"MEMO: BUSH WANTS TO KILL CUTE, CUDDLY PANDAS, TOO!!!"

The Washington Post has an interesting, and I believe typically misleading article today on the Nation page. As soon as I saw this headline, I knew something was fishy in Denmark:

“U.S. May Expand Access To Endangered Species”

The first paragraph reads:

“The Bush administration is proposing far-reaching changes to conservation policies that would allow hunters, circuses and the pet industry to kill, capture and import animals on the brink of extinction in other countries.”

Bush is such a S.O.B., isn’t he? He finally wants to kill all of the Bengal tigers and African elephants, just to give his fat-cat, big business donors a thrill of bloodlust. How can this man sleep at night?

At least, that’s what the Post wants us all to think. It’s only when you get to paragraph eight does the Post explain the logic behind the proposal, which is already allowed in the Endangered Species Act of 1973, by the way. The current ban on importation gives poor countries NO incentive to protect the animals. Because these countries cannot export any endangered species, dead or alive, the animals have become nothing more than pests. In countries where they slash and burn to survive, what do they care if some crazy straight-horned markhor or blue fronted Amazon parrot is killed. Heck, they might as well eat it, they can’t do anything else with it. The idea is that if poor countries can sell these parrots for lots of cash-money, they will have an incentive to keep the dumb birds alive.

The Post has a quote from John Monson, trophy hunter from the great state of New Hampshire, as saying the act will help preserve endangered species. The Post then launches into an explanation that he his the President-elect of Safari Club International, a national hunting advocacy group. The Post then explains Safari Club International:

“...gave $274,000 to candidates during the 2000 election cycle, 86 percent of it to Republicans. It also spent $5,445 printing bumper stickers for the Bush presidential campaign. Monson has made a variety of contributions himself, including $1,000 to the Bush for President campaign. “

They quote this AFTER saying Monson agreed to be interviewed ONLY as a private citizen. The Post added all of the irrelevant, yet circumstantially damaging information so they could quote the Humane Society as saying it was “…lobbying by Safari Club International and other special interest groups for a "sea change" in conservation policy”. It's that damn Karl Rove and the ultra right-wing special interest groups at work again, see?

Of course, they don’t mention that The Humane Society’s “kissing cousin” Humane USA PAC (Humane USA was started by Wayne Pacelle, senior vice president of The Humane Society of the United States) gave $236,000 in the 2002 election cycle, 94% of it to Democrats. Hmmm, I wonder why that is? Maybe it was too complicated for the teams of researchers at the Post, just blocks away from The Humane Society headquarters and Humane USA’s offices to dig up and it required an Accountant from New Hampshire with 20 minutes to spare on the computer.

Typical Anti-Bush spin from our friends in Big Media. Everyday I thank my lucky stars Al Gore invented the internet so I don't have to rely on the Washington Post, The New York Times and the Boston Globe for my news.