THE POWER TO ABUSE & MINORITIES

 

I wish to thank  PROPERTYRIGHTS@EARTHLINK.NET for sending me the following article by Washington State Legislator Joel Kretz.  Anyone concerned about the abuse of government powers and particularly the use of environmental and animal rights’ claims to enable hidden agendas that are destroying rural America should read this.  Please share it with friends and family and send it far and wide.  Mr. Kretz is owed a great debt of gratitude by all of us for accurately explaining the duplicity behind the environmental and animal rights’ agendas that go unexamined and unquestioned across this great nation.

 

As you read this short piece, keep in mind the following:

-          Washington State is controlled politically by the urban voting bloc of Seattle and environs.  Seattle politicians control the Washington state government just like the Chicago “machine” controls Springfield, New York City politicians control Albany and Boston pols control  Massachusetts.  Issues from gun control to hunting and trapping and logging and property rights in these states (and others like New Jersey, California, etc.) are increasingly treated as privileges to be given or withdrawn by government rather than rights and freedoms to be protected by government.

-          Urban “values” imposed by urban rulers in Washington State, just as in Oregon (controlled politically by the Portland and Eugene voting blocs) and California have imposed severe and unrealistic controls on the management and control of mountain lions and cougars.  The inevitable result is growing devastation in rural areas.  Livestock. pets, game animals, children and adults are exposed to increasing peril and harm as the cougars increase in numbers, range, and boldness as they respond to people forced to treat them as cartoon characters rather than the very dangerous and harmful animals that they are.

-          The persons concerned about the smell of sea lettuce (I used to hunt in sea lettuce detritus when I lived in the Aleutians) are the same rich (for the most part) urban elites treating the rural countryside much like the aristocrats and other royalty treated European peasants and colonial subjects for centuries.  Subjecting faceless and poorer people to unfettered cougars (and wolves and grizzly bears and unmanaged black bears in states like Florida and Louisiana) while living in urban mansions is little different from setting man-traps for poachers or being unconcerned about deadly predators killing “natives” in colonial enclaves as European rulers believed was their “right” for centuries.

 

The stench one experiences after reading this comes not from sea lettuce: rather it comes from fellow citizens and elected politicians that are increasingly utilizing unconstrained government powers to cater to the whimsy of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the rural poor and rural minorities.

 

Jim Beers

30 March, 2008

 

WA State Legislator Joel Kretz: Puget Sound and the Dreaded Sea Lettuce (Quickie 159 Radio)

 

(Note: "Invasive  Species," "ESA" and property rights folks, you are going to LOVE this!)

 

March 28, 2008

By Joel Kretz plr@cuonlinenow.com

You'll all be glad to know the people of Puget Sound will be able to sleep a little easier tonight. The state legislature has given them the right to protect themselves from dreaded attacks by, uh, Sea Lettuce.

For those of you who hadn't heard, Sea Lettuce is a native species that has become more abundant around the Sound in recent years. The problem is that it grows profusely, then dies off, leaving a stinking mess that threatens the health, safety and welfare of the residents in those waterfront mansions.

I can tell you, the legislators from the areas hardest hit by this invasion showed up with blood in their eyes and murder in their hearts.

Sea Lettuce has got to die, they said, and we don't care how.

Now, these are the same urban legislators that told rural residents overrun with cougars that we had to “learn to live with cougars,” to somehow peacefully co-exist.

I was shocked at this knee-jerk reaction. These people have a little trouble with Sea Lettuce and they immediately want to kill it?

I felt compelled to offer other solutions, something along the lines of how they wanted us to deal with cougars.

Couldn't we explore non-lethal means of dealing with wayward Sea Lettuce?

Couldn't we trap the Sea Lettuce and relocate it? No, they said, it would just cause problems elsewhere.

Well, how about a pamphlet? The WDFW tried to solve the cougar problem for years with a little pamphlet entitled “Living With Cougars” that was full of handy suggestions on what to do in the event of a cougar attack.

Couldn't we have them prepare a “Living With Sea Lettuce” pamphlet and try that approach for, say, ten years or so?

NO, they said -- this stuff is aggravating us and we want it DEAD, NOW.

Well, so much for the live and let live reputation of Seattle-area residents.

So I tried another tack, pointing out that Sea Lettuce is a native species, an essential part of the ecosystem, a vital part of the delicate web of life and essential to saving the planet.

“Damn the planet!" they said, "We want this stuff dead!”

I gave it one last try, pointing out that this is a native species that has lived here for thousands of years.

Now these wealthy corporate types have moved into the Sea Lettuces’ territory, probably Critical Habitat.

The Sea Lettuce was here first and the beach dwellers should know that conflicts with Sea Lettuce were just part of the cost of doing business.

By now, these folks were furious, and their response was priceless.

They told me that I had no business telling them how to deal with Sea Lettuce, that I didn't live on the beach or even in the area, that I had no understanding of the threats of Sea Lettuce and that this was a local matter that should be solved by the local people most impacted.

I told ’em thank you, you just made my point, whether it’s Sea Lettuce or Cougars.

 

Copyright 2008, Joel Kretz.