Environment
Remember the Spotted Owl? Apparently, not only are our efforts to save it failing miserably, . . . (subscriber link only):
The truth is that no one fully understands why the spotted owl continues to decline. The rise of the barred owl poses an unexpected, but not surprising, complication. If the natural world would just remain static, species preservation and ecological management would be far simpler. But Mother Nature relishes competition, and the barred owl is a fierce competitor. Are we really prepared to send armed federal agents into Northwest forests in search of barred owls?
But also, those failed effofts also cost many many jobs?
In the 1980s, before the owl was listed as threatened, nearly 200 sawmills dotted the state of Oregon, churning out eight billion board feet of federal timber a year. Today fewer than 80 mills process only 600 million board feet of federal timber. In Douglas County, for example, several mills dependent on federal timber have closed. Real unemployment in many Oregon counties exceeds 20%, double the national average.
Your tax dollars hard at work.
More evidence that a regulatory holiday would be a good way to get the economy moving.
This is just like the issue with the Delta Smelt in the Stupid State.
Environmentalists were able to get a left-wing whack job Federal Judge to turn the water off from the San Joaquin Delta that feeds the farmlands in the Central Valley (down to Bakersfield) because the Delta Smelt were dying. Of course this was done before any research was done to determine whether or not the water being sent down to the farmlands in the Central Valley was actually causing the death of the Delta Smelt. Bear in mind that the Delta Smelt is not native to California and was brought to the Delta in order to increase the salmon population in the SF Bay/Delta. The water was turned off two years ago and the Central Valley has become a dust bowl putting farmers, ranchers and illegal aliens (who liberals claim to love so much) out of work and out of their farms and ranches. Business such as car dealerships, farm equipment shops, etc have gone out of business. The place looks like a ghost town. And the prices of those fruits and vegetables that were being grown in the Central Valley have gone signficantly up because we are now importing those items from South America. U.C. Davis Researchers have submitted a research paper stating that there is no evidence that the water being released to the Central Valley Farmers is causing the death of the Delta Smelt. Of course the water has not been turned on since this report was submitted. California is the stupid state full of whack job environmentalists. The money, revenue and jobs that have been lost is beyond belief.
Liberalism is a mental illness.