Tourist harassed by Park Rangers at Yellowstone: They patrolled in front of Old Faithful to keep people away whenever it was about to erupt
posted at 11:21 am on October 9, 2013 by Allahpundit
A follow-up to yesterday’s post about the surreal lengths to which the Park Service is willing to go to punish the people they ostensibly serve. Most of what Pat Vaillancourt says here will be familiar to you but the bit about Old Faithful is new to me. Evidently it wasn’t enough to effectively lock elderly tourists inside their hotel. To make doubly sure that no one snuck up to the geyser for a pic while it was erupting, they drove down to the site 10-15 minutes beforehand and stood guard. That’s how petty this was. Presumably even the tourists taking photos from the windows of the hotel ended up with their Old Faithful memento effectively being photobombed by the NPS. Take that, America.
Jonathan Last calls this the biggest scandal of Obama’s presidency, just because of what it says about the nature of the government’s relationship to the citizenry it allegedly answers to:
It’s one thing for politicians to play shutdown theater. It’s another thing entirely for a civil bureaucracy entrusted with the privilege of caring for our national heritage to wage war against the citizenry on behalf of a political party.
This is how deep the politicization of Barack Obama’s administration goes. The Park Service falls under the Department of the Interior, and its director is a political appointee. Historically, the directorship has been nonpartisan and the service has functioned as a civil, not a political, unit. Before the current director, Jonathan Jarvis, was nominated by President Obama, he’d spent 30 years as a civil servant. But he has taken to his political duties with all the fervor of a third-tier hack from the DNC, marrying the disinterested contempt of a meter maid with the zeal of an ambitious party apparatchik.
“We’re witnessing the end of the civil service,” says David French at NRO. On that note, take your pick: You can watch four minutes of Vaillancourt recounting her experience below or, via Mark Steyn, listen to an eight-minute extended interview she gave to Michael Graham yesterday by clicking here. (“After the shutdown, the only rangers we saw were the armed ones.”) The most distressing part of her story, ironically, isn’t how American citizens were treated, it’s how the non-citizens in the group, some of whom didn’t speak English, perceived what was happening to them. Money quote: “It really was concerning. You could feel the element of fear.” They need a lawyer. I hope they get one.
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This rounding up tourists and forcing them to stay at some Inn reminds me of the good old days of WWII when the gubmint rounded up all the Japanese Americans and forced them into camps. Good times.
chewmeister on October 9, 2013 at 2:51 PM
I love her Mass accent.
It’s obvious the bison are just a bunch of Obama shills.
verbaluce on October 9, 2013 at 2:52 PM
I’ve already tweeted Issa (who follows me on Twitter!) and suggested that Jarvis needs to take a seat before the House Oversight Committee to explain the shutdown theater and tell us who gave him his marching orders.
novaculus on October 9, 2013 at 2:56 PM
But of course – more non-sensical garbage from Barky’s useful idiot.
dentarthurdent on October 9, 2013 at 3:00 PM
I got yer Obama shill right here, douche:
novaculus on October 9, 2013 at 3:02 PM
DC Mayor Crashes Harry Reid’s Hatefest – Pure Schadenfreude Ensues
Resist We Much on October 9, 2013 at 3:06 PM
Wolf Blitzer: Delay Obamacare
Resist We Much on October 9, 2013 at 3:06 PM
I know you take this all very seriously and are deathly freaked out by the ominous and thuggish tactics of these crazed park rangers.
We have another Scandal (® Issa).
It gets worse -it seems that the rangers have written up 9 citations since the shutdown. 9! They are out of control.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
(I know, nonsense. But nonsense begets nonsense.)
verbaluce on October 9, 2013 at 3:10 PM
Everyvone on za train. You have nuzzing to fear.
chewmeister on October 9, 2013 at 3:14 PM
Ah Yes The converse principle aka Barky’s Law — Everything which is not allowed is forbidden — applies to public authorities, whose actions are limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. Nazi Germany ole skooo.
Buttercup on October 9, 2013 at 3:15 PM
We need to take all of this back. It needs to begin now. And, absolutely, dentarthurdent, “I was just followin’ orders” is not a defense. Ever.
(Vanceone, VA has a state military force, as well. Unfortunately, it might be in the service of McAwful, soon.)
GWB on October 9, 2013 at 3:18 PM
What shutdown: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/8/thousands-of-federal-job-openings-posted-in-spite-/
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:18 PM
Shift change at OFA, huh?
Ya, we know you’re just a tool, and not a very bright one at that.
I know you think you’ll have a special position in the new empire, but useful idiots like you tend to get tossed under the bus once they are no longer needed. Go read some history to find out about it.
dentarthurdent on October 9, 2013 at 3:20 PM
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/9/rangers-arrest-21-venturing-grand-canyon-post-shut/
Tyranny begets tyranny.
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:20 PM
Its Chicago-On-The-Potomac, the perversion of every available tool and resources of the government and its bureaucracies to crass political agendas. In this case, the goal is to punish the American people to the maximum extent possible in the hope that Obamas’ media tools will successfully blame his vindictiveness on Republicans. He even managed to reward his illegal alien supporters by giving them access to national resources he is denying to everyone else, a thumb in the eye to the entire country.
Its a massive violation of trust. The man took an oath to faithfully execute the office of the Presidency, not to abuse his power for political advantage.
But you are perfectly happy to have small and evil men do evil things to our country, because you share their contempt for our country.
GFY, douche.
novaculus on October 9, 2013 at 3:20 PM
And those 9 are for a citizen of this republic exercising their rights as a free citizen, for whom those lands are held in trust by the federal government (not even that in some cases). Those 9 are tyrannical acts.
GWB on October 9, 2013 at 3:20 PM
Definition of dysfunction:
Projected cost of establishing the Error404Care website: $93.7 million
ACTUAL COST: $634,320,919.00
But, he’s fiscally responsible and Obamacare is GREAT!
Resist We Much on October 9, 2013 at 3:21 PM
Actually, it was 21 at the Grand Canyon alone. But, why let facts get in the way. Right, moron?
chewmeister on October 9, 2013 at 3:22 PM
Please justify armed NPS rangers threatening senior citizen tourists with arrest for snapping a picture of a buffalo, or geyser, or mountain.
That’s all perfectly reasonable in your little mind isn’t it?
Explain.
dentarthurdent on October 9, 2013 at 3:24 PM
Nonsense begets nonsense.
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:25 PM
And I’ll bet AQ in Syria is still getting their funding and “weapons of war” from Barky – while US veterans go without.
dentarthurdent on October 9, 2013 at 3:27 PM
The leftist media run interference for obama: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/10/09/shutdown-victim-amnesty-rally-media-coverage
Tyranny begets tyranny.
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:29 PM
So how many occupoopers were ever cited by Hussein’s goons ?
burrata on October 9, 2013 at 3:34 PM
They are running scared:
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:38 PM
Note date stamp:
Nonsense begets nonsense.Tyranny begets tyranny.davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:42 PM
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:44 PM
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:48 PM
I just don’t see how this help the Dems when everyone knows that it’s the President who is dictating these orders and not Congress. I’m sure it’s not widely reported in the mainstream, but word of mouth from the people who are being treated like criminals could be even worse.
Are people really okay with having a dictator in the White House?
lea on October 9, 2013 at 3:50 PM
obama, “Here. Just take this little pill”: http://www.kjonline.com/news/Acadia_rangers_issue_citations_for_trespassing_in_park.html?searchterm=park+citations
davidk on October 9, 2013 at 3:52 PM
At least some percentage certainly is. I refuse to let them win, in terms of my life, however. I will not submit.
GWB on October 9, 2013 at 4:01 PM
Are people really okay with having a dictator in the White House?
lea on October 9, 2013 at 3:50 PM
If only we could rent the Egyptian army for a week or two…we wouldn’t have a petty hoodlum like him anymore…he’s be in jail like his MB pal is now.
We know our own won’t do it….it’s not in their ROE’s.
Twana on October 9, 2013 at 4:07 PM
As soon as they step off the “federal” land, yes.
Nutstuyu on October 9, 2013 at 4:07 PM
‘Toons of the Day: Not. Ready. For. Primetime.
Resist We Much on October 9, 2013 at 4:14 PM
Where’d ya go verby?
Still waiting on an approved answer from your OFA masters?
Simple question – if our complaints are nonsense – justify it?
dentarthurdent on October 9, 2013 at 4:16 PM
Politics is broken because of the Fed. They have a finger on the scale tipping in favor of irresponsible behavior. Quite simply the Fed is partisan.
pc on October 9, 2013 at 4:21 PM
Bishop on October 9, 2013 at 11:58 AM
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Indeed –
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BTW, The U.S. National Parks’ motto is “Experience Your America”.
And we did.
diogenes on October 9, 2013 at 4:33 PM
BTW, Ace has a great bit on why Starbucks deciding to close down or not serve certain people is so wholly different from the government doing so. Another arrow for the quiver when talking to those on the fence who might be ‘suaded.
GWB on October 9, 2013 at 4:53 PM
…thanks!…good…as usual!
KOOLAID2 on October 9, 2013 at 7:54 PM
These rangers never had to act like this.
They could have taken a principled stand & done the bare minimum to comply at the very least.
They chose to go balls to the wall.
Maybe for some brownie points.
Whatever the case, there are a lot of good park employees across the nation who are horrified at this type of crap.
Badger40 on October 9, 2013 at 8:37 PM
I know for a fact from old timers who retired from the following agencies:
NPS, NFS, USF&W, & EPA (many were college professors of mine)
that the trend beginning in the mid-70s (& maybe earlier) was to hire radical college educated liberals with backgrounds that were specifically NOT that of people of the land (like ranchers & farmers) & slowly dispose of those with common sense views & approaches in managing resources.
These agencies are now full of activist types that are very liberal in nature.
The higher ups are useful idiots and actual communists & communist sympathizers.
Badger40 on October 9, 2013 at 8:44 PM
Why are Obama-bots allowed to run feral in the comment sections? Are we deprived of hearing the liberal side of issues?
Hot Air has the worst comment policy of any so-called conservative site I have ever seen. Hint: humiliate and ban the trolls, don’t accommodate them.
Bleed_thelizard on October 10, 2013 at 7:56 AM
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