Tag Archives: program

House Repubs Shoot Down Violence Against Women Act

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Terry| 1 Comment

The Violence Against Women Act has been in effect since 1994.  It provides government funding for programs to combat domestic violence, including support for domestic violence victims.  The Senate passed a reauthorization of the VAWA back in April.  The House?  They first tried watering the Senate bill down so much that Senate balked and Obama said he’d veto the House version.  Since the House version didn’t pan out the House has chosen to simply ignore it, and not address the issue again in 2012.  As a result, for the first time in 18 years, the VAWA hasn’t been reauthorized.  Government funding for domestic violence programs is now set to sharply decline.

Unbelievable.  The fiscal cliff debacle was just the tip of the iceberg for the House GOP.  Over 2 months after Hurricane Sandy, and the House GOP was still refusing to bring up disaster relief…until Chris Christie and others blasted the incompetence of the GOP today.  JUST prior to the fiscal cliff vote, the GOP brought up a bill to freeze Government salaries for another year (this would be 3 years now with a pay freeze)…an incredibly transparent play to cover their asses for their embarrassing handling of the fiscal cliff.  Agricultural interests and many responsible politicians (are there any left?) are up in arms over the handling (or lack thereof) of the farm bill by the House GOP.

So…any confidence that the House GOP will be sensible in 2 months, when it’s time to address the sequestration delay, the debt limit, and funding government for the rest of the year?  Unbelievable…

Posted in Politics

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Your Government’s Role in Killing Wildlife

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
USDA Wildlife Services

"Wildlife Services" sounds pretty innocuous. The truth is pretty ugly however.

I have a friend at work who largely shares my political and social views, with one exception.  He’s much less cynical than I am.  When push comes to shove, I tend to believe that people will choose the path of least resistance or the path that gives them the biggest personal gain, no matter the negative consequences.  My friend is quite a bit rosier regarding the human race.   Every time I start to move in that direction, every time I start to feel my cynicism wearing off a bit, I read a story like this one, forwarded by another friend at work.

The story is about the Wildlife Services program at the U.S. Department of agriculture.  If you’re an animal lover, be prepared to be disgusted.  I’m already disgusted with how people treat wildlife.  After all I live in South Dakota, where the State Bird is an introduced species whose ONLY purpose for people here is as something you can shoot at.  But it’s one thing for red-necked South Dakotans to be out popping off wildlife.  It’s another for the Federal Government to be doing it, especially when so much collateral damage is being done, as shown in this article.

I’m amazed at the political clout a few large land owners in the West have regarding wildlife issues.  In South Dakota, the prairie dog has seemingly been labeled as public enemy #1…largely due to the efforts of a VERY few ranchers who claim prairie dogs cause immense damage to grazing lands.  A VERY few private citizens have somehow twisted the system to their advantage, so much so that prairie dogs are being poisoned on a lot of PUBLIC land in the state, if an adjacent land owner requests “control” of the species.   “Public” land in general is managed in South Dakota for seemingly one purpose…for the COMPLETE exploitation of whatever “resources” may be found on that land.  Parks?  National Grasslands?  Conservation and wildlife are DEFINITELY a secondary consideration in South Dakota.   Grazing trumps wildlife in every case.  In state and other parks, it’s the use of the area for camping, hunting, cross-country skiing, or any other human activity that is far and away more important than the actual habitat or wildlife in that park.

This story about the Wildlife Services part of USDA is simply an example of the same mindset, but at a Federal level.  Endangered species?  Completely harmless species?  People’s PETS, for god’s sake?   It’s a pretty disgusting picture of what Wildlife Services does, all supposedly for the sake of “protecting” people from that nasty harmful wildlife.

$$$$$ trumps wildlife…it’s a message that sadly continues to gain traction in the U.S.    And again…my cynacism and complete lack of faith in humanity is restored.

And despite my status as a Federal employee and as someone who has strongly DEFENDED government in the past…with recent experiences I’ve personally had, and with many of the recent news stories, I’m having a hard time maintaining that support of government.

Posted in Ecosystems at Risk, Environmental Awareness, Politics

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Cultural Identity vs. Morality – Joe Paterno

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Terry| 2 Comments
Joe Paterno - Shame

Penn State "fans", you're piling even more shame on your program by your blind support for this man.

Way to go Penn State students.  You’ve taken what has already been an incredibly distasteful and painful scandal and have drug your university even further down into the depths.   Penn State’s board of trustees last night fired university president Graham Spanier, and the crowd yawned.  After all, Spanier is ONLY the university president…no big deal, right?  But moments later, the board announced they were also firing football coach Joe Paterno, and then all hell breaks loose.  Angry supporters start yelling in the board of trustees meeting.  Penn State students take to the streets, rioting and overturning cars.  The news media goes berserk. 

And every once in a while during the debacle last night, a few souls would slip into the conversation something about the sexually abused kids.  Oh!  Yeah!!  Those kids!!  We FORGOT about them!!! Excuse us, we don’t have time to talk about the real victims here, our football coach has just been fired!!

Disgusting.  Pathetic.  embarrassing.  I know not all Penn State fans and students were against Paterno’s firing.  However, I hope the IDIOTS who were out rioting last night are completely ashamed of themselves this morning.  I hope to god you realize that Joe Paterno, and the freakin’ football program, should be the LAST of your concerns.  For the “adults” who participated in last night’s freak-fest, there are no excuses for you.  For the students?  I just hope to god when you GROW UP a little bit and start to have families of your own, that you realize the everlasting damage Jerry Sandusky has done.  I hope to god you stop worshiping a man just because of what he’s done with a football program, and realize the heinous nature of the original crime, and the subsequent cover up that facilitated even more incidents.

What the hell is it about humanity and our need to personally identify with something like Penn State football?  What is it about humanity that allows us to COMPLETELY overlook the misdeeds of our own “group”, while condemning the actions of others?  As a Nebraska football fan, I’ve often asked myself the first question, wondering just why I seem to care that much.  The second question is a completely different issue, however. 

I can enjoy Nebraska football, while still recognizing and condemning the ugliness of a few player incidents over the years.  I can love the “brand”, while not supporting the actions of the few that tarnish the brand.  I can be a proud American, and still be completely ashamed when it is revealed that we waterboard suspected terror suspects.  Some people simply can’t make that distinction, however.  For many people, it seems that “their group” is completely immune from doubt, completely immune from wrong-doing.  

A colleague and I were talking yesterday about the similarities of the Joe Paterno situation with the Herman Cain situation.  Just a few days ago, I posted on the seemingly blind devotion far right conservatives have for Herman Cain, with the ridiculous, supporting quotes for Cain from a WIDE array of Republican politicians and pundits.  I marveled at how Cain supporters, or far-right conservatives in general, can COMPLETELY dismiss the horrendous allegations against Cain from multiple women.  For idiots like Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, etc., Cain is “one of theirs”…and is thus immune from any doubt or consideration of wrong-doing.

Penn State Fans…YOU are acting like Joe Paterno’s own personal Limbaugh.  YOU are making complete jackasses of yourselves, when you RIOT in support of a man who very likely ignored the monster in his midst for so many years.  LOVE THE BRAND of Penn State football.  Support your school.  Support your team. But realize that Penn State Football is NOT JOE PATERNO.  Penn State Football is NOT ABOUT ONE INDIVIDUAL MAN.   When you blindly support ALL things related to Penn State football, you yourselves tarnish the brand.

Think of that 10-year old boy seen with Sandusky.  Think of his family.  Think of his future.  Think of how you would feel if that had been YOUR son….your brother…your friend.  Think of how YOUR ACTIONS were perceived by the family of that boy last night.  Or the many other boys abused by Sandusky.  You should be ashamed.

Posted in Deep Thoughts, Sports

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