The Ravages of Conservative Land "Conservation"

I was raised in the southern Appalachians and over a lifetime of observation, I have witnessed the devastation and ruination of a beautiful land. I know people who have been displaced from their land, leaving behind the ghosts of seven generations or more; their homes and property to be blasted down, stripped out, paved over and made useless. I've watched as pristine creeks were festered with waste and poisons. I remember well being able to drink from any creek I encountered; the water being clear, clean and safe. Today, there is not even one safe source of drinking water left in America as it flows in streams or comes from the ground. Not one, anywhere. This is what deregulation from "conservative" administrations has brought us to.

I've seen clear, robin's-egg blue skies; nights filled with millions of stars. Now the pollution from "conservative"-owned and "conservative"-deregulated coal-fired electricity generating plants have so fouled the air, that the day sky is often greyed-over with ozone-laden haze and particulates. Night viewing is nothing like it was a mere 40 years ago. Is there any wonder that we now have more ozone-alert days than not during summer and the incidence of asthma has ballooned? Though the concept of ground-level ozone was well-known in my childhood, it was never a problem. Such is the price of "conservative" deregulation and free trade -- damn the consequences; the few and privileged who can skirt the law and shirk responsibility have donned the conservative cloak and bought their way to obscene fortunes.

I've seen wave after wave of "conservatives" sweep into my homeland, displace thousands, ruin the land, and make an obscene pile of money by way of destruction. The "conservative" mantras of "free trade" and "deregulation" are thin veils of marketing-speak that attempt to veneer the destruction of property, an entire culture, and a way of life. These terms are but deflections from the reality of the impoverishment and displacement of American citizens.

From where I sit, it's all-but genocide. I've seen it and its effects up close and very personally.

Indeed, and again by ample demonstration, the term "conservative" has become completely synonymous with "self-servative". The disregard for the citizens, the once-beautiful land, the poisons recklessly spewed into the air and water all speaks for itself. The examples are numerous and I've often posted them here.

This is what our "conservative" government has wrought today:

The Bush administration is poised to issue regulations today that would legalize and expand the controversial coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.

The regulation was drafted by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. If enacted, coal operators would be exempt from a 1983 law that prohibits surface coal mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams.

Environmental activists say the rule was ignored for years and has already caused two thousand miles of streams to be permanently polluted. They warn that the rule change will only accelerate the pillage of vast tracts of land in central Appalachia and hasten the annihilation of perennial streams. Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder called the proposed rule "a disgrace."

Emphasis mine. This is by no means an isolated incident, nor is it indicative of a single pillagement. This is the continuation of the systematic rape of resources that belong to the citizens -- not the "conservative", moneyed and privileged elite. The Bush administration has systematically raped and drained the treasury; now they're going after anything else they can grab to make a few bucks before pissing off to Paraguay, having stolen all of it from the American people to whom it belonged.

Yet, if the trend hadn't been started by the Reagan "conservatives", Bush would never have gotten away with this latest bit of destruction wrought upon American citizens.