And the award goes to...

That would be the 'Jackass of the Day' award. Or as I prefer to dub it the 'Rat Bastard' award.

And it goes to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, for following the Bushies misguided justification for delisting Grey (gray) wolves in the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone. Way to jump on that 'change' thing, buddy.

As you can probably tell I'm just a little frustrated and a twinge angry right now. I'm not going to say anything else, lest I be forced to censor myself.

Click here if you'd like to donate to Defenders of Wildlife's emergency legal fund, or sign petitions, or do anything else remotely useful.

I heart Paul Begala

Wow, I must have too much time on my hands, posting like crazy. They're all still mostly copy-pastes, but its something, and I couldn't help but share this. Ya'll know by now that I mostly focus on the issues more than the political parties behind them, but I support the DCCC, and I just had to share this email. Dear Deborah, Apparently, it didn't take long for the "Grand Oil Party" to come unglued. After I called their fat-cat funders a bunch of dirtbags in my email to you on Sunday, they started squealing like a pig stuck under a gate. House Republicans are crying so hard over my "dirtbag" comment, you'd think they just found out they were forced to spend the Fourth of July quail-hunting with Dick Cheney. So I want to take a minute to do something I don't do often enough: apologize. I am very sorry for calling those fat-cat plutocrat Republicans "dirtbags." Doing so was grossly unfair. To bags of dirt. After all, dirt is good. Things grow from the dirt. I myself raise tomatoes and corn and pumpkins, jalapenos and cucumbers and lettuce - all from the good earth. No, it was too kind, too generous to call them dirtbags. Probably better to call them oilbags or toxic-waste-bags or chemical-pollutant-bags. So I'm sorry. Still, even though I used such a comparatively flattering term, the Republican whine machine was in full whimper. Yesterday, before their alligator tears even dried from crying about me calling them out, they mobilized their favorite shadowy attack squad and Karl Rove-backed Freedom's Watch to come after Democrats launching vicious attacks against 16 Democrats starting today - please help us hit back twice as hard with our own ads. Contribute $35, $50, or more to our EXTENDED DEADLINE Matching Campaign before July 4th to fight back against the Rove-Freedom's Watch attacks - Democrats will still MATCH and TRIPLE your gift. Of course the Republican hypocrites are launching their attacks today. Between my comment about their 'dirtbag' funders and my good friends at the DCCC hiring a 'W' impersonator to record radio ads against their Big Oil friends in Congress, we've clearly gotten under their skin. As we say back home in Texas, "a hit dog barks." They don't know how to handle a Democratic Party that is ready, willing, and able to hit back when the right-wing slime machine kicks into gear. This is exactly how we're going to win this year - but we need your help to keep it up. Contribute $35, $50, or more to our EXTENDED DEADLINE Matching Campaign before July 4th to fight back against the Rove-Freedom's Watch attacks - Democrats will still MATCH and TRIPLE your gift. The days of Democrats quietly enduring Republican smears are over - as are the days of Republicans living by a double standard. The Bush Republicans questioned the courage of a war hero like former Senator Max Cleland. They besmirched the war heroism of John Kerry. They spend years smearing Bill Clinton, savaging Hillary Rodham Clinton, and viciously attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. Now they're attacking Barack and Michelle Obama. But the second I call their fat-cat funders "dirtbags," they turn into a bunch of blubbering cry babies. This year, let's dry the crybabies' tears and celebrate Independence Day by giving Barack Obama the bigger, stronger Democratic Majority he'll need to declare our independence once and for all from the failed Bush-Cheney-Grand Oil Party policies for America. Contribute $35, $50, or more to our EXTENDED DEADLINE Matching Campaign before July 4th to fight back against the Rove-Freedom's Watch attacks - Democrats will still MATCH and TRIPLE your gift. Sincerely, Paul Begala

Yellowstone under attack

Two alerts from Defenders of Wildlife this week:

The Yellowstone Bison slaughter, and the killing of wolves in the Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain regions.
According to wikipedia.com the American Bison is listed as "Lower Risk" in conservation status...but that lower risk comes with the title "Conservation Dependant." So, if these animals depend on our conservation efforts in order to thrive, why do park officials chase wandering buffalo back into the park where they can't find food in winter, or ship them off to be slaughtered? Because of unfounded fears that Buffalo (or Bison if you prefer), which belong to the same family as domestic cattle will pass along diseases to domestic cattle. The disease Brucellosis can be passed from animals to animals and animals to humans by intact skin contact...that means it's highly contagious, kids. But that doesn't seem like a good enough reason to me. The thing that strikes me most about the issue is that as near as I can tell, while Canada has completely eradicated the disease in their country, the United States doesn't seem to even require ranchers to vaccinate their animals against it! And we're going to kill the BUFFALO? Cause yeah, its their fault!
Now, I'm not a big fan of vaccinating wild animals against diseases (other than rabies, perhaps) but to me this seems like a case where vaccination of wild elk (which can also harbor the disease) and bison herds might be the lesser of two evils.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program: Rocky Mountain Wolves.
The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone and parts of Idaho and Montana has been one of the greatest endangered species recovery success stories of all time. So great, in fact, that the Bush Administration has been fighting to de-list them (prematurely, in the eyes of many conservationists) and last week Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming took over 'management' of the 1200 some wolves living in their states. To people like Idaho Governor Butch Otter (You can email his office here) this de-listing reads like an invitation to slaughter, and officials in Wyoming are planning to kill wolves on sight in as much as 88% of the state, including zeroing out (that means eradicating) entire wolf packs.
By comparison, Minnesota, which shares its 3500 wolves with Michigan and Wisconsin, manages its own wolf population and has set a minimum population limit of 1600...that's more wolves than live in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming to begin with.

Laugh of the Day

In my latest Sierra Club newsletter:
"Hawaii's Next Top Models

Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, established in 2006 by President George W. Bush (no, that's not a typo) are home to extraordinary sea creatures rarely seen by humans.Photographers Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager accompanied researchers to the usually off-limits Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and photographed loose-limbed turtle hatchlings, neon-colored angelfish, fluff-ball tropic bird chicks, and more in Archipelago: Portraits of Life in the World's Most Remote Island Sanctuary. You can see excerpts of their haunting images in the most recent Sierra magazine."

I'm sorry the whole "No, thats not a typo" thing just cracked me up.

As soon as I have time to do some more research look for another issue on Biofuels.