he realy f**king is trying

to do THE most damage he can before he leaves office (although some feel he will declare marshal law and NEVER leave)

Bush wipes out decades of US Forestry policy

Chris in Paris ·

Who needs the environment when condos can be slapped up and friends can make a handsome profit?

The deal was struck behind closed doors between Mark E. Rey, the former timber lobbyist who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, and Plum Creek Timber Co., a former logging company turned real estate investment trust that is building homes. Plum Creek owns more than 8 million acres nationwide, including 1.2 million acres in the mountains of western Montana, where local officials were stunned and outraged at the deal.

"We have 40 years of Forest Service history that has been reversed in the last three months," said Pat O'Herren, an official in Missoula County, which is threatening to sue the Forest Service for forgoing environmental assessments and other procedures that would have given the public a voice in the matter..............

you call it 'an unmitigated disaster'

i call it PAR FOR THE COURSE
Bush forest budget called disastrous
Lawmaker Calls Bush Forest Budget 'Unmitigated Disaster'
MATTHEW DALY AP News
A Bush administration spending plan that would slash money for the Forest Service could lead to massive layoffs at the agency charged with managing 193 million acres of national forests, Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday. Spending for the Forest Service would be cut by nearly 8 percent next year, to $4.1 billion, in a budget plan submitted by President Bush.
The plan could mean the loss of more than 2,700 jobs — nearly 10 percent of the agency's work force — as well as reductions in dozens of non-fire related programs, from road and trail maintenance to state assistance, land acquisition and recreation, lawmakers said.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairman of the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee, called the budget plan "an unmitigated disaster" that "would cause real harm to our 193-million acre national forest system."............

huh?

CASH STARVED FOREST SERVICE SPENDS $600,000 TO BUY TASERS — Devices Remain in Boxes Because Rangers Lack Training

Washington, DC — The U.S. Forest Service has bought $600,000 worth of “Electronic Control Devices” without any training program, rules for use or even a written explanation as to why the devices are needed, according to agency records posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The devices, known as Tasers, are sitting in storage and cannot be issued because the agency has yet to develop a training course.........

.......“There must have been a fire sale on Tasers, otherwise why would an agency buy 700 of them without a program, protocol or need?” asked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that the federal fiscal year ended September, around the time of the hurried single source purchase. “The Forest Service has many more pressing law enforcement priorities that should have received any end-of-fiscal-year surplus.”
In addition to the cost of training its entire law enforcement staff, the Forest Service may be assuming significant financial liability for injuries and deaths. In October, Amnesty International released a study estimating that 290 civilians have died from police use of Tasers since 2001..........

what would smokey say?

(smokey image from boingboing.net)