I remember a time when Republicans liked the environment

No, really! Maybe it was just the Republicans I knew, but there was a time when endangered species meant something and clean air was a common goal. Apparently, the bottom line is all that matters now.

Reading this article on the Bush Administration's approach to protection of endangered species of salmon, I am reminded, once again, that times have changed. The increased cost of protecting these endangered species of fish will be small compared to what's already being spent on the dam projects that are involved. Sure, an argument can be made for using the money for something even more important, like schools or blowing up people in foreign countries, but so much gets wasted on truly useless pork barrel projects that I really can't buy that argument. In the end, this is just the big business-fueled mentality that says these fish are insignificant and we need to do whatever is best for the bottom line.

Lest you think protection of the fish requires radical change, take a good look at the article. It outlines alternatives to dam removal that would allow both the functioning of the dams and provide an opportunity for these species to survive.

My favorite part of this is that the government "proposed including fish bred in hatcheries along with their wild cousins when calculating whether a salmon species is still endangered." This reminds me of every natural disaster movie where some government scientist thinks he can outsmart nature, and I say to myself, "Self, can anyone in the government be that arrogant? Nah!" Well, apparently they can. Not that I expect salmon to be the lynchpin of human survival, but it really does illustrate a contemptuous attitude toward the environment.

Will they never learn?