jdmidwest

Sounds like a good hunt. This system should freeze them out up north and the next few weeks should be grand. I bank alot of my time off till the last few weeks of the year and it is not because I like to spend time with the family during the holidays!

We all know that we will be losing the free TV in February so the FCC can free up some airwaves for other uses. I personally think that it is a scam, I will be losing TV in my camper and Radio broadcasts from my local stations on my battery powered radio in case the power fails. But the upside is that there is a startup company that is trying to blanket the US with broadband internet using these frequencies and there is a vote coming about on Dec. 18 whether or not they can do it. Looks like a good idea. Local telecoms have failed to offer any solutions in my area. AT&T will not go any further, Verizon does not cut it here either. Sat internet is plagued by the same problems as Sat TV, wind, rain, and ice black it out. At least this company seems to offer some alternative. Click on the link and let the Government officials hear your voice. M2Z Network support link, email your reps. Startup banks on making money from free broadband (AP) * Posted on Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:08PM EST * Add articles about technology to your My Yahoo! add to My Yahoo! WASHINGTON - For the past three years, a startup called M2Z Networks has been figuring out a way to blanket the nation with a free wireless broadband network to ensure all Americans have access to basic high-speed Internet connections. Along the way, the company has found support in powerful corners of Silicon Valley and Washington. It has attracted funding from several of the Valley's top venture capital firms. And it has captured the interest of Kevin Martin, the chairman of Federal Communications Commission, who is backing a plan essentially mirroring the M2Z proposal as a way to promote universal broadband. Finally, this month, the company was nearing a breakthrough. Martin pushed for a full FCC vote on his plan, which would set the rules for auctioning off the slice of wireless spectrum that M2Z wants to put its ideas into action. But opposition forces gathered steam, deferring M2Z's dreams for now. Led by T-Mobile USA, the nation's wireless carriers have been lobbying to defeat Martin's proposal, which they say would interfere with their own services. The Bush administration wasn't happy either: It urged the FCC not to proceed with an auction that would favor one company's business model. And some key Democrats on Capitol Hill called on the agency to hold off on controversial items — which would include the M2Z plan — until the Obama administration takes over. Facing such objections, Martin canceled the Dec. 18 vote on the free broadband idea. The proposal remains in circulation at the FCC, and M2Z is suing the agency to gain access to the slices of the airwaves that it needs. But now it looks like the company will have to wait until next year to know its fate. Although President-elect Barack Obama has not taken an official position on M2Z, he has said that wireless services could be one important channel for bringing broadband to all corners of the country. And that could yet be good news for M2Z. What's at stake, insists M2Z co-founder Milo Medin, is a "lifeline" wireless broadband network that would provide basic connections for people who cannot afford the premium services offered by the big phone and cable companies or live in places where those services are unavailable. "We Americans are creating a two-tier digital society," Medin said. "If you're not connected today, you're really at a disadvantage. But we can remove barriers that isolate people from the digital domain." It's not clear exactly how many Americans have no access to broadband. According to a survey conducted in August by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 57 percent of Americans subscribe to broadband at home. More people could get it, but choose not to buy it or can't afford it. One major advantage of wireless technology is that it could bring broadband to rural areas that the big phone and cable companies have abandoned as too sparsely populated to justify the necessary network investments. That's because it costs less to blanket large areas with a wireless signal than to lay down wires. Martin has proposed that the FCC auction a large chunk of airwaves to a company that would set aside 25 percent of the capacity for a free broadband service. Under his plan, the winning bidder would have to make that service available to 50 percent of the population within four years and 95 percent of the population within 10 years — or risk losing any remaining spectrum not yet being used. The concept, explained John Muleta, M2Z's other co-founder, is modeled after over-the-air television, which is available for free to anyone with a TV set whether or not they subscribe to cable or another premium video service. Founded in 2005, M2Z is a partnership between two broadband veterans. Muleta, 43, has done two tours of duty at the FCC. Between 1994 and 1998, he worked in the section of the agency that regulates landline phone companies. And between 2003 and 2005, he headed the wireless telecommunications bureau, where he oversaw policies on consumer wireless services and public safety radio networks. In between, Muleta held executive positions at PSINet, an early broadband provider that resold high-speed connections to corporate customers using facilities owned by the big phone companies. Medin, 44, was co-founder and chief technology officer of another broadband pioneer — (At)Home, which partnered with some of the nation's biggest cable operators to create the cable Internet market. Before jumping to (At)Home, Medin was a project manager at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., where he helped manage some of the early government networks that evolved into today's Internet. Although Muleta and Medin are based on opposite coasts — with Muleta in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and Medin in Silicon Valley — they share a common experience. Both worked at early broadband companies that relied on established telecommunications giants to provide the so-called "last mile" of network infrastructure needed to reach customers. And both of their companies landed in bankruptcy when their relationships with the phone and cable companies became unworkable. "The lesson learned is that you have to have the last mile in order to control your own destiny," Muleta said. "You need to have the direct relationship with the customer. Otherwise the company you rely on for that last mile will only let you survive only as long as it is in their interest." And that is where M2Z — which stands for "move transport to zero" and is also a play on the names of the founders' children — comes in. The company would build its own nationwide wireless network to connect consumers to the Internet, bypassing phone and cable lines. Muleta estimates it would cost $2 billion to $3 billion over a decade — plus the cost of the spectrum to be auctioned off — to build that network using new "spectrally efficient" technologies. Skeptics have questioned whether M2Z will be able to raise the money it needs — particularly in the current credit environment. The company has the backing of several prominent venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, although it won't say how much funding it has amassed. M2Z plans to deliver free wireless access with downstream speeds of 768 kilobits per second — roughly on par with a basic digital subscriber line (DSL) connection. To make money, M2Z would also offer a premium service with downstream speeds of 3 to 6 megabits per second for about $25 per month. In addition, because the company's wireless base stations will know where its users are located, M2Z hopes to partner with search engines, Web portals and online advertising networks to target local ads. One contentious component of M2Z's plan is its intention to offer a family-friendly network that would filter Web sites inappropriate for children — a proposal that has raised concerns among free speech advocates. M2Z has also run into fierce resistance from the wireless industry. As Medin sees it, the industry is "really nervous about an outsider coming in and wrecking the place" — upending a lucrative market for mobile services with free broadband. Officially, at least, much of the opposition is on technical grounds, especially from Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile. In 2006, T-Mobile spent $4.2 billion for a large chunk of spectrum — including airwaves right next to the frequencies M2Z is eyeing — in order to build its own "third-generation" wireless broadband network. T-Mobile argues that M2Z's proposal would create interference for T-Mobile's customers. Although a report by FCC engineers in October concluded that technical safeguards would prevent interference with other wireless services, T-Mobile insists there will be problems in restaurants, airports and other high-density areas where people congregate. Chris Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, the industry's leading trade group, is also concerned that the FCC would essentially design an auction for a valuable chunk of airwaves around one company's business plan. As a result, he said, the auction would not attract nearly as many bidders — and would not raise nearly as much money for the Treasury — as a true, open competition. Martin rejects this argument. The goal of the spectrum auction, he said, should not be just to raise as much money as possible for the government, but also to bring broadband to all Americans. Despite falling just short of an FCC vote on the plan, Muleta insists M2Z will continue its campaign to gain access to the spectrum it needs — before and after the Obama administration takes over. "I'm optimistic," he said, "because this idea that we need to change the way the broadband market is structured has received serious consideration."

I think there has already been a movie about it. Maybe a longer yard 3.

Click on the link from the MODNR and look at the summer 07 issue regarding oil. Much of SE Mo and areas north of I-70 contain beds that may contain oil and natural gas. I hope they never mine the lead deposits around the 11pt watershed.

I generally Catch and Release most stream fish unless it is an area where the Kentuckies are a problem. I will keep bluegills and longears from streams but not goggle eye. I keep a few trout in put and take sections.

In Al's defense, he comes from the Lead Belt region of Missouri. Mining in this area is not subtle at all. Huge mounds of chat from mines laced with lead that leaches out every time it rains and the wind blows. Huge pit mines for lead, tiff, iron ore, and other minerals that are left behind when the companies pulled out in the 50's and 60's. Most left mining structures to rust in hulks and lots of tailings. Runoff affects streams and groundwater, and will continue to do so for a long time in the future. Even bore holes were left with the casings sticking out 2 foot or more to trip over or to snag a boat floating over them. This is the ugly side of mining, and fortunately, regulations prevent this from happening now. There will be a possibility of some new exploration in our neck of the woods. A plant started up a few years ago at Brewer, Mo. that produces a material for Fracting oil or methane out of the ground. My assumption is that it will be used locally and not trucked off somewhere else. Missouri has beds of oil, methane, and coal left to be tapped. If oil prices rise again, no doubt there will be some exploration of it in Missouri. Now, in the bootheel, Uranium is being explored for mining as we speak. Here are some good papers from the MODNR website, the Geologic Column of Missouri The Geologic Column of Missouri

Wow, what should be a convicted felon serving life in prison for multiple murders and mayhem is walking the streets and trying to carry concealed. Just because he was 11 was no excuse. Looks like he would have made it if he did not list a bogus address on his app. I am against any new gun laws, we have enough already, but seriously, how can he even own a firearm of any kind? Where did the system fail? Published Dec 11, 2008 Arkansas school shooter restarted his life after prison in Cape Girardeau LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Andrew Golden, who sat silently as a juvenile judge sentenced him into state custody for the deaths of four students and a teacher in a 1998 Jonesboro middle school shooting, disappeared just as quietly after a federal prison released him at age 21. While co-defendant Mitchell Johnson found himself in trouble with police within a year a half of his release, Golden went to Cape Girardeau, registering for a driver’s license and beginning a new life. He caught the attention of police only once, after losing control of a motorcycle along a rural two-lane state highway in northern Arkansas this spring. But by then, he was Drew Douglas Grant, a student at a Batesville community college. Then he applied for a state concealed-weapons permit. "It just doesn’t sit real good," said Craighead County Sheriff Jack McCann, who investigated the school shooting a decade ago and knew Golden’s family long before it. "He hasn’t been in any trouble since he got out and hopefully he won’t be. But still, he shouldn’t be allowed to carry a firearm." Golden applied for the permit Oct. 7, noting the seven hours of training he had taken on handgun fundamentals, ammunition, self defense and the law, and target shooting on a firing range. A training instructor wrote that Golden passed the classes and deemed him "successfully and safely qualified" to use a semiautomatic pistol. But during the background check, regulators with the Arkansas State Police matched the fingerprints he provided to those taken after his arrest for the March 24, 1998, shooting at Jonesboro Westside Middle School. State police spokesman Bill Sadler said investigators also noted that Golden left off an address he gave a deputy investigating his motorcycle crash, as well as another. The form requires applicants to list all the addresses they’ve lived at in the last two years. Golden lists Ravenden, the small town where his father runs the local post office, as his home from April 2002 to May 2006. However, during that period just before his 18th birthday, a judge sent Golden to a federal prison on an undisclosed weapons violation. Golden listed a home address in Evening Shade, a town of about 500 people 55 miles west of Jonesboro. Sharp County Sheriff Dale Weaver, whose deputies help patrol the small community, offered state police a letter objecting to Golden receiving a concealed weapons permit. "I felt (that) somebody who had been involved in something of that magnitude, even if he was 11 years old, would have left some kind of emotional problems," Weaver said. However, in the time since, Weaver said he’s not aware of his deputies ever running into Golden while on patrol. Even if they did, Weaver said it was likely his deputies would have never remembered, as Golden now lives under a new name. "If you saw a picture of him when he was a kid and one now, I don’t know even if you were a relative and lived here at that time if you would have known him with the beard and so forth," the sheriff said. In 1998, Golden pulled a fire alarm at the middle school, drawing students and teachers into a hail of gunfire. Golden and Johnson killed English teacher Shannon Wright and students Natalie Brooks, 11; Paige Herring, 12; Stephanie Johnson, 12; and Britthney Varner, 11. They wounded 10 others. Both Golden and Johnson are named in a civil suit filed on behalf of the victims’ relatives to stop the two from profiting from the slayings. During a hearing last month over a deposition Golden is to give in the civil suit, his mother Pat Golden acknowledged her son took a new name after his release from prison. She also said he now lives alone and attends a school, but did not offer any other personal details. A Drew Douglas Grant attends the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville as a business services major in his third semester, said Tina Paul, a school spokeswoman. Paul declined to offer a birth date for the student. A telephone number on Golden’s concealed weapon permit was disconnected Thursday and a number in Evening Shade for him could not be found. Danny Glover, a Wynne lawyer representing Golden in the civil suit, did not return messages for comment. Sadler said Golden has 10 days to appeal the rejection after he receives the denial letter, sent by certified mail. Sadler said police investigators were examining whether criminal charges were warranted over the accuracy of the rejected application. In the time since Golden’s release, McCann said he’s spoken only once to Golden’s father, as process servers tried to find his son over the civil suit. McCann acknowledged many still bear hatred for Golden over the shooting, but said he knew of no threats against him. Still, McCann remains leery of the idea of Golden picking up a firearm. "It’s just hard to get over that he could have a concealed carry permit," the sheriff said. "I’m sure it’s legal, but I don’t think it’s right." © Copyright 2008, Southeast Missourian Story URL: http://semissourian.com/article/20081211/N...2129998/-1/news

Like most punishments, the money does not have a visible destination. The story does not clarify that, maybe the EPA, maybe to buy some carbon credits. It is apparently aimed at breaking up the factory farms. I could justify controlling the pollution from feedlots into streams, but methane gas buildup?

Clockwise top left to right, Little Dennison Single Reed circa 80's Southern Ill hand carved single reed, loud and raspy. Primos High Roller for the whistlers and the Woodies. Buck's Canada Goose honker. Quack Head Quacker Stacker double reed acrylic for softer tones. I have others including a larger Dennison call, Snow goose and white front call, and a goose flute. Its kind of like shotguns, you can't have enough. Best method, shut up, be quiet, let the decoys work, and let the ducks land! Hunted last Monday and they are already call shy.

Half-million jobs vanish as economy deteriorates Saturday, December 6, 2008 By JEANNINE AVERSA The Associated Press WASHINGTON — A half-million American jobs vanished virtually in a flash last month, the worst mass layoffs in over a third of a century. Underscoring Friday's dismaying signs of a rapidly deteriorating economy, General Motors announced yet more job cuts, and a record number of homeowners were reported behind on mortgage payments or in foreclosure. Wall Street found a silver lining, betting that so much bad news would force fresh government action to revive the foundering economy. The Dow Jones industrial rose 259 points. Staring at 533,000 lost jobs, economists were anything but hopeful. Since the start of the recession last December, the economy has shed 1.9 million jobs, and the number of unemployed people has increased by 2.7 million — to 10.3 million now out of work. Some analysts predict 3 million more jobs will be lost between now and the spring of 2010 — and that the once-humming U.S. economy could stagger backward at a 6 percent rate for the current three-month quarter. "The economy is in a free fall," said Richard Yamarone of Argus Research. "It is as if someone flicked off the switch on hiring." "It's a mess," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Businesses, battening down the hatches, are concerned about their survival and are cutting workers." Work force exodus President-elect Barack Obama said the crisis "is likely to get worse before it gets better," and no one was going to argue that point. Economists predicted the unemployment rate, which rose to a 15-year high of 6.7 percent in November, could soar as high as 10 percent before skittish employers begin hiring again. The jobless rate would have bolted to 7 percent for the month if not for the exodus of 422,000 people from the work force for any number of reasons — going back to school, retiring or simply abandoning job searches out of frustration. When people stop looking, they're no longer counted in the unemployment rate. The rate was at 4.7 percent just one year ago, 6.5 percent in October. Employment shrank in virtually every part of the economy — factories, construction companies, financial firms, accounting and bookkeeping, architectural and engineering firms, hotels and motels, food services, retailers, temporary help, transportation, publishing, janitorial and building maintenance, and even waste management. The few fields spared included education, health care and government. The United States — already in recession for a year, may not be out of it until the spring of 2010 — making for the longest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, economists are now saying. Recessions in the mid-1970s and early 1980s last 16 months. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent in 1982, still a far cry from the Depression, when roughly one in four Americans were out of work. Recession pains That said, more pain is certainly in store. Fresh evidence: * A record one in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage was either at least a month behind on payments or in foreclosure at the end of September, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. * General Motors, already pleading with Congress for billions of dollars to survive the month, said it would lay off an additional 2,000 workers as it cuts shifts at three car factories starting in February due to slowing demand for GM cars. President Bush, who used the word "recession" for the first time to describe the economy's state, pledged Friday to explore more efforts to ease housing, credit and financial stresses. "There is still more work to do," Bush said. "My administration is committed to ensuring that our economy succeeds." President-elect Obama said the dismal job news underscored the need for forceful action, even as he warned that the pain could not be quickly relieved. "There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis ... and it's likely to get worse before it gets better," Obama said. "At the same time, this ... provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people by rebuilding roads and modernizing schools for our children, investing in clean energy solutions to break our dependence on imported oil, and making an early down payment on the long-term reforms that will grow and strengthen our economy for all Americans for years to come." On a personal level, right before Thanksgiving, Mark Pierce, 51, who was executive pastor at a church in Mansfield, Ohio, was given a choice: get laid off or take a lesser job with a roughly 40 percent pay cut. His last day of work was Tuesday. "Anyone in that situation looks at it very personally," he said. "You say, 'Is this a cut across the board, or it just me?"' It's not just him. Employers are slashing costs as they cope with sagging sales in the U.S. and in other countries, which are struggling with their own economic troubles. In recent days, AT&T Inc., DuPont, JPMorgan Chase & Co., as well as jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., and mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. all have announced layoffs. Tom Solso, chief executive of Columbus, Ind.-based manufacturer Cummins Inc., said Friday the company planned to cut 500 jobs, or about 3.5 percent of its work force despite other cost-cutting moves such as temporarily shutting down plants, shortening work weeks and extending holiday shutdowns. Fighting for survival, the chiefs of Chrysler LLC, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. returned to Capitol Hill Friday to again ask lawmakers for as much as $34 billion in emergency aid. Workers with jobs did see modest wage gains in November. Average hourly earnings rose to $18.30, a 0.4 percent increase from the previous month. Over the year, wages have grown 3.7 percent, but paychecks haven't stretched that far because of high prices for energy, food and other items. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is now expected ratchet down a key interest rate — near a historic low of 1 percent — by at least a half-percentage point on Dec. 16 in a bid to breathe life into the moribund economy. Bernanke is exploring other economic revival options and wants the government to step up efforts to curb home foreclosures. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, whose department oversees the $700 billion financial bailout program, also is weighing new initiatives such as tapping the second half of that rescue money to ease the economic crisis. Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20, has called for a massive economic recovery bill to generate 2.5 million jobs over his first two years in office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has vowed to have a package ready on Inauguration Day for Obama's signature. The measure, which could total $500 billion, would bankroll big public works projects to create jobs, provide aid to states to help with Medicaid costs and provide money toward renewable energy development. For now that's cold comfort to Gary Cope, 33, who lost his communications job this week at Roanoke, Va.-based high-tech research and development company Luna Innovations Inc. Cope was called into a meeting first thing Thursday morning. The message: He was being laid off, for financial reasons, effective immediately. He left with a box of his belongings and about two months' severance. As Cope walked out the door, all he could think was, "I have a 3-year-old son and I'm a single dad." "I came home and did my initial pity party, then I got myself together, talked to my family and went right to work" rewriting his resume and sending it out, Cope said.

Ducks are not doing much here now and we need some rain to open up some new hunting. Sounds like a good time to do some trout fishing. I may head down Sunday and do a day trip. Gas just dropped to $1.49 here.

GM makes a fine truck and car, you really should not have to worry about that. I wonder how the Corp guys let it get so bad, or maybe they just started whining like some of the financial types did. I think what is hurting you is the media that seems to make it like it is impossible to get a loan for anything. It is hurting autos, RV's, and homes right now. I think the banks still have money to lend even though their investments have tanked over the past few months. Around here, Limestone quarries that supply steel mills, factories that manufacture aluminum and components for the cars are all laying off. I really think the major factor is all of the depressing media stories. If they would only show something positive sometimes, maybe moods would change. I guess that is why they call it a depression!

I think that the Speaker of the House is next in line of succession, but that spoiled the idea.

I believe it is Jello made with some kind of Liquor instead of water in the form of a shot glass or cube. You can carry the cubes and pop them in your mouth as you go. Never had one, I am a beer kind of guy.

I am almost to the point that I have seen everything. Why? Imagine what this will do to beef in the stores..... Proposed fee on smelly cows, hogs angers farmers By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Bob Johnson, Associated Press Writer Fri Dec 5, 4:43 am ET MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law. Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution. "This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do," said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal. It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog. The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and "all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them." Sparks said Wednesday he's worried the fee could be extended to chickens and other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported. "We'll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting gas in our cars. Other countries don't have the health standards we have," Sparks said. EPA spokesman Nick Butterfield said the fee was proposed for farms with livestock operations that emit more than 100 tons of carbon emissions in a year and fall under federal Clean Air Act provisions. Butterfield said the EPA has not taken a position on any of the proposals. But farmers from across the country have expressed outrage over the idea, both on Internet sites and in opinions sent to EPA during a public comment period that ended last week. "It's something that really has a very big potential adverse impact for the livestock industry," said Rick Krause, the senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation. The fee would cover the cost of a permit for the livestock operations. While farmers say it would drive them out of business, an organization supporting the proposal hopes it forces the farms and ranches to switch to healthier crops. "It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses," said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "We certainly support making factory farms pay their fair share," he said. U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Haleyville in northwest Alabama, said he has spoken with EPA officials and doesn't believe the cow tax is a serious proposal that will ever be adopted by the agency. "Who comes up with this kind of stuff?" said Perry Mobley, director of the Alabama Farmers Federation's beef division. "It seems there is an ulterior motive, to destroy livestock farms. This would certainly put them out of business." Butterfield said the EPA is reviewing the public comments and didn't have a timetable for the next steps.

Well his luck finally run out, got away with murder and goes to jail for a petty crime. I really liked him in the Naked Gun Series.

Ho, Ho, Ho and a Merry Christmas. Just what I needed today was an announcement that our business was going to 4 day work week, cutting payroll by 1/5 th. One layoff had already occurred and others are probably soon to come. The construction industry ground to a halt around here this summer and new home starts are almost non-existant. Many factories are laying off daily and the outlooks look grim. How is everyone else fairing on here?

A friend of mine brought this up today and it sounds great. Wouldn't it make the Democrats furious if: Bush resigned the Presidency, Cheney would become the President. Cheney makes Condolezza Rice the Vice President. Cheney resigns before the inauguration and Rice would become the first Female, Black, Republican President! That would make history.

Thank god it came to a head before the new administration comes in. Now my wish is for MO to add concealed carry while in the woods and on streams similar to Alaska without any special permits.

Sneaking around is perfectly acceptable, keep the kink to yourself in private. Don't bring it out in public and flaunt it just because you came out of the closet. It is a personal choice and you really should keep it to yourself. I really don't make heterosexual public displays. Don't ask, don't tell. And really, its un-natural. Women or men, I don't want to see it in public. And why make a big deal about it? Why should gays have special laws and rights just to deal with their kink? I use the word "kink" because, really, that is what it is. It is an alternate lifestyle.

Greybear, you are beginning to sound like Tadman. Bear Creek is too small to float, wading only, access can only be made thru private property. I meant peaceful as in no guns or drugs or litter. I will allow all the drunken naked women to come, no questions asked. I have in the past been violated by drug users and meth makers, poachers, and others that shoot at livestock. Those types have ruined it for all. When I was a kid, our property was open to swimmers, fishing, and camping. With the exceptions of a few streams and usually on Saturdays during the summer, Mo streams do not have a problem. I would not float them anyway on Saturday if I wanted peace and quiet and good fishing, because the crowd would still be there. It does not matter if they are drinking Coke or Budweiser, they are still bumper to bumper and ruin what I call a peaceful fishing float. If I do not want the company of others, there are plenty of other streams that I can go to and get away, even on a summer holiday. We really don't need any new laws, just enforcement of the ones we have already.

Who keeps a trout bigger than what will fit in a gallon bag anyway? Double check the head and tail attached on the transport thing, I think that only applies to the stream. In a park, you can filet the trout at the campsite and cook or put them in the cooler for transport home. I know you cannot possess your trout park trout in the parking lots below the parks along the trophy sections. Montauk has a freezer at the lodge you can store your trout in if you wish to go below and fish. Of course trout park fish and stream fish have different rules also.

I like the Toshiba laptops the best, better built, run better and cooler, last longer. I have also owned several HP and Compaq products and really have not had many problems with them either. Sony Vaios are usually a little higher priced with fewer options. Dells are usually at the bottom of the scale, hard drives like to fail in them and they like to run hot. Based on what your requirements are any should do fine. Make sure you get at least 2 gb ram, a good processor, (not celeron or duron), good size hard drive and 15" monitor and you should be good. If you find one with XP, even better.

Just found this story on the net. Imagine tying a 3" cahill! What weight rod would you need? How big was the trout in that era. Ancient insect imprint found in Massachusetts By Gene Emery Gene Emery Tue Dec 2, 2:36 pm ET NORTH ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (Reuters) – U.S. researchers say they have discovered what appears to be the oldest imprint of a prehistoric insect, made while the dragonfly-like creature was still alive. The imprint found at a rocky outcrop near a large shopping center in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, is believed to have been made by an insect about three inches long as it stood on mud some 312 million years ago. "It's not a dragonfly but picture a dragonfly-like body. We're looking at something related, maybe a mayfly. They have the same body plan," said the discoverer, Richard Knecht, a geology student at Tufts University in Massachusetts. The fossilized remains of a wing that may have belonged to the same species were uncovered two weeks ago. The imprint of the insect shows the thorax and abdomen, along with six legs, two of which may have moved slightly to create drag marks that hardened into burgundy-colored stone. "It's unusual to see a flying insect make such a deep impression in this muddy sediment," said Tufts paleontologist Jake Brenner. "We don't have many good body fossils from this time period with these early flying insects. The level of detail is really unseen in continental deposits." At the time the impression was made, insects and amphibians were common. Reptiles, the ancestors of the dinosaurs, were just beginning to come to prominence. Many of the fossilized remains of insects show only individual body parts, such as a wing left behind when a predator ate the rest. The impression of an intact insect "fills in the blanks of what we imagined," Knecht said in a telephone interview. The rock that contained the fossil broke off in Knecht's hands as he was trying to rediscover an outcrop that had yielded four-digit footprints of an ancient amphibian the day before. "It was a really lucky find," he said.

Good report. In all my years of fishing the 11pt, I don't think I have ever seen a redd. I find them all of the time on the upper Current. Nov. and Dec. are good times to be on the river, this duck hunting addiction has put a stop to it. In the 80's and early 90's, I was on the 11pt 4-5 days a month in the winter. Then, with duck season, all fishing has pretty well ceased for Nov. and Dec.