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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (223950)	10/13/2007 7:39:27 PM
From: ManyMoose	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793606

I read that book back in the 60s, and shall read it again. (By the way, it is pronounced "Advize and Consent," not "Advice and Consent, a fact little known among my high school chums.) I received a lesson in politics today from a fireman who helped me unload my truck full of pine needles for the "chipper day" alternative to pile burning. The conversation went something like this: "Are you a fireman?" "Yes," he said. "Can you answer questions about this chipper program?" "Yes." "Well," I said, "This is an inappropriate prescription for me, because the part of the Urban Growth Area I live in is basically a pine forest with houses in it. A pine forest produces the energy equivalent of 300 gallons of gasoline per acre per year, and this policy is going to result in a huge fuel load that could have disastrous consequences in the future." "I understand," he replied, "and I would burn too if it weren't prevented by the State Law defining Urban Growth Areas. The chipper program has nothing to do with appropriate prescriptions. It's a state law, but the state and local governments get Federal money for having Urban Growth Areas under the Clean Air Act." "Well, how do I change this?" I asked. "You can't, unless you want to go to the state capitol and spend a lot of money lobbying the state legislature. And no matter what they say about 'working to improve the policy' they are not going to give up that Federal Money." "That explains the response I got from our local representative when I wrote to complain about it," I said. (The response was basically, 'We are working on it.') I thanked the man for giving me a straight, no bullshit answer. "They are addicted to that money, and they're not going to give it up, right?" I asked. "That's about it."