The vote was a voice vote where the chair simply decided whether she thought she heard more "ayes" than "nays." She then declared that the bill passed. Senator Inhofe asked that his vote be recorded as a "nay," but that action is symbolic. From his comments, I suspect that Senator Bond also voted "nay." Most of the Republicans didn't come to the meeting. They wouldn't have had the votes to stop this thing, so symbolic stuff wouldn't mean much.

Our emphasis now should be on talking to our legislators no matter who they are. I don't know whether we can stop this nonsense, but we have to worry less about friends or enemies right now.

Over the long term, we may not have any real friends, but we have real enemies. For the most part, those enemies are the Democrats. This bill would not have nearly as much momentum if the Democrats had not won in 2008. If we can swing Congress back to the GOP in 2010, we have our best chance of not seeing more attacks on our hobby.
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

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