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How Obama Is Locking Up Our Land
· Saturday, August 14, 2010
Have you heard of the "Great Outdoors Initiative"? Chances are, you haven't. But across the country, White House officials have been meeting quietly with environmental groups to map out government plans for acquiring untold millions of acres of both public and private land. It's another stealthy power grab through executive order that promises to radically transform the American way of life.
In April, President Obama issued a memorandum outlining his "21st century strategy for America's great outdoors." It was addressed to the Interior Secretary, the Agriculture Secretary, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality. The memo calls on the officials to conduct "listening and learning sessions" with the public to "identify the places that mean the most to Americans, and leverage the support of the Federal Government" to "protect" outdoor spaces. Eighteen of 25 planned sessions have already been held. But there's much more to the agenda than simply "reconnecting Americans to nature."
The federal government, as the memo boasted, is the nation's "largest land manager." It already owns roughly one of every three acres in the United States. This is apparently not enough. At a "listening session" in New Hampshire last week, government bureaucrats trained their sights on millions of private forest land throughout the New England region. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack crusaded for "the need for additional attention to the Land and Water Conservation Fund -- and the need to promptly support full funding of that fund."
Property owners have every reason to be worried. The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a pet project of green radicals, who want the decades-old government slush fund for buying up private lands to be freed from congressional appropriations oversight. It's paid for primarily with receipts from the government's offshore oil and gas leases. Both Senate and House Democrats have included $900 million in full LWCF funding, not subject to congressional approval, in their energy/BP oil spill legislative packages. The Democrats have also included a provision in these packages that would require the federal government to take over energy permitting in state waters, which provoked an outcry from Texas state officials, who sent a letter of protest to Capitol Hill last month:
"In light of federal failures, it is incomprehensible that the United States Congress is entertaining proposals that expand federal authority over oil and gas drilling in state water and lands long regulated by states... Given the track record, putting the federal government in charge of energy production on state land and waters not only breaks years of successful precedent and threatens the 10th Amendment to the United Sates Constitution, but it also undermines common sense and threatens the environmental and economy security of our state's citizens."
This power grab, masquerading as a feel-good, all-American recreation program, comes on top of a separate, property-usurping initiative exposed by GOP Rep. Robert Bishop and Sen. Jim DeMint earlier this spring. According to an internal, 21-page Obama administration memo, 17 energy-rich areas in 11 states have been targeted as potential federal "monuments." The lives of coyotes, deer and prairie dogs would be elevated above states' needs to generate jobs, tourism business and energy solutions.
Take my home state of Colorado. The Obama administration is considering locking up some 380,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and private land in Colorado under the 1906 Antiquities Act. The Vermillion Basin and the Alpine Triangle would be shut off to mining, hunting, grazing, oil and gas development and recreational activities. Alan Foutz, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau, blasted the administration's meddling: "Deer and elk populations are thriving, and we in Colorado don't need help from the federal government in order to manage them effectively."
Indeed, the feds have enough trouble as it is managing the vast amount of land they already control. As the Washington, D.C.-based Americans for Limited Government group, which defends private property rights, points out: "The (National Park Service) claims it would need about $9.5 billion just to clear its backlog of the necessary improvements and repairs. At a time when our existing national parks are suffering, it doesn't make sense for the federal government to grab new lands."
The bureaucrats behind Obama's "Great Outdoors Initiative" plan on wrapping up their public comment solicitation by November 15. The initiative's taxpayer-funded website (http://ideas.usda.gov/ago/ideas.nsf/) has been dominated by left-wing environmental activists proposing human population reduction, private property confiscation, and gun bans, hunting bans and vehicle bans in national parks. It's time for private property owners to send their own loud, clear message to the land-hungry feds: Take a hike.
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Jeff Fryrear
This is new?? The government owns/controls too much land already. This is to support all of the agencies like BLM/USPS etc. Look at Utah for a good example of bad land policy. Parks yes, all open lands NO!
Posted August 14, 2010 at 8:37:46 AM
Victor
As sung by the Obama White House:
This land is MY land,
your land is MY land,
her land is MY Land,
All land will be MY land.
From the western acres
to the sunshine bakers,
NO land was made for you and you!
Posted August 14, 2010 at 9:27:11 AM
Slim
We have CZARs now, so of course our communist leaders weren't going to wait long to set up their own dachas. Just like Putin. Or are they really planning, as Hitler did, to set up several Dachaus to house us instead?
Posted August 14, 2010 at 9:39:07 AM
Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
Well, let us see now. They're trying to stuff more and more people into cities by controlling our ability to move about the country via private transportation. (cap and trade). They're grabbing up land for their own little fiefdoms,(new ruling on Eminent Domain in Kelso decision), but with just enough serfs to work it for them; heaven forbid they get their hands dirty. And finally they're taking away our financial freedoms by basically destroying the economy and creating a dependent class. (stimulus bills and the woeful summer of recovery)
Yep sounds like communism to me.
"Five year plans and new deals wrapped in golden chains" - John Fogerty - CCR
Posted August 14, 2010 at 10:11:28 AM
JJStryder
It is difficult not to degenerate into a flood of expletives when thinking about our own governments destruction of our American way of life. With so many intolerable acts committed and proposed in such a short time, they've got us spinning around looking for the place to take a stand. Our tolerance for such usurpation of our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor has to stop AND NOW! Sometimes I feel there is many people with us, then I look at election turnout, SEIU jerks and those in Atlanta rioting for a sheet of worthless paper, and, I admit, I have to wonder................
Posted August 14, 2010 at 11:27:58 AM
Frank E.
08/14/10
While KING BARRACK and QUEEN MICHELE enjoy their
Vacations transporting themselves and Friends in
their LUXURIOUS TAXPAYER AIRCRAFT to STATES and
COUNTRIES 5 STAR HOTELS and CLOSED BEACHES.While
telling their subjects to tighten their BELTS and
ride around in Economical sized AUTOS with
correctly inflated tires for better mileage.
Posted August 14, 2010 at 1:41:54 PM
sunforester
It's not just Obama who is locking up our natural resources on land. California is in full swing with locking up our oceans as well. Gov. Schwartznegger has given the green light to radical environmentalists to create marine parks and sanctuaries wherever they wish along the Pacific Coast. They are using the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) to turn our coastal waters into aquariums where no one can walk on the beach, surf, fish, sail or kayak. This is going to put thousands of commercial fishermen and tourist towns along the Pacific Coast out of business.
This is a completely corrupt process which gives the environmentalists freedom to usurp our rights to access our natural resources however they want. Schwarznegger cut a deal with the environmentalists: they got the Pacific Ocean to do with as they please, and Schwartznegger gets to build the peripheral canal to increase water transfers to Southern California, without any objections or lawsuits from the environmentalists.
Posted August 14, 2010 at 3:11:07 PM
USMC Vet OIF
Well, our Founding Fathers would have been livid by now. In their day the government sold property, now they muscle it from the people so no one can have it. Oh, and you know there will be taxes so we can pay for this grand new government land. Ive had enough of this federal conquest of power. I am sick of them trampling on us and our Constitution. They descreetly yank our freedoms away from us from behind closed doors.
"The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance. " Thomas Paine
Posted August 14, 2010 at 3:19:35 PM
M Rick Timms, MD
They want it so no-one can use it- at all. How is that reconnecting Americans to nature?? The doublespeak is infuriating.
Hunters and fishermen pay for conservation - they have a vested interest - yet they are vilified by the green leftists. I will spend next week on Colorado Mountain trails - that are maintained and preserved by off-road motorcycle and 4-wheel enthusiasts (riding muffled, spark and sound controlled vehicles in order to protect the wilderness and the solitude of others)
November simply cannot come fast enough. These people are deceitful and corrupt, and they must be stopped by controlling congress, defunding their efforts and then by repeal of legislation. These Obama laws are some convoluted and intrusive that they cannot be addressed piecemeal. They must be repealed in entirety - and replaced.
Posted August 14, 2010 at 3:48:47 PM
MichaelSSEC
Americans for Limited Government is right. This scheme does not make sense. Except as a salve to angry Leftists who see Obama as not radical ENOUGH for suit their agendas. As Ms Malkin observes, they're loading up the website with far-Left ideas like private property grabs, gun bans and human population reduction.
Human population reduction.
That's an old Progressive idea dating back to the early 20th century. It walks hand in hand with Eugenics, another Progressive idea. HPR is not simply government policy that encourages people to have fewer children. Its goal is actual reduction in population.
The idea starts with the assumption that, of course, humans are bad. It's needful to remember that Leftists are consumed with self-loathing, and they often express this as hatred for their own species. Thus, anything and everything humans do on this planet is de facto BAD. So the best way to help the planet is to reduce the number of humans living on it. You can see this desire in documentaries and Hollywood films, wherein humans are the bad guys who cause the destruction of the planet, which immediately reverts to its post-human state of perfection without us nasty creatures mucking up the place.
How do you achieve population reduction? Promote abortions among "undesirable" groups. Enact health care "reform" that denies services to people deemed to derive less benefit (the elderly, for example). Enact programs to screen couples for "undesirable" conditions, such as bad genetic makeup (a la "Gattaca"). The list goes on.
Where does such a mindset end? Well, we need not speculate. We already have instructive examples of where this Leftist mentality is headed. The Soviet Union exterminated upwards of 20 million "undesirable" persons. The Chinese under Mao liquidated 60 million unwanted citizens, under myriad pretexts that started out much like these Progressive proposals.
The radicals in the Obama administration have written extensively on their horrifying policies. We don't need to speculate on their motives or intentions; they have told us, boldly and at length.
We need only listen. And put a stop to their power grabs while we still have an America to save.
Posted August 14, 2010 at 4:32:09 PM
Howard Last
Did anyone say secession? They are coming after Wyoming because of oil deposits in the southeast part of the state. One way to fight this, have any federal official that enters the state report to the county sheriff. He must then show a warrant that states what he is allowed to do. If he does not report to the sheriff a year and a day in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Posted August 14, 2010 at 6:05:27 PM
kev
If the citizens, also known as taxpayers, don't support it, they go to the courts. If they can't get it through congress, they use backdoors such as this one. I hope the voters in this country soon realize that this administration is ruling, not governing. This is NOT the people's government, but is in the hands of radical leftwingers, socialists and marxists, who, if they are not stopped by THE VOTE, will have their way. What more do people need to see before they open their eyes?
Posted August 15, 2010 at 10:38:07 AM
NowOrLater
A revolution now would be a lot less bloody than one AFTER they steal the very last personal freedoms we still have left.
Posted August 15, 2010 at 11:39:07 AM
Seraphim_72
"that are maintained and preserved by off-road motorcycle and 4-wheel enthusiasts (riding muffled, spark and sound controlled vehicles in order to protect the wilderness and the solitude of others)"
From a group of people that screamed their fool heads off when the regulations to spark and sound control were proposed. Oh, and then they yelled about the tax imposed to pay for their footprint on the land. God forbid that they pay for their own wear and tear, I mean a tax? How horrible,
Posted August 15, 2010 at 11:15:02 PM
Connie
Just because a government program or plan is "incomprehensible" or "doesn't make sense," is no reason for the nuts in DC not to do it. In fact, that is generally the reason to do it; cases in point: Obamacare, spendulus, Government Motors, financial "reform," suing Arizona, tax hikes for "the wealthy," etc. ad infinitum.
The bottom line for BO and his minions is complete government takeover of the entire nation. You and I are just chattel.
Posted August 16, 2010 at 2:01:08 AM
M Rick Timms, MD
Seraphim72- The off-roaders I know have no problem protecting the land they use and the rights of hikers and cyclists that use the same areas. I will be with a group that has raised millions of dollars for Colorado communities, and has physically helped to clear and maintain the trails that all visitors to these areas are able to use. Sensible regulation and use fees are not a problem -- but expanding the limitations on access is.
The Government Land grab will simply lead to more Restriction, limited access and Regulation that pushes the limit of "Sensible". Maybe they want to restrict motorized vehicles first - then hikers and cyclists. It all depends on whose rights we are wanting to limit - doesn't it?
My point is that it is often the folks using the natural resources such as wilderness trails, and wildlife refuges that do the most to support their protection and maintenance, not the Federal government regulators and green advocates who would limit use and access according to their concept of "sensible".
It is the public access to and responsible use of "park" lands by all outdoorsmen that make them such a valuable resource. The Feds will grab land, make rules and impose regulation according to an agenda, that likely does not reflect yours or mine, and will not enhance the resource in any significant way. When they prohibit the use of cameras with Motor-drives, it will be too late to complain.
Posted August 16, 2010 at 8:15:36 AM
Jody
Our Country is being stolen by polititions who stand and swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America when their every intention is to destroy everything it stands for. Use your vote at local, state, and federal elections to take America back.
Posted August 16, 2010 at 11:55:12 AM
Colorado Pete
Some excellent comments here.
The environmental left does not want the public to use its public lands at all, they want the public locked out of it so as to "protect" the land from those evil human footprints. Heaven forbid the public should enjoy public lands! After all, they are sacred preserves for only the anointed elite leftists in government and environmental clubs. The great unwashed masses (who happen to live right next door to these lands) are not welcome.
Here in CO I see more and more dirt road closures on BLM and National Forest lands. Not a good sign (literally)!
Posted August 16, 2010 at 1:46:25 PM
Charlie Lyon
The question I have is this: are the Obamonites/Progressives/Marxists using those locked up lands as collateral on foreign debt? If our dollar falls to the point where no one wants it, you know what they would want: Land and other USA assets!
Posted August 16, 2010 at 2:06:12 PM
karl anglin
I went to the woods because I wished to live
deliberately, to front only the essential
facts of life, and see if I could not learn
what it had to teach, and not, when I came to
die, discover that I had not lived.
------Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Posted August 16, 2010 at 2:46:03 PM
Brian
If these Left-wing wackos want to reduce the population because they "hate" mankind, why don't they show us the way and volunteer for the gas chambers?
Posted August 16, 2010 at 5:55:20 PM
azcIII
I think Wyoming has the right idea. The states can use their nasty little precedent of eminent domain against them.
Posted August 16, 2010 at 9:20:03 PM
curt
I recently mailed a courteous letter to the superintendent of Great Smokey Mountains National inquiring when the historical Mingus Mill water driven turbine will be repaired. It appeared to have been partially dismantled, but no repairs effected. If the U.S. cannot maintain historic landmarks competently, how will it manage all those lands it wants to acquire? P.S. No response in six weeks from Great Smokey Mountains N.P. headquarters on my inquiry.
Posted August 16, 2010 at 10:19:30 PM
Clint
"As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families." --John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1814
Posted August 17, 2010 at 3:08:49 PM
M Rick Timms, MD
"As long as Divorce exists, half of a Gentleman's Property may disappear without cause or recourse, in exchange for acquired Knowledge and Experience". -- Rick Timms, letter to John Adams, 2010
Posted August 17, 2010 at 8:42:40 PM
JAMES J. BILENKI JR. (USN. RET.)
You want to reduce the population? How about starting with Obama and his wife, Pelosi, Reid, Feinstein, Schumer, Kerry, Lautehberg, Dodd, Frank, Clinton, Rush, Waters, Conyers, Cummings, Jackson, Cardin, Mikulski, McCarthy, Boxer, etc, ad nausem!!!
You want to confiscate land? How about starting with Pelosi's, Clinton's, and all the other socialist/communist commissars? Hey Obongo administration...TAKE A FREAKIN' HIKE!!! And don't come back!!!
Posted August 18, 2010 at 1:23:02 AM
Sewing Susie
Dr. Rick, I'm sorry you've had a bad experience, but we're going a bit off topic here--but i'd like to put in my 2c worth if i may--not to be too rude, but i'd like to point out that until just the last century, a man could marry a woman of means, then divorce her, and any property she brought into the marriage was entirely his, and so were the children, and she was left with NOTHING.
In fact, up until the last century in this and a few other countries, women have been nothing more than the property of their men, and have been treated accordingly. A moslem woman can't even consider such a thing, and if she did her husband could beat her into submission or even kill her.
As i have pointed out to my husband, if the pendulum hadn't swung so far one way for so long, it wouldn't be swinging so far back the other way.
You guys have had almost 6000 years of having it all, and now you whine about less than a century of having half of it.
Is it any wonder that the Sovereign Creator of the universe said "I HATE divorce!"?
Posted August 24, 2010 at 7:17:21 PM
karl anglin
Parody of This Land is Your Land
(with apologies to Woody Guthrie)
This land may be your land
I say it's my land
From the redwood forests
To the New York islands
This land was made for me and me
Posted November 3, 2010 at 4:50:25 PM