Life Imitates Blog:Last week I jokingly recommeded a nice starter topic for the editorial pages: Send pound puppies to Asia to be eaten, thereby turning a public liability into a corporate asset. Well, it seems someone in India is either reading this blog or ... uh . . . "great minds think alike." The Daily Telegraph reports that in New Delhi a local councilor -- Mohan Prashad Bharadwaj -- has suggested that Delhi's 300,000 strays should be rounded up and sent to Korea to be made into soup. Editorial writers everywhere can now have a field day. Bonus prize for working in the phrase "dog days of August."
AKC Terriers Work a Fox:
I take back everything I ever said about American Kennel Club terriers being rarely found in the field. Take a look at this fox. Wow!
The AKC is Forming a PAC:
The American Kennel Club is forming a Political Action Committee or PAC. Do we need more of those? Apparently.
Congressmen Hunter Fails Civics 101:
Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) has introduced the "Teddy Roosevelt Bring Back our Public Lands Act," which would limit the amount of money that states can charge non-residents who hunt big game exclusively on U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management land. Duncan Hunter seems unaware that this law is unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment, but don't spend too many brain cells thinking about it, as this legislation is not going anywhere. There is not even a Senate version of this bill. Ben Nelson, chaiman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (a bi-partisan group consisting of more than half the members of the Senate and House who support hunting and fishing), is dead-set against this bill, as are such diverse Members of Congress as reliably right-wing Rep. C.L. “Butch” Otter (R-ID) and reliably left-wing Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO). So why was this bill even introduced? Simple: Election-year pandering to hunters.
Packing in the Parks:
Speaking of election-year pandering (see post above), wanna-be-President Ron Paul's latest bright idea is to allow folks to pack handguns in our National Parks. Why? For protection. Hmmm. We've gotten along fine for 100 years, but now we need strap-ons to see Old Faithful? When did the U.S. Government lose the right to control the conditions of access to the property that it owns? And does this "anyone, any time, any place, any weapon" theology extend to foreign nationals entering military bases with bazookas? How about angry U.S. citizens with handguns and rifles visiting the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the White House, and the Supreme Court? This kind of political pandering is chum put into our political waters by politicians seeking to attract sucker fish. It's an insult, that they think they can find them in the hunting community, and a sadness that they so often do.
Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) has introduced the "Teddy Roosevelt Bring Back our Public Lands Act," which would limit the amount of money that states can charge non-residents who hunt big game exclusively on U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management land. Duncan Hunter seems unaware that this law is unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment, but don't spend too many brain cells thinking about it, as this legislation is not going anywhere. There is not even a Senate version of this bill. Ben Nelson, chaiman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (a bi-partisan group consisting of more than half the members of the Senate and House who support hunting and fishing), is dead-set against this bill, as are such diverse Members of Congress as reliably right-wing Rep. C.L. “Butch” Otter (R-ID) and reliably left-wing Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO). So why was this bill even introduced? Simple: Election-year pandering to hunters.
Packing in the Parks:
Speaking of election-year pandering (see post above), wanna-be-President Ron Paul's latest bright idea is to allow folks to pack handguns in our National Parks. Why? For protection. Hmmm. We've gotten along fine for 100 years, but now we need strap-ons to see Old Faithful? When did the U.S. Government lose the right to control the conditions of access to the property that it owns? And does this "anyone, any time, any place, any weapon" theology extend to foreign nationals entering military bases with bazookas? How about angry U.S. citizens with handguns and rifles visiting the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the White House, and the Supreme Court? This kind of political pandering is chum put into our political waters by politicians seeking to attract sucker fish. It's an insult, that they think they can find them in the hunting community, and a sadness that they so often do.
Invasion of the Invasives:
The newpapers in Florida report that there are about 5,000 pythons in the Everglades now -- a real free-breeding population of snakes that grow to about 20 feet. This population got a foothold when former pets escaped or were cut loose by owners tired of the expense of feeding them rats, rabbits, and chickens. Because so many python owners seem to suddenly "lose" their snakes when they get to a certain size, Florida will now require all pythons to be microchiped and pay a permitting fee of as much as $100 a year. In addition, snake owners must account for where their snake is, and if it is dead it has has to be presented to a vet or some other local authority.
. . . . . Snakes are hardly the only invasive species problem in Florida, of course. Over in in Lee County, Florida, there are so many feral Iguanas running around that local authorities have contracted with a private, Sarasota-based company to kill as many of the estimated 10,000 animals as it can, at a cost of $20 a head.
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