I’m only about half sucker; so I knew it wasn’t really true that Obama contracted helicopters to hover over Mount Rushmore with a big curtain.
But I assumed it was true that the Amber Alert system was shut down. Turns out Amber Alert, as a way of quickly notifying the public that a child has been abducted and is in immediate danger, is still functioning; it’s just the website that’s shut down because, if the website (not the program itself) is unmanned while the admins are furloughed, it’s vulnerable to hackers. According to the Huffington Post:
Amber Alerts are issued jurisdictionally. It’s the duty of local police, press and city governments to get information on child abductions out to the public. Law enforcement agencies still have the ability to get the word out via tweets, news broadcasts, cell phone alerts and road signs.
Additionally, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is in charge of compiling the DOJ’s national Amber Alert information. Its website is still up and running, and there are no active Amber Alerts at this time.
Glad to hear that, in this specific instance, innocent people won’t be suffering just because we have a two party system consisting of, as Mark Shea says, the Stupid Evil Party and the Evil Stupid Party.
As far as the government shutdown goes, the truth is somewhere between “This is all just impartial and automatic business, and there’s no reason to take things personally” and “This is all designed specifically to persecute the innocent and the needy.” Knowing what we know about the Obama administration and about the current crop of republicans, I have no problem believing that much of the shut-down effects were purposely and callously designed to make the public suffer because it makes a good bargaining chip/talking point. At the same time, knowing what I know about the lumbering, nonsensical, illogical workings of government, I have no problem believing that much of it is just how things shook out once the process was set in motion.
I believe that some of it is random if unfortunate, and some is spiteful and targeted. It’s government. Why can’t it be both?
And, not that anyone asked, but I believe that Ted Cruz is less of a shining, courageous knight and more of a self-serving maroon without two brain cells to rub together. Ugh. One thing you can be sure of, both parties are making money hand over fist from this debacle. Have politicians really gotten worse, or have I just finally stopped being fooled?
Again, why can’t it be both?
