OPINION/COMMENTARY

Smokey Bear meets al-Qaida, eco-terrorists

I wonder how many Southern California homeowners sent $25 last month to one of the "environmental" organizations that just burned them out of their homes?

Southern California fires – outgoing Gov. Gray Davis has called them the worst disaster in the state's history – are the direct result of the efforts of America's environmental organizations. As this column is written, there have been 16 deaths and 1,600 homes destroyed, and the fires are still raging.

You and I will be expected to "shut up and pay the bill" for this flaming display of environmental ignorance and arrogance in action...

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of shutting my mouth and opening my wallet every time an "environmentalist" climbs on his soapbox to explain why its "wrong" to cut down dead trees, thin the forest and remove underbrush. I'm tired of enriching lawyers on both sides of the debate, while communities, families and schools go begging. I think it's an outrage that the environmentalists' policies have resulted in the most destructive wildfires in our nation's history. And I think it's time to end their reign of eco-terror...

Washington fiddles while California burns

A couple of bills are languishing in Congress that could have limited the effects of the wildfires that have devastated much of Southern California and saved countless homes and lives.

For more than a week, two giant C-130J aircraft, outfitted with state-of-the-art Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems, sat on ground in California while the fires multiplied and began to burn out of control. In addition, there were two of these planes in Colorado, two in Wyoming and two in North Carolina that could have been called into service.

These planes carry between 2,750 and 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant, which can cover an area 60 feet wide by a quarter-mile long. After discharging a load, they can be refilled in 15 to 20 minutes.

We, the federal taxpayers, purchased these systems in 1973, specifically to fight forest fires. So why were all those planes kept on the ground all this time? It's due to a depression-era bill that benefits a few at the expense of the many...