Liberty Matters News Service 

September 7, 2000

"Whose land are we stealing today?"

Rep. Don Young, Father of CARA
January 1993

Senate Push for CARA Begins

Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) is collecting signatures on a letter of support for the Conservation and Reinvestment Act trying to convince Trent Lott to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, or in the alternative, have enough support to attach the bill to the Omnibus Appropriations bill coming up for debate this month. With Congress due to adjourn October 6, President Clinton holds a commanding position to negotiate a final agreement over spending while Republicans have vowed to avoid a “train wreck” at all costs. Unless we bolster our Senators, CARA could pass. Keep calling.
Senate switchboard 1-800-241-7109
Faxback Doc. 2179. Ohio Sen. Letter to Colleagues, WorldNetDaily (3 pgs)Widow & Orphan Evicted From Forest

Last month, well-armed Forest Service personnel and Gila County, Arizona Task Force agents crept up to a camp in the national forest, expecting to find a cadre of drug thugs or worse. Instead, they encountered a harmless widow, Tess Johnson and her son Freddie Jones. The two had no place to live, so they carved a small spot out of the forest for their home. They constructed, by hand, rock walls and goldfish ponds and a beautiful garden filled with tomatoes, squash and pumpkins. Unfortunately, it was illegal and they were ordered to restore their small Eden to its original chaos or face fines up to $5,000. Tess remarked upon their eviction; “Here are millions of acres the government owns. They say it belongs to the people, but the people can’t use it and will never see most of it. It’s almost like the bad old days in England when kings owned all the land and shot poor people who took game so their families wouldn’t starve.” Faxback Doc. 2181. Trouble in Paradise, Payson Roundup (4 pgs)

A report from the Washington Times says a House subcommittee will investigate why funds for fighting fires went instead to President Clinton’s Lands Legacy Initiative and new national monuments. The White House cut Interior’s fire preparedness budget from $322 million to $302 million, while increasing the land acquisition budget from $15 to $49 million. Les Ronsenkrantz, former director of the National Interagency Fire Center, warned that lives could be lost because of lack of funds. So far, eight lives have been lost and the fires still burn. The Forest and Forest Health Subcommittee estimates that a potential 30 billion board feet of timber has been lost to the fires so far this year, ten times the 3 billion board feet harvested last year. Meanwhile, environmentalists are attempting to divert attention away from the increased public focus on the mismanagement of the forest under their environmental policies. Marvin Taylor, grazing reform coordinator for the Center for Biological Diversity claims that “the destructiveness of recent fires is largely the result of over a century of livestock grazing and fire suppression” and that the expense of the fires should be added to the rancher’s tab. Wonder what the price of lumber will be now that its all gone up in smoke. 
Faxback Doc. 2182. 
Grazing Policy Cause of Wildfires, Tucson Citizen (2 pgs) 

Free Market a Moral Hazard?

The United Nations is holding its Millennium Summit in New York this week. Members representing the different nations are being urged to adopt UN treaties including the Rome Statute to establish the International Criminal Court which would prosecute environmental crimes among others. Nearby, the State of the World Forum, funded by the Gorbachev Foundation, is pushing a radical expansion of UN powers into economic and environmental areas. Former Soviet Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev is advocating an “Economic Council” to regulate world capital. John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO claimed that the “Washington consensus” of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher “brought inequality between nations” and a “violation of human rights.” Speakers are calling a free-floating market a “moral hazard.” One stunned New York citizen attending the meeting stated, “Most Americans have no clue what is happening in New York right now. Don’t they know that other nations have the most to gain and Americans the most to lose if these proposals are adopted?” 
Faxback Doc. 2180. The New World Disorder, WorldNetDaily (2 pgs.)