From: alra@governance.net Subject: Amazing Poetry About Endangered Species Act – Don’t Miss This Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 E-mail: alra@landrights.org or alra@governance.net Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 2000 Amazing Poetry About Endangered Species Act – Don’t Miss This -----Original Message----- From: Ron Arnold [mailto:rarnold@eskimo.com] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 12:57 AM To: ccushman@landrights.org Subject: letter To My Movement Friends, Well, once again we have circled the wagons and begun shooting inside. Once again, the contentious issue is the Endangered Species Act. Once again, it’s politicians versus purists. Yes, we should all know better, but we don’t. We’ve split The Movement into warring camps and the casualties will all be ours. The politicians are us, the purists are us. We’re so busy trashing each other that nobody’s slaying the dragon. We’re so immersed in our own values that we can’t even agree on what’s the dragon. I’ve seen lots of messages about this, and you have too. There was a letter I signed, as did about fifty of you, that said we need protection for property rights. It was a letter that politicians and purists alike signed. Unfortunately the ESA bill that is emerging does not give us all we want. And for some, nothing of what they want. Let me say at once that I’m a politician. I have purist feelings. My signature was on that letter to say that I thought the purists were right. But it was not there to defy or threaten the politicians, since I am one myself. I support Chairman Pombo. He has been a good friend for many years and he will be a good friend for many more. As I said when we all met in January, whatever Chairman Pombo can get through Congress, I will support. I have not changed my mind. Nor have any of you changed yours, purists or politicians. I only regret that the purists will not get what they want. They never do. They never have. They never will. And that’s why I’m a politician. To me, a little of something is better than a lot of nothing. I know to a purist, that’s not so. Your principles of purism are the most important thing. I respect you for that. It comes at a high cost and I admire those willing to make that sacrifice. But I can’t be like you. Realism is a principle too. Respect it or not, it’s how I am. But that letter I signed seems to have gotten connected with a confrontational meeting between a number of my good friends, one of them Chairman Pombo. It ended badly. It split The Movement irretrievably, and for that I grieve. But I stand by Chairman Pombo. Firmly, definitely and politically. I expect that will offend some of my friends. I ask your forbearance. You will remain my friend whether I remain yours or not. Now, there is the matter of more letters that traveled the email circuit, letters from two of my good friends, one from Arizona and one from New York, beating up another of my good friends, one from Washington State. Most ungenerous. The human condition may well never allow these breaches to heal. Or perhaps they will, in time. Whatever time may bring, my friends, you are all heroes to me. We are all heroes. Never forget. My best regards to you all, Ron Arnold -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.