So What If The Bald Eagle Goes Extinct?

Let's face it, bald eagles, salamanders, owls, herons, minnows, sturgeons and hundreds of other varieties of animals and plants that are on the endangered species list have become a major pain....to big business. These American creatures get in the way of mining operations, clear-cutting forests, mountain top removal and developers looking to profit off the land. What's the problem if a couple of species disappeared so that a few rich people can get richer? That's the reason we voted for George Bush, right? Well thanks to our Pretzeldent, we can look forward to a nice gutting of the Endangered Species Act.

From TPM:

If approved, the changes would represent the biggest overhaul of the Endangered Species Act since 1988. They would accomplish through regulations what conservative Republicans have been unable to achieve in Congress: ending some environmental reviews that developers and other federal agencies blame for delays and cost increases on many projects.

The changes would apply to any project a federal agency would fund, build or authorize. Government wildlife experts currently perform tens of thousands of such reviews each year.

"If adopted, these changes would seriously weaken the safety net of habitat protections that we have relied upon to protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years," said John Kostyack, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming initiative.

Oh, are you concerned that we are destroying our national wildlife without any regard for the planet we live on? Wiping out innocent animals and the plants they (including us) eat that maintains a healthy ecosystems isn't your thing? Well don't worry, because the Bush Administration says individual federal agencies can determine on their own if things are copacetic without the Endangered Species Act. You believe them right? Of course George Bush would never lie to you.

Alaska's Gov. Hates Polar Bears

The cute and cuddly stuffed animals may be a bit different from the ferocious real-life polar bears that roam the Arctic region but that doesn't mean anyone has to hate on them. Unfortunately Governor Sarah Palin does and she is challenging the ruling that will put them on the endangered species list. Their natural environment is rapidly shrinking due to climate change and something must be done. Palin, being a Republican wants to keep the status quo which will enable the bears to eventually die off.

From the AP:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday.

She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts.

Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said.

Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, said Palin, a Republican.

The announcement drew a strong response from the primary author of the listing petition.

"She's either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading, and both are unbecoming," said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Alaska deserves better."

Alaska does deserve better and so do it's polar bears. I'm leaning towards the 'intentionally misleading' argument. Palin will do or say whatever it takes to keep the oil money rolling in, especially with prices at record highs. A true leader would look at the big picture concerning oil and climate change, but all she can see is the checks that the oil industry cuts her state for the short term.

President Bush Hates Butterflies And Prairie Dogs

You would think it would take an imaginary evil cartoon character from some Disney movie in order to create hatred towards cute little creatures. How could anyone want to see butterflies, prairie dogs and hundreds of other critters die off for good and be passed by other than in a make-believe nightmare? Well that nightmare is coming true for many different species of plants and animals here in the United States and it is all thanks to George Bush and his Interior Department appointees like Dick Kempthorne.

From The 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.

The documents show that personnel were barred from using information in agency files that might support new listings, and that senior officials repeatedly dismissed the views of scientific advisers as President Bush's appointees either rejected putting imperiled plants and animals on the list or sought to remove this federal protection.

Officials also changed the way species are evaluated under the 35-year-old law -- by considering only where they live now, as opposed to where they used to exist -- and put decisions on other species in limbo by blocking citizen petitions that create legal deadlines.

How could they do such a thing you ask? Why would they do this? Are they really that greedy to obtain land for stripping minerals and razing forests? Yes, they really are that greedy. They'll do whatever it takes to appease the industries that can benefit from killing off endangered life. They know what they are doing is wrong and that is why they are trying to cover up their trail.

"Lawsuits, starting in the early '90s, have really driven things," Hall said, adding that the administration has tried to keep species from declining to the point where they need to be listed. "I'm feeling pretty good we're back on track to do the job the way it's supposed to be done."

In court cases, however, a number of judges have rejected decisions made by Hall's agency and have criticized its slow pace. On March 5, a U.S. district judge in Phoenix ordered Interior to redesignate bald eagles in Arizona's Sonoran Desert as threatened after the agency delisted the entire species last summer.

Three weeks before Interior officials rejected a petition to keep the desert eagles listed, a scientific advisory panel it convened wrote that the population "appears to be less viable than populations in other parts of the country" because it had fewer than 50 nesting pairs. Survival usually requires 500 breeding pairs.

The Fish and Wildlife Service never released that report, along with internal agency documents showing "substantial" evidence that the Arizona eagles should be kept on the list: Both the report and the documents were unearthed under the Freedom of Information Act by the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group.

Yep, thats right, they'll even sacrifice the bald eagle. So much for showing patriotism through a love of animals. I can hardly wait until this Administration is gone forever. I can only hope all of the criminals are prosecuted for their crimes against our country and nature itself.