Ref : Norm McLeod letter to King County Council & Staff
Thanks Norm,
This is a brilliant assessment of our present situation.
As a scientist, conservationist, property owner, advocate of Constitutional
Government, parent and grandparent of other Washington residents.....
I am astounded by the CAO, which has been imposed on Rural King Co.
Many of us have had the gut feeling that this CAO represents much more
than an unconstitutional taking of private property, and of property rights.
Your analysis uncovers the true essence of this matter. In as much as the
BAS used is centered on a "science" that is not recognized as such by the
broader scientific community, it is in fact a RELIGION.
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RELIGION:
a subjective relationship to certain metaphysical, extramundane factors.
A kind of experience accorded the highest value, regardless of its contents.
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So, the CAO is in fact much more than a Critical Areas Ordinance, it represents
a system of beliefs, a religion in essence, which is fervently believed by some.
The majority of King County Council apparently is an adherent to this environmental
religion, and the exercise of their vote for the CAO represents the imposition of
this belief system on many non believers.
In so far as the US Constitution prohibits State promotion of religion, and to
the degree that the BAS supporting the CAO is in fact a Doctrinal reflection
of a quasi religious belief system...the CAO is unconstitutional.
May I respectfully suggest that the Crittenden Testimony be viewed as the tip
of the iceberg, a very large iceberg that is science demonstrable by verifiable
experiment and peer review. Dr Reed Noss is piloting the Titanic here, and
the iceberg is somewhere ahead. Those of us who do not accept his belief
system, and our numbers are large and growing, have every intention to see
our families in the lifeboat of logic and science. We look forward to waving
goodby to Mr Noss, as any good Captain chooses to go down with his ship !
May I also respectfully also suggest that the recipients of my note consider
reading a newly released book : Michael Crichton - "State of Fear"
Mr Crichton makes a thorough review of just how environmental groups play
on fear to raise funds and gain power.
Finally, I would like to present this editorial from the NZ Herald :
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10116051
John Roughan: Let the city sprawl in splendour
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"The ideology is apparent to anyone who comes into contact with land use planners these days. Their titles all now incorporate the word "environmental" and they do not do land use planning any more, they do resource management. And they have definite ideas of what a community should be. "
Sounds like a religion to me!
Thanks for listening
Ken Shock
https://www.brinnonprosperity.org/
Message text written by "Norman MacLeod"
>Comparing this constraint list with the CAO as it stands, it's quite
apparent that King County is making significant progress toward dealing with
the conservation constraints that Noss et al saw only a few years ago.
One point in the constraint list pops to the forefront, though, and I feel
you should think carefully about the implications for the county going
forward. Constraint number 2 says, "...science-based
conservation/restoration efforts will become increasingly difficult." It's
not a great leap from that to a conclusion that this might be the motivator
for relying more heavily on conservation biology than on the stricter
standards of the more traditional sciences. Conservation biology based
conclusions can be written up more quickly and at less expense, leading to
earlier imposition of broader scale land use controls than might be
justifiable under other disciplines.
I wonder if you know where you can find Dr. Reed F. Noss these days? Did
you know that he is the Chief Scientist of The Wildlands Project
(www.twp.org)? The Wildlands Project is deeply involved in the development
of an expanding system of wilderness throughout North America. One feature
of the Project is the inclusion of wildlife corridors that connect larger
core wilderness regions. The middle of a corridor is a zone where little or
no human activity is to be permitted. Where do you suppose the corridors
between the Olympic Peninsula and the Cascades will go? I'd say that would
have to be from Grays Harbor County, across Pierce County, and through
unincorporated King County...
Are you comfortable with the concept that what is now only on maps is coming
significantly closer to reality through the efforts you have invested in
while developing the current version of the CAO? I hope so, because once
started, this is a process that is very difficult to slow or reverse.<