Many of my friends call me a "tree hugger" because of my passionate views on preserving a clean, safe, pristine and renewable environment for my children and grandchildren to enjoy as I did growing up in this great and unique country. Some may feel that the term "tree hugger" is derogatory, but I wear it as a badge of honor.
The reason I support Jerry via campaign donations, phone banking, blogging and letter writing, even though I'm from the inland part of Southern California, is my concern about the disaster that the Bush Administration and this Republican controlled Congress have wrought on the environment that is essential for our continued existence.
My Note: Jerry's Web Site is: www.jerrymcnerney.org. If you are a progressive and an environmentalist please volunteer or make a contribution, I have.
"When the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again." ~naturalist-explorer William Beebe
The final reason and many would say the most important reason, is my hope and fervent wish that the candidate that now holds the CA 11th Congressional District seat, Congressman Richard Pombo, will be roundly defeated in the coming election. Not only is Congressman Pombo a rubber stamp for the Bush Administration's anti-environment agenda, but he's an enthusiastic despoiler of all environmental protections that have been enacted by Congress since President Teddy Roosevelt started the movement in the early 1900's. As a matter of fact Pombo is the darling of the polluting and land grabbing special interests and is probably the biggest disaster, since James Watt, that has ever befallen the natural beauty of these United States.
The following are just a few of the clips of the destruction that Congressman Pombo has been a party to in this year alone:
Anti-Earth Week in the House
From House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
This week, the House considered a series of bills that aimed to undermine our environmental protections. The House Resources Committee, chaired by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), marked up legislation that perpetuates the mismanagement of our nation's fisheries and threatens a resource that is currently over fished by 20 percent.
Under the guise of maintaining National Forests, the House voted on unnecessary legislation that bypasses conservation laws, allows road-building in road less areas, and disregards peer-reviewed science.
And as if an assault on our fisheries and forests were not enough for one week, the House considered an amendment to open the Outer Continental Shelf, off-limits coastal areas, to new drilling and exploration -- only 3 miles from our shores.
My letter to Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi on May 9, 2006
As a concerned Democrat and as an avid supporter of environmental issues, I am urging you to pass a Fiscal Year 2007 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that adequately funds the protection of our environment and public health. During floor consideration, I also urge you to support these three important amendments:
(1) The Chabot-Andrews Tongass Subsidy Amendment, which would end taxpayer subsidies for new logging roads on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. Since 1982, the Forest Service has lost more than $850 million subsidizing the timber in the Tongass. Today, American taxpayers pay more than $150,000 for every timber job on the Tongass.
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