Mark Udall is the Worst Kind of Rubber Stamp

We saw a Google Digg Alert claiming that Mark Udall is not a rubber stamp. That sounds really good because voters shouldn't want their politicians to be rubber stamps. Bob Schaffer certainly wasn't a rubber stamp when he was in congress.

The problem is that Mark Udall is a rubber stamp for the environmentalist extremist movement.

We have a growing crisis in Colorado with our mega acres of dead trees. Common sense says that we should be clear cutting fire breaks to keep the whole state from going up at once.

The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club say that we shouldn't. Burn, Colorado Burn, is their mantra. Mark Udall is a rubber stamp for this insane position. Mark these words: Mark Udall's position will cost fire fighters lives.

Does he care? Not that we can tell.

Udall: Sounding the Alarm to Subsidize Art While Letting our Forests Burn

We already pointed out that Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall is trying to cover his tracks on his poor record of wildfire prevention. As was pointed out, he told the Rocky Mountain News:

"I have been sounding the alarm on the beetle and wildfire risk problem for our forests since my first year in Congress," Udall said Wednesday evening.

Well, apparently the alarm was drowned out by his concern for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) budget. In 2006, Udall voted No on a bill amendment that would have cut $30 million from the NEA budget and committed most of those funds "to the United States Forest Service to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires."

Is Udall really concerned about the "wildfire risk problem" Colorado faces? Maybe, he'll think about it after making sure your tax dollars have sufficiently subsidized artwork, including many controversial pieces that you may recall in recent memory.

Lest you think this vote was an isolated incident, Udall opposed similar amendments in 2002 and 2003 and 2004, choosing to fund postmodern sculptures and other outside-the-mainstream art projects rather than ensuring Colorado was adequately protected from wildfires.

Udall's campaign probably hasn't counted on their candidate's weak record on forest conservation being highlighted. But we are glad to perform the public service.

Still Dragging His Feet - And Lying About It

We've called Mark Udall a liar before. He doesn't just tell little lies. He tells big lies on the Hitler theory that if you make the lie big enough and repeat it often enough, people will believe it.

Today, in the Rocky Mountain News, he was quoted as saying:

"I have been sounding the alarm on the beetle and wildfire risk problem for our forests since my first year in Congress," Udall said Wednesday evening.

Mark Udall has been a Sierra Club toady since his first year in congress. The Sierra Club's position on wild fire risk was to oppose thinning until the Hayman fire in Colorado.

By pure chance, the Hayman burn area included a small experimental area where thinning had occurred. The fire didn't burn hot enough to kill the trees in that area while the other, unthinned areas burned so hot that the soil was fused and even the roots were consumed.

That demonstrated that the Sierra Club had been wrong to oppose thinning, so they modified their position slightly. Instead of coming out against thinning, they went to court to oppose the road building that would have made thinning possible.

Mark Udall has aided the Sierra Club with their mindless roadless policy. Last year, he was the author of roadless legislation.

Even the bills he just introduced do not propose thinning. They propose studying thinning.

What is needed now is clear cut fire breaks and the forest roads that would permit the dead wood to be hauled out. Without fire breaks, the dead forest will burn until it runs into natural fire breaks, and it will burn hot. Mark Udall isn't ready to propose that, nor is he willing to propose a total relaxation of timbering restrictions in areas that will die anyway.

The sad thing is that Mark Udall and his partner in this crime against Colorado, John Salazar won't even fight hard to see this legislation pass. To do so would risk the funding flow from Sierra Club members in California who don't have to look at the dead trees or fear running for their lives in a fire.

Mark Udall's campaign motto should be "Burn Colorado, Burn."

And the big blue lie machine churns on.