[woofie]

mmmm it seems Bush is evil...where have I heard that before?

[fastattacksailor]

The retirees feel that Bush has politicised the NPS?

Geez--the NPS has been that way for a long, long time...


Not too many NPS employees around that are NOT screaming left wing.

[Graybeard58]

"It's not normal, it's not typical," said Smith, "It's unprecedented."

It's political.

[Blzbba]

"And of course there was President Teddy Roosevelt, the highest regarded Republican environmentalist of them all "


Teddy Roosevelt - the moron who said it's our patriotic duty to question the gov't and its actions.

[FredZarguna]

We mentioned the drive to privatize park service jobs. They have a nice word for that—they call it ’competitive sourcing.' They want government agencies to be efficient. It seems they want to sacrifice effectiveness on the altar of efficiency.

There's the real agenda. "My ox is being gored now, rather than the Pentagon's, so, it's really evil to cancel the sinecures at the park service.

[Paleo Conservative]

A good example is the Yellowstone snowmobile policy. This is an issue that's been studied for 10 years. The evidence is unequivocal that continued snowmobile use in Yellowstone is detrimental to park wildlife, hazardous to public health and it impairs the viewshed. Snowmobiles are sources of tremendous pollution. The evidence is clear. Then to turn around and say that we are going to continue to permit snowmobiles despite this evidence seems absolutely inconsistent with the idea that Yellowstone and other national parks are to be preserved in perpetuity, as opposed to becoming some kind of recreational funny farm.

How has the Bush administration reacted to the scientific data?

Since when is it the job of unelected scientists to make policy? Do the DemocRATS have a clue why they lose western states?

[backhoe]

but by today's standards (summed up in four words—Dick Cheney Energy Czar)

Lost me right there.

[Paleo Conservative]

What's unique about the park service is each generation of Americans, speaking through its elected representatives, gets to decide what should be protected in perpetuity. These places are so unique and so special they help us understand who we are as a people, what our history has been. It's really a unique and very valuable record of what each generation of Americans has done.

The legislation passed in 1916 said you have to take care of these places so that the resource values can be preserved unimpaired.

Oh really? The snowmobile ban was put in place by a last minute Clinton executive order not by any law enacted by Congress. Congress definitely would not have passed such legislation. I seriously doubt it was the Congress' intent to create a dictatorship of experts in the 1916 legislation.

[FredZarguna]

You know if you got a poll with 10 percent of all New Mexicans responding, it would be bomb proof.

With regards to the survey, Mr. Smith is dishonest. His dishonesty concerning the survey is perhaps typical of that in the rest of the article. In the first place, the survey represents 8 (not 10)% of permanent employees. Since the Park Service employs enormous numbers of seasonal workers who return year-after-year who aren't technically permanent, the number of respondents is in fact even less impressive. More to the point, he suggests that because the survey was conducted by a "professional polling organization," the poll is a scientific poll, conducted with carefully constructed questions that would betray no bias. False. It is a self-selected e-mail poll. Therefore, it's guaranteed to reflect the opinions of the most negatively oriented employees, and the author knows this quite well. Go to the link and read some of the questions. I'll let those familiar with the constraints of a truly scientific poll to determine whether these questions are leading or not.

If this survey is representative of the kind of "science" practiced by the Park Service, I'm glad to see they're outsourcing.

[q_an_a]

want more money for the park services chage a rate that looks like America. Here is an example of the park service advantages to our poor seniors. These rates make Six Flags look like armed robbery.

Golden Age Passport

This lifetime passport is for U.S. citizens or permanent residents 62 years of age or older. A one-time fee of $10 is charged. The passport must be obtained in person and is available at any federal area where an entrance fee is charged. The passport admits the holder and accompanying passengers in a private, noncommercial vehicle to national parks and provides a 50% discount on camping and some other fees. When entry is not by private vehicle, the passport admits the passholder, spouse, and children. Golden Eagle Passport

This $65 passport is valid for one year from the date of purchase. The passport may be purchased at any federal area where an entrance fee is charged. It allows the permit holder and any accompanying passengers in a private, noncommercial vehicle to enter all federal parks that charge entrance fees. When entry is not by private vehicle, the passport admits the passholder, spouse, and children.

[edchambers]

Just once, please, I'd like to hear an environazi say, "You know the environment looks pretty good lets take a break for awhile." But nooo these people act like it's still 1970 and no progress at all has been made.The more I hear them snivel the more I want to go out and pollute something.I think I'll go start up my desmogged repiped and jetted Suzuki and let it idle for no apparent reason.

[AZLiberty]

I think Bush has done well on environmental issues. First, he implemented the "Clean House" Act in Afghanistan and Iraq, and then he implemented the "Clean Yer Clock" Act with John Kerry and the Democrat Party.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[farmfriend]

and it impairs the viewshed

Since when did viewshed become important? This is such crap.

[Former Dodger]

Funny, I'm one of the 13,000 NPS employees, along with about 100 of my co-workers at the Statue of Liberty, and we never saw or heard of this "poll".

As for this ragged group of former "bosses": they were all part of the problem with the NPS: virtually ALL jobs of Deputy Supt. and up are Political Favors, and many of these are all remnants of the CLINTON fiasco.

BTW it's not easy being "right wingers" in the NPS!

[sergeantdave]

Stuff it, Ranger Rick, you elitist eco-fascist.

What you didn't mention about the mission of the national parks is that the parks are to managed for all the public and its various uses. The national parks are not museums never to be touched and admired from a distance. If you don't understand that you're a moron.