Rand Paul: 'Goons' blocked WWII Memorial

[Cincinnatus]

Sen. Rand Paul blasted the federal government for trying to block World War II vets from visiting their memorial, saying “some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades.”

“If Harry Reid and the president want to keep the parks closed — I mean did you read the story today? Some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades so they couldn’t see the monument. People had to spend hours setting up barricades where there are never barricades to prevent people from seeing the World War II monument because they’re trying to play a charade,” Rand (R-Ky.) said Tuesday on Fox News’s “Hannity.”

Paul’s attack comes after reports that a group of World War II veterans had to break down barricades to access the National World War II Memorial, one of the sites that was closed due to the government shutdown.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/wwii-memorial-rand-paul-97708.html

What makes this story even worse is that the Memorial is open space and, until the "shutdown", had little or no NPS supervision.

The memorial is in a public space and is open 24/7, with almost no oversight from Park Police personnel. (Who, by the way, are exempt from the government shutdown.) The White House was, according to reports, informed of the veterans' visit and chose to block access.

Having lived in DC for 18 years, I can tell you, the WWII Memorial is simply an architectural structure in an open public space. There is no official "access" to it. There are no guards. It's a building in a park. Yet, the Obama Administration tried to block veterans from viewing the public memorial, even after hearing about the planned visit.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/10/02/Obama-Administration-Decided-to-Block-Access-to-Memorials

[mountaineer]

When we visited a year or two ago, it was obvious that no NPS personnel were there. It also was obvious that no one was concerned with maintaining the property surrounding the memorial. The grass was high and full of weeds, and the entire area looked neglected.

[GourmetDan]

Rats only care about something if it serves some crass political purpose...

[Fishrrman]

Mountaineer wrote:
[[ When we visited a year or two ago, it was obvious that no NPS personnel were there. It also was obvious that no one was concerned with maintaining the property surrounding the memorial. The grass was high and full of weeds, and the entire area looked neglected. ]]

Could the WWII Veterans' Memorial become the new "Commons", a la Kent State in 1970?

[Lipstick on a Hillary]

When we visited a year or two ago, it was obvious that no NPS personnel were there. It also was obvious that no one was concerned with maintaining the property surrounding the memorial. The grass was high and full of weeds, and the entire area looked neglected.

I know, I noticed that too!  The whole Mall area looked crappy, weedy and awful.  No funds for that I guess--it all goes to pensions.