Posted on 09/27/2009 6:57:22 PM PDT by AUH2O Repub
I just got done watching the Ken Burns National Parks special. This is a show by, for and about tree huggers. They must have said five or six times how much better the parks are in Government hands than being run by private enterprise. They made everyone that tried to keep the parks in private hands to be nothing but evil. This even extended to keeping the parks away from the states and in the hands of the feds. Nothing but socialist drivel.
Let’s hope Burns doesn’t set up a tent for Khadaffi in his back yard.
“Just like Niagara Falls”
Yes, how DARE folks create a series of ways for the rest of us to view and enjoy these natural wonders, and even make them useful for folks who may never otherwise see them. (the historical comment was about the hydrodam projects, BTW).
If you want to preserve something, let PRIVATE ENTERPRISE control it. You will end up with a surplus of whatever it was, whereas if the government looks after it, it WILL be destroyed eventually (see “the Tragedy of the Commons”)
The “Mustang Ranch” was a legal brothel and bar that was seized by the IRS for non-payment of taxes. As is required by law, the Fedgov tried to run it in order to keep it a salable asset for disposal.
It went bankrupt within two years of the tax default.
Do you honestly think that the very same government that couldn’t keep a whorehouse that sold whiskey running for any length of time is capable of running ANYTHING that matters? How about your HEALTH CARE, let alone a couple of pretty spots.
THINK, not “feeeeeeel”
Nice post...no arguments from me.
Some beautiful photography, movie and old stills.
Count me in the minority too. It was history and the parks would not have survived in private hands. I am glad they are here, they are our wonders.
John Muir was different, call him what you may, he beat to a different drummer, but good came from his work. I am glad.
I will never ever forget my first visit to Yosemite. We were unprepared. Had heard about it, drove out with just us and 3 kids. So beautiful we could not go back, spent night all of us in one room and no change of clothes, tooth brushes, etc.
Our next trip to the west coast, we were prepared and also went to Muir Woods. What beauty.
I’m in the same club with you.
“John Muir came off as a nutburger.”
________________
I read a biography on him, and some of his writings. Yes, he was eccentric, no doubt about it. But nosing around the wilderness was a good thing for an eccentric guy like him to do. He was the right guy to drum up excitement for our country’s natural beauty and interest in preserving it. Our country is lucky in that sometimes our highly eccentric and ambitious people manage to accomplish good things the rest of us would not.
The guy playing the guitar was probably Bobby Horton. http://www.ask.com/music/artist/Bobby-Horton/42669
He’s the man who spoke briefly right before the show. (glancing at his picture he looks a little like Levon Helm who’s the drummer for “The Band”)
Horton is from Alabama and plays civil war songs and such at a local festival here (dressed in period clothes). There was a write up of him in today’s Birmingham News. He actually plays guitar, banjo, trumpet and cello for this.
I don’t know what to think about this series. I think there has to be a balance. I’m no environmentalist and think most are over the top nutty. But at the same time I wouldn’t have wanted to see it ruined either - like I said- I would like a balance.
I definitely thought it ironic that they wanted to turn it into a national park to preserve it and have no issues corralling native Americans on reservations after seizing their land. And that’s what they call safeguarding it - the whole thing is just screwy.
Anyway the scenery was breathtaking. I thought about turning down the yaking narrators and just enjoying the beautiful scenery lol
Having just come from Yellowstone! I am glad the parks are preserved as is.
Been to Niagara falls and I would be sad to see that happen to Yellowstone.
Craters of the Moon is what you probably meant, it’s in Utah.
Go to the Smoky Mountains National Park. Great place.
Throughout the park are empty houses from the people who used to live there but were forced off by our Federal Govt.
In many cases it was done with very little compensation.
***
Before switching to Electrical Engineering in my senior year of college - I was a Forest Technology major ...
Had to take A LOT of Recreation Management courses - before you spout off about the government control of the parks, you MIGHT want to read the history and the legislative battles over them ...
My quesion is - do you think the parks are a good thing ???
If yes - then DON’T disparage the government control over them ...
In the 1800’s, private interests AND some of the states/territories wanted conrol of the parks. They wanted PROFITS - strip mining, cattle grazing, timber, etc.
IMAGINE what Yellowstone would look like today if they had gotten their hands on it ... Armageddon !!!
BTW: Those cabins you talk about in the parks ... Most of them were family properties that were paid for through Eminent Domain - BUT ALSO, the people living there were USUALLY grandfathered in until they died AND they DID NOT have to pay taxes AFTER the original transfer occurred ...
I would tend to agree. Many conservatives are not against everything owned by the government/public. Our national parks system is one example. That private industry can do it better is debatable. There is a small riverside park along the Mississippi south of where I live that was previously (and poorly) maintained by a county. The feds became involved, and the park is now much more attractive. Too many conservatives get into the government can’t do anything right mindset. Leave the national parks out of it. Unless of course they find large quantities of minerals (oil, gas) on some of the land. Then my opinion might change in an instant.
So you had management courses, good for you.
National and State parks are generally a very good thing. Confiscating someones land is generally not a good thing.
This isn’t about the vacant land that was made into a park. Its about peoples homes and farms that were confiscated and they were forced out. In some cases being told to burn their buildings before leaving.
“Yeah thousands of farmers were driven off the land for yellowstone LOL”
Don’t be an idiot.
Deserves a bump.
After awhile, I turned the sound off and watched the pretty scenery, too.
I’m all for the preservation of our natural wonders. Here’s a place that is trying to balance it out. I’m taking the tour next month. Check out the video on the website. Awesome. One dollar of every participant’s fee goes to preserving the Eastern Hemlock.
http://www.newrivergorgecanopytour.com/
Pelosi: Drilling in protected areas ‘a hoax’
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/pelosi-drilling-in-protected-areas-a-hoax-2008-07-10.html
Pelosi: Drilling in protected areas ‘a hoax’ By Jared Allen Posted: 07/10/08 01:28 PM [ET] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday shut the door on expanding oil and gas drilling beyond areas that have already been approved for energy exploration, drawing a clear distinction from her counterparts in charge of the Senate.
“This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax, it’s an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this administration” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. “It’s a decoy to punt your attention away from the fact that their policies have produced $4-a-gallon gasoline.”
Read more at thehill.com ...
If it’s a hoax, why not allow it? The evil oil companies would just be throwing their money away, right?
Before watching Burns’s documentary, I had a higher opinion of Muir. Burns turned him into the patron saint of animism, a worshiper of creation rather than the creator; this, despite the fact that Muir had committed the entire New Testament to memory.
My take, from reading Muir, is that he became a nature-worshipper, in the mode of the Transcendentalists like Emerson. He had a terrible upbringing under his father, who was mean and rigid. It left him with a bitter misunderstanding about the Christian religion. He may have memorized the text of the New Testament, but when it mattered in his upbringing, he did not have the experience of a loving Christian family. He did not have the consolation of the faith, only the words. Very sad.
One less severe example of his upbringing that I remember was that his father thought all his scientific curiosity was a big waste of time. He wanted to build a clock, and his father told him he could not waste any of his free time during the day on something that useless. The next night, like around 2:00 a.m., his parents heard a little noise downstairs, and came to investigate. Muir had forced himself to wake up so that he could work on his project, and he was going at it. His mom intervened that time with his dad and said, “you did tell him he couldn’t waste daylight, and so he is not.”
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