COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Klan Hoods and the Ostentatious Display of the American Flag - Killing Wolves in the West

this photo is a glimpse into the mentality of those behind the anti-wolf campaign. 
There is, apparently, a cohort of people who view the destruction of wild nature as
something to be celebrated, something quintessentially America. 


They are play acting at both patriotism and rebellion.

And, in their play-acting, they reveal a great deal about the paranoid fantasies
 that have gripped some people in the age of Obama. 

The white hoods, with their echoes of Jim Crow-era terrorism, 
were actually celebrated by some commenters.  
“Redneck KKK” wrote Austin T.  a way of
 “Trying to make a statement!...Frontier Justice! ”  
John  P. concurred,  
“Yeehaw...looks like modern day rangers taking care of business!!!!!”

 Some commentators suggested that the wolf hunters wore hoods to protect themselves from government persecution. One supporter of masked men posted, “I fully understand the masks…Keep on killing guys.” 

It would seem that wolf hunting is the wildlife version of George Zimmerman's vigilantism –
 self appointed keepers of order waging a battle against an imaginary enemy.


Maybe it's worse, and the wolf hunters with their KKK masks 
are more like shades of Timothy McVeigh. 

The cammo gear, the rifles – it’s as if the wolf hunters were  fighting a guerrilla war against Washington. 
As if they were worried that at any moment a US Fish and Wildlife Service black helicopter would swoop down and a SWAT team emerge, assault rifles blazing.
But it's a phony rebellion against a phantom menace. 

 

The wolves aren't actually any danger to people or much of a threat to ranchers'  livestock. 
And the US government permits them to be killed. There's no real transgression here requiring a mask.

It's all theater meant to self-impress.

  




Add to that careful quotas and you have a place that produces outstanding bulls.
Located in the Hell’s Canyon area, this outfitter has one of the largest land holdings in the state of Idaho.


They have been managing their wolf populations from the get go, 
we haven’t seen a drop off in bull quality at all.

The elk are in large herds this time of the year, so often, there are multiple trophy bulls within sight at once. They are still bugling at this time of year so we use that to our advantage for locating the herd bull. It’s very common to see 100+ elk a day during this hunt.”


Though a statewide 10-year elk management plan approved by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission earlier this month includes more aggressive predator management, the emphasis in the Wood River Valley area is on reducing elk damage to agriculture.

 According to the plan, that damage is the most important factor limiting elk numbers in the two elk management zones—the Pioneer and the Smoky-Bennett Hills zones—that flank the valley.


 “The elk population could be higher if we could 
mitigate the damage elk do to crops and fencing,” 
Craig White, the department’s former elk plan coordinator, said in an interview.

  
 According to a story in the Twin Falls Times-News, the department stated 
that over harvest by hunters is the prime cause of the decreases.

White said elk numbers have generally decreased in the north and central parts of the state, while they have increased in southern and western areas.

Randy Smith, Magic Valley Region wildlife manager, said in an interview that the Pioneer Zone, to the east and north of the Wood River Valley, is one of the zones that are exceeding goals. He said the elk population increased by about 60 percent between 2008 and 2013, when aerial surveys were conducted. He said the increase was primarily due to the department’s ending a hunt on yearling “spike” bull elk in the zone.

The department’s website shows a population of 9,738 elk in the zone, up from 5,459 in 2008.
 

Smith said the Smoky-Bennett Zone, to the west and south of the Wood River Valley, is included among those zones where the elk population is below target numbers. However, he said, that conclusion is based on a 2009 aerial survey, and more recent anecdotal evidence indicates that elk are doing better there. He said a survey scheduled for next winter will provide more concrete data.


He said an antlerless hunt in the Smoky-Bennett Zone has been eliminated.


Smith said the department had four winter elk feeding sites in that zone, in the South Fork of the Boise River drainage, but about five years ago noticed that the elk were not staying at the sites but were migrating south out of the mountains. He said the department is happy that the animals have adopted a more natural migration pattern, but the change has resulted in more agricultural damage. In Blaine County, the damage is concentrated in the Bellevue Triangle.

 
     Brad Lowe, the department’s Magic Valley Region wildlife biologist, said alfalfa seems to be the elk’s favorite crop, though the animals also eat wheat, barley and oats when the plants are still green. He said crop damage occurs primarily from July into November, when many of the herds migrate farther south. He said elk in the northern part of the triangle continue doing damage into the winter by eating stacked hay and livestock feed.


      The department’s 10-year elk management plan states that hunting will be used as the primary tool to reduce depredation levels in the Pioneer and Smoky-Bennett zones. However, the plan proposes several other strategies to address those impacts:


  • Hire seasonal employees to work with landowners to fix fences, haze problem animals and issue kill permits.
  • Provide fencing to protect hay stacks.
  • Draft agreements with landowners to provide winter habitat.
  • Collaborate with federal land managers to assure that range conditions on public land provide adequate forage for elk, including by reducing invasive plants.
  • Allow early-season “green field” hunts to reduce elk numbers on private property.

Under Idaho law, farmers and ranchers can be compensated by the Department of Fish and Game for crop damage done by wildlife. However, they are required to try to prevent damage through fencing or by hazing or killing problem animals. In some situations, the department provides scare-away devices, including propane cannons, firecrackers and 12-gauge shotgun shells called cracker shells.


Landowners must also have allowed reasonable public access for hunting on their property during the preceding hunting season.

Department regulations allow for special “landowner-permission” hunts, in which the landowner chooses hunters to whom tags can be sold to hunt on their property. Lowe said two such hunts were conducted on 15 properties in the Bellevue Triangle last year—one from Aug. 1-Oct. 31 and a second from Nov. 1-Dec. 31. 


He said 102 tags were sold for the two hunts. He said the 65 hunters who have so far reported, which they must do by the end of March, have indicated close to a 50 percent success ratio, with 34 elk killed.

     In 2013, the only Blaine County landowner to receive compensation for crop damage was south-county farmer Larry Schoen, who is also a county commissioner. According to department records, Schoen was paid $29,535.75.
   
  “Hundreds of elk are spending a lot of time on his property,” Smith said.



     Lowe said hunters on Schoen’s property, where neighboring homes are not far away, were initially using short-range weapons such as muzzle-loaders, shotguns and bows, but last year the department paid for and erected two 12-foot-high elevated blinds so hunters can shoot at a downward angle.

     “That allowed people to far more safely use rifles on the property,” he said.

     Statewide in 2013, only one other landowner was paid compensation—$63,865 for damage done on a property near Hill City, west of Fairfield. So far in 2014, the department has paid $5,625, to a property owner near Bellevue.
 




77 comments:

  1. Great Job. :)

    But, the baby-doll in the thong, and red leggings might be a bit of a stretch. :) :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. .

    The first picture says it all, dicks with guns in masks.

    Atavistic louts.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Winner is:

    51% - It may need small modifications, but we should see how it works.

    13% - We should leave it alone

    34% - Repeal it

    Bloomberg Poll - Healthcare Section

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Link to a page full of confusing SHIT for dummies intimidated by plain text.

      Delete
    2. Evidently in the time since you saw what you saw there, they've gone on to other concerns.

      Bloomberg sucks Big Time, here.

      Delete
    3. I just clicked on the link to make sure it's good. It is. Go to bed.

      Delete
    4. You spend half your time bitching about "no link," and the rest of it bitching because you don't like the link. Get real.

      Delete

  4. ObamaCare's Secret Mandate Exemption


    ObamaCare's implementers continue to roam the battlefield and shoot their own wounded, and the latest casualty is the core of the Affordable Care Act—the individual mandate. To wit, last week the Administration quietly excused millions of people from the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty.

    This latest political reconstruction has received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn't think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet. Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don't comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week.

    That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great Way to do Business.

      ...in a Banana Republic.

      Delete
    2. Yep, if you like your policy, you can keep your policy.

      Delete
    3. For a couple of years, anyway.

      Delete
    4. We were half way to Banana Republic status when GW Bush was elected, following in his father's footsteps, so closely, but the US status as a Banana Republic will be cemented if Mrs Clinton is elected President.

      Delete
  5. Gunmen fire on army bus in Cairo -

    (CNN) -- Gunmen opened fire on an army bus in Cairo Thursday, killing one officer and injuring three soldiers, Egypt's state-run EgyNews reported.

    Islamist militants are expanding their insurgency in Egypt where army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who overthrew former president Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood last July, is expected to announce he will run for president.

    Militants based in the Sinai peninsula near the Israeli border have stepped up attacks on soldiers and policemen since Morsy's ouster which came amid widespread protests against his rule. Morsy and other Brotherhood leaders were rounded up soon after.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Andrew P. NapolitanoThu Mar 13, 09:32:00 AM EDT

    A rivalry of government hackers


    The mania for secrecy and the natural inclination of unaccountable governmental entities to grow rather than stabilize or shrink have resulted in the present state of affairs.

    The present state of affairs has 95 percent of Congress in the dark about what the CIA is doing and the CIA getting its authority to exceed its statutory limitations from the other 5 percent. But a dispute has arisen between the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee over the nature and extent of the CIA detentions and use of torture during the Bush years. In February 2009, the Senate Intelligence Committee decided to investigate the CIA.

    After CIA stonewalling and after learning that a senior CIA official destroyed much evidence of torture, the Senate Intelligence Committee insisted on examining the CIA’s secret files to learn what it did to those prisoners in its custody and what evidence was destroyed. Torturing prisoners and destroying government records are federal crimes. In order to facilitate the Senate investigation, the CIA was instructed to make its records digitally available to investigators, which it did at an unmarked subterranean facility in Virginia.

    There, investigators have spent many months looking at CIA computer records of its Bush-era interrogation procedures. In the course of doing so, they learned that their computers in the CIA’s secure facility -- the ones they were using to examine CIA files in the subterranean room -- were hacked. It appears to the Senate investigators that the hackers were CIA agents wanting to learn what the investigators found out about them. The CIA counters that the investigators actually hacked into CIA computers when they examined far more materials than the CIA had agreed to make available.

    This is more than a schoolyard brawl. This is the unbridled and likely unlawful use of government computers and classified materials by CIA employees trying to dampen the enthusiasm of their regulators, or by Senate investigators accessing classified materials to which they may not be entitled. Either way, this is a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of warrantless searches and seizures. Any other persons who did this would be indicted for hacking. Because all of this is so secret, we don’t know whether the Department of Justice is looking into who broke what laws.

    ReplyDelete

  7. Transponder's fate may prove key to solving Malaysia Airlines puzzle

    (CNN) -- As investigators search for clues to what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the answer to one question may prove key: Why did the transponder in the Boeing 777-200ER stop transmitting information?

    The fact that it happened at all is astonishing to John Nance, a broadcast aviation analyst and veteran pilot. "It is hard to conceive of a situation in which a triple seven would lose all ability to have its transponder on and the crew would not find some way to communicate," he told CNN.

    A senior Malaysian air force official said Tuesday that the plane traveled hundreds of miles in the opposite direction from its original destination, and had stopped sending identifying transponder codes before it disappeared from radar screens.

    Suggestions that the plane veered off course and that its transponder was not working raise questions about a hijacking, but a catastrophic power failure or other problem might also explain the anomalies, analysts said.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Si, tenemos bananas.

    Hillary Clinton trounces GOP in Iowa

    Hillary Clinton leads New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and other Republican presidential contenders in Iowa by double digits, according to a new poll.

    Forty-eight percent of Iowan voters support Clinton compared to 35 percent for Christie, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. That’s a reversal of December’s poll in which Christie topped Clinton 45 percent to 40 percent.

    The former secretary of state also leads Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul 49 percent to 39 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz 51 percent to 35 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 51 percent to 37 percent.

    (PHOTOS: Who’s talking about Hillary Clinton 2016?)

    Over half — 55 percent — of Iowa voters say Clinton would make a good president, making her the only listed candidate to receive a positive score.

    Iowans aren’t feeling as warmly toward the current president. President Barack Obama has an approval rating of 39 percent, Quinnipiac found.


    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/hillary-clinton-iowa-gop-2016-election-poll-104621.html#ixzz2vqmoQ1ka

    Yeah, to bad the Republicans are not running against Barack Obama, in 2016.
    But that's how the cookie crumbles.

    The GOP is only going to be four years behind the curve, again.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What is the essence, or values, of a true Libertarian?

    I'm just wondering if I am one or not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our friends at wiki come close to my idea of it ...

      Libertarian philosopher Roderick Long defines libertarianism as

      "any political position that advocates a radical redistribution of power from the coercive state to voluntary associations of free individuals"

      whether "voluntary association" takes the form of the free market or of communal co-operatives.

      In the United States, the term libertarianism is often used as a synonym for combined economic and cultural liberalism ...
      while outside that country there is a strong tendency to associate libertarianism with anarchism

      Delete
    2. Some refer to it as "The Law of the Jungle."

      Those might cite ":Afghanistan" as an example of a modern Libertarian state.

      Delete
    3. I lean more towards the communal co-operatives but can't seem to articulate this enough to differentiate it from socialism to most people.

      Delete
    4. Rufus,
      So all armed societies aren't polite societies?
      Being unarmed in an armed society makes me a polite person :)

      Delete
    5. Also referred to as a Sheep.

      Delete
    6. My understanding is that the average Afghani is pretty damned polite when in the presence of the local Warlord - as were those Serfs, back in the Middle Ages, when dealing with the "Lord of the Manor."

      Delete
    7. I do have my eye on a shotgun though.

      Delete
    8. All "isms" pretty much break down to "I should be Boss."

      Delete
    9. Shotguns are good.

      The most sensible firearm ever invented.

      Delete
    10. That's why I have such a difficult time in the free market and don't really fit in the mold of any "isms"!
      I don't care to be in charge.

      Delete
    11. Home & personal security is about the only reason I want one.
      Oh, and the fun of blowing the crap out of something.
      Don't think I could shoot to kill unless the situation was dire.

      Delete
    12. A 20 gauge provides limited recoil.
      If you are using in in a house, load it with 4's or 6's, the number is the designator for the size of the pellets.

      00 being the largest pellet, the size of the pellet decreases as the number grows larger.

      4's and 6's will not travel through the walls and kill or wound your loved ones, while those pellets WILL stop a miscreant in a face to face confrontation where you are in fear for your life.

      The primary objective in 'Home Defense' is to eliminate 'collateral damage'.
      Makes no sense, shooting your loved ones, to save them.

      Delete
    13. Rufus equate Libertarianism with the anarchist mode.

      Which is why I am a Librarian, instead.

      There will never be a Libertarian government, in the US.
      So, you can vote for those fellas, with no fear of them ever enacting their program.

      Voting for the Libertarian might effect the thinking of those that do get elected, an unlikely scenario, but one which satisfies the desire to protest and participate, both at the same time.

      Delete
    14. I've never met a Librarian that wasn't a truly fine person.

      Delete
    15. "I'm just wondering if I am one or not."

      ---

      If you vote for Ron Paul and dance naked on your front lawn on Thursday Evenings, you are.

      Delete
  10. It took 48 years of me going in circles, and cycles, before I accepted the mental illness I have and got on the right meds that quiet my mind.
    If I was to ever be off of the meds long enough, all bets are off and I would be the first person to hand over my right to own a gun.
    I know what the old me is capable of doing in a depressive state.
    No good...

    ReplyDelete

  11. The Fools and Knaves said that it was about the 2nd Amendment, when, as desert rat postulated at the time, it was all about US policy in Mexico, not domestic politics in the US.

    As time goes by, the truth is coming out, seems desert rat was right, again.

    Operation Fast and Furious

    The U.S. may be taking on Mexico as it did Colombia, for Sinaloa appears to have been a recipient of covert aid. In Operation Fast and Furious, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) allowed more than two thousand AK-47-style rifles and even 50-caliber guns, via illegal sales, to slip into Sinaloa territory.

    Gaxiola told WhoWhatWhy he believes the ATF conducted Operation Fast and Furious in order to arm the cartel.
    “If you’re selling guns in Arizona, and they’re gonna go south,” Gaxiola said, “the first place they go is to Sinaloa. Doesn’t take a genius. If you want to send them to the cartel Gulf, you send them through Laredo; if you want to send them to Juárez, you send them through El Paso. They want to fortify the Sinaloa cartel to take out all the other cartels.”

    In the past three years, U.S. military leaders have been publicly considering a counterinsurgency, a divide-and-conquer strategy for Mexico. They include General David Petraeus, as indicated by his comments in Small Wars Journal, and top leaders of the Northern Command as reported by the New York Times.

    “The military is trying to take what it did in Afghanistan and do the same in Mexico,”
    one of the high-ranking officers, steeped in counterterrorism, told the Times, as they all pored over intelligence about Mexican drug cartels.

    - See more at: http://whowhatwhy.com/2014/03/10/deal-right-devil/#sthash.z3CozwLm.dpuf

    The 'Self Defense' movement in Michoacan, it is 'right' out of the book we used at the School of the Americas.
    It is 'classic' utilization of the fish in the sea, to eliminate the insurgents swimming in their midst.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Loving the Sweet Country Air
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG_Z6anc6YE

    ReplyDelete

  13. Death in the desert: The dangerous trek between Mexico and Arizona
    ...
    This likely relates to a strict deportation quota of 400,000 removals per year imposed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency during Barack Obama’s administration. Since taking office, Obama has overseen the deportation of nearly 2 million people.

    Many deportees are compelled to return to the U.S after being removed because of their long relationships and roots in American communities. Some speak only English and don’t even remember their countries of origin, having been brought to the United States as babies or children. For them, re-entering the U.S. without authorization isn’t about migrating. It’s about going home.

    In a two-year span starting in 2010, more than 205,000 parents of U.S.-citizen children were deported. Of the people caught trying to cross the border, 75 percent previously lived in the United States, like Tiger Martinez, a deportee who perished in the Arizona desert after at least four failed attempts to return to the U.S.

    Meanwhile, the Border Patrol is rescuing more migrants than ever. In 2012 the agency reported rescuing 1,312 migrants from the desert borderland in 2012, an increase of more than 22 percent from 2011.
    Last year 2,346 were rescued, a jump of 79 percent from the year before.

    But others aren’t so lucky. In the first two months of 2014, the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office in Tucson recovered at least 14 bodies along the border.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Three more killed in Venezuela unrest, students battle troops

      By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore

      (Reuters) - Protesters battled soldiers in the streets of Caracas again on Wednesday as three more fatal shootings raised to 25 the death toll from a month of demonstrations against Venezuela's socialist government.

      Thousands of supporters and foes of President Nicolas Maduro took to the capital's streets for rival rallies marking a month since the first bloodshed in the recent unrest around the South American OPEC nation.

      Violence began when National Guard troops blocked opposition marchers from leaving Plaza Venezuela to head to the state ombudsman's office. Students threw stones and petrol bombs while security forces fired teargas and turned water cannon on them.

      In central Carabobo state, a student, a middle-aged man and an army captain were shot dead in the latest fatalities from now-daily clashes around the South American nation of 29 million people.

      Opposition activists blamed armed government supporters for shooting the student near his home in Valencia city, but the state governor said the shot came from snipers among protesters.

      A 42-year-old man was killed during the same disturbances, shot while painting his house, the local mayor said. In the third killing, an army captain died from a gunshot during a clash with "terrorist criminals," government officials said.

      Maduro, a 51-year-old former bus driver who was elected last year to succeed the late Hugo Chavez, has declared victory over an attempted "coup" against him and does not look in danger of being toppled.

      Students, though, are vowing to keep the protests going. Protracted instability could bring more bloodshed and further weaken Venezuela's troubled economy.

      "I'm going to take drastic measures against these sectors who are attacking and killing the people,"

      a furious Maduro said in a speech to the nation as night fell.

      Delete
    2. The Obama administration is “prepared” to level sanctions against Venezuela but hopes to avoid such a move that would only worsen the South American nation’s faltering economy, Secretary of State John F. Kerry told a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday.

      Lawmakers from both parties in recent days call for a reduction of U.S. oil purchases from Venezuela and for sanctioning members of the government of leftist President Nicolas Maduro after clashes with opposition protesters in Caracas.

      Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, pressed Mr. Kerry Wednesday during a State Department budget hearing.

      “We are prepared” if need be to invoke the charter of the Organization of American States and seriously consider sanctions, Mr. Kerry said.

      He added, however, that the Venezuelan economy “is fragile enough right now” — a reality that has given the administration pause.

      Mr. Kerry said the administration hopes to convince other nations in region, along with the OAS, to “pressure” Mr. Maduro away from using force against peaceful protesters and to begin a “meaningful dialogue with the opposition.”

      Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/12/kerry-sanctions-possible-venezuela/

      Delete
  15. ABC News

    The U.S. government is running a deficit that is 23.6 percent lower than in the same period a year ago through the first five months of this budget year, another sign of improvement in the nation's finances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rising receipts and a decline in spending are making for significant improvement in the government's deficit, which in February came in at a lower-than-expected $193.5 billion. The year-to-date deficit, five months into the government's fiscal year, is $377.4 billion for a 24 percent improvement. When adjusting for calendar timing of government payments, the year-to-date deficit falls to $334.0 billion for a 32 percent improvement. Year-to-date receipts, boosted by higher corporate income taxes and social insurance receipts, are up 9.3 percent. Year-to-date outlays are down 1.5 percent led by declines in defense spending and net interest payments

      Highlights

      Delete
    2. For those poor, misguided souls that care, this means that the much-too-much ballyhooed "Debt-to-GDP Ratio" will fall this year.

      Delete

  16. Turns out the most engaged library users also biggest tech users

    BY Bridget Shirvell March 13, 2014


    It wouldn’t be a leap to theorize that the expanding role technology plays in American lives would lead to the demise of public libraries. After all, so many other industries, including the one that’s bringing you this article, continue to struggle in the digital age.

    When it comes to libraries, though, that theory would be wrong.

    A new study from the Pew Research Center found that more than two-thirds of Americans are actively engaged with public libraries. The report examines the relationship Americans have with their libraries and technology. Dusty, worn books versus sleek new computers, tablets or smartphones may seem like unlikely companions, but it’s really all about information.

    “A key theme in these survey findings is that many people see acquiring information
    as a highly social process in which trusted helpers matter,”


    Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project and a main author of the report said.

    “One of the main resources that people tap when they have questions is the networks of expertise. Even some of the most self-sufficient information consumers in our sample find that libraries and librarians can be part of their networks when they have problems to solve or decisions to make.”

    The study also found that Americans who are more engaged in their communities are also more engaged at their libraries. But what was surprising, according to the researchers, is that the most highly engaged library users tended to be the biggest technology users.

    Here are some of the more surprising findings of the report:

    Technology users are generally library users: A common narrative is that Americans are turning away from libraries because of newer technology, but the data shows that most highly-engaged library users are also big technology users.

    There are some indications that the most plugged-in and highest-income respondents, called “Information Omnivores,” are not as reliant on libraries as the most engaged group, or “Library Lovers.” Still, both groups are highly engaged with public libraries and are the most avid supporters of the idea that libraries make communities better.

    There are people who have never visited a library who still value libraries’ roles in their communities — and even in their own lives: Members of the group identified as “Distant Admirers” have never personally used a library, but nevertheless tend to have strongly positive opinions about how valuable libraries are to communities — particularly for libraries’ role in encouraging literacy and for providing resources that might otherwise be hard to obtain. Many Distant Admirers say that someone else in their household does use the library, and therefore may use library resources indirectly.

    Most Americans do not feel overwhelmed by information today, and the people who feel “information overload” the most are actually less likely to use newer technologies — and less likely to use libraries:

    Some 18 percent of Americans say they feel overloaded by information — a drop in those feeling this way from 27 percent who said information overload was a problem to them in 2006. Those who feel overloaded are actually less likely to use the Internet or smartphones and are most represented in groups with lower levels of library engagement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After many years of having nothing to do with my local public library I just this year went and got a library card. My wife told me I can go online and download e-books and that's just what I've done. Unfortunately the selection isn't as great as I had hope still I've managed to find some decent reading material.

      Delete
    2. One such recent read was "The Rape of Nanking". I was unaware of the extent of Japanese brutality in China in the '40's. Horrible stuff!

      Delete
    3. I've really gained an appreciation for the anger many in the world still feel when someone such as the recent Japanese PM visited the Shinto war shrine.

      Delete
    4. Nanking - the tip of the iceberg.

      I read a piece at Small Wars Journal, the other day.
      It described each of the Tigers.
      Korea, China and Japan and their varied perspectives of the Japanese actions from 1910 until 1945.

      The Roosevelts loom large at both ends and the 'middle' of the story.
      Both when they were Civilians running the Navy as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and then when each was President of the US.

      Then factor in FDR's grandfather's, Mr Delano, history in China with Russell Company involved in the opium and coolie trade, the picture gets even smokier.

      All the perceptions of that era of history are still skewed by chauvinistic nationalism.

      Delete
    5. I've read a fair bit of history but it's been almost all "western". I'm actively trying to search out and read histories of the east.

      Delete

    6. It’s Not History, East Asia, It’s the Stories We Tell
      by David Hunter-Chester

      http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/it%E2%80%99s-not-history-east-asia-it%E2%80%99s-the-stories-we-tell

      Delete
    7. My trusted helper is a 5 foot 7 inch 115 pound Korean who moonlights on weekends as a hairdresser.

      Back in the stacks, the place has booths w/doors for "intensive research."

      I study intensively to the point of exhaustion with my Trusted Helper.

      Then we go out for some eats.

      We eat out.

      Delete
  17. What a lot of bullshit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bull elk, that's what the story is all about.
      Bulls and the bullshit that Farmer Bob has been elling us about them.

      Seems Idaho Game and Fish knows what causes greatst depredation of the Idaho Elk Herds.

      People.

      If it was not for Farmers there would be more elk!

      Delete
    2. Bulls and the bullshit that Farmer Bob has been TELLING us about them.

      Delete

    3. I had never thought of it before, but Farmers are an invasive species, in Idaho.

      Not as 'natural' as wolves.

      None of the Farmers are native to Idaho, just like the wolves.
      The wolves, though ARE native to America, the Farmers are not.

      Mostly the Farmers are from European stock. Places like Sweden and Germany.

      We should work to remove the invasive European species from the Elk's natural range.

      Delete

    4. Because, like Farmer Bob has told us, nothing is more important than those Elk herds expanding.

      Delete
    5. No one here can match Doug for Dumb Luck:

      I stood 6 feet away from a Mountain Lion to take it's picture.

      The take up Reel on my Pentax Spotmatic that I bought in Tokyo was not the greatest - film slipped off and did not advance. No Pic

      Not the worst of all possible outcomes.

      Delete
  18. NEW RULE!

    All Posts, henceforth, must contain at least Two Young, Hot Wimmin Wearing Thongs!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. addendum:

      Posts about Idaho farmers, or Elk, must have 3.

      Delete
    2. addendumdum:

      Bottomless Pics of Idahoe Farmers for Shits and Giggles.

      Delete
    3. Sure to get the "shits." Don't know about the giggles.

      Delete
  19. Jack HawkinsThu Mar 13, 09:37:00 AM EDT

    "We were half way to Banana Republic status when GW Bush was elected, following in his father's footsteps,"

    ---

    Unfair and inaccurate to Tar 41 with 43's Legacy.

    ---

    Points of Light are not equivalent to Compassion.

    Between those points lies The Ether, where a few deep breaths would provide lasting relief from Compassion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They should provide and either/or splitter valve on those drop down masks in airliners.

      Oxygen, or Nitrous Oxide, you decide.

      Delete

    2. 41 and 43, both, are connected to the Russell Company of opium trade fame, through their fraternity at Yale University.

      The Oligarchy of the Americas.
      Drug runners and their investment bankers rule!

      Delete
  20. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's state prosecutor said on Thursday the death toll from a month of violent protests had risen to 28, after the nation's top court ordered opposition mayors to dismantle barricades set up by street protesters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There'll be no load of compromisin'
      On the road to my horizon
      I'm gonna be where the lights are shinin' on me

      Delete
  21. The turmoil in the Ukraine is moving north, out of the Crimea and into eastern Ukraine

    Ukraine crisis: Violent clashes break out in Donetsk

    One person has died during violent clashes between rival protesters in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

    The clashes began when hundreds of demonstrators chanting pro-Russian slogans broke through a police cordon and confronted a rally by people opposed to the Russian military intervention in Crimea.

    Pro-Russia protesters threw smoke bombs and fire crackers and a fight broke out.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Aw, Jeesus, I forgot to pick up popcorn.

    ReplyDelete
  23. What this place needs is some de-con.

    ReplyDelete