Post by: billythekidrock on July 28, 2007, 08:40:00 AM
Here is a letter to the editor of my local paper, The Olympian. The original is online here http://www.theolympian.com/letters/story/170577.html (http://www.theolympian.com/letters/story/170577.html)
Tax binoculars and tents not guns and ammunition
In a recent article in The Olympian, the director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife stated that “ensuring sustainable hunting opportunity” is one of the goals driving the department’s effort to negotiate hunting plans with Western Washington treaty tribes, and that failing to negotiate could lead to “depletion of natural resources and a loss of future hunting opportunity.”
The department emphasizes “hunting opportunities” because it profits from the sale of hunting licenses and the collection of excise taxes generated from gun and ammunition sales. It has to constantly create hunting opportunities if it is to remain in business every year. It is hard to imagine a greater conflict of interest: The agency that is entrusted to protect wildlife is the same one that profits from its exploitation and destruction.
As interest in hunting declines nationwide, it behooves the department to look toward the future. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, interest in hunting is steadily declining throughout the country, while wildlife watching programs are showing explosive growth and the ability to support an economy that far surpasses the current one dependent on weapons and violence. Let’s repeal the Pittman-Robertson tax and replace it with a similar tax on items such as binoculars, backpacks, tents, and other outdoor-related equipment. Funds collected from these taxes can be dedicated toward the preservation of wildlife and the areas where they live.
Joe Miele, vice president, Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting
You can find out more about this group here http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/home.html (http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/home.html)
Post by: Hermit on July 28, 2007, 02:37:25 PM
Post by: Ray on July 30, 2007, 02:02:28 PM
Someone should consider writing a rebuttal to his letter. What a joke. Tax binos and tents. That just proves the level of mental midgetry which is running the show over there.
Post by: Hermit on July 30, 2007, 03:37:31 PM
Post by: billythekidrock on July 30, 2007, 08:26:23 PM
Post by: sisu on July 31, 2007, 05:43:04 AM
7 or 8 of us should register....... Pretend to be Vegan soccer moms, then slowly take over......... Destroy em from the inside....... But really,This is so dumb, it'll die out on it's own.Man I'd be hard pressed...how do you act like a Vegan soccer mom? I suppose I use my sister in law for an example...rich, stupid and clueless.
No really I'd have a hard time. I am really clueless. When I go to a Starbucks with Huntwa I behave so I don't draw too much attention etc.
Post by: GoldTip on August 06, 2007, 03:16:13 PM