[Rictor]

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1564

How, I ask you, am I supposed to take anything seriously anymore? Its getting very difficult, I tell you what.

If nothing else, I applaud the immense balls it takes to make not the least attempt whatsoever to conceal your agenda. Its was probably done as a drunken bet.

[Primus]

Hilarious. Don't know what else to say..

[aldo_14]

[q]in the past, Hogan was head lobbyist for Safari Club International, an extreme gaming group whose members hunt rare animals across the globe.[/q]

Excuse me while I retrieve my jaw from the floor... the stupidity/insanity is mind-boggling.

[Swamp_Thing]

It´s like handing the leadership of the country´s police forces to a mobster!! Talk about dumb...
What´s next? Giving control of the Homeland Security and NSA to Osama bin Laden´s lieutenant?

[aldo_14]

Or giving control of the World Bank to Paul Wolfo....oh, wait.

[phatosealpha]

I don't know.  On one hand, it sounds kind of absurd on the surface, but on the other, Teddy Roosevelt pretty much established environmentalism as a political force and he was a pretty avid hunter, iirc.  I'd imagine most serious hunters would have at least somewhat of an understanding of ecosystems just out of neccesity, not to mention they've got a pretty good reason to want to keep things alive.  Yes, I recognize that "So I can kill them later" probably isn't the most noble reason for preserving rare animals, but nobility in politicians seldom lasts long anyway.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by phatosealpha
I don't know.  On one hand, it sounds kind of absurd on the surface, but on the other, Teddy Roosevelt pretty much established environmentalism as a political force and he was a pretty avid hunter, iirc.  I'd imagine most serious hunters would have at least somewhat of an understanding of ecosystems just out of neccesity, not to mention they've got a pretty good reason to want to keep things alive.  Yes, I recognize that "So I can kill them later" probably isn't the most noble reason for preserving rare animals, but nobility in politicians seldom lasts long anyway.

I'm not sure how hunting down members of a critically endangered species could ever count as helping conserve it, which is what the likes of SCI say they are doing.  (apparently, they employ a few dirty tricks, too; bribery of officials in Africa in particular, also funding population research which will be naturally biased towards letting them hunt as a result).

Roosevelt was president over 80 years ago, though; the issue of studying animal populations, and the problem of endangered species in general, has vastly changed since then.  The problem is that restocking animal populations to 'safe' levels might (probably will) take many decades, and I'm not sure that the bulk of hunters would sit on their guns for long enough to allow that - including this guy.

Incidentally, Bush snr. (and I think GW also) is a member of SCI; he was one of several who appealed to the Botswanan government to allow trophy hunting for lions (it had been previously banned as hunters will killing a disproportionate number of adult males for their manes).

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by Swamp_Thing
It´s like handing the leadership of the country´s police forces to a mobster!! Talk about dumb...
What´s next? Giving control of the Homeland Security and NSA to Osama bin Laden´s lieutenant?

Or like putting an ex- hacker in charge of the security of a large corporation!!!!!!1111111123245

[Ace]

Or like putting Sandwich in charge of the Palestinian Authority!!!111oneoneone

Har Har



(Sorry, gotta agree with the folks that this guy's motives are pretty much against conservation)

[Styxx]

Most hunters I know are very vocal about preserving the species they hunt... After all, they don't want to run out of game. A single crop farm kills more animals than hundreds of hunters, for example. Same goes for a single polluted water stream.

I used to hunt with my father and his friends, and all of them were very conscious about this issue.

[Flipside]

I suppose it depends on the meaning you give to the phrase 'conservation'. Hunters have a vested interest in keeping a species alive. However, trophy hunters can get a lot lot more money depending on how rare an animal is, and an absolute fortune for a species that is now extinct.

Guess it depends on how it's approached.

[Styxx]

Originally posted by Flipside
I suppose it depends on the meaning you give to the phrase 'conservation'. Hunters have a vested interest in keeping a species alive. However, trophy hunters can get a lot lot more money depending on how rare an animal is, and an absolute fortune for a species that is now extinct.

Guess it depends on how it's approached.

Good point. I never hunted for trophies, we ate everything we hunted.

[MicroPsycho]

After first reading this I was  but when I think about it I'll have to agree that maybe, being a hunter and all, that he has atleast some understanding of wildlife/ecosystems.

[Rictor]

While I will concede that hunters may in theory hold the preservation of nature as noble goal, despite the rather large logical leap required, they are surely not the best qualified. And even then, that says nothing about this specific individual, who, if I was a betting man, seems likely to be a ol' boy from dahn South.

What amazes me is simply the brash, unapologetic sense of complete disregard that such a decision shows. It almost certainly started with "How dumb do I think people are?...". It almost as audacious as putting an oil lobbyist as head of the Environmental Protection Agency...oh wait, they already did that.

Usually, the few hundred kilometers distance between myself and this sorry parade puts my mind at ease, but lately....

[Grey Wolf]

I'm contemplating starting an HLP moon base. Anyone else in?

[.::Tin Can::.]

I'll nuke it when you're done building it...

I always wanted a reason to blow up the moon...

[Taristin]

Originally posted by Grey Wolf
I'm contemplating starting an HLP moon base. Anyone else in?

Count me in. This planet is whacked.

[aldo_14]

Wahey!  Another chance to quote a Geneva song...

Fly me to the moon, we've left the earth, there's nothing left
dollars in the heavens, guess we'll make our fortunes, yet
as we leave this world to the poor
the rich are off to the moon

[WMCoolmon]

Huh. I once had a school assignment where we had to design a moon base.

I think everyone except my group had some sort of variant of a giant trash-gun of doom.

I've always wondered how effective an hyperaccelerated chunk of human feces would be at defending the moon.

Count me in.

[Grey Wolf]

I figure even with our lack of technical expertise in operating enviromental and power systems, it should be safer up there than it will be down here in a few years.