Obama to eliminate half of US government web sites, including the USFS’ “Fiddlin’ Foresters”

Fiddlin Foresters web site

Who KNEW the U.S. Forest Service maintained a web site for an old-time string band made up of USFS employees. If you never had the pleasure (?) of visiting the Fiddlin’ Foresters web site, well, you never will, because it’s history. It was highlighted by President Obama in a video about cutting waste, and now it does not exist. The site was HERE, now it’s gone. And THIS is what it used to look like, thanks to the Waybackmachine.

The President said “I’ll put their music on my iPod, but I’m not paying for their web site”.

Fiddlin Foresters web site
This is a historical screen grab of the Fiddlin' Foresters web site, captured at the WayBackMachine web site.

From the White House’s web site, here is the part about cutting the number of web sites:

As one of the campaign’s first steps, the Administration will be targeting duplication and waste among federal websites. There are almost 2,000 separate websites across the Federal Government. With so many separate sites, Americans often do not know where to turn for information. The Administration will immediately put a halt to the creation of new websites. The Administration will also shutdown or consolidate 25% of the 2000 sites over the next few months and set a goal of cutting the number of separate, stand alone sites in half over the next year.

In the video below, the part about the USFS’ Fiddlin’ Foresters begins at about 1:35.

Maybe the $25 or $50 dollars that would have been spent on the U.S. Forest Service’s Fiddlin’ Foresters web site can go toward buying a new fleet of purpose-built air tankers.

Thanks Ken

Typos, let us know HERE, and specify which article. Please read the commenting rules before you post a comment.

Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

8 thoughts on “Obama to eliminate half of US government web sites, including the USFS’ “Fiddlin’ Foresters””

  1. Yippee Obama just saved the taxpayers $60 a year!

    If you look at any number of web hosts, you can find hosting for as little as $5/month. My favorite amongst hosts, is Bluehost, you’ll find them at http://www.bluehost.com where they will pick up the tab for the domain name for as long you are hosted there. (Otherwise costs you about $9 – $10/year.) The biggest problem at this point would be finding out who in the US Government has control of the domain, and having it transferred to private ownership. Otherwise it will snatched up by someone who buys and sells domains, and you will pay out the wazzooo to try and get it back.

    0
    0
  2. The Fiddlers made citizens smile. Can any other boast of that? Think of the money saved on psychiatric visits because depression was relieved by a simple, yet conservation minded, website made people smile. Bring them back!

    0
    0
  3. What was not said by the President was:

    1. Administrative overhead. To spend that $125 for the Fiddlers probably takes $29,218 to pay a Contracting Officers Technical Rep plus $18,512 for the contracting officer plus… you get the idea.

    2. Is there a cheaper way to host the Fiddlers? How many offers have the Fiddlers had to host them?

    3. Perception. People understand $125. They can go to a ball game or the beach for that kind of money. A million dollars? Who understands that kind of money?

    Duplication between the branches of government? If there is a puppy that needs its tail docked, expect the government to do it an eighth of an inch at a time so every level of government gets a whack.

    0
    0
    1. Yeah, it occurred to me to also. It’s walking a thin line there. But I guess I asked for it on that one by even mentioning the President — which can provoke impassioned reactions among some people.

      0
      0
      1. Gotta agree with Emmett Bill, one thing to bring up the political in the course of a discussion of policy or its implications, but BFD is clearly looking to grind a pulaski for some reason, perhaps they could be encouraged to come back when they have some thing substantive to say about wildland fire. Or on the other hand perhaps they are a REALLY big fan of The Fiddlin’ Foresters.

        Keep up the good work Bill, you’re doing a good job of suffering the few fools that show up here on occasion. Oh, and let us know when you get those satelites that are causing sea level rise tracked down!

        MPS

        0
        0
  4. Good job Mr. President, Donald Trump couldn’t have done it better, you just saved Medicare! This level of stupidity is simply beyond my comprehension

    0
    0

Comments are closed.