Darth Lies Again

Another incredible claim was made Saturday in Reno, Nevada at a White House policy conference on North American wildlife. The Charlatan was too busy saving his buddies on The Street of Broken Dreams to attend the conference so he introduced his favorite henchman, Darth Cheney by video. Cheney, who has made a high art of the 'big lie' technique of political propaganda, had the audacity to claim, "As all of you know very well, President Bush made wildlife conservation an early and a high priority of his administration." This statement comes from a regime which has fought environmental regulation of all types from the day it took office eight years ago. Its favorite target has been the Endangered Species Act, the pivotal federal law by which habitat for endangered species is preserved. Implementation of the act by the Bush administration has been investigated by the Government Accountability Office, by the House Natural Resources Committee, and by the Department of Interior's own Inspector General. The Inspector General's 2007 report resulted in the resignation of Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary in the Department of the Interior who left her post last year under a cloud of scandal. The decision to list the polar bear as endangered was made only after a year of delay by the Interior Department and a lawsuit by environmental groups to force a decision. Before finally making the decision the Regime went ahead with an oil and gas lease sale in the Chuchki Sea, prime polar bear habitat, despite objections from wildlife experts.{5/21/08} Under the current regime the US Fish & Wildlife Service has repeatedly said that "the designation of critical habitat provides little additional protection to most listed species, while preventing the Service from using scarce conservation resources for activities with greater conservation benefits." Regardless of the agency's claim, environmentalists have convinced reviewing courts that political considerations and not the best available science has played an improper role in numerous critical habitat decisions by the nation's leading wildlife management agency. 281 species designations are still awaiting agency action. In a related development the Center for Biological Diversity sued the federal government on Friday in five separate cases concerning political interference in designation of critical habitat for six western species, including the western snowy plover, California tiger salamander, southwestern willow flycatcher, Buena Vista Lake shrew and two California plants. If this pathetic record is an example of "high priority" concern of this adminstration for the preservation of vanishing wildlife, then its one more reason to vote for the opposition.