Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Ammo Encoding & Micro-Stamps

Hey folks,
Here are 2 papers with WWW.SCOPEny.org's position on the Micro-Stamp and Ammo Encoding. Please use them to their fullest advantages.

Ammo Encode

Micro-Stamp


Regards BPB

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Tea Party Repeal the SPENDING ACT of 2009


Historic Boston Tea Party,
Send a tea bag in an envelope, to the oval office,your Congressman or Senator to arrive on April 1st, 2009.
A stamp is a small price to pay to show your outrage over the plan.
Put a reminder on your cell phone, PDA or puter!!


Rick Santelli Rant against bailout
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/02/rick-santelli-chicago-tea-party-in-july.html

"Tea Party" info
Click here: Rick Santelli’s Chicago Tea Party

Now if you are thinking like I am, that homeland stupidity will show up at your door for placing a teabag in an envelope, then use this picture of an original tea stamp.


Print it out stuff it in an envelope and mail away!

Here is another stamp that gets our message across.

Governments spending has gotten out of hand. Especially when those of us who work have to endure sarcastic and job threatening comments from upper management.

Comments from some of the very people that will still be able to retire and collect large sums of cash till the day they die!

Regards BPB

Friday, February 20, 2009

Austin gun Rights Examiner

Another Brady hallucination: More guns, more ‘gun violence’ (Part 1)
Another-Brady-hallucination
recent USA Today article discussed pending legislation on the open carrying of holstered handguns. It also afforded the Brady Campaign’s president an opportunity to display his knowledge of the situation:

Says Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which opposes open-carry laws: "We don't want more people carrying guns either openly or concealed because the more guns you have in a situation, the more likely you are to get gun violence." [Emphasis added]
The following series examines various government datasets to test Helmke’s “more guns, more violence” theory.

Examining the 2007 Brady report card
February 15, 4:54 PM
by Howard Nemerov, Austin Gun Rights Examiner Part 1

Another Brady hallucination Part 2
In part 1, we cross-referenced 2007 FBI crime data and Brady report card scores, and found that the higher the Brady grade––more “common sense gun restrictions” according to Brady––the higher the murder and violent crime rates.

While this correlation impacts Brady’s credibility as a reputable source for policy advice, the FBI data cited does not directly correlate gun prevalence to violent crime rates. Fortunately, there is a dataset cited by Brady which addresses this issue.
February 19, 9:43 AM
by Howard Nemerov, Austin Gun Rights Examiner

2007-2008 Expenditures for the Conservation Fund (main account)

I have 3 new files from the DEC , one is a slide presentation and I'll upload that tomorrow on my blog. BPB
OK, as I told ya last night here are the files. You'll notice the text below is one of them.
2007 2008 Conservation Fund expenses.pdf

CF Expenditures

Conservation Fund 2007.ppt presentation

2007-2008 Expenditures for the Conservation Fund (main account)

Expenses
Division of Law Enforcement
Environmental Conservation Officer staff costs $14,967,915.61
Law Enforcement Dispatchers $21,825.14
Environmental Conservation Officers Academy $161,130.02
Environmental Conservation Officers supplies and contracts $942,414.60
Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources
Division-wide

DFWMR staff costs $20,723,804.21
Director's office travel, supplies, contracts $43,779.23
DECALS contract $1,800,000.00
Promote, administer and sell sporting licenses and habitat stamp $28,294.00
Issue deer management permits (outside of DECALS) $23.73
Expenditures for Conservation Fund Advisory Board members and meetings $20,806.50
Fish and Wildlife Management Board meetings $35,672.64
Bureau of Fish and Wildlife Services

DFWMR-wide vehicle charges, Central office supplies $497,472.15
Administer and sell special licenses $16,646.46
Investigation of wildlife mortality, pathology of wildlife anomalies $64,269.13
Operation and maintenance of Wildlife Resources Center $19,895.78

Bureau of Fisheries
Central Office oversight for fisheries program; statewide fisheries vehicle costs; fish pathology contract $474,566.04
Central Office oversight for statewide habitat protection programs $52,465.01
Central Office oversight for statewide wildlife programs $379,726.50
Control of sea lamprey in Lake Champlain $329.16
Coordination and administration of Great Lakes fisheries programs $6,589.79
Coordination and administration of statewide coldwater fisheries programs $8,739.09
Coordination and administration of statewide inland fisheries programs $7,540.83
Coordination and administration of statewide warmwater / coolwater fisheries programs $3,688.49

I FISH NY; fishing brochures; production of fishing regulations guide $127,588.01
Rearing and distribution of hatchery fish; operation of fish hatcheries $1,494,878.47
Supplies, materials, travel and equipment for Regional Fisheries staff $215,851.36
Temporary Service for Bureau of Fisheries $327,245.82
Travel and supplies for Salmon River Coordinator $3,887.51

Bureau of Habitat
Assistance with toxicants in fish tissue project $6,225.43
Development of watershed-based fisheries, wildlife, and habitat management efforts $16,799.61
Maintenance of Hale Creek Field Station and Central Office oversight of habitat protection programs $152,989.52
Supplies, materials, travel and equipment for Regional staff efforts - stream and wetland protection $33,053.47
Bureau of Wildlife
Bureau of Wildlife fiscal management; oversight for Habitat Inventory Unit $48,264.86
Central office oversight for wildlife program $35,119.09
Construction of new access sites $574.58
Monitoring and restoration of endangered species - Region 6 $9,266.17
Rearing and distribution of pheasants; operation of Reynolds Game Farm $252,175.16
State funds used to match North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) projects $20,576.11
Statewide coordination of game bird, game mammal, and nuisance wildlife programs $292,341.37
Statewide coordination of non-game wildlife programs $76,941.37
Supplies, materials, travel and equipment for Regional Wildlife staff $217,383.74
Surveillance of deer for presence of chronic wasting disease $1,052,753.43

Division of Operations
Division of Operaitons supplies, contracts, and travel in support of the fish and wildlife programs $1,897,299.94
Division of Operations - regional staff expenditures $962,619.17
Salaries for DEC's Bureau of Electronics staff $97,370.86
Other DEC support for fish, wildlife and marine resources programs
Salary and indirect for Regional Attorney $86,297.78
Contracts and supplies for Division of Information Systems $980,035.62
Salaries, contracts, supplies and travel for Division of Management and Budget staff $1,243,004.15
Salaries for staff in Division of Public Affairs and Education $254,776.35
Salaries for non-DFWMR regional staff $315,699.15

Return-A-Gift to Wildlife funded
Administer Project WILD $56,226.14
Development of reptiles and amphibians atlas $9,328.17
Development of updated breeding bird atlas $32,592.60
Natural Heritage program efforts to document and monitor rare species and communities $400,000.00
Management of Master Habitat Databank $14,828.12

TOTAL $51,011,587.24

This cyber copy made possible by BlackPowderBill






Monday, February 16, 2009

Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS)

Given the state deficit for 2009, and proposed deficits for several years out, repeal of the Combined Ballistic Identification System (CoBIS) is in order. It is too costly, has not provided the results that anti-gun groups said it would within the allotted time frame, and, in fact, has provided not even one prosecution for any crime under its provisions.

It has cost NYS taxpayers over $30 million in the time it has been on the books. Maryland State Police, who have a similar program, have called for its dismantling, as the cost could provide better benefits if used in other policing efforts. In addition, California’s former Attorney General, Democrat Bill Lockyer, after a study on nearly identical legislation in that state, declared such a program not technologically feasible. For more info on CoBIS see: CoBIS Report

Therefore, we, the undersigned, request that CoBIS be repealed, that the money thus applied be put back into the treasury, and used to offset the new bill(s) to force a renewable Pistol Permit, and fees associated with it, including fees to offset the state’s deficit in any given year.

Since it is known that such does not benefit the individual citizen, and in fact may cause undue hardship, including the loss of right due to the inability of many poor people to keep their permits based on these fees, thus leaving them more vulnerable to crime, and criminals, we ask that no bill be signed into law by the current governor, David Paterson, nor any future governors.

Name (please print)
Address
City, State
Signature

Saturday, February 14, 2009

SCOPE Legislative Report

The SCOPE Legislative Report has been updated and is available at
http://scopeny.org/ARCHIVES/SCOPE_Legislative_Report.pdf
New information is in red and bills that will most likely advance are highlighted in yellow. Please check the link often as we update it several times a week.
Ken Mathison, President
SCOPE, Inc.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Update License Fee increase

Here is the CFAB Proposal
CFAB Proposal

Fall Sportsmen's Association meeting with the Commissioner
Fall Sportsmen's Association meeting with the Commissioner

Meeting of Feb. 11, 2008
Sportsmen's Briefing comm. Grannis 3.6m file

Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 11:15 AM
To: NYSCCpresident
Subject: Update License Fee increase

Hello All

DEC has provided a breakdown of the expenses of the Conservation Fund. The report uses program names that would be confusing, so I have asked that it be changed so that the average person can read the report. When the report is worded differently, DEC will put it on their website and I will notify everyone about how to view it. Hopefully this will be done before the license fee increase proposal becomes an Assembly bill, so that you can see it before I ask you to support the fee increase.

Attached is the license fee increase that was prepared and approved by CFAB.

The CFAB figures reflect the need to cover the whole deficit and make the fund solvent for at least three years. These figures are without trout or pheasant stamps or any revenue from the Recreational Marine Fishing License (RMFL). At this time the Governor's bill has not changed; without a change that would place all of the funds from a Recreational Marine Fishing License into a separate marine account, it does not look like the RMFL will get support from those legislators from Long Island and New York City.

However, if the amendments to the Recreational Marine Fishing License bill do not include money for the Conservation Fund to cover the costs of implementing the license, I will have a problem with that, as the money we spend on hunting, fishing and trapping licenses should not be spent to implement the marine license. We should not support this without any reimbursement to the Conservation Fund, for expenses.

The proposed changes by those from Long Island and New York City have put a stop to the possibility of a combo license, which would have avoided the cost of two separate licenses for those individuals who fish both types of waters. The Recreational Marine Fishing License will be needed to fish the Hudson and Delaware Rivers and their tributaries for striped bass, shad and herring up to the first dams that prevent the fish from going futher upstream.

With the license fee increase proposal in place, I have asked Commissioner Grannis to make sure that the Trout and Salmon stamp in the Governor's bill be pulled. Commissioner Grannis said it would be.

Additionally, with the license fee increase proposal in place, we have withdrawn our proposal for a pheasant stamp.

To clear up some issues that I have received comments about:

~ the highest-ranking DEC people that are paid from the Conservation Fund are the Department heads, for instance, John Major. No one from the Governor's office is paid from the Conservation Fund.

~ The Conservation Fund went through a Federal Audit in 2006.

~ When figuring increases, only those licenses for legal hunting implements, seasons, etc. could be figured in.

~ I received a lot of comments about stamps. Maybe we should change the laws so that the stamps we already have would be considered licenses or permits. The stamps we already have are bowhunting, muzzleloader, duck, habitat/access.

~ I do have to agree that if they implement a trout stamp, next it would be walleye, then musky, bass, pan fish or anything else to raise money; and there was no guarantee that enough money would have been generated to run the fish hatcheries, or even the pheasant program.

~ The reason the NYSCC took a position in early January to support the stamps was to show the Governor that we were serious about saving the pheasant program, when I had been told by the Governor's staff person that they would not talk about a license fee increase. Later, after the Governor stated that sportsmen would work with DEC to come up with funding to make the Conservation Fund solvent to keep the pheasant program going in the future, I felt that stamps would not bring in the needed money and the only way to assure enough revenue was to work on a license fee increase, which Commissioner Grannis agreed to have his staff work on, with CFAB and the sportsmen.

Thank you.
Harold L. Palmer
President
New York State Conservation Council, Inc.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

DEC License Fee Increase proposals

Updated Feb. 20, 09 see link at bottom of article.
Subject: DEC License Fee Increase proposals To: NYSmuzzleloaders@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 8:59 PM

I attended a meeting this afternoon with DEC Commissioner Grannis and a herd of other reps from sportsman groups to discuss the budget shortage in the Conservation Fund (CF) and the various proposals on what to do.Attached you find the proposal from the CFAB (Conservation Fund Advisory Board) on license fee increases which are almost a given.
CFAB Proposal
The deal is that the proposed "Stamps" for various types of wildlife would be dropped in lieu of the fee increase.This is projected to clear up two years of Fund deficits and cover the next two years of projected operating costs.The only variable may be the "SALT WATER" license that seems to be inevitable and if implemented would add to the CF coffers.

Also in two years the "Baby Boomers" will be reaching that discount age and additional work has be done to address the shrinking revenue as a result.

Stay tuned and voice your opinion with your local groups/organizations.


Eric "GRIZ" Bratt NYS Muzzleloaders Assoc.

http://DEC Presentation

DEC License fee increase comments

OK~ I'm going to run a list of comments from Sportsmen. It might get a tad long but it is easier for me to track comments here than to follow all the emails I've been getting.
Ya know as they come in , I'll post them.
bpb
=============================
Feb. 15 2009
Re: [SCOPEny] CFAB~DEC updated information
Bill,
There's much to be said about the proposed license fee increases.

I personally don't have the confidence that all of NYS's hunters,fishers and trappers are being represented properly - and have many questions for the state's lawmakers, DEC commissioner, governor and others.

A complete financial report (like Pennsylvania) has never been made available to NYS hunters, fishers and trappers.
The last time a partial and cursory report was made available was in 2002 (in the fishing/hunting regs guide).

I've got a few questions and comments for now.

Today, if one were to buy all of the current hunting, fishing and trapping licenses the cost would be ~$4,700 (approx. four thousand seven hundred dollars).

If the proposed fees are passed, the future costs for all hunting, fishing, trapping licenses would be ~$6,300 (approx. six thousand three hundred dollars).

This equals an increase of ~$1,500 (approx. one thousand five hundred dollars) - that's an increase of ~33%.

Some of the individual license increases were as high as 100% and some licenses show charges where there weren't any before.

The resident sportsman license will be increased by 26% while the non-resident sportsman license will be increased by only 12%.

In the past, when we've been able to see where the money was coming from and where it was going (usually these two figures were shown as being exactly the same) part of the DEC's (re fish and wildlife) budget went towards En Con (aka Law Enforcement) approx. $15 million/year. It's my opinion that we (as hunters, fishers and trappers) shouldn't be paying for the entire En Con allocation. Yes we have lawbreakers but the biggest offenders are those who pollute our lakes, streams, rivers, air and the environment in general.

Why should we be responsible for the entire En Con (police) budget?

If the governor gets his way and increases the fees by ~33% then the state's contribution to the conservation fund should also be increased by 33%. Why should we be the only group who pays for wildlife protection?

In the future, we should all be demanding a complete financial report yearly from the NYSDEC as it pertains to fish and wildlife (rounded off to the nearest dollar. All income and all expenditures.

How the NYSDEC has been able to get away with this lack of reporting is beyond me. It sounds like someone has been asleep at the switch.

, , Frank
bcc conservationists' list

ps - ref. http://www.outdoorliaisons.com/licensefee.htm

===============================================
Suffolk County
NYSCC's proposed license fee increase

Folks: As you know, Harold Palmer, the president of NYSCC, has requested input, from all of the NYSCC's member organizations, regarding NYSCC's proposed support for a license fee increase. SASI (the sportsmen's/women's federation, in and for Suffolk County) held a general meeting, last night, Feb 6, during which is was unanimously voted that we WOULD NOT support or consider any license fee proposals, unless and until such time as there has been a complete and accurate audit of and accounting for Conservation Fund monies.
The last audit, according to my memory, was at least a decade ago and, if my memory is accurate, as to its findings, it indicated much mismanagement and slipshod accounting procedures. Nothing, in that vein, to the best of my recollection and that of others, who have been around and involved that long, has changed.

Gary Hungerford

Changes to Sportfishing Regulations for 2010

Follow the link to the list of waters to be changed. FYI:
I'm not in favor of creel limitis on panfish for the great lakes or river feed bodies of water.


http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/51001.html

Possible Changes to Sportfishing Regulations for 2010
The Department is currently considering the following items for the next round of freshwater regulation changes. Proposals will actually be finalized and made available for public comment during the late summer and early fall of 2009, and would become effective on October 1, 2010. At this time the Department is soliciting feedback on what may be proposed later this year.

Use the jump links to the right to find possible regulations for your County's waters.
To submit input regarding any of the possible changes being considered, simply send us an e-mail to fwfish@gw.dec.state.ny.us with the following subject line: Possible Freshwater Fishing Regulation Changes. To ensure we receive and can properly review your suggestions, you must leave the subject line as it appears on the e-mail, and be sure to indicate the ID # (s) of the regulation(s) you are remarking on. This will automatically be done if you use the email links provided after each suggested regulation.

Please send a separate email for each possible regulation you would like to make suggestions on!

Input will be collected through April 10, 2009

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco Run 4 congress

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 5:15 AM EST
By GLENN GRIFFITH, The Saratogian

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, R-Saratoga, Tuesday told a packed room of supporters, if elected to Congress, he will work to cut taxes for middle-class families, create jobs and keep the country safe from terrorists.

Read the entire story here
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2009/02/04/news/doc4988f6db1eb02288572540.txt