Read the article and then check out the comments!! This might just be the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen.

CA Fish and Game Commissioner

The land of fruits, flakes and nuts.

I was speechless after reading it, I still can't put into words how unbelievable this is to me.

People think Californians are crazy?

Did you read the article and those comments? I don't know how else to politely describe them.

The California hunters who sit on their thumbs about this and let the man get railroaded are going to regret it....
It's not like it's not a VERY clear warning.

Escalating a battle between hunters and animal welfare groups -- a conflict that could result in major changes to California's endangered species and hunting policies

-- 40 Democratic state Assembly members

Friday sent a letter to Dan Richards, president of the California Fish and Game Commission, demanding that he resign.

Lets get something straight, the key here is not Californians, it's DEMOCRATS !!! If they havent already, they are coming to a state near you soon, why, because too many dumb a zzs vote for Obama and other low life democrats.......

Unreal. Just simply unreal. The man broke no laws, did absolutely nothing wrong. Unreal.

What a bunch of crap. Whats next gonna be illegal for California residents to hunt out of state unless they abide by the laws of California.

Anti's have found a nice little red herring in this issue.

Because of the ridiculous voter mandated "protected" status of the Mountain Lion in California, many people mistakenly believe that Mountain Lions are somehow endangered.

Which, of course, they are not.

Quite a few people are seeing the hero picture of Dan and are thinking he killed a unicorn, and are reacting like misinformed idiots.

Even though i don't live in California any more, that hasn't stopped me from making some calls.

Frankly, I didn't "think" the people living in the Peoples' Republic of Kalifornia where/are crazy. I believe that to be "common knowledge"! The place is so dang liberal what would one expect?

Have you ever considered that they may be?

If they were endangered, they would be federally listed and other states couldn't open season on them.

Gotta stop reading the comments. They make me wanna go kick the dog....

Says the boy from back east

Dumbass's or endangered...grin


Too bad the dumbass's aren't endangered.

Common sense is getting out numbered!

He needs to tell the all GFY!

Not only that, but the Humane Society of the US is gaining influence in California Dept of Fish and Game. They started by donating dog food for the dept's K-9s and got a foothold. Now they provide much of the training and other funding. To a cash-strapped state agency at the bottom of the tax-dollar food chain, thye have become very influential. Just what we need - a bunch of anti-hunting and anti-fishing game wardens.

are you schittin me?

I believe he was speaking in confirmation of Californians being crazy, not ML's being endangered.

This has been posted here twice, but until it came out with the "California Crazy" title, nobody would read it.






He already did.


The letter sent by California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom to Dan Richards...


February 27, 2012

Mr. Daniel W. Richards
President, California Fish and Game Commission
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1320
Sacramento, CA 95814
President Richards,

Thank you for more than 4 years of service to the people of California as a member of the California Fish and Game Commission. Unfortunately, recent events make it clear that you cannot continue in any capacity on the Commission. (California wildlife official in hot water over mountain lion hunt, San Jose Mercury News, February 17, 2012) I must confess to a personal interest in this issue above those of my current office. As you may know, my father, Judge William Newsom is a long-time mountain lion protection advocate and past president of the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation. Additionally, I have personally worked for the protection of these majestic animals and their habitat.

While not in California at the time, your actions call into question whether you can live up to the calling of your office. Since 1870 the Commission has worked to manage the wildlife resources of our state. As president of the commission, I am sure you understand that merely complying with the conservation laws of California is not the standard by which the Commission or its members are measured. As is stated on the Commission's website, your actions should be in the "best interest of the resource and truly reflect(s) the wishes and needs of the people."

I do appreciate that you did nothing illegal in Idaho, but it is clear that your actions do not reflect the values of the people of California. In 1972, Governor Ronald Reagan signed legislation banning the sport hunting of mountain lions in California for 5 years. That ban was twice renewed before the voters of California passed Proposition 117 in June 1990.

I'm sure I needn't remind you of the many challenges facing California and the important work ahead for the Commission. Your continued presence on the Commission is a distraction from those important issues.

As such, I am prevailing on your sense of civic service to respectfully request you resign, effective immediately, so we can move on to the pressing issues facing our great state.

Sincerely,



Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom






The letter put out by Dan Richards.
(Bless you Dan, you speak for so many of us!)

Good for him and the sensible people in California...you guys sure have more than your fair share of dumbasses Harry.

Gag a maggot

Thanks Keith.
You know, I've defended California's avid sportsmen for a long time, much to the monotony of many here.
I wake up, drive to work, come home to my mountain home and really don't submerge myself in the liberal, treehuggin bullsh*t that pours out of California's liberal urban cesspools.
This uproar really pissed me off....badly.

I love where I live and the hunting and fishing that I'm so fortunate to have at my doorstep.

When I read those comments, and they are in every major newspaper in this state, my blood just boils.
I could truly throw in the [bleep] towel right now, this whole debacle just makes me sick to my stomach.
I'm getting a serious desire to dump this place ASAP., only it ain't that easy.
I'll have enough time on the books in August to retire.
My wife is just so attached to family here that I'm not sure I could convince her to leave.
One of my best friends moved to Western Montana a few years ago and urges me to go.
He is a hunting & trapping fool that most here couldn't compete with, so he tells me that even though I'm a Californian I'd fit in too.
I apologize to all those that have been right about this place all along.
I'll be trying to cling to my roots until the time is right.

You are a bunch of good folks and I hope I can be welcome as a neighbor some day.

You guys know what needs doing.

Harry you would be welcome anywhere. It is hard to believe people can be that stupid, but they exist everywhere. I'm not sure they will be smart enough to handle a real problem when it arises.

G*d, what a bunch of idiots.

The comments below the article were unbelievable. These are the same people who advocate murdering the unborn, er, fetuses.

Wow those are some screwed up folks. Must have to be a facebook perp to log a comment..lucky for them I am not on facebook....

Salmonella, Harry, We're not on a first name basis, but I Just wanna wish you the best.

Sad a guy like you has had this happen where you live.
Good luck what ever you eventually decide to do.
Hard choices.

Neither am I, my friend.
If I were I would have cut loose on those sh*tpiles...

Steers and Queers... rule in California!

There is one thing to consider here, we are reading the comment section of newspapers conservatives no longer read. Should you find a comment section on an internet news site, I would be surprised if it showed the same level of liberal idiocy.

Here is the same article in the Santa Cruz paper, SC by the way which is as liberal as liberal gets. Here we give back as good as we get in the comment section.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_20066209?source=most_viewed

I like his response.

He should have added a picture of him flipping them off or him with the lion.



Unlike Sal, I live close to the liberals () but I am in the country so I do not see them until I have to drive into a bigger city.

It's a war boys, quit riding those who decide to stay and wage it.

wow , that is going to far to ask someone to resign because of pursuing something legal , i was in california for 3 months in 1984 made me sick then ........

that UCLA guy has some good comments!

Anyone can call

Contact Gov. Brown 916-445-2841 and tell him you support Commissioner Richards.

Contact the California Fish & Game Commission 916-653-4899 and support Commissioner Richards.

I'm not sure why some think we sit around and do nothing, outnumbered is outnumbered.

i am calling tomorrow myself, thanks for the number , i dont have to look for it now

You too huh? Well once you leave you forfeit the right to complain. Well, when you get there, you can tell em you knew one who didn't give up.

I am Californian by birth. I have and use my hunting license. I am trapped by debt and family for the next few years at least. i shall fight the fight until I cannot fight any more. Then I'll move out and fight some more.

This is hunting today. Gun ownership tomorrow. Motorcycles/atvs/cigarettes next. Pedophile reclassed as "Younger attracants" soon afterward unless we fight for our culture and our country. The dumb majority goes along with the Hollyweird crowd so we must speak up. If reason doesn't work on them then we must get hot babes and hollywood hunks as out poster children. Then we can get some recognition.

I live in California, we have mountain lions in my area, when they have problems such as eating our livestock mountain lions get eaten, they are actually pretty damn good. [bleep] em if the bleeding hearts can't let us do what we need to do to protect our property.

Shoot em, shovel em, shut up.

They sure as hell aren't endangered, in fact they are too numerous for the proper ranges they need, this causes them to get too close to people and their animals which is not good.

I'll do my part, I see no reason I should have to call a state hunter to do what I can do,

just sayin.

I guess that Californians have decided that their laws apply to their citizens no matter what state they happen to be in or what that state's laws happen to be. If he shot a deer in Texas, would he have to wait until it was deer season in California to do so? Why does this whole situation not surprise me?

Ronald Reagan was the first to ban the hunting of Mountain Lions?

Wow.

I will make a few calls and send some emails. I hope the game commissioner prevails but see little hope for California. The votes are in the cities and that's where the idiots reside.

I hate to say it, but yer doomed.

Guess this proves the "think" can be taken out of this threads title

We think it's full of crazy people????

Hah.. That ship left port about 50 years ago..

No, not Californians, liberals who live in CA.

Bark I'm on your side. I went to California once expecting to hate the place. Wife wanted to visit her g-father before he died. I went under duress.

I discovered that away from the cities there are some awfull good folks there but there just ain't enough of them to outvote the liberal city dwellers.

I know it must be hell on you having to watch a place you know and love go to the devil because of outside forces you have no control over whipping up on the good folks.

I hope you all can change it but I don't think the odds are good in your favor.

The voters in Austin, Houston and Dallas give us fits too.

Ain't that the living truth.

mt. lions are a warm fuzzy for the velcor wearing save the planet group not reconizing they are a very efficient predator.
A long time ago, talking to a arizona game & fish officer about california and it's policy of lions. Ariz does get visits from california game and fish guys, seminars, and so on. It was the common concensus between the calif guys and arizona guys it was only a matter of time when lions started munching fluffy the poodle and people, which is happening from time to time here and there. Not to long ago a young lion was treed at a golf course in prescott, darted, then killed. A huge outcry from california transplants about killing the poor kitty.
Now a few years ago i attended a arizona game and fish meeting where they were discussing lions. Much changed these days from the old days on how you can take them. BUT i still can get a tag for about 14bucks which is good for a year which allows me to pop a kitty. But i am not allowed to shoot a kitty with cubs or a lactating female. Asked az game and fish about this on how you can tell she is lactating at 100yards. He laughed and said 'HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN ARIZONA?" He said carry a shovel and if an error was made, the worms got to eat too.
We have had a number of incidents in recent years within arizona between humans and the big cats. I am pretty sure there are several big toms living in the city limits of prescott. But the response would be different here if confronted by one. Excepting if you were a transplant from another area.
I remember coming accross a guy up near williams a couple of years ago in his cute little helmet, pants etc riding a mt bike in prime lion country. Told him he ought to rethink that, he looked kind of like a slow moving deer. Don't think he understood, and he was unarmed.

I have went to california since the 50's, and it was a wonderful place. Not so much any more. Those urban populations centers control the state. In the outlying areas it's God's country, filled with a lot of nice folks. That are always under the gun from the wingnuts in the big cities. I tell people it is a combination of too much dope for too many years, and floride in the water.

Your proving the OP's point, Barksalot

California looks at all of us who live here as her subjects and believes that what ever is illegal here is illegal for us to do anywhere, sort of the way the Fed feels about you earning money outside America or using drugs. O maybe it isnt only CA.

Dan Walters ,Sacramento Bee article
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/29/4298896/dan-walters-california-legislators.html

"Mountain lion hunting in California was first banned by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1972 in five-year increments."


Interesting factoid!

And RR was democrat at one time as well...the guy wasn't perfect.

Anybody know what the population of lions in Cali was in 1972?

I just called the governor of CA, the CA Fish and Game Commission, my state senator, and my state assemblymen, and gave them my support of Dan Richards legally hunting mt lion in Id. If they were democrats, which all were except my assemblyman, they got a real earfull of my disgust with them.

Stand and fight, leaving does nothing as they will be everywhere eventually, and frankly already are, just in different numbers.

One of my friends fairly high up in the CA Dept of Fish and Game told me about 20 years ago, after the woman running along a bike trail was attacked and killed by a mountain Lion, that she was literally eaten alive. ie, she was still trying to fight off the lion after it had settled down to eat her. Real Majestic animal right. The public was never told the gruesome details and I always thought that was a huge mistake, this happened just before we voted in the famous proposition to ban mt lion hunting. What it is going to take is for someone's little kid to get eaten, not fluffy, that's not enough for the wacko's here.

I have had no less than two CA Fish and Game Wardens tell me to shot a lion if I confronted one. Just don't try to remove it, or take a picture of it. They know the lion population is out of control in CA, that's one reason our deer herds are down, but remember, real environmentalists dont care about game animals, because they hate hunters, etc, that's the real reason they love the inability to hunt lions in CA.

But for all you CA bashers, funny how you didnt win your battle on the reintroduction of the wolf.......How's that working out for ya?

That's just a reminder, CA has no griphold on environmental idiots. That's why if you vote democrat, look yourself in the mirror, as you are an enabler somewhere in the US, the dems may not be after your guns yet in your state, but when they win in the other areas, then they will be.

That's exactly why you have to stand and fight for your rights. Moving to a friendlier area only postphones the overall outcome.

Me, I hate liberals, and environmentalists everywhere in the US, not just here in CA. Your attitudes should be the same.

Reading about mountain lions in California over most of my lifetime has shown that the statewide population of lions was never less than about 5,000 lions, even back in the 1960's, when there was still a decades-long $50 bounty on them. A few rugged souls even made their livings back then as lion hunters.

There is a lot of wilderness and otherwise very rugged and remote country in California. There have always been, and always will be plenty of lions.

The population may now be as high as 15,000. Under the current CA law, when Fish & Game recovers the body of a lion, they have to pay to keep it frozen. When they get enough to justify the expense, they have to rent a refrigerated truck and deliver the cats to a lab in Sacramento.

There autopsies are performed and the stomach contents are cataloged, looking for fluffies or other domestic animal remains. This is supposed to justify, or not, the number of depredation permits that are issued.

Talk about a waste of taxpayer money, in a state that is broke. Most of the smart and reasonable game wardens prefer that they not even hear about a dead mountain lion or it's circumstances.

I am told that one ranch eliminated three lions in the past year, one within fifty feet of the ranch house containing young children. I doubt that any of those three show up in the game department records. SSS is the recommended procedure for problem lions.

The same environmental idiots protecting the mountain lions now want to see the wolf brought back to California. Good grief.

You arent supposed to see a lion in broad daylight, if you do, it means the numbers are extreamly high in that area. That's why smart wardens understand, that lion needs to be eliminated as the population is too high. But that really brings up the stupidity of allowing average citizens vote on a subject they know nothing about: Population dynamics in the wild. The whole purpose of Fish and Game Divisions within states is to manage the populations of the wild animals for their benefit,and well being, and yes, quality of life. Something the concrete society (city slickers) know nothing about, yet demand it of 10 year olds who take the CA Hunters safety course. Your question should be, what does population dynamics have to do with hunter safety? Nothing, which is why the enviro's demanded it be on there, to flunk young kids taking the test. Population dynamics is the job of fish and game, not the voting public of California. But CA is so screwed up with their Proposition system. All it is now is a way to bypass the assembly if they cant pass a law, then they rile up the liberals and pass it as a Proposition. That was never the original intent of the Proposition system.

I used to tell this to people in other states ALL THE TIME.

Get a hold of your initiative process before it [bleep] you. And get a law passed that prohibits wildlife laws being passed by initiative.

But I'm from California, and I shouldn't tell people how to live in their native states.. So I just keep my mouth shut now.

That was the Federal Gooberment forcing wolves down our throats, not state law passed be the citizenry.

And who lobbied the Feds? I get that you ran from CA and now feel warm and fuzzy like liberalism is in your rear view mirror, but by your own admission it is on the way to the street in which you live. It is really counter productive to aim your dire at a state, mor so than liberalism everywhere.

In the 50's and early 60's CA was conservative, so what makes you think it can't happen to your state?

They've shot 4 lions in the Genesee arm of Indian Valley on depredation permits. Ask kids up that way how those 4H projects are working out.

Mountain lions killed after killing puppy and goats
Alicia Knadler
Indian Valley Editor
2/1/2012

There have been several mountain lion sightings in Indian Valley recently, causing some concern among ranchers and residents alike.

A mountain lion was taken under depredation permit Monday, Jan. 23, after it killed a border collie puppy over the weekend in Genesee, and another two lions were killed Wednesday, Jan. 25.

The puppy was taken right off a well-lit porch at the home of Brian and Heather Kingdon early Saturday evening, with adult dogs around and the owners inside watching television.

Another lion that killed goats on a neighboring ranch was still being pursued, according to local Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Warden Kyle Kroll.

Van Probst, well known for his lion tracking abilities and work with landowners and local game wardens, killed the lions.

�I think there�s two yearlings and a female,� Probst said of the first three lions seen in the Genesee area.

He thinks maybe the lion�s offspring have been recently forced out on their own and know where the easy prey is.

Kroll, local game warden formerly of Gilroy, agrees with Probst about there being more than one lion hunting in the Genesee community.

He�s awarded about six to 10 permits a year to residents with lion-versus-livestock problems.

The encounters do not surprise Probst, for he knows the lions will follow the deer down off the mountainsides in the area during periods of bad weather.

He�s received several calls lately about mountain lion sightings in Indian Valley.

�There�s a lot of them out there,� he finished.

Residents have spotted one mountain lion above Williams Valley Road, one at Stampfli Lane near Crescent Mills, and at Christmastime one along North Valley Road, about five miles from Greenville.

No humans have been killed by mountain lions in Plumas County, according to history recorded by DFG, though there have been a few close encounters reported for the region.

One such encounter related by former warden Bob Orange back in 1994 involved a fly fisherman in Yellow Creek who batted a lion about the nose with the tip of his fishing pole while he yelled for help and slowly backed up to where his friend was fishing.

Heather Kingdon reported that another lion was killed Thursday, Jan. 26, bringing the total number of Genesee lions killed under depredation permit to four.

One lion was killed with the puppy in its mouth, and the other three were killed upon returning to the goats they killed in her father�s barn.

�My father has a guard dog,� Kingdon said. �However, she was no match for three to four lions at a time.�

Warden Byron Hernandez, who issued the depredation permits, refused to comment personally, instead directing questions to his department�s official information sources.

Several contacts were attempted, unsuccessfully, before press time.

Specially protected

Mountain lions are not endangered or threatened, yet they are a specially protected animal and may not be hunted without a depredation permit.

The hunting of mountain lions was banned back in the early 1970s, when the population was low.

In the 1990s, the population had recovered enough that the state tried to reopen a limited hunting season, Kroll said, but it was stopped by litigation from animal rights groups before opening day.

Not only was it stopped, the groups pushed for legislation and a vote of the people that basically ended the ability to legally hunt lions in California.

It was mainly voters from Los Angeles and San Francisco, Kroll added, because of the money animal rights groups spent on television advertising.

To restore a managed lion population, like deer, bear and other game animals, it would take another vote of the people.

�There is a healthy population right now,� he said.

Stay safe

The DFG website offers the following tips and information:

�Do not hike, bike or jog alone, especially when mountain lions are most active: at dawn, dusk and at night.

�Keep a close watch on children.

�If an encounter occurs, do not run. Face the lion, make noise, wave your arms and try to look bigger. Pick children up. Throw rocks or sticks.

�If attacked, fight back, and call 911 immediately.

Don�t attract lions

�Don�t feed deer or other wildlife that may be prey.

�Avoid planting shrubs deer like to eat and trim brush to remove hiding places.

�Don�t leave small children or pets outside unattended, and don�t let pets outside at dawn, dusk or at night.

�Bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, skunks and other potential lion prey.

Depredation permit needed

It is illegal to hunt or kill mountain lions in California, unless one has a depredation permit issued by a DFG warden, or if it is an immediate threat to human safety.

Mountain lions that threaten people are killed immediately. Those that prey on pets or livestock can be killed after the required depredation permit is issued.

Trapping and moving mountain lions is not an option, due to potential conflicts with other lions, which inhabit more than half of the state, wherever deer are found.

To contact the DFG for a permit, call the Northern California North Coast Region office in Redding at 225-2300.



Depredation permit statistics

From 1999 to 2009, there were 2,117 depredation permits issued statewide. Of those, 54 were issued in Plumas County, 37 in Lassen and 16 in Sierra.

In DFG records dating back to 1972, the counties with the highest numbers of depredation permits issued were Mendocino, with 635 permits and 317 killed, and El Dorado, with 339 and 111 killed. Plumas, in comparison, had 106 permits and 49 killed; Lassen had 83 and 43; and Sierra had 30 and 16.

There has not been a verified mountain lion attack on a human since January 2007, when a 70-year-old man lived after being attacked while at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Humboldt County.

Forget your Midol today barksalot?

Maybe in your state you dont have the US Fish and Wildlife Service, BLM, and the US Forest Service, but out west, we do, and guess what, not just in CA, but in all the western states, they are overrun with greeny environmentalists.....welcome to the club.

You Ca. guys are an emotional bunch, I do give ya that, ceptin you completely missed the point.



http://mountainlion.org/abouthistory.asp

This was out a month of two ago. Insane!

At last, some perspective in today's SF Chronicle:


Killing mountain lions has long been state's role

Tom Stienstra

The most charged debate over hunting ethics and fair chase in California since the mid-1990s is much the same as it was in 1996: How can someone shoot a mountain lion out of a tree?

In a similar debate that year, voters defeated Proposition 197 by a ratio of 58 percent to 42 percent, blocking a proposal to allow mountain lion hunting in California.

That is almost the same ratio, 56 percent to 44 percent, as of late Thursday of the poll at www.sfgate.com/polls, which asked, "Should Daniel Richards be removed as Fish & Game Commission president?"

Richards hunted and killed a mountain lion in January in Idaho, where it is legal. Since a trophy kill photo was published at Western Outdoor News (WONews.com), a debate has been raging about whether Richards is fit to serve as Fish and Game Commission president.

Many are asking: How are we even in this position?

The answer lies in the shifting of population to cities over the past 100 years and, with it, the balance of power. With that shift has come a change in how lions are perceived and managed.

In 1907, the Legislature ordered the Department of Fish and Game to place a $20 bounty on mountain lions. In 1914, it was raised to $30 for females and in 1945 raised again to $50 for males and $60 for females. In addition, 18 counties paid a bonus on top of it. The bounty was ended in 1963.

In the 57 years it was in effect, state bounty money was paid out on 12,461 mountain lions.

The program was so important to maintaining the health of deer herds and protecting livestock that in 1948, Fish and Game hired five full-time lion hunters and 40 trappers to help implement it, according to the late Dick Weaver, a Fish and Game wildlife scientist and historian.

The mountain lion was classified as a game mammal in 1966. After 35 were killed in the 1970 hunting season and 83 in the 1971 season, the "shooting-them-out-of-a-tree" debate sparked public outrage.

For the first time, the focus swung to hunter ethics and fair chase and away from damage caused by lion predation.

During the 1971 season, Gov. Ronald Reagan signed a moratorium. In 1990, Proposition 117 made the ban permanent, winning 52 percent to 48 percent in a split defined by urban versus rural voters. The public upheld that decision in 1996 with Prop. 197.

While lions are abundant, and not threatened or endangered, that ballot initiative declared the lions "a specially protected mammal."

Even with the ban, 2,157 mountain lions were killed from 1990 to 2009 through depredation permits and for public safety, according to the Department of Fish and Game.

Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicle's outdoors writer.
SF Chronicle


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/01/MNGI1NF199.DTL#ixzz1nynAyfN9

And a better one from a columnist with the Sacramento Bee

Dan Walters: California legislators show their hypocrisy over hunting issue
Share

By Dan Walters
[email protected]
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012 - 10:36 am
Dan Richards, who chairs the California Fish and Game Commission, is under fire in the Capitol because he killed a mountain lion in Idaho and posed with his trophy for a picture that was later published on a hunting publication website.

Forty Democratic legislators signed a letter to Richards saying he should resign. "Your actions raise serious questions about whether you respect the laws of the people of California and whether you are fit to adequately enforce those laws," the lawmakers told Richards. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom later joined the chorus.

So let's get this straight.

First of all, Richards is not Dan Richard, who chairs the state's High-Speed Rail Authority and has more than enough controversy of his own.

Back to Richards, the Fish and Game Commission chairman.

Mountain lion hunting is illegal in California, thanks to a ballot measure approved by voters in 1990. It is, however, not illegal for mountain lions to hunt human beings, as several attacks attest.

Nor is it illegal to hunt mountain lions in Idaho, and Richards' trophy was perfectly legal. "I'm glad it's legal in Idaho," he told the Western Outdoor News website.

So Richards appears to be guilty only of offending the sensibilities of the Legislature, whatever they may be.

This is the same Legislature that offends the sensibilities of most Californians, according to a recent Field Poll, because lawmakers habitually ignore important issues, carry bills of self-serving trivia, help special interests, and manipulate their schedules to maximize their incomes.

This is the same Legislature that didn't react when one of its members was caught by police with a prostitute in his car, parked alongside a busy Los Angeles highway, or when another crashed her state-issued car while driving recklessly, injuring two people.

More recently, this is the same Legislature that didn't respond when a member was nailed for shoplifting, or when another carried a loaded pistol into an airport security checkpoint.

As for Newsom, a politician who had an affair with his top campaign aide's wife shouldn't moralize.

Let's dig a little deeper.

Should any political figure who does something legally elsewhere that is illegal in California also resign?

Should an official who legally hunts any animal or catches any fish elsewhere that's protected in California be censured? Should one who legally bets on basketball in Reno be required to do penance in California?

Same-sex marriages are still illegal in California, although that may, thankfully, change soon. Would it be improper for a gay or lesbian legislator to legally marry in another state?

The letter to Richards is the sort of hypocritical, politically correct claptrap for which the Legislature has become justly infamous.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/29/4298896/dan-walters-california-legislators.html#storylink=cpy