Ice out and spring approaches- Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris and the Whites
Wook serves up Buffalo NY greybeards Gamalon with Nori Bucci on geetar:
The funny side of Sabbath – WT
thee, how ya rock so hard?
Between the news on Exxon and SCOTUS and airborne pollution affecting remote national parks and wilderness areas, I was feeling the need for something uplifting and lighthearted; a palette cleanser if you will. Via Taunted by Waters comes this fly fishing video trailer, which has internalized the conventions of “new school” fishing videos and turned them on their head for comedic effect. It’s a good laugh.
Deer Hair Jointed Rapala Thing – fly & photo by Ginseng Sullivan
Driving home today, I heard the NPR report on Exxon’s appeal to the Supreme Court regarding punitive damages stemming from the 1989 Valdez oil spill. As usual NPR did a solid job on the reporting and I’ve transcribed some choice moments between Justice Scalia, Exxon lawyer Walter Dellinger and plaintiff’s attorney Jeffrey Fisher.
Dellinger initially claimed that Exxon was not liable for punitive damages under maritime law, as ship owners are traditionally not held liable for the captain’s actions on the high seas. This balloon was pricked by Justice Roberts, who noted that modern ships are constantly in communication with shore, and their owners, and that this is a far cry from the days when ships on the high seas were “a world unto themselves”.
Dellinger then claimed that the Federal Clean Water Act prohibited punitive damages from being brought. Justice Ginsberg, a civil procedure expert, gave him an apprent lashing over waiting 13 months after the initial damage award to claim exemption under the Clean Water Act.
Enter Scalia, throwing a life preserver to Exxon
Scalia: “You say you have other arguments?”
Dellinger: “When you look at the $3.4 billion already paid out by Exxon, there’s no need to add on punitive damages. Exxon gained nothing and has already paid dearly.”
Me, in car, yelling at the radio: “You paid one month’s worth of net profits; shut up and pay the remaining 3 weeks worth.”
Later, when the lawyer for the Alaskan Plaintiffs, Jeffrey Fisher, contended that the actions of Captain Joseph Hazelwood, who had been drinking on the job the night the Valdez ran aground, constituted neglect by the corporation. He had a number of arguments- that Exxon knew about his drinking and did nothing to remove him from command was a chief one. Also Fisher claimed that as captain of the Valdez, and Exxon classifies its tankers as business units, Exxon as a corporation was liable for his actions, the same way it would be liable if vice presidents or other executives committed negligent acts.
Again, enter Scalia
Scalia: “Well a janitor is responsible for an aspect; the question is how high up a person is and I doubt a captain is high up enough.”
Congratulations Justice Scalia, you won the 169% Dick Award for the month of February.
You can listen to the NPR podcast at the link above. It is the first podcast link on the page. The text transcript should be available by tomorrow.
Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he’s been given. But up to now he hasn’t been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life’s become extinct, the climate’s ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.
~Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, 1897
There’s a story in this morning’s Seattle P-I that, in light of this site’s recent environmental advocacy, only underscores the sad state we find ourselves in and the importance of some of these posts that, while impossibly urgent, may be a bit depressing. We don’t have a solution to that feeling, but with stories the likes of this, we certainly won’t be stopping anytime soon.
You may turn up your nose at farmed Atlantic salmon or shrimp raised in ponds in China if you’re searching for wholesome, safe foods. But do you eschew fish pulled from a remote lake in a U.S. national park?
Maybe so if you’re concerned about eating elevated levels of mercury and chemical flame retardants.
Some trout from secluded lakes in Olympic and Mount Rainier national parks were so polluted they reached unsafe levels for routine human consumption, according to a study out Tuesday.
“We’re looking at some of the most pristine areas left in North America that are under the protection of the national parks, and we’re finding some alarming results,” said Dixon Landers, a senior scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory.
The six-year investigation looked at pollution in air, water, sediment, lichen, conifer needles and fish in eight Western parks from Alaska to California.
Because the locations are rarely visited by people, the prime source of the pollution is from the air. Contamination from pesticides and flame retardants is believed to have more local sources, whereas the origins of mercury pollution are regional and global.
Mercury levels in some fish from Olympic National Park were some of the highest measured in the study, exceeding the 185 parts per billion standard that triggers warnings for people. The concentrations were well into the danger zone for wildlife that eat fish, including birds called kingfishers, otters and mink.
(thanks to Fat of the Land for the tip)
Livingston knows bass. He has caught a lot of bass for a long while, on flies and gear. Shallow water, deep water, heavy cover, bugs, flies and jigs; Livingston covers it all. From the strategies of the pros to the old time methods. He even talks about fishing pork rinds, soft plastics and small spoons with (yipes) a fly rod. In this book fly fishing is incidental to catching big mouth bass.
Bass on the Fly was originally written as Fly Rodding For Bass back in 1976. Livingston’s other titles include: Tying Bass Bugs & Flies, Venison Cookbook, Edible Plants and Animals: Unusual Foods from Aardvarks to Zamia, Cast Iron Cooking, Good Vittles: One Man’s Meat, a Few Vegetables, and a Drink or Two, Lure Making: The Art & Science of Spinnerbaits, Buzzbaits,Jigs and other Leadheads, and Poker Strategy & Winning Play.
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker ship spilled close to 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. According to Wikipedia,
“Both the long and short-term effects of the oil spill have been studied comprehensively. Thousands of animals died immediately; the best estimates include 250,000–500,000 seabirds, 2,800–5,000 sea otters, approximately 12 river otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles, and 22 orcas, as well as the destruction of billions of salmon and herring eggs… the effects of the spill continue to be felt today. Overall reductions in population have been seen in various ocean animals, including stunted growth in pink salmon populations. Sea otters and ducks also showed higher death rates in following years, partially because they ingested prey from contaminated soil and from ingestion of oil residues on hair due to grooming. Almost 15 years after the spill, a team of scientists at the University of North Carolina found that the effects are lasting far longer than expected. The team estimates some shoreline habitats may take up to 30 years to recover. ExxonMobil denies any concerns over this, stating that they anticipated a remaining fraction that they assert will not cause any long-term ecological impacts”
So, after polluting up to 300 miles of pristine shoreline, Exxon was sued in Federal court and ordered to pay 5 billion dollars. They appealed. And today, a mere 19 years later, the case is still in court — the Supreme Court — with Exxon attempting to weasel out of the now $2.5 billion owed to fishermen, landowners, businesses, communities and Native Alaskans harmed by the 1989 Valdez oil spill. That’s what is meant, I guess, by corporate responsibility.
Now excuse me while I puke.
Had a chance to catch Blue Mountain play at Smith’s Olde bar in da ATL this past Saturday night. They rocked the house and bitch slapped all the sucka MC’s, as always. New album should be coming out in June, so add four more months to get a realistic release date. Musicians are always a little too optimistic. We hit a techno club after the BM show because we knew some babydolls were located there. I just didn’t quite fit in with my polar fleece and all while being surrounded by fellas sporting the fly-collar/tie/gelmet ensemble. After 12 hours in yuppieville, I was ready to take the show back to Alabammy.
We have had a very good winter in terms of rain. In fact, water levels have returned to about normal winter levels. Life is indeed good. Turkey season starts March 15th…So now’s the time to release your inner Redbird. Soundtrack was provided by Drivin N Cryin’s Whisper Tames the Lion since it was left in the Polaris’ cd player. Cheap, cold bev’rages and venison sausage also made the lineup. What better way to spend the day than riding fire lanes, blastin’ shit up with assorted hand guns and shotguns while riding through swamps. And the dogs went apeshit as well. Just a kickass All-American day that would make even C.S. Lewis Jr. fill with envy. So with teh creeks and rivers blowing chocolate…..
Now, we ain’t ones to go looking wistfully over our shoulders sending half-cocked dreams out over greener pastures and all, but a friend just got back from Tierra Del Fuego and i can’t recall getting an email fulla pornofuckinggraphology quite like this.
Ever.
We’re speechless:
Dude, i’m super glad you included this shot, ’cause even tho you’re a pig fish magnet and all, it’s proof even studs get their ghey on from time to time:
‘possum ridge paralyzer recipe
3 lbs. ripe muscadines
2 lbs. sugar (approx.)
1/4 oz. package yeast
3 or 5 gallon churn
1 gallon hot tap water
Wash and look over muscadines. Place in churn and crush thoroughly. Pour hot tap water in churn. Let work for 10 days. Stir every couple days. Strain off hulls and seeds. Place back in churn. Add sugar (I usually add sugar to taste, usually a little sweeter because it will not be as sweet after it works). Add yeast. Let work of 14 days (sometimes takes a little longer). Stir everyday. Strain off wine. It will take several times of straining to get it strained well. Store in bottles or fruit jars in the refrigerator.
Git a jar. Find deck or porch and bivouac yourself there. Enjoy.
This morning I was clued into another one of Rep Renzi’s nefarious activities by Wingnut. According to Beyond DeLay and The Talking Points Memo, Renzi was involved in another scheme, involving FT Huachuca, his father’s business ManTech and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. By piecing together the TPM and Beyond DeLay reports, this is basically how the scheme unfolded:
After 9/11, FT Huachuca, the Army’s Intelligence Center, underwent a rapid expansion causing it to pump hundreds of thousands of gallons of water out of the aquifer that fed the San Pedro River, which is the largest free flowing (undammed) river in the Southwest. This is in violation of an agreement between the Army and US Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2002, the Army agreed to pay for replacing the water it had taken, which led some to worry that FT Huachuca would have to be closed.
Enter ManTech, a defense contractor where Renzi’s father was an executive Vice President and one of Renzi’s largest campaign contributors. If FT Huachuca closed, ManTech would be out anywhere between $467 million and $1.1 Billion in contracts. So in 2003, Renzi sponsored legislation that exempted the Army from its own agreement with USFWS, and apparently contained “hundreds of millions of dollars” in earmarks for his father’s company. The legislation was passed by Congress and signed into law in November 2003. Shortly thereafter, Renzi’s business associate James W. Sandlin bought the 480 acres of farmland along the San Pedro that became the center of the land swap scheme that led to Sandlin’s and Renzi’s indictment.
Arizona Congressmen Rick Renzi has been indicted on 35 Federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud and extortion stemming from an investigation that began with a 2006 FBI raid on his wife’s insurance business in Sonoita, Arizona. Following that raid, Renzi was forced to step down from the House Intelligence, Financial Services and Natural Resources commitees.
Laid out in the 26 page indictment is a land swap scheme between Renzi, James W. Sandlin of Sherman, Texas and Andrew Beardall of Rockville, Maryland, that is best summarized by an excerpt from the latest AP wire report:
Attorneys for Sandlin did not returns calls Friday seeking comment.
Summarizing this still developing story, we have a Congressmen on the Natural Resources commitee, partnering with a Texas land dealer who was in Renzi’s debt, to force/ extort a copper company into a land swap, purchasing Sandlin’s land in order to exploit copper claims on Fed land and send a nice kickback Renzi’s way. Presumably, the land swap was a form of environmental mitigation for the mining company.
This story leads me to wonder about what sort, if any, land swap deals are being proposed for the Pebble Mine site? Will some oily congressional rep be pushing a sweetheart land deal a silent partner’s way in the guise of environmental mitigation? Will the land being traded for be of equal biodiversity and ecological import or will it be some barren wasteland that could not come close to approaching the importance of the Bristol Bay watershed?
Perhaps we would all do our best to keep an ear to the ground for any suspicious rumblings coming out of the legislatures in Alaska and Washington.
With spring right around the corner…..
Take your kids, nephews/nieces, or the neighbor’s kid whose parents hole up all weekend watching American Karaoke. Take a friend. Take a coworker. Git them outside and on the water. Put ‘em on some bluegill. And most importantly, teach them to leave the water better than they found it.
This is my favorite little pan-fish fly. It doesn’t have a name. I’m sure it’s being made in mass by some Sri Lankans anyway. It’s cheap, easy to make, and works 169% of the time.
Hook (sizes 6-12), black rabbit for the tail, little flash in the tail, thread body, and those little dumbbell eyes. Slow strip it and watch their faces light up.
The flyfishing internets are deep into their annual long cold winter snipe fests, for all that’s worth, and man can people talk some shit.
But because Buster cares deeply for them anyway, a public service announcement:
Listen to this selection of Gene & Dean and imagine you’re banknote nuts-deep in the greatest steelhead riffle on teh face of this earth. Should you never hear from him again, you may well find his brains spilt and well soaked in a muddy paste of PNW crushed gravel dust and spruce bark road pulp. Tell my wife I love her.
Junior Brown should be on a stamp. Maybe they could make a new $25 bill and put his picture on it. He should at least have a strip of asphalt named after him — preferably in Texas somewhere, with tumbleweeds blowing across, and lizards licking their eyeballs, and at the end of that road is a cool bar where they keep the beer in huge tin buckets and after you’ve had about three or eleven beers, Junior Brown comes on and plays this song. That’s be great…. — thee
Ok, so we’re a few days late on this one (but hopefully at this point that’s no surprise). Some truly excellent news, liberally ganked from our good friend @ The Neil Creek Chronicles and worthy of spreading:
Because Buster likes good ties and good photos. Also it’s the depths of a northern hemisphere winter and Buster finds this downright cheerful. So enjoy.
Red Ghost – Tied by Glista – Photographed by Ginseng Sullivan
Recently, a certain Professional Fly Fishing Photo Journalist opined in Photography Bay about what it takes to “break into” commercial magazine photography. Here at Buster, we’re dedicated to bringing you the story behind the story and in what will surely be a breath of fresh air to our readers, our diligent backroom staff, who don’t get nearly the credit they should, deconstructed the interview to present you, fellow Americans, with an unvarnished view into the mind of one of our sport’s elite members, the Professional Fly Fishing Photojournalist.
As an introduction to our groundbreaking deconstruction techniques, here’s a side by side comparison of “What He Says” vs “What He Means”
He Said “What if you could have all the benefits, including international travel (for money), access to the best locations (for money) and the respect and praise of your peers, sometimes even for money, all while keeping your day job?”
He Means “What if you could have all the benefits, including international travel (on your dime up front and you might someday be re-imbursed if Wanda the afternoon receptionist Accounts Payable remembers your settlement voucher), access to the best locations (whatever exclusive “members only” club is being pimped in that month’s issue and the only reason you’re allowed in is because your doing a free advert for them) and constant backbiting and job poaching from your peers, sometimes even costing you the rent money, all the while still being able to say every night “can I start you off with some jalapeno sliders or onion rings?”
Now, onto the tip sheet, and please feel free to open up the spin doctored version on Photography Bay and marvel on what our dedicated research staff has uncovered.
1. Become an Expert on Something
My expertise is convincing people I am an expert and it helps pay my electric bill some months. I got my start by hotspotting small, easily pressured streams on the internet, and some editors suggested that by photographing them as well, I can get them overcrowded twice as fast.
2. Learn to Express yourself, preferably in writing
If you can’t do writing [this is a fantastic ironic statement, shouldn't it be "If you can't write"?] learn to express yourself visually. Find out what companies advertise in the rag you’re trying to get published in and drape yourself in their gear. Also, there are only two roads to getting that editor’s attention the very first time: you either impress him with the practicality of hiring you to perform a given task, or you blow him behind the dumpsters at the AFTA show.
3. Be willing to sacrifice artistic integrity to get the image that will work now
Many amateurs are unused to the pressures of needing an image by tomorrow and there are times you will have to “think fast” to get the rod’s logo in the shot and your photo may not be ideal, or even original, but you met the goal of commercial magazine photography- you kept the sponsors happy and the ad dollars flowing in.
4. Begin building an archive
The best and easiest way to satisfy a photo editor and get your first publication is to be able to immediately provide him with a host of on topic choices. This means you should have a minimum of 100 “grip and grins” and the easiest way to build up that store is to have your buddy catch one fish, then swap the fly out after each shot and change the angle slightly. I’ve done this, it works but make sure to use a fly selection that “pops”. Also useful is what I call the “Red Shirt Brigades” because nothing sells copy faster than a grip and grin or casting shot with an angler in a red shirt.
5. Know what the editor will want before he does
Magazines are cyclical, predictable and reject anything that is fresh and original. Look at past issues and try to recreate shot for shot what has been done before. This is all you really need to know.
6. Get Noticed
Build a website, participate in online forums and post your work. Remember, you’re whoring yourself out and get struttin’ cause Mr Franklin is lonely. Remember though, to keep it bland, safe and non-controversial, you don’t want to stand out too much and frighten subscribers or advertisers. Never take a stand on something because you don’t know who your prospective editors will be. Maybe you’ll get that big money call from Northern Dynasty for a propaganda job on how open pit mining improves habitat and you sure don’t want some informed, enraged attack on your new corporate overlords lurking out there on the internet.
Also by having a website with your own forum, you can troll for info from your members, then pass it off that you are the expert. You need to become the Ryan Seacrest of your chosen field.
7. Be Acceptable
Be safe, be boring, take no risk, and leave your teeth in a glass on the nightstand.
8. Use realistic equipment
Blah, Blah, Blah
9. Be professional
When you do get that first email or phone call, avoid acting like a big shot, because you’re not the Becks. The editor knows this. He knows you’d probably work for free and suck his cock for your first publication and that’s the attitude you need to get by in this business.
10. Never miss a deadline
I’m really just stating the obvious, but that’s the point of dead tree corporate media.
Size 1/0 TMC 202sp, bucktail goatee w/sparkle, pink & orange hackle, red chenille, flame marabou and a GP shellback. Last seen at the end of fairly well executed double spey on the morning of February 16th.
Anyone besides me see the artists’ commentary on symmetry here?
More of our reader based column Near Death in Real Life. From Sam in Missoula, MT.
Steve likes to drive fast. He was jet mechanic in the Air Force until they kicked him out.”They caught me driving an F15 across the ramp, I almost made it to the active. Then I would have been flying that bird for a change. The pilots have their own way of talking and since I don’t sound like a faggot the tower caught on and before I knew it there were SPs and helicopters all over the airfield.”
That’s Steve’s story. The other story is that he got booted out for getting too many speeding tickets and driving on a suspended license. Either way, he’s one fishy dude and he’s my best friend even if he does drive too fast.
I ducked out of class early that day and beat feet back to my house. Steve was already there and he was loading the last of my gear into his car. He said something about “burning daylight” while I grabbed a few beers and some cold cuts out of the fridge.
Thirty-five miles of highway, twenty miles of dirt road and only an hour later we were on the water. The river was high on the bank but wadeable if you knew the right places. After getting out to shake the bushes a few times we knew where to start fishing.
The salmonflies were out all day, catching fish was automatic. By the time the sun went behind the ridge my arm was sore. I sat down on a log, cracked a beer. I spent twenty minutes trying to get an up close shot of a stonefly, like you see in the magazines. No luck there. Steve tied on a caddis and a dropper and kept fishing until almost dark.
It happened when we were rounding the last curve before the turnoff to the highway. Six or seven deer stepped out into the road. We were going so fast that when we hit one of the deer the car sheared it in half, it’s hind quarters came through the windshield on the driver’s side.
The car augered into the ditch. Steve had blood and deer guts all over him. His face was purple and his eyes had already swollen shut. His nose was swollen too and there were blood bubbles coming out of his nosrils. His mouth moved but if he said anything I couldn’t hear him.
I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach. My right arm felt wet, I couldn’t move it. I looked over at Steve, he was unconscious. The last thing I remember seeing was the deer’s tail sticking straight up in the air and twitching side to side. Later I was told that I was throwing up when the fire fighters got there.
I woke up in the hospital the next morning. My right shoulder had been dislocated and my right hand was broken. My arm was in a sling, in a cast from the elbow down. I was told that Steve was in the ICU but should pull out of it after some reconstrucive facial sugery.
I met two nurses in the outdoor smoking area. I bummed a smoke from the blond. She guessed that I was in the accident with Steve, ends up they both work in the ICU. They assured me that he would be alright but it would be awhile before he drove a car again.
The next day, before I was discharged the two nurses from the ICU came down to my floor. They were getting off of a long shift and invited me out to breakfast. Breakfast turned into drinks and we ended up at the girls’ apartment. We continued drinking and before long the three of us were naked, drunk and high on pain pills. It was my first menaj and it lasted the rest of the day and into the night.
Get well soon, Steve.