| I have on more than one occasion lamented the fact that our shiny new Democratic Congress in Washington has a hard time getting much more done than renaming post office buidlings and declaring National Asparagus Week.
And, sometimes, I guess, they even have trouble with that. |
A bill introduced by Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer would officially change the name of the fourth-highest peak in California to honor longtime Sierra Club leader and Friends of the Earth founder David Brower.
North Palisade, which at 14,242 feet ranks behind Mt. Whitney, Mt. Williamson and White Mountain among the state's highest points, would be renamed Brower Palisade in recognition of Brower's contributions to the preservation of much of America's best-loved and most well-known wilderness areas.
Brower, the Sierra Club's first executive director, died eight years ago at the age of 88. A tireless crusader who was frequently criticized as arrogant, he led the fight to keep dams out of the Grand Canyon, rallied support for Redwood National Park and the Point Reyes National Seashore, sounded warnings on nuclear energy and, over decades, became one of the nation's most influential environmental warriors.
A no-brainer, right? Right - unless you, um, actually have no brain. From the same LA Times article:
"I most likely wouldn't support it," Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Visalia) said Thursday. "If you look at a lot of these radical groups that were formed, they've cost my district thousands of jobs. Take the timber industry: We let our forests burn up and meanwhile buy all our wood from Canada -- it's kind of a sad deal."
Yes, he really said that. To a reporter. On the record.
Wonder if there might be a sewage treatment plant Rep. Nunes would like to have his name attached to? |
