Back to Basics

The latest justification for extending the industrial wind electricity production tax credit (PTC) is that we need an “all of the above” energy policy. The slogan falls flat, even when it’s expanded to “all of the above and below” – which is rarely the case with radical environmentalists and “progressive” politicians, who steadfastly oppose “any of the below” (ie, hydrocarbons).

America needs an “all of the sensible” energy policy. If an energy option makes sense – technically, economically and environmentally - it should be implemented. If it flunks, it should be scrapped.

Industrial wind energy mandates, renewable portfolio standards, subsidies, feed-in tariffs and production tax credits fail every test. They flunk environmental standards disastrously. In fact, they are subsidizing the slaughter of countless eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, herons, cranes, egrets, other birds and bats.

The wind PTC epitomizes “you didn’t build it.” If any business “didn’t get there on your own,” or was “successful because, along the line,” somebody (in government) “gave you some help” – it is Big Wind.

Industrial wind energy has been mandated, propped up, subsidized, built and protected by government. Elected and unelected officials at the federal, state and local levels have given it every unfair advantage that taxpayer and ratepayer money, legal favors and exemptions, and crony corporatism could bestow upon it. Meanwhile, in numerous cases, the same legislative, regulatory, environmentalist and industrialist cronies have penalized and marginalized Big Wind’s hydrocarbon and nuclear competitors – often for the same reasons that are ignored with wind energy.

Industrial wind is actually our least sustainable energy resource. It requires perpetual subsidies to survive. The tax revenues it takes from productive sectors of the economy, the insufficient and unreliable nature of wind electricity, and the exorbitant electricity rates that wind turbines impose on factories and businesses, kill two to four jobs for every “green” job created. Wind is a net job loser .

Big Wind also imposes excessive environmental impacts. It requires vast amounts of raw materials and land for turbines, backup power and long transmission lines. The extraction and processing of rare earth metals and other materials devastates large agricultural, scenic and wildlife habitat areas and harms people’s health, especially in China. Worst, the turbines are returning numerous bird and bat species to the edge of extinction, after decades of patient, costly efforts to nurse them back to health.

These are not sparrows and pigeons killed by housecats. They are bats that eat insects and protect crops . They are some of our most important and magnificent raptors, herons, cranes, condors and other majestic sovereigns of our skies. They are being chopped out of the air and driven from numerous habitats.

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC)and other experts estimate that well over 500,000 birds and countless bats are already being killed annually by turbines. The subsidized slaughter “could easily be over 500” golden eagles a year in our western states, Save the Eagles Internationalbiologist Jim Wiegand told me. Bald eagles are also being killed at alarming rates that could soon reach 1,000 per year.

Millions of Americans watched their evening news in horrified fascination.

The Colorado Springs wildfire had doubled in size overnight, to 24 square miles – half the size of San Francisco – as 50-mph gusts carried fiery branches from exploding treetops across fire breaks, down Waldo Canyon and into fresh stands of drought-dried timber. Flames crested the ridge above the beautiful Air Force Academy campus, 346 houses burned, hundreds more faced immolation, and 32,000 people were evacuated, through smoke and ash that turned daytime into a choking night sky.

130 miles north, another monster fire west of Fort Collins consumed 136 square miles of forest and torched 259 homes. By July 4, this year’s Colorado forest fires had devoured 170,000 acres – 265 square miles, nearly five times the size of Washington, DC. Across eleven western states, nearly 2,000,000 acres have already burned this year; imagine all of Delaware and Rhode Island ablaze.

People died. Many homes are now nothing but ashes, chimneys and memories. In the forests, the infernos exterminated wildlife habitats, roasted eagle and spotted owl fledglings alive in their nests, boiled away trout and trout streams, left surviving birds and mammals to starve for lack of food, and incinerated every living organism in the thin soils, presaging massive erosion that will clog streambeds during downpours and snowmelts. Many areas will not recover their foliage or biodiversity for decades.

Having hiked in many of these areas, I’ve been truly depressed by these infernos. Why were they allowed to happen? “We are doing everything possible to control these blazes,” officials insist. One has to wonder.

Put aside the insanity of letting horse-blindered environmentalists, bureaucrats and judges obstruct even selective cutting to thin dense stands of timber or remove trees killed by beetles, after decades of Smoky the Bear management. Forget for a moment that these policies turn forests into closely bunched matchsticks, waiting for lightning bolts, sparks, untended campfires or arsonists to start conflagrations.

Ignore the guideline that say fires in these areas can be extinguished if they are of human origin (if making that distinction is even possible in the midst of an inferno) – but must be allowed to burn if they are “natural” (caused by lightning, for example), even amid droughts, in the hope that they won’t become raging infernos that threaten homes. Disregard the crazy jurisdictional disputes that prevent aircraft from dropping water on a fire, because the crew cannot tell whether the blaze is on Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service land.

Once a fire erupts, there is no reason it should devastate homes, suburban developments or vast forest areas. The technology exists to stop these fires, long before they reach such intensities and proportions.

Two days before Waldo Canyon burst into flames, a revolutionary fire suppressant stopped a 300-acre fire north of Albuquerque, New Mexico almost in its tracks. Just nine single-engine planeloads of FireIce (about 7,200 gallons) were needed to douse the flames, prevent nearby trees and homes from igniting, and insure that the fire remained permanently extinguished.

Our front door

My family and I finally arrived home yesterday after a full week on mandatory evacuation. We are all counting our blessings and praying hard for our dear friends and fellow residents who don’t have a front door to walk through.

Deepest thanks to all who e-mailed and tweeted well wishes for us and for all of Colorado. We are humbled by the kindness and generosity of so many who offered/lent a hand.

While national media interest and White House attention will disappear, the Colorado Springs community will be hard at work rebuilding. All those Burkean “little platoons” of civil society I wrote about last week will carry the ball:

*Please help us support these organizations and efforts supporting evacuees.

*More resources at Help Colorado Now.

*On July 4, there will be a benefit concert to aid fire victims at the World Arena.

The Waldo Canyon Fire has consumed nearly 17,700 acres and is now nearly 45 percent contained. Firefighters are working tirelessly to contain the remaining blazes; the estimated containment date of July 16 may be pushed up thanks to improved weather conditions yesterday. But it’s still an active and volatile stew of fire, smoke, heat, and fuel.

We’re not out of the woods yet:

SUNDAY, 1 a.m.: Mother Nature may make another appearance at the Waldo Canyon fire Sunday.

After a day of progress, which saw firefighters complete lines around 45 percent of the blaze, the area is under a Red Flag Warning from the National Weather Service for conditions that could drive the blaze. The Weather Service predicts that temperatures will hit the 90s amid gusty winds and low humidity,.

…Early Sunday, Colorado Springs Utilities will hold a press conference to detail their plans in the area hit by the fire.

What could be the most emotion-packed event of the day will come at 9:30 a.m. at the Norris Penrose Events Center. “Church at The Ranch”, is an event that was a Sunday ritual at Flying W Ranch, which was destroyed in Tuesday’s firestorm.

Worshipers will also gather at churches throughout the former evacuation zones to mourn what was lost and celebrate what was saved.

On the fire lines, 1,534 firefighters and a mind-blowing array of trucks, bulldozers and aircraft will work to reinforce lines around the blaze.

Fire officials warn that the plumes of smoke from the fire won’t end anytime soon.

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation & be constant in prayer.” — Romans 12:12.

***

Update: A Red Flag Warning issued today…”explosive fire growth potential”…

URGENT – FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
332 AM MDT SUN JUL 1 2012

…A RED FLAG WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR LOW HUMIDITIES…GUSTY
WINDS…HIGH HAINES INDICES AND DRY FUELS…FROM 1200 UNTIL
2100 MDT TODAY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 221 AND 226 THROUGH 237…
WHICH INCLUDES EL PASO COUNTY…TELLER COUNTY AND ALL OF THE
SOUTHEAST COLORADO PLAINS…

COZ221-226>237-020145-
/O.CON.KPUB.FW.W.0034.120701T1800Z-120702T0300Z/
TELLER COUNTY/RAMPART RANGE-NORTHERN EL PASO COUNTY-
SOUTHERN EL PASO COUNTY-PUEBLO COUNTY-HUERFANO COUNTY-
WESTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY-CROWLEY COUNTY-OTERO COUNTY-
EASTERN LAS ANIMAS COUNTY-KIOWA COUNTY-BENT COUNTY-PROWERS COUNTY-
BACA COUNTY-
332 AM MDT SUN JUL 1 2012

…RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 9 PM MDT
THIS EVENING FOR LOW HUMIDITIES…GUSTY WINDS…HIGH HAINES
INDICES AND DRY FUELS FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 226…227…228…
229…230…231…232 AND 233…

* AFFECTED AREA…FIRE WEATHER ZONES 221…226…227…228…
229…230…231…232…233…234…235…236 AND 237.

As you know, my family and I were evacuated Saturday afternoon on June 23 along with 11,000 other West side/Manitou Springs residents when the Waldo Canyon Fire erupted. According to the Colorado Springs fire public information unit and the city emergency operations center, local phone calls about the emerging blaze first came in around Saturday noon on June 23.

But what did the federal government officials know and when did they know it?

Waldo Canyon is located in the Pike National Forest.

According to a source, a group that included at least one federal firefighter was sent to look for fire on Friday night, not Saturday afternoon. The source added:

“Due to what I believe to be incompetence on the part of those managing the initial response to this incident, the Waldo Canyon fire was not located in a timely manner. I believe the ensuing tragedy that is now unfolding could have easily been prevented and thus view the actions of certain individuals as inexcusable.”

This morning, I talked to an official at the Colorado Springs fire public information unit who said that both her unit and the city emergency operations center were not aware of any fire search-related activity on Friday. I asked someone at the Joint Incident Command for their official timeline of when the fire began. They said Saturday, June 23.

Interestingly, federal fire investigators are seeking information from anyone who was in the Waldon Canyon or nearby Pyramid Mountain area on…Friday 6/22 or Saturday 6/23.

Wildland fire investigators are asking for the public’s help to solve the Waldo Canyon fire

Investigators are seeking the public’s help for possible leads to the exact cause of the Waldo Canyon Fire. U.S. Forest Service Investigators are looking for people who were in the Waldo Canyon area at or around time of ignition and may have seen something that will help the investigators. If you were in the Waldo Canyon or Pyramid Mountain area on Friday 6/22 or Saturday 6/23 please call 719-477-4205 and leave your name, contact number and someone will return your call. Investigators are hoping that with the public’s help, they can determine the cause of the Waldo Canyon Fire.

Waldo Canyon Fire Update
Rocky Basin 2 Incident Management Team
Incident Commander: Rich Harvey
For Immediate Release: date, time
Public Information: (719) 629-7322
Email for Media: waldojicfire@gmail.com
(email address for media use only please – give public phone number to use for information)
Phone for Media: (720) 202-8521
(Joint Information Center Open Daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.)

With so many national media reporters swarming our city and state to cover President Obama’s visit, it would be helpful if someone else would ask these questions.

***

Updates:

-I am told the question about a Friday night fire search was raised at an early local press briefing, but not answered.

-I have contacted the feds for comment/info. Will update if they respond.

-A local notes that there was a “small campfire” one valley over from Waldo Canyon, but that it was “unrelated.” Not sure how he knows that.

Note: My column below deals with wildfire politics in advance of President Obama’s visit. But as you all know, this is also personal. My family and I are approaching a full week as Waldo Canyon Fire evacuees. As readers of this blog (archive here) and my Twitter feed have been reading, we were forced to leave our home Saturday afternoon. Some 32,000 were displaced by mid-week. Nearly 350 saw their homes burned to the ground, including many belonging to our friends and acquaintances. (Must-see before and after pics.) Last night, officials allowed many residents to return to their neighborhoods, but ours remains under mandatory evacuation. While light rain provided a little relief yesterday, the blaze is still burning. The night ended on a tragic note with officials revealing that a body had been discovered in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood at one of the scorched homes. Several others are still missing. Also last night: A new fire broke out near Grand Junction — the Pine Ridge Fire — that has already consumed 10,000 acres and closed I-70.

Democrats’ New Motto: Never Let a Wildfire Go to Waste
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Did you know that President Obama has been incommunicado with Colorado’s governor for more than two weeks as the nation’s worst wildfires rage across the state? Maybe he thought we were all “doing fine.” After an embarrassing Beltway press briefing revelation about our out-of-touch White House, the administration finally decided to divert the campaigner in chief from his nationwide fundraising frenzy for a quick look-see at our devastated city on Friday. It’s “leadership from behind” you can count on.

On Wednesday, press secretary Jay Carney acknowledged that Obama hadn’t talked to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in 15 days. Holy smokes. The High Park fire, which has consumed nearly 90,000 acres and claimed nearly 257 homes west of Fort Collins, ignited on June 9 and is still active. During a campaign swing just last week, first lady Michelle Obama made a brief mention of the High Park fire before launching into her standard GOP-bashing stump speeches.

On June 23, the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs erupted. An estimated 19,000 acres and nearly 350 homes burned down to the ground on Tuesday. More than 32,000 have been displaced so far. My family was forced to abandon our home on Saturday, and our neighborhood remains in a mandatory evacuation zone. On June 27, Boulder’s Flagstaff fire broke out and has so far blazed through 300 acres. While he made no public statements prior to the announcement of his visit, an irritated Carney told reporters on Wednesday that Obama was being “updated regularly” on the wildfires in Colorado and across the West.

Twitter panorama photo from last night via @megzenger

Via Matt Meister, StormTracker 13, from the front lines 2:15am MT Wednesday morning in Mountain Shadows

Screenshot last night of home burning via KKTV11news

Twitter photo yesterday via @dbfarmer

Twitter photo yesterday afternoon via @RylieLarimer

Twitter photo of firefighters in full gear climbing the treacherous, difficult Manitou Incline, with Old Glory in hand, via @nonsumdignus

Yesterday was the most horrific day since the Waldo Canyon Fire outbreak forced thousands of us out of our homes. My family is on Day 5. As I first told you over the weekend, our neighborhood is and remains on mandatory evacuation. Thanks to a compassionate CSPD officer, we were finally able to get the kids’ parakeets out of the house (it’s standing for now). Unfortunately, one of the birds died of smoke inhalation Tuesday afternoon. The kids are crushed. But we are thankful to be alive and grateful for the extraordinary efforts of first responders, police, fire, military, non-profits, individual volunteers, private philanthropists, and corporate/civic support.

There are now some 32,000 other evacuees throughout Colorado Springs.

An estimated 6,200 acres have burned. The first structure loss took place yesterday afternoon as winds swept the blaze suddenly through the Mountain Shadows area. The historic Flying W Ranch burned to the ground, as did many homes. Listening to the scanner traffic overnight, fire/emergency personnel from all over Colorado were working hard to put out brush fires and embers; salvage burning homes; tend to residents suffering from fire-related respiratory and heart problems; and hold the lines.

I communicated with KKTV meteorologist Brian Bledsoe last night on Twitter; he is very concerned that thunderstorms predicted for Wednesday afternoon will cause more dangerous outflow winds and lightning than wetting rain. These are the kinds of conditions that led to the swift and terrible perimeter-jumping sweep Tuesday afternoon that consumed countless homes and prompted the evacuation of an additional 7,000 residents.

The uplifting news: So, so many have stepped up to the plate to help. The lead story right now isn’t about what government is doing. It’s about what individuals, churches, companies, and community groups/organizations — the countless, voluntary associations and “little platoons” of civil society that Edmund Burke praised — are doing.

Just a few examples:

*On Craigslist, scores of residents are offering their homes/space to evacuees.

*The Antlers’ Hotel opened its ballroom to scores of evacuees Tuesday night.

*The Springs Church was a critical evacuation staging area for Mountain Shadows on Tuesday afternoon. The Mountain Springs Church welcomed 250 Summit camper evacuees earlier in the week.

*The El Pomar Foundation has made more than $200,000 in emergency grants to assist fire victims.

*The local Taco Bell franchises donated 1,000 burritos to feed firefighters.

*Wal-Mart has donated several truckloads of water and ice for rescue workers, as well as fans to the Humane Society to keep evacuated pets cool.

*Care and Share, Red Cross, and United Way are at or in excess capacity for volunteer staffing.

Best ways to help? Visit Help Colorado Now.

We are not alone. As I noted in my column last week — before it became personal — wildfires have been raging across the West all summer. And the fire season is just getting started.

I took this photo of the Waldo Canyon Fire with my iPhone from the Chapel Hills Mall yesterday.

Our family is among the 11,000 residents of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs who have been evacuated in the wake of the Waldo Canyon Fire. We’re homeless, but safe for now — though the kids are devastated we couldn’t get their parakeets, Keets and Tweety, out of the house before security/emergency personnel cleared out our neighborhood.

We are so thankful for our many friends here and especially the heroic firefighters, police, and disaster relief officials and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to contain the fire and protect our homes.

Ways to help: Here.

Via Twitchy: How social media has played a critical role in organizing/reporting on the wildfires.

Per the latest press briefing, the fire is spreading in three directions – NE, SW, and NW. It’s a record-setting day of heat. Four C-130s are on the way to help tomorrow.

My online access will be intermittent, but check in 24/7 with the team at Twitchy for all the news you need to know and here at michellemalkin.com, where Doug Powers will keep you informed and entertained as always.

Keeping calm and trying to carry on!

***

Update:

Pics I took at sunset from our hotel room…

***

As of 9:30pm Mountain, some 3,600 acres have been destroyed. 6,000 people (including us) are still banned from returning home. Flare-ups are erupting overnight. The smoke is overwhelming.

It’s hard to breathe, in more ways than one…

High Park Fire, image via InciWeb

My fellow Coloradans have endured a terrifying and miserable summer so far. Wildfires have ravaged the state. Thousands have been evacuated. Open burning has been banned. Air quality is oppressive. Dry weather and strong winds aren’t helping the front-line personnel trying to contain the blazes. And the season has only just begun here and in across the West. Sean Paige, who runs the invaluable MonkeyWrenchingAmerica.com site, first alerted me to the fateful decisions made by the Obama administration last year that effectively poured fuel on the 2012 Western wildfires. Read my column below and weep. And then make sure you do all you can to 1) help the victims; 2) press the feds for answers about the government’s shrinking aerial tanker fleet, and 3) replace the negligent bureaucrats and their bosses with competent officials who put the core public safety duties of government first instead of last.

***

How Obama Bureaucrats Fueled Western Wildfires
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The smell of singed air here is inescapable. Less than 50 miles west of my neighborhood, the latest wildfire has spread across 1,100 acres. It’s the fifth active blaze to erupt in our state over the past month. But ashes aren’t the only things smoldering.

The Obama administration’s neglect of the federal government’s aerial tanker fleet raises acrid questions about its core public safety priorities. Bipartisan complaints goaded the White House into signing a Band-Aid fix last week. But it smacks more of election-year gesture politics: Too little, too late, too fake.

Ten years ago, the feds had a fleet of 44 firefighting planes. Today, the number is down to nine for the entire country. Last summer, Obama’s National Forest Service canceled a key federal contract with Sacramento-based Aero Union just as last season’s wildfires were raging. Aero Union had supplied eight vital air tankers to Washington’s dwindling aerial firefighting fleet. Two weeks later, the company closed down, and 60 employees lost their jobs. Aero Union had been a leader in the business for a half-century.

Why were they grounded? National Forest Service bureaucrats and some media accounts cite “safety” concerns. But as California GOP Rep. Dan Lungren noted in a letter obtained by reporter Audrey Hudson of the conservative D.C. newspaper Human Events last year, a Federal Aviation Administration representative said it was a contractual/compliance matter, not safety, that doomed Aero Union’s fleet.

“I am deeply troubled by the Forest Service’s sudden action,” Lungren warned, “particularly as California enters into the fire season. Our aerial firefighting fleet is already seriously undercapitalized.” Both the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General have been critical of the Forest Service’s handling of the matter. All of this has been known to the Obama administration since it took the reins in 2009.

Nine months after Lungren’s warning, the deadly High Park fire in Larimer County, Colo., claimed a grandmother’s life, destroyed 189 homes and scorched nearly 60,000 acres. Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming also have battled infernos this summer.

After months of dire red flags from a diverse group of politicians ranging from Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry and Arizona GOP Sen. Jon Kyl to Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and New Mexico Democratic Sen.

Wind farms are incredibly costly to produce energy. Since they don’t operate all the time, back up generating sources are required — meaning that you have to spend building two generating facilities to produce energy. But there are costs that wind farms impose on the environment that they are also not required to bear, costs that would cause any other operation to be shutdown. From the WSJ:

Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported that about 70 golden eagles are being killed per year by the wind turbines at Altamont Pass, about 20 miles east of Oakland, Calif. A 2008 study funded by the Alameda County Community Development Agency estimated that about 2,400 raptors, including burrowing owls, American kestrels, and red-tailed hawks—as well as about 7,500 other birds, nearly all of which are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act—are being killed every year by the turbines at Altamont.

A pernicious double standard is at work here. And it riles Eric Glitzenstein, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who wrote the petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He told me, “It’s absolutely clear that there’s been a mandate from the top” echelons of the federal government not to prosecute the wind industry for violating wildlife laws. . . .

the deadly Pine Tree facility, which the Fish and Wildlife Service believes is killing 1,595 birds, or about 12 birds per megawatt of installed capacity, per year. . . . The Pennsylvania Game Commission estimates that wind turbines killed more than 10,000 bats in the state in 2010. . . .

“The Puritan hates fox-hunting, not because it brings pain to the fox, but because it brings pleasure to the hunter.”
- Lord McCauley

“Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone somewhere may be enjoying himself.”
- H.L. Mencken

“You [Sarah Palin] weren’t killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun.  You enjoy killing animals.  What she did [is] heart-stoppingly disgusting … I don’t have a visceral problem eating meat or wearing a belt … I don’t enjoy the fact that they’re dead and I certainly don’t want to volunteer to be the one to kill them.”
- Aaron Sorkin, in the Huffington Post, reacting to a caribou hunt on “Sarah Palin’s Alaska”

Well, goody for you, Aaron!  A gold star for the little boy with the glasses!  So screenwriter Sorkin prefers the role of Don Barzini to that of Michael Corleone.  Your loyal servant here often found himself on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect,” surrounded by such people.  Ah, yes, Hollywood: a place where you’re denounced for spearfishing — by the patrons of a sushi bar!  Here was (the late and great actor) James Coburn, along with Tom Green, Florence Henderson, and others, gnawing on buffalo wings and salmon croquettes in the “Politically Incorrect” greenroom, then going on stage to bash me for hunting ducks and spearing fish.

“The difference between you and me, James,” I chuckled at an enraged Coburn, “is the difference between Don Barzini and Mikey Corleone.”  Coburn sat back and glowered.  “Others pulled the triggers, but Barzini put the hit on Don Corleone, remember?  Just like you put a hit on a cute, defenseless creature every time you buy meat.  Now recall McCluskey’s and Sollazo’s fate in that restaurant.  Mikey insisted on carrying out his own hits.  He looked the issue in the face.  He shouldered the responsibility — like hunters.  We do our own dirty work.  Those mallards, deer, and grouper I hunt down, assassinate, then eat are no deader than the chicken and salmon I watched you eat fifteen minutes ago.  And until I whacked them, they lived a much more enjoyable life than the chicken you’re still digesting.  Hunters revel in the role nature handed us: predator — no guilty conscience about it whatsoever.  You hand off the responsibility to a slaughterhouse worker.  Fine, that’s your business.  But don’t get all smug about it.  You’re as culpable for that chicken’s death as I am for the duck’s.  But unlike you — us hunters look nature’s mandates right in the face!”

“This is too damn easy,” I finally told Bill.  “I’m a hunter, for heaven’s sake.  I like a challenge, some sport.  Get me on here with some vegetarians next time.  That’ll make my job harder.”

“‘A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy,’ says PETA,” I raved on another show at (PETA board member) Maher himself.  “Fine, but rats, pigs, and dogs all hunt and kill other animals.  Yet you PETA people want to deny the boy the same role.  You contradict your own doctrine.”

“My dog doesn’t hunt!” shouted former “Talk Soup” host John Henson from beside me.