View from a Rhino House: the enemy within

Deer Trail, Colorado, a small US town which boasts that it introduced the world’s first rodeo in 1869, is mulling a new entertainment for the 21st century, & may be paying bounties to anyone who shoots down an unmanned drone.

During August, trustees of the town will debate a measure that will permit residents to purchase a $25 “hunting license” to shoot down “unmanned aerial vehicles.” The town would pay $100 bounty to anyone who can produce the fuselage & nose or tail of a downed drone.

The measure was drafted by resident Phillip Steel, an Army veteran who acknowledges the whimsical nature of his proposal while complaining that the expansion of drones in commercial & government use is alarming.

“We don’t want to become a surveillance society,” he told a reporter during in a telephone interview (I guess he’s not heard about the international lounge at Moscow airport).

He said he has not actually seen any drones, but that “some local ranchers” outside the town may have seen them.

Under his proposal, hunters could legally shoot down a drone flying under 1,000 feet with a shotgun.

“In no case shall a citizen engage an obviously manned aerial vehicle,” the draft proposal reads (although a “stand-your-ground” defence would probably see you in the clear if any unpleasantness should follow an “incident”).

Steel said that if the town trustees don’t vote to adopt the ordinance, he will place it before voters in a special election.

Steel says his idea is symbolic but he hopes it will curtail the (speculative & unproven) use of drones over the town.

Neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor Edward Snowden have so far commented on the story.

“What idiot decided the best route to Moscow airport flew over Deer Trail?”

View from a Rhino House: bringing home home the bacon

In the US, Washington state is about to see the US’ first legal market for recreational marijuana, & (this being the land of opportunity) there is already a host of new money-making opportunities flowering.

Pig breeder Susannah Gross is part of an experiment with a solution that seems to make the most of marijuana’s appetite-enhancing properties – turning weed waste into pig food (although as I recall the “munchies” mainly involved large quantities of unfeasibly sweet candy).

Four of her pigs whose swill was “super-sized” with plant leavings ended up 10 – 15 kilos heavier than the 6 other pigs from the same litter when they were all sent to slaughter in March.

The experiment is latest outcome of a ballot measure approved by Washington state voters last November making their state one of the first to legalize the recreational use of pot (the other was Colorado). Both were among the 20 (-ish) states with medical marijuana laws already in force.

The federal government still classifies cannabis as an illegal narcotic & the present administration has not yet said what actions, if any, it will take to really piss-off its core voters as well as the “States’ rights” groups. (Maybe cross-issue groups will form to address both issues simultaneously. Rand’s Ravers has a nice sound, no?)

Proposed regulations that were circulated in the State last week to govern the new recreational-use industry seem to leave open that possibility. The rules proposed would ensure that the marijuana plant waste must be “rendered unusable prior to leaving a licensed producer or processor’s facility,” adding specifically that mixing it with food waste would be acceptable.

Ms. Gross’ pigs were butchered by William von Schneidau, in March he held the first “Pot Pig Gig” at the market, serving up the marijuana-fed pork as part of a five-course meal.

He quickly sold out the remaining weed-fed meat at his shop but is plannning another pot-pig feast later this summer, he said.

“Some say the meat seems to taste more savory,” he said.

The big question of course, is whether pot-fed pork contains any measurable traces of THC, the mind-altering chemical ingredient in cannabis.

The European Food Safety Authority reported in 2011 that “no studies concerning tolerance or effects of graded levels of THC in food-producing animals have been found in literature.”

Time for a bacon sandwich, methinks.

“When they had the weed it was bad enough, what idiot decided to try them on E?”

View from a Rhino House: dangerous women

In the US a woman in  New York state pleaded not guilty last week to multiple charges of child endangerment after other parents complained that she hired female strippers for her son’s 16th birthday party. If convicted, Judy Viger faces up to a year in jail.

Viger was arrested after the parents of 5 teenage partygoers saw Facebook pictures of the scantily clad dancers performing dance routines at the party last November.

“The parents of the children who attended had no idea that the adult female entertainers would be present & were shocked & stunned when they discovered what had occurred,” the Saratoga County district attorney, James A. Murphy, III, said (with a straight face) in a statement released at the time of Viger’s arrest.

“Pictures of the event & the dancers first surfaced in the media after they were posted to one of the attendees’ Facebook page,” Murphy said.

If convicted of any or all of the counts of “endangering the welfare of a child,” Viger faces a maximum of one year behind bars as any sentence would run concurrently since the counts stem from a single incident, according to a court spokesperson (she must be relieved to hear that, & of course it is always possible the strippers were armed, in which case it’s going to be hard to get an acquittal anyway).

For her son’s 17th birthday it is reported that she intends to give out fire-arms as party favors & will encourage at least 5 of the putative guests to go home & demonstrate to parents just how “un-endangered” they are by the event.

Way to go, mom!

 

“Happy Birthday. Consider yourself endangered!

View from a Rhino House: Battle hymn of the Repugnant

Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General, has sent a message for New York gun owners: “Come to Texas, & bring your guns with you.”

“Texas is better than New York, & New York just gave us another excuse to say that,” Abbott, a Republican (you didn’t guess?), said yesterday, after several humorous adverts singing the praises of Texas appeared on East-Coast media websites.

Democratic New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo (come on, you didn’t guess that one either?), signed new gun-control legislation at the start of the week expanding the state’s ban on assault weapons & putting limits on magazine capacity & type of ammunition that can be purchased.

Abbott, a possible/wannabe candidate to be Governor of Texas in next year’s election, used campaign money to buy the ad space on websites of news organizations based in New York City & Albany.

One ad says in classic Western script: “WANTED: Law abiding New York gun owners seeking lower taxes & greater opportunities.”

Clicking on the ad leads to a Facebook page listing the “virtues” of Texas, including the fact that the state has no income tax so “you’ll be able to keep more of what you earn & use that extra money to buy more ammo.” (sic)

Abbott has said he will file a federal lawsuit to throw out any nationwide gun restrictions implemented by Congress.

Sounds like a very very nice man, & possibly one who is heavily armed…..

The Texas “good neighbor” safety kit (tax deductible)