File under, 'ya can't make it up': Warning: Endangered polar bears threaten ‘all 50 states.’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/27/warning-endangered-polar-bears-threaten-all-50-states/

Warning: Endangered polar bears threaten ‘all 50 states.’

As the Bush administration considers adding the polar bear to the endangered species list, the Western Business Roundtable (run by a former employee of Vice President Cheney) recently sent out a rabble-rousing e-mail warning of the “major new threat to all businesses/industries” if the polar bear is added:

Environmental extremists and activist lawyers are pushing the federal government to add the Polar Bear to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) list. Such a listing would have major negative implications for virtually every business and industry operation in the United States. The ESA is a very powerful law and could subject virtually any human activity in ALL 50 STATES to review and regulation by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) bureaucrats if the Polar Bear is listed as threatened or endangered. This will essentially declare “open season” for environmental lawyers to sue to block virtually any project that involves carbon dioxide emissions.

[IChing]

1. Inside the secretive plan to gut the Endangered Species Act

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2783304

[Debi]

2. Yep, them polar bears here in Iowa will threaten us all!

Here's one now mauling young children at a 2006 Earth Day event



On edit:
Sorry, wrong link :blush:

[TX-RAT]

3. It's already illegal to hunt Polar bears in the US.

[mike_c]

4. this means that legitimate land development in, say, Texas...

...can be threatened if environmental terrorists activists can show that polar bears or their habitat might be harmed.

:rofl:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. Hmm, and they thought the Golden-cheeked warblers were a pain in their development

Now they have to worry about polar bears too!

[earth mom]

15. So environmentalists are terrorists, hmm?

Nice rethuglican meme you've got there-NOT! :grr:

[mike_c]

24. oh for crying out loud, doesn't anyone understand sarcasm anymore...?

I mean, POLAR BEARS IN TEXAS! CLUE!

[KamaAina]

5. This has got to go on Colbert's "Threatdown!"

Threat No. 2: Polar bears! :rofl:

[dflprincess]

9. Bears are Godless killing machines and the number 1 threat to America

:rofl:

[KamaAina]

11. That's right! They eat saints!

although I would imagine polar bears would only eat polar saints; Sts. Columba, Coumbkill, etc. are fairly close, as are all the Russian ones, but I think the New Orleans variety is safe.

Threat #1: Falcons! :-)

[Der Blaue Engel]

6. Oh, so they're ADMITTING that the most immediate threat to polar bears is from global warming

and that industrial carbon dioxide emissions would clearly be seen as the cause of global warming.

Very telling.

[yardwork]

7. A threat to polar bears would stop development in North Carolina cold!

It would shut down our state's economy! Polar bears run rampant here and they breed like rabbits! It's already taking your life in your hands to sit outside on your deck in the evening - polar bears have been known to snatch dogs, cats, and amazon parrots right out of their owner's arms!

People who think that polar bears are sweet and cuddly are WRONG! They're a serious threat here, right up there with penguins. We're overrun! Federal protection would smash this state's economy.

I'm series. This is hugh. Protect polar bears and North Carolina is screwn.

[earth mom]

16. Not funny, not funny at all.

:eyes:

[alfredo]

28. They are also forcing down wages and overrunning our

social services. Would you want one to marry your daughter?

[tehehehe]

10. If you drive an SUV...

You are a threat to polar bears! If you have your air-conditioner set below 77, you are a threat to polar bears! If you fail to use public transit, you are a threat to polar bear habitat! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[earth mom]

17. Welcome to DU-enjoy your stay.

:eyes:

[frazzledmom]

22. Yes, the Western Business Alliance is worried about YOU

They are not worried about their unsafe business practices, they are not worried about their profit margins, they are concerned about you and your SUV and your air conditioning. That's why they don't want Polar Bears on the endangered list, because it might affect YOU. Big business cares about you and your rights, after all, if they don't watch out for you who will? The environmental terrorists? The ACLU? Activist Judges? No big business is out to protect you and your right to do whatever you want regardless of the cost. You must defend them at all costs...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Jersey Devil]

12. You betcha! No more swimming in Seaside Heights NJ

Gotta protect the habitat.

[KamaAina]

13. Breaking: Polar bear blamed for panda death at Berlin zoo!

Can't make this up, either. No one's that good. Not even me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070327/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_germany_panda

BERLIN (Reuters) - Berlin Zoo denied media allegations on Tuesday that Knut the celebrity polar bear cub was responsible for the sudden demise of one of its older attractions, a 22-year-old panda who was found dead in her cage....

Top-selling Bild reported the influx of visitors to the zoo -- about 30,000 a day -- could have stressed the black and white bear, who spent much of her time lying on her back chomping at bamboo shoots.

"Lots of people gave up on seeing Knut because of the long queues, so they went to see Yan Yan instead. She seemed intimidated and anxious," wrote the paper, suggesting Yan Yan could have had a heart attack....

"Our keepers were stunned. The sad thing is that because of the excitement around Knut, she died alone and no one immediately noticed that she had passed away."

So, PETA-bashers, what have you got to say for yourselves now? An innocent panda died alone and is in cold storage because of that polar bear! :sarcasm:

[earth mom]

19. What does this have to do with global warming & endangered polar bears?

:crazy:

[KamaAina]

21. Nothing. Nothing at all.

Just weird to see two stories in one day featuring wild and (most likely, in Knut's case) baseless allegations against polar bears, of all things. :eyes:

[earth mom]

14. Good! Something needs to stop & control big biz because they're killing us all & the planet.

p.s. What the hell is up with all these freeperish rethuglican posts on this thread?! :wtf: :puke:

[yardwork]

26. Psst. I think that a lot of them are sarcasm. At least mine was.

[Marr]

18. Hey- the whole world will be like an episode of Lost!

[lukasahero]

27. LOL - thinking the same thing

Maybe this guy's been watching too much Lost and thinks polar bears really do live in tropical climates...?

[Rosemary2205]

20. We joke but

judging by my own past situation I would not be laughing. We bought 400 acres of undeveloped land right next to our home and planned to put 4 buildings on it to have a weekend and summer camp for at risk kids (mostly kids in the foster care system) -- the neighbors had a fit. Not becuase of the buildings but because they didn't want "those" kids around. The county told them to kiss off since the land was already zoned properly for the purpose long before we even bought it and we had long ago applied for all the licenses. So they got an environmental group to file a lawsuit to stop any development of the land because a supposedly rare fungus was found on a tree on the property -- not anywhere near where we planned to put the buildings BTW.

It took an enormous amount of money to win the lawsuit since the environmental group would not settle for a legal agreement leaving that part of the property alone. They ended up losing when it finally got before a judge but they really played the court system and cost the foundation an incredible amount of money. This was 20 years ago.

BTW the camp has been a wild success and eventually nearly all the neighbors have been won over -- which we actively tried to do.

[onenote]

23. oxyboy rush also is on the hunt for polar bears

He called the NRDC "creeps" for running an ad about the need to protect polar bears, and made the following comment

"... the ice floe melts into the letters 'SOS,' with the two
polar bears on top of the SOS! I predicted little children will
see this and say, 'Mommy, mommy, mommy! The polar bears! The ice
floe is almost gone! They're going to die! What can we do? What
can we do?'"

The NRDC is requesting the following actions:
Urge your friends to
submit their own Official Citizen Comments in favor of polar
bear protection -- BEFORE THE APRIL 9 DEADLINE -- at
http://www.PolarBearSOS.org/takeaction

And if you want to see the ad that upset Bumsrush, view it now at
http://www.PolarBearSOS.org/donate_rl -- and then consider making a
donation to help NRDC keep running it.

[gravity]

25. They're godless killing machines without a soul

threatening our country. All 50 states, even Hawaii

Steven Colbert was right.