Judd may be a bit effected but shooting wolves in the back and leaving them for dead for sport is still BRUTAL.... sorry not ready to sing the praises of Palin for legalizing this... and wtf is up with her offering monetary award for the paws of wolves?

What do you think the wolves do to the other animals? They kill them...brutally. In fact, wolves are one of those things that make nature brutal. They're trying to help the population of the game animals by controlling the wolf population. I would assume the paws are to prove you killed the wolf, right? Ashley Judd is way out of her depth taking on Palin on what is absolutely her home turf in every meaning of the term.

I agree that Judd better know her stuff and have her information attacking Palin on her home turf.

But you just compared animals predators who eat for survival who live on survival of the fittest for thousands of years in natural occuring ecosystem to humans flying around in helicopters shooting animals for sport and trophies? you're kidding me with that right?

And dogs, man's best friend, are basically wolves, domesticated wolves... dogs with their good nature and family orientation and loyalty all from wolves. Wolves are considered among the most family oriented animals in the wild and have taken humans into their family fold.

I don't know what the paws are for? maybe a trophy and a monetary award... Palin apparently believes she has to give financial incentive to these people to actually shoot nature's animals for sport... pretty ridiculous?

The Asians are killing hundreds of thousands of sharks per year, the Ocean's biggest most demonized predator... They serve shark fin soup in China so so perhaps them catching them in illegal wired fence meshes bringing them on board cutting off their fin and them dumping them back in the ocean is ok... bcs they're natural "demonized predators" of the ocean?

Did you even read the article? They shoot them for population control -- same as is done with many other large predators like bears. The money is to encourage people to do it and to compensate them. It's not a game. The wolves aren't endangered, the wolves' prey is. Bringing in the paws is probably to claim the bounty and to prove you killed them and didn't just shoot and wound them.

Just re-read Malkin's article... it gives generalities about population control. However, I saw Judd and the guy who heads that organization on Larry King and they seemed to refute some of what was said there and showed a video of a wolf being shot from a helicopter, pretty brutal stuff.
I'm no fan of Palin's sorry don't buy the hype that she's the next great thing just bcs Hollywood liberals don't like her.... I saw the Couric interview and she couldn't answer a simple question, Couric was going out of her way to be cordial and easy.

To me it's more about dilettante city folk meddling in things they don't understand than about Palin per se. Be careful of manipulative images. Maybe the hunters need their own versions of CAMERA and Honest Reporting.

I was enthusiastic about Palin for a time during the campaign (for reasons specific to that campaign I'd rather not re-hash), but I'm taking an ambivalent "wait and see" approach with her now.

BTW, Sarah may not have been all the greatest shakes when it came to foreign policy and whatnot, but if it comes to a debate between Sarah Palin and Ashley Judd on something going on in Alaska, particularly with regard to something to do with hunting and game and all that...bet Palin.

Just don't think anything too complicated is going to be well understood by Palin. She talks like and is an ex newscaster, great at delivering canned lines, weak on understanding complicated nuances etc...

Politics at the big stage is all dirty and selfish, so it may be too harsh to say Palin was a selfish diva only interested in promoting herself, bcs that may be said for all of them.
I just never wanna turn the keys over to the most powerful country on the planet to her, sorry, she is very UNimpressive.

Re Judd and Alaska business, agreed, however, I wish I DVR'd that show, because it seemed like Judd and the guy were making some valid comebacks and knew their stuff. I understand that the Caribou population is crucial in Alaska etc.. and I understand that Hollywood liberals may be specifically attacking her for alterior motives, I'd like to see some real facts brought out here, so far just some generalities by Malkin etc...

I'm not quick to jump up and down for Palin, but I will say Judd came off a little effected on King, but still hot I might add.

Media Moralizings as Consumerist Production

Knew their points? The Larry King interview featured authorities such as Judd, the ladies of "The View," Larry King himself and the rep. from the org in question. Judd was holding a cat (dog?) in her lap as well - apparently to reflect the idea that if Gov. Palin is allowed to continue this genocidal mania against wolves, cats and other critters are likely to be next on the Gov's list.

Such is the media induced, emotive, moralizing pretense we need to indulge - if we are to think of ourselves as right and proper consumers of the moralistic product promulgated by Larry King, "The View," Judd, Hollywood, etc. Societally, some sad commentary here.

(Population control among wildlife populations is highly effective in protecting other populations. Presumably, when huge expanses of territory are involved, as is the case in places such as Alaska, Australia and elsewhere, helicopters are likely a necessary tool. First time I've watched Larry King in four or five months, I can wait another several months.)

So you mean Larry King had an entire show around this issue and couldn't manage to have one knowledgeable person on to explain the policy and the issues involved? Typical.

I watched five or six minutes, was largely channel surfing, so perhaps I missed something. Judd was smarmy, somehow amateurish and did in fact have an animal on her lap, which fact itself seemed odd since she was so obviously using it as some type of prop. Once "The View" girls came on - all attempting to talk at the same time as I recall - I couldn't take it any more. It was eye-rolling stuff, beyond the pale.

It was a piece of overly produced, commodified moralistic schtick - and yet they were taking themselves seriously. Even the representative from the org in question, sitting next to Judd (yet without an animal in his lap***), had literally nothing to say that was truly germane. I honestly thought it was a bit sad and would have been embarrassed for them, excepting they were sooo into their commodified display and moralistic pretentiousness.

*** The only thing lacking that would have turned it into a full-bore, Monty Pythonesque bit of theater was the absence of an animal in everyone's lap. Choose the right animal for Larry King and the girls of "The View," and the potential for hilarity would have been complete.