Many people who never knew there were blogs in Alaska fell in love during the McCain/Palin campaign with a very insightful one called The Mudflats (Tiptoeing Through the Muck of Alaskan Politics). On Friday, The Mudflats had this to say about the thrilla from Wasilla:
I have used this term in the past, but never before has the phrase "Palin’s war on wildlife" seemed so chillingly accurate. It is well known that Sarah Palin has stacked the board of game with "harvesters" while shunning conservationists. But, the detailed article in Alaska Dispatch by conservationist and author Bill Sherwonit is absolutely chilling. I don’t say that lightly.
Most Alaskans understand and respect subsistence hunting. I know people for whom moose was, and is, a staple food that carries their family through the winter. And most Alaskans don’t frown too much at some degree of sport hunting, because it’s understood that we, as humans, are predators too, and we somehow fit into the amazing ecosystem that surrounds us. The balance of nature is generally respected by hunters and non-hunters alike, and these two groups tend to have an uneasy, but workable alliance. At least, that’s how it’s been in the past. But now, in the spirit of free market sport hunting in the Mat-Su Valley, the Palin administration has figured out how hunters can compete even more effectively with natural wild predators. Kill them. Kill a LOT of them.
The Board of Game and Department of Fish and Game aim - or at least hope - to kill up to 60 percent of the 2,500 to 3,000 black bears that, in their opinion, prey upon an unacceptably high number of moose calves in Unit 16B, a huge area that extends from the foothills of the Alaska Range to Cook Inlet and from the Yentna River southwest to Redoubt Creek (which flows off the rumbling Redoubt Volcano).
Sixty percent! If that's not a slaughter, what is? (The state admits it is unlikely to reach that goal, but why not shoot for the moon, eh?)
Mudflats again:
The Board also voted to extend the bear baiting season in Palin’s Unit 16. And they’re also gearing up to start gassing wolf pups in their dens. Probably makes it a lot easier to dispose of them that way, than waiting for them to grow up so they can get shot from helicopters.
Once more, just for old time’s sake, think about that person being a mere melanoma recurrence away from the Presidency.
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The rescue begins below and continues in the jump. Inclusion does not necessarily indicate my agreement with a particular Diary. The intent is to provoke discussion.
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Framing expert Jeffrey Feldman took note that hate-radio personality Michael Savage Says Green Workers To Be Obama's Nazi Brown Shirts: "Media Matters has a clip up of Michael Savage comparing Obama to the Nazis – saying that green workers who will be trained to weatherize windows (e.g.) will be equivalent to a 'private army' and no different than Hitler's brown shirts. He also calls Van Jones a 'street thug' – that's the Van Jones who says that we should train people to weatherize windows."
gmoke wrote Community Gardens as Permaculture Nurseries: "Community gardens could become community nurseries in a permacultural redesign of the cities. My community garden on Watson Street garden could provide raspberry plants for the City Sprout gardens throughout the schools, if they don't have raspberries already. It could supply the city and its citizens with a wide variety of seeds, seedlings, and saplings."
Haole in Hawaii presented another in the stunning photo series from the Okavango Delta in Botswana in the Diary, African Wildlife.
Hanging With Hannity and Shilling for Big Oil is not something Democratic congressional candidate Bob Lord does, but, having lost to John Shadegg in 2008, he felt it necessary to talk about those who do, which includes Shadegg: "Seriously, how can someone in good conscience purport to represent Arizona, a state that stands to benefit greatly from a responsible national energy policy, and spew this nonsense? ... when you hear this from a representative of Arizona, which has no connection to the oil industry, is it legitimate to ask whether the speaker is stupid, but honest, or intelligent, but intellectually dishonest and corrupted by the oil industry?"
Dry Observer discussed Generating Power and Protecting New Orleans/Coastlines w/Minimal Resources: "One thing we do know is that with even modest increases in ocean levels, most of our coastal cities and towns will be gravely threatened. If you had a simple, inexpensive method for building massive seawalls, with an implausibly minimal expenditure of energy and raw materials, you would at least have an optional method for protecting major cities, or even minor towns. On the other hand, there are existing demands for megascale seawall projects today. The city of New Orleans might well rest easier if her citizens could quickly and cheaply raise up a wall facing the sea capable of withstanding the mightiest hurricanes ... and there are those individuals who would simply like to wall off a small estuary as part of a tidal-power project."
Toll the east river bridges, then fund mass transit! is futurebird’s proposal: "Here's the deal: The MTA needs money since the Pataki administration left them in a state where they have this huge debit. State lawmakers have a choice: 1. Service cuts and a fare hike. 2. Toll the East river bridges to pay for transit."
mwmwm opined that More study isn't needed: scientists: "What the Copenhagen emergency summit is telling us is this: The science is in, and we are facing the abyss. We must act, individually and politically. We must act fast, and act now. The vested interests will fight it tooth and nail "in this economy," but we have to shout them down. The politicians will act only if we, with our collective voices, push them to do much, much more to change the unsustainable ways."
JCWilmore wondered about the Virginia Governor's Race: RK alums' bizarre flip flip on Big Coal: "Yesterday it was announced that three key Raising Kaine alumni who were instrumental in the Draft Jim Webb movement were now throwing their support behind Terry McAuliffe. I found this deeply confusing, and I'll tell you why: Big Coal."
Gary Hirshberg in New Hampshire talked in similar vein in Do we really want to give Big Coal a Blank Check with Our Money?: "We are at a crossroads in New Hampshire, where we must decide whether to invest hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of dollars to keep an aging coal plant running to meet basic environmental safeguards, or to begin investing in clean, renewable energy sources. Today our State Legislature begins debate on a bill that would force a reconsideration of an expensive retrofitting project that will invest New Hampshire ratepayer dollars in 20th century technology. ... We are at an important cross road and your voice is needed."
juliewolf had some questions in her Diary, 13 birds for Friday the 13th + bonus night photos: "First, a little background: this hawk is a little bit of a mystery. There is argument over what its nature is. Some people insist that it is simply a red-tailed hawk, but its call and some of its markings contradict that directly. Others think it is a pure red-shouldered hawk, but if it is, it's a fairly unusual one: heavier than other red-shouldered hawks, and with markings that are unheard of on red-shouldered. An emerging consensus (one backed up by noted ornithologist David Sibley) is that it is an extremely rare hybrid red-shouldered / red-tailed hawk."
We had another of those drive-by Diary dumps from one of our elected officials Friday, this time Congressman Frank Pallone. The subject, , Making Our Cities More Sustainable, was quite worthy. But, as noted here yesterday when Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy did the same thing, plonking down a Diary and not sticking around to interact with those who read it is like showing up for a district get-together and refusing to take questions. Congressman, surely you or one of your aides could spend a little time with us, eh?
"This Monday," Pallone said, "I took part in a really exciting event at the Liberty Science Center for Jersey City’s second Sustainable Cities Conference. The location was very appropriate – because Jersey City is the most sustainable city in our state."
AceDeuceLady told us about a Reactor Running on Nuclear Waste by Early 2020s?: "The March/April edition of MIT's Technology Review has an article on traveling-wave reactors, a new design for a nuclear reactor that only uses a small amount of highly enriched uranium, reducing the risk of weapons proliferation. In fact, it would use up much of the nuclear waste we now have."
don mikulecky Diaried about climate change in Is it really warmer? Some scientists think so. Updated: "I will be 73 in three weeks. I don't remember March ever being this warm. My early garden is in, I've been able to go around in shorts and tee shirt a good part of the month. Update: No we are not inferring from this that it can "verify" that global warming is happening. Here's the diary's point: Today's BBC NEWS reports a meeting in Copenhagen where The worst-case scenarios on climate change envisaged by the UN two years ago are already being realised, say scientists... "
I have used this term in the past, but never before has the phrase "Palin’s war on wildlife" seemed so chillingly accurate. It is well known that Sarah Palin has stacked the board of game with "harvesters" while shunning conservationists. But, the detailed article in Alaska Dispatch by conservationist and author Bill Sherwonit is absolutely chilling. I don’t say that lightly.
juliewolf had some questions in her Diary, 
