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You may not realize this, gentle reader, but this blog, this Orange Juice Blog, has been in the forefront of defending the mighty and endangered pachyderm for several years now, ever since we helped force the (then) Dave Ellis-dominated OC Fair Board to drop elephant rides. (Remember that?)
So. Paradoxically, even though we tend to be harshly critical of national, state, and MOST local Republicans, the Orange Juice is a pro-elephant blog. We even shared this celebrated video when it came to our attention how the international IVORY trade and its attendant POACHING is seriously threatening the great species with EXTINCTION (while funding sundry terrorism.)
Well now our friends in Sacramento are doing something about it! The following came from the National Resources Defense Council, care of our commenter “Even Steven.” How will YOUR assemblymember and state senator vote on this crucial legislation?
Dear ****
Over 120,000 NRDC Members and activists have taken action to pressure the Obama Administration to crack down on illegal ivory across the country — but right now, there’s a special opportunity to rein in California’s ivory market.
The California State Assembly is about to vote on Assembly Bill 96, which would ban all ivory sales throughout the state.
If this legislation passes, California would be one of the first states in the country to ban ivory sales and become a leader in the national fight to end the U.S. ivory trade, which is fueling the brutal killing of African elephants abroad.
Please help stop the elephant slaughter by telling your State Assembly Member to support AB96 and shut down California’s ivory trade.
Although it’s technically illegal to buy and sell ivory from freshly killed elephants, the sale of older ivory is still perfectly legal in much of the U.S. — including California.
And since it’s so difficult to distinguish between new and old ivory, the state’s ivory market, the second largest in the U.S., has continued to skyrocket. In fact, the proportion of ivory offered for sale in California that is likely illegal has doubled in the last eight years.
This new state legislation will close the loophole in the existing state law that has allowed the illegal ivory trade to flourish.
The truth is, elephants simply can’t wait. Every day, 96 African elephants are heartlessly killed for their tusks.
That’s why it’s so critical that you make your voice heard in Sacramento right away. Tell your State Assembly Member to stop California’s role in elephant poaching by voting Yes on AB96. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Rhea Suh
President, NRDC
P.S. You can do even more to help by calling your State Assembly Member and asking them to join you in supporting AB 96. Find your Assembly Member’s phone number here.
Well, the Orange Juice with our political savvy can let you know a little more than that. Turns out the bill comes from Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and only needs a majority to pass which should be easy; but still it would be nice if SOME Republicans (which is all the OC has now) would vote to protect their own mascot. And so far all Republicans have either voted NO or “boldly abstained.”
So far it has passed, overwhelmingly, through the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife – but with all Republicans voting no or abstaining. Who does the OC have on that committee? None other than the gleamy-pated Matt Harper (south HB, Newport, Costa Mesa) who voted no on the bill. Figures Matt would get himself onto the Water Committee, doubtless to carry some more of it for Poseidon. But why does Matthew hate elephants? Ask him at 916-319-2074.
Next stop – any day now – is the Appropriations Committee, where our county is represened by THREE assemblycritters:
- Ling-Ling Chang representing some of our northernmost cities (916-319-2055)
- Irvine’s Don Wagner who just lost a bid for State Senate to our pal John Moorlach (916-319-2069)
- and Santa Ana’s Tom Daly who may as well be a Republican given the minimum-wage-destroying bill he’s pushing right now (which I will write about soon. 916-319-2068.)
All ye who care about the mighty and endangered pachyderm, pester the above fools. Vern out.
What kind of a subhuman cretin would vote against outlawing the ivory trade?
And this reminds me of an exchange from “White Hunter, Black Heart”:
Pete: You’re either crazy… or the most egotistical sonofabitch I’ve ever met… and for what — to kill one of the rarest, the noblest creatures that walks the face of this crummy earth… and in order for you to commit this crime, you’re willing to forget about all of us and let this goddamn (film) go down the drain.
John: You’re wrong, kid. It’s not a crime to kill an elephant. It’s bigger than all that. It’s a sin to kill an elephant. You understand? It’s the only sin you can buy a license for and go out and commit… do you understand me? Of course you don’t. I don’t even understand myself.
A single elephant is worth the whole damn State Legislature – and then some.
The opposition is nothing more than ideological extremism carried to it’s logical, ugly conclusion.
I think I posted this before, but when you said “elephant” and “Legislature”….Well, this never gets old! .. The former post was the one by S.Gross from National Lampoon, but that was evidently taken down from Google Images….any allusions to “Democratic supermajority” are…..
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eOPBY8p5Ijg/URgTg7KAQ9I/AAAAAAAAEMk/q0S8th9HI50/s1600/blind-man-elephant-funny.gif
(credited there to ecocatlady.blogspot.com, unsure if that is creator ?)
Thanks for the coverage Vern. This needs to be done. You’d think Republicans would have a soft place in their hearts for these grand old pachyderms….anyway. Californians are up for leadership in this matter! Let’s show’m ivory is not worth elephants’ extinction!
“Santa Ana’s Tom Daly who may as well be a Republican given the minimum-wage-destroying bill he’s pushing right now”
You mean the one Cunningham says is good for the working poor?
The same. I saw your comment, I linked to the Cunningham tomfoolery; and I think it’s gonna need its own OJ story very soon.
The “intellectual dishonestly” is palpable. But predictable. How many Chamber members pay minimum wage?
*Apartied? Slavery? Elephant maltreatment? LGBT Legal Killling? Necrophilia? What next are the Republicans going to support……A Sam the Sham and Phaorahs revival?
or OK…..they will probably go for the Rick Wakefield Greatest Hits Grammy Award Show?
*Rand Paul, Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee….bring nothing to the party either. A Gideon Bible in one hand and Remington 870 in the other…….probably will sell well in the certain parts of the south……but we doubt it will go that far in Illinois, Ohio or Pennsylvania.
You’ve never been in downstate Illinois, western Pennsylvania or southern Ohio, have you?
I have, and those States tend to have very large urban centers that balance the “parts of the South” dynamic in States that are, well, truly Southern…Alabama, Mississippi, etc.
Or sometimes just balance within themselves – visiting Dad in PA, I read a local columnist’s reference to the Commonwealth’s vast rural expanse as “Pennsylvania…Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburg in the west, Kentucky in between..” ! I hope to travel more next trip to test that.
No, no — it’s “Pittsburgh in the west, Philadelphia in the east, and Alabama in between.” But I guess “Pennsylbama” didn’t work for “Orange is the New Black.”
*Probably time to call for a voice vote: Yeah Republicans or Nay Republicans? It will probably take an entire city…..rather than just
a village in 2016. Little doubt that PA will go for Hillary and Ohio and
Illinois will follow suit.
Q. Why do elephants have trunks?
A. They’d look pretty stupid with glove compartments.
How many antique pianos, scrimshaw pieces, canes, pistol grips, on and on and on, will be needlessly destroyed? This Bill is simply going to drive the possession of antiques and collectibles out of state, by anyone who’s at all smart. It will have next to zero net effect on the already illegal ivory trade.
NO ONE with any morals deals with illegal ivory in this country anymore. The ivory that’s already in possession has come from legal sources and this bill would make the mere crime of owning an antique into a crime. Should you die, your heirs wouldn’t be legally able to transfer ownership of it either. That’s a taking, without due process.
If I own (and I don’t) legal ivory scrimshaw pieces that were purchased as an investment or as materials for making scrimshaw, this would effectively make all of that investment a crime. When that individual has done nothing actively wrong, NOTHING!
Read the Bill instead of the BS piece from NRDC. They can’t in any way substantiate their claims. If you can, then show me. So far I have not seen any….
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0051-0100/ab_96_bill_20150107_introduced.pdf
“The ivory that’s already in possession has come from legal sources”
How can you tell?
The Bill as presented, AB 96, would make you a criminal for trying to sell that Ivers & Ponds, upright studio grand that Grandma willed to you, even tho you have no place to put it, I&P has been out of business for a very long time and that 3/4 ton piano is a beautiful classic that sounds like a $30,000 grand made today. That’s going to hel elephants how??? NOT!
This is a totally agenda driven BS Bill foisted as a “wave maker” by NRDC. It is complete and utter redundant BS! It is already illegal by federal law to import new ivory. So WTF does the state of CA think it’s doing when it injects itself into crap like this and makes criminals of those who are simply trying to liquidate estates????
There are ways to scientifically determine origin of ivory, but the state in it’s infinite wisdom thinks it better to create more criminals and steal more property from it’s citizens… REALLY?
WTF ARE THEY THINKING?
Vern, you would kill for a piano like that and I know it! BUT NO…you have this bright F’ing idea that you are somehow saving elephants by backing this pile of fecal matter bill….pull your head out, please.
Ivory keys do not represent more than 20% of a musical instrument. Go ahead and sell grandma’s old piano. Go for it.
Well there’s a modification, on that 20%…
That certainly wont cover scrimshaw pieces, some of which are worth thousands of dollars a piece and have NO documentation as to it’s providence.
It’s still BS redundant law and NRDC lied about it’s need.