Oh boy, it just seems that the ability to doublespeak is a requirement for being a 1600 Crew Toady. Our glorious National Parks (which 99% of all republicans and Joe Lieberman want to sell off) are under attack by well, our National Government.

Once portals that lured gold-seeking pioneers, the black holes that dot the sun-baked mountainsides of this California desert haunt J.T. Reynolds.

The Death Valley National Park superintendent fears tourists will tumble down the decrepit shafts or vanish into the rocky tunnels that abound in his park’s famed Gold Rush-era mines and ghost towns.

To completely "mine-safe" some 6,000 shafts and caves would take money that Reynolds does not have.

"Most visitors do not realize that park resources have been under threat from deterioration, vandalism, neglect and rot for some time," Reynolds said. "We put up a good front and try to keep high visitor-use areas clean and neat. Even this facade is fading due to the lack of appropriate resources."

Across the 390 parks, preserves and historic sites that make up the 90-year-old national park system, Reynolds' colleagues face similar tough choices as growing costs from labor, utilities, maintenance, operations and preservation exceed wartime budgets from Washington.

Prior to joining the Bush Administration in July 2001, she was President of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a nonprofit current affairs research and communications organization.

Ms. Scarlett is author of numerous publications on incentive-based environmental policies. Ms. Scarlett received her B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework and exams in political science and political economy.

I'm speechless. Well, not really. It's Heckuva-job Lynn to the rescue. Pretty soon all our Parks will look like Death Valley and they won't even be deserts (now).

Note: What the hell is a degree in "Political Economy"?