[at-l] Respect For AT Wildness Values

[rafe.bustin@verizon.net (Raphael Bustin)]

At 10:02 PM 5/27/2002 -0400, Bryan Kramer wrote:


>I never read any of the accounts you mention the one I did read was in
>Foxnews:
>
>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,31371,00.html
>
>Which applies less spin to make the forest service look fumbling but
>blameless, the fact is that whether the ESA blocked use of the water or
>not the Clinton era functionaries refused to save four men's lives
>rather than disturb some fish. I personally cannot imagine taking such
>an action, I'd like to think that I'd order the helicopters in even if
>it meant that I would be prosecuted for fishcide. A lot of
>environmentalist would prefer to save the fish.


Excuse me, but the fire was July 10, 2001.  Shrub had been in
office for six months.  The memo which *directs* the firefighters
to protect their safety *first* was in fact written by "Clinton era
functionaries,"  back in 1995.  Why wasn't that memo known to
the personnel in question?  It appears that you're putting your
own prejudices before the facts, as this issue is clearly discussed,
even in the Fox news version of the story.

You ignore several other critical facts and stand by the rather
dubious conclusion that blind adherence to ESA was the primary,
or sole cause of those four deaths.  As a matter of fact, the following
URL

http://www.safnet.org/archive/wildfire1101.htm

discusses the results of the follow-up investigation cited in the Fox news
article.  In that investigation, the delay in acquiring water was cited as
an "influencing" rather than a direct "causal" factor in the deaths.

Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO), the scumbag making the accusations
against the ESA in the Fox news article, has a long, well established anti-
environmental record, as you can see for yourself at
http://www.vote-smart.org

He gets a 15% rating from the League of Conservation voters,
and an 88% rating from the "Competitive Enterprise Institute."
I suspect Mr. McInnis would be quite content to see spotted owls
and snail darters wiped from the face of the earth.


>Not in this country but indicative of the same mindset was the shark
>death down under, the same sort of people announced that even though
>they knew which shark was the killer and where it was that they would
>take no action against it since it was an endangered species and the
>diver should have known he was placing his life in harms way when he
>choose to enter the water. Again a critter is more important then a
>human life.


I never heard anyone claim that sharks were endangered.  That's
preposterous.  Where do you get this stuff, Bryan?


rafe b.