Tear down this barricade

Another day closer to who knows what – and still no grand bargain. Not even a teensy weensy bargain.

But the protests at the closed WWII memorial in Washington escalated over the weekend.

Sarah Palin was there, “The Commander and Chief, the president, today he could be here today, saying, ‘Yes, we will tear down these barricades.'”

But the Vets saved him the trouble. They picked up the barricades, carried them to the White House, and stacked them in a pile.

And even though it sounded raucous, you could hear one protester saying be careful, we paid for these barricades. Which we did – and now we’ll be paying for them to be put back in place. So obviously closing these memorials isn’t saving a dime – and it’s confusing people.

The signs “Closed except for First Amendment Activities,” which apparently means some vets can go in and some can’t. Yet, last Tuesday there was an immigration march which was allowed on the National Mall on First Amendment grounds.

So why barricade the WWII Memorial at all? Does it mean that if you show up with a protest sign, you’re allowed in, but without a sign, you’re not? If that’s the case, how about if a camper shows up at a closed park with an “End The Shutdown” sign, could they get in?

It would be good to know what the ground rules are on these public places because Default Thursday is getting pretty close, and from what I hear, once that happens, we may all have to think about camping in the parks.