Free Republic

By commissioning expensive and inefficient wind and solar electric generating facilities, India may have dug the grave of its own efforts to save the critically endangered great Indian bustard. Erected to avert a faux climate crisis, the so-called renewable machines and their attendant transmission lines are helping to drive one of Earth’s largest flying birds to the brink of extinction. Avian aficionados such as myself have long bemoaned prioritizing wind and solar technologies at the expense of endangered species. Yet, the relentless push for needless climate solutions seems to ignore this as “green energy” installations and avian fatalities increase in...

Royal falconers in search of bustards clash with tribesmen By Jan McGirk in Islamabad 17 November 2003 Wealthy Arab sheikhs are obsessed by the houbara bustard, a gawky bird that looks like a cross between a roadrunner and a pheasant. Its plump flesh can be eaten as an aphrodisiac, but the real thrill lies in watching the feathers fly when falcons home in on them. A curious two-way migration takes place at this time of year: tens of thousands of bustards arrive in Pakistan from Central Asia while hundreds of leather-hooded falcons, issued with their own passports, wing in on...

Senate OKs raise in pay for itself WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the fifth straight year, members of Congress will see a jump in their paychecks in 2004, with election-year salaries rising from the current $154,700 to about $158,000. The Senate, on a 60-34 vote Thursday, rejected a proposal to exempt senators from a cost-of-living increase going to all civilian federal workers and military personnel. Last month, the House, by a similar convincing margin, also turned back an attempt to deny lawmakers an automatic share of the COLA increase. "I think that our representatives of government deserve a pay raise consistent...