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

[primordialsoup]

Republicans have been anti-environment for a long time. According to them, having a clean and healthy environment is bad for the economy. Gee, wouldn't life be grand if we could just eliminate all those pesky animals, blue skies, and clean drinking water? Then corporations could do what ever they wanted, and the environmentalists couldn't complain because there would be nothing left to protect.

[Durango]

Actually that isn't accurate. Or rather Republicans only became the enemy of the environment in recent times.

It wasn't that long ago that we had many Republican champions on environmental issues, including John McCain. But Bush and his cronies destroyed that legacy.

Another crime that George W. and the Republicans should be held accountable for.

[JohnTalbutt]

I agree... to a point.


Remember, Richard Nixon created the EPA, and I BELIEVE the Endangered Species Act was part of his legacy as well. Environmentalism had been for a long time a completely non-partisan issue; until the issue that protecting the environment was at loggerheads with the desire for industry to do whatever it wants - then it became more left-wing.


But there's anti-environment, and there's just the flat out destruction of the earth. Republicans have always been less reliable on these issues but not totally negligent - and turning over Cabinet positions like Interior to people who were going to use it to line their pockets isn't strictly a Republican exercise (recall Bill Clintons Interior Department).


Republicans have been worse, no doubt. But Bush II belongs in a very unique category of being the worst, most venal president across the board of at least the 20th century. He's failed at everything, and his friends have made money all the while.


Nixon had the EPA. Johnson had the Great Society. Reagan and Bush I didn't have much, but at least they had people in the White House doing their jobs. If there was an earthquake or a flood, relief would get there.


Bush II has literally sold America out, and at the end of his life there won't be one thing he'll be able to look back on and be proud of.

[helonias]

Well people who lived along the rivers that used to catch on fire could read by the light it produced.

[Kungfublood]

Yes, well stupid people often attack those who are smarter than themselves..i dare say the two morons in the White House could not out smart a bunny rabbit if it were swimming in sauce on the white house table. Remember the only way the veep can shoot anything is if someone else has put it in a cage first. (I know what you are thinking but that was an accident due to excessive inebriation and does not reflect any actual prowess on
the part of Mr shoulderpads.)

[Subj2Chng]

Oh my God, Bush is killing all the cute wascally wittle wodents. What's an enviro-whacko to do?

[DRHoen]

I see from your previous posts that you are rooting for Clinton. No surprise there. You have no clue what's going on, do you?

[doinaheckofajob]

Save the environment and endangered species, vote for Democrats and not the feces.

[rivrgrrl]

Excellent!!

I just may have to use that one come Nov time.

[bushmocker]

Yeah,along with hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings,no bigee.

[BushBites]

Actually, Peabrain, hunters and fishermen are just as angry at your Pinheaded President for stripping our environmental laws in order to serve his buddies in the oil and other industries..

http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/conservation/

[piranhica]

Back to your cartoons, please. This site is for adults and people with an IQ over 50. Thoughtful responses, as a general rule, are not the dominion of Republicans.

[IntelligentDesign]

George W. Bush is a destroyer without bound, unparalleled in the annuls of written human history (and I would argue that he can give some mythological monsters a run for their money), a witless walking weapon of mass destruction who has brought this country and this world to its knees - survival of the planet hangs in the balance with every moment he stands as leader of the most powerful nation in the history of the world - he is evil incarnate, he has no perceptible redeeming value whatsoever - if we do somehow make it to January 20, 2009, if we do somehow survive his reign of terror, it won't be due to anything we were able to do to stop him, for we have utterly failed in that regard, it will be because God has heard our cries for mercy and justice.

[edresearcher]

Very well said.

[willfarnaby]

Really, there are no words adequate to describe the manifest evil that is Bush.

The "Decider"... the psychopath that personally intervenes to increase the incidence of cancers in Americans and their children.

One couldn't think of a more effective prescription for destroying human life than killing off the other animal species and polluting the air, water and land.

Misson Accomplished.
Plan For Victory
Clear Skies
Healthy Forests

Sieg Heil, Bush, you sadistic, evil, monumentally warped freak.

[realitycheck7]

The Bush Administration spends every waking moment seeking ways to make this world a crappier place

[hawkseye]

"So?"

[jerryfromcalifornia]

As Ronald Reagan died a slow death, George and the rest of his kind should and will get the same fate. To bad medical science will be just a little bit too late to help because the research was just a little slow because of the loss of inviromental material.

[artsandminds]

sow buttons

[Felicty]

OF COURSE HE WILL.

Why is this even a story?

[BushBites]

At least Bush isn't losing Wetlands. Sort of.

From a 2006 Field & Stream article:

The Bush Administration announced last week that the nation is no longer losing wetlands--as long as you consider golf course water hazards to be wetlands.
Really.

Thursday (March 30), Interior Secretary Gale Norton called a press conference to claim our long nightmare of wetlands loss had finally come to an end due to unprecedented gains since 1997 (click hear to read the report she cites). However, she then admitted much of that gain has been in artificially created ponds, such as golf course water hazards and farm impoundments.

The sporting community -- from Ducks Unlimited to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership -- reacted quickly, and not favorably. Researchers long ago established that natural wetlands such as marshes, swamps and prairie potholes are far more productive than even the best-designed artificial wetlands. And sharp-edged water bodies like water hazards, farm ponds, and even reservoirs offer very little for wildlife. Putting man-made ponds in the same class as natural wetlands is like ranking pen-raised quail with wild coveys.

The boldness of Norton's claim was particularly galling given the Bush Administration's record on wetlands. President Bush, like other presidents before him, promised a policy of “no net loss” of wetlands, but his administration has consistently supported rollbacks of the Clean Water Act to satisfy industry and development.

[rivrgrrl]

Yup.

That 'Sportsmen For Bush' gang is the epitome of hypocrisy.

[A Meat Beetle]

It's happening again. When I first read this thread there were 21 comments visible and 7 pending. As of this writing there are 50 comments showing and none of mine are there. Screw Bill O'Reilly. I want my First Amendment rights back!

[jcause28]

Bush would bulldoze the Easter Bunny if it meant profits.

[NoSillyName]

God, he makes me sick!! This administration has been overruling scientists all along. Remember the redacting and rewriting of the climate change reports? Disgusting. I was dumb enough to have believed that even republicans respected scientific research, after all... its SCIENCE!

[fcsakes]

george w bush is the biggest waste of space this country has ever produced. that there are grease spots in the road who still support this excrement is astounding. I do not believe in "wishing my life away," but I pray that every day until this piece of garbage is gone goes by at the speed of light.

he is a human gob of spit. hork.

[Witchitalineman]

We, as voters, have had so many "throw the kitchen sink" at us by this horrible president and administration that we can't process it all. We would have to give up our day jobs to ponder the overwhelming evidence of what a crooked and uncaring group we have in our nation's capitol.
Eight more months till we can rid of ourselves of this administration. It can't be soon enough!

[BushBites]

Somebody or a team of people should document Bush's destruction once Bush's reign is over, though.

Some effort should be made to make sure it never happens again. And the first step in that is documenting how it happened in the first place, and publishing the information as an example of how one man can destroy an entire country.

[IntelligentDesign]

Right. It is vital that we take the time to assess how this dangerous moron rose to power and take concrete steps to ensure that it can never ever happen again.

[NotGuilty]

Add republicans to the Endangered Species list, WHOO-HOO!

[thegreatgiginthesky]

That is one species that the world would be fortunate to be rid off. Starting with Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.

[Rog49Thomas]

One again the loony liberal press tries to denigrate another of President Pan's imagined accomplishments.

The simple fact is that the list of endangered species is smaller than under other presidents and is not growing. Why? President Pan's wise policies. This should be quite a sobering thought for all the wacko environmentalists and global warming folk out there preaching doom.

Have any of you liberals out there noticed there are fewer poor black people in New Orleans? An undeniable fact! Why? President Pan's wise policies in the aftermath of Katrina.

But do you give the man credit for saving the planet and almost wiping out poverty in New Orleans?

Sadly no.

[Heretic]

heh heh

[piranhica]

Wipe out poverty in New Olreans? Huh?
Bush a lover of the environment whose wise policies has reduced the overall aggregate of critters on the endangered species list? Hardly

The facts are not with you.

Are you really so incredibly ill-informed, or do you just swallow the Republican party line without thinking through things, or, sadly, are you yet another of those Republicans with sub-par intelligence who think that there is no linkage between a small animal and say, mountain-top mining practices and allowing increased arsenic in the drinking water (one of Bush's first wise policies)

[springsm]

I think this is tongue in cheek humor. Not sure, but I think so.

[willfarnaby]

Is that "President Pan" as in The Little Animal Torturer That Never Grew Up? (except to torture entire animal species, brown-skinned people, ...)

[Rog49Thomas]

I like to think of each presidency as taking its theme from a "great" work of literature.

For the Shrub, "Peter Pan" the boy who never grew up, lived in a fantasy land, believed in magic (clap you hands really hard and believe and presto Iraq is a victory and New Orlean is rebuilt) and fought inconclusive battles with Captain Hook (Usama, who else?)

For Bill Clinton, a Streetcar Called Desire.

Any suggestions for a potential President Obama, Hillary, or McCrazy presidency?

[artsandminds]

Why do you assume only liberals care about the environment, is everything have to be so black and white, good and evil with you?

[Rog49Thomas]

Fun aside, no I don't think that..

Simply put: no party, political tendency, religion, race, country has a monopoly on truth.

But reread my post again, I made no comment about whether or not conservatives love the environment or whether all liberals do.

You've made that assumption.

All I said was that Pan was not being given credit for what he had done (tongue in cheek of course on the latter point). So you've made that assumption.

[MadeinAmericaProud]

thank you for reminding of all the dead bodies.

When they wiped poverty, I did not give it one thought to nothing with the levees would be the method
they had in mind. Not reading up on the details wipe out my family poverty. Thank you all.
As an American, please let me show my gratitude. As requested by Pat Buchana show grati

But I also noticed they did not repair and maintain the bridges either, therefore, they wiped out poverty there too. Now someone can take their jobs.

[WoodyCPM]

This is just another piece of the modus operendi of the neocons whose main constituency is business. Grover Norquist, the Republican operative, proclaimed their intent eight years ago when he said they would reduce the size of the federal government small enough to be drowned in the bathtub. Every agency in the federal government has been subjected to these same neocon tactics. They have so corrupted, distorted and destroyed the mission of these agencies to the point where they are in fact obstructing what their reason for being is. Look at the evidence: the Justice Department, FEMA, the National Parks, the FDA, the EPA and so on and on. They are all full of cronies and incompetent political appointees. It has been no secret that every agency of the government has been turned into part of the Republican, neocon political machinery. The plan has been to so rim-wreck these agencies, to so destroy their effectiveness and usefulness, that they become incapable of fulfilling their mandates, so incompetent in discharging their duties that the public will be relieved when Congress finally pulls the plug on them. The neocons are achieving through incompetence and willful obstruction what they cannot achieve through legislative action.

We ain't heard nothing yet. Wait until the new Democratic administration comes to power, the public is going to get a glimpse of the pervasive and profound corruption and incompetence that has been the hallmark of the Bush Administration from the beginning.

In a very real way, who is ultimately to blame for this is situation are the ignorant voters themselves. Vast numbers of them voted for the Chimp, twice! We get the government we deserve.

[rivrgrrl]

Best post of the day.