'Gestapo' tactics meet senior citizens at Yellowstone - Polidicks

'Gestapo' tactics meet senior citizens at Yellowstone Newburyport Daily News October 8, 2013 [quote] Pat Vaillancourt went on a trip last week that was intended to showcase some of America’s greatest treasures. Instead, the Salisbury resident said she and others on her tour bus witnessed an ugly spectacle that made her embarrassed, angry and heartbroken for her country. Vaillancourt was one of thousands of people who found themselves in a national park as the federal government shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1. For many hours her tour group, which included senior citizen visitors from Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States, were locked in a Yellowstone National Park hotel under armed guard. The tourists were treated harshly by armed park employees, she said, so much so that some of the foreign tourists with limited English skills thought they were under arrest. When finally allowed to leave, the bus was not allowed to halt at all along the 2.5-hour trip out of the park, not even to stop at private bathrooms that were open along the route. “We’ve become a country of fear, guns and control,” said Vaillancourt, who grew up in Lawrence. “It was like they brought out the armed forces. Nobody was saying, ‘we’re sorry,’ it was all like — ” as she clenched her fist and banged it against her forearm.[/quote] [quote] ...barricades were erected around Old Faithful, and the seniors were locked inside the hotel, where armed rangers stayed at the door. “They looked like Hulk Hogans, armed. They told us you can’t go outside,” she said. “Some of the Asians who were on the tour said, ‘Oh my God, are we under arrest?’ They felt like they were criminals.” By Oct. 3 the park, which sees an average of 4,500 visitors a day, was nearly empty. The remaining hotel visitors were required to leave. As the bus made its 2.5-hour journey out of Yellowstone, the tour guide made arrangements to stop at a full-service bathroom at an in-park dude ranch he had done business with in the past. Though the bus had its own small bathroom, Vaillancourt said seniors were looking for a more comfortable place to stop. But no stop was made — Vaillancourt said the dude ranch had been warned that its license to operate would be revoked if it allowed the bus to stop. So the bus continued on to Livingston, Mont., a gateway city to the park. The bus trip made headlines in Livingston, where the local newspaper Livingston Enterprise interviewed the tour guide, Gordon Hodgson, who accused the park service of “Gestapo tactics.” “The national parks belong to the people,” he told the Enterprise. “This isn’t right.” Calls to Yellowstone’s communications office were not returned, as most of the personnel have been furloughed. Many of the foreign visitors were shocked and dismayed by what had happened and how they were treated, Vaillancourt said. “A lot of people who were foreign said they wouldn’t come back (to America),” she said. The National Parks’ aggressive actions have spawned significant criticism in western states. Governors in park-rich states such as Arizona have been thwarted in their efforts to fund partial reopenings of parks. The Washington Times quoted an unnamed Park Service official who said park law enforcement personnel were instructed to “make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”[/quote] Full story: [url]http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x1442580373/Gestapo-tactics-meet-senior-citizens-at-Yellowstone[/url] Alt source: [url]http://www.livingstonenterprise.com/content/visitors-and-employees-impacted-ynp-closure[/url]

sounds like total bullshit [editline]9th October 2013[/editline] god bless these republicans though they shut down the government then say it's Obama's fault, then they complain about the parks being shut down, cause you know the parks are more important than the IRS, NASA, WIC, 800k workers + contractors that work with government workers constantly, not to mention losing millions daily but oh god the parks are closed down! now my middle class family won't be able to take one of our 15 yearly trips! bravo republicans, you fucks

those gestapo were so rude werent they

[QUOTE=JerryK;42462737]sounds like total bullshit [editline]9th October 2013[/editline] god bless these republicans though they shut down the government then say it's Obama's fault, then they complain about the parks being shut down, cause you know the parks are more important than the IRS, NASA, WIC, 800k workers + contractors that work with government workers constantly, not to mention losing millions daily but oh god the parks are closed down! now my middle class family won't be able to take one of our 15 yearly trips! bravo republicans, you fucks[/QUOTE] Why would Republicians who opened up the World war 2 memorial for the Vetrains, In person, order park officials to "make life as difficult for people as we can"?

[quote]“We’ve become a country of fear, guns and control,” said Vaillancourt[/quote] No we haven't you sensationalist bitch. Your experience does not represent the experience of everyone in the country, and while it wasn't handled anywhere near correctly, it also doesn't mean we've become a country of 'fear'. [QUOTE=Glaber;42462816]Why would Republicians who opened up the World war 2 memorial for the Vetrains, In person, order park officials to "make life as difficult for people as we can"?[/QUOTE] Because they're idiots.

[QUOTE=thisispain;42462770]those gestapo were so rude werent they[/QUOTE] one of them pushed my jewish friend i mean it didn't leave a mark but it still kind of hurt what a dick

[QUOTE=Glaber;42462816]Why would Republicians who opened up the World war 2 memorial for the Vetrains, In person, order park officials to "make life as difficult for people as we can"?[/QUOTE] because the republicans are using world war 2 vets as political pawns what great people right?

[QUOTE=Glaber;42462816]Why would Republicians who opened up the World war 2 memorial for the Vetrains, In person, order park officials to "make life as difficult for people as we can"?[/QUOTE] why would republicans pretty much cause the world war 2 memorial to be closed to the public?

Stop blaming the Republicans when both sides are clearly at fault you twats.

[QUOTE=TestECull;42462906]No we haven't you sensationalist bitch. Your experience does not represent the experience of everyone in the country, and while it wasn't handled anywhere near correctly, it also doesn't mean we've become a country of 'fear'. Because they're idiots.[/QUOTE] imagine refusing to admit the problems a country has. how is america not a country of fear?

[QUOTE=Squad1993;42463366]Stop blaming the Republicans when both sides are clearly at fault you twats.[/QUOTE] how

Armed guards? What? Why? Does everyone just get locked in their houses or something when the US government shuts down? I don't get it. What's even stranger is that it's just a PARK of all things, it's not like anything important was going on there? You'll have to forgive me, I'm Australian, this whole situation is an alien concept to me.

[QUOTE=Glaber;42462816]Why would Republicians who opened up the World war 2 memorial for the Vetrains, In person, order park officials to "make life as difficult for people as we can"?[/QUOTE] Because it's easy to force open the park for "vetrains" and make yourselves look good in a shitty situation that you created. It's kinda like setting a house on fire and then and then start spraying it with a super-soaker to make yourself look good in front of your neighbors. Look dood, I'm a republican too but it's p dumb to just blindly support the party like you do.

[QUOTE=Squad1993;42463366]Stop blaming the Republicans when both sides are clearly at fault you twats.[/QUOTE] No this is 100% on House Republicans. [QUOTE=CheeseMan;42463386]imagine refusing to admit the problems a country has. how is america not a country of fear?[/QUOTE] Can't speak for anyone else but I'm not afraid of living in America.

[QUOTE=Sobek-;42463405]Armed guards? What? Why? Does everyone just get locked in their houses or something when the US government shuts down? I don't get it. What's even stranger is that it's just a PARK of all things, it's not like anything important was going on there? You'll have to forgive me, I'm Australian, this whole situation is an alien concept to me.[/QUOTE] They were inside of a national park, funded by the US Gov., that got closed when the gov. shut down. Keep in mind that being "armed" to a soccer mom typically means carrying a can of mace and a MAG light.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;42463429]No this is 100% on House Republicans. Can't speak for anyone else but I'm not afraid of living in America.[/QUOTE] not really afraid of living in america tbh, however, our government uses fear to control the populace more than it should

[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;42463333]why would republicans pretty much cause the world war 2 memorial to be closed to the public?[/QUOTE] The memorial was built with 200 million dollars from private donations, and 15 million from Washington. The government paid for the grass.

Youre an embarrassment to your own potential.

Oh hey it's Glaber, been a while since I've seen one of his threads. Somehow I missed him.

Dammit. My family has been planning to go to Rocky Mountain National Park on the last week of October for a year now. I'll be pretty upset if this stuff doesn't get resolved by then.

[QUOTE=psychojake;42464495]Dammit. My family has been planning to go to Rocky Mountain National Park on the last week of October for a year now. I'll be pretty upset if this stuff doesn't get resolved by then.[/QUOTE] Glad I got my visit to Yellowstone in during July :v:

[QUOTE=Cuon Alpinus;42464936]Glad I got my visit to Yellowstone in during July :v:[/QUOTE] Lucky. How long is this shutdown going to last? It'll be bullshit if we fly out to Colorado and can't do anything in those parks.

[QUOTE=Sobek-;42463405]Armed guards? What? Why? Does everyone just get locked in their houses or something when the US government shuts down? I don't get it. What's even stranger is that it's just a PARK of all things, it's not like anything important was going on there? You'll have to forgive me, I'm Australian, this whole situation is an alien concept to me.[/QUOTE] While we might not environmentally friendly, the places we do protect we take very seriously. However, I doubt the national park guards were armed with anything beyond mace and a hunting rifle. They're entire job is to make sure poachers, campers and other people who like to do stupid shit in nature don't do that stupid shit.

This isn't even remotely like 'Gestapo' tactics.

The buffalo are going to run wild over the park!

I was there two weeks before the shutdown. Glad I made it when I did. If anyone's wondering, there's a hotel near old faithful that you can stay in. This place is run by the gov though so they can't have people unsupervised in gov property. Serious dick move not letting them use any of the bathrooms along the road. I hope for their sake there were no buffalo blocking traffic anywhere.

[QUOTE=TestECull;42462906]No we haven't you sensationalist bitch. Your experience does not represent the experience of everyone in the country, and while it wasn't handled anywhere near correctly, it also doesn't mean we've become a country of 'fear'. [/QUOTE] But still, you got to admit the US is kind of a fearful country, with media propagating all these mass shootings etc., and the circus of American politics.

I'm confused, really. My parents and conservative friends on Facebook have been saying things like "Obama just wants the American people to suffer!" And "In all government shutdowns, only OBAMA has kicked wounded war vets out of memorials!" I've always tuned it out because the language is pretty clearly twisted to gain more sympathy and hate for Obama himself, but is he legitimately trying to make a point through a power play by barricading parks and paying for armed guarding of them? And has no other president done this?

[QUOTE=Jonii;42466736]I'm confused, really. My parents and conservative friends on Facebook have been saying things like "Obama just wants the American people to suffer!" And "In all government shutdowns, only OBAMA has kicked wounded war vets out of memorials!" I've always tuned it out because the language is pretty clearly twisted to gain more sympathy and hate for Obama himself, but is he legitimately trying to make a point through a power play by barricading parks and paying for armed guarding of them? And has no other president done this?[/QUOTE] uh no [editline]9th October 2013[/editline] to elaborate, national parks are shut down and it's up to the park service to determine the level of guarding, not obama

SH Political police of political correctness.