Welcome to America
Here we are in a country that even when the majority of people feel that a bill like health care reform will do nothing but hurt our economy and still only provide health care for about 10% of the country, yet the house still pushed it through with almost no votes from the republican side. Isn’t that what the checks and balances of the government were supposed to be there for?? As a small business if I could afford to give all my employees health care don’t you think that I would?? Now we will be taxed higher and penalized if we don’t provide it. That is of course if it makes it through the senate which it probably will. The biggest reason for the rant is to express how screwed we are right now with any wildlife legislation. If they can pass something that will cripple our country without a problem, do you think there will be any problem passing something that the vast majority of people have no problem with such as outlawing exotic reptiles?? People are uneducated about reptiles and all they see is all the negative that the news media puts out there. As we saw this weekend, it doesn’t matter if millions of people complain and protest, they will still pass the law. This congress and current administration is scaring the hell out of me with the decisions they are making. I was not against this administration at the start, but now I wonder what our country will look like over the next few years??
As far as what I can tell from watching the hr2811 hearing and talking with as many insiders as I could. I think it’s unlikely that either there will be an amendment that will include interstate commerce or that they will add anything to the bill. That sounds great, but there is bad news as I see it. When it goes to the Senate there will probably be some amendment to the bill, there really has to be because it does not match the mirror bill hr2811 and needs to in the end to be signed into law. It seems likely that there might be more animals added to the lacey act. With the fish&wildlife calling for all of the nine giants and the hsus pushing for the same, our small voice has a huge uphill battle to save the other animals from going on that list. This is just my opinion, but I can read the tea leafs. I think the animal that we have the best chance to save is the Boa Constrictor because they have never killed anyone and they really are not giants. With good scientific proof we should be able to persuade them to exclude that species, lets hope?? I think it might be a lot harder to convince them of the other if they decide to add them to the list. The biggest reason for adding them is they are going by the USGS survey of the nine large species. I have read it and it is total B.S. It’s written in bad science and co-written by the guy that believes that Burmese can survive and propagate all the way into the Ohio valley??? We better get on our horse soon and get ready for the fight of our lives. This one could change the face of our hobby forever. Not trying to scare everyone, but maybe that’s the only way we get through this. We need to do what we can and also try to follow USark and PIJAC in their efforts as well. I hope they will join forces and play well together, this is no time for a pissing match.
