Betting that she originated from Massachusetts

The little girl in the photo smiles at the dead fish in her hands, not even considering that she drowned them, and that they could not breathe after being taken out of their habitat, a habitat increasingly being polluted and threatened by human activity rooted in the pretentious assumption that all creatures are on this earth to be culled, harvested, hunted and slaughtered for human benefit. This moral code strikes me as totally opposite of what religious teachings imply.

"Blessed are the merciful." Is that what hunting, trapping, fishing and teaching children to kill other beings is? Hardly.

One look at our nation's crime, violence, addictions, predatory acts (even to children), and a thinking person should be able to connect the dots -- our domination of those who are incapable of defense or escape comes full circle back to haunt us.

Instead of nurturing the most callous, desensitizing, merciless and violent behaviors we are capable of, wouldn't our society as a whole be much less violent and cruel if we did not teach those behaviors to children who have no idea of their far-reaching consequences?

Yesssss!!! I applaud you!!!!

Oh crap...I just killed millions of tiny one cell animals with my very own hands in the act of applauding.

Anyway...read the opinion piece (edited). It's a riot...considering that it appeared in the Manchester Union Leader up in New Hampshire. Talk about a fish out of water... The opinion article is from the April 2008 Union Leader, and the woman (bless her citified soul) is complaining about a little girl skilled and fortunate enough to have caught a couple of fish (cover of the March 2008 New Hampshire Outdoor Gazette).

Check out the cover of the New Hampshire Outdoor Gazette this month...

HEATHEN!!!!

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POST EDITED: Charlie Perkins III, Editor of the Union Leader correctly pointed out that this contribution was an opinion and, of course, not an editorial. In my defense...I went to public school. Thank you for the correction.

Rare Quail..."Medium Rare"

February 18, 2009—A rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time before being sold as food at a poultry market, experts say.

Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester's buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists had suspected the species—listed as "data deficient" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2008 Red List—was extinct.

Is it just me, or has there been a cascade of articles this year in which previously thought extinct animals (inclusive of some sizeable mammals) miracuously re-appear in our midst?

Are we seeing a repercussion from the over-zealous animal rights lobby who have been so wrapped up in their doomsayer mentality that they failed to consider that someone might actually bump into one of these creatures eventually and ruin the mantra? It's the same mentality that claims polar bears require a protected status even though they are thriving. It's the same mentality that thinks it's a great idea to introduce gray wolves into a cattle producing region.

Humans always seem to ruin everything...

"Shock over use of road salt in Stratham"

STRATHAM — Highway Agent Fred Hutton on Monday discussed his winter salting procedures for an average storm with the Stratham Board of Selectmen.

"We usually dump about 200 to 300 pounds of salt per lane mile," he told them.

As he said it, members of the Conservation Commission in the audience were noticeably shocked. They were at the board meeting in order to give a presentation about the dangers of over-salting the roads, which they said can wreak havoc on wildlife, the environment, cars, the roads themselves and the Highway Department's budget.

The horror....the horror !!!

I love the "do-gooders." They really are a cuddly, naive bunch. Highway Agent Hutton sets them straight...

Each storm, the Highway Department spreads about 120 tons of salt, according to Hutton. When asked if he thought that was over-salting, he said "no."

"Otherwise we'd have our trucks sliding down every hill," he said. "It's (a matter of) public safety, not being able to get up the roads. A $1 million lawsuit could buy a lot of salt."

Wow...common sense and a favortism...NO..OUTRIGHT BIAS TOWARDS HUMANS !!! How can you respond to that?

The Conservation Commission members at the board meeting said they were trying to get a discussion going about the topic.

"We're not going to solve this issue tonight, and we may not solve it this summer or this year," said commission member Donna Jensen, "but we really have something to be concerned with here."

(shrugs)...what do you think that solution is? Here's a clue...

To hear the city's spin, Seattle's road crews are making "great progress" in clearing the ice-caked streets.

But it turns out "plowed streets" in Seattle actually means "snow-packed," as in there's snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

How'd that work out, Mayor Nickels?

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced this morning that the city will reverse its decade-old policy and use road salt to melt ice in future storms.

The mayor set certain conditions for using salt: on hills, arterials or snow bus routes, and on routes to hospitals and other emergency facilities when at least 4 inches of snow is predicted, if ice is predicted, or if extreme cold is expected to last more than three days.

They really are cute...these wittle conservationist folks...with their desire to save the field mouse from a salty aftertaste at the risk of medical emergency vehicles, work commutes, and the like...

I love'em. Besides, most parts of New Hampshire (Stratham is in NH) still spray that green chemical stuff on the roads. That's better than road salt, and the roads glow for a while in the darkest part of the evening ;D .