Your DNA will soon be coming to the internet. Your family’s medical information, racial information, and everything else that your DNA reveals about you will now be public information, thanks to a new law that President Bush has signed. Our president has ordered that within no more than six months a "national contingency plan" will be created to take a sample of newborns' DNA, and publish the information on the web. This is supposedly in case of a "public health emergency."
Unless you’ve adopted your children, their DNA is your DNA, it’s your siblings’ DNA, your parents’ DNA. It is who you are in every physical way.
It’s true the government will likely not publish individuals’ data - but how much do you trust that that your personal DNA data won’t somehow be available to a hacker, to insurance companies, to anyone who really wants to see it? Did you give permission for this information to be taken from your child, for this information about you and your family to become public?
And if that’s not bad enough, don’t you think that every terrorist who is working day and night to create bio-weapons is thanking our president for his help in providing a national database for research via the internet?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Environmentalists or terrorists?
A bunch more “environmental” (litigation) groups are using the US court system to force the US Fish & Wildlife Service to bend to “environmentalist” agendas - and to heck with science and fact.
The Mexican wolf program is a bogus program, based on false premises. Mexican wolves come from the low desert. They never lived here in the "Mexican wolf recovery area". This area is high-altitude mixed-conifer forest, not low desert. Mogollon wolves lived here, not Mexican wolves. Go ahead - ask US FWS - they’ll tell you that the Mexican wolf recovery area is the extreme fringe of the historical Mexican wolf territory, not where they preferred to live.
So what is going on with these groups that are filing the lawsuits? The truth is that they know the above facts. The truth is that they are not really interested in saving the environment. Some of these groups are open about what they want - they want to get people out of the National Forests (don’t believe me? Check out their websites). They’ll use any means they can to achieve their goals, even if it means lying to not only the public and the US court system, but to their financial supporters - who trust them and who believe in sending money to these groups they are doing a good thing for the environment.
“Environmental” groups such as the ones suing US FWS are elitists who don't care what the cost of achieving their goals is to the public, to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and to the individuals who live here. In forcing the relocation of a non-native species to an area that species historically did not inhabit, “environmentalists” are twisting the purpose of the ESA and using the court system inappropriately to force the government and the public to do what the groups want.
What this amounts to is the use of the judicial and legislative functions of this country to achieve their own private ends. How is this different from subversion and anti-American actions? How does this differ from what any external terrorist group wants to achieve?
I say send the Mexican wolves back to Mexico, where they came from, and expose these anti-US groups for what they are: terrorists masquerading as environmentalists.
The Mexican wolf program is a bogus program, based on false premises. Mexican wolves come from the low desert. They never lived here in the "Mexican wolf recovery area". This area is high-altitude mixed-conifer forest, not low desert. Mogollon wolves lived here, not Mexican wolves. Go ahead - ask US FWS - they’ll tell you that the Mexican wolf recovery area is the extreme fringe of the historical Mexican wolf territory, not where they preferred to live.
So what is going on with these groups that are filing the lawsuits? The truth is that they know the above facts. The truth is that they are not really interested in saving the environment. Some of these groups are open about what they want - they want to get people out of the National Forests (don’t believe me? Check out their websites). They’ll use any means they can to achieve their goals, even if it means lying to not only the public and the US court system, but to their financial supporters - who trust them and who believe in sending money to these groups they are doing a good thing for the environment.
“Environmental” groups such as the ones suing US FWS are elitists who don't care what the cost of achieving their goals is to the public, to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and to the individuals who live here. In forcing the relocation of a non-native species to an area that species historically did not inhabit, “environmentalists” are twisting the purpose of the ESA and using the court system inappropriately to force the government and the public to do what the groups want.
What this amounts to is the use of the judicial and legislative functions of this country to achieve their own private ends. How is this different from subversion and anti-American actions? How does this differ from what any external terrorist group wants to achieve?
I say send the Mexican wolves back to Mexico, where they came from, and expose these anti-US groups for what they are: terrorists masquerading as environmentalists.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Climate change article by David Archibald
Solar Cycle 24: Implications for the United States
Archibald, David. 2008. Solar Cycle 24: Implications for the United States. International Conference on Climate Change March, 2008.
Full text [here]
Selected excerpts:
Do we live in a special time in which the laws of physics and nature are suspended? No, we do not. Can we expect relationships between the Sun’s activity and climate, that we can see in data going back several hundred years, to continue for at least another 20 years? With absolute certainty.
In this presentation, I will demonstrate that the Sun drives climate, and use that demonstrated relationship to predict the Earth’s climate to 2030. It is a prediction that differs from most in the public domain. It is a prediction of imminent cooling.
To put the solar – climate relationship in context, we will begin by looking at the recent temperature record, and then go further back in time. Then we will examine the role of the Sun in changing climate, and following that the contribution of anthropogenic warming from carbon dioxide.
I will show that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is not even a little bit bad. It is wholly beneficial. The more carbon dioxide we can put into the atmosphere, the better the planet will be – for humans, and all other living things. …
To reconstruct climate prior to thermometer records, isotope ratios and tree ring widths are used. This graph shows the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age. The peak of the Medieval Warm Period was 2° warmer than today and the Little Ice Age 2° colder at its worst. The total range is 4° centigrade. The warming over the 20th century was 0.6 degrees by comparison. This recent warming has melted ice on some high passes in the Swiss Alps, uncovering artifacts from the Medieval Warm Period and the prior Roman Warm Period. …
It was warmer again not long after the last ice age ended. Sea level was 2 metres than it is today. Since the Holocene Optimum about eight thousand years ago, we been in long term temperature decline at about 0.25 degrees per thousand years.
When I asked at the beginning of this presentation if we lived in a special time, well that is true in relation to the last three million years. The special time we live in is called an interglacial. Normally, and that is 90% of the time, the spot I am standing on is covered by several thousand feet of ice. Relative to the last four interglacials, we may be somewhere near the end of the current interglacial. The end of the Holocene will be a brutal time for humanity. …
The Holocene, the period we are in now, is tracking along with three of the four previous interglacials. Of those three, if the Holocene ends up being like the Eemian, then we may have up to 3,000 years of Little Ice Age-like conditions before we plunge into the next glacial period. If not, then the plunge could start any time now. …The evidence from the Hanover solar cycle length to temperature relationship, and that of the other cities in this presentation, is incontrovertible. There will be a significant cooling very soon.
Our generation has known a warm, giving Sun, but the next generation will suffer a Sun that is less giving, and the Earth will be less fruitful. …
The big consequence of this is that it will shrink the growing season. The 2.2 degree decline I am predicting will take two weeks off the growing season at both ends. Next decade will not be a good time to be a Canadian wheat farmer. For farmers further south, farm production will decline but that production will be worth a considerable amount more.
“The surprising result of these long-range predictions is a rapid decline in solar activity, starting with cycle #24. If this trend continues, we may see the Sun heading towards a “Maunder”type of solar activity minimum -an extensive period of reduced levels of solar activity.” — K.H.Schattenand W.K.Tobiska, 34th Solar Physics Division Meeting, June 2003, American Astronomical Society…
Can global warming from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide save us from a collapse in mid-latitude agricultural production? Not at all. …
In a world of higher atmospheric carbon dioxide, crops will use less water per unit of carbon dioxide uptake, and thus the productivity of semi-arid lands will increase the most.
It’s not all good news. We will need this increase in agricultural productivity to offset the colder weather coming.
AGW Proponents are Exactly Wrong
1.The Earth is getting colder and this will accelerate.
2.Carbon dioxide has a minuscule warming effect.
3.Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide will increase agricultural productivity.
4.The ideal atmospheric carbon dioxide level is a minimum of 1,000 ppm
What I have shown in this presentation is that carbon dioxide is largely irrelevant to the Earth’s climate. The carbon dioxide that Mankind will put into the atmosphere over the next few hundred years will offset a couple of millenia of post-Holocene Optimum cooling before we plunge into the next ice age. There are no deleterious consequences of higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Higher atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are wholly beneficial.
Implications for the United States
1.The climate-driven reduction in agricultural production should be planned for.
2.Coal-fired power generation should be increased.
3.Coal to liquid fuels capacity should be installed.
Stopping coal-fired power generation due to carbon dioxide emissions is exactly wrong in science. The more carbon dioxide you put into the atmosphere, the more you are helping all living things on the planet and of course that makes you a better person.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
545 PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR AMERICA’S WOES
BY CHARLEY REESE
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton- picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.
No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a SPEAKER, who stood up and criticized G.W. Bush ALONE for creating deficits.
The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.
Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.
I can’t think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in IRAQ.
There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess.
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton- picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.
No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a SPEAKER, who stood up and criticized G.W. Bush ALONE for creating deficits.
The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.
Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.
I can’t think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in IRAQ.
There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Global warming: Who gains from the scare tactics?
"....we currently live in one of coldest moments in the history of the Earth. With the exception of the Permian Ice Age of 400 million years ago, and our own Ice Age currently 2 million years old, the Earth has always been warmer than now. Life evolved when it was warmer. Life florished when it was warmer. Life diminishes during Ice Ages." (quote from http://westinstenv.org/sosf/2008/01/24/mr-mensa-challenges-mike-on-global-cooling/)
Doesn't the above make you wonder about why global warming is being pushed so hard? As always, the answer to what's going on might well be found by following the money. Who gains from global warming scare tactics?
Doesn't the above make you wonder about why global warming is being pushed so hard? As always, the answer to what's going on might well be found by following the money. Who gains from global warming scare tactics?
Monday, December 10, 2007
Water rights - protect them or go thirsty!
We have two attempts to get at our water here in Catron County - combined, they add up to sucking almost 18 billion gallons of water from our aquifers each year.
Protect your water rights - get your protest letter out so it is received no later than close of business, Monday Dec 17, in the Office of the State Engineer of New Mexico.
For instructions go to:
DON'T DELAY!
Email notification service
I have added an email notification service to this blog (top of upper right column) so you can receive notices by email when I post to this blog.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Re: [One Still Free] New comment on FW: Wolf-Proof Shelters Go Up for School Kids .
Jess: You are so right to point out that a good number of residents of Catron County live with the danger of habituated wolves every day of their lives. I think the pit bull analogy is right on. Many people know what it is like to be unable to sleep at night worrying about some problem over which you have little to no control - it could be pit bull packs, a health issue, your job at risk, drug dealers on your corner, serial rapists or killers. Whatever it is, you worry about it day and night and it affects the quality of your life.
It is no different here with the wolves. You lay awake at night, jumping at the least sound coming from outside, rushing out the door with a flashlight to see why the horses or other animals are restless. If your dog is late coming to breakfast, you start
figuring out how to tell the kids that it's never coming back. You have to make a decision as to whether it's safe to let your child walk to school by himself because the boss says you've got to start getting to work on time, so you can't take your child to school and keep your job, too. You go over your finances in your head endlessly, trying to figure out how many more calves you can lose before you can't stay in business any more.
And you read the fictions written by people who so want the wolf program to be the way they want it to be rather than the way it is that they dismiss all your concerns as fabrications and your stomach churns and churns.
I tell you what - if my child, my horse, my dog or my anything was harmed by a wolf, I'd sue the tar out of every single organization and individual who supports the rotten wolf program and who fights improvements that are based on reality, not fiction.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Global warming is over!
Just when you thought that we were all going to drown or fry because
of global warming... here's an interesting bit of info (facts!) about
the subject.
of global warming... here's an interesting bit of info (facts!) about
the subject.
Global Temperatures are Uncorrelated with Carbon Dioxide Trends This
Last Decade, By Joseph D'Aleo, CCM
ICECAP (International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment
Project) is an excellent site for facts, not hype, about this
planet's climate. I recommend poking through it.
FW: Wolf-Proof Shelters Go Up for School Kids
Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity is quoted in an article in the Albququerque Journal by Rene Romo as saying that bus stop shelters built to protect Catron County children from the threat of wolves are a stunt "designed to get the sympathy of the public when the real concern is safety of their livestock."
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/266402nm12-02-07.htm
Has Mr. Robinson contacted the school in question to see how many of the children protected by the shelters are from livestock-owning families? Has Mr. Romo bothered to do any research at all, or is he just writing for sensationalism, the safety of the children in question be damned?
It has always amazed me how willing people who don't live in the area in question are so fast to question the motives of those who are directly impacted by the wolf program, and to cast blame on the impacted people for the failure of the program. Has it never occurred to anyone that if the program has not succeeded, the basic premises upon which the program is based may be faulty? Let me remind the reader that the Mexican wolf is an experimental population, and the program is supposed to be adaptively managed - but is it?
Hardly.
Instead of a true scientific experiment in which the outcome is not pre-determined, what we have is a program whose outcome has been pre-determined and mightily defended by non-local, non-impacted groups. Note that certain environmental groups who have most resisted adaptive management just happen to be associated with agendas which require the ousting of ranchers and others who live in and use the areas the groups have identified as "needing" to be wild, no matter that private lands and local economies are run over in the process (research "sky islands" and "rewilding" to see what groups are affiliated with the concept). These groups use litigation, deceptive language and pseudo science to force their point of view, and somehow are accorded more credibility than the victims of this farce - the local residents - who are accused of falsehoods, as if they had some sort of weird willingness to lie about their children in order to protect livestock they have no financial interest in.
We expect the sort of situation where programs and pogroms are forced on people to occur in countries where the citizens have no rights. Yet here it is happening right in our own country. Here we have eco-terrorism and unlawful taking of property and rights disguised as "environmentalism for the betterment of the planet". What a sad situation when environmentalists would rather risk the lives of children than even admit there could be something to what we've been saying all along, down here in Mexican wolf country where you all don't live.
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/266402nm12-02-07.htm
Has Mr. Robinson contacted the school in question to see how many of the children protected by the shelters are from livestock-owning families? Has Mr. Romo bothered to do any research at all, or is he just writing for sensationalism, the safety of the children in question be damned?
It has always amazed me how willing people who don't live in the area in question are so fast to question the motives of those who are directly impacted by the wolf program, and to cast blame on the impacted people for the failure of the program. Has it never occurred to anyone that if the program has not succeeded, the basic premises upon which the program is based may be faulty? Let me remind the reader that the Mexican wolf is an experimental population, and the program is supposed to be adaptively managed - but is it?
Hardly.
Instead of a true scientific experiment in which the outcome is not pre-determined, what we have is a program whose outcome has been pre-determined and mightily defended by non-local, non-impacted groups. Note that certain environmental groups who have most resisted adaptive management just happen to be associated with agendas which require the ousting of ranchers and others who live in and use the areas the groups have identified as "needing" to be wild, no matter that private lands and local economies are run over in the process (research "sky islands" and "rewilding" to see what groups are affiliated with the concept). These groups use litigation, deceptive language and pseudo science to force their point of view, and somehow are accorded more credibility than the victims of this farce - the local residents - who are accused of falsehoods, as if they had some sort of weird willingness to lie about their children in order to protect livestock they have no financial interest in.
We expect the sort of situation where programs and pogroms are forced on people to occur in countries where the citizens have no rights. Yet here it is happening right in our own country. Here we have eco-terrorism and unlawful taking of property and rights disguised as "environmentalism for the betterment of the planet". What a sad situation when environmentalists would rather risk the lives of children than even admit there could be something to what we've been saying all along, down here in Mexican wolf country where you all don't live.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wild Born Wolves Swept Under Rug by Program Managers
Catron County ranchers report livestock predations by known
(collared) wolf packs, yet they remove the wild born wolves that
don't kill cattle and aren't habituated to humans. If this isn't an
on-purpose strategy to destroy the local cattle industry, what is
it? It sure isn't a strategy to improve the Mexican wolf program here!
(collared) wolf packs, yet they remove the wild born wolves that
don't kill cattle and aren't habituated to humans. If this isn't an
on-purpose strategy to destroy the local cattle industry, what is
it? It sure isn't a strategy to improve the Mexican wolf program here!
"Our ranchers get blamed for everything wrong with this program",
says Laura Schneberger President of the Gila Livestock Growers Association.
"The truth is if the agencies would do an adequate job this program
would be in better shape. When my members report un-collared wolves
on their places, these agencies don't investigate and refuse to
believe them. Instead of being rewarded for allowing this wild born
wolf and who knows how many other wolves onto the Adobe ranch, these
folks are being forced to live with a pack that is slaughtering their
herds and teaching wild born wolves to prey on cattle. It is an
unmitigated, disastrous and unfair situation"
Read more at
http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/2007/11/contact-laura-schneberger-575-772-5753.html
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Mexican wolf video for CNN Republican debate
Check out the videos at Wolf Crossing
http://wolfcrossing.org/2007/11/25/wolfcrossingorg-youtube-republican-debate-video/
These were created for the CNN Republican debate. There's a long
version and a short one - the short is what was submitted, with the
question "Endangered Species Act: Where Do You Stand? Which Is More
Important: Human Rights or the Rights of an Endangered
Species?" The longer version has a bit more info, but you could only
submit a 30 second video.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Wolves: the natural order of things
One issue with looking at environmental issues is that people use
selective vision. For instance, humans are actually the highest
order in the food chain of all known life on earth, yet humans are
routinely not included as part of the natural environment, as if
humans were somehow unnatural, had been introduced here by aliens
from another galaxy. I personally can't go with such things as
"seeding" by aliens (to that I say, show me the science); humans are
necessarily a species which has survived and evolved on this planet
*just like every other species*.
selective vision. For instance, humans are actually the highest
order in the food chain of all known life on earth, yet humans are
routinely not included as part of the natural environment, as if
humans were somehow unnatural, had been introduced here by aliens
from another galaxy. I personally can't go with such things as
"seeding" by aliens (to that I say, show me the science); humans are
necessarily a species which has survived and evolved on this planet
*just like every other species*.
To consider the wolf program without consideration of *all* other
species is faulty. Wolves have evolved in areas with humans in them,
humans have evolved in areas with wolves. Wolves have had, probably
as long as they have existed, one major natural enemy:
mankind. Humans have always been a factor in most wolves lives -
consider how true wild wolves (as opposed to habituated ones) are shy
of humans. This is a sign of a wolf's understanding of the risk
humans present, a healthy, natural thing for all predators and
potential prey.
In a healthy world, in the real natural order of things, wolves
respect humans best when wolves are hunted. This makes for a safer,
more healthy and more natural situation for all.
[This is in response to Mexican wolf update on Desert Rat's
blog:
http://arizonahuntingtoday.com/desertrat/2007/11/20/mexican-wolf-update-november/]
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thought control campaign - Mexican wolves
One thing that environmental groups still do (besides file lawsuits)
is create excellent propaganda. What's amazing to me is how most of
the media just accepts that baloney as truth. I guess reporters
today don't care about facts, they just repeat what they are fed by
anyone with enough money to do the feeding.
is create excellent propaganda. What's amazing to me is how most of
the media just accepts that baloney as truth. I guess reporters
today don't care about facts, they just repeat what they are fed by
anyone with enough money to do the feeding.
I just came across an article about the transfer of captive bred
Mexican wolves from the Cincinnati Zoo to a wolf preservation
facility in New York State by Jim Knippenberg. Here's a quote from
the article (Cincinnati Enquirer,
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071113/NEWS01/711130371/1035/LIFE):
"The Mexican gray, a subspecies of the gray wolf, is critically
endangered, reportedly down to only seven animals in the wild in the
early 1980s. The Mexican Wolf Recovery Program, an umbrella
organization that oversees conservation efforts in about 20 zoos and
preserves including Cincinnati, captured the seven, installed them in
controlled facilities and initiated breeding programs. Today, there
are 38-50 in the wild (in the high deserts of northern Mexico and
southern Arizona), 100 more in controlled facilities and several more
ready for release into the wild."
Now what's wrong with the above? First of all, the subspecies is NOT
currently critically endangered; there are hundreds in captivity and
probably close to another hundred in the wild in in the USA, plus who
know how many still in Mexico, where these wolves are from. There
were an unknown number of wild ones in Mexico and the USA in the
1980s, when seven were captured from Mexico and brought north into
the USA (two promptly died). There is no conclusive evidence that
lands north of the US/Mexico border were other than the extreme edge
of these wolves' native Mexican range. There is no more reason for
anyone to be excited about there being no Mexican wolves here in the
wild than it would be to be excited that there are no penguins here.
Next, there currently are 38-50 *collared* Mexican wolves in the wild
in central western New Mexico and eastern Arizona plus an unknown
number of uncollared wolves ( all descendents of those five surviving
wolves from 1980). This information is readily available in the form
of monthly reports online from US Fish & Wildlife (note that
uncollared wolves are only counted once a year, so very little is
known about the numbers). To my knowledge no one is counting wolves
in Mexico itself; maybe Mr. Knippenberg could provide some source for
that info.
Finally, the Mexican wolf program, which routinely handles wolves in
the program and exposes them to human sight, sound and smell (e.g.
zoo and other captive wolf facilities) is creating problem wolves,
ensuring that when they are released into the wild that these wolves
have no fear of humans (they become habituated to humans in
captivity). Hence in places like New Mexico and Arizona we see
increasing numbers of problems with wolves killing pets, stalking
humans and slaughtering livestock. What happens to these wolves with
no fear of humans? They are hazed, are shot with rubber bullets,
routinely and repeatedly trapped (with leg traps, a painful and
traumatic process) - this is the Mexican wolf program doing these
things by the way. Then the wolves are transported to captivity, fed
by humans (and given health exams, vaccinations, collars). They are
then often separated from pack members, released into new places in
the wild to have to relearn where the water is, the hunting is, and
to forge a new place in a new pack. To "help", the program often
temporarily feeds these wolves dumped into the wild meat made from
domestic animals (horses), so that the when they find a horse in a
corral, they know that they've found dinner - starting the cycle all
over again.
A wolf which is so habituated it was sleeping in people's yards and
urinating on vehicle wheels like the family dogs do, has been found
to have spent over one third of its life in captivity or other
proximity to humans - the poor thing was probably lonely for
humans. This is typical of the wolf program and what the program
creates is problem wolves, not wild wolves. Dumping captive raised
wolves into the wild isn't all that different from dumping pet dogs
alongside the road. I've never understood why PETA, of which I am
not a member has not looked carefully at this routine torture and
abuse of animals.
I'm sorry to have picked on Mr. Knippenberg, for he is just one of
many, but it is really starting to get irritating to read these
un-researched articles which purport to tell the truth but really
just perpetuate the propaganda machine of environmental
groups. People who actually care about wolves tell the truth. But
of course, there's no profit in that.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Dec 5 Mexican wolf public scoping meeting in Glenwood
Dec 5 Mexican wolf public scoping meeting in Glenwood
Glenwood Community Center
5:00 - 9:00 pm
Glenwood Community Center
5:00 - 9:00 pm
US Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a public scoping meeting in
Glenwood on December 5 as part of a rule change process that will
determine the future of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico.
Why your participation is important: background and current situation
Since its inception, the Mexican wolf program has been responsive
only to non-local environmental groups and has ignored the damage to
local families, businesses and issues. These groups have used their
large financial assets to twist the truth about the program, and have
resorted to what amounts to malicious litigation to get their way.
The wolf program has a policy of routine handling of wolves. In some
cases, "wild" wolves have been handled - trapped, examined, given
shots, collared, fed by humans - for more than one third of their
lives. Wolf and other canine experts know that this extensive
handling causes habituation (loss of fear of humans), and habituated
predators - not just wolves but bears, mountain lions, etc - are
problem predators. Essentially all the complaints of local citizens
come about because the wolves are not wild, but habituated to humans.
Mexican gray wolves are not critical to our local natural
environment. These wolves originally came from the Mexican desert -
they never were high altitude forest animals. It is true that a
healthy wolf population would keep elk and deer herds healthy and
balanced, however healthy wolves are never habituated wolves. At
this time, the wolves in the Mexican wolf program kill elk calves and
domestic animals for the sport of it, not for food.
Mexican wolves are not even endangered. Hundreds of these wolves -
all genetically related - live in zoos around the country, where they
are part of a breeding program to build the population. And contrary
to reports of dwindling wolf populations in the wild, it should be
pointed out that the "official" wolf counts omit the dozens of
uncollared wolves which are living and breeding in and near the wolf
recovery area.
This rule change is our opportunity to improve the program and shift
the Fish and Wildlife Service's focus where it needs to be: the
creation of a truly wild wolf population which is not coddled, fed
and protected, but subject to the same laws of survival as any wild
animal. Mexican wolves have the right to survive and thrive, but not
as anything other than fully wild animals and not at the high cost to
humans and wolves due to the way the program is run today.
In your comments, please tell the Fish and Wildlife Service to:
* Not change the classification from "experimental, non-essential"
to "experimental, essential" or "endangered" - there is no reason to
give wolves more protection (which causes habituation) but much
reason to make wolves stronger by forcing them to live natural
lives. Adding more protection will never make wolves wild.
* Eliminate restrictions to wolf dispersal and movements but provide
more rights for human self-protection; reduce or eliminate fines and
penalties for doing so. A truly wild animal will not be near enough
to humans to be killed by them, and a non-wild wolf should not be
part of the program.
* Cease release of any wolves which have ever been handled by
humans. Remove all wolves from the wild which have been handled by
humans and which exhibit signs of habituation or which engage in
livestock depredation.
* Never relocate, translocated or re-release any wolf to the wild
which has exhibited any habituation behavior or has killed any
domestic animals.
* Resolve livestock-wolf and pet-wolf conflicts in ways that are
fair to the humans who bear the economic and emotional costs of
domestic animal losses.
* Cease any supplemental feeding of the wolves by the wolf program;
such feeding just teaches the wolves to be human-dependant, it causes
habituation and since the meat from domestic animals is used for such
supplemental feeding, it introduces and familiarizes the taste of
domestic animals to wolves.
* Revise the Recovery Plan. Utilize real science and include
assessment of the impacts on affected human population as required by law.
* Place no cap on the number of wolves in the wild population,
however allow humans to protect themselves, their families, their
pets and other domestic animals without penalty. A wolf which
habituates human use areas is not a wild wolf, and needs to be
removed from the wild population before it teaches pack members and
its young this bad behavior.
* Provide no increase in boundaries of the Mexican wolf population
until it is proven that all current problems have been resolved.
The deadline for comments is December 31, 2007
Comments can be hand-delivered at the open house or submitted by USPS
or email. Be sure to include "Attn: Mexican Gray Wolf NEPA Scoping",
your full name and your return address in your message.
USPS
Brian Millsap, State Administrator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office
2105 Osuna NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113
Email
R2FWE_AL@fws.gov
Note: Other meeting dates and locations can be found at
Friday, November 16, 2007
Mexican wolves: The full truth
On his blog, Ralph Maughan "reports" that the
number of elk in the part of New Mexico where the
Mexican wolves have become reestablished has
increased.
[http://wolves.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/report-despite-mexican-wolves-elk-ok/#comment-45232].
Note that while Dr. Maughan is a specialist in
natural resource and environmental policies and
politics, he is not a biologist. Like many
people involved with policies and politics who
have an agenda to push, it is convenient to tell
only part of the story, allowing it to pass for the full truth.
number of elk in the part of New Mexico where the
Mexican wolves have become reestablished has
increased.
[http://wolves.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/report-despite-mexican-wolves-elk-ok/#comment-45232].
Note that while Dr. Maughan is a specialist in
natural resource and environmental policies and
politics, he is not a biologist. Like many
people involved with policies and politics who
have an agenda to push, it is convenient to tell
only part of the story, allowing it to pass for the full truth.
Dr. Maughn "reported" that the number of elk in
the Mexican wolf restoration program area has
increased and that the number of wolves is
"trivial — only 59 in the entire recovery area..."
I am not a biologist either, but I believe in
telling the full story if I'm going to tell any story at all. So, I replied:
1. The method used to count elk this time is
different from the method used before. While it
is *possible* that the number of elk has actually
increased, your readers should be aware it is
also possible that rather the efficiency of
counting has increased, and therefore that there
may in fact be fewer elk than in prior years.
2. The number of wolves is not trivial - it is
merely unknown. There are 59 *collared* wolves in
the wolf recovery area. There are an unknown
number of uncollared wolves. Your readers should
be aware that it is *possible* that the wolf
restoration program is wildly successful in terms
of numbers of wolves in the wild.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Habituated wolves: A sign of induced abnormal behavior
It appears to me that habituation of Mexican wolves is a direct product of the wolf program management itself. Few people who wildly support the program and who dismiss the protests of the local people (the ones who are actually affected and whose opinions on the issues should carry more weight) have a clue what habituation entails and how dangerous habituation of a predator is.
Most people are not aware that wolf pups born in the wild are generally caught up and brought into captivity to be examined, have DNA samples taken, are given vaccinations and, when old enough, collars. They are fed by humans while in captivity. All this happens during the most impressionable period of a wolf's life.
Then, periodically wolves are trapped in the wild and are brought back to captivity to be reexamined, get more vaccinations and have their collar batteries replaced.
Of course wolves are fed by humans while in captivity - they do not have the opportunity to hunt at that time. Because canines have a sense of smell thousands of times stronger than humans it is unreasonable to expect that a wolf would not smell human scent on the food it is given in captivity and thereby come to associate the smell of humans with food [note: a dog has more than 220 million olfactory receptors in its nose, while humans have only 5 million].
Wild wolves have natural fear of humans, but wolves in captivity for any length of time, particularly cubs, are going to lose that fear simply through constant proximity. Between association of human scent with food and loss of fear through proximity wolves become habituated to humans. Every Mexican wolf so far that has been a source of problems has been extensively handled by humans - the wolf program management itself.
The Mexican wolf program has set itself up for failure, and the ones who suffer the most from this mismanagement are the humans in wolf country and the wolves themselves. Is there some valid reason why the non-habituated, non-problem, truly wild wolves out there just can’t be left alone to propagate this gray wolf subspecies? Is there no way to stop the madness of the program’s creating habituated wolves and turning them loose to get into trouble?
Does anyone with any rational mind really think it natural for wild wolves to leave the millions of acres of wild lands to sleep on people’s lawns and defecate on people’s porches? We aren’t seeing the creation of a healthy Mexican wolf population, folks, we’re seeing a sick circus disguised as benevolent protection of species.
Most people are not aware that wolf pups born in the wild are generally caught up and brought into captivity to be examined, have DNA samples taken, are given vaccinations and, when old enough, collars. They are fed by humans while in captivity. All this happens during the most impressionable period of a wolf's life.
Then, periodically wolves are trapped in the wild and are brought back to captivity to be reexamined, get more vaccinations and have their collar batteries replaced.
Of course wolves are fed by humans while in captivity - they do not have the opportunity to hunt at that time. Because canines have a sense of smell thousands of times stronger than humans it is unreasonable to expect that a wolf would not smell human scent on the food it is given in captivity and thereby come to associate the smell of humans with food [note: a dog has more than 220 million olfactory receptors in its nose, while humans have only 5 million].
Wild wolves have natural fear of humans, but wolves in captivity for any length of time, particularly cubs, are going to lose that fear simply through constant proximity. Between association of human scent with food and loss of fear through proximity wolves become habituated to humans. Every Mexican wolf so far that has been a source of problems has been extensively handled by humans - the wolf program management itself.
The Mexican wolf program has set itself up for failure, and the ones who suffer the most from this mismanagement are the humans in wolf country and the wolves themselves. Is there some valid reason why the non-habituated, non-problem, truly wild wolves out there just can’t be left alone to propagate this gray wolf subspecies? Is there no way to stop the madness of the program’s creating habituated wolves and turning them loose to get into trouble?
Does anyone with any rational mind really think it natural for wild wolves to leave the millions of acres of wild lands to sleep on people’s lawns and defecate on people’s porches? We aren’t seeing the creation of a healthy Mexican wolf population, folks, we’re seeing a sick circus disguised as benevolent protection of species.
Friday, November 9, 2007
News Release: Habituated Wolves Are Dangerous Wolves
CATRON COUNTY COMMISSION
PO BOX 507
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chairman
PO BOX 507
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chairman
Contact: Ed Wehrheim, Catron County Chairman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone 505.533.6423
Email: ccmanager@gilanet.com
HABITUATED WOLVES ARE DANGEROUS WOLVES
Catron County Presses FWS on Habituated Wolves
Catron County Presses FWS on Habituated Wolves
RESERVE, N.M. A recent inquest determined that Kenton Carnegie had been killed by wolves two years ago in Ontario, Canada. On October 11 of this year, the Catron County Commission sent a letter to Dr. Benjamin Tuggle of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service notifying him of the County's findings of imminent danger and a demand for permanent removal of a male Mexican wolf from the Durango pack. The wolf had, at that time, been documented as frequenting two homes, one twenty-one times and another seven times over the course of a few months.
In its letter to Dr. Tuggle, the County cited the "10J Rule",a part of the Endangered Species Act which applies to the experimental, non-essential Mexican wolf population. This rule provides guidance for management of the Mexican wolf program and definitions of what constitutes a problem wolf. The County pointed out that the wolf in question met four of the five possible identifiers (only one is required for a wolf to be so identified). According to the 10J Rule, a problem wolf can be removed from the wild by the wolf program before it performs some action which may require, by the same Rule, that the wolf be destroyed.
However, in his October 27 letter of reply, Dr. Tuggle chose to disagree with the County's findings, stating that the wolf's actions did not constitute problem behavior, and further stated that the behaviors exhibited by the wolf would be best dealt with via "aversive conditioning methods", stating that the measures had been proven to be successful.
During the ten days that these methods were employed by authorities, the wolf returned to one of the homes five times.
"Dr. Tuggle seems to think the wolf's being documented at homes 28 times is normal wolf behavior," said Catron County's Wolf Interaction Investigator, Jess Carey. "He thinks it is acceptable for a family to have to live with people on their property on a daily basis, hazing the wolves away to protect the family."
According to a recent report by Dr. Valerius Geist, a Canadian biologist, becoming used to and not afraid of humans is one of the final steps before a wolf starts seeing humans as prey. Dr. Geist consulted wolf experts from around the world and identified seven stages of wolf habituation leading to attacks on humans.
"It appears that Dr. Tuggle is content that wolves in Catron County are displaying the exact behavior displayed by wolves that killed and ate Kenton Carnegie," said Ed Wehrheim, Chairman of the Catron County Commission. "We have a serious problem of escalating habituated behavior here. We told Dr. Tuggle very clearly of the evidence we have that the wolf is habituated and therefore a problem wolf. We invited him to come down here and examine our evidence. Our documentation includes three videos that were taken of wolves in people's yards, taken from their living room window. A habituated wolf is a dangerous wolf and we need to get these habituated wolves out of the our county so they are no longer threatening our people."
In a reply letter to Dr. Tuggle from the County, Wehrheim stated "the County has taken no action in order to give you time to do your job. However, we can wait no longer."
Commissioner Wehrheim stated that the County will take measures to protect its citizens, acting under the Catron County Wolf Protection Ordinance.
"It is the moral and legal responsibility of the Catron County Commission, first and foremost, to protect the safety, health and welfare of the residents of Catron County," the letter concludes.
# # #
Sunday, October 28, 2007
There’s nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win.
I have long resented the fact that I can't call myself an environmentalist any more. I have no desire to be boxed in with those new "environmentalist" who, with their well-funded new-think, have convinced most people that homo sapiens, rather than cockroaches, are now the lowest form of life on the planet, and that the whole planet
would be better off if homo sapiens were just exterminated. These extremist greens somehow have forgotten that humans evolved on the same planet, and that *real* environmentalism would include *all* species - not just non-human species.
would be better off if homo sapiens were just exterminated. These extremist greens somehow have forgotten that humans evolved on the same planet, and that *real* environmentalism would include *all* species - not just non-human species.
These NTEs (New-Think Evironmentalists) have made environmentalism a faith-based movement that ignores science. Their guilt-based evangelism has gained them immense funding, and their tactics range from litigation to acts of terrorism. Notice that, like other fanatical faith-based movements, there doesn't seem to be any practice of the faith itself: NTEs don't actually practice any environmentalism, they just proselytize about it. And interestingly enough, they all seem to hold themselves apart from the rest of us low-life homo sapiens types - they get to remain here on the new, improved version of Earth while we get exterminated.
An interesting collection of extremist "green" thought is at The Antisocialist.
Mexican wolf - reality vs propaganda
An excellent article appears at WolfCrossing.org on the reality of what is actually happening on-the-ground in Mexican wolf reintroduction country vs the propaganda put out by pro-wolf people who don't have a clue but do have lots of money to promote their non-reality based viewpoint and to litigate when their viewpoint is challenged. I highly recommend reading this article.
http://wolfcrossing.org/blog/2007/10/27/defenders-perspective-far-cry-from-real-life/
There is a link in the middle of the article for still images (PDF format) from videos taken of wolves in one Catron County resident's yard.
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