Seven stupid things the gov’t spent money on during the shutdown

by: Michael Bastasch
The government is shut down and thousands of government workers have been sent home. But will it save any money?

The shutdown in during the Clinton Presidency cost taxpayers about $1.5 billion in 22 days. According to IHS Global Insight, the shutdown could cost the U.S. economy $1.6 billion per week — and NBC News reported that the shutdown would cost $12.5 million per hour.

Here are seven things that the government, in all its wisdom, has opted to do during the current shutdown.

1. Federal agencies created new websites to tell visitors that they don’t have enough funding to run their old websites.

Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Park Service, have created new splash pages to tell visitors that they don’t have enough money or manpower to maintain their normal websites. The Internal Revenue Service website will be active, but won’t be updated — at least they’re not auditing you.

According to USA Today, even Capitol Hill’s Twitter feed will be impacted. The newspaper reports that, “Twitter followers received a message from the architect of the U.S. Capitol proclaiming certain accounts will be inactive. A message posted on first lady Michelle Obama’sTwitter account said tweets would be limited ‘due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government.’”

2. The feds shut down the parking lot of Mt. Vernon, but not the park itself.

In another brilliant move, the National Park Service closed off the parking lot to Mt. Vernon, the home of the country’s first president George Washington. Since Mt. Vernon is privately owned, the NPS can’t shut down the park, so they instead opted to shut down the parking lot at the popular tourist attraction.

The news came from one brave man on Twitter who has been tweeting to the world all day about how the parking lot (well, at least one parking lot at the time this report was being written) was closed, despite Mt. Vernon officials saying it was open.

1 parking lot directly out front of Mount Vernon remains closed in spite of dispute with Park Service pic.twitter.com/8SoKfTllvj— Stephen Gutowski (@collegepolitico) October 2, 2013

3. A D.C-area canal is closed and had all the pumps taken off of it.

The National Park Service has actually had someone remove the handles off all the well pumps along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that runs 184 miles from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland, according to sources. The NPS has also stationed officers in the park to make sure bikers don’t ride down closed bike paths and that no one can come near the scenic waterway.

Mike Nardolilli, president of the C&O Canal Trust, said in an email: “As you may be aware, our Federal Government has shut down for an indeterminate amount of time. What you may not have realized, however, is that the closure of the Federal Government means the closure of the C&O Canal National Historical Park and all other National Parks.”

However, rebellious bikers seem to be taking matters into their own hands and are using the closed trails due to lax enforcement.

4. Angry moms launch full-scale assault to reopen D.C. turtle park.

According to sources, angry moms near the Eastern Market are of Washington, D.C. have been diligently tearing down barriers erected by the National Park Service around Marion Park, or the turtle park as it is commonly referred to because of the fake turtles that children like to play on.

Sources said that the park was blocked off by park officials, but the source suspected that neighborhood moms have been taking down barriers to the park so their children could play there. In response, park officials keep erecting new ones, which the moms promptly tear down.

The park is extremely small and sort of seems pointless to block off.

5. Not closing parks near Democratic senators’ houses.

Sources tell TheDCNF that Lincoln Park in D.C., which maintained by the NPS, was not closed down, nor were any signs put up that indicated it was closed due to the government shutdown. According to the same source, it’s close to the homes of “quite a few” Democratic senators, and the source has previously seen Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus walking in the park.

While Lincoln Park remains seemingly open for Baucus and other senators to go for a walk, national parks all across Montana have been closed down and thousands of tourists have been turned away.

The NPS did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment, probably because no one is working in their press office.

6. Posting park rangers at the WWII memorial to prevent rogue veterans from getting in.

Bus-loads of WWII veterans were forced to storm their own monument after it was blocked off by the National Park Service. A group of lawmakers led by Mississippi Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo pushed aside the park rangers’ barriers and allowed veterans to get into the memorial.

“Some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades so they couldn’t see the monument. People had to spend hours setting up barricades where there are never barricades to prevent people from seeing the World War II monument because they’re trying to play a charade,” Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said on Fox News’s “Hannity.”

7. The DoD is postponing the Navy-Air Force football game.

USA Today reports that the Department of Defense is postponing this weekend’s Navy vs. Air Force football game due to the government shutdown. The military has also suspended all other armed services athletic events until the shutdown is resolved.

Update: The Navy-Air Force game is no longer postponed after the academies agreed to use non-federal funds to put on the games.

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