White House cancels tours over sequester cuts, as lawmakers call decision political

[BMT (RIP)]

Guess the WH needed toget any early star.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/05/white-house-cancels-tours-citing-sequester/#ixzz2Mhe4GQ1u


BMT

[pcfixer]

"It's politically motivated," Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Fox News. "It seems childish -- take my ball and go home."

I agree with this statement!

[Trapper John]

You can bet that O is going to implement cuts in the most disruptive manner possible. My opinion: O's agenda is to further divide and marginalize his opposition to promote the "Progressive" advancement towards a one-party system. Some folks are starting to wake-up if the talking heads this past weekend is any indication. This is going to be real interesting :munchin

[Streck-Fu]

You can bet that O is going to implement cuts in the most disruptive manner possible.

Absolutely. An email from an administration official got out:

LINK (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/5/email-tells-feds-make-sequester-painful-promised/)

Email tells feds to make sequester as painful as promised

The Obama administration denied an appeal for flexibility in lessening the sequester’s effects, with an email this week appearing to show officials in Washington that because they already had promised the cuts would be devastating, they now have to follow through on that.

In the email sent Monday by Charles Brown, an official with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service office in Raleigh, N.C., Mr. Brown asked “if there was any latitude” in how to spread the sequester cuts across the region to lessen the impacts on fish inspections.

He said he was discouraged by officials in Washington, who gave him this reply: “We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.”

“This email confirms what many Americans have suspected: The Obama administration is doing everything they can to make sure their worst predictions come true and to maximize the pain of the Sequester cuts for political gain,” said Rep. Tim Griffin, Arkansas Republican.

Mr. Brown, the official who sent the email and who is eastern regional director for wildlife services at APHIS, didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday afternoon seeking comment.

APHIS is an agency within the Agriculture Department, and on Tuesday department Secretary Tom Vilsack was challenged on the email at a House committee hearing by Rep. Kristi Noem, who said she hoped the department wouldn’t tie agencies’ hands.

The administration earlier had warned that supplies of beef, pork and poultry could drop this year because slaughterhouse inspectors will have to be furloughed, and under federal law meat can’t be processed without inspectors present.

Ms. Noem told Mr. Vilsack the email made it sound like the administration was sacrificing flexibility in order to justify dire predictions.

“I’m hopeful that isn’t an agenda that’s been put forward,” the South Dakota Republican congresswoman told Mr. Vilsack.

The $85 billion in sequesters began Friday, and have hit most of the federal government, where employees will face furloughs.

But even amid the cuts, APHIS is still hiring new employees and interns.

Since Sunday the agency has posted 24 help-wanted ads including 22 student internships, one ad seeking a clerk in a New York office, and one ad seeking three “insect production workers” to grow bollworms in Phoenix.

Mr. Vilsack said he hadn’t seen the email, but said agencies are supposed to be trying to find ways to manage the impact of the cuts.

“If we have flexibility, we’re going to try to use it to make sure we use sequester in the most equitable and least disruptive way,” the secretary testified. “There are some circumstances, and we’ve talked a lot about the meat inspection, where we do not have that flexibility because there are so few accounts.”

[Trapper John]

I am particularly intrigued by the obvious contradiction between furloughing meat inspectors and the following

"Since Sunday the agency has posted 24 help-wanted ads including 22 student internships, one ad seeking a clerk in a New York office, and one ad seeking three “insect production workers” to grow bollworms in Phoenix."

Hmmmm? Yeah, that makes sense.

[dennisw]

When Obama promised more transparency, maybe this is what he was talking about. His CS politics.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323494504578342603236052908.html?m od=ITP_opinion_2
#SequesterThis

Meat inspectors have to go, but fine wines are still on the USDA menu.

In its bid to make the sequester as painful as possible, the White House announced Tuesday that it is canceling all visitor tours of the White House "during the popular Spring touring season." This fits President Obama's political strategy to punish the eighth graders visiting from Illinois instead of, say, the employees of the Agriculture Department who will attend a California conference sipping "exceptional local wines" and sampling "tasty dishes" prepared by "special guest chefs."

Yes, even as the White House warns that the modest automatic spending cuts will force the furlough of meat inspectors, two divisions of the Agriculture Department will underwrite the 26th California Small Farm Conference in Fresno next week.

The event will feature USDA speakers, field trips, a banquet and a tasting reception, according to the conference website. Conference organizers promise the tasting will be a "mouthwatering event" featuring "fine wines and exceptional micro-brews paired with seasonally driven culinary delicacies." How can we sign up?

In April, the penny-pinchers at the USDA will also sponsor the Priester National Health Extension Conference in Corvallis, Oregon. The pressing object of this four-day event will be to "provide resource support to professionals and community leaders working to improve community health," although attendees will sneak in their own wine tasting. We recommend the state's pinots.

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn noted in a Tuesday letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that while these conferences may be "fun," or "even educational," they reveal an agency unable to set priorities that serve taxpayers as opposed to its own bureaucratic interests. The agency fans public fear about salmonella outbreaks even as its public servants serve themselves haute cuisine.

Mr. Coburn and others are providing Americans with a window on this and other fiscal contradictions at #SequesterThis on Twitter, and we recommend that readers take a look. Then decide if the federal government is so wonderfully efficient that it can only cut spending that most hurts the public.

[mark46th]

I thought the tours were cancelled because Hugo Chavez died.

[Streck-Fu]

I thought the tours were cancelled because Hugo Chavez died.

National Day of Mourning?

[Richard]

The tours ain't been the same since Sam Seaborn left. ;)

Richard :munchin

[Trapper John]

OK! Now I have had enough:mad:

I would venture to say that somewhere in excess of 75% of the folks that post/and or read posts here are a little right of center politically. We are just preaching to the choir. I suggest that we send emails to everyone that we know who supported BHO in the last election and include this link, also the link to the Woodward oped piece, and the article in the Post referring to O's agenda for 2014 and ask them if this is what they wanted from the POTUS. I would also suggest that we remind them that it is not what someone says that defines them, it is what they do that defines them. Ask what does it take to make them see that this President wants a de facto one political party system? Ask them if they have considered what effect that would have on their liberties that they enjoy and take for granted every single day? Tell them that I know 100+ Chinese ex-patriots that I work with every day and that they will be glad to tell them what it is like living under a one party rule.

I am doing precisely that today. We must take our country back and a strong two party system is an imperative to that. Enough is enough!

[Stargazer]

Kirsten Powers (Democratic Commentator) said the other day that perhaps someone needed to explain to the President the definition of transparency.

On another show, Kirsten and another gal (I think it was Dana Perino) were both amused by stopping the WH tours because when they were in the WH, volunteers gave them. Conclusion, reasonably minded individuals regardless of party see this for what it is becoming.

Good on Rand Paul who is on the Senate floor filibustering Brennan's nomination. As he states it's not about Brennan personally but the drone matter, the Constitution and the 5th Amendment. He is taking an unpopular stand because it's what he believes. In the end it may not make a difference in this one battle, but my hope is it will give people something to think about...

[Badger52]

The tours ain't been the same since Sam Seaborn left. ;)

Richard :munchinSam was never the same after Laurie....
:cool:

[Badger52]

I thought the tours were cancelled because Hugo Chavez died.Speaking of which, who's currently bracketed to attend the funeral?*

I mean, last time there was a USSS advance team in SA...
Guys... PAY the lady!

[Trapper John]

In my previous post I said that I was going to email liberals that I know. I have attached that email with links for reference. Please feel free to copy this and use it yourselves - I urge you to do so. Send it out and ask others to do the same. Who knows it might make a difference. Won't make any difference talking to ourselves though.

Dear Friends,

I have some simple questions for you. What defines a person’s belief system? What they say? Or, what they do? I was always taught that it is what I do that will define me. I am sure that you will agree. As you have, I have always strived for consistency between my words and my deeds. And like most of us, I have not always been successful in that effort, but, as I am sure you do too, I keep trying. That is the human condition after all.

So, I think it is fair to hold our elected representatives to the same standard that we hold ourselves. I am sure you will agree with that statement as well. So, let’s apply that standard to the current President and please be objective, no excuses (i.e., someone else is responsible, etc.). Remember, the corollary to this standard is not making excuses for our mistakes or the circumstances we find ourselves- we are always responsible for the consequences of our decisions and therefore our circumstances – no excuses.

You all recall, as I do, the lofty and inspirational rhetoric of numerous speeches. Full of caring, concern for the average citizen, patriotism, and unity one nation under God, yes we can, and let’s move forward working together we can do anything, we deserve better, our children deserve better, hope, change, prosperity, justice, fairness, and so on and so on. Lofty rhetoric, inspiring rhetoric, but in the end – words, just words. Do those words define the President – NO! What defines this President, any President, is what he does.

At the end of this email I have included some links to articles in respectable newspapers regarding the Administration’s response to the Sequester – an idea that was suggested to the bipartisan congressional debt commission (the so-called Super Committee) by the White House in the first place. I have not included the plethora of “leaked emails” stating that the desired outcome is to cause as much disruption as possible by selectively administering the required budget cuts because I cannot verify the veracity of the source of the emails. However the following sources are verifiable.

You can draw your own conclusions, but for me the conclusion is inescapable. This President is politically manipulating the situation to feed an agenda of marginalizing the political opposition and creating a de facto one party system in the United States. Viewed in this light all of the actions taken to date and the inactions of this administration (failure to produce a budget in four years) are consistent. Viewed through the lens of the rhetoric there is a huge disconnect. Which is revealing – the words or the deeds? If you are truly interested in the welfare of people, does it make sense to furlough USDA meat inspectors because of the imposed budget cuts while advertising for administrative assistants, interns, and supporting research on insects within the same agency? Is that how you would impose the mandatory budget cuts?

So if you are a dyed in the wool liberal, you might say - Good! But be careful what you wish for, you might get it and we are dangerously close to that point now. In the 40+ years since my awakening as a political being, I have never seen us so close to a one party system. One of the great strengths of our Nation has been the balance we have been able to achieve through the waxing and waning of political power because of the two party system. This has always been a great source of optimism for me regardless of what party may be in power at the moment. The pendulum always swung back in the other direction to achieve balance in the long-term. So, if you think that a one party system comprised of progressive liberals is the ideal let me suggest that you speak with some folks that lived under one party rule. I know 100+ scientists that are ex-patriots from China that would be glad to explain life under a one party system to you.

As you all know me well enough, I never tell you how to think or what to think. I only ask you to critically think!

Be well,

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/5/email-tells-feds-make-sequester-painful-promised/

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/27/bob-woodward-says-he-was-threatened-by-white-house/?hpt=hp_t2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/stymied-by-a-gop-house-obama-looks-ahead-to-2014-to-cement-his-legacy/2013/03/02/5f6f8b94-827d-11e2-a350-49866afab584_story.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...=ITP_opinion_2

[darbs]

Hope my google fu was accurate didn't see this in any other thread yet;

Snip
Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) introduced an amendment to the fast-moving continuing resolution spending bill that would bar funding for President Obama’s golf outings until the White House reopens for public tours.

http://http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2013/03/06/congressman-amendment-defunding-obama-golf/

Ha... Good for Rep Gohmert.:lifter

[Stiletto11]

Barry didn't know volunteers conduct the tours......oooops:p

[darbs]

Entire post

That is some good reading right there!
Thank you!!


It's being forwarded without haste...

:D

[pcfixer]

Trapper John: JMHO, I have been writing and call state senators here in Md
for over 4 years to no avail.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2205659037001/

I agree with Bill O'Reilly talking points. Not all the time, mind you, but in this one I think he is correct in Obama ideoloy. Alan Colmes is a liar.