Yup, war on bears.
We've all heard McCain's attacks on earmarks. One of the earmarks he absolutely adores to rail on is collecting DNA for grizzlies.
One of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) favorite examples of government abuse is a multimillion-dollar study of the Montana grizzly bear population by the U.S. Geological Survey. In a recent campaign ad, he attacks "wasteful spending by Congress," giving the example of "$3 million to study the DNA of bears." On the stump, McCain goes further, joking, "I don’t know if it was a paternity issue or criminal, but it was a waste of money."
What McCain is too daft to realize is that the study of DNA concerns population size of bears. The USGS Northern Divide Bear Projects countered with this
Grizzly bears in northwest Montana are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. But Kendall’s project — the results of which will be published soon in a scientific journal — revealed that there are more grizzlies than anyone had realized. That suggests that three decades of conservation efforts, costing tens of millions of dollars, have paid off
God forbid that McCain actually educate himself on something concerning environmentalism and conservation. Oh, but with his selection today of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin he continues his scary meme.
The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, has argued that global warming and the reduction of polar ice severely threatens the bears’ habitat and their existence. In fact, there is insufficient evidence that polar bears are in danger of becoming extinct within the foreseeable future — the trigger for protection under the Endangered Species Act. And there is no evidence that polar bears are being mismanaged through existing international agreements and the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The state takes very seriously its job of protecting polar bears and their habitat and is well aware of the problems caused by climate change. But we know our efforts will take more than protecting what we have — we must also learn what we don’t know. That’s why state biologists are studying the health of polar bear populations and their habitat.
This was written in the NYT by Governor Palin herself. She essentially says, despite evidence to the contrary, that "we don't know if it would affect them!" Despite the fact that you know OIL SPILLS, HEATING FROM ENERGY LINES WOULD MELT ICE, AND THE DESTRUCTION OF FOOD SOURCES would be catastrophic towards the bears.
The Feds -- who eventually did add the bears to the list -- based their decision on models that showed all of Alaska's polar bears dead by 2050. The ice they hunt and mate on is melting and they'll fall in the water and drown.
But hey, my hubby works for BP and we want more money.