March 7, 2013

Democrats Protest Committee Vote With Rare Walkout, Decry Lack Of Bipartisanship

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2013/03/06/democrats-protest_n_2822369.html

Democrats Protest Committee Vote With Rare Walkout, Decry Lack Of Bipartisanship

Dave Jamieson

WASHINGTON -- Several House Democrats walked out of a committee vote in protest on Wednesday, accusing their Republican counterparts of refusing to negotiate in a bipartisan manner over a job training bill.
While it's common for members of Congress to simply not show up for committee meetings, it's rare for them to actually boycott one.


"We didn’t come to this decision lightly," said Reps. John Tierney (D-Mass.), Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas) and George Miller (D-Calif.), members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, in a statement. "Unfortunately, we viewed boycotting this proceeding as our only alternative after many months of repeatedly requesting bipartisan negotiations and being rebuffed by committee Republicans."

"It would have been a dereliction of duty to continue to participate," they added.
<snip>

The legislation at issue is a bill to reauthorize and reform the Workforce Investment Act, the largest source of federal funding for job training. Republicans want to consolidate more than 30 workforce development programs into a single fund, which they say would eliminate redundant programs and cut out red tape. Democrats say the plan would make it harder for vulnerable groups like the elderly and disabled to get access to the job training they need.

..more...

March 3, 2013

Scientists argue that friendly wolves sought out humans.

http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/03/we-didnt-domesticate-dogs-they.html?m=1

We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.
Scientists argue that friendly wolves sought out humans.

In the story of how the dog came in from the cold and onto our sofas, we tend to give ourselves a little too much credit. The most common assumption is that some hunter-gatherer with a soft spot for cuteness found some wolf puppies and adopted them. Over time, these tamed wolves would have shown their prowess at hunting, so humans kept them around the campfire until they evolved into dogs.

But when we look back at our relationship with wolves throughout history, this doesn't really make sense. For one thing, the wolf was domesticated at a time when modern humans were not very tolerant of carnivorous competitors. In fact, after modern humans arrived in Europe around 43,000 years ago, they pretty much wiped out every large carnivore that existed, including saber-toothed cats and giant hyenas. The fossil record doesn't reveal whether these large carnivores starved to death because modern humans took most of the meat or whether humans picked them off on purpose. Either way, most of the Ice Age bestiary went extinct.

The hunting hypothesis, that humans used wolves to hunt, doesn't hold up either. Humans were already successful hunters without wolves, more successful than every other large carnivore. Wolves eat a lot of meat, as much as one deer per ten wolves every day-a lot for humans to feed or compete against. And anyone who has seen wolves in a feeding frenzy knows that wolves don't like to share.

Humans have a long history of eradicating wolves, rather than trying to adopt them. Over the last few centuries, almost every culture has hunted wolves to extinction.



.. more ..

March 3, 2013

Montana, Idaho trappers catching more than just wolves

people who hunt and trap wolves suck!

http://m.ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_c32b206e-8384-11e2-9dbf-001a4bcf887a.html


Montana, Idaho trappers catching more than just wolves

In the first year that wolf trapping was allowed in Idaho, trappers captured a total of 123 wolves.

But according to a survey by the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Department, those same trappers in 2011-2012 also inadvertently captured 147 other animals, including white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain lions, skunks and ravens.

Trappers reported that 69 of those animals died as a result.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife management chief George Pauley said his office is currently gathering similar information about the state’s first wolf trapping season.

..more..

[IMG][/IMG]

March 3, 2013

Oregon's ban on killing wolves spurs nonlethal options

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Oregons-ban-on-killing-wolves-spurs-nonlethal-options-194516331.html?m=y&smobile=y


Oregon's ban on killing wolves spurs nonlethal options
Story Updated: Mar 2, 2013

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - As long as wolves have been making their comeback, biologists and ranchers have had a decidedly Old West option for dealing with those that develop a taste for beef: Shoot to kill. But for the past year, Oregon has been a "wolf-safe" zone, with ranchers turning to more modern, nonlethal ways to protect livestock.

While the number of wolves roaming the state has gone up, livestock kills haven't - and now conservation groups are hoping Oregon can serve as a model for other Western states working to return the predator to the wild.

<snip>

While ranchers are not happy with the wolf comeback, the wider public is. A 2011 survey for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife found 74.5 percent of Washington residents believe it acceptable for wolves to recolonize their state.

Wolf advocates hope the Oregon experiment can spread elsewhere, especially Idaho, which had 746 wolves in 2011. In 2012, hunters and wildlife agents killed 422 wolves, compared with 296 for 2011. Sheep and cattle kills, meantime, went up from 192 in 2011 to 341 in 2012.

.. more ..

March 2, 2013

The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/23/the-secret-art-of-dr-seuss/


The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss
by Maria Popova

“…a creature content with himself as animal and artist, and one who didn’t give a lick or a spit for anyone’s opinion, one way or another, of his work.”

When we celebrated the 108th would-be birthday of Dr. Seuss earlier this month with his little-known book of nudes, reader Jennifer Alluisi flagged a fascinating deeper dive into Geisel’s more obscure creations — The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss, originally published in 1995, collects 65 of Geisel’s whimsical paintings, sculptures, and rough sketches of weird and wonderful beings in otherworldly settings, created for his own pleasure and never exhibited in public.

Though Geisel’s most enduring legacy remains his timeless children’s literature, this volume sheds new light on his contribution to contemporary art — a realm he approached with the same blend of idiosyncratic talent and uncompromising dedication that made him a cultural icon in his “other life.”


A Seuss drawing suggesting that no matter how big, inflated or different the image we try to portray, being ourselves is most important.

TM & © 1995 Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L. P., Secret Art Collection, courtesy of the Museum of Science and Industry

For an added treat, the introduction was penned by none other than the great Maurice Sendak, who writes:

I retain a most vivid picture of Ted standing in his studio before his easel, palette in hand, brush poised. He would lean forward and then back on his heels, head cocked to one side and then to the other. The artistic ‘dance’ step was repeated over and over again.

He enjoyed working after midnight — seldom during the working-day hours. He did not consider painting to be ‘work,’* so it had to wait till late at night. Painting was what he did for himself and not something he felt comfortable in sharing.

[…]

March 1, 2013

Public concern for environment lowest in 20 years

http://m.guardiannews.com/environment/2013/feb/28/public-concern-environment

Thursday 28 February 2013 07.42 EST

Public concern for environment lowest in 20 years

Levels of public concern were lowest since 1992 in 12 countries, according to an international poll

Public concern in environmental issues including global warming, the loss of species and air pollution has dropped to its lowest level in two decades, according to an international poll released this week.

The GlobeScan poll, undertaken last summer before superstorm Sandy hit the Caribbean and New York, showed levels of public concern in 12 countries over environmental problems – which also also included fresh water shortages and depletion of natural resources – were even lower than 1992, when the first Earth summit was held in Rio.

The decline has come in a period when the signs of environmental degradation have become clearer and the science stronger, from species going extinct faster than new ones can evolve to dramatic climate change impacts such as the shrinking of Arctic sea ice in 2012 by 18% against the previous record.

..more..

March 1, 2013

Jury Finds Occupy Wall Street Protester Innocent After Video Contradicts Police Testimony

Source: Village Voice

Jury Finds Occupy Wall Street Protester Innocent After Video Contradicts Police Testimony

Friday, Mar 1, 2013 at 2:53 AM
By Nick Pinto

Michael Premo was found not guilty of assaulting an officer after video evidence contradicted police testimony.

In the first jury trial stemming from an Occupy Wall Street protest, Michael Premo was found innocent of all charges yesterday after his lawyers presented video evidence directly contradicting the version of events offered by police and prosecutors.

Premo, an activist and community organizer who has in recent months been a central figure in the efforts of Occupy Sandy, was one of many hundred people who took part in a demonstration in Lower Manhattan on December 17 of 2011, when some protesters broke into a vacant lot in Duarte Square in an attempt to start a new occupation.

After police broke up the action in Duarte Square, hundreds of protesters marched north, playing a game of cat and mouse with police on foot and on scooters, who tried to slow and divide the column of marchers. At 29th Street near Seventh Avenue, police finally managed to trap a large number of marchers, kettling them from both sides of the block with bright orange plastic netting. After holding the crowd in the nets for some time, a few people managed to escape, and police rushed in to the crowd with their hands up.
In the commotion, Premo fell to the ground and attempted to crawl out of the scrum. (Covering the march, I was also kettled on this block for a time, though I only witnessed Premo's arrest from a distance.)

..more..

Read more: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/03/jury_finds_occu.php

February 28, 2013

Olive oil that's not, Red Snapper that's something else

horse and donkey as beef.
What else?

February 28, 2013

As an advocate for the protection of wolves

I can't help but feel sick when this asshat's
ad pops up at the bottom of the thread displaying his wolf pelts.

http://www.peterpalms.com/wolf/?gclid=CJvpuMry0bUCFQk4nAodnDgANw


Yes, I know if I had a star I wouldn't being seeing it. I'm just sayin' it turns my stomach. I certainly would feel better seeing an ad for a book or something.

February 27, 2013

Public hearing sees vehement opposition to use of dogs in wolf hunt

http://m.host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/public-hearing-sees-vehement-opposition-to-use-of-dogs-in/article_5bde7372-8053-11e2-9690-0019bb2963f4.html


Public hearing sees vehement opposition to use of dogs in wolf hunt

At a tense hearing Tuesday on using dogs for hunting wolves — at which one anti-hunting advocate was ordered out of the meeting — critics of the state's controversial wolf hunt argued that violent and fatal fights between dogs and wolves will be impossible to stop if the agency goes ahead with plans to allow dogs in the next hunt.

The hearing took place before the Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the state Department of Natural Resources. Part of the board's regular monthly meeting, the hearing was held to satisfy an order from Dane County Circuit Judge Peter Anderson, who heard a lawsuit challenging the use of dogs. On Jan. 16, Anderson lifted an injunction against using dogs for wolf hunting in the 2013 hunting season. He also ordered the DNR to decide whether to create more extensive rules — the subject of Tuesday's hearing.

The agency is already considering permanent rules that would limit packs of hunting dogs to six animals, prohibit using dogs at night and limit the training of wolf-hunting dogs to the open wolf hunting season and the month of March. After testimony Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to continue with the permanent rule-making process and not to consider additional rules at this time. More public hearings on the issue will be held in coming months.

But several speakers Tuesday afternoon spoke vehemently against the practice of using dogs, regardless of rules.
"This isn't Rome," said Ron Fitzpatrick, a lawyer and dog owner from La Crosse. "This is barbaric."

..more..