Oops, Columba did it again! Florida’s First Lady has commissioned an official state Christmas ornament, depicting West Indian manatees, endangered marine mammals native to Florida. Of course, she failed to acknowledge the environmental policies of her husband, the gov, put the animal at risk. The Southwest Florida Herald Tribune’s Mark Zaloudek:
The official state marine mammal gets top billing this year in “Manatee Dance,” which depicts some manatees frolicking amid water lilies and papyrus. (Just for the record, manatees aren’t likely to eat water lilies, and you’d have a hard time finding papyrus in Florida waters inhabited by manatees, but hey, who am I to challenge an artist’s concept?)
Mark also didn’t mention that the normally gray sea cows are depicted in a cheerier than life red, while the water lillies and papyrus are in artificially festive green and gold. Hey, whatever works.
Jeb, meanwhile, has done so much to make manatees of any color extinct that he was issued an “F” by an environmental group in 2002.
Manatee advocates gathered today at the Florida Press Center to issue Governor Jeb Bush a report card on protection of his “favorite mammal.” Standing in front of a pile of 174 stuffed manatees, representing the number killed by watercraft since the Governor’s October 2000 Manatee Summit, Rodger Schlickeisen, President of the national environmental organization, Defenders of Wildlife, condemned Bush’s performance.
“The Governor receives an ‘F’ in manatee protection,” said Schlickeisen. “Not only has Governor Bush given meaningless lip service to manatee protection, but he is facilitating the active undermining of protections for this endangered animal by special interests and agency officials.”
This isn’t the first time Columba has failed to connect the dots between Bush talk and Bush action. Last month, she had the gall to urge local school officials to put more emphasis on art education. She didn’t mention that her husband cut the funding for such instruction, and that his unswerving emphasis on the FCAT – Florida Comprehensive Acheivement Test – leaves teachers no time for anything but teaching the test. Palm Beach Post:
Florida’s first lady challenged parents and the community to become more involved in arts education and noted the importance of private funding at a time when state and federal dollars are focused less on the arts and more on preparing students to pass standardized tests.
Speaking almost inaudibly at times, the petite, soft-spoken Columba Bush told her audience, “We all share in the responsibility of giving Florida’s children an education in the arts.”
Yeah, but some of us share it more than others, Columba.
