Subject: Small political diversion...
Date: Mar 31 09:42:43 1995
From: Don Baccus - donb at Rational.COM


You've probably heard that Patty Murray's amendment to the Senate
version of the salvage logging bill failed by a 48-46 vote.

Her amendment would've required the USFS and BLM to follow environmental
laws during the two year's covered by the bill. Its defeat means that
suspension of these laws (primarily the National Forest Management
Act and the ESA) for the next two years is assured unless Pres. Bill
vetos it. This suspension was publically opposed by fifty researchers,
including some well-known faculty types from around the country, on the
basis that scientific management of our forests is, well, a good thing.

Sigh...

My purpose in posting this is to ask each of you Washington residents
to consider sending Ms. Murray a thank-you note. Though her amendment
didn't pass, her willingness to take a stand against suspending
the laws of the country is almost couragous, given the current political
climate. I suspect she'll be receiving a lot of brickbats, especially
given the fact that the most visible organizer of the "wise-use" movement
live in Longview, WA.

So supportive notes or calls are undoubtably more important than ever.

A Montana Congressman has already called upon Clinton to veto the
bill, so perhaps asking Ms. Murray to support a veto might also be
in order. Unfortunately it is part of the deficit reduction legislation
which has been so much in the news, so a veto might be politically
costly for Clinton, who hasn't exactly proven himself to be a rock
in tough times.

OK, back to birds...

-Don Baccus-