Ah- nice way to get the pulse rate up first thing in the AM; thanks, Peter ;-)
At my relatively young age(48), the only tiny shard of wisdom I can offer anyone is that I have been constantly amazed by the horrible lies people will tell, and the horrible things people will do to others, just to collect a paycheck.
And that, to me, lies at the heart of the CBD's actions to date. A group of lawyers and biologists(two vocations where supply currently exceeds demand), working for a non-profit(not so good times for non-profits at the moment), in the midst of the worst economic period since the Great Depression, with student loans and mortgages and families and where on earth are they going to find another job in this economy.... scary times.
What's wrong with presenting a little blind speculation as fact, or simply telling a few lies, in order to tug at the heartstrings of potential donors? The stakeholders in this issue are utterly nameless and faceless to them. And, after all-
everyone does it, don't they? They're selling the CBD brand, and we know that a few 'white lies' go a long way in marketing and advertising.
I found 3 serious errors in the letter in the course of drinking one cup of coffee. I would hope that our nation's Secretaries of Agriculture, Defense, and Interior, and the directors of the BLM, USFS, and USFWS see the BS in this as well as I can.
As an aside- I hope that all NSS members with a Facebook presence join the CBD's not-quite-brand-new "Save Our Bats" group today-
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Our- ... 65?sk=wallThe Wisconsin DNR monitored Facebook(and by extension, all internet discussion)activity regarding their plans very closely; it would behoove us, as cavers, to monitor the CBD
dba "Save Our Bats" just as closely. What's that phrase- 'speak truth to power?'