Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Coffee and Provocation


If Lassie Is Your Savior, You Are Dead
Apparently, DreamWorks entertainment is banking on stunts with a many-generations removed transvestite collie to turn their economic fortunes around.  Good luck with that!


What the Yogurt?
If you are one of those people who think Australian Shepherds come from Australia, and that "Russell Terriers" originated there too, then you will be AMAZED to learn where Greek, Asian, Swiss, Icelandic, French, and Bulgarian, Yogurt comes from!

Start the Banana Boycott NOW
Chiquita banana is the next scum-sucking tax traitor of a major corporation looking to run overseas to avoid paying responsible taxes here in America. Start the boycott on Chiquita NOW and send a message to EVERY corporation.

If You SEE Something, FILM Something
Nothing will end police abuse faster than cellphone camera-filming. Meanwhile, if you wonder how America's news outlets might cover the recent police killing of an unarmed civilian in Ferguson, Missouri if something like that occurred overseas, here's your fun read of the day.

SeaWorld is Toast
The Pequod, from Moby Dick, was not the only ship sunk by a whale. SeaWorld is going down too, with a 33% plunge in its stock and a 4.3 pecent decline in attendance
in the first half of this year.  In response, SeaWorld says it is going to build a bigger aquarium tank torture pen for its killer whales, proving they have no other business plan other than doubling down on killer whale acts.

Fish and Wildlife Service Idiocy
The US Fish and Wildlife Service is
 moving to force the sterilization of an endangered species it is trying to save. The reason, says the Fish and Wildlife Service, is that simply breeding more tortoises won't save the species if not enough is done to improve and protect natural habitat and address threats in the wild.  In short, they need the tortoises to teeter on the edge of extinction because the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service cannot articulate a better reason to preserve land, and never mind the millions of acres of desert already preserved by the Bureau of Land Management. Assistant field supervisor for the Fish &Wildlife Service in Nevada told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it can be "a really difficult issue" to explain to people. I bet!

5 comments:

Peter Apps said...

"If You SEE Something, FILM Something"

Little brother is watching.

seeker said...

Don't get me started on the BLM. Bastards are selling out the American Public and our Mustangs. Over 2/3s of these Western Icons are in concentration camps while their government paid keepers are trying to figure a way to sell them across the border for the European Meat Market. Why? So they can lease their home ranges to cattlemen. I mean obviously cattle and horses can't share the same ranges, just because they've been doing it for centuries.

Debi and the TX Jack/Rats.

Chas S. Clifton said...

After Lassie's stint with the U.S. Forest Service, s/he can do anything.

Chas S. Clifton said...

I would not use "preserved" and BLM in the same sentence. There is a reason that Westerners refer to it as the "Bureau of Livestock and Mining." BLM land is open to all kinds of commercial activities.

Outside of the national refuge system, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service does not "preserve" land either, but must work with other agencies.

PBurns said...

Point well taken Chas, though I do not mean "preserve" like a bug in amber in this instance. Large wild ruminants have been on this land since before Columbus and the footprint of mining is generally small when compared to the amount of land under federal control (unless one is a fish downstream in certain water sheds). The BLM has enough land for tortoises, that's for sure. They do not need much space, are not all that rare, and spend about 90 percent of their life underground. Their biggest threats are natural ones -- disease, coyotes, ravens, and ants. I am all for protecting them, but sterilizing pet tortoises to create a fake scarcity is ridiculous and silly on its face -- and will only result in more tortoises removed from the wild.

On Lassie, I remember her stint with the USFS -- not a successful part of her career. The story board simply did not catch on as you note.

Wild horses are an emotional issue for some. They are not native, and feral populations used to be kept in check when they were caught, killed and eaten by native Americans, mountain lions, grizzlies and wolves. I do not see a single thing wrong with rounding up feral horse and killing them for human food or dog food. These are not pets, and they will end up as food for something, whether it is worms or wolves. Wildlife management is sometimes needed for everything from deer to lion, and from bear to rats. In the case of non native species, the case for management to the point of extirpation is easier to make (though not always needed or possible).