A stealth attack on wilderness

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 5/7/03 | AJC Editorial

[optimistically_conservative]

Let me see if I understand this correctly, Bill Clinton, Bruce Babbit and Katie McGinty established this administration policy in order to illegally create the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for a $500,000 soft money campaign contribution in 1995/96, but that was seemingly fine with the AJC Editorial Board.

"An article in Monday's Washington Times quoted Secretary Babbitt as having said the following: Quote, 'We switched the rules on the game. We are not trying to do anything legislatively.'"

Yet, now it's a bad thing.

Why is it that the big city liberal editorial boards are the ones who want to require all the non-urban dwellers to live like luddites among the wolves?

To quote from David Horsey's Red and Blue Americans:

"In Blue America, folks go to sleep content that wilderness a THOUSAND miles away has been set aside by the federal government..."

"In Red America, folks lie awake incensed that wilderness FIVE miles away has been set aside by the federal government."

[goldstategop]

The chutzpah of Eastern liberals telling Westerners how to manage their lands. Its about time the Federal Government's stewardship of Western lands came to a close. The people closest to the land will take better care of it than Washington bureaucrats and the Atlanta Constitution-Journal can shove it.

[Major Matt Mason]

In fact, Norton notified only a few select U.S. senators when she decided to reverse four decades of established environmental policy on Bureau of Land Management lands.

Here's how that policy had worked: Under the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act...

Nothing like putting a little deception into the editorial. First, the writer of the editorial makes it sound like this law was enacted during the Kennedy Administration, then we find out the law was actually enacted in the mid-70's. Technically, the law has existed in four decades, but it is not 40-years old, as the writer of the editorial would have you think.

If they can't be honest with even a minute detail such as this, why in the world should we pay attention to the media at all?

[Myrddin]

Applause for Norton! The federal government has grabbed far too much land FROM the American people and placed it in a status that can never be enjoyed in any manner. The greenies are pissed because their perpetual land grabbing has been halted.

[AlaskaErik]

There's only one problem: She forgot to ask the landowners -- the American people -- about it.

Oh yeah? Well, nobody bothered asking us Alaskans about locking up most of the state, nor did anyone ask us about locking up ANWR and halting oil exploration. I'm tired of Yankees 5000 miles away trying to tell us how to live up here. We can manage quite well without Washington's interference in our lives and in our state.

[ccmay]

We have enough wilderness already.

[optimistically_conservative]

The on-line forum at the AJC was overwhelmingly for more wilderness - almost as though it had been "FReep'd" by the enviro-whackos.

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[madfly]

ping

[madfly]

ping

[madfly]

ping

[gcruse]

Wow. This is an impressive ping list you have. Please take me off of it. Thanks.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[whattajoke]

wouldn't you be speaking Russian now though?

just kidding, I get your point.

[sauropod]

This stuff really pisses me off. The National Wilderness system already has 192 million acres in it!!!!

That is the areas of 3 Colorados.

Question for the AJC: don't youse guys ever do any homework before you write this drivel?

[sauropod]

IT'S ALREADY 192 MILLION ACRES!!!

[tubebender]

Bumping...

[madfly]

Done.

Sorry. I added your name yesterday to ping to a related Montana thread.

Not trying to show off my list here. Just thought Norton's decision was big news, so I broke up for extra bumps!

[Movemout]

I still think that the best thing that the Feds could do is to sell off the 40+% ownership of USA land and pay off the debt. It will never happen but I can dream. If, for example, the federally controlled land on our borders was owned privately in small parcels then we would have a much better understanding of the infiltration of our borders by those who wish us harm. Reopen the Homestead Act in these areas and watch the benefits multiply.

[bybybill]

This is easy, every state needs to contain the same % of federal land. No more, no less. If 1% of NY is federal land, Alaska should be the same. If 99% of Alaska is federal, well, to be fair, NY, we are going to have to "take" some stuff, after all, it`s only fair. Oh, by the way, didn`t NY used to have more moose? If they have less, all activity in any place that might be moose habitat has to stop until we can do a study. If we can do that for owls, why not Moose?