Talk about being a low life

Some chuckleheads in north central Idaho have filed suit against the federal government to overturn a decision that refused to classify the Giant Palouse Earthworm as “endangered”.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon, Friends of the Clearwater, and individuals Steve Paulson and Lynne Nelson filed today to overturn a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus americanus) does not warrant protection as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.

“The giant Palouse earthworm is extremely rare and faces substantial risk of extinction,” said Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Denial of protection for the earthworm is all too typical of the Bush administration, which has protected the fewest number of species under the Endangered Species Act of any administration since the law was passed.” To date, the Bush administration has protected only 58 species, compared to 522 under Clinton and 231 under the first Bush president.

What, do these people see the Presidency as a race to see how many species an administration can stick onto the list? And exactly what does “Biological Diversity” mean, and how much affirmative action for other forms of life are they looking for?

On October 9, 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a 90-day finding denying that the groups’ petition contained enough information to warrant any protection for the giant Palouse earthworm. Steve Paulson, a board member of Friends of the Clearwater, said: “This is absurd! This is the same agency that told me that our petition contained more data on this earthworm than any other source. They are playing political games at the giant Palouse earthworm’s expense, and we are spitting mad.”

The “spitting mad” comment comes from the fact that, apparently, this earthworm can spit at attackers. Also, the damn thing is three feet long.

Besides believing that these people need to seriously find a real hobby, my only other thoughts on this would be: 1. Just think of how many trout you could catch with just one of those worms, and 2. We’d better find one to set on a Boomer this April before a Dem gets in and mark it endangered (just kidding, that’d be real messy).

Found at Tim Blair’s place