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Anne Elk
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Anne Elk
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PostFri Jul 19, 2019 6:17 pm 
Last month NWH member Ski initiated a thread about the overhaul of forest management rules proposed by the Trump Administration; much good discussion followed re harvesting practices, bureaucracy, and some speculation about what leadership by the new FS Chief Christiansen would be like. This topic is somewhat related, and concerning: the video is a report on a specific instance of high level dept officials intervening to countermand local agency decisions (to benefit big political donors) and a new tactic to dismantle the brain trust of agencies (BLM & USDA)- - just move their HQ's across the country! banghead.gif irked.gif This type of m.o. is going to have a huge impact on NPS and USFS policy/staffing/morale. It might be that the best we can hope for is for our favorite places to be ignored.
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The field supervisor went to the local press...he told the Daily Star that the pressure he got to reverse his decision was the first he had ever experienced in 34 years with the federal government...that included 29 years with the wildlife service under five presidents going back to President George H.W. Bush
Bypass the preliminary fluff to start the main story at 1:19.

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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Ski
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PostFri Jul 19, 2019 8:26 pm 
Has Zinke been indicted yet for his shady real estate deals? Why isn't he in prison yet?

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Anne Elk
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Anne Elk
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PostFri Jul 19, 2019 8:29 pm 
Prison is for the "little people". Just like taxes.

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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Malachai Constant
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PostFri Jul 19, 2019 8:35 pm 
With Barr you can count on no prosecution of any administration operatives past or present, maybe an investigation of “her emails”. huh.gif

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Ski
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PostFri Jul 19, 2019 10:37 pm 
With any luck, Bernhardt will be the subject of a Congressional investigation, but don't count on much coming of it. The salient point that Maddow raises is in the last few minutes, where she points out that the strategy of employing some outrageous distraction on a daily basis - for the last couple of days the chanting of "Send her back" by an auditorium full of idiots - is effectively keeping the public's attention away from the nefarious machinations of the criminal cabal that's been put into power.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Anne Elk
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PostSat Jul 20, 2019 12:17 am 
Indeed. But this has been a tactic for...forever. We're observing it now on steroids. Like LBJ observed: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

"There are yahoos out there. It’s why we can’t have nice things." - Tom Mahood
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IanB
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PostSat Jul 20, 2019 11:12 am 
This story was so discouraging. (Thank you Rachel for focusing beyond the shiny distraction turd of the day.) Their game plan is, win or lose in 2020, to just salt the earth. Dismantle the institutions of science and regulation. Just ass-f### the planet in the name of profit. Don't any of these people give a crap - even about their own grandchildren?!

"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
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Ski
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PostSat Jul 20, 2019 12:14 pm 
nope. they were deprived of the love and nurturing they needed when they were very young, and spend the rest of their lives trying to fill that void with more money, more real estate, more power, more more more. unfortunately, more is never enough for some of them. ergo: the continual quest for more. Ralphie, in "A Christmas Story", summed it up succinctly in the Christmas morning scene when he and Randy were opening their presents: "Unbridled avarice."

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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RodF
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PostSat Jul 20, 2019 7:20 pm 
For a contrasting view, High Country News editor Jonathan Thompson writes "It’s time to move the Bureau of Land Management out of D.C." "But amongst all this wrecking of our public lands, Zinke did have one sensible proposal that is poised to be realized in his absence: Moving the Bureau of Land Management headquarters out of Washington, D.C., and into the West, amid the vast acreage that it oversees... "I’m not worried about Westerners getting more control over the BLM, because I’m pretty damned sure most Westerners are not ideologically predisposed to lay waste to our public lands." 99% of the land managed by BLM is west of the Mississippi River, and 93% of BLM's staff is in its field offices.

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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Ski
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PostSat Jul 20, 2019 9:35 pm 
NPS has been operating out of Denver for years. The point of Maddow's piece, though, was that the daily distraction is being orchestrated to keep the public's focus off what is going on. In this particular segment (cited above by Anne Elk) it's a sweetheart deal in Arizona being done for a big campaign contributor. The forced move of USDA's staff, on the other hand, appears to have been designed to oust from the agency some of its best and most experienced staffers.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Gregory
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PostSat Jul 27, 2019 10:39 am 
I tried twice to listen to her ramblings, it just defies a critical thought process. What I take away from it all, after googling some honest journalism, is that our government agencies have become political pawns for whichever poison is in charge. Kind of reminds me of the Dosewallips road. everybody wants the road back but a small group of environmentalist, and of course the EPA. Northwest jumping slugs and yellow-billed cooko birds. These agencies were designed to serve purposes not activist on both sides.

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Waterman
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PostSun Jul 28, 2019 9:21 am 
Just today a Chilean businessman gained approval to mine on the edge of the Boundary Lakes Wilderness in Minnesota. Just so happens he also owns the home Washington DC that Ivanka is leasing. Final approval is still pending.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost
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DigitalJanitor
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PostMon Jul 29, 2019 11:19 am 
Ski wrote:
...spend the rest of their lives trying to fill that void with more money, more real estate, more power, more more more. unfortunately, more is never enough for some of them. ergo: the continual quest for more...
This can't end well.

~Mom jeans on wheels
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MtnGoat
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PostMon Aug 05, 2019 2:03 pm 
The presumptions people don't care, or haven't learned if they disagree with politics of the poster making the accusations, shows the poster's own predilections for flawed reasoning.

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers
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