Two Airports Cited By Big Sis As Having Sequester-Related Delays Both Say She’s Lying

Not the first Obamabot caught in a lie:

Airports contradict Janet Napolitano's sequester claim

Airports have denied a claim by Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, that the sequester is already causing long delays for travelers at security screening checkpoints.

Ms Napolitano said today that major airports were seeing lines "150 to 200 per cent as long as we would normally expect" as result of the federal spending cuts that went into force on Friday.

"We're already seeing the effects at some of the ports of entry, the big airports, for example. Some of them had very long lines this weekend," she told a breakfast event organised by Politico.

When pressed for specifics she cited Chicago's O'Hare, Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), adding: "I don't mean to scare, I mean to inform."

However, when contacted by The Daily Telegraph, spokespeople for both O'Hare and LAX, as well as representatives from the travel industry, denied that airports had been hit by delays.

"We haven't had any slowdowns at all," said Marshall Lowe, a spokesman for LAX. Mr Lowe said that he had been on duty over the weekend and received no reports of unusual security delays.

DeAllous Smith, a spokesman for Hartfield-Jackson, said: "There have been no abnormally long lines at the security checkpoint nor unusual aircraft delays at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as a result of sequestration."

Their comments were echoed by Karen Pride, the director of media relations at Chicago Department of Aviation, who described operations at O'Hare as "normal" with "no unusual delays or cancellations".

When asked specifically about the cabinet secretary's claims, Ms Pride said: "I'm not aware of that. I've had no reports of that."
The Obama administration has been repeatedly accused of exaggerating the impact of the $85 billion in cuts as it seeks to pressure Republicans in Congress into replacing them with a mixture of spending reductions and tax rises.

Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, was widely criticised last month for saying that teachers were already being laid off because of the cuts, a claim without evidence. The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog awarded the claim four Pinocchios - its highest rating for falsehood.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately return a request for comment on Ms Napolitano's claim.
Luis Casanova, a regional spokesman for the Transport Security Administration (TSA), said "we've been asked not to comment on the subject [of sequestration]" and referred calls to DHS.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...radict-Janet-Napolitanos-sequester-claim.html

 

The Obama administration's biggest fear is that nothing at all happens from the sequestration. If the truth gets out that they can cut 85 billion and nothing happens, then people might just go "so why can't we cut more?"

 

The government put out ads for 400 new positions the day after the Sequester was signed by Obama.

I think we can cut a trillion more!

 

I just flew from Chicago to Atlanta and left O'hare on Sunday late afternoon. I certainly didn't just walk through security, but the wait was about normal for what you would expect that time of day and week.

FYI, Sunday afternnon-evenings are pretty busy in general at O'Hare Int'l. as the business travlers are heading to destinations for Monday am starts.

 

Sequester is much ado about nothing
By Irwin Kellner, MarketWatch

"PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (MarketWatch) — Have you felt the effects of the sequester yet? Neither have I, although to listen to the administration and its agencies you would have expected doomsday to be well underway by now.

"Let’s run through our checklist to see what I mean:

Our military is still the best in the world;

Our economy is still growing — albeit at a glacial pace;

Unemployment hasn’t suddenly soared;

Federal benefits are still being paid;

Air traffic may be a hassle, but no more so than usual;

No food shortages are apparent from a lack of federal inspectors;

Teachers are still teaching;

Researchers are still in their labs.

"Here’s why nothing has changed: $85 billion may be big bucks to you and me, but it is only a rounding error in a budget of $3.5 trillion. Indeed, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the actual cuts this year will amount to only $42 billion if the sequester is allowed to run the full year.

"To put this number in perspective, it comes out to little more than a penny out of every dollar the government spends. Now if you believe that cutting anyone’s budget by a penny on the dollar is going to mean the end of Western civilization as we know it, I have a cave I would like to sell you.

"Even more important, we are not talking about an actual decline in spending here, just a slowing in the rate of increase. As a matter of fact, virtually all federal agencies’ budgets are larger today than they were at the beginning of President Obama’s first term — even after the sequester.

"Here is what has happened: in an effort to forestall the sequester, the administration has convinced the media that the sequester means that doomsday is at hand. In turn, this has been repeated as the gospel truth all over the airwaves, print and the Internet.

"White House Press Secretary Jay Carney spoke on President Obama's actions regarding sequestration, noting the cuts would have "serious consequences."

"But it appears that doomsday has been postponed, as the president acknowledged over the weekend.

"When doomsday will arrive is not entirely clear. Maybe this is because it will not make an appearance at all.

"Meanwhile, if you want to worry about the budget deficit, worry that it is too small — not too large. For you see, austerity (meaning cuts in government spending) imposed on a weak economy can only weaken it further.

"We learned this lesson in the 1930s, when President Hoover cut spending and raised taxes in an attempt to balance Washington’s budget. By doing so, he thought the government would free up resources for the private sector, which would also gain confidence from such an action. The same goes for present-day Europe.

"Sound familiar? It should, for these are the same arguments for cutting spending and balancing the budget you hear from the fiscal conservatives today.

"In reality, what this economy needs is more federal spending until the private sector gains enough confidence and money to spend, hire and invest.

"However, as long as the president continues to cry wolf over the effects of the sequester, instead of pointing out the economic importance of not cutting spending, he will scare the bejesus out of the American people.

"Then it’s goodbye confidence, hello hunker down."

Irwin Kellner is MarketWatch's chief economist.

MarketWatch
The Wall Street Journal
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/se...ing-2013-03-05?link=MW_story_investinginsight

 

But why did Janet release all those dangerous illegal aliens last week? Obama's orders are to only detain those with criminal records so we know that these people pose a threat.