The Obama administration is closing tours of presidential planes on exhibit at the Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The story can be found at the Dayton Daily News website: www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/local-military/air-force-museum-cuts-tours-due-to-sequestration/nW9h4/
How low-down, dishonest, and plainly outrageous is this? My family and I toured the Air Force Museum and the presidential aircraft exhibit only last month. Here are some simple facts about that exhibit based on the fact that I was there to observe the situation for myself.
The personnel involved with our visit are all volunteer. How do I know this? The particular volunteer who registered us for our tour happens to be the mother of one of my church members. She's done volunteer work with the museum for years. As a matter of fact, a large number volunteers serve at various locations throughout the museum. It's the way they've always done business. Cost to the government for all this labor: $0.00.
After we were registered for the tour, we boarded a bus for the few minutes it took to ride to the hanger where the presidential planes are currently located. We were accompanied by a tour guide - also a volunteer - who gave us a brief description of the history of Wright Field and Patterson Field. Here's a newsflash: the government is spending a fortune to build a new wing to the Museum so the presidential plane exhibit can be moved from its current location at a hanger on the active part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Not one word has been said about cancelling or delaying construction on this new wing. Instead, the White House expects the Air Force to shut down the volunteer-based tour. How smart is that?
When we arrived at the lone hanger, we were let off the bus and informed about what time the bus would reload. We were free to move about within the hanger since all the tours - like the rest of the museum - are self-guided. Tour guides (more volunteers) are available but not required. No Air Force personnel were involved with our tour. No one was stationed at the hanger. Cost to the Air Force: $0.00.
After an hour in the hanger, we boarded the bus back to the museum entrance. Along the way, we were invited to volunteer to serve the museum. All the people who helped us, including the bus driver, were volunteers. Cost to the taxpayers: $0.00.
In other words, the White House is forcing the Air Force to shut down a tour that costs nothing on account of cost. If you ever needed evidence that this whole sequestration thing is an absolute farce, a total lie, this is it.
And like a lot of things that characterize our government and leadership these days, not only is it stupid, it's dishonest.
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