Problems at the Parks? But How?
The National Park Service has developed a PowerPoint presentation touting President Bush's new and widely supported Centennial Challenge to boost funding for the national parks leading up to the service's 2016 centennial celebration.
The presentation's cover photo neatly shows Bush backdropped by Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt-- the champion of the park system -- and Lincoln at Mount Rushmore.
  (Ron Edmonds - AP) |
Sign Up for RSS FeedBack in August 2002, when the shot was taken, Bush, soaring in the polls, seemed a strong candidate to join the Great Ones. Chances seem to have diminished a bit of late.
The cover photo has quotes overlaid from speeches by Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and John F. Kennedy along with Bush's presidential message last year on the 90th anniversary of the Park Service.
The presentation notes that despite overwhelming public support and "the commitment of the Administration," there are certain challenges. "Operating budgets have not kept pace" with needs and the parks have been hurt by "shrinking staff and aging facilities."
Unclear who might bear responsibility for those occurrences. Maybe Congress and the administration? Maybe some natural phenomenon, like El Niño or something?
Doug Feith, in His Own Words
The nation apparently continues to be roiled by the Feb. 8 report by Pentagon Inspector General Thomas Gimble accusing former undersecretary of defense for policy Doug Feith of "inappropriate" actions in challenging the intelligence community's assessments in the run-up to the war in Iraq, soon to be entering its fifth year.
Fortunately, Feith, after several solid TV appearances and a lengthy op-ed in this paper after the report came out, is staying on the offensive. On Wednesday, Feith Fans got an e-mail from him:
I have created a website that contains articles and information on this DOD IG report. The website is www.dougfeith.com. You may want to take a look. I plan to use it to continue posting informative items about the IG report. I will soon add material on other subjects. . . .
Stay tuned.
On the site, Feith says he "created this website to provide accurate information and sound commentary on the IG report controversy" -- a raging controversy perhaps only briefly overshadowed by Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears.
There is a section called "Media Myths vs. Facts." Nothing there but a note promising "More information coming soon."
