Does a Bear Vote in the Woods?

[marmar]

from truthdig:



Does a Bear Vote in the Woods?

Posted on Oct 28, 2010
By Deanne Stillman


Letter From the West is a monthly series by Deanne Stillman that explores what is going on in our wide open spaces and what we do to one another and all that lives there.

Let me put it to you this way: Bears hibernate during election season.

That’s just one of various things that show that Sarah Palin and her comrades—the self-professed Mama Grizzlies among the nation’s aspiring tax-funded representatives—have nothing in common with our ursine sisters.

Here’s another: Mama Grizzlies protect their cubs and in fact are known for their fierce defense of young offspring. Palin has made her motherhood a political issue, but in doing so she has exposed her young. Remember when she was running for vice president and passed her Down syndrome baby Trig around at the Republican Convention a couple of years ago, to thunderous applause and under the heat and glare of more than a thousand points of light? This would be a sensory overload for any 4-month-old baby, but according to the testimony of various mothers of Down syndrome babies at the time, children with that affliction are particularly sensitive to such stimuli and it is not wise to subject them to such an experience. You can be sure that a true Mama Grizzly would have put many miles between her baby and a roaring crowd.

And here’s one more: Like other wild animals, Mama Grizzlies hunt to live. Of course, Palin and many others who like to hunt and fish eat the animals and fish that they kill—and we all, or at least a lot of us, eat the animals and fish that others kill for us. However, trophy killing is not part of the Mama Grizzly program. Nor do Mama Grizzlies wage war on their own cubs. Let’s revisit Palin’s record on this front, something that seems to have been lost in recent coverage—and it was barely covered in the first place.

Thanks to veteran wildlife columnist Ted Williams, we have a record of exactly what Palin has done to wildlife in Alaska, in particular bears and wolves—and, we can surmise, would do to wildlife in the rest of the country if she and her fellow travelers had the power to do so. In the July-August 2009 issue of Audubon magazine, while Palin was governor of Alaska, Williams wrote this: “Persecution of wolves has been going on in Alaska since the gold rush. Palin has escalated the war. And now, in addition to wolves, the state is facilitating the slaughter of large numbers of bears—blacks as well as grizzlies, both of which occasionally include a newborn moose or caribou in their omnivorous diets. Even cubs and lactating sows are being targeted. Palin’s seven-person Board of Game—which hatches regulations and sets policy for the state Department of Fish and Game—has been more than happy to do her bidding. Six members belong to an anti-predator, trophy-hunter-funded outfit called the Alaska Outdoor Council, and the seventh is Palin’s close friend.” .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/does_a_bear_vote_in_the_woods_20101028/

[yellowcanine]

1. I hope no bears show up to vote because I am afraid of bears.