HR 669 - Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act
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I just scanned through this thread (missed some of your actual posts speed reading), but I watched most of it this morning on the live feed... Not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread, and I know we're not supposed to get political in here, but clearly there is a single party pushing and sponsoring this (24 Democrats, 0 Republicans, and 1 Independent), and the best way to avoid these issues coming up in the future is to vote these bozos out of office.
I just got an email from www.USARK.org who brought 49,000 plus letters signed by people in the reptile community. The email was titled Victory over HR669!
Here's the email
WE DID IT FOLKS!!!! Victory over HR669! You can thank yourselves and the Reptile Nation, for a hard fought Victory! Our nearly 50,000 grassroots letters and 1,000s of phone calls to the offices of the subcommittee members clearly*prevailed at today's Insular Affairs Subcommittee hearing on HR 669. HR 669 in it's current form is finished. For anything to go forward it MUST be re-written from the ground up....and USARK will have a seat at the table along with other stake holders.
Delegate Faleomavega*from Samoa said, "The letter and phone campaign hit the subcommittee like a BUZZ SAW". Harry Burroughs, of the subcommittee staff said, "I haven't seen a letter writing campaign like this in 30 years! You should be proud of yourselves." Take heart in the fact that the Reptile Nation*stopped HR669 in*it's tracks!!*
We also need to thank Congressman Henry Brown, SC for helping us to focus our fight on the Subcommittee as opposed to the full House of Representatives. He is the one who instructed us to write real letters to be truly effective. He said emails are fine if that is all you can manage, but they can be filtered and deleted. There is no denying the weight of thousands of paper letters from American citizens. The Reptile Nation was responsible for 49,229 letters delivered to the Subcommittee in less than two weeks. Congressman Brown's staff made sure they all got in the door. 38,000 of those letters will be entered into the permanent record. Thank you my friends!
Credit should also be given to Bill Martin, a witness who testified at the hearing. He is the President*of Blue Ridge Aquatics, a large multi-state Tilapia farming operation. They farm Tilapia as a food fish. He had some serious problems with the bill and the ear of much of the committee. His plain talk of how this bill would destroy hundreds of families hit home. What they do and the impact this bill would have on them parallels the plight of the Reptile Nation.
Senior Democrat staff from the House Committee on Natural Resources advised*Subcommittee Chair Madeleine Bordallo*that if she wants something to go forward she will have to go back to square one and draft a new bill. Then have another subcommittee hearing. When and if she does, USARK will be there to represent the interests of the Reptile Nation!! They probably will try, and that will be our challenge for another day. But Today VICTORY is SWEET!...... Celebrate today and rest, because tomorrow*we must get ready to fight again.
Thank you Reptile Nation! Thank you Tom Wolfe. Thank you everyone who did their part.
Stay tuned... This fight has only begun!
USARK
A note from Tom Wolfe:
"The good news is, USARK engineered a significant victory which caught the attention of the entire membership of the Subcommittee and their staffs.*
The bad news is this is just the first step in the process. Members of* the Reptile Nation should be jubilant with this victory. However, our success should be measured, because the proponents of HR 669 will be back soon with another version of the same legislation. They will not rest, so we must not rest either.*
Take satisfaction in a job well done and a victory well deserved, but know we all must rise up again to fight on because the battle has just begun!"*
Here's the email
WE DID IT FOLKS!!!! Victory over HR669! You can thank yourselves and the Reptile Nation, for a hard fought Victory! Our nearly 50,000 grassroots letters and 1,000s of phone calls to the offices of the subcommittee members clearly*prevailed at today's Insular Affairs Subcommittee hearing on HR 669. HR 669 in it's current form is finished. For anything to go forward it MUST be re-written from the ground up....and USARK will have a seat at the table along with other stake holders.
Delegate Faleomavega*from Samoa said, "The letter and phone campaign hit the subcommittee like a BUZZ SAW". Harry Burroughs, of the subcommittee staff said, "I haven't seen a letter writing campaign like this in 30 years! You should be proud of yourselves." Take heart in the fact that the Reptile Nation*stopped HR669 in*it's tracks!!*
We also need to thank Congressman Henry Brown, SC for helping us to focus our fight on the Subcommittee as opposed to the full House of Representatives. He is the one who instructed us to write real letters to be truly effective. He said emails are fine if that is all you can manage, but they can be filtered and deleted. There is no denying the weight of thousands of paper letters from American citizens. The Reptile Nation was responsible for 49,229 letters delivered to the Subcommittee in less than two weeks. Congressman Brown's staff made sure they all got in the door. 38,000 of those letters will be entered into the permanent record. Thank you my friends!
Credit should also be given to Bill Martin, a witness who testified at the hearing. He is the President*of Blue Ridge Aquatics, a large multi-state Tilapia farming operation. They farm Tilapia as a food fish. He had some serious problems with the bill and the ear of much of the committee. His plain talk of how this bill would destroy hundreds of families hit home. What they do and the impact this bill would have on them parallels the plight of the Reptile Nation.
Senior Democrat staff from the House Committee on Natural Resources advised*Subcommittee Chair Madeleine Bordallo*that if she wants something to go forward she will have to go back to square one and draft a new bill. Then have another subcommittee hearing. When and if she does, USARK will be there to represent the interests of the Reptile Nation!! They probably will try, and that will be our challenge for another day. But Today VICTORY is SWEET!...... Celebrate today and rest, because tomorrow*we must get ready to fight again.
Thank you Reptile Nation! Thank you Tom Wolfe. Thank you everyone who did their part.
Stay tuned... This fight has only begun!
USARK
A note from Tom Wolfe:
"The good news is, USARK engineered a significant victory which caught the attention of the entire membership of the Subcommittee and their staffs.*
The bad news is this is just the first step in the process. Members of* the Reptile Nation should be jubilant with this victory. However, our success should be measured, because the proponents of HR 669 will be back soon with another version of the same legislation. They will not rest, so we must not rest either.*
Take satisfaction in a job well done and a victory well deserved, but know we all must rise up again to fight on because the battle has just begun!"*
I think some things are better left undone.
PardalisGirl
Avid Member
Hee Hee Tyler....
I just saw the "Right Wing Extremist" thing under your name Tyler. Hee Hee.....Don't you know that Homeland Security sent a memo to all law enforcement agencies to be on the look out for your "type" and keep a close eye on you? You may get a knock on your door in the middle of the night for opposing this regime......I'm surely on the list already for my display of bumper stickers, NRA membership and concealed weapons permit (needed to protect myself when I'm out in my own yard from a neighbor who is constantly in and out of the psych ward, loves to peep in my windows, exposes himself all over the neighborhood and has threatened to kill my husband.) I will be on the "watch" list for using my freedom of speech and exercising my right to protect myself with a gun properly purchased and registered while the nut down the street can escape jail time by going to the psych ward every time he assaults someone with a golf club, drops his pants in front of people or threatens to kill them. Ugggghhhh!
I just saw the "Right Wing Extremist" thing under your name Tyler. Hee Hee.....Don't you know that Homeland Security sent a memo to all law enforcement agencies to be on the look out for your "type" and keep a close eye on you? You may get a knock on your door in the middle of the night for opposing this regime......I'm surely on the list already for my display of bumper stickers, NRA membership and concealed weapons permit (needed to protect myself when I'm out in my own yard from a neighbor who is constantly in and out of the psych ward, loves to peep in my windows, exposes himself all over the neighborhood and has threatened to kill my husband.) I will be on the "watch" list for using my freedom of speech and exercising my right to protect myself with a gun properly purchased and registered while the nut down the street can escape jail time by going to the psych ward every time he assaults someone with a golf club, drops his pants in front of people or threatens to kill them. Ugggghhhh!
Syn
Avid Member
Well, "Site Sponsor" under my name didn't seem to be doing anything productive, so I figure I might as well be funny LOL.
Eric Adrignola
Avid Member
This is good for now. I suspect there was nothing better we could hope for at this stage.
The politics shouldnt' even be an issue. It is unfortunate that the politicians MAKE these issues political in the first place. Certain things shoudl not be messed with by our government. I believe my hobby is one of them - as long as it's not hurting others.
Sure, If I wanted to import a new, giant morph of the brown snake into my breeding facility in hawaii or miami, I would expect some sort of check on that. But that is so much better left to the State than the federal government. The states will screw it up thoughly, of course, but not with the financial hemmoraging that only the federal government is capable of.
I love this nation - I love the whole USA. Any problems I may have with any individuals in the country are trivial in comparison to the prospect of a government with the power to do anything ABOUT it!
Most right-leaning people are often mocked for their ideals of "limited government". Yes, a smaller government isn't going to be doing as much "for" needy people - but it'll do a hell of a lot less "to" everyone else.
I've worked for government in the environmental field for my entire professional, post-grad life. I love nature, and believe in keeping things clean. I can also tell you - it is not an opinion, but a fact - that government is the worst way to do anything, save global thermonuclear war.
The politics shouldnt' even be an issue. It is unfortunate that the politicians MAKE these issues political in the first place. Certain things shoudl not be messed with by our government. I believe my hobby is one of them - as long as it's not hurting others.
Sure, If I wanted to import a new, giant morph of the brown snake into my breeding facility in hawaii or miami, I would expect some sort of check on that. But that is so much better left to the State than the federal government. The states will screw it up thoughly, of course, but not with the financial hemmoraging that only the federal government is capable of.
I love this nation - I love the whole USA. Any problems I may have with any individuals in the country are trivial in comparison to the prospect of a government with the power to do anything ABOUT it!
Most right-leaning people are often mocked for their ideals of "limited government". Yes, a smaller government isn't going to be doing as much "for" needy people - but it'll do a hell of a lot less "to" everyone else.
I've worked for government in the environmental field for my entire professional, post-grad life. I love nature, and believe in keeping things clean. I can also tell you - it is not an opinion, but a fact - that government is the worst way to do anything, save global thermonuclear war.
Sang
New Member
you know i would like to see something done about the pet industry though. many animals suffer , exotic and none exotic.
i am glad the bill did not pass, but it had some good points.
in reality it is my belief and along with numerous other pet keepers i know that the state should require a license for owning /buyin specific pets. you would not be able to buy certain animals without it, not only that you would not be able to sell animals with out it.
to many people get animals without realizing what they are getting into, and many animals suffer because of that. would it really be so hard to hold a glass with some kind of fee, in order to get a license.
i also feel it should be mandatory that all reptiles/exotic animals have to be registered to an owner when they are purchased. like mandatory, the buyer becomes responsible for an animal even if he passes it on to someone else. this should prevent alot of other problems.
i am glad the bill did not pass, but it had some good points.
in reality it is my belief and along with numerous other pet keepers i know that the state should require a license for owning /buyin specific pets. you would not be able to buy certain animals without it, not only that you would not be able to sell animals with out it.
to many people get animals without realizing what they are getting into, and many animals suffer because of that. would it really be so hard to hold a glass with some kind of fee, in order to get a license.
i also feel it should be mandatory that all reptiles/exotic animals have to be registered to an owner when they are purchased. like mandatory, the buyer becomes responsible for an animal even if he passes it on to someone else. this should prevent alot of other problems.
PardalisGirl
Avid Member
Governent not capable....
Our government hasn't been able to solve all the issues with dogs and cats. They have had decades to work on those problems with registration, etc. Expand that mess to everything else and you will make things worse. Not better. Individual states that have a particular problem with a species should handle the issue for that species within their own states. They have the ability to do it if they really try. If they had competent people at their helm. They don't so they have not been successful. They just want to pass the buck to the federal government. But our federal government is even worse at running things. There is not a single federal program that is run effectively and efficiently and in a fiscally sustainable manner. Not one. We don't need to add another big program to the pile.
Our government hasn't been able to solve all the issues with dogs and cats. They have had decades to work on those problems with registration, etc. Expand that mess to everything else and you will make things worse. Not better. Individual states that have a particular problem with a species should handle the issue for that species within their own states. They have the ability to do it if they really try. If they had competent people at their helm. They don't so they have not been successful. They just want to pass the buck to the federal government. But our federal government is even worse at running things. There is not a single federal program that is run effectively and efficiently and in a fiscally sustainable manner. Not one. We don't need to add another big program to the pile.
CleaTheChameleon
New Member
i have contacted the US congress about this, called them, and went to my neighbors and told them to call the US congress and make their comment on this and i got over 70 people to call in!
luevelvet
Avid Member
Correct. It did not pass. If they want it to pass, they will have to rewrite it from scratch.
I'm actually working with someone from a decent sized chain to try and come up with a plan how to best provide the correct information and habitats for chameleons. I noticed they had a pair of veiled's in a less than ideal environment and commented on it and the gentleman there was very anxious to learn more. He actually told me he refuse dthe sale of the chams because he didn't know what to tell people how to care for them. There are many things we can do better with laws in place, but one thing to remember is that as ideal as control at the state level is, we live in a global community, not just a state community so large companies such as Petco, PetSmart and Pet Supermarket, have a multi-state presence, hence negating the impact of any particular states laws.
It's a mess for sure, but we did it to ourselves and it's the direction the world is going in. With technology headed the way it is, we can't continue to assume that local state laws will reach as far as we nned them to. Just one small example of course, but a valid one at that.
Luis
I'm actually working with someone from a decent sized chain to try and come up with a plan how to best provide the correct information and habitats for chameleons. I noticed they had a pair of veiled's in a less than ideal environment and commented on it and the gentleman there was very anxious to learn more. He actually told me he refuse dthe sale of the chams because he didn't know what to tell people how to care for them. There are many things we can do better with laws in place, but one thing to remember is that as ideal as control at the state level is, we live in a global community, not just a state community so large companies such as Petco, PetSmart and Pet Supermarket, have a multi-state presence, hence negating the impact of any particular states laws.
It's a mess for sure, but we did it to ourselves and it's the direction the world is going in. With technology headed the way it is, we can't continue to assume that local state laws will reach as far as we nned them to. Just one small example of course, but a valid one at that.
Luis
