| From Ed Kemmick, a dispatch from Big Timber, Montana, the front lines of The War on Reality.
The setting: a Big Timber council meeting. The players: a group of residents who have been working to acquire a $100,000 grant to "create two small wetlands" in a local park; and members of the Big Timber town council, including Kevin McCauley, member and co-founder of the "Sweet Grass Patriots." The background: the citizens' group asked the council for a letter of support for their project.
And...action!
After the current council voted not to sign a letter of support, park backers asked to talk about their plans at the work session on May 3. At that meeting, council members expressed some concerns about the cost of developing the park and liability issues affecting the city. Then, suddenly, the scope of the discussion expanded considerably.
That's when McCauley raised the specter of the U.N. Agenda 21, which is an international effort to promote sustainable development.
McCauley said he was concerned because the Dornix Park plan had been selected as a pilot project by the Yellowstone Business Partnership, a Bozeman group that supports sustainable development in the Yellowstone-Teton region. McCauley said that group was "tied directly with Agenda 21," and he referred to a man named Michael Shaw as an expert on the subject. In speeches posted on YouTube, Shaw has said Agenda 21 is devoted to abolishing private property, national sovereignty and the traditional family.
McCauley said the Yellowstone Business Partnership is also affiliated with LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, best known for setting standards for "green" construction methods and sustainable development.
"Sustainable development," McCauley told backers of the park, "is all about abolishing private property and substituting an economic system dubbed 'public-private partnership.' ... As soon as they say 'sustainable,' that tells me what it is."
At first, park supporters were at a loss for words, but they told McCauley they knew nothing about Agenda 21 or any purported takeover by the U.N.
Main Entry: para·noid: adjective, characterized by suspiciousness, persecutory trends, or megalomania; extremely fearful.
So...at what point do we all just admit that the right has been taken over by bath*t crazy loonies? |
