On the California issue... the problem isn't that kind words don't work;
it's that WORDS don't work.  The California DFG are exactly the kind of
people I referred to in my other post.  They're too self-righteous to
EVER admit they made a mistake, or to ever respond favorably to satire.
Either approach falls on deaf ears.  You just can't fight half-wits and
nitwits with acerbic wit.
 
We have to speak to these politicians in the only language they
understand, and my friends, that language ain't English.  Or Espanol.
Or Japanese.  It's the language of influence and money.  Do you think
that for the right price the DFG would never gladly, willingly sell the
rights to rape the California wildlands?  Think again.  For the right
price they would pitch in and help you do it.
 
So how do we go about bringing the financial guns to bear?  Honestly, I
have no idea.  Asking me about financial matters is like asking a sea
bass to explain the finer points of bocce ball.  But it sounds to me like
Sukie and others have a good start by trying to quantify the pet ferret
market.  We need to nail those numbers down and get them into the right
hands.  Show the politicians what kind of income and influence they are
denying themselves.  Forget showing how it's good for the state; show
them how it's good for THEM.  And, if that's your bent, surreptitiously
start a public smear campaign to show how much money (i.e. tax breaks)
the ones who DON'T buy into this are denying to the citizens of
California.  Appealing to personal interests - of the politicians and
the people who voted from them - is the only way to win.
 
It's likely that the corporations, like Petco, are the only ones with the
means to pull this off.  Unfortunately, asking the corporations to fight
this battle for us is absolutely, unequivocably, signing a deal with the
devil.
 
roger
missing bear, lancelot and kodi
[Posted in FML issue 4400]