One of my pet peeves is the dissmantelling of the National Park system over the last 10 years or so.
I have always felt the open and free access to the protected and common "wilderness" of our national parks was one of the things government should most protect and insure for future generations.
Free access for all Americans independent of their incomes is part of our heritage (IMHO :-/). Camping and usage fees are OK but they should be subsidized by Federal taxes and not be commericalized.
(http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/719/parkskp6.gif)
The image above from the Hightower Lowdown newsletter - lowdown@pipeline.com
Aren't they UN property now? I think the globalists have claimed them.
Supposedly attendance in the National Parks is down, and there is a slowdown in sales of camping equipment that isn't spelled "Winnebago." If no one appreciates the backwoods experience, the government will have an even freer hand. Scary cartoon, John. It's not a resort, for Pete's sake--it's a WILDERNESS!
I remember camping in Yosemite when I was about 18 or 19 & for some reason, even then thinking about the "Curry Company" who ran all the concessions at that time. I was visualizing Yosemite being a big, commercial city instead of a wilderness - it made me shudder. :o The picture you posted, John, reminded me of that. The following is an article from 1997 about the UN land grab...
Our National Parks Now Belong to United Nations
Government News Keywords: UNITED NATIONS, NATIONAL PARKS, LAND GRAB, WORLD HERITAGE SITES,
Source: Choosing Life.net
Published: various Author: various
Posted on 12/31/2000 13:28:23 PST by Bump in the night
Grabbing Our Land?
U.S. News and World Report, July 21, 1997, Cover Story: "Parks in Peril"
"The national parks have been called the best idea America had. But their wild beauty and historical treasures are rapidly deteriorating from lack of funds, pollution, encroaching development, overcrowding, and congressional indifference."
This is true, but there's a lot more to it that we are not being told. Our parks, national and state, are being taken over by forces that are beyond our control. The problem is not only congressional indifference, but public indifference due to media misinformation. It is time to quit mainstream media and sample some alternatives. The following info comes from the website of the Concerned Women for America (www.cwfa.org)
Fact: The Clinton administration is implementing United Nations treaties without congressional or voter approval. Already 68% of our national parks and preserves are under U.N. administration.
Fact: U.N. committees are empowered to visit "World Heritage Sites" within the U.S. to judge whether human activity poses an environmental risk and if it need to be curtailed.
Fact: The Clinton administration is transferring tens of millions of acres of land to the federal government to be placed under U.N. control.
Fact: Towns in the Cuyahoga River Valley near Akron, Ohio, have lost much of their population as the National Park Service under U.N. provisions, has condemned and torn down homes, farms, forcing people to leave their land.
Fact: The U.N. Biodiversity Treaty supports the Wildlands Project, which calls for turning 50% of the U.S. into "wildlands" where humans would not be allowed, but animals could roam free.
Our National Parks Now Belong to United Nations
A newsletter photo of a sign at the park entrance reads, "Great Smoky Mountains National Park, An International Biosphere Reserve...you and I will continue to pay taxes for the maintenance and upkeep of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But we no longer own it. Now, the UN has ultimate jurisdiction. This alone is startling evidence that the once independent nation-state known as the United States of America is going out with a whimper and not a bang. Our sovereignty is coming to an end...
"The UN and its elitist masters don't want you on their property! And in case you do trespass and enter forbidden areas of these pristine UN lands, you might just be shot. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents and park personnel are now taught to love nature's Mother Earth and to despise and loathe human beings. They are being given firearms and instructed to use them. Meanwhile, foreign immigrants from India, china, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Russia and other nations are being recruited for this national park service police duty because, unlike U.S. nationals, non-English speaking foreigners will not hesitate to carry out order and shoot American intruders." Flashpoint's June Newsletter (1708 Patterson Rd, Austin TX 78733)
I've read Nevada Barr's mysteries for years. She was a seasonal parks worker when she started writing, and apparently the parks loved her, even when she became quite pointed in her criticisms. Not sure if she is "just" writing now, but I think she's out of Parks.
The parks were started as a reminder to us of what the country was before we civilized it.
Some day we my feel that way about wall-to-wall souvenir shops and ice cream stores (the old Opryland was what I remember rather horribly). Not right yet, though. And I'm sure we'll find enough shabby ones to restore when we do.