Sequestration: The Disarming of the United States of America

[MagnetMan]

5 Nuclear Carriers Into Harbor For “Routine” (?) Inspections…’This Is Definitely A Problem’

Posted on February 26, 2013 by US Marine Fighting Tyranny

That picture sure looks similar to the one from last December. Might even be from the same flyover based on the wake from that boat...

[vector7]

It probably is, the question I have is why would you park a bunch of our carriers in one spot?

That is not a brilliant idea, but socialists running the country and now our military don't view the world the same way as conservative American's do.

Socialists believe the Axis is no longer a threat because they share their political and ideological philosophies.

If they don't threaten the Axis they will be our friends.

This Administration has slowly removed most if not all the leadership in the military who would openly question these directives. They have let down our defenses and cut deals with them to remove our nuclear deterrents while giving them access to nuclear technology. They have began training with our military on American soil while giving them access to our bases and allowing surveillance flights over America.

Reagan said trust, but verify.

Socialist don't care about verification. They will blindly put more trust in foreign socialist/communists than fellow Americans on opposite sides of the isle.

Social/Marxist are only anxious about securing power for themselves and rebuilding America into their socialist utopian dream.

During the transformation American Socialist might even invite the Axis to help them in forming a more perfect government.

Stalin made the very same mistake about Hitler and shot the German messengers when they revealed Hitler's plan to break his treaties and invade Russia.

[American Patriot]

1) The White House is threatening ALL of us, and the Newsies are finally "getting it"? Pardon me while I laugh in their stupid faces.

2) Does look like the same pictures taken from a chopper, and within seconds.

3) I can't see the Maxine Watersonherself video... but she's a fucking idiot. And a black woman. And a congresswoman. Some of those things are self explanatory. Like "idiot" and the rest are simply extensions.

[American Patriot]

4) There won't be much change. Since Obama already collected it. LOL

[American Patriot]

Americans endure bigger income cut than government can handle

Published March 01, 2013
FoxNews.com

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2MJoavGQo

Americans are a lot better at belt-tightening than the people they send to Washington.

As Americans’ income fell by 3.6 percent in January, President Obama and Congressional leaders were warning of the dire consequences of sequester, the budgetary booby trap that forces cuts of as little as a third of that from the mammoth federal spending plan. Working stiffs sucked it up and absorbed the biggest monthly drop in income in 20 years, while the elected officials insisted that the federal budget had no fat to trim.

“If you compare [the sequester cuts] to sacrifices a regular family has had to make, you’re talking about the money you find in your couch cushions.”

- Larry Winget, best-selling author



Financial planning experts say if Americans can take such a big bite out of their paychecks, Washington should be able to weather a similar cut, percentage-wise.

“If you compare [the sequester cuts] to sacrifices a regular family has had to make, you’re talking about the money you find in your couch cushions.”

- Larry Winget, best-selling author

“If you compare [the sequester cuts] to sacrifices a regular family has had to make, you’re talking about the money you find in your couch cushions,” said Larry Winget, the best-selling author of “You’re Broke Because You Want to Be.”

“When regular folks need to cut the household budget, they get rid of their toys, their cable TV, eating out,” Winget continued. “If they can make those kind of cuts, the federal government ought to be able to.”

The sequester cuts were put in place more than a year ago as a means of forcing lawmakers to come up with a better cost-saving solution. President Obama famously said during a debate with Mitt Romney that they would “never happen.” But as the deadline drew near and it became clear that no deal was in the offing to head off the cuts, sober warnings emerged from the nation’s capitol. Some 800,000 Pentagon workers would be furloughed. Thousands of illegal aliens would have to be freed. Teachers and firefighters would be laid off.

"These cuts are wrong," President Obama said this week, calling sequester a "dumb way" to make cuts which amount to 2.4 percent or 1.3 percent of the $3.5 trillion federal budget, depending on which calculation is being used.

The sequester cuts, which hit defense hardest but also take a bite out of discretionary spending including foreign aid and the budget of most federal agencies, add up to $85 billion when pro-rated over a full year. But since the government operates on a fiscal year, actual spending will only fall by $44 billion this year, according to the Congressional Budget.

Financial expert and television personality Ben Stein said Washington’s dysfunction is best illustrated by the fact lawmakers had a year and a half to find a more gentle way to make the cuts, but couldn’t agree. Now the spending cuts are being imposed with a sledge hammer instead of a scalpel, he said.

“The problem is not the cuts, the problem is the meat-cleaver way it was done,” Stein told FoxNews.com. “We expect a LOT more care from our legislators and our president.”

Heritage Foundation President-elect Jim DeMint, the former South Carolina senator and fiscal hawk, wrote Friday that the White House is making it “seem like sequestration means the end of the world. “ But given that the federal budget nearly doubled to $3.5 trillion from $2 trillion between 2002 and 2012, and will swell to $6 trillion over the next decade, DeMint said the cuts don’t go nearly far enough.

“The sequester barely taps the brakes on this runaway spending,” DeMint wrote.

But the spending cuts Americans are facing at home are truly painful. The Commerce Department’s announcement on Friday verified what working Americans noticed in January, starting with the expiration of the payroll tax holiday, which equated to a 2.2 percent pay cut for most employees. A chronically struggling economy further eroded incomes even as heating bills, gas prices and food costs continued to rise. The falling income figures are expected to affect spending data through the first half of the year as households adjust to smaller paychecks.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the federal government should follow the lead of Americans, who are taking thinner wallets in stride.

“It’ absurd to think that the government cannot get by with a little more than a 2 percent reduction in spending when every working American had to figure out how to make do with 2 percent less in their paychecks just last month," McConnell said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2MJoPfThY

[American Patriot]

Obama Signals He’d Let Cuts Stand to Avoid U.S. Shutdown

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times


President Obama called the cuts “just dumb” when he spoke to reporters after the hourlong meeting with Congressional leaders.

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Published: March 1, 2013

WASHINGTON — President Obama and Congressional leaders emerged from a White House meeting on Friday without resolution to the budget impasse, meaning that the across-the-board spending cuts that take effect Friday could remain in place for weeks if not months.



Multimedia






Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Speaker John A. Boehner spoke to reporters outside the White House after meeting with President Obama on Friday.




Speaking to reporters after the hourlong meeting, Mr. Obama called the cuts “just dumb,” and criticized Republicans for their refusal to negotiate a package that includes some new revenue to balance those cuts.


“The only thing we’ve seen from Republicans so far in terms of proposals is to replace this set of arbitrary cuts with even worse arbitrary cuts,” said Mr. Obama.


The president also signaled that he wants to avoid a clash with Congress that could shut down the government at the end of March even if it means allowing across-the-board cuts to remain in place for months, saying that the cuts will not amount to an “apocalypse.” “The pain, though, will be real,” he said.


Mr. Obama’s comments came as Republican leaders made clear they had no intention of budging on the president’s demands that the across-the-board cuts be replaced with what he calls a “balanced” package of spending cuts and tax increases.


Speaker John A. Boehner emerged from the meeting after about an hour to indicate that little progress had been made toward bridging the differences between Republicans and the president.


“Let’s make it clear, the president got his tax hike on January 1st,” Mr. Boehner told reporters after the meeting ended. “The discussion about revenue, in my view, is over. It’s about taking on the spending problem here in Washington.”


Sounding relaxed as he took questions from reporters, the president said he disagreed with that position and hoped that Republicans in Congress “come to their senses” in the weeks or even months ahead. But he seemed resigned that the deep cuts would remain in effect.


He said he hoped Republicans would change their minds “after some reflection,” but he admitted: “It may take a couple of weeks. It may take a couple of months.”


And the president appeared ready to move beyond the repeated fiscal debates in the last several years to the broader agenda he spelled out in the State of the Union speech, including gun control measures, pre-school, a higher minimum wage, an immigration overhaul and changes to the nation’s system of voting.


Mr. Obama summoned the four top Congressional leaders to the Oval Office in an effort to discuss how to move forward in the wake of the failure to avoid the cuts, known as sequestration, White House aides said. They said Mr. Obama would continue to push for a long-term budget deal that includes spending cuts and tax increases.


“We have an opportunity here still on the table for Congress to take up a balanced deal that would complete the job, and then some, of achieving more than $4 trillion of deficit reduction over 10 years, in a balanced way that helps our economy grow, that helps it create jobs,” Jay Carney, the president’s press secretary, said Thursday.


But ahead of Friday’s meeting, Republican leaders made clear that they had no intention of agreeing to such a deal, and said the president was prolonging the automatic cuts by insisting on tax increases. In a statement issued Friday morning, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, showed little evidence of wavering.


“I’m happy to discuss other ideas to keep our commitment to reducing Washington spending at today’s meeting,” Mr. McConnell said. “But there will be no last-minute, back-room deal and absolutely no agreement to increase taxes.”


The meeting between the president and the four lawmakers — Mr. Boehner; Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader; Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader; and Mr. McConnell — is the first time since the end of last year that the group has gathered for a direct discussion about their differences.


But the fact that the meeting was scheduled for the day the automatic cuts go into effect — and after members of Congress have left town for the weekend — was a clear signal that no one expects to make serious progress toward an agreement to undo the cuts.


Republicans once denounced the across-the-board cuts as bad policy, especially for the military. But many in the party have now embraced them as a way to trim the size of government over the objections of the president and Democrats in Congress.


Mr. Obama’s top advisers believe the impact of the cuts will be severe enough over the next several weeks that Republican lawmakers will be forced back to the bargaining table.

[Phil Fiord]

The Washington Examiner had a headline today that declared it will be weeks or months until effects of the sequester are felt in our area. Quite a change from the Dummycrats rhetoric.

[vector7]

Department of the Navy Response to Sequestration

By ericdurie

– March 2, 2013Posted in: Aviation, Be Ready, Benefits, Deployment, Expeditionary, Maritime Strategy, Personnel/Performance, readiness, Sailors, ships, Surface, Undersea

This message was sent to all Navy and Marine units by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. On March 1, sequestration was enacted — necessitating the following actions:

DTG 022300Z Mar 13

FM SECNAV WASHINGTON DC
TO ALNAV

INFO SECNAV WASHINGTON DC
CMC WASHINGTON DC
CNO WASHINGTON DC
BT
UNCLAS
ALNAV 014/13
MSGID/GENADMIN/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC/-/MAR//
SUBJ/DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY RESPONSE TO SEQUESTRATION//
RMKS/

1. LAST NIGHT, BECAUSE NO BUDGET DEAL HAD BEEN REACHED, THE BUDGET CONTROL ACT REQUIRED SETTING IN MOTION THE AUTOMATIC, GOVERNMENT-WIDE CUTS KNOWN AS SEQUESTRATION. GIVEN THAT REALITY AND THE ASSOCIATED IMPACT OF BUDGETARY UNCERTAINTY IMPOSED BY AN INDEFINITE CONTINUING RESOLUTION, THE DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY INTENDS TO COMMENCE SOME REDUCTIONS IMMEDIATELY.

2. NAVY PLANS TO:

A. SHUT DOWN CARRIER AIR WING TWO (CVW-2) IN APRIL. THIS WILL INITIATE THE PREPARATIONS TO GRADUALLY STAND-DOWN FLYING IN AT LEAST THREE ADDITIONAL AIR WINGS WITH TWO MORE AIR WINGS BEING REDUCED TO MINIMUM SAFE FLYING LEVELS BY THE END OF THE YEAR;

B. DEFER USNS COMFORT HUMANITARIAN DEPLOYMENT TO CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA, “CONTINUING PROMISE 2013″, INCLUDING SUPPORTING SHIPS, SEABEES, AND MEDICAL UNITS;

C. CANCEL OR DEFER THE DEPLOYMENTS OF UP TO SIX SHIPS TO VARIOUS AORS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF APRIL;

D. LAY UP FOUR COMBAT LOGISTICS FORCE (CLF) UNITS IN PACOM STARTING IN APRIL;

E. RETURN USS SHOUP (DDG 86) TO HOMEPORT EARLY AND NOT PROCEED AS USS NIMITZ (CVN 68) ESCORT TO CENTCOM;

F. RETURN USS THACH (FFG 43) TO HOMEPORT EARLY FROM DEPLOYMENT TO SOUTHCOM.

3. WE WILL ALSO IMMEDIATELY:

A. BEGIN NEGOTIATING CONTRACT MODIFICATIONS TO DE-OBLIGATE EFFORTS FOR ANY INVESTMENT PROGRAMS FOR WHICH THE REMAINING UNOBLIGATED BALANCE WILL BE INSUFFICIENT AFTER THE SEQUESTRATION REDUCTION IS APPLIED. MAJOR PROGRAMS AFFECTED INCLUDE VIRGINIA-CLASS SSN ADVANCE PROCUREMENT, REACTOR POWER UNITS AND JOINT HIGH SPEED VESSEL (JHSV 10);

B. COMMENCE FINAL PLANNING TO SLOW MARINE CORPS DEPOT MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING REDUCTIONS IN THE NON-PERMANENT WORKFORCE;

C. CANCEL MARCH INTRODUCTORY FLIGHT SCREENING FOR FUTURE PILOTS/NFOS;

D. ANNOUNCE INTENT TO CANCEL BLUE ANGELS SHOWS SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 2013 [FOUR SHOWS: MACDILL AFB (TAMPA, FL), NAS CORPUS CHRISTI TX, VIDALIA GA, MCAS BEAUFORT SC];

E. CEASE NEW USMC ENROLLMENTS IN VOLUNTARY EDUCATION TUITION ASSISTANCE;

F. CANCEL MARCH NAVY RECRUITING MEDIA SUPPORT AND REDUCE THE MAJORITY OF ADVERTISING CONTRACTS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE UNDER CONTRACTUAL CONDITIONS.

4. THESE ACTIONS ARE BEING TAKEN TO PRESERVE SUPPORT FOR THOSE FORCES STATIONED OVERSEAS AND CURRENTLY FORWARD-DEPLOYED. REDUCTIONS IN LOWER-PRIORITY FORWARD OPERATIONS, AND SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN ALL OTHER OPERATIONS, TRAINING, AND MAINTENANCE ARE THE RESULTS OF THIS SELECTION PROCESS. WE MADE THESE CHOICES CAREFULLY, WHILE TRYING TO PRESERVE OUR ABILITY TO REVERSE OR QUICKLY RESTORE NEGATIVE EFFECTS IF AND WHEN FUNDING IS RESTORED.

5. ACTIONS WE HAVE TAKEN TO DATE WILL CONTINUE, TO INCLUDE THOSE AFFECTING THE DEFERRAL OF MAINTENANCE FOR USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72); THE DEFERRAL OF REPAIR WORK FOR USS MIAMI (SSN 755) AND USS PORTER (DDG 78); THE DELAYED DEPLOYMENT OF USS HARRY S TRUMAN (CVN 75) AND USS GETTYSBURG (CG 64); THE CIVILIAN HIRING FREEZE; THE PLANNING FOR CIVILIAN FURLOUGHS; AND THE REDUCTION OF ALL TRAINING NOT RELATED TO THE READINESS OF DEPLOYED OR NEXT-TO-DEPLOY FORCES.

6. NAVY DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP UNDERSTANDS THE UNCERTAINTY THAT THESE AND OTHER DECISIONS CREATE BOTH AMONGST OUR PEOPLE AND IN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY UPON WHICH WE RELY.

THE LACK OF A LEGISLATIVE SOLUTION TO AVOID SEQUESTRATION IS DEEPLY REGRETTABLE. THAT SAID, WE MUST ENDEAVOR TO DEAL WITH THE SITUATION AS WE FACE IT, NOT AS WE WISH IT COULD OTHERWISE BE. WE WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP THE SAFETY AND WELL-BEING OF OUR PEOPLE FOREMOST IN MIND, EVEN AS WE TRY HARD TO KEEP WHOLE THE FORCE STRUCTURE WHICH SUPPORTS THEM. WE WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO KEEP THE FLEET AND FLEET MARINE FORCE FULLY INFORMED AS FOLLOW-ON DECISIONS ARE MADE.

7. RELEASED BY RAY MABUS, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.//

BT

[Phil Fiord]

While I find it sad to see such planned reductions, I do commend the various DoD arms for being proactive in planning how they will reduce rather than waiting for if they do come. Planning ahead. It saves from hasty decisions.

[American Patriot]

Guys... this is a whole LOT of bullshit.

They are spending the SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY as they did LAST YEAR. There are no "cuts" going on, just a "lack of budgetary increase" .

This government has LIED it's ass off about this and scared the public and now they are cutting the units to "punish" the taxpayers.

Give me a fucking break. It's time to shut down the government completely, specifically, the President, Vice President and any Congressmembers who have "failed".

FIRE THEM!

[vector7]

Yes, they will use this manufacturered sequestration crisis as cover to further gut our military.

[Phil Fiord]

It was proposed at one point, what was so dramatic about cutting all spending to 2007 levels. I agreed as we spent a metric shit ton then too, but less than now. It is as you put it, only a cut in increases and this current regime is trying to paint a hangnail as an amputation.

[Ryan Ruck]

I'll ask the question Mark Levin has been asking...

Has anyone heard about sequestration hitting Obamacare? Food stamps? Medicade/Medicare? EPA? DHS?

Funny how that works...

[American Patriot]

You're right... I don't remember it hitting those things.

[Phil Fiord]

None of those programs/departments were mentioned. Well, maybe a slight off hand reference to healthcare but thats it.

[vector7]

Obama Wants More Military Cuts to Ease Sequester
Monday, 11 Mar 2013 09:58 AM
By Lisa Barron



With the Pentagon facing $46 billion in mandatory spending cuts, the White House may try to use the sequester to argue for deeper cuts in military programs it has long wanted to scale back. According to The New York Times, President Barack Obama will visit Capitol Hill Tuesday to push for a deficit reduction deal that would replace across-the-board cuts with more targeted ones.

On the president’s wish list, the Times reported, are base closings, further reductions in deployed nuclear weapons and weapons stockpiles, a restructuring of the military medical insurance program, and a scaling back of next-generation weapons programs, including the F-35 warplane.

Programs that the administration reportedly believes will need more funding include drones, cyberweapons and special operations forces, the newspaper noted.

Pentagon officials are also beginning to look at ways to avoid indiscriminate cuts.

“What we’ve learned in the past year is that the politics of dumb cuts is easy, because no one has to think through the implications of slicing everything by 8 percent,” one senior defense official told the Times.

Last week, a group of five Pentagon officials called for a “bottom up” review of every major military program and weapons system to reassess their need, the newspaper noted.

The problem for the president and Pentagon, however, is that some of the areas where deeper cuts would reap the biggest, most immediate budget benefits, such as cutting the size of active-duty forces, involve programs that have the staunchest defenders in Congress.

[American Patriot]

Just say NO to Obama.

[Ryan Ruck]

Desperate Times: Marines Told To 'Save Every Round'

March 12, 2013

United States Marines are being told to preserve ammunition and gasoline as a deal softening the impact of automatic spending cuts continues to elude leaders in Washington.

Marine Corps Commandant James Amos urged personnel in a video posted online Friday to "save every round, every gallon of gas," and to "take every single aspect or opportunity in training to get the most bang for the buck," a reminder of the cuts' immediate effect on the U.S. military.

The Marine Corps and other branches are being forced to cut billions from their budgets as the result of the spending cuts, which were triggered March 1 when Congress and the White House failed to strike a deal reducing the federal debt. In a letter to all Marines dated March 2, Amos said his branch would cut $1.4 billion in 2013 and $2 billion in every ensuing year for nearly a decade.

State-by-state reports produced by the White House indicated the military slashes would be seen in delayed maintenance for military equipment and canceled air shows, along with furloughs for civilian defense personnel. Salaries for enlisted personnel are exempt from the budget cuts.

"This is no time to do business as usual," Amos said in the video. "Things have changed. The landscape's changed. We need you to be conservative in the way you do business, I need you to think about conserving our assets, and I need you to become part of the solution as it relates to sacrifice."

The primary goal of the Marines going forward will be to preserve the corps' readiness, Amos said, including initiatives to "recapitalize" and "modernize" the institution. But for now, Amos indicated Marine leaders will be focused on "moving money around" and looking at more ways to reduce spending.

"This is going to require all of us to take a different perspective on your piece of the Marine Corps, and it's going to require all of us to take a look at how we sacrifice for the good of the institution," he said.

And despite the cuts originating from a stalemate between the White House and lawmakers, Amos described Congress as "our best friends."

"The Marine Corps exists today because of Congress," he said, saying in discussions with congressmen and senators it's clear that lawmakers want to help counteract the automatic spending cuts.

"Everybody's on this, everybody's pulling together," he said.

As DHS buys millions of rounds...

[American Patriot]

Yep... there you go.

Obama wanted a "civilian force" as powerful as the US military.

Looks like he got it.

[American Patriot]

Interesting....


Obama opens door to resuming White House tours in face of outcry

Published March 13, 2013

FoxNews.com

In the face of a public outcry, President Obama opened the door in an interview broadcast Wednesday to resuming White House tours -- after they were suspended in a decision purportedly meant to save the Secret Service money while it deals with sequester cuts.

The decision, announced this month, was decried by Republican lawmakers as over-the-top and unnecessary. School groups and others who had planned to visit the White House got disappointing news when the tours ceased this past Saturday -- a group of sixth-graders in Iowa even took to Facebook to vent their frustrations in a widely viewed web video.

Obama, speaking with ABC News, tried to distance himself from the decision, pinning it on the Secret Service -- though other accounts have indicated both the Secret Service and White House had a role in the move.

The president said he's now talking with the Secret Service about restoring some visits.

He said: "What I'm asking them, for example, are there ways for us to accommodate school groups that may have traveled here" during spring break, which is drawing near.

Obama also said the question of resuming White House tours may hinge on "how deeply they have to furlough their staff."

Last week, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan explained that overtime costs factored into the decision to shut down the White House tours. By taking the 30 officers involved in the tours and assigning them to high-priority security posts, officers normally on those duties can log fewer hours -- in turn saving the Secret Service money.

"It reduces overtime costs overall for us," Donovan said.

But Republicans, while stressing that the Capitol building remains open to visitors, decried the move as unnecessary and part of an attempt to make the sequester seem even worse.

Some suggested the first family could save the money by cutting back their own expenses. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, tried to push an amendment that would prohibit federal funds from being spent on Obama's golf trips until public tours of the White House resumed.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2NQktj6l1