The Idiots At The Washington Times Don't Even Know Where The Organs Are

I was very pleased that President Obama proclaimed the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces as a National Monument. The Organs are a beautiful place! I remember rock-climbing there, back in the day.

Nevertheless, last weekend, John noted this hopelessly-partisan, profoundly-ignorant article on the proclamation:

President Obama on Wednesday will declare a national monument in southern New Mexico, delivering a win for environmentalists but angering ranchers and local law enforcement, who say the land restrictions will end up creating a safe haven for drug cartels to operate within the U.S.

Mr. Obama will declare about 500,000 acres as the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. About half of that land is expected to be set aside as wilderness, meaning it will be closed to vehicles and construction.

Local ranchers say it’s a land grab that will interfere with their grazing rights, and border security advocates said the move will make it tougher for federal agents and local police to patrol the land, leaving a security gap that Mexican smuggling cartels will exploit.

“This is about opposing so many thousands of acres that is going to create nothing more than a pathway for criminals to get into this country to do their criminal acts,” Dona Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison told The Washington Times in a telephone interview Monday.

...But land rights advocates said it is the precursor to more conflicts like the recent standoff in Nevada, where a rancher refused to comply with a court order that he stop grazing on Bureau of Land Management property, prompting the BLM to confiscate his cattle, though they were returned after a public outcry.

The BLM, which is part of the Interior Department, will administer the national monument.

The land contains five mountain ranges with fragile landscapes, prehistoric rock art and more recent historic sites such as a training area for the Apollo astronauts.

The monument would cover hundreds of thousands of acres right next to the Mexican border.

First off, the Organs aren't on the border. Second, if they were so desirable for criminals, don't you think creating a national monument, with heightened Federal monitoring of the area, improve security? Third, the Organs are right near Ft. Bliss, Texas. It's already some of the most heavily-watched real estate around. You really think criminals are even interested?

Go ahead, whine away Steve Pearce, no one buys your bullshit.