In the Headlines: There is no such thing as an endangered salmon other than the one you're about to eat. Four firefighters died because environmentalists had secured a rule that wouldn't allow helicopters to pull water from the Chewach River in Washington state because they might inadvertently drag a rare salmon species out of the water, inadvertently killing the fish.
Now first, there's not a salmon anywhere in the world that is endangered. The way that game is played is that you identify salmon and name them according to the body of water in which they spawn, swim, and breed. There's no shortage for crying out loud. The salmon business is obscenely profitable.
Second, the chances of a helicopter dipping its bucket in the water and scooping out tons of salmon, is just absurd. They don't meddle around on the surface. The noise of a helicopter alone scares the hell out of them. They're nowhere near. If they are, it's a retarded salmon.
So these fish were given primacy over human beings, over four firefighters. In fact, it was two firemen and two firewomen. It's not just the salmon that was given primacy over men. Women were subordinated to salmon as well, because they were firewomen. But there's another side to this story.
I wonder if the tree hugging, Earth First environmentalists will turn on the endangered species crowd? And will the Sierra Club turn on the endangered species crowd? We have had no expressions of sorrow for the trees that were lost in this fire.
It's not that somebody purposely tried to kill these trees, but they purposely tried not to save them either. Everything here, the trees, firemen, firewomen, and maybe even a rare spotted owl or toad, had to be subordinated to salmon of which there are gazillions.
And what about pollutants? How many extra pollutants are released into the air, the ozone, because of the fire that wasn't put out? You know what happens to smoke? Look at how the anti-smoking Nazis go nuts from the smoke of one cigarette. They panic about secondhand smoke, and here is firsthand, you-can't-see-through-it forest fire smoke, and not a peep?
Who knows how many people and animals will now die depending on how that cloud of smoke travels. All because some environmental wackos cared more about their stupid endangered species obsession and couldn't have cared less about our trees, our air, our men and women, and our future.