[Levin]

Cattle ranching in the arid west (Archaea's "wastelands," my Edens) has

(1) degraded water quality as any Scout worth his weight in water-purifying tablets knows

(2) eroded the soil horribly

(3) introduced invasive plants

(4) endangered countelss native plants and animals (and blocked or stymied, as noted above, all efforts to reintroduce the endangered animals).

It is an incredibly ineffecient use of our public lands, and one that amounts to no more than welfare ranching. It should be grouped, and is, with our welfare corn farming in Iowa. But there's something worse: the Iowa farmers own their lands; the ranchers are doing it on yours and mine.