What a night at the DNC last night! I was so thrilled to be watching the speeches! I'm not going to go really in depth on anything said, but I am going to post links to four speeches I thought were fantastic! I could write ten posts on these speeches--they were exactly what this 2012 campaign needed. As a friend put it this morning, "Michelle may have just won the election for [Barack]." :) I hope so!
Illinois House Candidate Tammy Duckworth's Speech -- Tammy is an Iraq veteran who lost both legs after the helicopter she was piloting was hit by enemy rockets. Great message, good delivery.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Speech -- Governor Patrick is the kind of speaker who will bring Republicans to the left, in my opinion. He has the same kind of tone as every speaker at the RNC last week had: this is our policy and we're not changing it. I don't totally agree with that way of conveying a message, but it seems to be very popular among Republican voters.
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro's Speech -- Keynote speaker Mayor Castro. What to say about him...Castro 2016! That might be premature; he doesn't have any Congressional experience yet...Castro 2020! I adored his speech. He is so charismatic; he reminded me of a young Obama at the 2004 DNC giving the keynote address. Hmm...foreshadowing?
First Lady and Mom-in-Chief Michelle Obama's Speech -- She absolutely nailed it! I want her for another four years! She can connect so well to the audience, and by this morning, Obama was back in favor among women voters! I could go on and on about Michelle; she is truly the largest asset to the Obama campaign.
In other news, this story came up today. It is about how wolves are being taken off the endangered species list in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming and, come October, they will be allowed to be shot on sight outside Yellowstone National Park. I am furious about this! I spent a few days every spring in Yellowstone with my family while I was growing up in Montana. Some of my best memories include these absolutely majestic animals. In fact, this summer when I was in Yellowstone and got engaged on the Lamar River, it was a wolf that we saw first after we got back in the car and were leaving the Lamar Valley.
It has taken us so long to get to this point of having a good number of wolves again! Before 1978, when grey wolves were put on the endangered species list, they were hunted nearly to extinction! I understand that cattle need to be protected and I also am aware that many wolves in one area will completely decimate a food chain, and then they themselves will die. However, according to the NPS site, the wolf population outside of Yellowstone has decreased 60% in only five years. There is less food for them outside the park (due to declining elk populations), which is why wolves kill livestock. While there was a bit of a decline inside the park, the wolves there have bison as an additional food source. In Wyoming there are 270 outside Yellowstone and about 100 inside; if every wolf was relocated so that they were inside the park, that would not work. The bison and elk populations in the park would crash.
Here's what I think should happen: if a wolf kills something you own (cow, child, dog, sheep, etc), you should be able to shoot it. I do not think it's okay to shoot a wolf on sight, though. Just because you see a wolf pack running across the valley does not mean the wolves are going to kill anything. If, for some reason, a wolf pack decides to den near your house or ranch but hasn't killed anything, you should have the option of asking for them to be humanely relocated. In my opinion, this is going to become a trophy race and the wolf population is going to plummet, yet again, and they will have to be placed back on the endangered species list. Seems to me like taking them off and then putting them back on is a waste of taxpayers' money. For everyone back in Montana reading this, please say something to your state senators and representatives! I, myself, will be writing to Gov. Schweitzer.
Montana State Legislators with Contact Info
Gov. Schweitzer Contact Info
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
Nice post but not sure about some of your info. Do you have any actual findings of wolves decimating their food chain? Wolves do have an impact, but if they had that much of one they would have gotten themselves extinct long before we came here. Try to remember, our Native tribes lived here with the wolves, bison and elk and they have never supported this "wolves will kill everything" theory. The elk were over-populated-their numbers are declining to what they should be. Wolves also are very territorial and will regulate their own numbers. They will start to kill each other when there are too many. Each time a pack has gotten too large in Yellowstone it is wiped out naturally. If you tried to relocate the Wyoming wolves into the park the other packs would not tolerate it. And I am not even sure why you brought up a wolf killing a child since that has not happened in the past century. Since you like Yellowstone so much you should really consider taking one of the classes that the association puts on about wolves. You would probably enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteGood points! No, I don't have any actual findings of wolves decimating their food chain, but one of the arguments I've heard is to put all the wolves in the park and keep them there. I think it's common sense to think that reintroducing 270 wolves to the park would crash the food chain. That would almost quadruple the wolf population there and such a fast change in the amount of predators would really disrupt the food chain. Also, I mentioned wolves killing children, because when I lived in Montana, that was a very frequently brought up point when talking about the ability to hunt wolves, even though it hasn't happened in a century. I would love to take one of those classes, but unfortunately I live in KY now, so that's not really feasible. Thanks so much for your comment!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I am from Montana. I just ignore those people. They don't know what they are talking about anyways. I think a moderate hunt would be fine to keep balance and last years hunt seemed to suffice but everyone is so wound up with hearsay and no real knowledge that we are making bad decisions now. You will have to try for a trip up to the park sometime then. I am sure it would make a great anniversary get-a-way.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that sounds about right. :) I would love to get back up to the park! I took my fiancé there for the first time in June and it was so good to be back!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed in all those speeches, the Dems move to the center and say things that are not matched by their actual actions. Obama is decimating our economy with debt, numerous regulations and the uncertainty of Obamacare, yet he cares for the poor and unemployed so much! These are the very people who have been hurt most by his policies. Unemployment of minorities and younger people is almost 20%, more in some states. I'm not buying 'the message'.
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation! I don't really think it's fair to say that "Obama is decimating our economy," though. A lot of that debt was left from the Bush administration. Did his debt plan work? I'm not sure. We are still in a LOT of debt and it is climbing daily. As for Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was a compromise. He did not get "socialized medicine," as a lot of people called what he wanted. As a poor, unemployed, young minority, I don't think I'm in the group who has been hurt the most--I think the middle class has been. You absolutely don't have to buy the message. If you are convinced that Romney is going to help the lower middle class and minority groups more than Obama has, then vote for Romney. I, however, feel that Obama and other Democrats are moving to the center because that is the way that we are going to be able to compromise to get things both sides want. Compromise is the only way to get things done, unless you think a dictatorship would be more convenient.
ReplyDeleteThere was no "compromise" to Obamacare except between Democrats--no Republican voted for it! The middle class has been hurt, I agree--assets devalued, incomes lowered an ave. of $4000, and increasing healthcare costs. I ask you where the leadership for compromise was during the last 4 years? The president did no outreach to Republicans, especially during the 1st 2 years when he had complete control of all branches. Read Woodward's book, among others which describe how he didn't even know how to contact members of Congress. I do think that Romney/Ryan will 'help' the American people by releasing us from budensome regulations and major uncertainty which has stagnated the economy. Also, Bush and Congress raised the debt by 4 trillion in 8 years--shameful! Obama and Congress increased it by almost 6 trillion in less than 4 years! More people are on gov't assistance than ever before--this course is completely unsustainable. By the way, Bush was never able to implement his debt reduction plan as the Congress was under Dem control and they wouldn't compromise. When Bush compromised, we got QE1--Billions wasted to bail out the very institutions (Fanny Mae/Freddie Mac, various banks, etc.)that got us into this mess (along with Congress, of course). One of Bush's major mistakes and one which Obama and Congress repeated several more times--giving money to his 'green friends'. I could go on and on--thanks for the debate!
DeleteWow! I looked up the voting record for Obamacare and I had no idea that no Republican voted for it! Great point!
DeleteI would really like to read Woodward's book! I've seen a couple of interviews with him and I am intrigued.
The debt that continued into Obama's term was started with the Bush plan. I understand that it has increased since Obama has been in office and I understand that Obama's administration has increased it, but just because someone leaves office doesn't mean that the plans they've put in place suddenly end.
During Bush's administration, he had a Republican majority in Congress until 2007 (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_party_controlled_Congress_during_Bush_administration). So he had 6 years to put through what he wanted--if Congress had agreed with him.
Agreed on giving money to the banks as being a mistake!
Thank you for the debate! I appreciate it! Again, sorry for not publishing it sooner.
Interesting--my very polite reply to the above was not accepted or has not shown up yet. I commented on each point you made and was interested in what you or your readers had to say.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry--I wasn't online! I never hide comments unless they are offensive, so if I don't post it immediately, it's not because I am not going to publish it. Sorry about that!
DeleteNo problem, I didn't realize you had to be online to accept a post.
ReplyDeleteDid you watch the Republican convention and take notes as well? I'm an independent conservative and I watched both--it was nauseating at times, but it will help me better decide where each candidate stands on the issues.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did take notes during the RNC. I actually started my blog at the end of that week. I didn't want to talk a whole lot about it then because I didn't want to scare off potential readers. If you like, I'd be happy to go back to my notes and post what I thought about the RNC. I thought that my post in response to Romney's speech in Cincinnati would give readers a quick snapshot of what I thought of his campaign, but I can definitely talk about the RNC if you want.
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