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PRESIDENT CLINTON, you have said in several public statements that you would not set the undemocratic precedent of suspending environmental laws for any reason. After vetoing the salvage logging rider once, you did the famous "Clinton flip-flop" and signed it into law. The salvage rider is based ion the fraudulent assumption that there is a forest health crisis. You told us that in order to protect the health of the forest it was necessary to suspend all environmental laws and prevent citizens from challenging any timber sales in court. What the rider's authors, Senators Gorton, Stevens, Hatfield, Craig and Representative Taylor, have failed to mention is that salvage logging will not improve the health of the forest; it will simply provide short-term, non-sustainable timber supplies to those mils dependent on subsidized timber.In fact, the only crisis in the forest is the fragmentation, degradation and erosion caused by excessive logging and road building. This bill is a perfect example of dysfunctional democracy. Time may well prove this bill was a conspiracy between the timber companies, their lobbyists and the legislative authors of this bill who have been the recipients of generous campaign contributions from the timber industry.
What are the results of this bill for the average taxpayer? The loss of one billion taxpayer dollars a year to timber subsidies, the loss of our civil liberties, specifically the right to redress regarding a publicly owned asset, the loss of many to our old growth national forests and the species supported by those habitats. Also to be considered are the dire consequences to the Northwest fishing industry (i.e., the disappearing salmon), unprecedented erosion of topsoil in our watersheds, massive flooding and mud slides.
But most of all, Mr. President, you have undermined the very foundation of our democratic system by perpetrating a completely fabricated forest health hoax on the American public. There were no public hearings or scientific substantiation that our public forests are in a crisis. By selling predominantly green, healthy trees at salvage prices, you are selling public assets for a quarter of their value. You say you were misinformed and did not understand the dire consequences of this legislation, yet VOTE Action Committee first published America Betrayed on July 11, 1995 in a full page ad in the New York Times. We also presented your administration with a petition asking you to veto the salvage rider, signed by the environmental community- a community that represents 4.3 million voters. President Clinton, would you ask us, as Americans, to believe what you say....or what you do?
The following is your record as the environmental president.
It speaks for itself:·The passage of the salvage logging rider, that has caused the corporate destruction of our national (public) forests and critical watersheds.
·The signing of the Panama Declaration, which undermines protection for marine mammals, including dolphins and whales.
·The continuation of the use of methyl bromide, a highly toxic pesticide known to destroy the Earth's ozone layer.
·The weakening, if not gutting, of the Endangered Species Act through administrative changes in its rules and regulations.
·The passage of GATT and NAFTA, which has caused the loss of over three hundred thousand American job. This is the best sell out of American workers in U.S. history. The passage of GATT and NAFTA removes all environmental protections passed by Congress because any legislation that prevents free trade is invalidated.
·The lowering of grazing fees which the President promised to raise, and having American taxpayers subsidize the cattle industry, which is ruining our public lands.
·Continuing to subsidize the sugar industry in Florida, which is poisoning the Everglades and diverting large amounts of water necessary for wildlife.
·Opening all wildlife refuges to hunting and fishing by Presidential Decrees.
·Weakening of the Safe Drinking Water Act by allowing increased levels of lead and arsenic in our drinking water supplies.
·Reversing the ban on the production and importation of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) which will cause more than 40,000 fatalities in the Great Lakes region alone. PRESIDENT CLINTON, you have done more to harm the environment and weaken environmental regulations is 4 years than Presidents Bush and Reagan in their 12 years. Your hypocrisy and deceptiveness while trying to greenwash your administration is not fooling anyone.
WE EXPECT OUR GOVERNMENT TO GUARANTEE ITS PEOPLE CLEAN AIR, CLEAN WATER AND A SAFE AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT.
SHOULD CORPORATIONS GET AWAY WITH MURDER?
How can a nation whose leaders are elected by corporate money call itself a democracy? As a nation of people we have given away most of our power. There is only one way to restore democracy in America- we must demand accountability from our government and if, as is the case with President Clinton, we find that he has betrayed America, we must vote him out of office in the 1996 elections.
Who is willing to support a government which allows corporate America to pull its strings and dictate its agenda? The political agenda of the Democratic and Republican parties is becoming painfully clear. It is the transfer of wealth and power from the middle and working classes to corporate America, and the transfer of our national public assets and natural resources into the corporate sector.
If we had a government that truly cared about its people, instead of building more prisons and increasing the police force as President Clinton has done, we would build more schools, allocate more money for education children, raise the minimum wage, and stop exporting American jobs overseas.
The voting booth is the last bastion of democracy in America. Democracy only works when we all participate. Vote for Ralph Nader under the Green Party or for a progressive third party candidate of your choice for President if you want real change and integrity in the White House. Because there is no real difference between the Democratic and Republican parties, we must create a strong third party that will represent the people.
PRESIDENT CLINTON-YOU HAVE BETRAYED AMERICA.
If you as our government cannot, or will not provide us with our inalienable rights and responsible representation, and if you continue to plunder the natural resources that are our national heritage, it will be our duty to elect a new government.
We are outraged and ashamed by the actions of the White House, the Congress and the Senate, and we are sending you the strongest possible message. Do your job by representing the people, for in the long run it is we the people who will be in the voting booths.
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