Bureaucrats misuing tax money...ho hum

[armedandsafe]

This has been going on for years,and is still being ignored by the Justice Department. I thought misappropriating funds was somewhat ilegal.
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Special: Why We Are In Trouble
By Jim Beers

Who are “We?” “We” are animal owners and users. “We” are the users of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources. “We” are democrats, republicans, and libertarians. “We” are young and old beneficiaries of the freedoms of the greatest country on earth. “We” are citizens both aware and unaware of how the steady growth of Federal power at the expense of states and citizens is changing this nation into a socialist state similar to the European Union that is steadily claiming more authority to take the Europeans people into a disguised dictatorship that should be repugnant to a free people.

Two reasons why “We” are in trouble have just come across my desk and now (right after Church and before I pick up a hunting partner for a snow goose hunt) is the only time I can write this for awhile.


First, the National Beef Cattleman’s Association just put out a press release about how the recently passed (by the Senate) Grasslands Reserve Program will “help” ranchers. The fact that the Public Lands Council joins in this praise should be your first clue that something is amiss. The Public Lands Council, like the ex-“conservation” employees of the National Beef Cattleman’s Association never met Federal funding with strings for controlling, easing, and eventually buying (when “conservation” values increase”) private property that they didn’t like. Washington dictates by ex-“conservation” employees now in Federal agencies will tell more and more ranchers what to do, but hey there is money involved so it must be good. With all the examples of Federal authority growth and abuse (Endangered Species, Marine Mammals, Animal Welfare, etc.) the fact that a national rancher group can sell this stuff to private property (land and animals) owners is nothing short of amazing. Part of the problem is the “We” expect and reward Washington organizations that get us a “piece of the pie.” “We” are part of the problem.


Last spring when the push for new Invasive Species authority was in a feeding frenzy, the National Beef Cattleman’s Association was a big backers with “lobbying” on “The Hill” as well as in articles in their magazine. When I asked to meet with their representative, she was so busy that I was asked to “try back in a week or two when she will look at her calendar.” When a business like ranching creates a Washington lobby group made up of people who want them out of business and who then “play ball” with the groups, agencies, and ideas with a similar proclivity; is it any wonder “We” are in trouble?


Second, the national excise taxes on guns, hunting equipment, and fishing equipment is being mismanaged right into the ground while “We” are told that hunting and fishing are declining and no longer paying their way (a nice way to “get points” with the environmental and animal rights sects that are being said to replace hunters and fishermen.)


Six years ago the US Fish and Wildlife Service was found (by the General Accounting Office) to have illegally taken and spent more than $45 million dollars from the $300 to $400 million dollars collected each year and authorized to ONLY be spent by state fish and wildlife agencies for wildlife and sport fish. The US Fish and Wildlife Service used the ill-gotten money to do things like pay top people bonuses, to open an office in California after being forbidden to do so by Congress, and to introduce wolves into Yellowstone also after being denied money by Congress to do so. No one was ever punished (indeed they all received bonuses) for this massive breach of the public trust and the loss to hunting and fishing. States were reluctant to object because they get so much other Federal money that they didn’t want to jeopardize “working relationships” with fellow “fish and wildlifers” and other “partners.” When Congress rewrote the law to prohibit future access to these funds by anyone but state agencies, they were resisted behind the scenes by the states own lobby group (who obtained more of the funds for their Washington office), and “conservation” stalwarts like the Wildlife Management Institute (who recommended letters of admonishment) to the sport fishing group that wanted to avoid further scandal and remain upbeat and happy. Fortunately Congress was outraged and voted 234 to 2 to tighten access to the funds by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.


Fast forward to today. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (with many of the same top managers) cries about how they need more money to “manage” the program and the state’s Washington lobby group staff has grown and likewise needs “more” money. These two groups recently gave $126,000 of the excise taxes to the Invasive Species Council of New York state, (how ominous is that?) They also gave $40,000 of the excise taxes to the Congressional Sportsman’s Caucus Foundation. This last is a good bunch of Congressional ladies and gentlemen who hunt, shoot, and fish and should be appreciated and supported. That said, how unethical is it for state and Federal agencies to give tax money to legislators? As much as I support these issues, I am sickened by such behavior. Legislators, no more or less than judges, have no business getting tax funds no matter whether they call their front a “Foundation” or not. Only a fool fails to recognize how such practices can be used against you as well as for you down the road.


Today the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the state’s lobby group give over $14,000,000 of the hunting and fishing excise taxes every five years to have Service employees “conduct” (through contracts and cronies) a National Hunting and Fishing Survey based on the National Census. The staff has never included hunting or fishing advocates and it is constantly used to justify environmental and animal rights thrusts because of the questions they ask and the way they “interpret” the data. Recently hunters and fishermen have begun to recognize how the survey is a scam being used to “hang them separately” since they are failing to “hang together.”


Recent audit indications are even more disturbing. Evidently the switch to fishing tackle manufacturing in China has led to massive under reporting and undervaluing by import brokers. Archery equipment is likewise being underreported due to failure by state and Federal managers to maintain strict controls. This failure is due to hopes to avoid scandals as they ask for more money to be kept in Washington to be used for their “play money.” Current estimates place the loss in excise taxes at over $20,000,000 per year. The few employees who ev3en understand what must be done are being forced out, to be replaced at great expense by retired press release writers who are malleable and accommodating. All of this while the states cry poormouth and moan about a decrease in hunting and fishing so they need more tax money to stay afloat. Well folks I just identified more than $25,000,000 a year that should be going to state management programs. Ask me sometime about how the US Fish and Wildlife Service and state lobby group can save another 5 to 10 million a year more and I will tell you.


So whom do “We” look to? The politicians are too eager to increase Federal authority to solve problems and get our vote and the support of our groups. The Federal agencies (like Hitler’s railroad engineers who did such a good job of running the trains “on time”) think only of themselves and their narrow interest. Washington offices, groups, and agencies are loaded with “ex-employees” of offices, groups, and agencies that hire themselves out like samurais without honor to the highest bidder. New appointees under a new President just shuffle the chairs of appointees of the last President who with other old “appointees” and hacks from earlier Presidents run the agencies with their cronies in the environmental and animal rights cults. Group members from hunters and fishermen to businessmen ranchers read their slick magazines and attend get-togethers at fancy locations while their life interests and Constitutional freedoms are drained away like a deep swimming pool which makes not a sound until the last moments.


Folks “We” need to make sure that those who get our money and support do what “We” want, not the other way around. “We” all need to come together before we disappear and are eventually erased, one at a time, from history books and civics classes like Middle Age scholars and the Founding Fathers. The signs of what is happening are all around us and if “We” continue to ignore them “We” will deserve what “We” get.




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http://sierratimes.com/03/11/09/ar_jimbeers.htm

[Marlin]

Good post, Pops.

While it seems to get more and more discouraging, it also is great that we are informed so that, in each small way, we can try to take action and, if enough care enough to do so, we might just make a difference before it's all over with.

[FN_Project90]

gobment misusing money, what will they think of next!

[keppler]

Well...I never heard of such..Buncha crooks