Obama monuments rile the GOP

[babylonsister]

Is there anything they won't complain about?


Obama monuments rile the GOP
By Timothy Cama - 10/16/14 06:00 AM EDT


President Obama’s growing list of national monuments is angering Republicans, with many calling the increased land protections an abuse of power.

The president has named 13 national monuments so far using the century-old Antiquities Act, putting tight restrictions on more than 1 million acres of public land.

The most recent designation came last week, when the president designated more than 350,000 acres of the San Gabriel Mountains in California as a monument near Los Angeles.

While Obama and his allies see the land protections as furthering the cause of conservation, Republicans say they are evidence of an “imperial presidency.”

“The Antiquities Act is a political arrow in the president’s quiver,” said Melissa Subbotin, spokeswoman for Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah). “It’s abused for political purposes.”

more...

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/220837-obama-monuments-rile-the-gop

[Scuba]

1. Whining is what Republicans do best.

[yeoman6987]

8. Our country will soon be President Obama and President Reagan

I don't hear of many other presidents getting as much. Good for both presidents. I am sure we cringed while monument after monument was named President Reagan.

[Hekate]

12. Nothing's being named for Obama. For one thing he's still in office. For another...

....he can't exactly name things after himself. These are national monuments to preserve the environment from careless use, not post offices.

Edited to add: he's doing what the GOP Congress refuses to do.

[maddiemom]

15. Yes. The headline made me think that these monuments were being NAMED after After

President Obama. It sounded just like something the Repugs would get riled up over. But, NO! Their outrage was even more ridiculous than that.

[nxylas]

31. That's probably what you're meant to think

You wait. Give it a week and all you'll hear is "OMG that narcissist Obama wants to name a bunch of monuments after himself!!!11eleven."

[Cha]

21. You don't know what you're talking about.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Of course the are all riled up

They are Republicans. He could say the sky is blue - on a day when the sky is blue - and they would label it an IslamoFascistCommuSocialismKenyan Plot.

[geretogo]

27. Exactly .

[belzabubba333]

3. since they like imperial presidents they should be happy

[reflection]

4. Of course

he could name any dried dog turd after Ronald Reagan and they would fap themselves silly about it. Screw them.

[Lochloosa]

5. Just saying....

George W. Bush proclaimed two very different monuments in 2006, the hundredth anniversary of the Antiquities Act. African Burial Ground National Monument is a tiny archeological site in New York City. Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument protects roughly 140,000 square miles (360,000 km2) of the Pacific Ocean, larger than all of America's national parks combined.[9] (It was renamed Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in 2007).

In January 2009, President George W. Bush used the Antiquities Act to create the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument.

[Faux pas]

6. Obama breathes

rethugs are riled.

[BeyondGeography]

7. They could always address this problem by winning a national election

But Obama has smartly left Batshit Crazy Land unprotected so it's a challenge.

[liberal N proud]

9. Fuck the republicans and the oil barrel they rode in on.

All they see when land is protected are missed chances to destroy the land for oil or mining.

[greatlaurel]

19. You stated the real issue.

Every acre of land that is protected means public lands these creeps cannot pillage for their personal enrichment. The GOP wants all the costs of their businesses put on the public while they retain all the profit. It is something the vast majority of GOP voters do not understand.

Well stated post. Thank you!

[LoisB]

20. I agree.

[bigwillq]

10. I support Obama in this matter.

[srican69]

11. I thought convservatives should be all for conservation ...

I guess they should be called 'Exploitives' instead.

[Spirochete]

13. I wish they were blaming him

for themselves having terminal diseases...

[rock]

14. "Being black while president"

I believe that's what the GOP is complaining about.

[Arugula Latte]

16. Change the name of Reagan Airport back to its correct name and we'll talk, assholes.

[geretogo]

26. Not only the airport . Get his name off the Navy ships . He did'nt serve a day in the military .

[B Calm]

17. Republicans are just upset that they are not named after Reagan. .

[h2ebits]

18. Another battle for the people. . .

There is a strong push in a number of states--Colorado and Utah to name two--for the takeover of federal public lands to turn them into state owned properties to sell off as they choose.

The elections in Colorado are extremely important in this fight. Both Bob Beauprez running for Governor and the woman who is running for State AG are committed to a fight with OUR federal government to takeover the land for sell off to oil & gas and other corporations and people that would destroy it.

Do not ever forget nut job Bundy and his militia folks in Nevada trying to screw over all of us by refusing to pay rent on federal lands to graze cattle.

What Obama is doing may seem innocuous on the surface but it is a big f*?!ing deal in the battle for WE THE PEOPLE and the environment.

[Orsino]

22. "Obama _________ rile(s) the GOP."

Brett Somers: "Anything."

Charles Nelson Reilly: "Anything."

Orson Bean: "Anything."

Nipsey Russell: "Anything."

Bert Convy: "Boobs."

Arlene Francis: "Anything."

[AndreaCG]

30. Funny!

[hatrack]

23. So, going all the way back to 1960, how do administrations compare?

Casual observations:
1. No comparison by party - Democrats are so far ahead on monuments and parks, it's not even funny. Bush The Lesser did designate some very large marine sanctuaries, but all in remote areas unlikely to cause his constituents (not us) to have lost sleep at the thought of lost resources.

2. It's been nearly 30 years since a National Park was created from scratch, with all of the cooperation, preparation and long-term thinking that implies. Hmm, I wonder why?

3. Jimmy Carter is the Guy Who Got Things Done. Obama and Bill Clinton have done a substantial number of Monument declarations, with some really big ones by the Big Dog, but what Carter accomplished in getting the Native Lands Claim Settlement and all of the Alaska Parks through Congress remains an astonishing ballsy and far-sighted piece of legislative and presidential leadership.

NATIONAL PARKS - (DATE) indicates prior National Monument Status

EISENHOWER
1960 Haleakala (1916)

KENNEDY
1961 Hawaii Volcanoes (1916)
1962 Petrified Forest (1906)

JOHNSON
1964 Canyonlands
1966 Guadalupe Mountains
1968 North Cascades
Redwood

NIXON
1971 Capitol Reef (1937)
Voyageurs

CARTER
1978 Arches (1929)
Theodore Roosevelt (1947)
1980 Channel Islands (1938)
Biscayne (1968)
Denali (1917)
Katmai (1918)
Glacier Bay (1925)
Gates of the Artic (1978)
Kenai Fjords (1978)
Kobuk Valley (1978)
Lake Clark (1978)
Wrangell St. Elias (1978)

REAGAN
1986 Great Basin (1922)
1988 National Park of American Samoa

BUSH I
1992 Dry Tortugas (1935)

CLINTON
1994 Death Valley (1933)
Saguaro (1933)
Joshua Tree (1936)
1999 Black Canyon of the Gunnison (1933)
2000 Cuyahoga Valley (1974)

BUSH II
2003 Congaree (1976)
2004 Great Sand Dunes (1932)
2013 Pinnacles (1908)

NATIONAL MONUMENTS

EISENHOWER
Grand Portage

KENNEDY
Russell Cave
Buck Island Reef

JOHNSON
Alibates Flint Quarries
Florissant Fossil Beds

NIXON
Hohokam Pima
Fossil Butte

FORD
John Day Fossil Beds

CARTER
Admiralty Island
Aniakchak
Cape Krusenstern
Misty Fjords

REAGAN
Mt. St. Helens
El Malpais
Poverty Point
Hagerman Fossil Beds

BUSH I
Petroglyph
Newberry

CLINTON
Grand Staircase-Escalante
Agate Fossil Beds
Agua Fria
California Coastal
Grand Canyon Parashant
Giant Sequoia
Hanford Reach
Canyons of the Ancients
Cascade-Siskiyou
Ironwood Forest
President Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldiers' Home
Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains
Vermillion Cliffs
Carizzo Plain
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks
Pompey's Pillar
Sonoran Desert
Upper Missouri River Breaks
Virgin Islands Coral Reef
Governors Island

BUSH II
African Burial Ground
Papahānaumokuākea Marine
World War II Valor In The Pacific
Marianas Trench Marine
Pacific Remote Islands Marine
Rose Atoll Reef

OBAMA
Prehistoric Trackways
Fort Monroe
Fort Ord
Chimney Rock
Cesar Chavez
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers
First State
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad
Rio Grande del Norte
San Juan Islands
Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks
San Gabriel Mountains

[geretogo]

25. It's the People's land not the the Corporations you sick right wing scum .

[VanillaRhapsody]

28. I have 2 words for them....

tough and shit!

by the way my Grandfather was in the CCC's and helped build our National Parks!

[kelliekat44]

29. So did Kenndy monuments and Clinton naming. They want all things Reagan...nothing else. nt

[yardwork]

32. First they complained that Obama himself closed all the monuments when the Republicans shut down

the government. Now they're complaining that Obama is creating too many monuments.