Originally published October 13 2013
Obama government closes the OCEAN as part of punitive shutdown theater
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) As president of the United States and leader of the free world, Barack Obama wields incredible influence and power - but does he have enough to close off entire oceans? Well, he certainly thinks so, because that is what he tried to do as part of the 17 percent government shutdown.
Mike Flynn at Breitbart News reports:
Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was "closed" due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored, the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean. Fishing is also prohibited at Biscayne National Park during the shutdown.
What?
'The government will spend more to keep us out than it would in normal course of business'
Adds the Miami Herald, "The closing affects not only fishing guides, but anyone with a license to conduct business in the park, including tour operators and paddling guides - anyone with a Commercial Use Authorization permit, said Dan Kimball, superintendent of Everglades and Dry Tortugas national parks. Biscayne National Park is also off limits. Enforcement rangers will be on duty, Kimball said."
Unbelievable, is it not?
Flynn finds the part about Park Service rangers being on duty just to enforce the ban ludicrous, considering they will be preventing access to... an ocean.
"The government will probably use more personnel and spend more resources to attempt to close the ocean, than it would in its normal course of business. This is governing by temper-tantrum," he writes.
Not only that, but he ponders the logistical improbability of actually closing off 1,100 square miles of ocean, let alone why anyone would even want to do so in the first place.
For that last point, you'd have to ask President Obama, for as one anonymous Park Service ranger has allegedly said, "We've been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It's disgusting."
Time to scale back Uncle Sam's reach
Writes Flynn, "Centuries ago, King Canute famously failed to command the ocean tide to stop. His display was actually a means to educate his subjects on the limits of royal power. Today, however, our President actually believes he has the power to control the oceans."
The lesson here isn't how petulant Obama can be - that much is obvious. The lesson we ought to derive is just how much government control over our lives there really is. For when Americans become so dependent on government "permission" to make a living, this is what happens when that same government becomes tyrannical and peevish - it retains the power to take away your ability to earn.
If this shutdown isn't a wake-up call to dramatically scale back Big Government, I don't know what is.
Sources:
http://www.breitbart.com
http://www.miamiherald.com
http://www.ijreview.com
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