Daily Archives: December 12, 2024

The Grumpy Old Man Takes a Walk in the Woods

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The State owns the shore of the lake by my house, the part that the Nature Conservancy doesn’t own. They own a lot of the marsh, and they own a beautiful mature hardwood forest remnant where we love to walk in the spring and enjoy the wild flowers. Bloodroot, Dutchman’s Breeches, Thalictrum, Trout Lilies, Hepatica, Jack in the Pulpit, May Apples, and more open into the dappled sunlight on the forest floor before the high oak canopy closes out the light and the trees begin soaking up the nutrients and moisture all summer long. We walk back there, taking pictures, enjoying the warming days and sharing gratitude for the blessing of an unspoiled wild space like this.

Enter the State Forester. The State Forester has a lot on his mind, and land stewardship is just part of the equation. Reading Mother Nature’s mind, sensing what she wants for her special places and being willing to make a sacrifice to carry out her plans are also bullet points in the Forester’s job description… all this on a tight budget.

The neighbor down the road decided to thin her stand of pines so she hired a pulp cutter. Much of the paper you use to wipe your bottom started out in a Wisconsin wood-lot somewhere. So some day in the not too distant future, part of my neighbor’s wood-lot will find its way into your toilet via the pulp cutter and the paper mill. When the Forester heard the cutter was at work down the road he had an idea: he would see if the cutter would remove a stand of pines on the State’s upland holdings just to the northeast of our place. The cutter was generally willing but he would need access across our fields to move his equipment to the state land and to haul the logs out.

This isn’t the fucking Ponderosa. That gear would chew the heck out of my little holding. But I wanted to be a good neighbor, or at least I wanted to be THOUGHT a good neighbor, so I said “Sure, come ahead, but don’t use the field until it’s frozen good and solid.” Meanwhile, the Forester was upping the “What’s in it for Frank?” factor. He negotiated a deal with the cutter whereby the cutter would remove a bunch of box elders that stand in the way of a clear view of the lake from our east deck. What a deal!

We all gathered at the north end of the field a few days ago: the cutter, the Forester, his sidekick, the Nature Conservancy guy, and my neighbors to north and south who feel proprietary about the place too. Then the Forester springs it on us. The pines alone aren’t worth the trip for the cutter, he says. So to kill many birds with one rapacious swoop, or something like that, he proposes that the rough trees in the understory of our mixed hardwood remnant could be cut. These hickorys, cherries, red oaks, and a few locusts would make it worthwhile to the cutter to venture back there and take out the non-native pines. “Hmm,” I thought. And after pondering the proposition, and running through a rippling resentment of this al fresco meeting on the road in the winter to discuss a bait and switch artist’s wet dream, I gave it the five seconds thought it deserved and suggested “No way can you cross my land to mess up the spring ephemerals. Sorry.” But of course I wasn’t sorry, except for being put in this awkward position, and because I wouldn’t be getting the box elders cleared.

And the Forester continued to try to sell me on helping him address his budget issues by using the pulp cutter, and I suggested we sit down and discuss things, and he suggested that sitting down was not manly and we should walk in the woods and reach a conclusion there, and I was all resentful, and he was all assertive, and we went back to the woods. I think he was a little surprised at what he found there.

Later, he sent the following email. I seem to have gotten through to him, since my refusal was laced with all kinds of criticism of grabbing the main chance with no plans, no commitments, no serious consideration of what a logging operation will do to the land for the next several years, and he can’t get his tractors and trailers and loaders back there without crossing our place…

Hi everyone,

Thanks for meeting out on site yesterday. I thought it was productive,
and if nothing else, will hopefully springboard us into action.

For a number of reasons, I’ve decided to pass on the harvest for now.
Instead, I will try to find money to do some invasives work, primarily
woody species (locust, honeysuckle, buckthorn), as well as garlic
mustard. If we are successful, and get a jump on the woody pests,
then I will reconsider the harvest at a later date. This will give us
all a chance to talk, plan, and work – and I will be calling you re the
work.

So, for starters, lets have an informal get-together to discuss this
site, its place on our priority list, its primary “issues”,
possibilities, long-term vision, etc…

House Resolution 1106 – IMPEACHMENT

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Remarks of Congresswoman McKinney upon filing her impeachment bill –

Mr. Speaker:

I come before this body today as a proud American and as a servant of the American people, sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Throughout my tenure, I’ve always tried to speak the truth. It’s that commitment that brings me here today.

We have a President who has misgoverned and a Congress that has refused to hold him accountable. It is a grave situation and I believe the stakes for our country are high.

No American is above the law, and if we allow a President to violate, at the most basic and fundamental level, the trust of the people and then continue to govern, without a process for holding him accountable, what does that say about our commitment to the truth? To the Constitution? To our democracy?

The trust of the American people has been broken. And a process must be undertaken to repair this trust. This process must begin with honesty and accountability.

Leading up to our invasion of Iraq, the American people supported this Administration’s actions because they believed in our President. They believed he was acting in good faith. They believed that American laws and American values would be respected. That in the weightiness of everything being considered, two values were rock solid: trust and truth.

From mushroom clouds to African yellow cake to aluminum tubes, the American people and this Congress were not presented the facts, but rather were presented a string of untruths, to justify the invasion of Iraq.

President Bush, along with Vice President Cheney and then-National Security Advisor Rice, portrayed to the Congress and to the American people that Iraq represented an imminent threat, culminating with President Bush’s claim that Iraq was six months away from developing a nuclear weapon. Having used false fear to buy consent, the President then took our country to war.

This has grave consequences for the health of our democracy, for our standing with our allies, and most of all, for the lives of our men and women in the military and their families–who have been asked to make sacrifices–including the ultimate sacrifice–to keep us safe.

Just as we expect our leaders to be truthful, we expect them to abide by the law and respect our courts and judges. Here again, the President failed the American people.

When President Bush signed an executive order authorizing unlawful spying on American citizens, he circumvented the courts, the law, and he violated the separation of powers provided by the Constitution. Once the program was revealed, he then tried to hide the scope of his offense from the American people by making contradictory, untrue statements.

President George W. Bush has failed to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States; he has failed to ensure that senior members of his administration do the same; and he has betrayed the trust of the American people.

With a heavy heart and in the deepest spirit of patriotism, I exercise my duty and responsibility to speak truthfully about what is before us. To shy away from this responsibility would be easier. But I have not been one to travel the easy road. I believe in this country, and in the power of our democracy. I feel the steely conviction of one who will not let the country I love descend into shame; for the fabric of our democracy is at stake.

Some will call this a partisan vendetta, others will say this is an unimportant distraction to the plans of the incoming Congress. But this is not about political gamesmanship.

I am not willing to put any political party before my principles.

This, instead, is about beginning the long road back to regaining the high standards of truth and democracy upon which our great country was founded.

Mr. Speaker:

Under the standards set by the United States Constitution, President Bush, along with Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of State Rice, should be subject to the process of impeachment, and I have filed H. Res.1106 in the House of Representatives.

To my fellow Americans, as I leave this Congress, it is in your hands to hold your representatives accountable, and to show those with the courage to stand for what is right, that they do not stand alone.

Thank you.

© 2024 Cynthia McKinney/Atlanta Progressive News