President Bush's Marine Sanctuary Protection Program

[bergzy]

C O O L ! ! !

Bush's Marine Sanctuary

[melev]

Good article. Thanks for the link.

[Dactyl]

yeah because noaas done such an excellent job of protecting the keys

/sarcasm

[jaymz101]

to be fair....most of the destruction of the keys happened before the formation of J. Pennecamp Coral Reef Park and Everglades National Park (roughly 1960's & 1946 respectively)

[Dactyl]

yeah but they could:

1. pour some funds into the diadema urchin program that would radically improve the situation because then the urchins would keep the algae from choking off the corals.

(to those that dont know a plague wiped out the urchin in the caribbean that got in through the panama canal)

2. actually have people on snorkeling boats that know what theyre talking about at pennekamp. its sad when any reef aquarist knows more about the organisms there than they do.

noaa down there has become a private old boys club where if youre not 'in the club' you have no business being down there. for the most part they shut down any projects to propagate and place corals on reefs because it would expose their incompetance and threaten their cushy jobs and paychecks. theyre stagnant in about the same way nasa was until the big shakeup recently. meanwhile they issue press statements documenting the decline of the reefs. its really depressing...

[elvictre]

Good article.

[spoiledcats]

yeah because noaas done such an excellent job of protecting the keys

Your sarcasm is wasted on me because I think this is a step in the right direction, and absolutely better than doing nothing. Whether it turns into a good ol' boys club or not, at least stopping the reaping of corals for jewelry and fishing in the reef is a good thing.

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Another article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13300363/

[smcdonn]

[violation]


If you can't keep the political comments out of your posts - I suggest choosing a different thread.

--beerguy

[Dactyl]

[violation]

[elvictre]

[violation]

[melev]

Guys, let's attempt to stay on topic if at all possible.

[IanInDC]

Seriously, I'm about as liberal, opposed to Bush, and anti-war as possible, and proud of it... but even I have to sayt that this is an unqualified success for the president. Finally, they use their immense power to do the right thing. I hope this marks a turn in the right direction for this administration on environmental policy... I doubt it, but one can hope.

Way to go Prez.

[melev]

Did anyone was the video in the second link? It was pretty good in helping the audience comprehend the size of the area that is being protected. Scroll down on that page to view it, and use Internet Explorer, because FireFox won't load it.

[IanInDC]

Wait, so people are having their posts deleted simply because they're having good-natured conversation about a HIGHLY reef-related topic? Does that even make any sense. I'd like to hear a whole bunch of NON MODERATOR opinions on this... and keep in mind, the only people being remotely rude -- because expressing an opinion isn't inherently rude -- were people trying to silence others.

What gives on RC with stuff like this? How is it you can flame a guy for putting a tang in a 3-foot tank, even though logic shows there's functionally no difference between 3 and 6 feet compared to the ocean, and no one complains, but mentions politics -- politely or otherwise -- and you get censored?

Seriously, shouldn't we be encouraging free, open, polite discussion? Even politely criticizing a president's environmental record seems to be highly relevant to our hobby... I'd love other people's feedback on this.

[beerguy]

Ian - The [ua] that you electronically signed when you created your account here lists political discussions as off-limits. If you don't agree to those terms you should not have continued on a created an account.

[IanInDC]

With all due respect, Beerguy, that's not my point. My point was not the political speech and I certainly wasn't arguing anyone. My point was to question WHY political speech is considered a no-no on this site even though it's very relevant.

BTW, the user agreement is written thus:

You agree not to post, transmit or link to any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, violate the rights of others, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law. This includes posting matter of a political or religious nature.

I'm not a lawyer but I live with two. This language obviously means that political commentary is only forbidden if it's intended to incite any of the baddy bad behaviors in the first sentence; but NOT forbidden per se across the board. Although I suppose if you'd read it you'd know that.

As a longtime, enthusiastic participant on these boards who just want to shoot the bull about a topic we all love, I really resent a) being silenced b) being silenced NOT in accordance with the user agreement and c) being condescended to.

Thanks. I hope you have a great day.

[sterling18]

IanInDC,

JMHO, but RC is a private website, they can do whatever and edit/delete whatever they want. Sometimes people forget that little bit that we are playing in their sandbox.

Not a slam but I've seen quite a few people use that issue to debate.

[yeame]

with bush nothing ever goes as good as it sounds is this the same act that is trying to make it illegal to have snails I hugg trees to but give me a break

[szwab]

not to mention free as well.
but back on topic...
whatever motivated him to do that does not matter just glasd to see that something is being done.

[Chihuahua6]

I knew when I saw President Bush in the subject line that this would turn into an argument in politics in some form or another. It's sickening. Yeame I sure hope you are at least American. The last thing I want to read on a reef forum is a non-American bashing anything about my country.