Bush Administration Bears It All

Check out this article in the Washington Post about the Bush Administration's challenge of hard-fought measures to protect grizzly bears by allowing a permit for silver and copper mines in a wilderness area. It would be the first major mining project allowed beneath a wilderness area.

And there's this, a political phenomenon that is becoming all too common in this administration:

Now, the Bush administration -- more than any White House in the past 28 years -- has been willing to take on the charisma of the big bears. The administration has made land-use decisions that it describes as sensible and scientifically based while largely ignoring howls from environmental groups about how those actions will harm Ursus arctos horribilis.

As a consequence, a painstakingly won consensus among federal experts and environmentalists about what is needed to protect grizzlies is breaking down. Some federal wildlife managers concede that, when it comes to grizzlies, no one trusts them anymore.

Come on guys, we're just talking silver and copper here. Surely there's some "threatening" country we can invade and leave our grizzly's in peace.