[at-l] A.N.W.R. Vote and political activism.....

[baltimorejack@hotmail.com (Jack Tarlin)]

    Just wanted to take a few minutes and thank Rami for sending this along. 
  He's to be commended for it.  Thanx also to the folks who sent in other 
addresses containing more material, so that interested folks can get more 
information.  The better informed people are, the better.

    As to the folks who criticized Rami for introducing such matters to the 
list, please, gimme a break. He prefaced his comments by announcing that 
they weren't "Trail Related" and invited uninterested parties to delete his 
message.  For heaven's sake, people, half the stuff on AT-L on any given day 
isn't exactly trail related, or certainly not A.T. related, yet these folks 
aren't taken to task for introducing "improper" or inappropriate posts.

    I remember some months ago, I sent along a simlar post to the list 
urging interested parties to join the efforts to prevent Gale Norton's 
elevation to heading the Interior Department. I felt that her track record 
made her manifestly inappropriate for the job, and the past few months has 
given me no reason to doubt I was wrong in my original  judgment.   I sent 
my post to AT-L in the belief that folks ostensibly interested in the A.T. 
might want to help block the nomination of a sworn enemy to the environment 
to such an important position.  Wow, was I surprised----among the more 
memorable replies I got was one from one of AT-L's self-appointed guardians 
of propriety, who smugly informed me that that the material was improper, 
and that AT-L wasn't the right place for it. (This on a week when half the 
week's posts dealt with chit-chat, gossip, jokes, chili recipes, plans for a 
"virtual" get-together amongst friends, and so on, in other words, a 
perfectly typical week in which an awful lot of posts had little or nothing 
to do with the A.T.)

     Anyway, hats off to Rami, and I urge interested parties to get more 
information, and, if they wish, to contact their senators.  Non-interested 
parties can do as they wish, tho I must say that professing  interest in a 
National Scenic Hiking Trail seems rather at odds with supporting oil 
drilling in one of the world's great Nature preserves---how would these same 
folks feel about oil drilling or strip mining on the Trail iteself?  After 
all, we need the energy, right?  Or is only OK if it's far away in Alaska?

    And lastly, a few comments on one of Rami's critics, who mentioned that 
there was nothing underhanded about the Alaska drilling being an add-on 
rider to another bill---Rami's strident critic said that this wasn't 
unusual, "It's the way business is done" in Washington.  Well, all I gotta 
say to this is that it IS underhanded and dis-honest to vote on legislation 
this way, and the fact that "it's the way business is done" or that both 
Parties do it is irrelevant:  It doesn't make it right, it doesn't make it 
excusable, and it sure as hell doesn't mean we should just let it go.  This 
same critic also said that drilling will take place in the A.N.W.P. sooner 
or later anyway, so we may as well do it now.  Gee, how brave and spirited 
an attitude!  Right up there with "Most of Maine is gonna end up clearcut 
and developed anyway, so why fight it!" or "The ski resort people have all 
the money and influence; if they want to develop a particular mountain, 
they've eventually gonna get their way, so why waste time fighting them?"

    With such fainthearted attitudes as this, environmental protection 
measures in this country would end.   Across the country, and for decades, 
most of the significant legislation and protection initiatives came about 
because, and thru massive public support.  Whether it was saving the 
Everglades, or making sure the EPA was allowed to do its job, or forming new 
National Parks and Forests----all of this and more was achieved because 
enough private citizens got involved with the issues at hand, and more to 
the point, they let their legislators know how they felt. And sometimes, 
they got involved in causes that were widely viewed as "lost ones."  To 
merely snivel "It's gonna happen sooner or later anyway, so let's do it 
properly now and get it over with!" is nothing more than abject surrender.  
The drilling is NOT a foregone conclusion----and it's not a black/white, 
Democrat/Republican issue---even such arch-conservatives as Bob Smith in New 
Hampshire acknowledges that it's a dreadful idea, and would, in fact, buy us 
very little time as far as increasing our petroleum reserves.  I think 
Smith, as head of the Committee on the environment, is probably more 
knowledgable about this than the "expert" lister who felt otherwise, and who 
stated that those suggesting that the Alaska oil offerred a very short-term 
supply were nothing better than liars.  Sorry, I'll go with John Kerry and 
Bob Smith, the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, the League of 
Conservation Voters, on this one.

    Ahhh, enough of this.  Rami, you did just fine bringing this matter to 
the list.  There are undoubtedly those who feel otherwise.  They're entitled 
to their opinions, but you are just as entitled to yours.  If information 
like this can't be posted to a List allegedly devoted to a National Scenic 
Hiking Trail, and can't be posted to those who allegedly have an interest in 
preserving the natural wonders of this country, then where, I wonder, is an 
appropriate place for such comments?

     In closing---it doesn't happen often, but occasionally the real world, 
in the form of national or international politics, intrudes on this list.  
Those who have no interest in getting involved in such matters have that 
right.  However, those who take it upon themselves to invite others to get 
educated and get involved on environmental matters that affect us all, well, 
they are to be applauded.  Nice work, Rami.



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