Science Endangered at the Fish and Wildlife Service

http://www.endangered.org/science-endangered-at-the-fish-and-wildlife-service/

#USFWS #endangeredspecies #ESA #BaldEagle #UCS #UnionofConcernedScientists #whoopingcrane #wolverine #wolves

#KochBrothers

#CitizensUnited

#GOP

Reposted from DAILY KOS

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/30/1333457/-Kochs-brothers-freak-out-in-response-to-Rolling-Stone-expose?detail=emailclassic

Koch brothers freak out in response to Rolling Stone expose

Tim Dickinson's fantastic expose of the Koch brothers http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924 in the latest issue of Rolling Stone has gotten plenty of attention. For very good reason: it's a well-sourced, deep dive into the very toxic—literally toxic—business that earned the Kochs enough money to buy up an entire political party. That and the wrongful death judgement, six felony and numerous misdemeanor convictions, the tens of millions of dollars in fines, and the trading with Iran are all included in the story, well worth your time.
No one has given it more attention, it seems, than the notoriously thin-skinned Kochs. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/03/1326867/-Evil-billionaires-have-feelings-nbsp-too 
In typical Koch fashion, they don't argue the facts of Dickinson's story. They attack Dickinson, who responds here. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/koch-industries-responds-to-rolling-stone-and-we-answer-back-20140929 
Here's the nut of his detailed response.

Koch, in particular, takes umbrage with my reporting practices.
For the record: In the weeks prior to publication, beginning September 4th, Rolling Stone attempted to engage Koch Industries in a robust discussion of the issues raised in our reporting. Rolling Stone requested to interview CEO Charles Koch about his company's philosophy of Market Based Management; Ilia Bouchouev, who heads Koch's derivatives trading operations, about the company's trading practices; and top Koch lawyer Mark Holden about the company's significant legal and regulatory history.

The requests to speak to Charles Koch and Bouchouev were simply ignored. Ultimately, only Holden responded on the record, only via e-mail and only after Holden baselessly insinuated that I had been given an "opposition research" document dump from the liberal activist David Brock. (This is false.) From my perspective as a reporter, Koch Industries is the most hostile and paranoid organization I've ever engaged with—and I've reported on Fox News. In a breach of ethics, Koch has also chosen to publish email correspondence characterizing the content of a telephone conversation that was, by Koch's own insistence, strictly off the record. […]

[I]n the main, the Koch responses attempt to re-litigate closed cases — incidents where judges, juries, and, in one case, a Senate Select Committee, have already had a final say. They only muddy waters that have been clarified by a considered legal process.

Dickinson then provides an exhaustive, 14-point taken down of each of the Kochs' complaints about his story, including every instance in which the Kochs do not actually dispute the facts that he has reported, but attempt to obfuscate them and whine about that fact that he reported them. They also don't acknowledge that Dickinson attempted to give them the opportunity to talk to him about his story while reporting, but they refused.

The Kochs clearly do not stand up well to close scrutiny, and clearly are not prepared for it. For some reason, probably because they're richer than god, they seem to assume that they should be able to swoop into our political system and attempt to buy it without being subject to close examination. That attitude, along with their long history of abusing people, the environment, and the political system, is doing them no favors. They've made themselves the subject of this election, and if Democrats hold the Senate, it will largely be because the Kochs have made themselves such good enemies.

#GunSense

#GunControl

#StopGunViolence

#NRA

When will our U.S.A. Congress place value of American lives over 
the misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution?

Another gun massacre.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/us/obama-oregon-shooting-umpqua-community-college-gun-control.html

Yet again we witness blood spilling of innocents, because an unbalanced soul was allowed to legally acquire an arsenal of weapons and use them as he deemed fit.

The reason for these shootings that have become commonplace in our country does not matter. 

Does not matter if the shooter hated his victims because of their religion, their political leanings, their race, or their sexual orientation. 
As far as I’m concerned, none of us need to know those details, it certainly won’t bring about the return of lives lost.
It will simply provide fodder for other unbalanced, mentally ill souls to mimic horrific power grab and notoriety, by brandishing a weapon designed to kill as many people possible, as quickly as possible.

And mimic they will.

We are fools if we think this epidemic of gun violence will be stemmed any time soon, without serious changes to gun control laws.

We have compiled a page of articles on gun violence in our U.S.A.
http://waronwilderness.blogspot.com/p/gunsense.html
Gun statistics, Congress members who have obstructed bills designed to stem this blood bath in schools and churches, N.R.A. lobbying influence, and some pretty callous comments from GOP candidates seeking the American presidency.

Please, if you have time, read through this information, discover how your congressional Representatives and Senators voted concerning gun legislation.
Then vote for common sense gun safety legislation, when you have the opportunity to do so in November 2016.

Personal freedoms that have been misinterpreted by those hiding behind their twisted version of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, do not trump the right for Americans to be allowed to safely attend school, church, or go to work.

Think about it, if you remember Sandy Hook.
What threat did 20 kindergardeners and their teachers possibly make to the one who ended their lives?
That day was mass murder of innocence.
Not self defense by the shooter.

If these unbalanced souls intent on mass murder purchase their guns legally, then somewhere, the system is broken. 
If Chicago, Illinois, with one of the strictest gun regulations in the country, still leads the U.S.A. in violent gun deaths, the system is broken. 
If all we can say is that the victims have our thoughts and prayers, yet our elected "leaders" choose to do nothing, then the system is broken.

We have to change this by voting out the politicians who place the gun industry's profits and political influence above the very lives of Americans they swore to represent when they were elected to office.

Thank you.
~ Vote4Wilderness

#GunSense #GunControl #NRA

Obama: 'Our thoughts and prayers are not enough' 
http://on.kgw.com/1FJxyuz via @KGWNews

Obama Condemns ‘Routine’ of Mass Shootings, Says U.S. Has Become Numb
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/us/obama-oregon-shooting-umpqua-community-college-gun-control.html?_r=0

Oregon college shooting is 994th mass gun attack in US in three years  
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/01/obama-oregon-college-shooting-routine … 

Mass shootings in Western states, by the numbers
https://www.hcn.org/articles/wake-oregon-shooting-mass-shootings-west-Umpqua-college

Oregon Gunman’s Father Dismayed by Lack of Gun Legislation
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/us/death-of-gunman-in-oregon-college-shootings-is-ruled-suicide.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4&rref=us&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=article

Why we're still debating guns in 2015
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/01/opinions/opinion-roundup-gun-control-2015/index.html

How Australia and Britain Tackled Gun Violence 
http://ln.is/nymag.com/daily/inte/ShhOO … via @intelligencer

19 Years After Passing Strict Gun Control Laws, Here's What Happened in Australia
http://mic.com/articles/123049/19-years-after-passing-strict-gun-control-laws-here-s-what-happened-in-australia …

After a 1996 Mass Shooting, Australia Enacted Strict Gun Laws. It Hasn’t Had a Similar Massacre Since.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2012/12/16/gun_control_after_connecticut_shooting_could_australia_s_laws_provide_a.html

You have a right to laws that keep you safe from gun violence
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/02/opinions/zuckerman-umpqua-community-college-shooting/index.html

How They Got Their Guns 
http://nyti.ms/1PUH1iE 



Watch Megyn Kelly Skirt Obama’s Point About Oregon UCC Shooting To Help NRA Spokeswoman Knock Gun Laws
http://www.newshounds.us/watch_megyn_kelly_skirt_obama_s_point_about_oregon_ucc_shooting_to_help_nra_spokeswoman_knock_gun_laws_100215

Jeb Bush Blows Off Oregon Mass Shooting Deaths by Saying “Stuff Happens” 
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/10/02/jeb-bush-argues-gun-control-stuff-happens.html … 

Jeb Bush shrugs off Oregon shooting: 
“Stuff happens” 
http://slnm.us/24bN3JQ 

Jeb Bush under fire for 'stuff happens' comment on gun violence
http://mashable.com/2015/10/02/jeb-bush-stuff-happens/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#eU2ZAr_UTZqy …

‘What Are You Going to Do?': Trump Pathetically Shrugs Off Shooting
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/what-are-you-going-to-do-trump-pathetically-shrugs-off-shooting/

"Donald Trump Says Armed Teachers Could Have Stopped Oregon Shooting" 
http://ktlane.ws/1RnMgIW