Free Republic

Fighting to save Freedom can be fraught with danger, and not just from the IRS: Local officers seized a bald eagle from the home of Greencastle, Indiana man, Jeffrey Henry and charged him with unlawful possession of the bird. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) received an anonymous tip that Henry was keeping the eagle in his apartment, an action punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Bald eagles have been federally protected since 1940 when Congress recognized the need to guard the species’ diminishing population. The “Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act” prohibits hunting,...

Man Rescues Bald Eagle, Could Face Jail Time An Indiana man was charged this week with the unlawful possession of a bald eagle, which the man says he cared for and rescued from the mud pit in which it was trapped. The former Department of Natural Resources employee, Jeffrey Henry, could face up to 60 days of jail time and a $500 fine as part of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, Yahoo reports: As reported by WISH News 8, Henry had the bird in his home for 11 hours after several weeks of caring for the sick animal...

The reward for information to help convict the person who killed four eagles near Granite Falls is now nearly $14,000. The Stillaguamish Tribe, Humane Society of the United States and Conservation Northwest are offering money to help state Fish and Wildlife investigators. The dead birds were found Jan. 9 floating in a lake and were apparently shot.

That's one way to increase tax revenue from the rich. If you can't get Congress to pass the Buffett Rule, why not just start taxing phantom income instead?They want their money, even if you don't get yours. The object under discussion is “Canyon,” a masterwork of 20th-century art created by Robert Rauschenberg that Sonnabend’s children inherited when she died in 2007.Because the work, a sculptural combine, includes a stuffed bald eagle, a bird under federal protection, the heirs would be committing a felony if they ever tried to sell it. So their appraisers have valued the work at zero. But...

This week’s winner of the you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up contest is undoubtedly a front-page story in this morning’s New York Times. When New York art dealer Ileana Sonnabend died in 2007, she left her children a fabulous collection of modern art valued at $1 billion. Her children have already paid $471 million in estate taxes on the collection, being forced to sell off most of it to meet the bill. (This is a beautiful example, by the way, of why estate taxes should be abolished and replaced with a capital gains tax on inherited assets—the collection, an artistic whole in itself, had to be...

This week’s winner of the you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up contest is undoubtedly a front-page story in this morning’s New York Times. When New York art dealer Ileana Sonnabend died in 2007, she left her children a fabulous collection of modern art valued at $1 billion. Her children have already paid $471 million in estate taxes on the collection, being forced to sell off most of it to meet the bill. (This is a beautiful example, by the way, of why estate taxes should be abolished and replaced with a capital gains tax on inherited assets—the collection, an artistic whole in itself, had to...

Obama administration proposes loosening rules against 'programmatic' killing of bald eagles. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service is proposing to loosen regulations prohibiting the killing of bald eagles for the benefit of renewable energy companies.The Heritage Foundation’s blog “The Foundry” reports on the latest instance of the Obama administration’s war on wildlife: A draft regulation first filed in April would allow businesses to apply for 30-year permits allowing them to kill bald eagles in the course of other legal activities. The length of those permits would be a six-fold increase over the five-year window allowed under current law.The USFWS explains...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of the Interior Department, is considering loosening regulations on the killing of bald eagles, the national bird of the United States, to accommodate the development of wind energy sources. A draft regulation first filed in April would allow businesses to apply for 30-year permits allowing them to kill bald eagles in the course of other legal activities. The length of those permits would be a six-fold increase over the five-year window allowed under current law. The USFWS explains at FederalRegister.gov: We have reviewed applications from proponents of renewable energy projects, such as...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken the unusual step of issuing a permit allowing an American Indian tribe in Wyoming to kill two bald eagles for religious purposes. The agency's decision comes after the Northern Arapaho Tribe filed a federal lawsuit last year contending the refusal to issue such permits violates tribal members' religious freedom. Although thousands of American Indians apply for eagle feathers and carcasses from a federal repository, permits allowing the killing of bald eagles are exceedingly rare, according to both tribal and legal experts on the matter.

PEARLINGTON, Miss. -- The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has posted a reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for shooting a bald eagle during the last week of March, possibly the 25th -27th) in Pearlington, Miss., about 40 miles northeast of New Orleans. The shooting may have occurred while the eagle was perched in a tree. Passersby found the wounded eagle and took it to the Pet Haven Veterinary Hospital for surgery. If the eagle recovers, it will be released back into the wild. Shooting an eagle is a violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle...

A bald eagle was killed by a train Thursday morning while enjoying breakfast on a stretch of tracks near Abderdeen, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Craig Koppie, an eagle coordinator with the federal agency, said the rare encounter happened in a flash. The bird was eating a deer carcass about 8:30 a.m. as an Amtrak train headed to Washington approached. An engineer spotted the bird and blasted his horn, but the eagle took off too slowly and was hit.

Ok, see this for a rest from Obama and Pelosi. Do a little California Mellowing out with nature. Mom Eagle comes back and forth feeding the two young birds.

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An American Bald Eagle shot in Tennessee earlier this year has a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving - it's flying again. But so does the family who rescued it. In late March 2009, the immature female eagle suffered multiple wounds from a shotgun and was found and rescued by the Hornsby family in the Cumberland County area of Tennessee (Daysville). Both the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency were notified by Cheryl Hornsby that she and her husband Jeff and son Jacob had found an injured eagle in their yard that...

BALD EAGLE — Last Friday morning, many commuters on their way to State College observed a strange event. During the thundershower on Feb. 27, some unseen force knocked a flock of Canada geese from the air near the Bald Eagle exit of Interstate 99 in Blair County. Richard Bishop of Tyrone witnessed the last few geese fall. “I was just coming under the underpass after exiting from I-99,” Bishop said. “We were on our way to Ohio when I saw this blur of something dropping from the sky. When we got closer, there were dead geese all over the road...

Hello Everyone, I happened to see a bald eagle's nest and rattlesnake yesterday, a very positive sight as it reveals that the bald eagles are recovering. You can see them here: http://www.flickr.com/dmathew1

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - An American Indian who shot a bald eagle for use in a tribal religious ceremony must stand trial, a federal appeals court has ruled. A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Thursday reversed a 2006 lower court ruling that dismissed a criminal charge against Winslow Friday, a Northern Arapaho Indian who has acknowledged shooting a bald eagle in 2005 during the tribe's Sun Dance. In dismissing the charge, U.S. District Judge William Downes of Wyoming said the federal government has shown "callous indifference" to American Indian religious beliefs. Eagle feathers are...

Bald eagle prepares to land on the nest, Kodiak Island National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA. Via: http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20040603.htm , Photo #1: 3500 x 2405 pixels (large), 2048 x 1408 pixels (medium, the above photo).

The bald eagle, America's national symbol since 1782, is expected to be removed from the federal list of the most threatened animals today in what many are calling the greatest conservation success story in U.S. history. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has scheduled a news conference about the eagles' status for this morning at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

Bald eagle nest found in Phila.PHILADELPHIA - Wildlife authorities have found the first bald eagle nest in the city in more than 200 years and hope the occupants will produce offspring, state officials said. The nest "demonstrates the resilience of this species and its apparent growing tolerance to human activity," said Dan Brauning, a supervisor with the state Game Commission, in a statement Friday. Officials are not disclosing the nest's exact location, to avoid disturbing it, but it is being closely monitored, the commission said. "We don't know if the nest will result in the pair successfully breeding and laying...

An American Indian man who shot a bald eagle on a Wyoming Indian reservation has been charged under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Winslow Friday, who says he shot the bird for use in a Northern Arapaho Indian religious ceremony, could face a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison if convicted, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday. Friday, an oil-field worker, argues that the shooting should be protected his religious freedom.