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]