Three years ago, I wrote in this Blog about one of the dumbest government programs I’d ever encountered. It was a plan to protect desert tortoise babies by having government-hired control agents run around the desert spending the taxpayers money to “euthinize individual ravens at something like $1,000.00 per raven. I don’t know if that program ever got off the ground, but I wouldn’t put it past our government to do something that wasteful. Sort of like dropping a atom bomb to destroy an ant nest. It would work, but....             This spring at the San Bernardino County Fair, I happened by a booth run by the East Mojave Preserve, that bastion of bad thinking operated by the National Park Service. Laying on the table was a stack of brochures on “Invasion of the Tortoise Snatchers.” It explained in lurid terms how awful ravens were. How desert tortoise were being killed off by things like disease and habitat loss – true – and by OHV traffic – perhaps true, but doubtful – and by ravens. I notice they didn’t mention coyotes, which are also known to eat tortoise, especially baby tortoise in the spring when they first come out of their dens.             The brochure then lists a dozen or so things desert folks can do to deliver us from the killer ravens who are eating our tortoise. Such wonderful advice as “don’t leave food out in the open while picnicking” and “Encourage power companies to inspect their lines for raven nests” are just some of the tips in this thoughtful little piece of government paperwork. My favorite is “Don’t water your lawn to the point it runs over the curb or fills in depressions.” I guess they hope that will keep ravens from launching their boats on your…