5 Replies to “Federal Carpetbaggers”

1. Ernst Schreiber says:

   June 27, 2011 at 10:49 am

   I’m sympathetic to the “never let a crisis go to waste” aspect here. But in fairness to the Army Corps(e) of Engineers, it’s not their fault that the Upper Missouri basin got a year’s worth of rain in approximately three weeks, or that mountain snow pack has been slow to melt, or that the Lake Oahe resevoir picked up a million additional acre-feet in two or three days last week.

   This concensus! driven climateology is hard stuff. Who could have predicted that global warming would cause cooler, wetter summers on the upper plains?

2. Blake says:

   June 27, 2011 at 10:57 am

   When I first glanced at the headline, I thought it said “Feral Carpetbaggers” and went what?

   After reading the blog post, I realized Feral isn’t really that far off.

3. geoffb says:

   June 27, 2011 at 11:13 am

   To be fair and give credit where it is due.

   [A]fter about thirty years of operation, as the environmentalist movement gained strength throughout the seventies and eighties, the Corps received a great deal of pressure to include some specific environmental concerns into their MWCM (Master Water Control Manual, the “bible” for the operation of the dam system).
   […]
   An idea to restore the nation’s rivers to a natural (pre-dam) state swept through the environmental movement and their allies.
   […]
   The Clinton administration threw its support behind the change, officially shifting the priorities of the Missouri River dam system from flood control, facilitation of commercial traffic, and recreation to habitat restoration, wetlands preservation, and culturally sensitive and sustainable biodiversity.

   Congress created a committee to advise the Corps on how best to balance these competing priorities. The Missouri River Recovery and Implementation Committee has seventy members. Only four represent interests other than environmentalism. The recommendations of the committee, as one might expect, have been somewhat less than evenhanded.

   The Corps began to utilize the dam system to mimic the previous flow cycles of the original river, holding back large amounts of water upstream during the winter and early spring in order to release them rapidly as a “spring pulse.”

   First set the stage for a crisis to occur. Then make sure you don’t let it go to waste. If possible use the new “solution” to create the next crisis. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

4. Spiny Norman says:

   June 27, 2011 at 11:32 am

   Oh look! It’s Goldfinger rearing his ugly head.

   Seriously, George Soros is a living embodiment of the clichéd “evil greedy capitalist crushing the little guy”, yet he is a fucking saint to the progressive left.

5. geoffb says:

   June 27, 2011 at 11:38 am

   “Corporate-Government Partnership” Spiny, “Corporate-Government Partnership.”

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