The Scales of Justice
A San Francisco man was sentenced to two years in federal prison for selling endangered fish on the Internet. Click here to read the story in The Chronicle.  It’s an Asian arowana fish and one of them can sell for $3,000.Â
Some things to think about while you’re fishing today:
I was almost frightened to post a picture of the fish here in case I was in violation of some federal fish posting law of which I’m unaware.Â
Wouldn’t want to be this guy in prison, having to answer to other inmates about why he’s locked up.Â
These guys who write laws for these fish are amazing. What do you think it would take to get the wildlife and fisheries people to write some stuff down for the protection of our children?
March 29th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
That’s what’s wrong with todays society. We have taken the focus off of humans and on animals. True God created animals but PEOPLE are more important. Funny, laws about fish but there is still abortion going on. Sad.
March 29th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Remember when the guy from Wildlife and Fisheries walked in front of the camera with a six pack of beer after talking to Al about boater safety?
March 29th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I think that’s going to be my next job. Counting and tagging fish butts. HOw the Hell do you know really if a fish is endangered?
March 29th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Better Lobbyist and a higher Return-on-Investment Index.
March 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Oh come on, there are already PLENTY of laws on the books protecting children in this country. Just enforce the ones on the books!
Just because they want to protect endangered fish doesn’t meant they don’t want to protect children. The two are not mutually exclusive!
March 29th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0D-kKZpnNY
March 29th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Fine, pause the hilarity ensuement.
The laws may be sufficient, but the money isn’t. And the legislature doesn’t seem to understand the significance of that.
What I see mostly are the effects budget cuts by Louisiana lawmakers have had on foster and group home children in this state. Most of these kids have been abused or neglected, so they’re behind in school. What did lawmakers cut? For one thing, money for tutoring for these kids.
This type of action ultimately involves both a severe lack of protection for these children and society when you consider that 19,000 wards of the state a year age out of the foster care system in the U-S. Without the love and structure of a permanent family (paired with less of a focus on education and fewer foster families coming forward because they can’t pay the tutoring needed and other costs incurred by cuts) and with what little these children have being eaten away even more, most turn to crime, drugs and many are imprisoned.
I know this is a) off topic, b) has nothing to do with fish and c) doesn’t address your comments, but thanks for letting me vent. You made me think about…
…at least five children I know who are in a group home near Minden, LA. These kids don’t have a parent to say goodnight to them tonight. Some are as young as 8 and won’t get a goodnight kiss or story read to them. Instead, they’ll get the fear of someone (maybe older kids there) stealing their belongings or wondering what’s going to happen the next day and whether they’ll ever get to be loved the way they’ve always heard about, but never experienced. Some have told me they just want the chance to learn what it’s like to be in a loving family–wow! … what insight by them to want to break the chain of abuse!! Many are worried about what happened to their parents…I’ve heard from them, “My mom is dead and my dad tried to kill me. He’s in prison. Can you please tell me if he’s okay?”
Everyone has a passion or strong feelings on where money on the state and federal levels should be spent. I’d just like more of the focus to involve consideration on the human and long-term levels. And you know what? When that happens, I bet you’ll see more respect for animals!
March 29th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Geez Sherri why don’t you tell us how you really feel!!
March 29th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I have four of these Asian arowana fish. They were running a special at Lefty’s Illegal Fish Emporium. Buy three and get the fourth one free. I couldn’t pass it up. Only cost me $9000.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I saw a bumper sticker in Boulder CO that said “Be a hero save a whale, save a baby go to jail”
March 30th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Sherri,
I am not blind to the plight of children, having been a state employee for over 15 years now. I see the kids who have been removed from their parent’s care and are brought to the State building for weekly visits. I see the lack of good foster care homes. I see the people working 2 jobs that STILL qualify for food stamps. I see this every single day.
You’re talking about budget cuts and lack of funding, not laws. The OCS workers remove the children from abusive homes and there are not enough foster homes by any stretch of the imagination. These kids end up in group homes like the one you referenced in Minden. I feel for these kids, I truly do.
What’s the answer? How about a stable economy with less dependence on foreign oil where the price of everything isn’t driven up by the price of gas. How about not throwing our money away in Iraq and instead, investing it in struggling families at home. How about providing a living wage for entry level jobs instead of $5.65 per hour. How about people having a bit more personal responsibility and practice birth control when they can’t afford to raise a family of multiple children.
I am sure there are going to be plenty of stories in the near future about some child that got lost in the system and ended up being killed by abusive parents. There will be an outcry against the Child Protection system. Or we’ll read about the family that can’t feed themselves and had to wait 30 days for benefits at the food stamp office.
When you report these stories, I hope you keep in mind that Governor Jindal put a hiring freeze on State Employees the day he took office. When someone leaves, we can’t replace them. We already have been working short handed, basically since Katrina, and now it is worse.
I, personally, do not work for OCS but I have tremendous respect for the brave men and women who do work for that agency. They are overworked, underpaid and certainly, undervalued.
Bottom line…the laws are on the books to protect the children of our society but the money, at least in Louisiana, is not a priority for the Legislature and the Governor.
We still need to protect the endangered fish and all endangered animals on our planet. Like I said, they are not mutually exclusive.
March 30th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Thanks for the discussion, MaryS910. I share your respect for the efforts of OCS. Another vital organization is Volunteers for Youth Justice and its CASA workers.
March 30th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
“How about a stable economy with less dependence on foreign oil where the price of everything isn’t driven up by the price of gas”
Great Idea, what do you propose? First of all we have the biggest, most stable economy in the world and we pay less for gasoline than any other country…you’ve been watching too much CNN. Our dependence on foreign oil is a function of your addiction to oil, and your reluctance to allow domestic exploration and development. The Eastern Gulf of Mexico had untouched billions of barrels, as does Alaska.
The war sucks, but we now have a world class air base smack dab in the middle of modern Arabia. You and your oil addicted self should be very grateful that we have this presence instead of suicide bombers blowing you up while you have your muffin and coffee at Starbucks and gas costing you $10/gallon.
As for the kids…we should all give more. Sherri, can you list a site where we can donate money to help them out?
March 30th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
HRB,
For those with money, right, they should be grateful they can buy gas and coffee at Starbucks. What do you propose for my clients who work a 32 hour a week minimum wage job (They won’t give them 40 hours because then they would have to pay insurance)and end up losing the job because they can’t afford to put gasoline in their car and the job is not on the bus line? They chose to pay their gas or electric bill and there was no money left for gasoline.
I think it is very easy for those of us who have money in the bank to pass judgment on those who don’t. The people who are worried about paying their Arkla and Swepco bills aren’t concerned with running into a suicide bomber on Southern Avenue. You know how that works, you can’t think of other things until your basic needs are met.
My oil addicted self, as you call me, fills up my gas tank less than once a week and keeps the thermostat turned way down. I haven’t flown anywhere in over 4 years.
As far as donating to the Group home, that’s a good thought. Sherri, are you talking about the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home? http://www.firstminden.org/giving.htm
HRB, you and your Republican buddies keep right on spouting this line as our economy continues to go right into the toilet. Sigh…
March 30th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
MaryS…I’m not a republican, but I am in the oil business, can you tell. Sounds like you need to get on a plane and take a vacation.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
One of y’all is gonna be cryin’ before dawn.
By the time MaryS910 gets back from vacation
and HRB switches party affiliation :), I’ll have a gameplan, or at least a suggestion, I think you’ll like where we can come together and make as big of a difference as we can or want.
I work with KTBS to help find homes for children through the Dept. of Social Services. It’s complicated to donate money to a state agency, but there are several organizations that help these children directly. Before I can recommend something, I need to investigate how the money would be used and get back to you. Will do tomorrow. Then, we can all decide if you want.
It would be so cool if we could find a way to help — all because some guy sold a fish on the internet. Ha…actually, it’s because you care.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I do need a vacation but we are starting a mandatory two month overtime project at work and all vacations have been cancelled. It seems the state error rate for food stamps (not Caddo Parish but the entire state)is too high and we’re looking at being punished by the Feds if we don’t improve it. We are having to review over 18,000 cases to see if there are any issuance errors. Errors are going to be made, especially in South LA after Katrina and Rita and with short staff all over the state but we all have to do 10 hours OT a week. Yes, we’ll be paid and ironically that money is from the surplus in the budget from not filling the empty positions that had already been budgeted. Go figure…
March 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
HRB, you made me realize the Asian arowana is endangered because people are starting to use FISH oil as an alternative fuel!
I agree with your observation that people don’t want to reduce their dependence on foreign oil because of the domestic inconvenience. I also think the mentality of some is, ‘Let’s use your oil first. Then when yours runs out from sharing with me, I’ll use mine.’ Notice I did not say WE will use mine. There will be no sharing at that point.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:02 am
We have personal experience with the great work done by the LA Methodist Children’s Home in Ruston and we make donations to them - they deal with both troubled teens (who have parents and a home) as well as kids with no families. Our now 20 yr old daughter lived there a year while experiencing some “growing pains” and their programs and people there are awesome.
Relating to the hiring freeze on the State of LA, I think many feel this long overdue. The headcount for the State of LA payroll is hugely bloated and money is spent very inefficiently and there is much waste. I wrote former Gov. Blanco (after I got nailed with that stupid “Stelly Tax”)and asked her to hire me as an auditor and to not pay me a salary - only a very small percentage of the money I could save the state as a result of my review of their organizational charts and related budgets (I could become a very rich man) — however, no response. I worked for the State Dept of Education many years ago and there were many incompetent people at senior management levels that should have never been “given” those positions.
However, I’m sure many state workers (i.e., the ones at ground level who actually do the work) are very frustrated, because there are way too many chiefs and not enough indians working for the state and, unfortunately, the ones who make the budget decisions are the chiefs (and they are not going to fire themselves). I’m sure there are many (like Mary) who are frustrated with the system as there are not enough people at ground level to get the work done and provide services that need to be provided.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:37 am
Sherri, I commend what you do. You try to go above and beyond and that is so refreshing. Thank you for having such a big heart. I’m so glad to hear that the BACA group is one of the 5 finalist for the Big Give. They do great work. Recently I have been intoduced to someone that works in CASA, and she seemed very geniune. It’s great to know that there are people out there that attempt to get to the truth about custedy cases. I have a friend that has had his daughter taken away by the courts based on lies. This has been a tragedy and a whole lot to an unjust system. I can tell you that if you hear what is happening I’m sure you would have a slight blood pressure spike. In my opinion there should be an investigation into alot behind the scenes. I would love to sit with you and talk in detail. With all of this I have seriously considered volunteering for CASA.
March 31st, 2008 at 2:42 pm
….i recently benifited from a few smart moves in the very fluid biddness of fish sales…im lookin to give back and invest….ill want to give to sherri a portion of my catch to go to the kids..and secondly get with HRB as that he seems a very straight to the point type of guy….not some one to play a board game with but someone that can lead me through the complex waters of the oil biddness…i only wish i coulda helped those kids hazel and jimmy..
March 31st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Ahh….it’s nice to come home and visit Sherri’s web site after a hard day of raping the earth of her resources.
March 31st, 2008 at 6:38 pm
This has to be one of the most bizzare, interesting threads in bloggism, don’t you think?
March 31st, 2008 at 7:14 pm
bloggism….not sure thats a word you could use in scrabble
March 31st, 2008 at 7:18 pm
True dat, Sis.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:23 pm
HRBseveralnumbersandletters, what do you know about Scrabble?
March 31st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
HRB …he dont have to know nothing about no scrabble game….hes in the oil biddness ,girl
March 31st, 2008 at 7:28 pm
black gold …texas tea…..its all about oil!!!
March 31st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I own a Prius and watch CNN and I came from the same gene pool as HRB90210 who drives a 450HP gas guzzler and watches Fox News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmfH1RsxWEc
March 31st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Lefty! Good to see you posting. I thought you got pinched.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
CT, you rascal! Thanks to your last minute purchase of those slightly used koi from the Bossier Civic Center, it funded an unexpected trip to my summer home in Sweden. Your “green” money is always good with me!