Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James R. Conner.

 

1 October 2013

Obama chooses most painful shutdown method

Instead of making every effort to keep government information online, Obama’s administration appears to be making every effort to shutdown, disable, or cripple government websites to drive home the point that the government must be shuttered because Congress failed to pass a continuing resolution.

The National Park Service closed the gates at all National Parks, and also closed its websites for those parks. The USGS posted this notice:

October 1, 2013 - Due to a lapse in Federal funding, the U.S. Geological Survey must suspend those parts of its data collection and distribution processes requiring human intervention. However, automated reporting and serving of telemetered data will continue.

Users may note some degradation in the quality and completeness of real-time streamflow, groundwater levels and water-quality data from some reporting stations due to the suspension of field calibrations and adjustments, especially as high flows occur, aquatic vegetation becomes dominant, or ice forms in high altitude streams. The USGS will continue to monitor some performance aspects of its network using a skeleton workforce.

None of this inconveniences the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who are responsible for this shutdown. Instead, good, decent, law abiding Americans are hurt. Obama wants these hurt Americans to lobby their Republican representatives in the House to end the shutdown on his terms.

Ultimately, the House Republicans are responsible for the shutdown. But Obama has an obligation to choose the least painful options for shutdowns, something he’s not doing. That’s cruel. It’s a mistake.