The Tyranny of the Watermelons

New post on Fellowship of the Minds The Tyranny of the Watermelons by Dave As a general rule, I usually refrain from posting things here at FotM I find on The Drudge Report, as most all political and news junkies hit that site before the chair in front of their computer is even warm. As such, I tend to stay off the proverbial beaten trail, as it were, and look for things that may not always make the front pages of the nation's newspapers, perhaps not even make the "A" section, but that do have a profound impact on our freedoms and liberties. I do not worry all that much about reaching the Entertainment Tonight/People Magazine crowd, nor the American Idol zombies, nor those who get their "news" from the alphabet networks, as they are too illiterate to even visit sites such as this. And even if they are functionally literate and somehow manage to stumble in here, they do not possess the linear logic to comprehend what they are reading, and often that is when their inner troll surfaces. What follows is one of the occasional exceptions, as it somewhat mirrors a previous post concerning the increasingly tyrannical behavior of the federal , unelected bureaucrats who have acquired a great deal of power over us, yet apparently answer to no one. Via humanevents.com (illustrations are mine): Summertime Blues by Audrey Hudson 04/23/2012 Planning a vacation this summer to Miami's Biscayne Bay for a little fishing? Think again, because the National Park Service wants to set aside a large swath of the pristine area as a marine reserve zone, so you might have to leave the fishing poles at home. And the boat. Perhaps horseback riding is more your speed and the family plans to ride through California's Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Parks? Sorry, but all of the permits were pulled for those activities this summer. Or maybe you just want to lounge on the soft sands of North Carolina's Outer Banks and read a novel, fly a kite with the kids, toss a Frisbee to the dog, and watch dad catch some fish? No, no, no and no. Beachcombers along specific stretches of those legendary shores are seeing signs telling them to leave their kites and pets at home, and to watch where they step. "Leave no footprints behind. Walk in water where footprints wash away," read the signs posted in February by federal officials. Beaches that once welcomed fisherman to drive up to the water's edge are also off-limits to the vehicles, and so is fishing. These vacation destinations are all national parks that once encouraged such recreational uses and enjoyment but their new "no trespassing" attitudes have angered the local communities, and some in Congress as well. In March, Rep. Walter Jones (R–N.C.) challenged the restrictions imposed by the beach signs, which were the result of battles with environmentalists to protect certain species. The park service that operates the Cape Hatteras National Seashore pledged to replace them, and the new signs will read: "Walk near water's edge. Stay below high tide line." Still not allowed: kites, pets, vehicles, or fishing. Sunbathing is permissible if you don't mind getting hit by the waves every few minutes.  Beach access "The federal government needs to remember that Cape Hatteras was established to be a recreational area for the American people," Jones said. "But taxpayers can't recreate without access to the beach. The goal of management ought to be a balanced approach between visitor access and species protection." Roping off national parks to the public and limiting opportunities for recreation, which in some cases were at the request of environmental groups, is a growing trend that lawmakers say they will examine during an oversight hearing of a House Resources subcommittee on April 27. Florida's Biscayne National Park is one of the largest urban recreational fishing and boating parks in the United States, but federal park employees say the coral reef is declining; so, boating and fishing must be restricted in certain areas. Florida Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart and David Rivera are challenging the proposed rule, which would close off 20 percent of the park to boating and fishing. "The park service appears to have decided that it knows best, and that allows it to ignore the public in the pursuit of its own notions of sound conservation," a group of Florida marine and fishing organizations said earlier this month in a letter to the editor of Soundings Trade Only Today. You will find the rest of the article at this link. It is refreshing, for a change, to see that at least some republicans questioning this insanity. The only question is, will there be enough to matter? -Dave  (h/t: drudge.com)       Dave | April 23, 2012 at 6:24 pm | Tags: Agenda 21, big government, Democrats, Left, liberals, Obama administration, Recreation, Republicans, tyranny | Categories: Agenda 21, Congress, Constitution, God's creation, Idiots, Insanity, Liberals/Democrats, United States | URL: http://wp.me/pKuKY-dQK Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/the-tyranny-of-the-watermelons/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

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