Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Government Knows Best


Not only is government "fixing" our economy, it wants to control everything it can down to the smallest details.

A property I manage was overrun with flying squirrels, for instance. The owners already had an exterminator but the contract didn’t include squirrels. I’d trapped more than a dozen flying squirrels and one red squirrel, but I couldn’t keep up with them. Then someone told me about a guy who specializes in the critters. I called him in and he went about plugging up the many places squirrels or bats could gain access. Then he installed one-way doors so they could get out at night (they’re nocturnal), but not back in. Finally, he trapped the stubborn ones that tried to chew their way back in. He told me that flying squirrels were protected by government. I couldn’t believe it at first, but it’s true. A great example of government trying to fix something that isn’t a problem. I’ve caught dozens with rat traps in my own house too and heard similar stories from friends.

Not wanting to violate the law while he conducted business, my guy contacted authorities about getting rid of nuisance squirrels. They told him to continue trapping them, but to save their cute little corpses for government to examine. He did so, but accumulated so many, so often, that officials told him to stop contacting them which he happily did. Flying squirrels are not scarce here in western Maine, but they only come out at night, so few people ever see them. One woman friend told me she caught thirty-six of them in her attic in her “have a heart” trap. She released them all some distance from her house. As for me, I don’t have a heart when it comes to squirrels of any sort.

One animal-lover group excoriated President Bush for taking northern flying squirrels off the endangered species list in 2008. How could Bush have been so heartless as to leave such a cute little rodent unprotected, they wondered, and they begged President Obama to put them back on. The Center for Biological Diversity claims: “The tiny squirrel, which appears to have a brown cape when in flight, is dearly loved throughout its Appalachian Mountain homeland.”

Well I beg to differ. I live in the Appalachians Mountains and I can’t stand them. I shoot squirrels of all kinds whenever I see them near my house or any of the buildings I take care of. If I don’t, they chew their way in and cause enormous damage. They’re a pain in the butt and there’s no end to them. I say hurray for President Bush.

These animal-lovers are nuts and government is enabling them. They think the human race is a problem and cutting back our population is vastly more preferable to trapping their cute little tree rats. In that spirit, they’ve initiated an “Endangered Species Condoms” distribution project. I’m not making this up. They want to protect squirrels and cut back humans because we’re the biggest threats to biological diversity. They believe human activity invades squirrel habitat when it’s pretty obvious that squirrel activity invades ours.

Just how nutty are these people? To justify government intervention into the alleged squirrel shortage, they cite another non-problem for justification:

Despite dire projections from recent global warming models predicting the complete disappearance of the West Virginia northern flying squirrels’ habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed all protections afforded to the species by the Endangered Species Act.

These are the kinds of people President Obama was talking to when he said he would lower the sea level and control climate. They actually believe he can do that. Their ilk elected Obama and a Congress that does what he says. Now they want to control virtually every aspect of our lives.

Canadian Geese are another nuisance species protected by government and making my life difficult. When they’re not causing plane crashes in New York City, large flocks of them invade lakefront properties and crap all over the place. The easiest thing would be to shoot them and eat them, but government says you need a federal license to do that.

So what’s going to come out of Washington next? In Virginia, where so many federal employees live, there exists an organization known as the “Center For Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution.” It purports to “help Virginia residents and municipal leaders identify potential sources of assistance when confronted with problematic wild animal concerns.”

Isn’t that special? If present trends continue, we’re going to need a federal license to pull ticks off ourselves or swat mosquitoes - and then only according to whatever guidelines are laid out in a Center for Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution action plan.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since moving here 25 years ago I have shot probably 500 red squirrels and yet they still keep showing up. I have flying squirrels as well but so far I have managed to keep them out of my home.
Squirrels can do enormous damage in a relatively short time. Those who value them ought to be made to deal with them and the damage they do.
As for me it keeps my aim sharp!

Anonymous said...

You masoginist biggot! why can't you just get along with our furry little friends, after all, squirrells are people too. Paul M. Lovell, ME

Anonymous said...

I hate squirrels and geese and have killed my fair share. The problem in the city is that it is hard to eliminate them without being observed. I just gotma back from my cottage and the geese drove me crazy! Do you know there is a condition called "goose itch"? Acquired from the droppings of geese - a raw, itchy rash lasting about a week or two.
Our new 'pest' is the fisher cat - an aggressive weasel that is now appearing as a new threat - invading my habitat. I made need counseling help from the Conflict Resolution group. Would that be covered under Obama care?
Nana - Massachusetts

Anonymous said...

They don't actually release nuisance animals unless they are an endangered species. They are take away and euthanized as humanely as possible. Its something they try to keep out of public knowledge to make home owners feel happy.

Anonymous said...

It's ironic that people like you who claim to be honest, hard-working Americans steal the intellectual property of other people. Have you secured the appropriate license to use the photos embedded in this ridiculous rant?

Tom McLaughlin said...

When I started downloading from Google images, I'd ask permission from whoever owned the images. If they're copyrighted, I don't use them.

I've noticed quite a few of my own pictures on there too and I'm asked sometimes for permission by others. About a dozen or two publications have requested and I've always given it, even when I copyrighted them.

Several of my Andrew Breitbart and Herman Cain shots were used very widely and few asked me.