Pay to Play, Say Bureaucrats

It seems our Glorious Leader is not the only one skilled in "The Chicago Deal".

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar's minions are good at it, too.

They are shaking down the Border Patrol for millions of under-the-radar dollars meant to cover environmental damage stemming from their everyday duties along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Shaking down you and me, really. It's our tax dollars they are playing fast and loose with.

"The Department of Homeland Security, which houses the Border Patrol, last year signed a deal with Interior -- the administrator of America's park lands -- to cough up $50 million for environmental "mitigation" needed in the wake of the construction of a border fence. That was after DHS had already spent or committed millions more for expected environmental damage caused by the Border Patrol over the years."--Fox News

Here's some of the rat-holes that Interior is pouring money down:

-- $200,000 to study the extent of unauthorized vehicle routes in the habitat of Sonoran pronghorn, which are endangered.

-- $1.75 million to close and restore those vehicle routes.

-- $20,000 to move pronghorn back to the Valley of the Ajo if they don't migrate by themselves in three years.

-- $14,000 to do weekly aerial surveys of the pronghorn during the 2010 fawning season.

-- $35,000 for monitoring the maternity roosts of lesser long-nosed bats.

-- $140,000 to study "unknown roosts" for lesser long-nosed bats.

Never mind that the drug cartel convoys, the hordes of illegal immigrants with their trail of discarded trash, human wastes, abandoned possessions, and the beaten paths so many have worn through these areas.

Never mind that Americans cannot use their own national parks and wilderness areas.

Never mind that we have lost control of these areas to the drug cartels and human smugglers.

We gotta protect those bats and pronghorns. Kumbaya.

The environuts are feasting on this as well:

In talking about the funds chiseled out of the Border Patrol to pay for "mitigation" of environmental damage resulting from securing the borders as listed above, mentioning the towers which house cameras and other sensors, DOW weighs in.

Matt Clark, southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife(DOW), described those examples as "well-thought-out mitigation measures." He said the towers might not look harmful to the environment, but that the generators attached to them and the vehicle traffic necessary to maintain them make a dent."--Fox News

"If anything, he said Border Patrol should be putting up more money to pay for damage. He described the harm from the border fence as "insidious," separating species from their own kind as well as food and water supplies. Though not an ideal situation, he said the mitigation money can be used to purchase land elsewhere and preserve habitat for the affected species. "--Fox News

"I think mitigation dollars can be put to good use," he said."--Fox News

Time to ClearOurBrainZ !

There is legislation in the works to address this, and allow the Border Patrol to do it's job. But, it doesn't address the "fees" being charged the Border Patrol by Interior. The Border Patrol needs all it's resources just to do its job.They are supposed to be safeguarding our nation, not acting as a piggy bank for Interior and the evirodummies. Let's fix this legislation and face reality.

Don't get me wrong....I'm in favor of preserving these areas. I'm in favor of taking good care of the environment.

But people, and the security of our nation, must come first.

It won't do much good to preserve and protect these "sensitive" areas if they are overrun with drug convoys and hordes of illegals.

It won't do any good to protect these areas if we have ceded control of them to Mexico and the drug cartels.

People first.

Our nation's security first.

We can do both. Protect the environment, within reason, and secure the borders.

Bureaucratic infighting and empire building is unacceptable. All I see in this administration in finger pointing.

Where is the leadership?

Good question.

Your comments, please.

He Said, They Said--Say What?

White House energy adviser Carol Browner on Friday rejected accusations from a panel of experts who claim the administration misrepresented their views to justify a six-month ban on offshore drilling in response to the BP oil rig disaster.

"A blanket moratorium is not the answer," they wrote in a letter claiming Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar's report "misrepresents" their position. "A blanket moratorium will have the indirect effect of harming thousands of workers and further impact state and local economies suffering from the spill. We do not believe that punishing the innocent is the right thing to do. We encourage the secretary of interior to overcome emotion with logic," the experts, picked by the National Academy of Engineering, wrote. --Fox News

Lawmakers in the Gulf Coast region are saying the same thing, arguing against the moratorium imposed by the Obama administration.

Salazar has acknowledged that the moratorium was his decision, not theirs(the expert panel). Browner argued that the administration did nothing wrong.

Why did they(the administration) bother to consult the experts? Anyone know? To cover their butts?

Back to the show....

So, our illustrious Secretary has decreed that we shall not drill, pump, maintain, or explore. I'm sure that will solve everything, aren't you?

Let's just put tens of thousands more Americans out of work, shall we? That will make everything better, won't it?

What our "officials" are really doing is frantically trying to cover their butts after being caught with their pants down. Nothing makes an august functionary more angry than being tagged out for not doing their job. Look at Salazar now, "rallying the troops" down on the Gulf(at our expense, flown there by private Air Force jet, complete with 5-star service. You didn't think he was staying at the Motel 6, did you?).

Let us ClearOurBrainZ !

What are the facts?

The MMS failed to do their job. Witness the recent abrupt departure of the head of MMS. Who ya gonna call?

BP and the other companies involved dropped the ball big-time. They certainly didn't want this spill to happen, but somewhere, someone cut some corners. Now their chickens have come home to roost. You can bet that heads will roll, those who weren't barbecued in the explosion and fire on the doomed rig. A whole sequence of bad or poorly-considered decisions were made, snowballing into disaster.

The government is more in the way than assisting in the efforts to stop the leak and clean up the mess. Mostly they are just churning the water with rhetoric and demands, while being capable of actually doing little to solve the problem. Not just at the Federal level, but at the state and local level as well. Lot's of hot air, but not much accomplished. Unless, of course, you count the political grandstanding and sound bite opportunities they are indulging in at every opportunity.

Remember, the best people aren't in government, just the politically connected ones. The real talent works in the private sector, where the money is. We don't need over-rated government clerks and bean counters trying to tell engineers how to solve a problem. Oversight? Sure. Keeps them(industry) honest. Control? Nope. We need to make a profit to stay in business. The government is only good at loosing money. And wasting it.

Who ya gonna call? Even the Coast Guard admiral said the same on more than one occasion. He really made the "journalist" who asked that question look like an idiot, didn't he? I'll be he made some enemies in the press that day. They(the media) don't like it, either, when THEY get tagged as idiots, even though many of them obviously are.

BP is not liable, or should not be, for losses incurred because the Obama administration decided to kill all offshore drilling, the exact opposite of what their own experts recommended. The experts DID NOT recommend that. The Secretary of the Interior did, most likely at his boss's direction. It is ludicrous to expect BP to pay for losses they did not cause, but were caused by the stupid actions of our government. This kind of blame game politics is what we have come to expect from this administration. They are incapable of rational thought and actions. THEIR OWN EXPERTS told them NOT to shut down everything, but "Father Knows Best!", so they disregarded the information and advice they themselves asked for. Now we will all pay for their stupidity.

Your comments, please.