Given his party pedigree, the following comment from Rehberg’s testimony before Congress on Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act comes as no surprise. Shallow, like maybe the depth of water on a flat surface with a piece of saran wrap over the top of it…
I hope this is not in consideration of his audience?
“A Montanan who visited New York’s Central Park recently shared an observation with me. Although Central Park was free of buildings and streets, many of the open spaces were cordoned off by fences. Visitors could walk or run on centrally planned pathways, but the fields of grass around them were off limits. NREPA models its philosophy for 24 million acres of land after the approach taken in the 843 acres of Central Park. Look, but don’t touch. This approach may work in Manhattan, New York, but it doesn’t work in Manhattan, Montana. I can’t stress how crucial that distinction is, and that’s why I oppose this bill.â€
What really bothers Rehberg and company is the idea that anything off the “centrally planned pathways” can’t be mined, drilled, logged, paved or driven all over with ATV’s and then turned into Camp Minnetonka or the Last Best Place Golf and Ski Club.
In contrast, we are not hearing any dialog as of yet from Baucus or Tester? Maybe they are still looking for a good ice breaker to open up with, maybe an Olaf and Sven joke-
Olaf and Sven were fishing one day when Sven pulled out a cigar. Finding he had no matches, he asked Olaf for a light.
“Ya, shure, I tink I haff a lighter,” he replied. Then reaching into his tackle box, he pulled out a Bic lighter 10 inches long.
“Yiminy Cricket!” exclaimed Sven, taking the huge Bic lighter in his hands. “Vhere did yew git dat monster??”
“Vell,” replied Olaf, “I got it from me Genie.”
“You haff a genie in yor tackle box?” Sven asked.
“Ya, shure. It’s right here in my tackle box,” says Olaf.
“Could I see him?”
So Olaf opens his tackle box and sure enough, out pops the genie.
Addressing the genie, Sven says, “Hey dere! I’m a good friend of your master. Vill you grant me vun vish?”
“Yes, I will,” says the genie.
So Sven asks the genie for a million bucks. The genie disappears back into the tackle box leaving Sven sitting there, waiting for his million bucks.
Shortly, the sky darkens and is filled with the sound of a million ducks…flying overhead. Over the roar of the million ducks Sven yells at Olaf. “Yumpin’ Yimmny I asked for a million bucks, not a million ducks!”
Olaf answers, “Ya, I forgot to tell ya that da genie is hard of hearing. Do yew really tink I asked for a 10-inch Bic?”
The irony of the genie and congress is almost unbearable…
