 Us....? We're not endangered. |
Posted on 01/17/2002 8:19:56 AM PST by Trailer Trash
Us....? We're not endangered. |
I would expect to see these guys budget doubled for this.
Reps. Pombo, Peterson Fight Enviro Scams!
Congressmen Richard Pombo of California and John Peterson of Pennsylvania have taken the lead in Congress in investigating the ongoing fraud and abuses of the Endangered Species Act!!!
Pombo has been a Champion for private property and the Wise Use of public lands for all of his nearly ten years in Congress. His book, titled "This Land is Our Land," has been acclaimed as a "property rights manifesto" by reviewers, and is available for sale at www.worldnetdaily.com.
Pombo is Chairman of the Western Caucus, a group of about forty members of the House of Representatives who advocate private property rights, access to public lands, payment in lieu of taxes, and local control. Peterson is Communications Director of the Caucus, and has been a leader for property owners since he entered Congress in 1997.
Here is an editorial that they have written together (see below), which was just published on January 7 in the Washington Times newspaper. Pombo and Peterson are a GREAT team, and they deserve our thanks for investigating Endangered Species Act scams!!!
ACTION ITEM:
THANK Congressman Richard Pombo for investigating ESA scams, tell him to keep up the good work! rpombo @mail.house.gov www.house.gov/pombo
THANK Congressman John Peterson for investigating ESA scams, tell him to keep up the good work! For email, go to: www.house.gov/johnpeterson
THE LYNX HOAX DEBACLE
By Richard W. Pombo and John E. Peterson
The Washington Times, January 7, 2002
As Americans, we should have been astounded by the recent findings that federal officials intentionally planted hair from the threatened Canadian lynx in our national forests in order to impose sweeping land management regulations. We should have been shocked at the audacity of government employees to falsify evidence in order to advance their environmental agenda, and even more perplexed at the lackluster response from their respective agencies when the transgressions were brought to light.
But in truth, many of us who come from rural America have grown accustomed to environmental activism prevailing over the rule of law and over the best interests of families and communities. Time and time again, we have witnessed the federal government run roughshod because the Washington elite thought they knew better than the regular folks who tilled the soil, ran the cattle, or enjoyed their favorite campsite or trail. And, if a faulty study or falsified evidence has been necessary in order to enact radical environmental policies, government bureaucrats have had a green light for the past eight years because of the ends-justifies-the-means rationalization that became common practice during the Clinton administration.
This latest revelation, that officials from the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife planted false evidence of a Canadian Lynx on three occasions in our national forests, received a typical response from the agencies. Instead of terminating the employees, the individuals were given counseling and placed right back on the job to carry on with their environmental activism.
This lackadaisical approach to willful, unethical conduct is unacceptable, and we see no credible alternative other than to terminate the parties if there is convincing evidence that they knowingly and willingly planted unauthorized samples. But more importantly, this pattern of disregard for rural America and the acceptance of this type of environmental activism in our government agencies must come to an end.
It is this same disregard for rural America that caused federal officials to go after Peggy Bargon for presenting then-first lady Hillary Clinton with an Indian "dream catcher" which she made from various bird feathers. Because some of these feathers had fallen off of birds covered under federal wildlife protection laws, Ms. Bargon's gift cost her thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees. Yet, when federal officials exhibit blatant and willful disregard for the law, they receive a slap on the wrist and go back to work.
Then there is the case of Donald Fife, a professional scientist specializing in environmental mining and engineering geology. He learned from a former U.S. Forest Service official that plants listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) had been secretly placed on his property in an attempt to close about 30,000 acres of the highest mineral valued land in Southern California.
The list of government offenses against rural families and communities over the past eight years is endless. On numerous occasions, agencies bypassed Congress and the public process by having political appointees enact new "rules" to fit the agenda of Al Gore and the environmental movement. When public meetings were held to listen to the will of the people, Clinton officials were notorious for massaging the results to conform with their environmental agenda. Using shoddy science, government agencies have routinely added plants, animals and other species to the ESA list in order to seize land from local communities and landowners.
It is high time that our federal agencies realize that their actions affect the livelihood of millions of citizens of rural America. The farmers, ranchers, small business owners and outdoorsmen who live in our districts must be able to work with federal land management agencies to protect our natural environment while still providing jobs and preserving their way of life. This is not possible in the face of willful corruption.
This latest debacle may just provide the necessary impetus for Congress to take seriously this kind of fraud and environmental activism in our federal agencies. As we take on this colossal task, we hope the Bush administration will embrace this opportunity to work with Congress to re-establish the credibility of land-management agencies so that our national treasures and our rich culture we enjoy in rural America can be protected for generations to come.
No surprise, huh?
Obviously the Republican Administrations have done a rotten job of packing federal jobs with conservatives. It is rediculous that a federal worker can't be fired unless they do something way over the top, that needs to change.
Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, said he was convinced by the officials' testimony that the scientists meant no wrong and that the committee would not pursue the issue further.
Call it incompetence or ignorance, either way Ken Jacobsen is unqualified to be the chairman of the SNRC.
You've been observing governments for quite some time, I assume. ;^)
we condone lying. we support phony science. we are deception. try to stop us.
Now I think it may have been one of the researchers who had the lynx and they pulled the hairs
out of it to plant in the forests.
I think I had better put on my tin foil hat. ;-)
Still making the earth shake with my big dino feet!
'Pod
The correct answer is "all of them".
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