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Another Science Facility Bites the Dust, Temporarily

Posted by timothy on from the spending-bills-must-originate-in-the-house dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Today, the latest victim of the U.S. government shutdown, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory shut its doors and essentially mothballed all three of its radio telescope facilities: the Very Large Array or VLA (think Jodie Foster, Contact); the Green Bank Telescope, and the Very Long Baseline Array or VLBA. While the ALMA telescope is not yet affected (mainly due to it being run by a consortium of European, Japanese, Chilean and U.S. organizations), the U.S. funds for that will soon also dry up. Not only does this furlough most of the ~550 employees, it has also thrown a monkey wrench into many long-term carefully planned observations (to the tune of wasting half a million dollars and a year's worth of work). Emily Lakdawalla of the Planetary Society also has a commentary on the closure — and a plea to 'stop the madness.'"

9 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. many gov sites down but by shirosenshi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They have closed many national parks and government websites, but The Healthcare Insurance Market Place is open. Are not 'selective shutdowns' illegal for political gain? U.S. Pres acting like a dictator. Also noticed he shutting down private businesses. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/04/park-rangers-guard-inn-parking-lot-from-guests-during-shutdown/

    1. Re:many gov sites down but by __Paul__ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You conveniently forgot to mention that the military is still being paid.

      You could save a fortune if you defunded them and brought them all home.

      --
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    2. Re:many gov sites down but by dbIII · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What they want doesn't matter as much as the way it's being done. This shutdown is like taking a thermonuclear device to a ping pong match. They are damaging the US economy for what, a minor tweak in health insurance? This sort of crap has to be stopped before it becomes the default option to repeal laws.

      I this keeps on going any bets as to when Cruz gets a medal from Putin and Xi?

    3. Re:many gov sites down but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That is some petty, small-minded thinking. Of course the Republicans are going to push for gradually refunding the government in a series of small bills, it alleviates public pressure on the shutdown. If they had their way the shutdown would only pertain to Obamacare.

      So they put forth these bills that they know won't pass so they can blame the Democrats on keeping things closed. It riles up their base of narrow-minded twats who get 90% of their daily news intake from ultra-conservative loudmouths on talk radio and Drudge Report.

      But that talk radio will conveniently omit the fact:

      1) The bill is law. The debate is settled. It's been signed into law. The court has ruled. The president has been re-elected, he has been endorsed by the majority of voting people to be on the right track.
      2) Conservative lawmakers planned on using "the power of the purse" to get their way -- i.e. shut down government.
      3) The House is chosing to abide by the "Hastert Rule" and impeding a vote on the senate's version of the bill. That bill would pass, but unless there is a "majority of the majority" likely to vote on the bill the bill will not come to a vote. This means the Republican Party, already fracturing from their reeling defeats in previous elections, is hostage to the Tea Party, a party that holds views dramatically right of most people.

  2. that's Obama's choice by stenvar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Obama is choosing what to close and what not to close. Closing these facilities, national parks, monuments, etc. is pure politics on his part. There are plenty of other things he could cut, and he could have cut a long time ago.

    1. Re:that's Obama's choice by stenvar · · Score: 1, Insightful

      This is not about approving budgets because there are no budgets. Obama has failed to submit them, Congress has failed to pass them. This is about Obama demanding money willy-nilly and Congress refusing to pay it for equally chaotic reasons.

  3. Re:Don't worry, it's all a scam! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But i guess the news didn't report a parks officer saying he got orders to make the shutdown as painful as possible or a top whitehouse official say they were fine with the shutdown because they were winning if obama actually cared about it.

    With some thorough research, I have discovered that yes, the news DIDN'T report that, only fundamentalist blogs whose next story was shape shifting reptilians creating the Obamacare Death Panels were reporting anything of the sort.

  4. Re:Aw by symbolset · · Score: 1, Insightful

    In two weeks when we have defaulted on the national debt you will forget these trivialities. We will have bigger stuff to worry about, like how to feed your family when dollars are not worth the paper they are printed on.

    --
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  5. citizenry and government go hand in hand... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is what happens when people vote with their arshole. The american people get the government they deserve, and right now they have decided to give the keys of the kingdom to a bunch of science hating, bible thumper, retarded tea baggers republicans.
    Maybe the few intelligent republicans still in Congress should fork the party. Call it Republican 2.0. Otherwise the US of A will be the laughing stock of the world for decades to come (ot at least until the next world war).