Ducks and Cover
August 17th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
It looks like President Bush, currently enjoying a “working vacation” on the wild preserves of Crawford Ranch, has caught a bit of the hunting bug. Pray this goes better than Dick Cheney’s last expedition. Rather than recklessly brandishing a shotgun, though, Bush seems to be indiscriminately wielding his executive-order pen. Today he released one titled “Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation,” and it’s confusing because it’s so vague:
The purpose of this order is to direct Federal agencies that have programs and activities that have a measurable effect on public land management, outdoor recreation, and wildlife management, including the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting opportunities and the management of game species and their habitat.
The order then provides a list of equally non-specific actions federal agencies should take, such as, “Consider the economic and recreational values of hunting in agency actions, as appropriate.” The only concrete enactment is a conference sometime in the next year to guage whether the goals of the order are being met. That should be scintillating.
So what in the world prompted this bit of Bush craziness? It looks like it was pre-emptive political CYA.
Bob Ricker, executive director of the D.C.-based American Hunters & Shooters Association, said he hadn’t even heard of the order until the Observer’s call tipped him off. But after checking things out, he’s hearing that “it’s basically political cover for Bush when he vetoes the Farm Bill.”
The bill, Ricker says, is “the key piece of legislation for hunting conservation,” and Bush is hoping this paltry order can prevent a backlash from hunters and other sportsmen, who have become major advocates for habitat preservation. Bush, for his part, has said the Farm Bill is too expensive. And even though hunting conservation is only a small part of the mammoth legislation, sportsmen are a constituency that Republicans are already trying to make amends with — before they get even angrier.
Ricker doesn’t think today’s offering will do the trick. “I think most hunters and most people who are pro-conservation will see right through it,” he said.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
If the President vetoes the farm bill it will be because it is laden with millions of dollars in subsidies for giant farming corporations that are already turning an outrageous profit due to the Ethanol boom. Don’t forget the President has restored, protected and conserved over 3 million acres of wetlands during his tenure which is the primary focus of the Conservation title of the farm bill. Not to mention the Presidents proposed regional watershed enhancement program, commitment to full reenrollment and extension of CRP and his innovative sodbuster proposal all of which would benefit farmers, ranchers and habitat alike. However, if you want to continue pandering to the big box farms perpetuating an artificial impact on trade at the expense of family farmers and ranchers, Have at it.