A Xmas Present For All Americans

You know a good thing happened when you have winger wiping tears and blowing his nose. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, head of the Congressional Western Caucus, denounced the action as "little more than an early Christmas present to the far left extremists who oppose the multiple use of our nation's public lands."

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday gave the Bureau of Land Management the power to designate tens of millions of acres as "wild lands" — a new categorization that could dramatically alter future decisions on everything from mining and drilling to off-roading. Salazar, who announced his order in Denver's Central Platte Valley, said the new policy will supersede a 2003 out-of-court settlement that came to be known as "no more wilderness." Agreed to by then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton, that settlement removed federal protections on 2.6 million acres of public land in Utah, and the resulting policy left millions of other backcountry acres vulnerable to development, Salazar said.

This is a good thing and another reason I want guvment in my life. Of course it was guvment that changed it in the first place and in 012 it will probably change back again but for now anyway these lands will remain as is and that's just fine by me.