Category Archives: planetkillers

Why Is the Wildlife Services Administrator So Proud? | Elly Pepper’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

While it’s true that the number of predators Wildlife Services does not match the number of birds it kills, this often-repeated statement obscures the real problem: Wildlife Services’ own reporting indicates that it kills 98% of the big carnivores like wolves, foxes, bears, and mountain lions that it interacts with.

The letter asserts that Wildlife Services is “fully transparent about all of [its] work—both lethal and nonlethal.” But examples showing otherwise are endless. A recently leaked audit shows that Wildlife Services recently lost $12 million dollars—it simply can’t find it.  NRDC’s report Fuzzy Math shows that “most economic analyses of predator control done by Wildlife Services …are inconsistent with economic analysis guidelines used by most federal agencies,” and often contain fundamental accounting errors. And, as they’ll tell you themselves, even Reps. DeFazio and Campbell have repeatedly been denied information they’ve requested from Wildlife Services.

The letter states that Wildlife Services is comprised of wildlife professionals who are “fully accountable to Congress and the public, comply with all laws, and are dedicated to preserving native ecosystems.” He can’t be talking about Jamie Olson, who posted pictures on Twitter (taken while on official duty) of his hunting dogs mauling a coyote caught in a leg-hold trap or Russell Files who intentionally captured his neighbor’s dog in multiple leg-hold traps, also while on duty. And he can’t be talking about the supervisors of the former Wildlife Services employees in films like NRDC’s Wild Things and Predator Defense’s Exposed, who were instructed not to report nontarget kills—in the words of one, to “shoot, shovel, and shut up.” So who is he talking about exactly?

via Why Is the Wildlife Services Administrator So Proud? | Elly Pepper’s Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC.

Text of H.R. 4899: AKA: Drill Baby Drill – Damn the Environment – Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act of 2014 (Passed the House (Engrossed) version) – GovTrack.us

Text of the Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act of 2014

This bill passed in the House on June 26, 2014 and goes to the Senate next for consideration. The text of the bill below is as of Jun 26, 2014 (Passed the House (Engrossed)).

via Text of H.R. 4899: Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act of 2014 (Passed the House (Engrossed) version) – GovTrack.us.

The “Simplification” Of The Issues « The Dish

 

The “Simplification” Of The Issues « The Dish.

What Osma bin Laden wanted, it seems to me, was to bait the West into a direct fight on Muslim soil. That immediately elevated the cause of jihad, internationalized it, galvanized a generation of religious fanatics, and, even better for the radicals, broke a country in the heart of the Middle East so that sectarian violence could be exploited for further radicalization. Obama’s great achievement has been to steer the US, so far as possible, away from taking that poisoned bait. Cheney’s achievement was to fall for it, hook, line and sinker.  I say this as someone who also took the bait – with good intentions and in good faith, but blinded by trauma and ignorance. The choice we face is really between those two long-term strategies for surviving the Islamist wave. I favor Obama’s. I favor the future over the past.

General Motors Halts Sale of Cruze Sedan Over Takata Air Bags – NYTimes.com

{24/7 means you cannot lie about who you are working diligently with or not. GM says they are/Takata says huh?}

We are working diligently with the supplier of the defective part to identify specific vehicles affected and expect to resume deliveries by the end of this week, once those vehicles are identified,” a G.M. spokesman, Greg Martin, said.

Takata devices are already the subject of a recall involving millions of vehicles made by Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota and BMW. The Takata-produced inflator in those vehicles may contain propellant that can explode in certain situations.

The problem that G.M. announced on Wednesday involves a different aspect of Takata’s inflators — how they are assembled. It was unclear how use of the wrong part would affect the air bag.

“Theirs is a chemistry issue, and ours is a mechanical issue,” another spokesman for G.M., Jim Cain, said.

A spokesman for Takata in Tokyo, Toyohiro Hishikawa, said the company was unaware of General Motors’ decision and could not comment. He said that Takata was a long-term supplier of the automaker.

via General Motors Halts Sale of Cruze Sedan Over Takata Air Bags – NYTimes.com.

Your (not so) “bee-friendly” plants | Pesticide Action Network

Bee-harming pesticides in our lavender and daisies? In the same week that an international body of scientists released a comprehensive global assessment of the harms of pesticides to bees, a new report shows that these very same pesticides are found in many of our backyard plants — at levels of concern — that are meant to support pollinators.

The report shows that 51% of garden plant samples purchased at top garden retailers (Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart) in 18 cities in the United States and Canada contain neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides — a key driver of declining bee populations. Concerning levels of the pesticides were found in places like California’s San Francisco Bay Area and in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. In some cases, multiple neonics were found in the same plant, in the leaves, stalks or flowers.

via Your (not so) “bee-friendly” plants | Pesticide Action Network.

Looking good over stopping the outbreak!?! RABAT, Morocco: WHO reduces Ebola death toll in Sierra Leone | Health | Macon.com

The World Health Organization on Wednesday announced it was changing the way it reports fatalities from the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone at the request of the government.

Previously, probable and suspected deaths from Ebola were included in the count but from now on, only laboratory confirmed cases will be reported, reducing the death toll in Sierra Leone from 58 to 34 as of Tuesday.

via RABAT, Morocco: WHO reduces Ebola death toll in Sierra Leone | Health | Macon.com.

{Anyone really in control of Iraq?} ISIS Fighters Advance Toward Large Iraqi Dam – NYTimes.com

Separately on Wednesday, Mr. Maliki rejected calls for a caretake

r government, as he has before, but it appeared to be a repudiation of the Western leaders who have asked him to agree to share power with Iraq’s Sunnis and Kurds.

via ISIS Fighters Advance Toward Large Iraqi Dam – NYTimes.com.

6 Books That Helped Me Recover From Depression –

“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body”

via 6 Books That Helped Me Recover From Depression –.