America's Great Outdoors

Last week our park was contacted (along with two others in close proximity to NashVegas), by the America's Great Outdoors initiative. Nashville will host a community-listening session at the end of August. That gives everybody two solid weeks of preparation time. That also means we are going to be super busy trying to set this whole thing up. That also means my chances of going to the gulf have shrunk considerably. Boo on that.

Anyway, Obama set forth the initiative on April 16 (4 days before the Deepwater Horizon exploded in Mississippi Canyon 252... yes, I see the irony) to "promote and support innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors."

I am all tore up about how I feel about government-initiated community efforts. I believe they call that "socialism." As employee of the Federal Government, I have little choice about my participation (and since I have this insane drive to do whatever I do well, I will only strive to participate fully). I do appreciate essence of the initiative. I am all about some protecting of the saved spaces we have, the natural and cultural places that represent American heritage. Bring on the patriotism. Just bring it on if I want it- I don't want the government to tell me how I should be patriotic, dangit.