Obama Administration Rejects WW II Vets Memorial, But Stormed Through Barricades Anyway

The Daily Caller reported: The White House and the Department of the Interior rejected a request from Rep. Steven Palazzo’s office to have World War II veterans visit the World War II memorial in Washington, the Mississippi Republican told The Daily Caller Tuesday.

Palazzo helped the veterans commit an act of civil disobedience against the Park Service Tuesday, when the heroes stormed through barricades around the closed memorial. (Related: WWII vets storm closed memorial as GOP congressman reportedly distracts cops)

The veterans were visiting the memorial as part of Honor Flight, a non-profit that provides veterans free transport to the nation’s capital to visit the memorials to the wars they fought in.

We got the heads up that they will be barricaded and specifically asked for an exception for these heroes,” Palazzo told TheDC. “We were denied and told, ‘It’s a government shutdown, what do you expect?’ when we contacted the liaison for the White House.”

Palazzo’s office was in touch with the heads of the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior and the Capitol Police. He says all these officials rejected his request to allow the veterans, many of whom are octogenarians and some of whom are in poor health, to attend.

Palazzo, a Gulf War Marine veteran who has participated in all five of the Honor Flights, blames the White House for making it harder on veterans and playing politics. “At first I thought it was a huge bureaucratic oversight,” Palazzo told The Daily Caller, “but having talked with the officials I can’t help but think this was politically motivated. Honor Flights, which bring WWII veterans to the nation’s memorials, are planned a year in advance and cost anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000. How low can you get with playing politics over our nation’s veterans?”

In a statement, Palazzo noted that he is introducing legislation to ensure that all Honor Flights are granted access this week. “This is an open-air memorial that the public has 24/7 access to under normal circumstances — even when Park Service personnel aren’t present,” Palazzo said in the statement. “It actually requires more effort and expense to shut out these veterans from their Memorial than it would to simply let them through. My office has been in touch with NPS officials and the Administration to try to resolve this issue.”

Obama Administration: Produced ‘Fake News’ of Syrian Dictator Being Toppled and More, The Endless Stream of Corruption from the Obama Regime

The failed novelist, once Obama speech writer, now National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes wrote a series of phony newscasts showing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad being overthrown.

Huge movie sets of the al-Assad presidential palace were built in Saudi Arabia, overseen by our own CIA, in which doubles of al-Assad and his generals are depicted fleeing the Free Syrian Army.

The Hollywood-like operation had an army of special effects crew, stuntmen, and makeup artists that rivaled most studios.

The phony footage was to be fed through Arab League-controlled satellites, preempting regular Syrian newscasts, making the Syrian people think their government had just been toppled.

The CIA-controlled CNN would then re-broadcast the phony footage, causing the world to think al-Assad had been overthrown. While Syria was mired in anarchy, a real coup would take place; and Obama would ride in on his white horse, installing another Islamic regime.

The plan, scheduled to occur on June 15, 2012, never happened because Syrian officials got wind of it and put a stop to it. The White House and CNN then buried the story down the memory hole and created a new fiction: al-Assad’s August 21, 2013 chemical weapons attack, also now proved to be fake, perpetrated by Obama’s own al-Qaeda rebels in order to warrant a U.S. bombing campaign.

This according to Tony Cartalucci’s book, War on Syria: Gateway to World War III and his subsequent blockbuster articles.

Congressman Shows Obamacare Exchanges Crash Minutes After Launch

Breitbart reported: Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) tweeted out a photo at 12:09 AM EST showing the Obamcare exchanges website was down, nine minutes after various federal government offices shut down and the Affordable Care Act exchanges went into effect.

In another tweet, Huelskamp wrote:

 

“

Shutdown or no shutdown, we are ready to go, to start enrolling people tomorrow,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at a press conference Monday. “We are about to make some history and some very positive history for lots of families around the country.”

According to ABC News:

Sebelius said about 52 percent of HHS employees will be deemed unessential and furloughed, but that will not affect any workers in the call centers or ”navigators” tasked with helping people to sign up. Most of the funding for the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, was provided in the law so it would not be affected even if the federal government shuts down.

Sebelius did say it was “hard to tell” how a prolonged shutdown could affect implementation of the law down the road, though.

“That begins to look more serious the longer it takes,” Sebelius said, noting that much of  HHS’ operations will be covered under “mandatory money.”

She also acknowledged that there were bound to be “glitches” when the new insurance marketplaces come online Tuesday morning, and people  begin to sign up. HHS is running all or part of the marketplace exchanges in 36 states; the others will be handled by each state individually. She compared that possibility to Apple’s latest software upgrade, which asked users to download an additional update to fix problems with the initial update.

The House voted later in the night on procedural measures in regards to the continuing resolution. Republicans are seeking to appoint a “conference committee” to come up with a funding measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid responded to that idea saying, “We will not go to conference with a gun to our head.”

Women’s Magazines Pushing Obamacare on Readers

Breitbart reported: The Obama administration is launching a full court press campaign to convince a skeptical country that Obamacare is a great thing and several glossy magazines aimed at America’s women, likeCosmopolitan and Glamour, are lending their pages to that effort.

This month Cosmo published a long piece entitled, “Top Eight Ways Young Women Benefit from Obamacare.” Not to be outdone, Glamour gives its readers the “Five Things You Need to Know” about the insurance exchanges that were supposed to open this week.

Several other women’s magazines are joining in and adding their own Obamacare sales pitches. Such magazines as Woman’s Day, Cosmo Latina, Marie Claire and Ebony are all featuring Obamacare sales stories in their October issues.

“Lots of women who will benefit may not read the New York Times or Politico but do read Cosmo,” said one administration official to the L.A. Times. This official is working on the Obamacare sales project and requested anonymity so he could discuss the tactics the administration is using. The magazines, this official said, have “Much bigger reach; reaches women exactly where they are–and they’re a key demographic.”

The glossies aren’t the only media being impressed into service as propagandists for Obamacare. NBC recently announced a series of Obamacare advertising programs it intends to present as “news” programs. This series will include directions for viewers on how to enroll in the exchanges.

The women’s magazines and the progressive news media are not alone. The President has also been reaching out to many other forms of entertainment attempting to enlist them as Obamacare peddlers.

On June 24 reports surfaced that the Obama administration was trying to cajole the National Football League into selling Obamacare. The NFL later rejected those overtures. Only days before that the NBA was also contacted about becoming an Obamacare advocate.

The president also enlisted the service of a bevy of Hollywood celebrities to become Obamacare salesmen.

Watch: ‘SNL’ Spoof And Mock Obama And Obamacare!

‘Saturday Night Live’ comedians took a swipe at Obama and Obamacare.

Obama to Military: I’m ‘Fighting’ For You Against Irresponsible Congress

Breitbart reported: In a special video message (below) to members of the military, President Obama turned political when communicating to American troops who’s to blame for the impasse over Obamacare and the funding of the federal government. The president told our troops that he is fighting for them against congress who has not fulfilled their responsibility:

Hi everybody. As President and your Commander in Chief, I’ve worked to make sure you have the strategy, the resources and the support you need to complete the missions our nation asks of you. Every time, you’ve met your responsibilities and performed with extraordinary professionalism, skill and courage.

Unfortunately, Congress has not fulfilled its responsibility. It has failed to pass a budget and, as a result, much of our government must now shut down until Congress funds it again. Secretary Hagel, General Dempsey and your commanders will have more information about how this affects you and your families. Today, I want to speak directly to you about what happens next.

Those of you in uniform will remain on your normal duty status. The threats to our national security have not changed, and we need you to be ready for any contingency. Ongoing military operations—like our efforts in Afghanistan—will continue. If you’re serving in harm’s way, we’re going to make sure you have what you need to succeed in your missions. Congress has passed, and I am signing into law, legislation to make sure you get your paychecks on time. And we’ll continue working to address any impact this shutdown has on you and your families.

To all our DOD civilians—I know the days ahead could mean more uncertainty, including possible furloughs. And I know this comes on top of the furloughs that many of you already endured this summer. You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we’re seeing in Congress. Your talents and dedication help keep our military the best in the world. That’s why I’ll keep working to get Congress to reopen our government and get you back to work as soon as possible.

Finally, I know this shutdown occurs against the background of broader changes. The war in Iraq is over. The war in Afghanistan will end next year. After more than a decade of unprecedented operations, we are moving off a war footing. Yes, our military will be leaner, and as a nation we face difficult budget choices going forward.

But here’s what I want you to know. I’m going to keep fighting to get rid of those across-the-board budget cuts—the sequester—which are hurting our military and our economy. We need a responsible approach that deals with our fiscal challenges and keeps our military and our economy strong. And I’m going to make sure you stay the greatest military in the world—bar none. That’s what I’m fighting for. That’s what you and your families deserve.

On behalf of the American people, thank you for your service, which keeps us free. And thank you for your sacrifice, which keeps our nation – and our military – the greatest force for freedom that the world has ever known. God bless you and your families, and God bless the United States of America.

Let the Shut Down Begin: Congress Misses Deadline, Government Set to Partially Shut Down

Fox News reported: Congress has missed a midnight deadline to pass a crucial spending bill, triggering the beginning of a partial government shutdown – the first in 17 years.

Lawmakers breezed by the deadline after being unable to resolve their stand-off over ObamaCare, despite a volley of 11th-hour counterproposals from the House. Each time, Senate Democrats refused to consider any changes to ObamaCare as part of the budget bill.

House Republicans, for their part, refused to back off their demand that the budget bill include some measures to rein in the health care law – a large part of which goes into effect on Tuesday.

Lawmakers spent the final minutes before midnight trying to assign blame to the other side of the aisle. Republicans are no doubt wary of the blowback their party felt during the Clinton-era shutdown, while Democrats were almost eager to pile the blame on the GOP.

Americans will begin to feel the effects of a shutdown by Tuesday morning, as national parks close, federal home loan officers scale back their caseload, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers face furlough.

The question now is how long the stand-off will last. Congress is fast-approaching another deadline, in mid-October, to raise the debt limit or face a U.S. government default. Lawmakers presumably want to resolve the status of the government swiftly in order to shift to that debate.

Throughout the day Monday, lawmakers engaged in a day-long bout of legislative hot potato.

The House repeatedly passed different versions of a bill that would fund the government while paring down the federal health care overhaul. Each time, the Senate said no and sent it back.

“Republicans are still playing games,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared on the Senate floor late Monday night.

As a last-ditch effort, House Republicans floated the possibility of taking their disagreement to what’s known as a conference committee – a bicameral committee where lawmakers from both chambers would meet to resolve the differences between the warring pieces of legislation.

“It means we’re the reasonable, responsible actors trying to keep the process alive as the clock ticks past midnight, despite Washington Democrats refusal – thus far – to negotiate,” a GOP leadership aide said.

Reid, though, said the Senate would not agree to the approach unless and until the House approves a “clean” budget bill.

The rhetoric got more heated as the deadline neared.

“They’ve lost their minds,” Reid said of Republicans, in rejecting the latest proposal.

“Senate Democrats have made it perfectly clear that they’d rather shut down the federal government than accept even the most reasonable changes to ObamaCare,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell countered.

The latest House bill, which the chamber backed on a 228-201 vote, would have delayed the law’s individual mandate while prohibiting lawmakers, their staff and top administration officials from getting government subsidies for their health care.

The Senate voted 54-46 along party lines to reject it.

Amid the drama, President Obama said he was holding out hope that Congress would come together “in the 11th hour.”

Such a deal did not come to pass.

A prior Republican effort to include a provision defunding ObamaCare in the budget bill failed. House Republicans then voted, early Sunday, to add amendments delaying the health care law by one year and repealing an unpopular medical device tax.

The Senate, in a 54-46 vote, rejected those proposals on Monday afternoon.

At this stage, congressional leaders are hard at work trying to assign blame.

Democrats have already labeled this a “Republican government shutdown.” But Republicans on Sunday hammered Reid and his colleagues for not coming back to work immediately after the House passed a bill Sunday morning.