I Suppose The Wild Fires Are Gray Davis's Fault Right.

[DEM FAN]

:-(

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. Actually this should put the lie to "healthy forests" logging policy

These fires should disprove that whole timber industry notion of cutting to avoid fires. The fact is if it's dry enough there are going to be fires.

[LoneStarLiberal]

4. I Thought Of the Same This Morning

As I was getting ready for work I thought about the Healthy Forests initiative and how these kinds of fires wouldn't be prevented under said initiative.

The HFI *could* be a very useful, very germane piece of legislation if it was properly formulated.

Unfortunately it's like most of what we have seen from this administration when it comes to the environment: More teat-suckling corporate welfare for Bush's pimps.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Especially since the fires were spread by DEAD trees due to a

bark beetle infestation NOT the healthy ones they would cut to fund Bush's cronies.

[pmbryant]

10. Of course this won't stop them

Ignoring reality, the GOP always uses forest and brush fires to push forward their old-growth, healthy-tree logging plans.

Meanwhile, they do nothing to actually try to control the intensity of real fires before they happen.

:puke:

--Peter

[Clete]

14. We who try to protect the wilderness know

that much of the brush that needs to be cleared is not the trees the logging industry wants. So we all know that the healthy forest initiative is crap from the get go.

My husband mentioned that the construction industry should have a windfall though replacing all the burned out housing.

[Clete]

12. AND the bark beetle infestation is because of the lack

of genetic diversity from the second and third growth replanted after extreme logging practices in the last century.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. that's a huge point to be considered

I hope the HFI foes are all over this right now so we can get something positive done against the logging lobby.

[sandnsea]

18. Be Prepared!!!

We re going to hear this. The plan is for logging companies to take the healthy ones in order for them to make enough profit in order to take the dead ones too. If memory serves, they can use some of these dead beetle trees for pulp and other purposes. They are going to be screaming healthy forests from coast to coast after this, mark my words.

Clete's got the right answers. Logging has caused this and won't fix it. New forest management to create diverse forests and increased funding to do true urban interface thinning is the only answer.

[screwfacecapone]

2. actually...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35279

According to the right, it's a plot of Alqueda. You know what that means, More red alerts and patriot act prosecution.

[newyawker99]

20. Hi screwfacecapone!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[zbdent]

3. Quick, Ahnuld!!! Take the oath of office!

Scare those flames into submission!!

Cut their taxes!!!

Cut the benefits of the firefighters risking their lives for multi-millionaires' homes!

[salin]

8. you will have to get him to come back from Las Vegas

he was doing the Mr Olympia thing this weekend - celeb spot for the new winner. Who needs to deal pretending to be concerned about the safety of Californians... the election is over...

[wtmusic]

5. No, Clinton's.

Everything is Clinton's fault. The Spanish Inquisition? Clinton's fault. It's not hard to remember.

[phaseolus]

7. A lot of those hills are "chapparal", which have burned every 50 years

for millenia. It's just part of the ecosystem, and houses just shouldn't be built in places like that if you expect them to be around for a while. When these are gone, these areas ought to be treated like some of those flood plains in the midwest where you just can't build anymore.

Next spring, after the wet season, those hills are going to be breathtakingly beautiful with blooming wildflowers. I'm told a lot of seeds will only sprout after a good burn.

Looks like Mother Earth is bigger than any real estate developer.

[pmbryant]

13. This is true.

It is amazing seeing the process of nature recovering from a fire.

I saw it myself in the hills above Altadena in the years after the horrific 1993 fires.

:-)

--Peter

[slackmaster]

9. Fires happen here - Usually started by careless people

It appears that the biggest one (Cedar) was started by a dumbass hunter who got lost and tried to set a signal fire. We haven't had measurable rain in over 170 days.

The last major fire in that area was set off by a dumbass smoker who tossed a burning butt from his car into a patch of dry grass (which is the only kind we usually have around here.) That one started in January, when big fires are not expected.

And then there was the Pines (?) fire last summer, set off by a dumbass National Guard helicopter pilot clipping a power line while on a drug interdiction mission (i.e. looking for pot plants in peoples' back yards).

The Mother of All San Diego County fires happened in 1970 - the Laguna Fire. It was started by a dumbass Native American 12-year-old girl who let a campfire get out of control.

It takes all kinds. We have plenty of dumbasses and plenty of stuff to burn around here.

[radwriter0555]

11. No no no, bill clinton's penis started them... along with terrorists from

guantanamo bay, who, even though they've been held hostage for 2 years, still had secret, inside information about terrorists starting fires in the US west!

[Wapsie B]

15. Slick Willy did it again.

He was acting on orders from the Illuminati.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tempest]

17. Arnold will use this as his 9/11

He'll use the fires to justify not balancing the budget deficit and continuing them for the next 5 years.