Cheney: The Defenition of Compassionate Conservatism

The Final Chapter of the Cheney story in Wednesday's Washington Post discusses his true concern: saving the planet and its species from destruction...oh wait, by 'saving' I meant 'complete disregard for' and by 'from' I meant ' and assuring their'. Sorry, sometimes I get a little confused after reading something so shocking and frigthening that I actually forget the meaning of words...I will quote only parts of the article that pertain to one case - known as the Klamath case in Oregon. It must be read to be believed...

"In Oregon, a battleground state that the Bush-Cheney ticket had lost by less than half of 1 percent, drought-stricken farmers and ranchers were about to be cut off from the irrigation water that kept their cropland and pastures green. Federal biologists said the Endangered Species Act left the government no choice: The survival of two imperiled species of fish was at stake.

"Law and science seemed to be on the side of the fish. Then the vice president stepped in. First Cheney looked for a way around the law, aides said. Next he set in motion a process to challenge the science protecting the fish, according to a former Oregon congressman who lobbied for the farmers."

"Because of Cheney's intervention, the government reversed itself and let the water flow in time to save the 2002 growing season, declaring that there was no threat to the fish. What followed was the largest fish kill the West had ever seen, with tens of thousands of salmon rotting on the banks of the Klamath River."

"Characteristically, Cheney left no tracks...(this case) is one of many in which the vice president took on a decisive role to undercut long-standing environmental regulations for the benefit of business. "

"When the lead biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service team critiqued the science academy's report in a draft opinion objecting to the plan, the critique was edited out by superiors and his objections were overruled, he said. The biologist, Michael Kelly, who has since quit the federal agency, said in a whistle-blower claim that it was clear to him that "someone at a higher level" had ordered his agency to endorse the proposal regardless of the consequences to the fish."

"Last summer, the federal government declared a "commercial fishery failure" on the West Coast after several years of poor chinook returns virtually shut down the industry, opening the way for Congress to approve more than $60 million in disaster aid to help fishermen recover their losses. That came on top of the $15 million that the government has paid Klamath farmers since 2002 not to farm, in order to reduce demand."

So let me get this straight: Cheney gets the restrictions on water use lifted to benefit farmers for political gain and to the detriment of the fish population in the region. Next, the commercial fishery failure in Oregon is linked to this move, forcing the government to dole out $60 million to the fishermen AND $15 million to those same farmers to NOT grow their crops in order to reduce demand. This, my friends, is what is known as a complete circle of disaster, where the results are thousands of dead fish and $75 million of taxpayer money spent to keep one industry on life support and another to NOT do what they do. Wow.