Comments

1
Same thing happened to my niece's 8th grade class here in Chicago! 70-plus kids and their families raised $1100 each over the course of 6 months...they reserved tours all over DC that are now cancelled...and not refundable in the trip package. The kids are super disappointed and parents are livid.
2
Well said.
3
Couldn't you find a public school example? 4k is what it costs for a year of university in other countries.
4
My daughter's 9th-grade class and their teachers were supposed to go spend some device-free time together this week backpacking in Olympic National Park. All the gear has been borrowed and bought. Now: Not Happening.
5
Somebody like Ghandi or Oprah once said: It's the journey, not the destination. And I agree.

"And that is a bitter lesson in US civics that will politically inform these students for decades to come."
Don't be such a drama queen, Goldilicks
6
@3 i think you missed the point
7
@3 My niece's class mentioned in comment 1 is a public junior high class.
8
And Freedom! You forgot to mention freedom!
9
@5

That's right, i was in junior high when we all watched the Space Shuttle explode. I have been terribly scarred for DECADES, breaking out in a rash this second just typing the word NASA.
10
Making the government look bad: Mission Accomplished!

Assholes suckled on Reagan's stupid joke "The most terrifying words in the English language: I'm from the government and I'm here to help" are assholes. What a surprise.
12
@6 - I think you missed the point of @3, because I thought the same thing. Bad break for those kids, but how much sympathy am I supposed to work up for $10,000/yr private school kids, "regardless of their family's financial status"?

But the whole clusterfuck of this ideologically retarded shutdown? Couldn't agree more.
13
Aaaah so shitty.
14
#3

Gee whiz, Rip Van Winkle.

$4000 hardly pays for a quarter year of tuition at most private schools, even elementary!

That's why Catholic (which can use the orders instead of laity as teachers) schools are the middle class' (well, the old middle class) private school.

(You can see why the competition might not like Catholic schools.)
15
Hey under 5k a year is pretty fucking good for private school tuition! Not that you shouldn't get your relatives in line with not sucking the talent out of the public school system ... socialism starts at home, right? ;)
16
The president just said "The ACA is here to stay!" That the Republicans would shut down the government to prevent millions of Americans from getting health insurance is disgraceful, shameful and just plain stupid!
17
@4 They should find a route that's not in the parks. State land, or national forest primitive site. They can't have chained off every forest road for this nonsense!
19
http://www.nps.gov/shutdown/index.html Because of the federal government shutdown, all national parks are closed and National Park Service webpages are not operating.

I expected some federal shutdowns, but the website for the park service ? Is the government data center worried that they won't be able to buy some new bits and bytes once all this is solved ?
20
Sorry, I guess my Canadianness is showing , I just hear private and think rich kids.
21
How much more would it cost to send the kids to Canada where they can see how a real country of, by and for the people works?
22
At this distance from D.C. it is only private schools who can likely arrange for such a trip. As you get closer to the East coast trips to D.C. are very common for public schools. One of the things I hate most about America today is this constant tearing down of the middle class.
23
I wonder how many businesses depend on those tourist dollars, how many low-wage retail and tip-paid service workers were depending on the dollars those private school kids (and everyone else traveling to visit national sites) were going to bring with them.
24
@19: Arguably: if the IT staff isn't around, there would be no one to clean up attacks upon the website. It'd be a hacker field day.
25
@19 Most likely it's an attempt to dramatize the shutdown.

However, there might be some byzantine reason for it. Servers are leased by the hour these days so just having them on would accumulate bills that cannot legally be accumulated. However, even just the server sending out the "not open" page could probably handle much of the regular traffic.
26
@ 20, you might have noted that Goldy has a personal connection to this school: "My nephew Joe had been thrilled to be picked as one of the students who would lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery."

Maybe more stories like this will enter the news. After all, in America it has long been a tradition for eight graders to visit Washington DC and see all the famous places like the Capitol building, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Mall, etc etc, so there are likely a lot of eighth graders who also planned their trip for this week and are just as shit out of luck. But this is one Goldy can personally report.
27
@23 It isn't high season or anything, but the towns around National Parks can be hit pretty hard.

The real impact will come when the first round of paychecks doesn't go out. That will include military personnel getting IOUs and furloughed workers. That's when people start getting behind on bills, missing mortgage payments, etc. And that's when the real belt tightening will start. A million workers switching to ramen will have an effect on the economy of many areas.
28
@19

Web servers don't run for free.

Plus, it really helps make the point when most Americans have no idea that the NPS is closed.
29
I'm not sure making this about tourism undermines the teabagger's small-government argument.
30
If there's a silver lining in this cloud, it's that the republicans will be held responsible and will lose their next elections.

Haha! Just joking... nothing whatsoever will change because of this.
31
@ 27 is right. This won't just boomerang on the Rethugs. If it lasts long enough, the teabaggers who voted for these clowns are going to feel the pinch, too, and wonder how that could have fucking happened. And they're going to come to the wrong conclusion, like they always do - somehow it will everyone else's fault because they just aren't standing up on their own two feet.

That's one of the hallmarks of psychopathy - it's always someone else's fault.
32
The students will learn an important lesson: government never works.

They will then apply this lesson by voting for Republicans, who are clearly right with their message that government never works.
33
@30

I'm kind of counting on Ted Cruz and Michelle Bachman trying to sneak into an out-of-the-way roadside motel room in Virginia, a scandal, and eventually, their mutual and exclusive involvement in completing one of the pair's murder-suicide fantasies.
34
With cross-dressing.
35
I feel like these groups could still make something of their trips. Even without a personal tour of the Capitol from a US Senator, there are still things to do in DC when the government is closed.
36
Those kids just need a WWII Vet escort.
37
so were they planning to visit the White House?

cause Obama closed it after the sequestration......
38
WHAT THE F. Each kid needs a chaperone? Obvi the government at St. Mary's has gotten too big. SLIM IT DOWN
39
@ 30 Don't be so sure, last poll I saw had more people blaming the GOP Congress, we just have to wait and see.
40
This sucks allright. I worked as a courier in DC for several years before moving out here and, even as a cynical, punk, 28 year old anti-establishment minded douchebag, was always impressed by the ornate and intricate interior design and architecture in the Capitol, Supreme Court and legislative office buildings. It's a shame those kids won't get to see any of that.
41
@38: I realize you're trying to be funny, but where did you get the part about each kid needing a chaperone?
42
@35, like what? Look at the exteriors of the lobbyist buildings on K Street? The Smithsonian's closed, the Library of Congress is closed, the National Archives are closed, the monuments are all closed, the FBI is closed. There isn't much in DC that isn't federal government. You could ride the Metro to Arlington to see how it has revitalized neighborhoods there, but that's not going to be too fun for kids.
43
So, with E Verify being shut down, do republicans worry about a sudden influx of hiring of low-wage workers?
44
It's an alright post, trying to put a human face on this catastrophe. In my mind, it also kind of trivializes this. What has just happened is huge, far beyond any school. The greatest nation on earth has been brought down by extremists. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for our government to not continue its operations. A group of our elected officials, who really have no popular support, have sabotaged America and done what no other nation could do.

This is unheard of. This is an act of a government faced w/ a massive invasion or rebellion. This is what happens to the Romanovs in Russia. This shouldn't happen to a stable government. The congress of the united states has committed an act of treason, an act of war against every American by refusing to do their duty.
45
@41 well, it can't possibly cost $2,000 to put a kid on a round trip flight to DC and in a hotel room with 3 other kids for 5 nights.

I just pricelined a trip for 4 kids and 1 adult [2 hotel rooms] for DC for a Tuesday-Sunday trip in October - they Hyatt Regency (a 4-star hotel) breaks down to $1,057 per person. Unfortunately I can't scale up to [say] 4 adults and 16 kids to get a true comparison... but even dropping down another $200 kid to see i dont know, 5 or 6 great museums, and then $20/meal x 3 meals a day x 5 days = only gets you to $1,600 per kid.
46
@45,

What about transportation within the city?

Also, Goldy estimated the total cost at $100k, which means you're looking at finding accommodation for 50 people. They also may have been planning to do some official tours that they would have to pay for, which would be understandable when you're dealing with a few dozen kids. I wouldn't want to be responsible for herding that many people around D.C. without using a tour bus on occasion.
47
Here ya go, Goldy......

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/oct/01/wwi…

The kids wouldn't get quite the same reaction, I'm sure.....
48
@33,
No amount of hypnosis is going to purge the dreadful image of a Bachmann-Cruz hookup from my brain.

... and @34...

and I thought it couldn't be worse than your original comment.
50
aw dammit. i just got word that my kid's trip has been cancelled too. they weren't going to DC, but they were going to do a camping thing in olympic national park. curses!
51
@49,

Thanks
52
I feel sorry for all the kids who will be disappointed. I learned a lot when my 8th grade class went to DC.
53
@48

You gotta read till the end of the comment describing the conclusion of their tryst.
54
They should probably tour K street, that's where our Government is actually located now.
55
Hey, Goldy, I experienced this same "civics lesson" when Newt Gingrich shut down government 17 years go and me and my fellow classmates didn't get to see the Smithsonian. We're still effing bitter!
56
Word in today that those receiving private tours are still permitted into the Capitol. Still sucks, but at least they'll get that part of the trip. Private tours of the Capitol are the bomb, BTW. If you happen to be chaperoning and get this opportunity, never go on the public tour subsequently. It's just so lame in comparison.
57
What kind of half-assed journalism is this? This isn't only a tea-bagger-caused problem. It is a non-negotiating, arrogant President, an old, irate Senate majority leader (using the term loosely) and a weak Speaker of the House. This is a corrupt, out-of-control spending government and both sides are shameful. One-sided shotty journalism has allowed this to happen because no one reports on anything that might make their side look bad. We are all in this together and we need a watch-dog press again.

Ben Franklin said "if you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed and if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." Very true.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.