[meteorite-list] Laws

From: C.G. <petcal50_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 09:36:56 -0800
Message-ID: <CAJE4+UDTYV0eV4zE+0WrxeR_-g8rGZp4qZt13zsR_6MziDktHQ_at_mail.gmail.com>

This hot discussion about changing laws with Federal Government(BLM)
laws concerning meteorite collecting is quite interesting...
I suppose the regulations (just like the laws enacted years ago, to
protect the mushroom hunters from destroying the fragile habitat by
over-harvesting fungi during the wet season--BIG Money to Japan, and
here), are made due to a FEW over-zealous collectors who would, if
they could, bulldoze every known site, and truck off the spoils to
search later, while vaporizing the ecosystem...my point is, look in
the mirror here....it's not "Us Vs. Them", or, "Mine Vs. Yours"...it's
about ethical treatment of the planet and not raping the land. Reality
teaches me, this does not matter to a few, who, if given the chance,
will not stop at anything to haul in profits, whining about "rights
lost" as a blame mechanism...victims again!!!, poor things!...
I would be more than happy to pay 20 dollars to buy a permit in an
area I knew had a fall zone, and finds...I do it for mushrooming
already. When the Matsutake fungi start popping out of the sands, up
north, there is a digging frenzy, as when the peak price's hit, a
5-gallon bucket of them can wholesale for $600.00...all sent to Japan
in 30 hours after picking.....
Since a 5-gallon bucket of a rare meteorite could be worth $100,000
dollars, one begins to understand the ferocity of the fever....

As HOWARD(Walter Houston) said, in the 1948 Movie, "Treasure of the
Sierra Madre"..." I know what gold does to men's souls. "
======================
 Howard: Aah, gold's a devilish sort of thing, anyway. You start out,
you tell yourself you'll be satisfied with 25,000 handsome smackers
worth of it. So help me, Lord, and cross my heart. Fine resolution.
After months of sweatin' yourself dizzy, and growin' short on
provisions, and findin' nothin', you finally come down to 15,000, then
ten. Finally, you say, "Lord, let me just find $5,000 worth and I'll
never ask for anythin' more the rest of my life."
Flophouse Bum: $5,000 is a lot of money.
Howard: Yeah, here in this joint it seems like a lot. But I tell you,
if you was to make a real strike, you couldn't be dragged away. Not
even the threat of miserable death would keep you from trying to add
10,000 more. Ten, you'd want to get twenty-five; twenty-five you'd
want to get fifty; fifty, a hundred. Like roulette. One more turn, you
know. Always one more."
====================================
CG
Received on Mon 03 Dec 2012 12:36:56 PM PST