by Walter Brasch
Writer, Dandelion Salad
walterbrasch.com
February 14, 2014
Image by Jethro Taylor NYC via Flickr
A week before the opening of the Olympics, 759 Pennsylvanians paid $25 each to participate in a sport that would never be a part of any international competition.
These Pennsylvanians carried shotguns, whistles, and electronic calls; most also used dogs to search out their prey.
Updated: Nov. 12, 2020
Image by OnyxDog86 via Flickr
linktv on Mar 15, 2013
Gray wolves once ranged across North America. But by the 1930s, they were nearly extinct — trapped, poisoned and hunted by ranchers, farmers, and government agents. With protection under the 1973 Endangered Species Act, the wolf population rebounded. But wolves lost federal protection in 2011.
by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
August 2, 2012
Image by dragontoller via Flickr
Shortly before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on an amendment last December that would ban pigeon shoots, the Pennsylvania Flyers Association sent out a bulletin it marked as “urgent.”
“We must act now to preserve our sport,” the Flyers screeched. In a separate letter, the Flyers told its members they “should be very proud that your association has been able to keep the sport alive in PA [sic] for the last 27 years.” For added support, the notice referred to an NRA release, which called pigeon shooting a “Pennsylvania Sporting Tradition.”
by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
June 1, 2012
Image by Focx Photography via Flickr
A national animal welfare organization has filed an ethics complaint against a Pennsylvania district attorney.
SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) charges Bucks County DA David Heckler with conflict-of-interest, favoritism, and failure to fulfill his professional responsibilities. The ethics complaint was filed with the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
December 17, 2011
Image by Focx Photography via Flickr
If the first year gross anatomy class at the Penn State Hershey medical school needs spare body parts to study, they can visit the cloak room of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. That’s where most of the legislators left their spines.
The House voted 124–69, Dec. 13, to send an animal welfare bill back to committee, in this case the Gaming Oversight Committee. The bill, SB 71, would have banned simulcasting of greyhound races from other states. Continue reading
by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
August 26, 2011
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Iowa, which gave us the carnival known as the Iowa Straw Poll and artery-clogging Deep Fried butter, will unleash another health problem, beginning Sept. 1.
The Iowa legislature last year approved a dove hunting season, the first in more than nine decades. However, the state’s Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources Commission (DNR) banned the use of lead shot and bullets.
by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
July 17, 2011
After significant compromise with the recalcitrant Republicans who want to continue to give the wealthy tax advantages while cutting significant social programs, President Obama has finally taken a stand on debt ceiling negotiations. However, in labor, wildlife management, and the environment he is still compromising rather than coming out forcefully for the principles he and the working class believes.
By Tom Engelhardt
October 25, 2007
Evidently, Blackwater, the now infamous private security company whose hired guns, working for the State Department, mowed down at least 17 Iraqis in a Baghdad square recently, wants to soften its image. (I wonder why?) The New York Times’ Paul von Zielbauer just reported that the company has redesigned its logo. Once, according to him, it was “a bear’s paw print in a red crosshairs, under lettering that looks to have been ripped from a fifth of Jim Beam” on a “menacing” black field. Like Daniel Boone, the company was evidently selling its ability to put “big game” in the crosshairs of its gun sights in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, subtly transformed, the logo is on a white background; the bear’s paw more modest looking; and the crosshairs of that sniper’s rifle have simply disappeared.
Dandelion Salad 