“Circling the earth in the orbital spacecraft I marvelled at the beauty of our planet. People of the world! Let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it!” — Yuri Gagarin. Today is the fortieth anniversary of his historic first manned spaceflight. Several articles commemorate the occasion by commenting on how we’re doing. First:

Moratorium Asked on Suits That Seek to Protect Species. Latest betrayal of America’s heritage and future on the docket. “The Bush
administration has asked Congress
to set aside, at least for a year, a provision
of the Endangered Species Act that has
been the main tool used by citizens’ groups
to win protection for plants and animals.

The request, spelled out in a section of the
budget document that President Bush sent to
Capitol Hill on Monday, would make it much
more difficult for citizens to use the courts to
force the Fish and Wildlife Service to act on
petitions to list a species as endangered.” Democratic opposition pledges to “any and all” tactics including, finally, filibuster threat, to prevent this, according to spokesperson Sen. John Kerry. New York Times

Related news: “George W. Bush has added a weird twist to his proposed budget. To promote
his goal of oil drilling on public lands, he has made the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge a kind of hostage. In a message that could have been
pasted together from words cut out of a magazine, Bush is telling the
environmental community that if it wants money for energy conservation and
non-polluting energy sources, it will have to let Bush and his allies
drill in the untouched Alaskan wilderness. Either drill in the Arctic
refuge or face deep cuts in renewable energy research.

Yet, Bush’s bizarre decision to hold the Alaska refuge hostage is only one
part of a federal budget that has the look of a battle plan against the
environment. ” The Consortium