Posted by mike on April 12, 2001 at 13:53:05:
In Reply to: Re: It's Time To Be Responsible posted by randy54 on April 12, 2001 at 13:01:18:
damn right!
i have a fishing license with an ocean enhancement stamp on it. It cost less than one yuppie food stamp ($20.00 bill)
I am however, getting sodomized up one side and down the other, this April 15th by the IRS and State of Calif. The DFG will get more than $20.00 from that little shakedown.
Last i checked, the oceans and fish in our territorial waters belong to all 280,000,000 American citizens; not just those who dive, spear, use rod & reel or spotter planes and gillnets.
As one who votes and gives money to such groups as the National Rifle Organization or the Nature Conservancy or the Natural Resources Defence Council or the Apartment Owners Association, i get reeeeeeaaaal shitfaced & nasty when a few step up to claim what's owned by all of us, and that includes those who would cut down ancient redwoods on Federally owned lands, those who would shear off the tops of mountains (strip mine) on public lands (land that i & everyone else owns 1/280,000,000th of).
And yeah, we've all heard commercial fishermen say that "oh yah, there's still plenty of big fish out there to take". Well, lets get real here, Cap'n, there is a credibility gap the size of the Pacific Ocean here. It's like letting the fox tell me that the henhouse is well guarded, in great shape and perfectly safe.
uh huh, just how stupid and passive are we, the taxpayers and part owners of these lands, waters, fish and wildlife supposed to be?
Like Ralph Nader said, its not about tree-huggers or communists versus capitalists and entepreneurs, its a qustion of privatizing the profit while socializing the losses.