Liberty Matters News Service
January 14, 2002
Son of CARA, In the Dark of Night
Late in the evening of December 20,
2001, certain members of the U.S. Senate conspired to pass S. 990, aka,
Son of CARA, by Unanimous Consent, with no debate, ensuring there would
be no record of its supporters. Senators,
Henry Reid, D-NV and Bob Smith, R-NH, along with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-ID,
accomplished the last minute coup with no opposition from fellow
senators, anxious to hit the road for Christmas holidays.
Called the American Wildlife Enhancement Act of 2001, it’s not
much different from H.R. 701, the land grab bill that property rights
advocates have fought for years. S.
990 provides $600 million a year for five years to be used by state
governments for condemnation and “acquisition of an area of land or
water that is suitable or capable of being made suitable for feeding,
resting, or breeding by wildlife,” in other words, any private
property. In spite of
denials by sponsors, the Bill authorizes up to $3 billion for
“acquisition, improvement and management of habitat” and grant money
for environmental groups (Section 102 amending Section 2 of the
Pittman-Robertson Act). The bill includes no private property protection, not even
the illusory “willing seller” language included in CARA. The states
can condemn private property at will.
The Bill facilitates a proliferation of state species protection
programs by authorizing “periodic or total protection of a species or
population” (Section 102) regardless of whether the species is
endangered or threatened. Sporting
groups supporting the concept of the bill will be shocked when they are
faced with hunting and fishing restrictions imposed by “total
protection of a species or population.”
S.
990, The American Wildlife Enhancement Act
Senate
Passed 'Land Grab' Angers Property Rights Activists
Norton
Objects to Draft Law Enforcement Bill
David
L. Bernhardt, Director of Congressional and Legislative Affairs and
Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior, sent Congressman Nethercutt
a letter clarifying the Secretary’s position on the draft Law
Enforcement Bill for DOI employees that surfaced at the end of last
year. “I believe the documents you reference in your letter were
created at the instruction of a career level official who acted on his
own, without policy or legal guidance or review,” stated Bernhart.
“More importantly, the policy implications of the documents are
directly contrary to the Secretary’s positions on limited government
and law enforcement authority.” After
a copy of the internal draft bill surfaced outside of DOI, many
objections were raised by concerned landowners and Congressman
Nethercutt who opposes turning the resource management agencies into
federal police officers. Bernhardt
stated that Norton opposes the draft bill, however, Norton has
previously supported the recently enacted H.R.
2925, which gives the
same police powers as outlined in the draft bill, such as carrying
firearms and making arrests without warrants, to agents of the Bureau of
Reclamation. Bernhardt
claims H.R. 2925 “provided very carefully tailored law enforcement
authority,” but contrary to his statement, the bill contained the very
same language.
Bernhardt Letter
Propaganda
Campaign for Biodiversity Treaty
The U.N. Biodiversity Treaty has
never been ratified by the United States, but that detail has not slowed
efforts of certain elitist groups to forge ahead with plans to return
the North American continent to pre-European settlement status.
The newest piece of propaganda comes from a NAFTA environmental
commission that reported there is a wildlife ‘crisis’ brought about
by the irresponsible consumption habits of North Americans.
The Montreal-based, North American Commission for Environmental
Cooperation claims that even though 15 percent of the continent is
protected, uncontrolled use of natural areas by humans is disturbing
eco-systems and putting biodiversity at great risk.
The Commission points to unregulated consumer habits as
contributing to the crisis. They
claim: 90 percent of
Canadians and Americans insist upon owning and driving vehicles regarded
as an “unsustainable” use of fossil fuels; global warming threatens
to flood Florida, the Mississippi Delta and the island of Cozumel in
Mexico. The commission’s
executive director admitted that researchers had trouble finding
information to prove their theories, but as has been demonstrated in the
recent “lynx hoax,” never let the truth stand in the way of the
agenda.
Wildlife
in 'Crisis,' NAFTA Study Says...
More
Government Skullduggery
As many have warned, the lynx hoax is
not an isolated incident and evidence is mounting of serious violations
of law by government agencies, anxious to close millions of acres of
land to protect the habitat of endangered species.
The Washington Times reported that in March 2001, a
Washington state biologist asked taxidermist Jim Gintz for grizzly hair
samples to provide a control test for laboratory analysis.
Mr. Gintz refused to cooperate and when he read about the lynx
hoax, he alerted Representative Bob Sump of another possible
“biofraud” case. Mr. Sump believes there is ample cause to
investigate Fish and Wildlife findings and that planting evidence of
threatened and endangered species is widespread.
Biofraud
Attempt Jeopardizes Study of Threatened Grizzlies