Good.

There has been a strange mixture of news over the last couple of weeks.  Let's start with this unfortunate story.  Recent USA TODAY coverage (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/23/bear-kills-hunter-...) indicated that the deceased sport hunter, Austin Pfeiffer, was just a 22 year old kid when he and his sport hunting partner traveled all the way from Ohio for a ten-day sport hunting trip for moose in Alaska.  The article goes on to report that, according to his employer's website, Pfeiffer was a job site foreman, skilled tree climber, lift operator, and all around handyman with Dolce's Tree Service in Mansfield, Ohio, and local Ohio news reported that Pfeiffer worked at both a tree service and a taxidermy company and had been married less than two years.

Other news reports indicate Pfeiffer and his sport hunting partner killed a moose Saturday night; but, left the carcass unattended until the next morning before returning to field dress it, at which point Pfeiffer stayed behind to continue butchering up the moose while his sport hunting partner ferried loads of its meat back to their camp.  Upon returning to the kill site, Pfeiffer's sport hunting partner apparently encountered, shot, and wounded a bear; but, Pfeiffer was already dead at the scene.  According to a National Park Service spokesperson, "There was no evidence that he was carrying a firearm or deterrence with him at the time, so he was unable to defend himself."  After discovering the body, Pfeiffer's sport hunting partner then called the air taxi service that had flown them in for the sport hunt.

I personally don't know many 22 year olds who can afford to both be married and travel all the way across the continent for a ten-day, aircraft-catered, trip to hunt moose, just for sport, in the wilds of Alaska, especially if their current means of support really does only consist of working for a tree service and a taxidermy company.  I can certainly do all of that now; but, that wasn't the case when I was a 22 year old.  Perhaps he had other sources of income.  However, I did know, even at that young age, that leaving your kill unattended, overnight, in bear country, will guarantee you'll have company if you try return in the morning.  You may not see or hear or even smell them; but, they'll be there.  Unlike a 22 year old kid from Ohio, millions of years of evolution have trained them; they're very professional; they don't necessarily think you're cute; and, by the time you return the next morning, they'll be convinced that whatever you left behind now belongs to them.  Over the years since I was 22, I have also come to recognize that it's disrespectful to waste what's left of North America's original wildlife legacy, whether it be a moose or a bear, merely as a bloody stage prop for some kid's sport hunting escapade, regardless of whether or how he can afford it.

In other news, welcome news this time, the Washington Post reports (https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/09/26/william-pe...) that a "Montana judge ruled Friday that William Perry Pendley, the effective director of the Bureau of Land Management, had failed to get Senate approval and had stayed beyond the limit allowed under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998."  This ruling not only makes the infamous Pendley justifiably unemployed; it could also also invalidate his actions, as well as raise questions about the actions of acting officials throughout the Trump regime.  Bye, Felicia.

More lemnas bread, many of us were relieved, but also a bit surprised, when the Trump regime backed off efforts to open work on the Pebble Mine site in the Iliamna area of Alaska.  Two new Washington Post articles by Juliet Eilperin explain how, this close to an election, the Pebble Mine got to be too hot to handle.  One of the articles, entitled In secret tapes, mine executives detail their sway over leaders from Juneau to the White House (https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/09/22/pebble-min...), sheds light on how "top executives who are trying to get federal approvals for the project  ...wielded their political influence, getting access to the Trump White House through Alaska's governor, and making donations to reward some lawmakers while punishing others."  And, the other article, entitled Alaska mining executive resigns a day after being caught on tape boasting of his ties to GOP politicians (https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/09/23/pebble-min...), relates how mining executive Tom Collier, CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, boasted in secretly taped conversations that he had leveraged his ties to Republican officials to advance the Pebble Mine project.  Yup, that could certainly be too hot to handle this close to an election.

Ms Eilperin's reporting is both sad and relieving; but, in combination with another article, it has given me  an idea.  A recent article in Inc. entitled Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Call This Man Their "Hero" and "Role Model" (https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/warren-buffett-bill-gates-call-this-m...) quotes Buffett as saying, "He is my hero.  He is Bill Gates's hero.  He should be everybody's hero."  So, who is old man Buffett talking about?  Chuck Feeney, of course.  Who is Chuck Feeney?  Well, if you don't know, I'm glad you asked.  Chuck is a guy who spent his life making a multi-billion dollar fortune in small shops and then gave it all away  ...to worthy charities.  So, what's my idea?  When we finally get rid of the Trump regime and clean up the Department of Interior, NPS, and Congress, let's not just let the Pebble Mine issue sit there festering and waiting for the next bunch of crooks to come along.  Let's designate all of that area north and west of Iliamna a national park, Chuck Feeney National Park!  It would come with an already predetermined park mascot, the Wood Chuck!