“An apology for the devil: It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.” — Samuel Butler
Monthly Archives: February 2006
Selling Off Public Lands — Continued
Tribune: National
Forest land sale planned
By James W. Brosnan
Scripps Howard News Service
The Bush administration
proposes to sell up to 307,000 acres of National Forest in 32 states to developers, including 7,447 acres in New Mexico, to
subsidize schools in timber country. …
More than one-quarter of the acres considered for sale are in California, with 85,465
acres. Idaho is next with 26,194 acres, followed by Colorado, 21,572 acres, and Missouri, 21,566 acres. …
The Forest Service
hopes to generate $800 million over five years from the sale of isolated parcels that are difficult for foresters to manage, said Mark
Rey, undersecretary of Agriculture for natural resources and environment.
In New Mexico, the proposal includes 18 tracts
in the Cibola National Forest, 18 in the Lincoln National Forest and five in the Kiowa National Grassland. They range in size from 20
acres to 640 acres.
The Cibola areas are all west of Grants, in the Zuni Mountains, said Cibola National Forest spokesman
Mark Chavez.
The Forest Service plans to publish maps of the proposed sale properties on its Web site Feb. 28 and take comments on
which ones to remove. …
“Public lands are an asset that need to be managed and conserved,” said Idaho Republican Sen.
Larry Craig.
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State Total Ala. 3,220 Alaska 99 Ariz. 1,030 Ark. 3,612 Calif. 85,465 Colo. 21,572 Fla. 973 Ga. 4,522 Idaho 26,194 Ill. 191 Ky. 4,518 La. 3,895 Mich. 5,880 Minn. 2,622 Miss. 7,503 Mo. 21,566 Mont. 13,948 Neb. 360 Nev. 2,782 N.M. 7,447 N.C. 9,828 Ohio 420 Okla. 3,572 Ore. 10,581 S.C. 4,665 S.D. 13,961 Tenn. 2,996 Texas 4,813 Utah 5,398 Va. 5,717 Wash. 7,516 W.Va. 4,836 Wis. 80 Wyo. 17,659 Nation 309,441 Source: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service
Secure Rural Schools Forest Service FY 2007
Initiative
New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid National Radio Address
DCCC.org: New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid National Radio Address
“When it comes to Medicare, America can do better”
If there was any doubt who benefited most from the Medicare plan, this ought to provide an answer:
The Republican Committee Chairman who guided the plan through Congress turned around and immediately became the top lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry — at a multi-million dollar salary. He and his industry cashed in, while America’s seniors and taxpayers are paying more. …
Under the Bush Administration and Republican Congress, the special interests and their lobbyists are writing our laws — and reaping the benefits.
We don’t have to allow these special interests to undermine our efforts to provide affordable prescription drugs for the seniors who need them. America can do better. And under a Democratic Congress, it will.
face to face
Dick!
A hunting tale peppered with discrepancies By Calvin Woodward, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vice President Dick Cheney said he didn’t immediately disclose his hunting accident because he wanted the confusing details to come out right. Instead, authorized accounts came out slowly – and often still wrong.
The result: a week of shifting blame, belatedly acknowledged beer consumption (not “zero” drinking after all) and evolving discrepancies in how the shooting happened, its aftermath and the way it was told to the nation.
“There’s a reason they call this crisis management,” said corporate damage-control specialist Eric Dezenhall, “and that’s because it’s a mess.” …
Although there is no evidence that beer impaired Cheney’s judgment, initial denials that he had consumed alcohol were wrong.
“No one was drinking,” Armstrong said at the outset. “No, zero, zippo.” She said the hunters washed down lunch with Dr Pepper. Later, she qualified her comments and said beer might have been in the cooler but she did not think anyone drank any. …
Cheney acknowledged Wednesday, “I had a beer at lunch” several hours before the group’s afternoon hunt, asserting “nobody was under the influence.” …
“If I recall,” Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said of Armstrong, “she pointed out that the protocol was not followed by Mr. Whittington, when it came to notifying the others that he was there.”
The about-face came Wednesday when Cheney made his first public comment on the accident.
“It was not Harry’s fault,” he said. “You can’t blame anybody else. I’m the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend.”
I’m a very ‘lucky’ guy, says man hit by veep BY KENNETH R. BAZINET, DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Browbeaten by late-night comedians and an aggressive press corps, Cheney acknowledged he’d endured “a very long week.” Even loyal Republicans said the GOP has been hurt by Cheney’s stonewalling tactics and stubborn resistance to answer questions.
Potential GOP presidential candidate and Vietnam vet Chuck Hagel took a whack at Cheney’s five draft deferments that kept him from serving in Vietnam.
“If he’d been in the military, he would have learned gun safety,” the Nebraska senator told the Omaha World-Herald.
Quick Indictment of Treason
The whole time I read Cal Thomas’ indictment of Al Gore for treason, I kept thinking about this series of pictures, including Bush kissing the Saudi prince and holding his hand.
Calcified Cal seems to forget that, not only is Saudi Arabia an official ally in the War Without End, but that the royal family is joined at the hips with our own King George. mjh
Cal Thomas Al Gore’s diminished capacity
Last Sunday, Gore spoke to the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia. He trashed his country on the soil of one of the most repressive regimes on earth — a monarchy that incubated 15 of the 19 hijackers who killed 3,000 of his fellow citizens on Sept. 11, 2001, and is the home country of Osama bin Laden. …
That Gore has “lost it” is evident from his personal attacks on the president, whom he has called “the most dishonest president since Richard Nixon” and a man who “has brought deep dishonor to our country.” Gore has called the president a “moral coward” and referred to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse as “the Bush Gulag.” He has accused the administration of an alliance with “digital brownshirts,” called the administration “simultaneously dishonest and incompetent,” and said the president is “out of touch with reality.” [mjh: Note that Gore may not have said any of these things during his “treasonous” speech in Saudi Arabia, but Cal Thomas is happy to leave you with that impression.]
Even allowing for excesses of political rhetoric, such comments are way over extreme. …
For Gore to make his anti-American remarks in Saudi Arabia is at least as bad as what Nazi sympathizers said in this country and abroad leading up to and during World War II. One definition of “treason” is: Violation of allegiance toward one’s country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one’s country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.
By any objective standard, Al Gore’s remarks in Saudi Arabia appear to fit the definition.
Those Straight-shooters
Clever Trever belittles the issue of the Vice-President, Dead-eye Dick, shooting a man in the face as merely grist for a petulant press corps.
Meanwhile, our own gun-smoking President makes this observation:
“This is a man who likes the outdoors, and he likes to hunt. And he heard a bird flushed, and he turned and pulled the trigger and saw his friend get wounded,” Bush said.
“Saw his friend get wounded”? True but so is “shot his friend in the face.” mjh
