Good or Bad

Does <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=2&display=rednews/2004/10/31/build/sports/50-montana-outdoors.inc" target="_blank">Mark Henckel</a> ever have it right.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>Are wolves a good thing? Are wolves a bad thing? <br />n<br />nThat really doesn't matter anymore either. Wolves are here to stay. <br />n<br />nAnd the bottom line is that good thing or bad thing, wolves are a costly thing and the price to you and me is going to keep rising. </blockquote><br />n<br />nI've been saying this all along. I don't like the way the whole wolf situation has been handled but there is no use complaining about it now. Whether I like it or not, it is a done deal and we have to find a way to deal with it. Why cattle and sheep producers in the affected states are the whipping boy in this situation is real easy. <b>We don't have the power</b>. Public perception is that we are rich ranchers and our rights are trampled on by the majority that doesn't care about our situation. They only care about what they want.<br />n<br />nThe real truth of Mark's is this.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>As wolf populations spread, look for the bring-back-the-wolf-backers to exit the scene, patting themselves on the back all the way out the door. Organizations will use their wolf victory to sign up new members and beef up their donations. Big shows of national support and, more significantly, the highly-publicized payoffs for livestock losses by private organizations will be a thing of the past. <br />n<br />nRanchers will be on their own in absorbing livestock losses. Dollar-strapped counties won't be able to pay them. Ranchers will be left to plead with the state for relief. Who's the state going to look to? My best guess is that somehow or another, the dollars will come from hunting and fishing license fees. Wolves are wildlife, right? </blockquote><br />n<br />n"Ranchers will be on their own in absorbing livestock losses." That's the way it always is. Those "evil rich ranchers" can deal with it on their own. Between this kind of stuff, increasing taxes, the federal government <a href="http://www.nowherethoughts.net/sarpysam/index.php?p=419" target="_blank">taking all our water rights away</a> (which by the way has become a real fiasco that I am unsure I can dig my way out of) and increasing <a href="http://www.nowherethoughts.net/sarpysam/index.php?p=406" target="_blank">government survelliance into our activities</a> the will of the majority through their elected government will strip us ranchers of all our rights and put us out of buisness. They will have to look for somebody else to terrorize then.<br />n<br />n<b>All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Thomas Jefferson</b>