Today I read Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael." Highly recommended reading! I won't go much into it, but will say that after I read it and then went on to read about the drought in the state of Georgia, the comments in the article really hit home...

Things like:
"What we've learned from this is what a blunt weapon the Endangered Species Act has become, where some obscure bureaucrat in Fish and Wildlife and some obscure judge can decide that mussels are more important than our children and grandchildren," said U.S. Rep. John Linder, R-Georgia, who spoke after Perdue at Saturday's news conference.

Perdue blasted what he called the "silly rules" governing the water situation, noting that even if the state got replenishing rains, it could not by law conserve those and must release the water to run downstream.

"We are also mired in a frustrating manmade disaster of federal bureaucracy," Perdue said.

"The actions of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Fish and Wildlife Services are downright dangerous, and Georgia cannot stand for this negligence."

See the rest at http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/20/georgia.drought/index.html

The thing that makes Perdue's comments so interesting is that there is NO realization or even consideration that perhaps the city of Atlanta can not be supported by the geographic area around it. It couldn't possibly be that Atlanta has gotten too large... no, it's that the 'disaster of federal bureaucracy' can't be navigated to the likes of the people that aren't happy... with no concern for the other life that depend on that river, including, apparently, other people.

Oh for the day when a political leader will stand up and say "Our actions are downright dangerous... we must change the way we live" rather than blaming the likes of the Fish and Game department, who are merely extending protection to life that we will surely end eventually...