Liberty
Matters News Service
April 6, 2006
Who We are Fighting …
Environmentalism is not about saving the Earth for people, but from them. Environmentalists, the self-proclaimed variety, are merely using "saving the environment" as a stalking horse to destroy modern civilization … but you don't have to take our word for it …
"I think if we don't overthrow capitalism, we don't have a chance of saving the world ecologically. I think it is possible to have an ecologically sound society under socialism. I don't think it's possible under capitalism." Judi Bari, Earth First!
"No matter if the science is all phony, there are collateral environmental benefits ... [C]limate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world." Christine Stewart, Canadian Environment Minister.
"We must make this an insecure and inhospitable place for capitalists, and their projects…[W]e must reclaim the roads and plowed land, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness millions of tens of millions of acres of presently settled land." Dave Foreman, "Confessions of an Eco Warrior," 1991.
Dave Foreman's 1991 vision of a world, known as The Wildlands Project, is reality today. Since 1991, millions of acres of the United States have been placed out of reach of ordinary Americans. If the pace continues unabated, where will our children and grandchildren live in 2056? Go to www.takingliberty.us to find out.
Rivers are for Salmon
A U.S. District Court judge last week ordered the Bureau of Reclamation to limit irrigation water to farmers along the Klamath River in drought years to, theoretically, protect migrating salmon. The Bush administration also announced a surprising change of attitude regarding hydroelectric dams on the Klamath. "Dam decommissioning and dam removal would go a long way toward resolving decades of degradation where Klamath River salmon stocks are concerned," said a spokesman for the Department of Interior and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Licenses for the Klamath dams expired last month and the feds are trying to force the dams' owners, PacifiCorp, to either demolish them or spend an estimated $200 million to refit with fish ladders and other expensive devices. Currently, the annual value of electricity produced by the four dams is only about $27 million. Dave Kvamme, PacifiCorp spokesman, said the company wants to keep the dams operational and there is no guarantee $200 million fish ladders would improve salmon runs. The feds think PacifiCorp will cave though. "We have an historic doorway that is opening here," said Steve Thompson, Fish and Wildlife operations manager. "It is potentially very good for everybody who lives on the river." Well, not everyone. Greg Addington of the Klamath Water Users Association said: "Dry years are going to be very tough."
River May Flow Again, Full of
Salmon
UT Prof Says 90% of Civilization Must Die
Dr. Eric Pianka, lizard expert at the University of Texas at Austin, recently told a gathering of the Texas Academy of Science (TAS) there are too many people on this Earth, about 6.5 billion too many, and the time is ripe for an outbreak of disease to wipe us out. We are turning the planet into a "fat human biomass," Pianka said. "[Disease] will control the scourge of humanity," he told the audience. Pianka thinks the deadly Ebola virus is the ideal mechanism for the job. "We're looking forward to a huge collapse," he said. Pianka views humans as no more valuable than a lizard, a rhino, or a bison, a view that is also shared by Ingrid Newkirk, founder of PETA. "The biggest enemy we face is anthropocentrism, [the] common attitude that everything on this Earth was put here for [human] use," he said. Pianka received a standing ovation from his audience and TAS honored him with the Distinguished Scientist award. However, not everyone was so sanguine. "Professor Pianka's gleeful embracing of the destruction of 90 percent of the earth's population as a necessary and worthy event is abhorrent," said Governor Perry's press secretary Kathy Walt. Professor Pianka complained to the Associated Press later that his speech was taken out of context, saying he was merely trying to warn the public that population growth must slow down. Although he denies advocating for human death, he did respond to questioning that: "Good terrorists would be taking Ebola Reston and Ebola Zaire so that they had microbes they could let loose on the Earth that would kill 90 percent of people." Pianka also told students at St. Edwards University: "This is gonna happen in your lifetime," he said. "We're going to be hunters and gathers again real soon."
UT Professor Says Death is
Imminent
Texas Premises Registration "On Hold"
The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) announced, this week, that it will not address the controversial proposed regulations for premises regulation at the scheduled May 4 meeting in Austin. Dr. Bob Hillman, Texas' state veterinarian and TAHC executive director, said the registration proposal has been put "on hold" until the winter or spring of 2007. While the news has been greeted with cautious optimism, livestock operators continue efforts to persuade lawmakers to amend HB 1361, the enabling legislation that adopted the federal animal identification program while opposition continues to grow the nationwide program as well.
Texas Animal Health Commission Says
Proposed Premises Registration Regulations "On Hold" Till
2007