Not helpful, Mr. President

Obama recently signed legislation that will increase the number of sea turtle deaths allowed on fishing lines by some 30 percent. Because, you know, we weren't having problems with that to begin with. For those of you who don't know, sea turtle deaths on long lines occur exactly like dolphin deaths on the same--turtle gets snagged, turtle runs out of oxygen, turtle drowns. This would be a big deal in the environmental community even if sea turtles weren't endangered (which species? Every single one!), which they are. That endangered status makes the loss of even one turtle catastrophic. After all, that turtle might have contained genetic material found nowhere else in the population. Fortunately for the sea turtles, the Center for Biological Diversity is taking this to court. Still, legal battles take a long time, and even if successful a lot of turtles will have died in the meantime. Fantastic.