WILD LANDS DO NOT HAVE A HUMAN HEART

Too many people think they can use their hearts and feelings for animals to make choices for the lands that we want to keep as wild as possible. We believe that if we protect the predators, such as mountain lions, we will no longer have to allow hunting to deal with the prey animal overpopulation.

We overlook the fact that predators are territorial and will eat pets, farm animals and people rather than compete in another predator's territory. In California, mountain lions sometimes wander the suburbs, making it a matter of time before another jogger is attacked.

We want to protect the "cute and fuzzy" more than we want to protect the ugly. This is only human. It shows you have a heart and care for the welfare of animals.

Unfortunately, to truly care for the welfare of wild animals, some tough, heart wrenching choices have to be made. Homeless domestic cats are decimating our wild bird populations. Predators are eating our pets. Homeless horses and donkeys are using water needed for antelope.

It is easy to blame hunters. Hunters follow rules carefully set by the people who manage the wild animal population. In the US, there are no hunting rules that have not been carefully thought out.

It is the POACHERS, not the hunters, that destroy wild animal populations.

Hunters were the first environmentalists. Hunters reacted to shrinking populations of wild animals by demanding protections for the habitats of the animals. Ask any wild lands manager, and he/she will tell you that the most important things are protecting the habitats and stopping the poachers.

The choices regarding the wild lands are tough. The choices can not be effectively made unless we realize that wild animals are not humans. We can NOT save all the wild animal babies, some will die of hunger, some will be eaten by predators, some will grow up to be parents. We can NOT micromanage their lives, we need to let them be wild.

It is easy to say, "Save the mountain lion." It is not easy to say, "Unless we control the population of mountain lions, the lions might eat a jogger or a child."

SYRIA AND WW III

Syria could be a reason for the Third World War. It is in a critical area of the Middle East and it is coming apart at a rapid rate.

We are watching Syria use medieval tactics on its own people. Syria is surrounding the cities where the protests were happening. No one is allowed in or out. So not only are people dying in the shelling, people are starting to die of starvation. And we all get to watch this happen on the news every night.

We are all humans. We have to prevent the deliberate starvation of people who are protesting a regime which first kept them from being equals in their own country, and is now shelling and starving them.

What can be done?

My only idea is for the Arab League to request the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force. If the UN can not do this because of a veto by China and/or Russia, then the Arab League should ask for a peacekeeping force from NATO.

This is not Libya. You can not pick off the tanks as they drive down the only road. This will require well trained "boots on the ground".

I do not know about you, but I think that WWIII will NOT make the world a better place. Radiation is SUCH a drag!

BUYING AND SELLING MORTGAGES

If you look at the legal definition of a secured transaction, it would seem to include the sale of mortgages.

During the real estate bubble, people were buying and selling mortgages and mortgage packages. I do not understand why mortgages are not covered under the laws regarding secured transactions. (Buying and selling stocks is legally defined as buying and selling securities also called secured transactions.)

You can NOT advertise that you are selling secured transactions unless the secured transaction has been qualified for sale by your state and/or the Securities and Exchange Commission. Penalties for breaking these laws can be both civil and criminal.

Bringing mortgages under the laws regarding secured transactions would seem to put a damper on the continuing practice of selling mortgages without any oversight. It is possible that no laws or regulations would have to be changed. I am not a specialist in secured transactions, so I do not know why mortgages do not seem to be covered by the laws that protect us against stock fraud.

SCAMS FROM BOTTOM FEEDERS

I have noticed that my email scam offers are increasing. The variations on the Nigerian email scam are getting more creative.

Number ONE rule about scams -- NO ONE IS GOING TO GIVE YOU LOTS OF MONEY USING EMAIL.

If you are due a large inheritance, the attorney contacting you will write you a letter. Attorneys with access to that kind of money will hire a private detective to find you, they will NOT use email.

NO GOVERNMENTAL AGENCY will ask for your personal information in an email. NEVER send ANYONE your date of birth, identification number, bank account number, or other personal information using email. EMAIL IS NOT SECURE. Just about any hacker can access it.

DO NOT CALL PEOPLE WHO EMAIL YOU ABOUT LARGE SUMS OF MONEY. I know you are broke and frightened about not paying your rent. Otherwise you would not even THINK about answering an email that, in your heart, you KNOW is a scam. Unfortunately, if you answer the email, you will lose the little amount of money that you still have left.

I kind of liked the Texas State Department email scam. It makes you think that the scammers may have a sense of humor. (Texas did used to be a country. It is now a US state, and US states do NOT have a State Department, which is the US term for the agency that controls our diplomats. US States do have a Secretary of State.)

DO NOT SEND MONEY to a "friend" you "talk to" using the internet. It is very likely that your "friend" is a scam artist. It is even possible that your "friend" is in prison, busy continuing to rip people off.

If you are really tempted to answer, first put the email address of the sender into Google. Usually the fact that the address is connected with a scam will be apparent.

You do not have much money so you should keep the little you have.

BURNING MAN - WHY I DO NOT GO

I have wanted to go to Burning Man ever since they had a bonfire on a local beach. As the artwork at Burning Man gets more impressive, my desire to go increases.

I do not go because:

Burning Man is now a HUGE place in a hostile desert. You can not drive anywhere, but have to set up camp and then walk or bike to the events and art.

THERE IS NO SHOPPING! No sale of ANYTHING is allowed. (This might be better then I think.)

You have to bring any water that you plan to drink, and any water you plan to wash with. You need to drink a gallon of water a day.

There are no flush toilets, only port-a-potties.

My wheelchair would be ruined by the blowing sand.

There can be sandstorms with winds up to 75 miles per hour, where the sand blows so hard that you can not see your companions.

It is HOT during the day and COLD at night.

Tents have to use rebar tent posts as the ground is so hard.

And yet people return year after year because for them the pain is worth the gain.

This year there may be less artwork, performance art, and entertainment as only about one fourth of people got tickets, and many critical participants did not get tickets.

I notice that, when an event is based on people organizing themselves to present fun things, that often the organizers of the event do not take these smaller organizations into consideration in planning for the big event. Burning Man is not just the "burn", it is all of the other smaller events, art, and entertainments. Unfortunately, if only 25% of the smaller event workers can get tickets, the smaller events might not take place. It is possible to lose so many smaller events that the large event loses its spirit.

Burning Man is a very special "happening". I hope it successfully makes it through the current growing pains.

KOMEN FOUNDATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH

The Komen Foundation was formed to help find a cure for breast cancer. They have the neato pink ribbon that the Hollywood stars wear to events.

They have used Planned Parenthood to deliver breast screenings to patients of Planned Parenthood.

They were also funding research, including stem cell research.

As you probably know, Komen pulled the funding to Planned Parenthood and for stem cell research. Due to protests, they restored the funding to Planned Parenthood, but have not even mentioned restoring the funding for stem cell research.

The decision by Komen to adopt the Conservative Republican agenda has all of the earmarks of a Karl Rove idea. Karl probably does not care that his plan will probably badly wound an organization that was helping find a cure for breast cancer. The only thing he cares about is making Planned Parenthood a 'bad guy' for providing abortions, along with other badly needed health care. I think he also planned to bring the Catholic Church into the debate. Honestly, can any religion actually believe that controlling the population of humans is a bad idea?

The effective founder of Komen will probably lose all control of the organization she founded, because she bowed to Conservative Republican pressure to 'stand with' Conservative Republicans on the issue of abortion. Republican women have been under such pressure for years.

Remember that the Republicans never spoke to my mother again after she told the then US President that Republicans had to change their stance on abortion or they would lose the woman's vote. She had raised millions for the Republicans, but not only did they refuse to listen, they went out of their way to punish her for speaking out.

SYRIA, RUSSIA, AND CHINA

I think that Russia and China vetoed the UN resolution recommenced by the Arab League for two reasons.

1. Neither country wants to establish the precedent that the PEOPLE can decide if their government is unacceptable. Remember that no country really wants to establish the principle that street protests are the way to reform a country.

2. Both countries may think that they may need to kill their own unarmed citizens, especially if those citizen are an ethnic minority. Before you get too proud of how the US works, remember what we did to the ethnic minority commonly called the American Indians.

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR EVERY CITIZEN seems like an easy thing to do. But all of us have a prejudice against another group. You may believe that fat people are just lazy and stupid. You may believe that the tall and the beautiful are better people than the short and stupid. Accepting people AS THEY ARE is very difficult, requiring constant vigilance.

Syria, Yemen, Egypt did not LISTEN to the people who finally decided to take to the streets. Actually, Egypt still is not listening.

Democracy is not easy. Democracy involves talking to people your grandfather hated. Democracy involves compromising, even on something that you really BELIEVE in. Democracy requires that the poor be educated. Democracy involves giving the child of a shepherd an equal chance against the child of a judge.

I am very sorry that violence is increasing in Syria. I wish there was another way.

CORPORATE PERSONHOOD

The US Supreme Court has decided that corporations are 'persons' and have the right to free speech, as well as the right to give any amount of money to a political action group.

It is unfair to say that the Republican members of the court wanted to get more money for Republican campaigns. It is true that fewer and fewer people are registering as Republicans. Did you know that, in California, Republicans pay up to $10 for every Republican registered? The person doing the registering does not get anything for people who register with other parties.

But one can say that brilliant legal scholars are often naive about the effect of a decision in the real world. For instance, a human person who can not give money due to laws against large political donations, can form a corporation and give the money through the new corporation. I can form a corporation in a day.

A corporation has always been a kind of person, in that it can sue and be sued. However, corporations can not represent themselves in court, they need an attorney to do that. (In California, at least.)

I will believe a corporation is equal to a human person when we can put corporations in prisons and/or give them a lethal injection.

In the US, it is not possible to totally buy an election. The campaign donations that come from human persons represent a commitment to a candidate. A huge campaign donation from a really rich person represents that rich person truly believing that the 1% has a right to rule us 99%.