Posted on 10/13/2013 7:39:14 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Signs stating “Don’t Cruzify America” and “End the Shut Down” greeted travellers on the Atlanta Highway by the Georgia Square Mall — the location of Rep. Paul Broun’s office — Friday afternoon as about 25 protesters waved their displeasure at the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government.
Amy Rosemond said she had been thinking about the protest since the shutdown started Oct. 1. She, like others present, said she took particular umbrage at Broun’s line-in-the-sand of refusing to support any spending bill that does not defund the Affordable Care Act. President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats held their own line and have been refusing to negotiate over funding the federal government or the upcoming debt ceiling — the common term for when Congress must authorize a higher federal debt limit or default on the country’s bills.
“For the next generation, we’ve got to stand again acts of tyranny, where our government is held hostage for negotiations,” Rosemond said. “One thing we’ve learning in our democracy is that we can’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Rosemond, a University of Georgia ecology professor, talked about the impact the shutdown has had on research, particularly with the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But it’s her own young-adult daughters that she cared most about. They can’t think this is an acceptable negotiating tactic, Rosemond said.
“I don’t want them growing up in a country where they can’t count on their government operating,” she said.
While protesters rallied and cheered at car horns honking as cars moved by them, an aide from Broun’s Athens office brought out Powerade and doughnuts. He joked that it was simple Southern hospitality. He directed any questions to Broun’s Washington, D.C., office. A call and an email to that office were not returned Friday evening.
At Friday’s protest, Linda Exum, a retired federal employee, pointed out that she and many others did not take the offerings from Broun’s aide.
“I’m pretty sure I don’t care about a doughnut when the government is shut down,” she said.
She was working for the EPA when the government halted in 1995 and was standing on the strip of grass by the road Friday to show solidarity with current federal employees, she said. Exum said this shutdown was particularly disturbing, since it was over a law that passed Congress, was signed by the president and was by-and-large upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“If they want to get rid of the law, they need to do it the same way Congress passed it,” she said.
She noted a story in National Public Radio about the likely early deaths of thousands of mice used for research on diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. According to NPR, the National Institutes of Health will have to kill some mice to avoid overcrowding, and because it’s impossible to maintain certain lines of genetically altered mice without constant monitoring. Most federal scientists have been banned from their labs since Oct. 1, according to NPR.
That’s not just a waste of mice and money, Exum said, it’s a waste of potential research and human capital. Furloughed employees will receive back-pay once the government is funded again.
“It’s stupid,” Exum said. “To shut down the government is stupid. They’re shutting down the government because we’re spending too much and then this is costing us more money.”
Call the Spite House.
Wow, 25 local libtards (actually most of them were probably bussed in). How intimidating.
Go Broun!
A protestor was “standing on the grass by the side of the road”. So was a pile of dog crap. It’s hard to tell which one is smarter.
“For the next generation, we’ve got to stand again acts of tyranny, where our government is held hostage for negotiations,” Rosemond said. “One thing we’ve learning in our democracy is that we can’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Notice how the commies use “tyranny”, “hostage” and “terrorist” as their vernacular when it comes to conservatives????
Idiot commies! Enjoy your slavery.
But wait aren’t Democrats always willing to negotiate with terrorists like the Taliban??.
Feh. This is Athens. Totally not necessary. :/
It looks like he didn't have an actual living, breathing opponent in the general election. I think his seat is probably pretty safe.
Astroturfed. I bet the signs were commercially printed.
Thanks, I could have gone the rest of my life without looking at that Enviro-Hag, but NO!
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