Steve Herman:
> But one day the lady in L.A. called her
> Godfather (R. Reagan) and told him they had to get all those birds behind
> bars. He called Ed Meese, who called the head of the U.S. F&W Service,
> and it wasn't long before the traps were laid, the choppers aloft...


> one of the noblest of the bird spirits that haunted the skies of southern
> California was dead, murdered by ornithological Lieutenant Calleys, all of
> them doubtless well-intentioned.

Aren't these two statements in conflict? Aren't you first claiming that
it was a failure of American politics, not the ornithological community
or the professionals at USF&W that were overruled?

Do you believe that Lieutenant Calley had the interests of the Vietmanese
he slaughtered at heart? I don't. If the policy to bring in the
condors was wrong, the ornithological community didn't do it out of
hatred for the condor, but out of ignorance. It wasn't their intent
to slaughter the condor. Calley knew that pulling the trigger on
his M-16, and ordering his men to do the same, when the weapons were
pointed at unarmed men, women and children would cause their death.

There's a real difference here.

The ad hominem attack only detracts from the credibility of the point
of view you put forward.

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>