Doc

I've got to say that when I hear news coming from a self-avowed socialist organization, red flags go up and I immediately start looking for the socialist slant to whatever the subject is. And yes as I said in my reply, if ever there was a source that absolutely requires an independant verification, the words of the Socialists probably qualify. I believe the article may be quite correct in terms of representing the content of the law (at least in generalities), but grossly overstated in terms of the dire consequences that they are trying to apply to it. I personally do not subscibe to the notion that protesters should have access to all official government buildings and properties. And passing a law that says that is not something that I get particularly concerned about.

Yes, these are the tactics (brainwashing) that our government increasingly relies on. They no longer just pass laws, but really are heavily involved in behavior modification and areas of citizen control that were never before considered proper for government intrusion. They have become "drunk" with the power successes of the tobacco industry war and have seen how the very same tactics can be expanded to involve them in all kinds of "training activities" of the public. This guy Holder isn't the first, or only, government agent who believes strongly in these kinds of activities. They pretty much all are signing on to these tactics. Worse than all that abuse of power is the willingness of the public to accept such tactics. No, not only accept, but actually become cheering sections for these activities of mind control.

This is the busiest time of the year. Every year I have a million maintenance activities that involve hours of clean-up. The house, yard, and outbuildings are surrounded by woods, so the tree-limb pick-up and the leaf removal form a big part of what has to be done every year whether anything else gets done or not. After that comes the grounds improvement and any repairs or improvements to the house and outbuildings. Also, there is the beginning of the garden prep. No wonder I seldom have a chance to catch the bullheads when they are running ..... lol.

LOL ..... here folks, just before you head out to the kitchen for your supper, let me slap this brown and black runny, gooey, oozing human lung down here in front of the camera so you can feast your eyes on this beauty. Hey, it's all for public service and getting rid of some of this excess money we have. We've got some pictures of people with gaping holes in their throat and another guy with his jaw removed, and how about a nice picture of this guy with neat scar running up his chest. It's very good pre-meal TV programming. Hey ...... we're only doing it for your own good ..... we know what's best for you. What's that, you don't smoke? Well tough ..... look at it anyway. Bon apatite!

I tried some post processing program modifications, but the detail is burnt right out of the picture. There's nothing there to enhance. Anyway, I went scrounging through my thousands of dollars worth of useless film camera equipment having remembered the extensive Cokin filter system that I bought over the years and found a coef. +1-2/3 filter that just might do the job. Now we'll see if I maybe went too far. There's only one way to find out. So I just got done trudging around the swamp for the 2nd time today in those hot, sweaty, heavy rubber boots that catch and grab every gob of swamp grass and hidden log and stick (Once a day is plenty of that ..... lol). But it's on there. I'll wait a couple of days and check the camera and see what kind of luck I have had. If this filter turns out to be too much, then I will go back and try the scotch tape trick.

By golly that's worth a try.

Ok ..... The Cuddeback Attack (whiteflash) has taken it's first pictures, and I can see there is going to be a bit of a learning curve involved. It turns out that Cuddeback has gone to such lengths to extend the distance of their flash that close up picture burn out from excess exposure. So now, I am looking for some kind of color-neutral filter to tame that flash down so I can get close up pictures. This particular task for this particular camera does not need or want long distance flash. I had a very nice picture of a mink that would have been great except that he along with the foreground were terribly over exposed. The same thing with an otherwise great picture of a racoon. So now I am on the lookout for some kind of flash-tamer. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. I suppose that in the meantime I might just back the camera up a bit and try to find a compromise that way. I can't say that I was completely surprised because I did see that wash-out effect inside the house where too much of the flash on close-up items over exposed pictures. There's a bit of a balancing act that has to be performed....lol.

I guess you will have to ask someone in government to see how crossbows fit into the NYC firearms laws. perhaps the police department or if you know a judge or lawyer that specializes in criminal law. If you ever find out, let us know.

I have to admit that the guy talks about stuff that most of us shove way back into the background. We listen to the pacifists proclaim their philosophy of gentleness and turn-the other-cheek style of superiority, but the dirty little secret is that they are able to preach these impractical and illogical themes with the full force of government backing up that right with all the violence that they supposedly despise. As the man says, they have simply ceded that violence to the government so that they can appear to pacifists. Nothing too earth-shattering or new, just simply a statement of the obvious, of something that we seldom actually think about.

It is possible that the reaction to this bill is being exaggerated a bit. I do believe that there should be places where disruption of government function, and the creation of dangerous and uncontrolled crowds in certain public places should be restricted. There very well may be legitimate reasons for the fact that only 3 legislators voted against it. I know that the World Socialist Web Site is probably not a source that I would be expecting to be reporting on such things in an unslanted and unbiased way. They definitely represent a faction that has an axe to grind. I think the suggestion that was made to investigate more neutral and credible news reporting via an internet search probably was a good one. This is definitely a subject that can be given a severe spin by those that have a vested interest in doing so.

That's good news, but I have to wonder if it isn't a bit like shutting the barn door after the cow's out. I have to believe that this situation didn't develop over night. It's pretty radical out our way, and while there seems to be no dramatic changes in theother populations of water critters, the muskrat situation is very obvious and should have been showing up in state fur sales. I assume that the DEC monitors that to some extent. Oh well, probably better late than never. Let's hope that they can find something reversible and maybe bring these things back before they disappear entirely. I know muskrats are super-prolific just like any other rodent, so whatever the problem is, it must be pretty darn serious.

It hasn't been that many years ago that I can't remember what a super-strong addiction nicotine was, so I am not one to question why some are still hooked. I too had some assistance from a couple of medical episodes, and some rather nasty warning symptoms that finally enabled me to quit. So I can't pat myself on the back too much for suddenly achieving an end to something that never should have started in the first place. As far as starting smoking in the first place, that is a pretty hard thing to explain. It's like why do drug addicts ever even try the drugs. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but apparently there must be some psychological reason. I will say that back in my day it was very easy to start smoking. Just about everyone that I knew experimented with or was using tobbaco. Almost all the adults/role models smoked. Cigarettes were very affordable. And all that nasty rumor about medical complications from tobacco affect a time that was so darn far away. I remember that they were often jokingly referred to as "coffin nails" or "cancer sticks", but all that terminology really didn't relate to a 16 year old except as a joke. I suspect that the same attitudes are involved in today's youth still starting to smoke. Every kid feels invincible, and has ways of shoving unpleasant thoughts and consequences into the back-ground.

Actually the original post was about the government activity in behavior modification. And yes, it was a subject of venting ..... and still is.

Hey squats-in-bushes..... I see you have found a new sole-mate .... lol. This wack-job has the exact same fractured mentality as you..... just constant random attack mode that simply blurts out nonsense that makes absolutely no sense to anybody. I just got done reading his latest thread. The guy sounds just like you. That's not really you with a new ID is it?

What the hell are you talking about? I haven't sent you any e-mails or any other kinds of communications other than my one comment above in this thread. Are you ok? You're not hallucinating or something are you?

I think what really bothers me (and here is a comment for those of you who worry about loss of personal liberties), Is the fact that the government has taken on the position of mass modifying the behaviors of the people. What they learned from this anti-smoking activity is that any behavior of the public can be curtailed or modified through the use of taxation, and public advertising campaigns using our very own tax dollars. They have also learned that these practices are super-effective even against behaviors that are deeply entrenched in our society. The other lesson learned is that this powerful tool of the government can be used against any behavior or activity. Yes obesity has been mentioned. Alcohol is another great target. Perhaps we can look at the government taxation of gasoline as a behavior modification activity to curtail fuel consumption. But then when all this government manipulation has become completely institutionalized, imagine the other things that can be attacked and eliminated in the same way. Things such as hunting or gun ownership, in fact there is no real end to which the system can be used. The first thing to be done is to begin a massive public campaign against whatever targeted activity. That paves the way for more and more increasingly invasive restrictions and financial pressures that are all tools available to the government. So when you see these kinds of activities being conducted by your government, try to resist becoming a cheering section, and understand the true invasiveness of these tactics.

Hey, by the way, speaking of how this wacky year might effect the bugs, I was working over in a picnic area next to the house and I was driven back in the house by mosquitos. Other years at this time of year I generally have a week or two of bug-free work time. And then when the bugs start it has always been the black-flies that start the season off and not mosquitos. Well I have to say that they are out there and really hungry already. Maybe a result of the mild winter????

Luck has nothing to do with where I chose to live. However, I have noted that I hunt along-side of a whole lot of city folks who hunt the very same state land that I do and apparently don't consider it that much of an imposition to hop in their car and drive out here. Another great thing is that none of them feel it is necessary to set up their stand in my hedgerow, 50 yards away from my home ...... lol.

Well, won't that effect the effectiveness of calling if most of the breeding happens to finish before the season opens in May?

I think we all have pictures of us smiling as we clutch the antlers that we just hacked off the head of a dead deer. I don't recall that much of an uproar over it. The other night, I watched Larry the Cable Guy with a handful of nutria tails that were snipped off for a $5 bounty down in some southern state. I don't expect that there will be a huge uproar over that either. So what's the big deal?

However, to get back to the topic, I have done my thing with quitting tobacco, and I believe that I have earned the right not to be harrassed nightly by ghastly images of disgusting health problems on my TV. I realize that not everybody is so damned sensitive to these disgusting displays, but it does upset my evening to see somebody plop a black oozing lung into a stainless steel bowl (especially if I am about to dig into a nice meal of venison liver and onions ..... lol). I do wonder how such images affect young children. If it upsets me, I can imagine that there are some children who don't need to be looking at that kind of crap. And then there is the actual question as to whether any of it is really doing any good. Believe it or not that is a question that even the government experts didn't seem to be able to definitively answer on this news broadcast that I was talking about in the opening post. And yet they intend to pursue this same ghastly display in an even more graphic fashion at assumedly an ever increasing expenditure of our tax dollars. Several here have talked about how they quit when they were finally ready, and how that had nothing to do with the government behavior modification activities. I know exactly what they are talking about. When I quit, this medical pornography was not polluting the airwaves. I simply made up my mind that it was time to quit.

You know, I have been hearing these statistics about how much tobacco costs in health expenses, and I still believe that that particular stat is a very heavily massaged one that fails to take into consideration how much quicker smokers actually leave the health and insurance system. Does anyone imagine that when people quit smoking that they begin a long life that will never wind them up in a hospital, intensive care or extended care? Do people think that non smokers simply pass away peacefully in their sleep? How about those non smokers that are now living to ages that they would never see if they smoked? I'm talking about the 80 and 90 year olds that are sucking up nursing home space and being kept alive at the massive expenses of constant daily medication and intensive care for many more years than smokers. Doesn't that make some of those statistics seem just a bit over-inflated. kind of like somebody left another half of the calculations out. Certainly there are plenty of reasons for people to quit smoking, but I don't buy that these are the people who are driving health costs out of sight. Most of us are going to exit this world and leave behind a bundle of medical expenses both preventative, maintenance, and desparate attempts to extend our lives. And that will be true whether we die of smoking related causes or something else. Yes it may sound a bit cold-blooded to contemplate, but it is very likely that smokers have been actually cutting short their drain on society's medical resources by dying younger. And it may very well be that the non-smokers and other health obsessed people are the ones who live to that very old and medically expensive time of life. Make sense or no????

So yesterday, I went over to the creek/swamp that I spent quite a few years of my youth trapping muskrats. I was doing a bit of scouting for setting up my new trailcam for some wildlife photos. I don't know why I never noticed it earlier, but it appears that the muskrat population has fallen to near zero. None of the sign that that area used to be filled with. No droppings on logs, no houses, no trails through the underwater weeds, no feeding stations, pretty much nothing! And from what I am seeing on this thread, it appears that this situation is not very unique across the state. And yet nobody seems to know why. I would think that authorities would be very concerned about the potential demise of a whole species.

That was my thought when I saw the picture. It looks like he could have been pinned in that position just from the weight of the tree. What a way to go that would be.