On 10/18/05, Indigo Nights <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Deb, here's the so what:  While some part of the
> procedure may not be completely new, it's the
> requiring that those hired mimic the "Bush agenda" on
> the environment that causes me concern.  I know a lot
> of folks get offended when one speaks of politics
> here, but you cannot address this without so doing.

And how is this different from any other museum with a director and a
board of directors that set policy and run it? The director of a
museum is charged with carrying out the policy and agendas set by the
board. No board of directors is going to hire someone that doesn't
agree with them or their policies. So why should the NPS hire people
that don't agree with its policy and agendas which are handed down
from the DOI and ultimately from Bush? Not saying that I agree with
said policies and agendas mind you; just saying that they aren't
requiring anything different from any other museum or federal agency
out there.

> So, yeah, there's a procedure that gets followed when folks get hired, the screening, the probing of philosophies (though you couldn't prove that much by the Roberts/Meirs documents), etc., but unlike the folks who work in the private sector who are to spout what the big boss wants spouted, these folks technically work for you and I (as naive as that may sound), and owe some responsibility to protect the
> environment, not pillage it.

Ah, see that's where you are confused. The NPS works for the Federal
governement, which works for congress and the president, who are
elected by the people. They work for "us" only in the sense that we
voted on the people that are their higher-ups. It's like voting for
the producer and director of a play and letting them choose the actors
and tech crew.

We have a voice in this through our congressmen who are supposed to
represent us to the president and the rest of the government. And like
any democratic society, majority rules. The NPS are subject to that
like any other federal agency. So if congress, which is supposed to be
the voice of the American people, chooses to cut land from the NPS, it
serves to reason that they do that because the American people want
them to do it. Again, I don't agree with a lot of what is going on
with the NPS but that's the way the system works.

> Gale Norton has enough problems explaining what happened and is happening to the Native American trusts.  She's not proven (in my book) very worthy to
> be entrusted with our environment.  I, personally, don't want a parrot hired that will squawk what she wants conveyed.

But again, she's essentially the head of a federal "board of
directors" and anyone under her is obligated to follow her policies
just like any other museum. The difference with the federal
government, is that because it's supposed to represent the American
people, we can speak out and let her know that we want something
different than what she is doing. Congress has the power to set new
policies and agendas for the DOI and the NPS. It has to go through the
whole bill approval process and get voted on and all that but we do
have the power to get things changed.

Again, I don't agree with the current state of the NPS, but I don't
see the new hiring requirements as anything shocking or different from
the rest of government. Since the NPS has essentially been ignored up
until now, getting it to get in line with the rest of the federal
agencies will cause a lot of heartburn but it isn't unreasonable. The
government can't say, "Oh we'll give you money, go ahead and do what
you want." It has to be responsible to the people that it represents.
If the people want to put up a shopping mall, the NPS needs to abide
by that. It's one of the trade-offs of having a democratic society.

deb

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