Bush Gutting The Endangered Species Act

Washington Post:

With little-noticed procedural and policy moves over several years, Bush administration officials have made it substantially more difficult to designate domestic animals and plants for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Controversies have occasionally flared over Interior Department officials who regularly overruled rank-and-file agency scientists' recommendations to list new species, but internal documents also suggest that pervasive bureaucratic obstacles were erected to limit the number of species protected under one of the nation's best-known environmental laws.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Chuckwheat]

He only wants what's best for the planet. He has admitted to being "a good steward of the land."

[frappe]

He has also said recently that as far as the economic situation is concerned, that he's "on top" of it.

We should all feel so reassured, shouldn't we?

Although he has a MBA from Harvard, I'm sure his knowledge of economics is severely limited. He was probably too busy shooting spit balls at the nerds while the rest of his class was trying to understand the theories and mechanics behind economics.

[surfcitysteven]

At Harvard and Yale, they give degrees to sons of Senators. It is absolutely obvious that this man is stupid and could not have possibly earned a degree at a community college in Podunk. His degree was printed up the day he was selected to attend.

[jinjinpinti]

Oh. I thought his MBA stood for "More Buthchered Animals!" Silly me.

[JoesGarage]

I see this ultimately as a moral--even a spiritual--issue. Other species have traveled with us across hundreds of thousands of years. The Earth belongs to all species and it is our moral responsibility not to privledge our genome at the great expense of others.

[GLBorchert]

It is a moral and spiritual issue - even so to many Christians. I know this is not a religious blog, but sometimes I think we need to say that policies like those of George W. Bush stand in contradiction not only to secular perspectives, but also to those of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - and Jesus Christ.

Christians believe that God created, blessed and made a covenant with every species in all creation. Christians believe that this creation has been given into mankind's care, and that it is our moral duty as human beings to be good stewards of God's creation.

George W. Bush's legacy: Unfaithful in little. Unfaithful in much.

"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." (Ps 24:1)

"I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and you made my inheritance detestable." (Jer. 2:7)

"And He called him and said to him, "What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in much."" (Luke 16:2,10)

"You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." (James 5:5)

[BlackWidowPilot]

"Woe unto the rich, woe unto the rich! For I say unto you, they have their reward!

"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven!"

"Be thou not as the hypocrites, who love to pray on the street corners and in the synagogues, that they may be seen by me. For I say unto you, they have their reward!"

Amen, GLBorchert, Amen.

I frequently refer to the Bush White House and its staunch partisans of the GOP as the "Busheviks" for the very reason that they seek to impose their own twisted rule to every level of our society, including our spiritual life. Their "faith" is anything but Christian, but a warped Dominionist heresy that panders to the lowest levels of banal venality, while wrapping itself in the cloak of vocal self-righteousness and pseudo-patriotism, and excuses every form of excess as long as one happens to be powerful enough to avoid the consequences of their misdeeds.

Just like the Bolsheviks before them, the Busheviks seek to make themselves the God of Gods, with worship and status centered on accumulating political power, material wealth and privilege, and cronyism rather than spiritual enlightenment and human decency.

IMHO the Busheviks are truly the enemies of everything honest, decent, and worthy of the Christian tradition, as they seek to subvert Christianity from within with appeals to greed, xenophobia, and sanctimonious hypocrisy presented with a straight face as holy righteousness.

They are truly creatures of the lowest, worst order.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

Psycopath Georgie used to blow up frogs when he was a little boy... now he's graduated to destroying entire species. What a sicko our President is!

[jeersforfears]

The endangered species act is not important. It never was, it was the brainchild of big government leftists who use it as a means of limiting the activities of humans, i.e. to keep us in cloistered, closely watched and heavily taxed locations. Making us feel guilty for going into the woods or doing any activity that "threatened" the animals, and then sneaking in stupid laws because people had been fooled, is the hallmark of the endangered species lunatics.

Best wishes to you all.

[abbiehoffmansghost]

If it weren't for some endangered species protections your entire family would have been destroyed in their tree-top homes years ago.

[helonias]

Wrongo Mr. Muir

In 1972 President Nixon declared current species conservation efforts to be inadequate and called on the 93rd United States Congress to pass comprehensive endangered species legislation.[1] Congress responded by creating the Endangered Species Act of 1973 which was signed by Nixon on December 28, 1973.

I see there is no chance of extinction of folks who find it easier to make things up than find out the truth.

[peonyharp]

Thank you, helonias. The environment and protection of it is an issue close to my heart, and posting facts just might clear up some ignorance.

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams

Although this was in reference to the Boston Massacre, I feel this presidency has massacred in its own way too many living things.

[nanotubz]

If you had ever read anything, than you would have known what a crock your regurgitated sound bites are. You don't offer criticism or make any type of arguement, just juvenile hyperbola.

[jeersforfears]

Right back at you, nano

[cindyw]

That's a conspiracy theory I haven't heard yet. I thought humans grouped together because they wanted to, but now you tell me the government has been using the endangered species act to watch us. Thank goodness we have a president who won't tolerate spying on Americans, and to prove it, he's trashing the endangered species act

[jeersforfears]

There's a lot of truths you haven't heard yet. Stick with the New York Times and their clones, and you never will.

Marxian Rule #1 (after seizing the day) is: SEIZE THE LAND. You know, fanatics (environmentalist loons) will then use anything possible to make that happen. In Russia, the Bolsheviks could just go kill the landowners and take the land. In America, it's not so easy, so you have to con the people and get them to give up their s*** on their own. When the government owns all the land and the people are huddled together, living in minimalistic circumstances, you will have the USSR redux!

Your crap about Bush is silly. Laughable. And you are a tool.

[BlackWidowPilot]

jeers,

The sheer ignorance expressed in your post is only exceeded by your spiritual and moral bankruptcy.

May God pity you.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[jeersforfears]

I'm all for protecting species, it's just that the endangered species act as it's currently written and enforced is corrupt. A farmer runs over a kangaroo rat with his tractor - on his property, that he needs to til for his living - and he's charged by the feds with "murder." Waterways cannot be opened to farmland because some fish species is too sensitive to change and might not survive. Those are things that you, Leland R. Erickson, Citizen, don't think or care about, becaue you are one of the fooled.

May God pity US because of people like you.

[scoobynooby]

How long till lazy Dumbass Americans wake up and Gut GW and his Admin?

[Durango]

The premise of the Endangered Species Act:

In tinkering the first rule is to not lose any of the parts.

[LITU]

Always worth bearing in mind. The failure of the conservative mind (as evidenced by the posts of Timme-e-eSlagle and JackKemp) - they don't understand the notion of a system, which is an aggregate of parts.

[helonias]

Don't even try yo explain the web of life to these kind of folks

[lamarguerite]

Yes, another item on Bush's crimes' list. The man needs to be prosecuted for war crimes against all living species.

Thanks for making this your headline.

http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com

[Ron]

Also being gutted, The treasary department, our social security fundsand coverage , the justice department, our borders from other countries, our rights to privacy, fema department, our way of life, our good jobs, honest elections, etc., etc., and the list goes on and on what this administration has done to this country and its people. They've gone to great lenghts to defraud the american people about what their policy goals really are. The conservation of endangered species act is only one of very many that they've ruined and robbed for profits and power.

[jeersforfears]

I'd like to see you explain point-by-point how Bush has gutted the Treasury Department, Social Security, Justice Department, our borders from other countries, and all the rest of your claims. You couldn't do it, because it's not true. You mindlessly repeat those things you want to believe. That makes you the quintessential Huffington Post liberal poster.

[situationcritical]

Sure you'd love to see it jeers...just to waste a person's time.

[BlackWidowPilot]

OK, I'll bite, let's start with the actual performance record of your vaunted "party of family values:"

http://www.armchairsubversive.org

We can talk about the whole "morality" plank of the "Repedophile" Party you so slavishly champion, and then move on to the rest, including over 900+ documented lies about WMDs and spurious connections between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, billions of dollars in taxpayer *cash* missing in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of weapons missing in Iraq, mercenaries, billions in no-bid contracts to Bush and Cheney cronies with virtually nothing to show for it after 5 years of occupation and war, VA benefits denied as an apparent matter of official policy to deserving vets, warrantless wiretapping, ad infinite nauseum.

I am no "liberal" as you so sneeringly put it.

I'm an independent, Jeers, as well as a Military Historian and son of a WW2 US Marine.

I'm also a loyal American who is fed up with the pathological dishonesty and utter moral bankruptcy of the right wing of the American body politic, especially the partisans of the Bush/Cheney White House and their "Gang of Pedophiles" fellow travelers infesting the two Houses of Congress. By comparison these past seven and a half years from Hell, the "liberals" and their petty mischief pale in comparison.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Amennyc]

...... And nothing.... NOTHING... gets done or said about it. That is the saddest. I have yet to see a headline on any newspaper, stating the obvious "Bush Lied to USA About Iraq". We all know it, but its not brought to the front. Bush has proven that you can get away with murder, but hey if your pastor says something controversial and possibly true or you have a personal affair with a consenting adult... look out!!! Americans will destroy you.

[scoobynooby]

Well said Ron now the lazy American Public should take the example and Gut this administration and the congress.

[AguynamedWayne]

I believe that Bush and the Republicans have to take their lumps when it comes to not doing enough to safeguard our planet (Not signing the Kyoto agreements, etc), but we liberals are turning into a very judgemental lot, and many of us are casting stones while living in glass houses on this subject. The trouble caused to the planet during the 8 years of the Bush presidency (though bad) are just a drop in the bucket. ALL Americans from both political parties, as well as the leaders and citizens of other countries absolutely share in the blame. To claim otherwise is just self serving and scapegoating to alieve our own guilt and failings on the matter.

ps. totally off message but a quick reminder that one of the best series on America's proud history is on tonight on HBO "John Adams". It's a great series (and a big hit at my house because my life-partner is a direct descendant on his maternal side to both John Adams and John Quincy Adams).

[RPLinNYC]

George W. Bush is not healthy for children and other living things.

What have we done to deserve this creep? He's clearly some kind of karmic
punishment.

[Gordon]

We (meaning americans in the collective sense) are fat, stupid, lazy, and selfish. That's why we have been blessed with the govt we have. We deserve it.

[CarlsV]

Speak for yourself sparky!

[Rumplestiltskin]

lazy?
http://www.gciu.org/archives/99oct/hours.shtml
selfish?
http://engram-backtalk.blogspot.com/2007/06/charitable-giving-by-americans.html
stupid?
I'm to lazy (heh) to look up patents awarded, scientific prize, etc, but I don't buy the stupid
fat?
okay, a segment of the population. But one out of four isn't a very good score

[BlackWidowPilot]

Gordy,

I am neither fat, stupid, nor lazy. I do not IMHO deserve this government, and neither does any other living thing deserve to be saddled with so incompetent a would-be despotism as the Bushevik regime.

There *were* on the evidence two elections thrown by significant *election fraud* perpetrated by the "Gang of Pedophiles" in key states to sway the vote tallies just enough to give Chimpy and Pals a win.

Just a friendly reminder of recent American History.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[SupremeIdiot]

I don't. I'm neither fat, nor lazy and I STILL voted for myself last Presidential election.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

We know from the needless war in Iraq that Bush has no regard for human life, Iraqi or American, so it's not surprising he has no regard for endangered species in the US. Pretty soon, when all the endangered species are gone, we'll only be left with cats, dogs, cows (hamburgers) and pigs (bacon).

[biwee]

Well, there is ONE endangered species that will be suffering from the years of Bush's
criminal administration............REPUBLICANS!!!

[ChiGuy]

True.

Their party is in such a tailspin, that the best they have to offer is McCain.

[Gordon]

And polls show that mccain is competitive against both Obama and Clinton. Keep it up Hillary McClinton and McCain might just pull this off.

[TimmySlagle]

"Their party is in such a tailspin"

Yeah, keep believing the dream.

Right now the only thing lower than the Presidential approval rating, is Nancy Pelosi's approval rating.

Republicans might not be popular, but they look like Prom Queens next to the Democrats.

[ChiGuy]

Given the administration's lack of compassion toward humans in need, this really doesn't come as any surprise.

This is simply confirmation of what we all know:

That Republicans will care for businesses before living things.

Disgusting.

[1NacreousImprimatur]

Question: Are all species worthy of protection at all cost?

[CarlsV]

Happy Easter Everyone!

[CarlsV]

"Bush Gutting The Endangered Species Act"

Hey! Who can blame him? He has singlehandedly moved the GOP within one election of total extinction!

Why would he want to put that on a list for everyone to see/know?