There's Lobbying and Lobbying I Guess

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Cultural property "Observer" Peter Tompa notes:

Archaeo-bloggers David Gill and Paul Barford have implied that the efforts of the small businesses of the numismatic trade, the American Numismatic Association and collectors to get a fair shake from the U.S. State Department with the help of our elected representatives is somehow wrong. How ironic then that the Archaeological Institute of America is now also touting its own lobbying efforts and that of related groups on a pending Omnibus Lands Bill. Is it wrong for the AIA to lobby?

I hope I am not alone in thinking there is a WORLD of difference between persuading twelve 'elected representatives' to sign a letter in effect supporting the trade in smuggled artefacts (and who are they "representing" then?) and encouraging (we note, different) elected representatives to support a conservation bill. One is in the interests of a small clique of selfish individuals wanting to make money from the sale of smuggled items, regardless of the effects on the historic environment in some distant foreign un-American countries, the other in the interest of the American people and their efforts to cherish their own natural environment.


Vignette: cherished landscape with an eagle.