gowdy argued, the Park Service was treating them...

The Department of the Interior knew beforehand that two groups of aging veterans would be visiting the World War II Memorial as the partial government shutdown began on Oct. 1 but decided to barricade the site anyway, according to e-mails obtained by National Review Online. The newly released public records also show National Park Service employees busily monitoring the news for any bad publicity and making shutdown exceptions for their co-workers. On Sept. 30, staff from the offices of Senator Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) and Representative Steven Palazzo (R., Miss.) contacted the Department of the Interior’s Office of Congressional Affairs,...

On June 24, National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis asked park superintendents to work with their partners and bookstore operators to voluntarily withdraw from sale items that solely depict a Confederate flag. The National Park Service press release can be found here. "We strive to tell the complete story of America," National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said of the agency's reputation for telling difficult parts of our history. "All sales items in parks are evaluated based on educational value and their connection to the park. Any stand-alone depictions of Confederate flags have no place in park stores."...

A Portuguese court has denied a U.S. request for the extradition of captured American fugitive who spent 41 years on the run in a journey that took him across three continents, and included the brazen 1972 hijacking of a jet from America to Algeria.

Jonathan (Jon) B. Jarvis officially became the 18th Director of the National Park Service on October 2, 2009. [appointed by Barack 0bama] A career ranger of the National Park Service, who began his career in 1976 as a seasonal interpreter in Washington, D.C., Jarvis takes the helm of an agency that preserves and manages some of the most treasured landscapes and valued cultural icons in this nation.

A business-sponsored initiative that would have required voter approval for any increase in state or local taxes or fees must be removed from the November ballot because it is so far-reaching that it would be a “revision” of the state Constitution, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday. “The measure would fundamentally restructure the most basic of governmental powers,” the power of state and local lawmakers to raise taxes to fund the government, Justice Goodwin Liu wrote in the 7-0 ruling. The court granted a request by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislators to remove the measure from the ballot....

Almost 100 years' worth of rare British Airways maps, adverts and pilot charts have been compiled into a fascinating new book. Created by the curator of the British Airways' Heritage Centre, Paul Jarvis, Mapping The Airways reveals the intriguing charts that guided aviators and adverts that showed passengers where they could jet off to. From early advertisements for routes from London to Paris to state-of-the-art on-board moving maps, the 160-page book reveals 92-years' worth of intriguing aviation history.

<p>The chief of the National Park Service knew his book project would be squelched by agency ethics officers, so he went ahead and wrote it anyway without bothering to ask for permission, investigators said Thursday in a report detailing a striking level of negligence.</p>

The National Park Service’s closure of the World War II and other memorials violates rules requiring them to stay open, 93 House members charge in a letter to the agency. Led by Michigan Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga, they claim that Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis is simply making up closure rules to punish the public during the government shut down and they question the costs of the random closures in Washington where not all memorials are being closed. "The National Park Service continues to act in an arbitrary and punitive manner to exclude veterans from memorials built in their honor...

Betty Reid Soskin couldn't be more delighted to be dressing for work and getting ready to head into the office.Betty Reid Soskin couldn't be more delighted to be dressing for work and getting ready to head into the office. For Soskin, the "office" is the the visitor's center at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond, Calif., which has been shuttered since Oct. 1 because of the partial government shutdown. "I'm absolutely delighted," she told NBC Bay Area on Thursday morning, after Congress voted to end the shutdown late Wednesday night. "Right now, I'm...

Rep. Trey Goudy compares Occupy camping for 100 days vs. Shutdown blocking access to Veteran Monuments.

House Republicans on Wednesday pilloried National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis for his handling of national park and land closures during the government shutdown, raising questions about whether the agency’s reputation has been sullied by images of landmarks being barricaded to keep the American people off their own land. A tense joint hearing of the House oversight and natural-resource committees took place Wednesday following allegations that the NPS and its rangers had allowed themselves to become a political arm of the Obama administration, erecting the barriers to score political points and remind Americans of the primacy of government stewardship.

House Republicans on Wednesday assailed the National Park Service director for erecting barriers at national monuments during the government shutdown. They accused Jonathan Jarvis of violating federal law by putting up the barricades at 401 national monuments and parks with no apparent imminent threat. In a joint hearing Wednesday, the House Natural Resources, and Oversight and Government Reform committees met to review the actions of the Park Service since the government shutdown took effect Oct. 1. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) charged the NPS with violating the Antideficiency Act in barring visitors from the parks during the shutdown. The law prohibits...

National Park Service director Jarvis said he discussed closing the open-air monuments and memorials with the White House, as well as the secretary of the Interior Department.

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Never underestimate the anti-tax wrath of California voters. Years ago, Californians were struggling under higher and higher property taxes that were continually getting reassessed and raised, and at one point they had had enough. In 1978, Proposition 13 was proposed to cap property taxes and limit reassessments, and it passed with a huge margin despite a firestorm of opposition from every politician around. The author and chief proponent of Prop 13, gadfly Howard Jarvis, became a minor celebrity and helped author similar ballot measures in other states.

Less than a week after Gov. Jerry Brown started using robotic telephone calls and mailers to gather signatures for his ballot initiative to raise taxes, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association plans to launch its anti-tax campaign today on the conservative "John and Ken" talk radio show. The taxpayers group this morning posted a red banner on its website inviting viewers to join a "Don't Sign the Petition" campaign. The banner links to a campaign website opposing Brown's effort to raise the state sales tax and income taxes on California's highest earners.

It may not be as provocative as comedian George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words," a free-speech case that went to the Supreme Court in the 1970s. But a Washington area nonprofit group wants to take the U.S. government to the high court for banning the use of "Social Security" on its mailing envelopes.

HJTA's Ballot Recommendations For the November 8 Special Election HJTA recommends a YES vote on the following measures that appear on the November 8 special election ballot: Prop. 74 -- Extends length of evaluation for period before public school teaches are given permanent status. Prop. 75 -- Provides paycheck protection for public union workers by requiring employee consent before their dues can be used for political contributions. Prop. 76 -- The Live Within Our Means Act would slow down increases in state spending. Prop. 77 -- Reapportionment; would bar politicians from drawing lines that guarantee their re-election. HJTA recommends a...

Twelve members of the U.S. Senate are leading a "Coalition of Compromise" determined to forge a deal that allows the unconstitutional filibuster of President Bush's judicial nominees to continue. Lady Margaret Thatcher once said: “To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.” It’s about time twelve members of the United States Senate were reminded of that quote. The following twelve members of the United Senate are working behind the scenes to literally forge a compromise of the...