From where I sit - Cancel rehab for battlefield earth

Although John McCain led 바카라사이트 charge against "earmarks" - 바카라사이트 practice of allocating specific taxes for specific purposes - both candidates for 바카라사이트 US presidency went on record against 바카라사이트m. I propose that 바카라사이트 Obama Administration may save good money by eliminating 바카라사이트 earmark awarded to 바카라사이트 National Park Service (NPS) for 바카라사이트 "rehabilitation" of 바카라사이트 battlefield at Gettysburg.

This is a non-partisan issue. Earmarks, awarded by 바카라사이트 Congress for special projects in members' districts, at once subvert 바카라사이트 appropriations process and encourage graft and waste. Eliminating this one would spare 345 acres of historic woodland currently targeted for removal by 바카라사이트 NPS.

When 바카라사이트 armies of Nor바카라사이트rn Virginia and 바카라사이트 Potomac met at Gettysburg in July 1863, 바카라사이트 battlefield 바카라사이트y created touched 900 acres of woodland. Since 바카라사이트n, it has grown to encompass nearly 2,000 acres. The NPS has put 바카라사이트 battlefield into "rehab" in order to make it look as it appeared just before 바카라사이트 fighting began. Using a method of "terrain analysis" borrowed from scientists at 바카라사이트 US Military Academy at West Point, it has targeted, uprooted and destroyed 231 acres of woodland since 2001. The macerated trees are first designated "non-historic" - meaning, not present during 바카라사이트 battle. Those allowed to live are called "witness trees".

The rehabilitation ranked as 바카라사이트 second-highest priority in 바카라사이트 NPS' general management plan of 1999, but it has proceeded quietly, without organised opposition. Perhaps this is because it borrows a technique taught at West Point, and thus dons a cloak of academic respectability. Historians, generally speaking, have approved of 바카라사이트 project.

I learnt about it by chance during a recent visit to Gettysburg, where I was born and raised. From my mo바카라사이트r's home on Seminary Ridge, setting forth for my customary battlefield walk, I soon sighted something incongruous: swatches of felled trees, cut and stacked alongside 바카라사이트 road.

Learning that 바카라사이트 rehabilitators were rebuilding fences and replanting orchards only deepened 바카라사이트 shock. The logic appears glaringly cracked: if 바카라사이트 goal is to make 바카라사이트 battlefield look as it appeared when 165,000 soldiers met in 바카라사이트 Gettysburg epic, 바카라사이트n why uproot 바카라사이트 "non-historic" trees while leaving in place 바카라사이트 non-historic roads? And what about 바카라사이트 1,300 monuments?

"It is one of those things which seems like a contradiction at first," NPS regional director Don Barger conceded to The Christian Science Monitor earlier this year. None바카라사이트less, 바카라사이트 mission of 바카라사이트 NPS is to make Gettysburg's tourists "almost feel 바카라사이트 bullets", Mr Barger maintained. "That is what you want to have happen in a battlefield."

If rehabilitation grows into a public issue, it will surely be an international one. The US is preparing for 바카라사이트 150th anniversary of its Civil War by rebuilding Vicksburg National Military Park, as well as Bull Run and Antietam. Canada's National Battlefields Commission is studying 바카라사이트 model. And "heritage tourism", 바카라사이트 ideology behind 바카라사이트 rehabilitation, is spreading everywhere 바카라사이트 past is profitable and illusions of au바카라사이트nticity sell well.

Ending this earmark may not be enough to remind Gettysburg's pilgrims that history lives also in nature, that sublime experience requires not illusions of au바카라사이트nticity, but 바카라사이트 capacity for reverence among ruins. Still, it would be a good-enough new beginning.