Are you aware that Alaska's Governor, now McCain's VP, has Declared War on Wildlife?

Question

Funny how it's always about WAR with McCain...

Shocking Choice by John McCain

WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.

“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”

This is what she considers "environmental policy":

I have some sad news. Unfortunately, Alaska voters defeated a ballot initiative yesterday that would have ended the state’s brutal aerial hunting program.

Thousands of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund supporters gave invaluable support to this important campaign, but in the end, deep-pocketed special interests carried the day.

This morning, I spoke with Nick Jans, co-chair of Alaskans for Wildlife, our grassroots partners in The Last Frontier who spearheaded the state ballot initiative to end Alaska’s brutal aerial hunting program. He wanted me to pass on this message to you:

“I want to thank Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund supporters for their help in this hard-fought campaign.

"We faced an approximately $750,000 campaign from our opponents -- including Safari Club International and a $400,000 state-funded campaign approved by Governor Sarah Palin and the Alaska legislature. They used deceptive propaganda and the authority of the Alaska government to defeat the ballot initiative.

"But thanks to the generous support of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund activists and donors, we were able to reach thousands of voters. Yesterday, over 75,000 Alaskans voted to end this barbaric practice.

“Despite this loss, we’re not giving up -- Alaskans for Wildlife will continue to hold the state Board of Game’s feet to the fire and redouble our efforts to end this brutal program.”

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund will continue to partner with groups like Alaskans for Wildlife and our sister organization Defenders of Wildlife to end Alaska’s slaughter from the skies.

As we prepare for another bloody season of aerial hunting in Alaska, we are redoubling our efforts to pass the Protect America’s Wildlife (PAW) Act in Washington, DC to bring an end to Alaska’s aerial hunting program -- and prevent programs like it from spreading to places like the Greater Yellowstone region.

This bill already has strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives -- now we must ensure that this important bill gets passed.

Please take a moment to write to your Representative in Washington, DC and urge him or her to support this important wildlife-saving legislation today.

Once again, thank you for your support in this important campaign. Together, we’ll continue to fight for sensible wildlife management -- and end the senseless slaughter of wolves by airborne hunters.

Sincerely,

Rodger Schlickeisen

President

Defenders of Wildlife

Shooting wolves from airplanes and targeting the last unspoiled region of America for a stop-gap "quick fix" of oil drilling that will do NOTHING to help America's fuel problems.

Please help the Wildlife in this country, animal lovers. Please go to Defenders.org and sign their petition and please vote NO to McCain/Palin in '08. I don't care if you vote Blue Blob from Outer Space, just don't let these national resource ravagers run our country.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Oooh- I just LOVE quesstions (or, in this case rants) that are spewed forth simply to tug at one's heart strings and yet contain few actual facts!

Let's start with these little tidbits:

Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission

Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she served from 2003 to 2004. She resigned in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest. After she resigned, Palin exposed the state Republican Party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail. Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned. Ruedrich also paid a record $12,000 fine.

And:

Palin has strongly promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, despite concerns from environmentalists. She also helped pass a tax increase on oil company profits. Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisers to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska. {**sidebar- looks like she sort of screwed her husband on this one, if you ask me!**}

---taken off of sources on wikipedia

According to the ADFAG:

" Alaskans are fortunate to have an estimated 7,700-11,200 wolves in our state.  Wolves have never been threatened or endangered in Alaska, and inhabit all of their traditional range except within the largest cities."

Then, there's this article

http://www.wc.adfg.state.ak.us/index.cfm...

"Wolves and bears are very effective and efficient predators on caribou, moose, deer and other wildlife. In most of Alaska, humans also rely on the same species for food. In Alaska's Interior, predators kill more than 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die during an average year, while humans kill less than 10 percent. In most of the state, predation holds prey populations at levels far below what could be supported by the habitat in the area. Predation is an important part of the ecosystem, and all ADF&G wolf management programs, including control programs, are designed to sustain wolf populations in the future. "

"Currently, five wolf control programs are underway that comprises about 9.4% of Alaska's land area. The programs use a closely controlled permit system allowing aerial or same day airborne methods to remove wolves in designated areas. In these areas, wolf numbers will be temporarily reduced, but wolves will not be permanently eliminated from any area. Successful programs allow humans to take more moose, and healthy populations of wolves to continue to thrive in Alaska."

"Concurrent with the cessation of aerial shooting of wolves, much of interior Alaska experienced severe winters with deep snow in 1970-71 and 1971-72, resulting in sharp declines in many moose populations. Without aerial shooting, wolves increased and prey populations continued to decline. Many people and organizations demanded that the department control wolves to help the moose populations rebuild"

"The wolf population in Alaska is abundant and secure.

Wolves in Alaska are highly valued by people for many purposes

Wolves are capable of limiting the abundance or productivity of prey.

No single management regime can be applied across the state to accommodate all legitimate human values.

Some form of zonal management system offers the best chance to address conflicting values."

http://www.wc.adfg.state.ak.us/index.cfm...

Not to mention, wolves are no long afraid of humans

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1...

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/1...

Growing up in a state with TONS of wildlife, hunting was a way of life.  If there were not hunters out thinning the herds of deer, the deer were eating up gardens, flower beds, and running in front of cars in the roadway.  (Including my own vehicle at 70 mph on the freeway!)  Not to mention, many of the deer would starve to death without some sort of management.

I also knew several people who worked for the game and fish commission in my home state.  The steps taken to make sure that the wildlife populations were well managed were incredible- more than most people realize.  These guys were doing population studies WEEKLY.  There were times that the populations would get so out of hand, that bow hunting was allowed in the INNER CITIES!  Whether you hunt or not, wildlife management is a huge issue.

I don't know of anyone that has ever done ariel hunting, or hunted wolves at all.  BUT, I can tell you

"Aerial hunting has been discontinued in the former Soviet Union due to budget restraints. It is a common method used in the United States, specifically  

Answer 2

You know, I'll be quite honest... I read about two sentences, then scrolled down a bit..and scrolled...and scrolled...and scrolled...

Then I figured, nah.... It's probably  just another environmentalist wacko anyway. I've got better things to do...

Answer 3

Did you know those wolves kill newborn moose and caribou calves.

Scientific studies conducted over the past 30 years have shown that without the ability to temporarily reduce predation on moose, populations will decline to extremely low numbers and remain at low numbers indefinitely.

That is a scientifically justified and professionally conducted predator management system. But I guess newborn moose and caribou calves don't have the right to live either.

Whats up with liberals and hating babies.. sounds like some psychologists should do some investigating into your "problem". I bet it's hard to pronounce.

*Edit*

Here is the link to the ADF&G Wildlife conservation link. They have the statistics. Sadly, cuteness is not a relevent factor when applied to reality.

http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm...

Answer 4

The right hasnt a clue.

Do they realize that the oil companies SHUT DOWN REFINERIES to keep profits high?

So whats is the point of allowing them to drill for more oil, when in the last 30 years theyve opened 1 refinery... THe next words out of their mouths "its the liberal left that are stopping refineries from being built"

in fact, they have lobbied against allowing independent refiners.

You ***** think we have an oil shortage, and you dont have a clue.

We drill in anwar and kill the wildlife because, as we saw in 2006, oil companies ignore their pipelines and allow them to degrade, so oil companies can have more unrefined oil sitting around, so they can jack up prices even further.

If you guys are just wanting to drill because of your oil stocks, perhaps its time to realize that america is turning a page and oil is going to be out in the next 10 years, so its time to invest in alternative energy.

Answer 5

Senator Obama's home state, Illinois is closing 11 state parks.

How am I gonna feed the critters now??

Answer 6

I KNOW I HATE THAT *****!

Answer 7

more bullsh!t from the liberal left. you are the same ones who don't mind killing babys, but want to protect animals. why do you think we got Alaska, in the first place? don't you read your history ? i know, you people are really PETA, but you're using a different name. i hope she wins, so i can hear you whine for ever.

Answer 8

Wow.  You clearly didn't do enough research.

Answer 9

PETA???  Is that you?

Answer 10

I'm pretty sure that we purchased Alaska for the abundant natural resources and not the polar bears  or the caribou.