The people are so friendly and helpful. Everything is pretty much $2/pound. You can just load up the scale with gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, apples or whatever strikes your fancy.

I got a container of figs that are out of this world.

We also bought all of the roma  tomatoes they had and spent the rest of the weekend playing in my passion for the perfect marinara.

Not only is this place a delight for you, but it is also good for the planet. They go beyond the usual organic farming practices to make it the most sustainable and healthful farm they possibly can.

Their commitment to growing crops in a way that does not harm the planet is certainly laudable. Not to mention inspiring to us little backyard gardeners.

We found a place on the way home that farms dahlias. Not sure that they have the same ideals in terms of sustainability, but they sure are pretty.

I got home and couldn't resist taking a photo of some of my winnings. I think I was a farmer or photographer in a past life. It just made me so happy to see all of this out on my counter.

Shopping like this is also inspiring to cook and eat healthfully. I use my mother's "antique" pressure cooker to cook the beets. They are good with tahini sauce or just plain or in a salad.

The carrots went in the bottom of the pan that my hubby roasted a chicken in.

The tomatoes and garlic are happily canned in 6 pints of marinara. That is where the peppers ended up too, after we roasted them.

I think the artichokes are for dinner tomorrow. Perhaps as an accompaniment to fish.

And that little purple cabbage - isn't it cute?? I will chop that for my veggie wrap sandwiches or for a veggie stir fry when G is at work.

It is well known that Bounty Hunter was a rushed replacement for the old wilderness. It is a widely rejected mini-game, and regarded by the majority to be a failure in matters such as fair fights, rewards, ganking, and penalties.

So the question remains: Will Bounty Hunter be obsolete with this new pvp system? Jagex is touting their own horn on this new computer-generated drop system. The last time Real World Trading was brought into a Behind The Scenes, it ended up with massive change for existing systems.

It is my belief that on the day the update is brought out, Bounty Hunter will be either:

A. Made into a safe mini-game. You will no longer lose your items, but the highscores will stay, and so will the rewards (4-12k per kill, depending on your armor). This seems to be the less likely of the two.

B. The mini-game will be removed, the area will be flooded with lava, the highscores will be removed, and that will be that. Jagex likes to leave little clues, and describing the arena as being in a "not so dormant volcano" is food for thought. Once again, October is a month of change, what better change than to remove what has become one of the most hated mini-games in the game?

(www.lastampa.it)

(www.lastampa.it)

I played the demo and actually enjoyed it, but I did not rush out and buy the game.  Recently I had the chance to borrow it from a friend of mine and I have been playing it on and off for a few days now.  After playing for about 12 hours I feel that I have put in enough time to make a final judgement about the game.  While playing the game I would have fun bashing my way through hordes of cyborg elves and undead mutants, to be reminded that there was actually a story going on and that I had forgotten what was going on as a result of the excessive combat portions of the game.

Now don't get me wrong the action in Too Human is pretty fun, but it gets repetitive after a certain point, however for the most part collecting massive amounts of new loot and other various items is where I got hooked.  I have been a very big fan of loot ever since my friend got me hooked on Diablo II a couple of years ago and I must say that Too Human fufills my urge for killing a ton of enemies only to find a sword that I can't use for another 25 levels.

The story of Too Human is quite interesting, as it tells the story of Norse mythology with a new spin on things.  Too Human casts away the stories of old and replaces them with a science-fiction themed take on the adventures of the Aesir as they protect humanity.  I enjoyed this new telling of Baldur's tales and the cinematics for the most part are done pretty well.  My only complaint is that the story is too spread out because of the lengthy combat sequences that sometimes make you forget why you are even fighting all of these enemies in the first place.

I went into Too Human with little expectations as a result of the negative comments I had heard, but I walked away with a very enjoyable experience (aside from the god damn death animations!).  The co-op adds a new element of enjoyment that allows you to go loot hunting with a friend and offers the ability to trade with your partner.  For the most part I would recommend that anyone reading this at least gives Too Human a rental to build your own judgement on the game.

-Frank

It's a sequences of actions that I sorely miss.  I've done Ramadan before and have had to fast from sun up to sun down without food or water (even Chapstick is iffy).  But it's a whole different ballpark when you're not eating solid food for 9 days (I'm starting with my trainer on the 10th day, so I'm cutting the program short... if I make it that far).

I've never thought much about it, but the physical act of eating is almost a ritual.  I love the excitement of getting the food, whether self made or bought.  Putting the cat in the bedroom, so that I can eat in peace.  Sitting down on the sofa and pulling the coffee table to the right amount of closeness.  Turning on the TV.  Switching it to the right channel.  Preparing the right amount of paper towels (those Bounty minisheets folded in half) and beverages (usually something with taste like orange juice- O.J. forever tarnished the acronym OJ, rootbeer or beer and also water). Then, digging in.

The optimal food consumption time is at 7:30 pm, which is enough time to digest before going to bed or go out and late enough that I'm too hungry later on (except when going out, at which point 2:00 am is the perfect late night snacking time).  And I usually like to eat alone.  When I'm around people, it's more about the discussion and being with them in the moment.  But when I'm alone, it's about the food.  So eat, watch.  Then another mouthful.  Then, Jeopardy and mentally answering questions.  Or The Simpsons or Family Guy or one of those mystery cop/forensics shows. Then another mouthful.  It's the perfect balance of nourishment and satisfaction.  I'm both conscious of the food and yet unconscious to any worries.  Maybe some people would call this emotional eating (just like drugs because it closes out the world), and maybe they're right.  I don't care either way.  It's my time.  And like the French eat (this is from French Women Don't Get Fat and not my personal stereotype), it's about tasting the food and consciously eating it vs. just shoveling something down your throat, by which you get neither the emotional satisfaction or the flavors and only the results: too full and comatose.

Right now.  I'm not thinking or wanting all of that.  What I want is very simple.  To have some edible solid in front of me.  To pick it up with either a fork, spoon or my fingers.  To put it in my mouth.  To chew and taste and allow my saliva to start digesting the sugars.  And to swallow.

The good news is that by next Thursday, I'll be able to do just that.  Just 7 more days... I can do it!...

Bounty

I recently had a birthday and am fortunate enough to have parents who gave me a spectacular gift of the opportunity to go sailing for four days.  I was thrilled with the idea and spent four days on the Tall Ship Bounty.  The Bounty is a ship that was built in the 1960's to replicate the original HMAV Bounty from the 1780's, known for the most famous mutiny of all time.  The new Bounty was built for the movie Mutiny On the Bounty in 1962 starring Marlon Brando and has been used in a variety of movies since including Treasure Island and more recently Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest.  The Bounty is a fully operational sailing vessel that sails all over the world and also provides educational tours and sail passages for passengers like myself.  I boarded the ship on Monday August 11th and we motored from Channel Islands harbor up the coast until we had the wind to carry us out to Santa Cruz Island where we anchored for the night off of Prisoner's Cove.  We then spent a day sailing to Anacapa Island and from there sailed for the remainder of the trip to the Los Angeles Harbor where our trip came to a close.  I was able to assist the crew and do the work of a deckhand including standing watch for the 12am-4am watch, setting sails and striking sails, doing boat checks, and climbing the rigging to the crows nest 110 feet above the deck of the ship for a view of the ocean I have never seen before.

The smell of fresh snow and the burning fuel of a Ski-Doo Olympic Snowmachine are part of my vivid childhood memories. I would hang on to my pop’s snowsuit, as we rode through Alaskan muskegs, down river banks, and up power line trails. Checking our trap line was dirty work. Bait consisted of freezer burnt salmon and road kill rabbit retrieval missions. I grew up with the smell of skinned mink, beaver, muskrats, coyotes, and wolves in my garage. We took the hides to the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage and sold them. Staying in a hotel with plumbing and television was our decadent reward. I learned more about nature from trapping and hunting than I did from any biology class. Habits, tracking, instincts; I was in awe of the Nature around me and then I helped kill it. It wasn’t easy. Mink are smart as white collar thieves. They could get bait out of a trap nine times out of ten, and defecate before departing, a not-so-subtle message to Pop and I.

I don’t write these things to brag, just as fact. You may be revolted by this lifestyle, and I won’t argue. I share this to provide you the reference of my horror of aerial wolf hunting. Shooting wolves from planes is to hunting, what hiring a prostitute is to dating.

Alaska has a long history of bounties and hunting-much of it controversial. Aerial wolf hunting began in 1948. In 1972, Congress passed a law that prohibited aerial wolf hunting. Problem solved? No, under the guise of “wolf control,” permits were issued to “pilot gunner” teams in 1979. In 1992, under Governor Walter Hickel's Administration, the Alaska Board of Game initiated a wolf control program with the goal of reducing numbers by 80%. Under threat of a massive tourist boycott, the “land and shoot” policy was reintroduced. During Democrat Governor Tony Knowles Administration, only non-lethal measures were used against wolves. The Wolf Management Reform Coalition collected 33,000 signatures to put an aerial wolf hunting ban on the November 1996 ballot; 59% of Alaskans voted for it, with the exception being a biological emergency. A Republican Legislature introduced SB74. This bill eliminated the need for a biological emergency to justify aerial wolf control and usurped the will of the people. Governor Knowles vetoed the bill and the Republican majority overrode it. In March of 2000, SB267 was passed which allowed hunters other than the state biologists to aerially shoot wolves. That same year, Alaskans voted on another ballot initiative to ban aerial wolf hunting by a 53% majority. In 2004, then Governor Frank Murkowski reinstated aerial wolf hunting to private hunters. He opened up 60,000 square miles of Alaska for the flying cowboys. All you needed was a plane and a permit.

With all of this history, we should have been prepared to deal with a Palin Administration hell bent on killing wolves. She and I were “raised by the same wolves”, and she wants to shoot them out of planes. She stacked the Alaska Board of Game with pro-aerial wolf hunters. She was successful at merging faulty science, Safari Club International interests and state funded propaganda; spinning a web of lies to masquerade as conservation. I’m not sure where it started; maybe a spam email promising penis enlargement from shooting mammals out of planes went viral. Running our policy on “Faith Based Science” hasn’t worked; animals you believe are here for you to rule, and exist because Noah got two of them on a boat and they managed not to eat each other is one thing. But if you refuse to use the brain God gave you for observation and noticing patterns of science, well, how good of a steward of the Earth are you? Years of classic, scientific studies by Adolph Murie and Vic Van Vallenbergh have been mocked or ignored. Their studies were in the field, observing the balance between wolves and ungulate populations. They proved what common sense verifies; wolves take the weak and the sick thereby strengthening the herds. The Alaska Board of Game lacks common sense and ignores science. The Board is loaded with Viagra starved, trigger-happy Alaska Outdoor Council and Safari Club International agenda driven thugs.

Because of declining hunter success throughout the 1990s, residents of McGrath were vocal about the need for aerial wolf control. They complained loudly and constantly that there weren't enough legal moose to hunt. The most comprehensive moose population survey to date was done in the fall of 2001. Alaska Department of Fish & Game Biologists documented moose numbers and the bull/cow ratios within a 520 square mile area around McGrath known as the Experimental Micro Management Area or EMMA, as well as the rest of Game Management Unit (GMU) 19D East. 520 square miles is a relatively small area. It is in fact, just under 12 miles north, south, east and west of McGrath. The target ratio for a sustainable hunted population is 30 bulls/100 cows. Within the EMMA, that ratio fell to an unhealthy 18 bulls/100 cows. Outside EMMA and basically outside the range of lazy 4-wheeler hunters, that ratio was 44 bulls/100 cows-well above the healthy target. Here's the kicker direct from the Alaska Department of Fish & Games official report:

"The low bull:cow ratio in this area (EMMA) results from an imbalance between hunting and recruitment. The bull:cow ratio in the remainder of GMU 19D East remains relatively high."

In other words, the science from ADF&G's own biologists contradicted the need for any predator control. Studies conducted for the McGrath Adaptive Management Team proved that over-hunting was the reason for the lack of moose in the area, not wolves. That data was buried and wolf control was implemented.

Right before the 2006 Election, Alaskans for Wildlife submitted 57,000 signatures to get another aerial wolf hunting ban in place. Newly elected Governor Palin and the ADF&G issued even more wolf kill permits and put up a $150 bounty. A state judge ruled Palin exceeded her authority and the bounty was scrapped. At the end of the 2007 legislative session, Palin flooded the legislature with bills to ease up on wolf hunting restrictions, but the bills were held up in committee. In the spring of 2008, Palin tried to declare wildlife an “asset” of the State to make their management off limits to ballot initiatives. She covertly tried to tack a wolf hunting bill on to an animal cruelty bill, SB 273, introduced by Senator Bill Wielechowski. Pun intended: she got shot down.

Last month Alaskans voted once again on Aerial Predator Control. The intent of the ballot initiative was simple enough; to prohibit the shooting of wolves and grizzly bears from aircraft. Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell, overseer of elections, did his part to insure the proposition language was confusing enough to guarantee failure:

Ballot Measure 2

Bill Amending Same Day Airborne Shooting

BALLOT LANGUAGE

This bill amends current law banning same-day

airborne shooting to include grizzly bears. The

bill permits the Board of Game to allow a predator

program for wolves and grizzly bears if the

Commissioner of Fish and Game finds an emergency,

where wolves or grizzly bears in an area

are causing a decline in prey. Only employees of

the Department of Fish and Game could take

part in the program. Only the minimum number

of wolves or grizzly bears needed to stop the

emergency could be removed.

Should this initiative become law?

___Yes

___No

Parnell was dragged into court several times for misrepresenting the intent of the initiative on the ballot. Many Alaskans were confused by the ballot language. My neighbor is a retired state engineer. He is a bright man and a conservationist. He voted no despite being an outspoken opponent of aerial wolf killing. Had I not known to vote yes, I would have voted no too. Now, aerial predator control proponents can disingenuously claim that Alaskans favor killing wolves and bears from planes as evidenced by the 2008 vote on Ballot Prop 2.

Governor Palin did her part to defeat the initiative as well. She approved the use of public money and ordered the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to publish a 26-page full color pamphlet called "Understanding Intensive Management and Predator Control in Alaska." It circulated through newspapers statewide and was mailed to tens of thousands of Alaskans just days before the election. The pamphlet emphasized “how well the current system is working.” Jim Marcotte, Director of Support for the Board of Game, said the pamphlet was not meant to influence voters-Really? Spending public money to tell Alaskans that the Aerial Wolf Control Program is necessary to protect our moose and caribou populations just before a statewide election wasn’t an attempt to influence the outcome? The fear machine was in full force. The message was clear: wolves threaten hunters’ ability to put food on the table. But the truth was more about putting pelts on a wall.

In addition to the pamphlet and mailers, the state paid for Board of Game members to fly all over Alaska to “educate” the public on the benefits of predator control-again just before the election. This entire predator control program is about turning Alaska into a wild game farm. In response to the allegation that she signed off on a "propaganda campaign to justify the state's barbaric wolf slaughter from the skies," Palin said, "My understanding is this program was funded by the Legislature to factually explain game management practices to Alaskans, and I don't have a problem with that." The total bill for the "education" was $400,000. Nearly the same amount of money she vetoed for high school drop out prevention.

It’s shameful she spent almost half a million dollars on pamphlets to compensate for Alaska’s prohibition on Cialis. Hey, if you’ve been shooting wolves out of planes, and you have an erection lasting for more than four hours, check the Boone & Crocket stats, you may have a trophy!

In June of this year, the ADF&G broke their own predator control regulations with the slaughter of 14 wolf pups near Point Moeller. Under the ADF&G Wolf Control Regulations (5AAC 92.110(i)), “Denning, the killing of wolf young in the den, is prohibited." On site at the scene of the crime were Deputy ADF&G Commissioner for Wildlife, Ken Taylor, and The Director of ADF&G’s Division of Wildlife Conservation, Doug Larsen. Why were suits from Juneau involved in a routine field operation? Why do we pay them salaries to enforce laws they are either unaware of, or choose to break? Perhaps they knew they were breaking their own law and were there to support the cover-up and clean up crew.

ADF&G Biologists want to “maintain” caribou herd numbers between 3,000-4,000 animals on the Alaska Peninsula near Port Moeller. According to former ADF&G Commissioner Ron Skoog, the caribou populations on the Alaska Peninsula have fluctuated many times over the last several decades. Indeed, the caribou population on the Alaska Peninsula has dropped to 500 or fewer at least 3 times over 132 years. ADF&G Biologists obtained emergency permission to kill wolves by misleading the Board of Game and Alaskans to think the current decline is unprecedented. This is clearly NOT the case.

Sarah Palin has been in a position to do the right thing for the wildlife of Alaska. Independent Alaskan Biologists have been begging for her ear. Faith based science is not science, yet it is what she has used in her policy making; mocking legitimate studies, and embracing big game hunters. The Rapture is not an environmental policy nor is it a game management policy.

It’s been a long time since I set or checked a trap. I’ve spent hours behind a camera, camping in bear refuges, in awe of the nature of Alaska. When I was a child, I had no idea how big the world was, or how tamed parts had become. Looking at the world, I know Alaska is precious in its wildness. Why can’t we just let Nature run wild?

If you want to do something to help, please click here.

Photos courtesy of Florian Schulz; Special thanks to Leo and Dorothy Keeler.

Markarian examines Gov. Palin's extreme views on the hunting and treatment of wildlife, along with her repeated attempts at framing disastrous federal policies on endangered species such as polar bears.  Were Gov. Palin to become president, something which is very possible given Senator John McCain's advanced age and past medical issues, Palin would be in charge of the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Commerce, enabling her to broadly shape and implement negative policies effecting animals throughout all sectors of the United States.

Last night in the Twin Cities, the GOP conventioneers were officially introduced to their vice presidential candidate who is, as Fred Thompson said, "the only nominee in the history of either party who knows how to properly field dress a moose."

But it's not Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's personal love of hunting or appetite for moose venison that should strike fear in the heart of every animal advocate in the nation-it's her retrograde policies on animal welfare and conservation that have led to an all-out war on the state's wolves and other creatures.

Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States-and that's a difficult distinction to achieve among our 22 Republican and 28 Democratic chief executives. Voters of both political parties who care about the humane treatment of animals must unite to make sure that the nation's worst governor doesn't end up just a heartbeat away from the nation's most important job.

Palin is not only a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, but is also a close ally of Safari Club International. These radical groups don't represent rank-and-file hunters, but instead lobby on behalf of their elitist, wealthy members to defend despicable and unsporting practices such as captive trophy hunts, bear baiting, and steel-jawed leghold traps-practices that real hunters agree are inhumane and unacceptable.

And the Palin Administration, in lock-step with these extreme anti-conservationists, has waged an all-out war on Alaska's predators to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. Palin has tried to pass legislation making it easier for state officials to gun down wolves and bears from the sky, and even offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals.

Leading up to last week's statewide vote on Measure 2 to stop the aerial shooting of wolves and bears, Palin's Board of Game spent $400,000 of public money on brochures and radio ads to influence the election. She not only took an inhumane and unsporting position at odds with the principles of wildlife management and fair chase, but did it in an undemocratic and underhanded way. Palin may have criticized "the old politics as usual" and "the culture of self-dealing" in her speech last night, but that's a pretty good description of her dealings with the NRA and Safari Club.

Since Alaska is not protecting its wolves from aerial hunting, the U.S. Congress has stepped in and is now considering the Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act, which would close a loophole in federal law that allows the shooting of animals from airplanes and helicopters. But Gov. Palin has attacked that effort, too, and used her office to criticize the federal legislation. She wrote in a press release that the bill's author "doesn't understand rural Alaska" and "doesn't comprehend wildlife management in the North."

This new video from our friends at the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund reveals shocking images from the brutal practice of aerial hunting, and shows the world just what Gov. Palin has championed at the state and federal levels. But that's only one part of the story. It's not just wolves, of course, who have been the targets of Palin's outdated policies, but also the Arctic region's iconic polar bears, the 21st Century's canaries in the mineshaft who are teetering on the brink of extinction.

Despite the effects of climate change on the bear's vanishing habitat and shrinking ice floes, Gov. Palin penned an op-ed in The New York Times earlier this year arguing that it was the "wrong move" to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Later, when the Bush Administration announced its listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, she filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the decision. Environmentalists fired back over Palin's lawsuit and said "her head-in-the-sand approach to global warming only helps oil companies, certainly not Alaska or the polar bear."

For those who don't believe that the number two spot on the ticket matters much at all, consider this: fourteen vice presidents in American history eventually climbed to the top job, eight of them because their predecessors died in office. If Sarah Palin were to be propelled into the presidency and given the opportunity to run the United States like she has run Alaska-controlling the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce, with wide-ranging authority over issues affecting pets, wildlife, farm animals, marine mammals, animals in research, and public lands-it would indeed be a terrible day for animals and for the country.

Sarah Palin: A Heartbeat Away from Disaster for Animals?

In an in-depth article by Los Angeles Times writer Kim Murphy, published on September 22, 2008, the environmental policies of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are summarized, as well as her position on developing oil and gas deposits in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).  

Federal scientists flying over the Arctic Ocean last month spotted something nearly unprecedented during their annual count of bowhead whales: nine polar bears in the open sea, miles from anywhere.

One was swimming 60 miles off Barrow. A flight a week or so later found five bears plying their way through the swells. The findings wouldn't have been so alarming -- they are powerful swimmers -- except that their likely destination, the sea ice on which the predators depend for survival, had retreated 400 miles offshore.

U.S. Geological Survey biologists believe that, if current climate-change trends continue, every polar bear in Alaska could be gone by 2050.

Yet Gov. Sarah Palin's administration has fought federal protections announced in May for polar bears, going to court to assert that the projections for a dramatic shrinking of the bears' icy habitat are unreliable and that polar bears are already protected enough.

Since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee this month ... a review of her record as governor shows that, most often, she has tilted that balance in favor of oil and gas development, mining and hunting -- the economic backbones of a state that many residents consider both a scenic treasure and an exploitable resource.

Since Palin became governor in 2006, the state has sought to ramp up a program that encourages the shooting of wolves from aircraft in areas where they compete with human hunters for moose, caribou and deer.

Federal law prohibits aerial hunting of wolves, which can involve planes chasing wounded and terrified animals until they can't run anymore. But a loophole allows Alaska to impose "airborne predator management" across 60,000 square miles. Palin sought last year to significantly raise the number of wolves killed under the program by putting a $150 bounty on dead wolves, until a judge blocked the payments.

Palin alarmed conservationists further last month when she came out against a ballot initiative that would have prohibited the discharge of toxic mining waste into some of the nation's last wild-salmon rivers. The measure failed.

The governor also has been a vocal advocate of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- something the GOP presidential nominee, John McCain, opposes -- and she favors offshore exploration in the vast, often-frozen waters of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. A spill there, conservationists say, would be virtually impossible to clean up.

"When you look at her record in the context of what other states have done, including states with Republican governors, her record is weak, and I'd even say ominous in some areas like drilling," said Kate Troll, executive director of Alaska Conservation Voters.

... conservation groups say Palin's position on climate change -- that it is a measurable reality but not necessarily man-made -- defies scientific consensus.

"Palin's insistence that Arctic melting is 'uncertain' is like someone debating the theory of gravity as they plunge off a cliff," Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a recent statement.

Two years of record-breaking shrinkage of the sea ice has set off a global race for oil, gas, fishing and shipping rights in the newly navigable Arctic. That competition alarms scientists, who already have seen an increase in the number of polar bears denning perilously near the busy oil fields of the North Slope.

Just as worried are Alaska's Inupiat Natives, who depend on the icy coastal waters for the bowhead whales and seals that have been mainstays of their existence for generations.

"When she got on TV and talked about how she wanted to develop all the offshore and [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge], she just blew us away, talking like that," said George Edwardson, president of the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, which represents Native populations across the Alaskan north.

Villagers increasingly are seeing signs of bears swimming to shore exhausted. Not long ago, Itta said, a mother and two cubs crawled onto the beach and lay immobile for two days.

In July, scientists found the carcass of a drowned polar bear washed ashore 70 miles west of here.

"There's a lot of bears in the water right now. . . . Some of them could be dead, drowned already, or they could still be trying to swim to shore," said Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor in the marine conservation program.

Steiner spent months pressing the Department of Fish and Game for public documents discussing the state's positions on polar bear protection and wolf control. The state's response? A bill for $468,784 to cover its costs for looking for the material. Steiner eventually obtained the e-mails free, and one confirmed what he had suspected all along: that the department's own marine mammals staff considered the bears to be in peril.

"The finding that the polar bear will decline significantly across much of its range is correct," the department's leading marine mammal expert wrote to his superiors.

Palin's policies in Alaska weighted toward development

This is a bit of humor in example:A simple PUPPET.
Let's NOT forget those who lost their lives today in New York... or anywhere else in the world.

(Definitions provided via Wikipedia,)

Who: Andy Horning, Honk 4 Kids and several victims of CPS 

What: Press Conference on the crimes of CPS

When: Saturday, 13 September, 2008 at 1pm

Where: 920 Laurel street, Indianapolis

Contact: Andy Horning; 812 585 0504 cell; 812 859 4416 home, www.HorningForGovernor.com

END CPS/DCS

The state and federal constitutions, to which every politician and police officer in Indiana swear oaths of support, forbid political violence without due process, warrant and proper restraint.

But today’s bureaucracies, like ancient criminal gangs or tin-pot dictators, operate by their own, ancient rules.  And CPS, or the euphemistically named Child Protective Services, is among the most barbaric of bureaucracies.

Sold as an agency of protection for children, it is anything but.  It is, in fact, a lucrative bounty scheme that not only gets tax dollars for each child stolen, but has its own judicial, executive and legislative agents that operate in violation of laws.

No due process.  No warrants.  Nothing but the thinnest justification for sucking children into a system with horrible statistics in sexual and physical abuse as well as very high death rates.

Several victims will be on hand, and the facts will be laid bare.  It’s not just polygamists who’ve been wronged by the hundreds...

###

Andrew Horning, Libertarian for Governor

Freedom, IN 47431

andrewhorning@hotmail.com

http://www.horningforgovernor.com/

El motín de la Bounty ha entrado en nuestra mitología contemporánea como una epopeya sobre la libertad. Vuelve a estar de moda a raíz de la publicación de una novela sobre el tema escrita por John Boyne, el autor de “el niño con el pijama de rayas”. Leyendo una entrevista a este señor recordé que tenía un librito antiguo que compré por e-bay (me gustaría poder decir que lo compré en una vetusta librería, pero la realidad no suele ser tan pintoresca). Se titula A description of Pitcairn’s Island and its inhabitants with an authentic account of the mutiny of the ship Bounty and of the subsequent fortunes of the mutineers, editado en Nueva York en 1872. Desde luego, con estos títulos decimonónicos no quedaba duda del contenido de la obra.

Lo más interesante del librito es la narración del famoso motín según las declaraciones del juicio, la narración del capitán Bligh y el testimonio del último superviviente, Adams. Por supuesto, en nada se parece a la historia que Hollywood pergeñó casi un siglo después. En cierto modo los norteamericanos vinieron a representarse esta historia como una metáfora de su propia independencia nacional. Todos los elementos están presentes: El capitán, tirano e incapaz, representa la autoridad real y Cristian Fletcher es el libertador que se enfrenta al poder y lleva a los oprimidos a la isla Pitcairn, un nuevo mundo que colonizar y en el que fundar una comunidad de hombres libres.

Basta ver la versión cinematográfica que hace Hollywood de un acontecimiento histórico para saber cómo NO sucedieron las cosas. Invariablemente la cinematografía norteamericana se basa en una mixtificación. Para los guionistas la realidad nunca es lo bastante interesante, o no tiene la intriga y la emoción necesaria. Son exigencias del medio supongo, pero el problema es que el poder de difusión del cine es inmenso en comparación con cualquier otro testimonio.

Parece que John Boyne intenta rehabilitar al capitán Bligh. Es una pretensión muy exagerada porque era conocida su irritabilidad extrema y su mezquindad. Pero de lo que no puede haber ninguna duda es de su capacidad técnica como marino. Bligh fue compañero del capitán Cook, del que sin duda aprendió mucho. Pudo demostrar sus conocimentos cuando Christian le abandonó en un bote abierto con dieciocho leales, en el que, en una épica travesía de cuatro mil millas y 41 días de navegación, sin apenas provisiones, consiguieron llegar a Timor, una verdadera hazaña náutica. Bligh evitó tocar tierra porque los nativos, al ver un grupo poco numeroso y desarmado, podían atacarles, como de hecho hicieron con uno de los marinos que desembarcó en Tofoa, que murió apedreado.

Los verdaderos motivos del motín tienen más que ver con el error de Bligh de permanecer demasiado tiempo con su tripulación en Tahití disfrutando de las atenciones de las nativas. Parece que la tirantez en los calzones de los marinos pudo haber sido una causa más plausible de la rebelión que los modos tiránicos del capitán, que por otra parte no tenían nada de excepcional en la marina británica.

Como se sabe, parte de los amotinados se quedaron en Tahití y finalmente fueron capturados, llevados a juicio y ahorcados casi todos. Fletcher y nueve de los amotinados, junto con dieciocho polinesios (doce mujeres y seis hombres), llegaron con la Bounty a la isla Pitcairn y decidieron ocultarse allí en 1790. Parece que Fletcher como emancipador sólo tomaba en consideración a la raza blanca porque al llegar a la isla, la dividieron en nueve partes iguales para los nueve ingleses y se repartieron a los polinesios como fuerza de trabajo.

La mujeres eran parte del botín, por supuesto. Al poco tiempo, uno de los colonos, el marinero Williams, perdió a su mujer, que murió despeñada por accidente, y le arrebató la suya a uno de los polinesios. Estos se rebelaron contra este abuso y contra el trato denigrante al que les sometían los británicos. La revuelta fue sofocada con métodos más vergonzosos que los del tiránico capitán Bligh: Los blancos prometieron el perdón a los polinesios que matasen a los instigadores de la rebelión, y éstos fueron finalmente asesinados por sus compañeros. Una nueva revuelta el año 93 se saldó con la muerte de cinco colonos blancos. Los victoriosos polinesios se enfrentaron entre ellos en una sangrienta discusión por las mujeres y los blancos supervivientes aprovecharon la ocasión para acabar con todos ellos.

Los cuatro ingleses que se salvaron se enfrentaron de nuevo a raíz de la muerte por accidente de la mujer de uno de ellos. La historia de Williams se repetía. Adams y Young consideraron que no podían fiarse del irascible viudo, que había intentado matarles para arrebatarles a sus mujeres. Decidieron no darle otra oportunidad y lo asesinaron a sangre fría hacia el 99. Todo según la versión confusa de Adams, que era el único inglés superviviente cuando la isla fue redescubierta en 1809.

Adams, que en realidad se llamaba Smith, consiguió evitar que le sacaran de su isla para llevarlo a juicio y murió en Pitcairn en 1829. Debía tener bien negra la conciencia con tantos crímenes porque, además de cambiarse el nombre, se había convertido en un meapilas que había inculcado la lectura de la biblia a toda su descendencia y lo que más deseaba es que un pastor anglicano se instalara en su isla para ayudarle a desterrar los últimos vestigios de salvajismo a su mestiza prole, a los que, por lo visto, les gustaba demasiado bailar.

La historia de la “República de Pitcairn”, es vergonzosa. Recuerda a “El señor de las moscas”, pero con componente sexual. Aquellos hombres escaparon de la horca únicamente para convertirse en negreros, violadores y asesinos.

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The Valarian Project has been known to always pay of its debts. They have a proud reputation and have no indications of abandoning this creed. This level of integrity highly intrigues a certain bounty hunter, as he has had numerous debts squelched. If anyone had the honor of fulfilling payment, it would be the Valarian project.

Thunder began to roll in as Grell exited his Spacecraft. He walked slowly down the concord and exited the docking bay, all the while enjoying the scenery and collecting his thoughts. As Grell approached the market square leading to the projects’ headquarters, he noticed a shadowed figure in an alleyway watching him.

The rain began to pour. Grell took off after the figure, the rain slowly trickling across his wrinkled brow. The shadowed figure was quick and light on his heels, rounding a few corners before hiding in a dumpster. He had figured he had lost the bounty hunter, as he had lost sight of him after the second corner.

The rain became a torrent. Grell walked with a slow pace up to the dumpster. He lifted the lid and grabbed what appeared to be a creeping Nurple by the neck. He squeezed his thick hands and asked,  "Why are you stalking me?" The Nurples eyes began to bulge from their sockets, his mouth agape collecting the rain. The Nurple threw his arms about wildly. Grell loosened his grip, the Nurple coughed and sputtered before saying,  "Why should I tell y,” before finishing his sentence Grell had tightened his grip and with his free hand ripped the Nurples signature tail from his body.

A lighting bolt struck the ground nearby. The Nurple let out an unimaginable shriek, and spit up a few drops of blood. He then said,  "The Valarians have a contract out against our Patriarch and it is my duty to report which bounty hunters visit their headquarters"  Blood began to pour profusely from his tail section,  "Please take pity upon me, I am merely a messenger."  Grell chuckled,  "You must not have heard of me before,"  and with that Grell took the Nurples tail, wrapped it around his neck and suffocated the poor beast.

The storm had passed on as Grell approached the Valarian Project carrying his new trophy. Upon entry he was escorted to a dark room where a voice emanated from all around him.  "I can see you have a Nurple with you,"  the voice said,  "there is no doubt then that you know our task.” Grell nodded laying the corpse before him, “My price is one million Parbles.”

"It will be done,"  the voice replied.

Grell hurried back to his ship, as he knew time was of the essence, the Project had undoubtedly cast many bounty hunters against this Nurple. He made his pre-flight check and was on his way to Falompop, home to many great Nurples.

Upon arrival on the planet Grell noticed a ship he had seen before departing. It was Raifia, and he was sure of it  An old comrade out to do the same task, Grell now knew this would be an interesting bounty. Grell left his craft, and went in search of a Nurple bound to know the secrets of not only his civilization but of many ancient ones. He waited until nightfall and went to a local establishment, and in the corner, a bottle to himself, there was the Subterranean Nurple Grell had been searching for.

A light wind began to wrap upon the bars front door. Grell approached the lush and said,  "If you value your life, then you will answer my questions.” There was no response.  "Where might I find your patriarch?" Silence. "Is he on this planet?"  Grell slammed his fist. Silence. Grell was becoming impatient, he knew this Nurple had information, and he was determined to find out what.

The wind had begun to pick up and a dust storm had engulfed the tavern.  "Why is it that you might be asking me for this information now,"  the Nurple finally responded.

“That is none of your concern.” Grell said.

“Oh but isn't it? Do you think that you are the first to seek my guidance?”  The Nurple let out a long belch, “I know of the bounty contracted on my leader, and I have recently relinquished this information to another bounty hunter.”  Why then should I be so eager to now tell you.

"Well isn't it obvious, now that you have said this much, there is no turning back." Grell snorted and hissed as he finished his sentence, realizing Raifia may well get this bounty before him.  "If you were willing to give out this information then it is perfectly clear that you are at odds with your leader and this is heresy, you would not want this to get out would you?"

"Fine if you must resort to threats upon me, I will concede.” The Nurple seemed nervous and leaned in closely,  "He is in hiding on Relios IV, in an abandoned research facility, and please do not let it be known I helped you.” The Nurple looked upwards as if in prayer,  "It is bad that enough I witnessed the horrors I did under his command.”

The wind was now at a violent howl, and gusts frequently smashed into the walls of the tavern. Grell said nothing and walked toward the bartender.  "That man in  the corner is a traitor to your nations, he wishes the Patriarch dead.” Grell wanted no more bounty hunters on their way to Relios IV. As Grell got in his ship, he could hear the faint sounds of police sirens.

Relios IV is a highly populated planet, yet not one within the Nurples empire. Grell found it strange that the Nurple leader would hide in such an undesirable place. He asked the local denizens the location of the abandoned station. Not many people even knew of the existence of a research facility on their planet. One female however, was a former member and told Grell where it was located.

Grell approached the station as he heard a loud noise from within the building. It was no doubt Raifia had already collected the bounty. Grell dismayed, yet still curious approached the gate. He could see in the distance a hunched figure dragging another toward the gate.

The only noise audible was that of the figure dragging his corpse. Grell wait hidden to surprise his old friend as he departed the facility. He waited until the sounds had stopped at the entrance of the gate, and he lurched forward and yelled as loud as he could. To his surprise it was not Raifia that was there to greet him, at least not alive. The Nurplehopper had killed his comrade

Blood began to pulse through Grell's body and the weather turned inclement. Rain began to pour, wind began to gust, thunder roaring, and lightning abound. In a fit of rage Grell leaped over the fence tearing a pole from its cemented hole in the ground. He held the pole vertical as he fell back to the ground, driving the pole straight through the Nurples abdomen.

The only thing on Grell’s mind was revenge, the rain downtrodden and heavy fell against him unlike any storm had before it, and this only fueled his savage nature. Grell busted through the main compound’s door and saw the Patriarch with a wry smile on his face.  "So you've come to kill me then?"

"What else would I do with you, you're tyrannical days are over.”

Grell hurled himself forward and as he did, two flying creatures appeared and shot a sticky resin at his feet.  Oh did I fail to mention my companions?  Grell became infuriated he looked around for a solution as the Patriarch neared him. Nothing.

The Patriarch came closer and time was running out for Grell, he gave one last concerted effort to escape. He leaped high with a tremendous force that tore off his right foot. As Grell came down, he grabbed one of the companions in either hand and smashed them together as he hit the ground. He was in pain but his rage vastly overpowered that. Now he knew nothing was in his way, he flung one of the dead companions at the Patriarch as he fled hitting him in the leg and disturbing his gait.

Grell picked up the fallen Patriarch, who no longer looked like a great leader, fear stricken in his eyes he said,  "Please spare me.  I’ve done you no wrong.”

"Why do they always say that,"  Grell said as he slammed the patriarch's spinal cord across his good leg.  "Now to collect my debt.”

Grell fitted his severed foot with a robotic counterpart on his ship as he made his way back to the Valarian Project. He could only stare at the remnants of a once mighty leader reduced to nothing. His thoughts centered around his own downfall, and he began to feel a tense pressure in his neck. He could no longer think about his family, they were gone and it was his fault, but he could not think of it any longer.

Grell was led into the same dark room he was in before and he laid down the Patriarch before him.  "Okay, I've done your task, now where is my money.”

A couple spends 50 years on the mission field, trusting in their good works. But when they die and stand before God, they learn that good works can't save... only Jesus can.