Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The brave wolf hunters

I noticed this morning that the location of one of the four reported wolves killed in Idaho on the IDFG website was moved from the Sawtooth zone, which is open, to the McCall-Weiser zone, which is not. I reported this on Ralph Maughan's excellent Wildlife News blog, wondering if it was an illegal kill, and, later today someone posted a news story confirming that it was.

Some brave hunter hid behind his pickup, in the middle of the road, in an area where wolf hunting was closed, and blasted a five month old female pup. I just hope this gets as much publicity as the first hunter who shot a wolf in Idaho did- because this is much closer to the reality of wolf hunting.

Now let's see whether this man is actually charged with a crime and convicted- or whether he is lauded as a local hero and gets off without a penalty. I know which one I'd bet on.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Cowering conservatives

Now you ask me why I'm here.
The same as you, I'm scared - it's fear.

"Hand Me Downs"
The Indigo Girls

About a year ago, there was a bit of a media uproar over a study that showed that conservatives are far more fearful than liberals. Conservatives, of course, decried the study- not by supplying any data of their own, but by their usual mud-slinging and obfuscation.

The current flurry of stories on how right-wing parents are refusing to let their school-aged children watch Obama's speech on education brings this back into focus, all too clearly.

It seems on every hot-button issue I can think of, the motivation of conservatives is fear. This impetus is only strengthened when the conservative is also an evangelical Christian and fear of Yahweh is added into the mix.

Obama? He's gonna indoctrinate your kids! He's gonna take away your guns!
Evolution? Those atheists are going to teach your kids that God doesn't exist! If evolution is true, we have no purpose and no afterlife!
Health care? They're gonna kill Gramma!
Wolves? They will eat your kids!
Gay marriage? They're gonna turn your kids into homos!

And so on, ad nauseam.

This does, however, explain one phenomenon I have noticed- the distinct slant of political urban legends towards right-wing lunacy. Fear again. I checked out the politics section of Snopes.com and looked at all of the stories, in most of the sections, that were found to be either true or false (rather than undetermined or a mixture of both.) I left out the sections, like Humor and Satire, that weren't meant to be spread as truths, as well as the sections like Traffic and Gasoline that cross party lines. Here is what I found:

Number of rumors: 227
Total number of untrue rumors- 159
Right-leaning untruths- 144
Left leaning untruths- 15

Total number of true rumors- 68
Right-leaning truths- 45
Left leaning truths- 23

Percentage of all rumors spread by conservatives that were untrue: 76%
Per
centage of all rumors spread by liberals that were untrue: 60%
Percentage of untrue rumors spread by conservatives: 91%
Percentage of total rumors spread by conservatives: 83%

So- conservatives spread far more rumors overall, and far more of them are untrue. And, compared with the true rumors spread by liberals, those spread by conservatives reflect far more fear over silly things- such-and-such a store taking "Christmas" out of its ads, for example.

So there you have it. The conservative mindset is one dominated by fear- especially fear of the unknown, the new, the different.

When your vision stays clear
In the face of your fear
Then you see turning out a light switch
Is their only power

"Let It Be Me"
The Indigo Girls

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Rambling in Idaho- the view from Craigslist

Want to know the thoughts of a local populace? The "Rants and Raves" section of their local Craigslist site will give you a glimpse into what the locals really think. People feel free to let loose and express their true feelings. What this reveals about wolves in Idaho is sobering. In fact, as i read these comments, I had to keep up a façade of humor and sarcasm, lest I be bowled over by sickness and rage.

Check out the fine command of English displayed by this poster from Twin Falls (PostingID: 1345834732):
I thought that we or the feds didnt want non native species here in idaho they are checking boats and everything they threw these gray wolves in on top of the few timber wolvrs we had and now are imbred and yes there was wolves here before they brought these imbeds in they tell allthese tree huggers what they want to hear i am not againist the wolves being here but they need to be controledor they will kill off all the game then die off them selves because of nothing to eat the wolves are here to stay but the hunters need not be the only ones to lose in this so all you tree huggers out there just shut up and let the dam plan work

The following post (PostingID: 1341208195) from Twin Falls was accompanied by four graphic photos of bloody dead wolves. This person not only has a grammar problem, as do nearly all of the anti-wolf posters; he has a serious, serious anger problem- and homophobia to boot. Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy to know that raving armed lunatics like this one are out there?
Did you see how many wolf tags were sold monday morning? You think a federal injunction with protect your precious wolves? Thousands of Idahoans are set on exterminating these viscous animals. Call us rednecks call us what you will but you know nothing. Say what you want about your night vision cameras, and your helicopters searching for wolf poachers. If you are so set on protecting the enviroment why are you flying around wasting fossil fuels in order to protect an animal that does nothing but kill other innocent animals? Wolves were exterminated from this country for a reason and they will be exterminated again. Oh yes I will crack open my beer and slaughter your wolves that come to my dieing rabbit call. Then I will hang that animal in Sun Valley where all you wolf loving faggots live.
The slaughter has begun, and will never stop. Beware Peta, these pics could be you next.

This Twin Falls resident (PostingID: 1340967548) needs to take a breath and find a period:
Ms or Mrs Peta are you going to pay to feed these wolves when they have killed all the wild game out there and as you know that has already start with more livestock kills 12 cows in stanley 40 sheep in the baker creek area and what about the kills in camas county the numbers keep rising across the state every year what are you going to do when they come into your yard and kill your dog or cat and they will the game is getting harder to get and they will go for the easier kills and what happens when they kill a child ask yourself why they killed them off once before and why were they lying about no wolves being out there before they brought them in they were there I sen them and there tracks so why don't you get a real job and stop living off of rich people who don't know what is going on in this state

Now on to Boise, where the wolves are apparently responsible for all of those "Missing Child" posters at your local grocery store (PostingID: 1354225746).
It was killed in Idaho, most people don't realize that the wolves the idiots relocated are hybrids. They are the size of african lions and since we have no hippos, rhinos or water buffalos in Idaho, our big game are easy pickings. Adult deer and elk don't have a chance of escaping a working pack of these devils. If they were native to Idaho, they would be a third the size of the one in the pic, then the rest of the animals would have fair chance of survival. They will start eating a elk or deer's intestines while they are still alive. They just don't kill for food, they also kill for the fun of it. If something isn't done about the wolf population soon, the only deer or elk you will see will be in the zoo. Although there are no documented case's of wolves attacking humans, how many people disappear every year, without a trace?
The young female wolf who lost her life today and is the one referred to as being "in the pic" weighed 80 pounds and was less that two years old. A fearsome monster indeed.

Many, many posters all over the Internet have stated that not only do they want wolves to die- they want them to die slowly and cruelly (PostingID: 1352320728).

I for one plan to gut shoot as many as I can before they declare the 220 has been met.
What a deal for 11.75 huh? Ahhh I love this state. I can't believe it took me so long to
get away from the Inland Empire.
Life is good:)


Boise also has its share of ranting lunatic homophobes, adding in some racism for good measure (PostingID: 1347719973):

First off the guy said it was" NEARLY" 1000 yards so what if he was off by 120 yards big fucking deal , the fact is shoot at him or me and your ass is OPEN SEASON you TREE HUGGING WOLF LOVING MEXIKALI FAGGOT. I can't wait to shoot a wolf and tack it's hide to your door, wolves should have never been brought back to the lower 48 and that's all there is to it. This is NOT the 1800's anymore the UNITED STATES has grown in population and there just isn't room for wolves here anymore , get over it and live with it. If you want to see a wolf go to the zoo or go to Alaska. It's not just about the Elk and Deer they kill but livestock, people have to eat and we need livestock for that unless your a TREE HUGGING GRANOLA EATTING WOLF LOVING MEXIKALI FAGGOT!!! If were such redneck back wood dumb fucks then go get out of here and leave us to out backwoods ways... GET!!!!! NOBODY IS STOPPING YOU LEAVE!!!....I'm so pissed now i hope to God one of you DUMBSHITS does shoot at me and see what happens . THEY ARE FUCKING KILLING MACHINES and they don't care who or what they kill or EAT!!!

And they are even proud of their ignorance (PostingID: 1346580374):
You are all morons spreading stupidity and showing how simple minded all of you are. I really like the post where you are worried about the spelling and grammar and you take the time to tell them- that's funny WHO CARE'S about spelling and grammar it CL dumb ass. One more thing that's funny is people that are more outdoorsy that anyone else. OK I'm happy for you once again WHO CARE'S. The fact remains wolves will be hunted and shot the eco-nuts will tie themselves to a wolf to help protect it and people will still show there stupidity by posting on cl. I didn't use grammar or spell check.

So there you have it. This is the mentality of the wolf hunters.