The Christ in Christmas
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
By Julie Carter
At daylight on an icy, snowy Christmas morning, my dad went to the barn to do the usual daily chores. He was also keeping a secret there and the secret needed to be watered and fed.
Hidden in our barn was a coal black Shetland pony he'd ended up with in one of his horse trades.
He had sold a perfectly good 2-year-old bay gelding for some Christmas cash and somehow ended up with this "prize" pony as part of the deal.
My dad hated ponies, believing that if you wanted to ride, you should ride a real horse and there were plenty of those around.
That point was driven home, literally, when the pony unloaded him on Christmas morning when he rode him bareback to the creek for water.
Landing hard on his jean pockets on the frozen ground left my dad with a broken tailbone that offered a painful reminder of his horse-trading abilities for months to follow.
While my dad provided many opportunities for memories during my formative years, there isn't a Christmas day I don't think about that incident and the many years that followed with the black pony adventures.
That simple, almost accidental, gift to us children became a memorable bookmark in our childhoods through many seasons.
I look at my children and wonder what parts of a tradition-filled holiday do they remember?
I'm sure there are individual stories for them, too, but generally, they remember the traditional things passed through generations of our family.
My teenage son tops his list with family get-togethers and big dinners. Food to fuel a growing boy's stomach is still a big part of his priority list.
However, with that is the delight in having the relatives gathered in one place.
My daughters recall the traditions they now carry on with their children. A cookie-decorating event, a family tree-trimming night, making grandma's recipe for homemade caramels and peanut brittle, the hanging of the stockings designed and sewed by grandma and the arranging of the traditional Christmas village.
A family favorite for generations has been the nativity display, complete with real straw to litter the barn floor and a light to represent the star in the East.
Bringing forth the solemn wonder of Christ's birth was, and is, as much part of our tradition as any one thing. Unlike the Christmas pony, it was not an accidental gift.
It is the one true gift that has kept on giving.
Political correctness makes every effort to sterilize the season by making it improper and, in places, even illegal to use the term "Merry Christmas." It is only a matter of time before they realize their "Happy Holidays" is only a version of "Happy Holy Days."
Somewhere in all the red and green everything, the masses of lights and never-ending glitter, it is important for us, as individuals, as a family and as a nation, to hold on to the true meaning of the season. The Christ in Christmas.
I never was very politically correct. Merry Christmas!
Visit Julie’s website at www.julie-carter.com
Saturday, December 22, 2007
FLE
TSA ranked among least-liked agencies Hand sanitizer makes it through security in one airport, then it's confiscated at another. Screening lines back up because only two of six lanes are open. And then there's the occasional all-too-intimate pat down. Those complaints and other frustrations make the nation's airport security agency about as popular as the IRS. Indeed, only the Federal Emergency Management Agency, still suffering from its mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, ranks below the Transportation Security Administration among the least-liked federal agencies, according to a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll. TSA tied with the perennially unpopular tax collectors in a favorability ranking of a dozen executive branch agencies. "I am so frustrated with TSA that I am ready to stop flying," one traveler wrote in a Sept. 7 complaint filed with the agency. "I'm sure this doesn't matter to you because my tax dollars are already paying you."....
D.C. family wins suit over raid on home A Capitol Hill family won a lawsuit against the D.C. government after their row house was raided in a search for evidence that their renovation plans violated the city's historic preservation laws. About a dozen police officers and D.C. Consumer and Regulatory Affairs inspectors searched the home of Laura Elkins and John Robbins four years ago, entering the bedrooms of their teenage children who were home sick from school, and searching through drawers, behind furniture and under carpets. The parents were raising and repairing the roof of their home. A neighbor's complaint that the renovation was out of character with the rest of the neighborhood led to the raid. Last week, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, of the U.S. District for the District of Columbia, ruled that the raid was an "unreasonable search and seizure" that violated the family's constitutional rights to privacy. A separate trial in the spring will determine the amount of damages the District must pay. "It's crazy," Ms. Elkins said. "We had all of our permits. It was just a fishing expedition to intimidate us."....
Border Fence Construction to Begin Amid Public Outcry in Texas It's been a year of protests, outcry, and worry for Texans opposed to a federal plan to build more than 80 miles of steel border fencing along the Rio Grande. In meeting after meeting, city leaders and residents from Brownsville to El Paso have begged the federal government to reconsider plans to build the 26 proposed sections of 15-foot-high, two- or three-layer fencing that can withstand a hit from a 10,000-pound vehicle going 40 mph. Despite the pleas, U.S. Homeland Security officials say the fence project should be done by the end of 2008. "The committed date is the end of 2008 for the completion of fencing that will get us to a total of 370 miles of pedestrian fence (at the Mexican border)," said Michael Friel, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Washington. Some residents and elected officials in South Texas have tried to block the government's progress by refusing to let surveyors come on border properties to look at land that could be the site of new fencing....
Congress OKs Va. Tech-inspired gun bill Congress on Wednesday passed a long-stalled bill inspired by the Virginia Tech shootings that would more easily flag prospective gun buyers who have documented mental health problems. The measure also would help states with the cost. Passage by voice votes in the House and Senate came after months of negotiations between Senate Democrats and the lone Republican, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who had objected and delayed passage. It was not immediately clear whether President Bush intended to sign, veto or ignore the bill. If Congress does not technically go out of session, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has threatened, the bill would become law if Bush does not act within 10 days. The measure would clarify what mental health records should be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which help gun dealers determine whether to sell a firearm to a prospective buyer, and give states financial incentives for compliance. The attorney general could penalize states if they fail to meet compliance targets. Despite the combined superpowers of bill's supporters, Coburn held it up for months because he worried that millions of dollars in new spending would not be paid for by cuts in other programs. His chief concern, he said, was that it did not pay for successful appeals by veterans or other people who say they are wrongly barred from buying a gun. Just before midnight Tuesday, Coburn and the Democratic supporters of the bill struck a deal: The government would pay for the cost of appeals by gun owners and prospective buyers who argue successfully in court that they were wrongly deemed unqualified for mental health reasons. The compromise would require that incorrect records — such as expunged mental health rulings that once disqualified a prospective gun buyer but no longer do — be removed from system within 30 days....
U.S. senators attempt to soften park gun rules Both of Alaska's U.S. senators have signed a letter asking the Interior Department to repeal federal gun rules for national parks and wildlife refuges, saying that the existing guidelines are "confusing, burdensome and unnecessary." If federal officials agree, the result could be people being able to legally carry loaded guns onto federal lands in Alaska where they're now banned, including much of Denali National Park. The letter was drafted by U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to change rules that prohibit visitors to most national parks and wildlife refuges from carrying operable, loaded guns. Such changes would "respect the second amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, while providing a consistent application of state weapons laws across all land ownership boundaries" Crapo said in his letter. The letter was signed by 47 senators, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens, both Republicans. Current gun regulations on federal lands vary, depending on the agency and the purpose of the land. Active, operable guns are allowed on federal land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, for example, as long as the applicable state and local firearms laws are followed. Nationwide, guns are generally allowed on national wildlife refuges and in national parks -- but only if the owner has broken down the firearm and has it in a carrying case, rendering it inoperable....
States Take Sides on D.C. Gun Ban Challenge When the U.S. Supreme Court takes up D.C.'s gun ban in March, it could open up a new battle between the states. States across the country are lining up on both sides, filing friends of the court briefs for or against the District's law banning handguns. D.C. has the toughest gun control law in the country. Virginia, along with Arkansas and Texas, are joining the challenge of the ban. "This is a case of fundamental importance to the interpretation of the Constitution of the United States that is going to impact every state and every territory in the Union based on how they rule," Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell says. Maryland, New York, Illinois and Hawaii are filing briefs backing the law....
TSA ranked among least-liked agencies Hand sanitizer makes it through security in one airport, then it's confiscated at another. Screening lines back up because only two of six lanes are open. And then there's the occasional all-too-intimate pat down. Those complaints and other frustrations make the nation's airport security agency about as popular as the IRS. Indeed, only the Federal Emergency Management Agency, still suffering from its mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, ranks below the Transportation Security Administration among the least-liked federal agencies, according to a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll. TSA tied with the perennially unpopular tax collectors in a favorability ranking of a dozen executive branch agencies. "I am so frustrated with TSA that I am ready to stop flying," one traveler wrote in a Sept. 7 complaint filed with the agency. "I'm sure this doesn't matter to you because my tax dollars are already paying you."....
D.C. family wins suit over raid on home A Capitol Hill family won a lawsuit against the D.C. government after their row house was raided in a search for evidence that their renovation plans violated the city's historic preservation laws. About a dozen police officers and D.C. Consumer and Regulatory Affairs inspectors searched the home of Laura Elkins and John Robbins four years ago, entering the bedrooms of their teenage children who were home sick from school, and searching through drawers, behind furniture and under carpets. The parents were raising and repairing the roof of their home. A neighbor's complaint that the renovation was out of character with the rest of the neighborhood led to the raid. Last week, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, of the U.S. District for the District of Columbia, ruled that the raid was an "unreasonable search and seizure" that violated the family's constitutional rights to privacy. A separate trial in the spring will determine the amount of damages the District must pay. "It's crazy," Ms. Elkins said. "We had all of our permits. It was just a fishing expedition to intimidate us."....
Border Fence Construction to Begin Amid Public Outcry in Texas It's been a year of protests, outcry, and worry for Texans opposed to a federal plan to build more than 80 miles of steel border fencing along the Rio Grande. In meeting after meeting, city leaders and residents from Brownsville to El Paso have begged the federal government to reconsider plans to build the 26 proposed sections of 15-foot-high, two- or three-layer fencing that can withstand a hit from a 10,000-pound vehicle going 40 mph. Despite the pleas, U.S. Homeland Security officials say the fence project should be done by the end of 2008. "The committed date is the end of 2008 for the completion of fencing that will get us to a total of 370 miles of pedestrian fence (at the Mexican border)," said Michael Friel, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Washington. Some residents and elected officials in South Texas have tried to block the government's progress by refusing to let surveyors come on border properties to look at land that could be the site of new fencing....
Congress OKs Va. Tech-inspired gun bill Congress on Wednesday passed a long-stalled bill inspired by the Virginia Tech shootings that would more easily flag prospective gun buyers who have documented mental health problems. The measure also would help states with the cost. Passage by voice votes in the House and Senate came after months of negotiations between Senate Democrats and the lone Republican, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who had objected and delayed passage. It was not immediately clear whether President Bush intended to sign, veto or ignore the bill. If Congress does not technically go out of session, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has threatened, the bill would become law if Bush does not act within 10 days. The measure would clarify what mental health records should be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which help gun dealers determine whether to sell a firearm to a prospective buyer, and give states financial incentives for compliance. The attorney general could penalize states if they fail to meet compliance targets. Despite the combined superpowers of bill's supporters, Coburn held it up for months because he worried that millions of dollars in new spending would not be paid for by cuts in other programs. His chief concern, he said, was that it did not pay for successful appeals by veterans or other people who say they are wrongly barred from buying a gun. Just before midnight Tuesday, Coburn and the Democratic supporters of the bill struck a deal: The government would pay for the cost of appeals by gun owners and prospective buyers who argue successfully in court that they were wrongly deemed unqualified for mental health reasons. The compromise would require that incorrect records — such as expunged mental health rulings that once disqualified a prospective gun buyer but no longer do — be removed from system within 30 days....
U.S. senators attempt to soften park gun rules Both of Alaska's U.S. senators have signed a letter asking the Interior Department to repeal federal gun rules for national parks and wildlife refuges, saying that the existing guidelines are "confusing, burdensome and unnecessary." If federal officials agree, the result could be people being able to legally carry loaded guns onto federal lands in Alaska where they're now banned, including much of Denali National Park. The letter was drafted by U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to change rules that prohibit visitors to most national parks and wildlife refuges from carrying operable, loaded guns. Such changes would "respect the second amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, while providing a consistent application of state weapons laws across all land ownership boundaries" Crapo said in his letter. The letter was signed by 47 senators, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens, both Republicans. Current gun regulations on federal lands vary, depending on the agency and the purpose of the land. Active, operable guns are allowed on federal land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, for example, as long as the applicable state and local firearms laws are followed. Nationwide, guns are generally allowed on national wildlife refuges and in national parks -- but only if the owner has broken down the firearm and has it in a carrying case, rendering it inoperable....
States Take Sides on D.C. Gun Ban Challenge When the U.S. Supreme Court takes up D.C.'s gun ban in March, it could open up a new battle between the states. States across the country are lining up on both sides, filing friends of the court briefs for or against the District's law banning handguns. D.C. has the toughest gun control law in the country. Virginia, along with Arkansas and Texas, are joining the challenge of the ban. "This is a case of fundamental importance to the interpretation of the Constitution of the United States that is going to impact every state and every territory in the Union based on how they rule," Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell says. Maryland, New York, Illinois and Hawaii are filing briefs backing the law....
Ranch hand disputes claim that he lured endangered wolf A Catron County rancher is disputing a report that he baited an endangered wolf into killing a pregnant cow. The June 23 kill on the Adobe-Slash Ranch in the Gila National Forest triggered a key provision of the federal government's Mexican wolf recovery program: a rule that requires removing a wolf from the wild if it is found to have killed livestock three times in one year. After the livestock kill, federal officials ordered the Durango pack female, with three strikes against her, shot and killed. She was fatally shot on July 5. The article, written by contributing editor John Dougherty, reported that Miller "branded cattle less than a half-mile from the wolves' den, the enticing aroma of seared flesh surely reaching the pack's super sensitive nostrils." Miller said Thursday that he did not try to bait the Durango pack alpha female into a cattle-kill that would require her removal. "He (Dougherty) should be writing children's books," Miller said. "He made that all up, that whole story. I sat there and laughed at it. ... There ain't nothing about that whole story that has any truth to it." High Country News editor Jonathan Thompson said the magazine stands by its story. Representatives of environmental organizations in Arizona and New Mexico, where the wolves are being reintroduced, said they are outraged by the account and called on federal officials to suspend the ranch's grazing leases....
The Great Divide The key lesson to be drawn from the recently concluded U.N. climate conference in Bali is that the central issue for climate change is no longer the science. It is how rich and poor countries will divide the burden of solving the problem. The Kyoto Protocol, concluded ten years ago, required significant emissions reductions from the developed world, but imposed no requirements on developing countries. The United States refused to ratify the agreement partly on the grounds that any agreement that exempted poor nations would do little to reduce the overall risks. In the last decade, emissions have been growing at explosive rates in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. At the same time, many developing nations--above all China, whose emissions will soon dwarf, and likely already exceed, those of the United States--have taken a strong stand against emissions limitations, pointing to their relative poverty and their "right to development." In Bali, the United States argued that if developed nations were to commit to emissions reductions, developing nations should do so as well. The United States also opposed the idea that wealthy nations should be required to provide significant financial subsidies to poor ones. For its part, the developing world resisted binding emissions limits and insisted that wealthy nations should agree to provide economic support for any mitigation measures. The final agreement is a compromise, and a remarkably vague one at that. It includes two key provisions. The first, applicable only to the developed world, calls for verifiable "commitments" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The second, applicable only to developing countries, does not call for specific "commitments," but only for "appropriate mitigation actions" that are financed or otherwise supported by the developed countries. For those who seek a sensible climate change agreement, there is some good news here. For the first time, poor nations, most importantly China, appear to have accepted the idea that they should take measurable steps toward mitigation. Equally important, rich nations have agreed in principle to provide financial help to poor countries, which have consistently resisted reducing emissions on their own. (Climate change is simply not among their top priorities.) The bad news is that no nation has agreed to do anything but talk....
Hot Air and Wind The House of Representatives passed an energy-independence bill two weeks ago intended to make America more secure. Last week, the Senate rejected a provision in the bill establishing a "renewable portfolio standard" requiring all investor-owned utilities (but not municipal systems and rural cooperatives) to obtain 2.75 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2010 and 15 percent by 2020. A renewable portfolio standard is irrelevant to promises of energy independence and security. Over 95 percent of our power comes from domestic or nearby sources: coal (49 percent), gas (20 percent), uranium (20 percent), and water (7 percent). None of these resources is insecure or held hostage by foreign actors. Nor will the RPS advance "renewable energy" writ large. It will, in effect, be a wind-energy requirement. Wind's technology is advancing, and it offers investors accelerated depreciation and a 1.9-cent per kilowatt-hour federal tax credit (extended to some other renewables in 2005). By contrast, solar energy remains uneconomic in most applications. Geothermal resources are regionally restricted and large enough to attract complaints from environmentalists in the permitting process. Biomass burners look like fossil-fueled plants, emit the same pollutants, and are sited under the same stringent standards. Wind's aesthetics and economics have changed. Bucolic images of windmills are fading as noisy newer models top 400 feet, and public resistance keeps states like Massachusetts from meeting their own renewable energy quotas. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, wind's costs per kilowatt-hour hit bottom in 2002 and have since increased by 60 percent. In 2004, the levelized cost of a coal-fired kilowatt hour was 3.53 cents, compared to 4.31 cents for nuclear, 5.47 for gas and 5.7 for wind. According to a study by Gilbert Metcalf of Tufts University for the National Bureau of Economic Research, removing subsidies to nuclear and wind power takes the former to 5.94 cents and the latter to 6.64....
Hot Air and Wind The House of Representatives passed an energy-independence bill two weeks ago intended to make America more secure. Last week, the Senate rejected a provision in the bill establishing a "renewable portfolio standard" requiring all investor-owned utilities (but not municipal systems and rural cooperatives) to obtain 2.75 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2010 and 15 percent by 2020. A renewable portfolio standard is irrelevant to promises of energy independence and security. Over 95 percent of our power comes from domestic or nearby sources: coal (49 percent), gas (20 percent), uranium (20 percent), and water (7 percent). None of these resources is insecure or held hostage by foreign actors. Nor will the RPS advance "renewable energy" writ large. It will, in effect, be a wind-energy requirement. Wind's technology is advancing, and it offers investors accelerated depreciation and a 1.9-cent per kilowatt-hour federal tax credit (extended to some other renewables in 2005). By contrast, solar energy remains uneconomic in most applications. Geothermal resources are regionally restricted and large enough to attract complaints from environmentalists in the permitting process. Biomass burners look like fossil-fueled plants, emit the same pollutants, and are sited under the same stringent standards. Wind's aesthetics and economics have changed. Bucolic images of windmills are fading as noisy newer models top 400 feet, and public resistance keeps states like Massachusetts from meeting their own renewable energy quotas. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, wind's costs per kilowatt-hour hit bottom in 2002 and have since increased by 60 percent. In 2004, the levelized cost of a coal-fired kilowatt hour was 3.53 cents, compared to 4.31 cents for nuclear, 5.47 for gas and 5.7 for wind. According to a study by Gilbert Metcalf of Tufts University for the National Bureau of Economic Research, removing subsidies to nuclear and wind power takes the former to 5.94 cents and the latter to 6.64....
Court Passes on Chance to Require Milk Warnings for Lactose Intolerant Like common food allergies, lactose intolerance is generally known and does not warrant a warning label on milk cartons, a federal appeals court has ruled. "A bout of indigestion does not justify a race to the courthouse," the unanimous three-judge panel said. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that if people could sue over such obvious food risks, food manufacturers, restaurants and convenience stores would face millions of lawsuits every day. Ten District of Columbia residents filed suit in October 2005 to force grocery stores and other retailers to stop selling dairy products until they carried warning labels about lactose intolerance. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the suit in August 2006. The court determined that federal labeling regulations preempted the proposed warnings, no public safety concerns were at issue and sellers had no duty to warn about lactose in milk. On appeal the D.C. Circuit confirmed that a manufacturer or seller does not have to provide warnings when product ingredients and the risks associated with them are well-known or obvious to consumers....
SC Monks to End Egg Farm After Criticism A monastery will halt its egg farming business after claims by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that the trappist monks mistreated hens. Father Stan Gumula of Mepkin Abbey said in a statement late Wednesday that pressure from PETA has made it difficult for the monks to live a quiet life of prayer, work and sacred reading. He said the monks were sad to give up "a hard and honorable work of which they are proud." The monks admitted no wrongdoing in the statement, and a spokeswoman declined to elaborate. The egg farm business will be phased out over the next 18 months, according to the statement. "We will be looking for a new industry to help us meet our daily expenses," the abbot said. Gumula told the National Catholic Reporter that the abbey produces about 9 million eggs a year, and that the product is delivered to retailers in the Charleston area. The abbey also has a store that sells the eggs. PETA began its criticism of Mepkin Abbey in February, saying it had undercover video of thousands of hens crammed into small cages. The group also said the abbey's suppliers cut off the hens' beaks and killed off males....
SC Monks to End Egg Farm After Criticism A monastery will halt its egg farming business after claims by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that the trappist monks mistreated hens. Father Stan Gumula of Mepkin Abbey said in a statement late Wednesday that pressure from PETA has made it difficult for the monks to live a quiet life of prayer, work and sacred reading. He said the monks were sad to give up "a hard and honorable work of which they are proud." The monks admitted no wrongdoing in the statement, and a spokeswoman declined to elaborate. The egg farm business will be phased out over the next 18 months, according to the statement. "We will be looking for a new industry to help us meet our daily expenses," the abbot said. Gumula told the National Catholic Reporter that the abbey produces about 9 million eggs a year, and that the product is delivered to retailers in the Charleston area. The abbey also has a store that sells the eggs. PETA began its criticism of Mepkin Abbey in February, saying it had undercover video of thousands of hens crammed into small cages. The group also said the abbey's suppliers cut off the hens' beaks and killed off males....
Congress Gives Alaska "Ferry To Nowhere" Twice in the past two years, Alaska lawmakers were forced to abandon plans to build two "bridges to nowhere" costing hundreds of millions of dollars after Congress was embarrassed by public complaints over earmarks hidden in annual spending bills. This year, Alaska Republicans Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens found another way to move cash to their state: Stevens secured more than $20 million for an "expeditionary craft" that will connect Anchorage with the windblown rural peninsula of Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Now what Alaska has, budget watchdogs contend, is a ferry to nowhere. The $555 billion annual "omnibus" spending bill approved by Congress this week and the $459 billion defense bill passed last month collectively contain more than 11,000 earmarks, despite Democrats' vow to use their first year in the majority to slash the number of such pet projects....
Friday, December 21, 2007
Family awarded $26.5 million in eminent domain case A Superior Court jury has awarded $26.5 million to a family whose Otay Mesa land was targeted for condemnation by the state Department of Transportation so it could build a freeway. The award was made to Anderprises Inc., a small San Diego family business that has owned land on Otay Mesa since 1974. The land was bought by Phil and Marjorie Anderson; their four sons and their families now own it. After a three-week trial before Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett, the jury deliberated one day before making the award Wednesday. At issue was the value of a piece of land that the Andersons controlled off Otay Mesa Road east of Interstate 805 and south of Brown Field. Caltrans had used eminent domain to take a 2.8-acre sliver of a 58-acre parcel, said Vincent Bartolotta, Jr. the Andersons' lawyer. But by doing that, the family claimed the majority of the parcel was cut off and landlocked – with no viable access in or out. The agency contended it did not have to pay damages for the balance of the land and offered $172,410 for the 2.8 acres, Bartolotta said. The agency argued that the land was slated to be used for open space anyway and could not be developed. But the Andersons rejected the offer, setting the stage for the trial. The jury ruled unanimously in favor of the landholders. The panel concluded the value of the 2.8-acre parcel was $1.3 million. Additionally, it set damages for the lost use of the landlocked property at $20.1 million....
Leave Those Car Buyers Alone ast week, environmentalists and the auto industry struck a deal to require new cars sold 13 years hence to average 35 miles per gallon; a 40-percent increase over the existing 27.5 mpg mandate. Hands were held, tears were shed, and "Kum-ba-ya" broke out all over Washington. As the president prepares to sign the energy bill passed yesterday by the House, Congress's 32-year-old fight over automotive fuel-economy standards is probably over ... for now. That's too bad, because while there are a number of parties claiming victory from this political peace treaty, consumers will almost certainly be the biggest losers. Of the 1,153 passenger vehicle models on the road today, only two presently meet the proposed 35 mpg standard. According to a quick review of EPA data undertaken by Marlo Lewis at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, those cars are the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic hybrid. Nine other vehicles, Lewis reports, get 35 mpg in city or highway driving conditions, but not both — and all of those vehicles are either subcompacts or compacts. Hence, the auto fleet is going to have to change — and change a lot — for new cars to average 35 mpg by 2020. The industry has three routes it can go. First, it can lighten cars and thus improve mileage. Second, it can reengineer cars by reducing engine power and incorporating advanced technology to improve fuel efficiency. Third, it can simply stop making low-mileage cars and trucks or, alternatively, increase their prices so much that a substantial number of consumers opt for the fuel-efficient alternatives. Of course, mixing and matching is not only possible, but probable. None of those options, however, represent a Christmas gift to car buyers. Reducing vehicle weight is the cheapest way to improve fuel efficiency, but that would increase highway deaths, just as it has done in the past according to a 2002 study by the National Academy of Sciences. Reengineering cars will reduce automotive performance in ways that car-buyers probably won't like while increasing automotive prices by as much as $3,500 a car according to the same NAS study. Cross-subsidies might be the most direct way to meet the standard, but that represents a rather steep tax on people with large families, big dogs, and those who for whatever reason need to haul around a lot of stuff — not to mention those who simply have a preference for zippy sports cars or riding high off the road. So how does that square with claim that consumers win with more fuel-efficient cars?....
EPA chief is said to have ignored staff The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored his staff's written findings in denying California's request for a waiver to implement its landmark law to slash greenhouse gases from vehicles, sources inside and outside the agency told The Times on Thursday. "California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts." EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced Wednesday that because President Bush had signed an energy bill raising average fuel economy that there was no need or justification for separate state regulation. He also said that California's request did not meet the legal standard set out in the Clean Air Act. But his staff, which had worked for months on the waiver decision, concluded just the opposite, the sources said Thursday. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media or because they feared reprisals. California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said she was also told by EPA staff that they were overruled by Johnson....
FWP Commission OKs tentative hunting plan for wolves Up to 130 wolves could be hunted this fall in Montana under a proposal tentatively adopted Thursday by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission. The wolf hunting season, slated to run from Sept. 15 to Nov. 30, is contingent upon the wolves being struck from the federal list of endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expects to do that in February 2008 but anticipates lawsuits to follow, which could delay any hunting season. The FWP Commission decision also could change after it presents the plan at 44 town meetings in January, and through the public comment period. The commission is scheduled to make a final decision on all of Montana’s hunting seasons for the next two years at its February meeting, although wolf season issues may be postponed. This tentative decision mirrors recommendations made earlier this month by Montana’s Wolf Management Advisory Council. The 12-person group of ranchers, hunters, scientists and others decided that 130 wolves could be killed in Montana without reducing the overall number of wolves in the state, and expected that half of those deaths would probably be for preying on livestock. The 130 figure is similar to the anticipated population increase next year because of births and immigration, according to Carolyn Sime, statewide wolf coordinator for FWP....
Leave Those Car Buyers Alone ast week, environmentalists and the auto industry struck a deal to require new cars sold 13 years hence to average 35 miles per gallon; a 40-percent increase over the existing 27.5 mpg mandate. Hands were held, tears were shed, and "Kum-ba-ya" broke out all over Washington. As the president prepares to sign the energy bill passed yesterday by the House, Congress's 32-year-old fight over automotive fuel-economy standards is probably over ... for now. That's too bad, because while there are a number of parties claiming victory from this political peace treaty, consumers will almost certainly be the biggest losers. Of the 1,153 passenger vehicle models on the road today, only two presently meet the proposed 35 mpg standard. According to a quick review of EPA data undertaken by Marlo Lewis at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, those cars are the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic hybrid. Nine other vehicles, Lewis reports, get 35 mpg in city or highway driving conditions, but not both — and all of those vehicles are either subcompacts or compacts. Hence, the auto fleet is going to have to change — and change a lot — for new cars to average 35 mpg by 2020. The industry has three routes it can go. First, it can lighten cars and thus improve mileage. Second, it can reengineer cars by reducing engine power and incorporating advanced technology to improve fuel efficiency. Third, it can simply stop making low-mileage cars and trucks or, alternatively, increase their prices so much that a substantial number of consumers opt for the fuel-efficient alternatives. Of course, mixing and matching is not only possible, but probable. None of those options, however, represent a Christmas gift to car buyers. Reducing vehicle weight is the cheapest way to improve fuel efficiency, but that would increase highway deaths, just as it has done in the past according to a 2002 study by the National Academy of Sciences. Reengineering cars will reduce automotive performance in ways that car-buyers probably won't like while increasing automotive prices by as much as $3,500 a car according to the same NAS study. Cross-subsidies might be the most direct way to meet the standard, but that represents a rather steep tax on people with large families, big dogs, and those who for whatever reason need to haul around a lot of stuff — not to mention those who simply have a preference for zippy sports cars or riding high off the road. So how does that square with claim that consumers win with more fuel-efficient cars?....
EPA chief is said to have ignored staff The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored his staff's written findings in denying California's request for a waiver to implement its landmark law to slash greenhouse gases from vehicles, sources inside and outside the agency told The Times on Thursday. "California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers," said an EPA staffer. "We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts." EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced Wednesday that because President Bush had signed an energy bill raising average fuel economy that there was no need or justification for separate state regulation. He also said that California's request did not meet the legal standard set out in the Clean Air Act. But his staff, which had worked for months on the waiver decision, concluded just the opposite, the sources said Thursday. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media or because they feared reprisals. California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols said she was also told by EPA staff that they were overruled by Johnson....
FWP Commission OKs tentative hunting plan for wolves Up to 130 wolves could be hunted this fall in Montana under a proposal tentatively adopted Thursday by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission. The wolf hunting season, slated to run from Sept. 15 to Nov. 30, is contingent upon the wolves being struck from the federal list of endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expects to do that in February 2008 but anticipates lawsuits to follow, which could delay any hunting season. The FWP Commission decision also could change after it presents the plan at 44 town meetings in January, and through the public comment period. The commission is scheduled to make a final decision on all of Montana’s hunting seasons for the next two years at its February meeting, although wolf season issues may be postponed. This tentative decision mirrors recommendations made earlier this month by Montana’s Wolf Management Advisory Council. The 12-person group of ranchers, hunters, scientists and others decided that 130 wolves could be killed in Montana without reducing the overall number of wolves in the state, and expected that half of those deaths would probably be for preying on livestock. The 130 figure is similar to the anticipated population increase next year because of births and immigration, according to Carolyn Sime, statewide wolf coordinator for FWP....
Wolves blamed in two Eagle River attacks Wolves blamed in two Eagle River attacks. A KTVA Channel 11 story reports on a group of at least seven wolves that waylaid three women running with their dogs on Artillery Road in Eagle River. The pack, despite being pepper-sprayed by one of the women, circled the group for a time before attacking and injuring one of the dogs, according to the story. The women were not hurt in the episode, but a bulldog, Buddy, underwent surgery to fix his wounds. “They were not afraid of us, and I’m afraid that if I was out here by myself, they would attack me,” Buddy’s owner, Camas Barkemeyer, says in the story. The report says the episode came about an hour after a dog on a chain was attacked and killed in an Eagle River backyard. State Department of Fish and Game officials believe both attacks may have involved the same wolves, according to the story. Meanwhile, a Fairbanks Daily News-Miner story today says that Fish and Game officials in that community have set up a hot line and an Internet site to handle reports of wolf sightings. A pack of wolves is believed to be responsible for at least three dog deaths in the region in recent months....Go here to view the KTVA Video report.
A Year of Problems Has USDA Rethinking Safety Rules For beef lovers, 2007 will go down as another year of eating dangerously. Since the spring, meat suppliers have recalled more than 30 million pounds of ground beef contaminated with the potentially lethal bacteria E. coli O157:H7, including the 21.7 million pounds recalled by New Jersey-based Topps Meat in September. After three relatively quiet years, the 20 recalls this year have raised new doubts about whether the beef industry's attempts to keep the pathogen out of ground beef, and the government's oversight of those efforts, are working. Agriculture Department officials, who oversee the safety of pork, beef and poultry, say they did not recognize that anything was seriously amiss with the beef supply until the Topps recall hit. Microbiologists say the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in the environment is highly variable, and no one can say with certainty what caused the spike in outbreaks. In several instances this year, however, USDA officials missed red flags and were slow to correct longstanding deficiencies in the way they monitor beef processors' efforts to contain the pathogen....
'The Dying West' Used to be that Jim Kemp would run cows along dirt paths from Campo north to Mount Laguna and south to Mexico. But then the roads through the region were paved, so he began using them to move the cows from pasture to pasture. "Now, I shudder just to drive them across the highway," he says, speaking quietly, his voice carrying a hint of Jack Palance gravel. At 77 years old, Kemp is a remnant of a once-vibrant breed. Cattle ranchers, dusty denim and spur-wearing cowboys, are fading into San Diego County's history. Between 1997 and 2002, the number of cattle farms in the county dropped 40 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since 1975, the USDA says the number of cattle dropped from 61,000 to 22,000. Ranchers who ran 6,000 cattle a few decades ago are lucky to run 300 today. Higher land prices and the region’s dry climate have transformed ranching from a full-time business into a supplemental job. The transition has had significant implications for development and conservation, a trend that continues while ranching endures its long and sustained decline. For more than a century, ranching has defined much of San Diego County's landscape. Look no further than the place names given to the region's neighborhoods: Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, Otay Ranch. As ranching continues becoming less profitable and prolific, many wonder what will take its place. The decline has historically provided opportunities for housing subdivisions. But tighter county zoning laws and massive efforts to buy ranchland for parks and open-space preserves have changed that over the last 15 years....
FDA Decision on Cloned Meat Looms The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scheduled to make a final decision before the end of the year on whether meat and milk from cloned animals can enter the food supply. The FDA released a draft risk assessment late last year indicating that cloned products are as safe as other products on the market today, but it has not indicated the exact date of its final ruling on the matter. "I am expecting that we will essentially get the same ruling - the same findings -- that they had in the draft risk assessment," Mark Walton, president of the animal cloning firm ViaGen, told Cybercast News Service. "The draft risk assessment was so thorough, contained essentially all of the data that was available, and then there was new data added during the public comment period, but the new data supported the conclusions the FDA had already made," Walton added. "I would anticipate that cloned animals and the offspring of cloned animals and the products that come from those are as safe as conventionally produced products," he said....
Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday. "We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference. A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old. They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference. Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said....
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Conservation, Development & Class Conflict: The Case of Ameya Preserve Fifty miles north of Yellowstone National Park, in Montana’s aptly named Paradise Valley, an ambitious North Dakota native and Wall Street millionaire named Wade Dokken is planning a unique luxury home community called the Ameya Preserve. Unlike its brethren around the Rocky Mountain West, the Ameya Preserve will have no fancy golf course, no private ski hill, no Prada boutiques or mega-mansions behind high walls. Instead, there will be lots of wildlife, open space, energy efficient houses, and a host of cultural amenities of a decidedly high-brow ilk. Dokken makes a rather bold claim: “I’m not a developer,” he says. “I’m a conservationist.” He touts his credentials as a liberal Democrat, and says the 300-plus-home Ameya Preserve, set on 9,500 acres of pristine ranchland, will be nothing less than "the most sustainable community ever built." It's being marketed to wealthy people around the world who will likely spend only a few months or weeks a year there (a single lot at Ameya was the most expensive gift in this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog, at a cool $2.3 million)....
Congress bans incandescent bulbs In addition to raising auto fuel efficiency standards 40 percent, an energy bill passed by Congress yesterday bans the incandescent light bulb by 2014. President Bush signed the 822-page measure into law today after it was sent up Pennsylvania Avenue in a Toyota Prius hybrid vehicle. The House passed the bill by a 314-100 vote after approval by the Senate last week. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the legislation will boost the energy efficiency of "almost every significant product and tool and appliance that we use, from light bulbs to light trucks." The phase-out of incandescent light is to begin with the 100-watt bulb in 2012 and end in 2014 with the 40-watt. All light bulbs must use 25 percent to 30 percent less 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70 percent more efficient than they are today....
The Nature Conservancy in Kansas Provides Release Site for First Black-Footed Ferrets On Tuesday, at The Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/)'s 17,000-acre Smoky Valley Ranch preserve in Logan County, Kansas, 10 endangered black footed-ferrets were released into the wild by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). This reintroduction marks the first time that live ferrets, once believed extinct, have been documented on Kansas soil in 50 years. "The black-footed ferret is the rarest mammal in North America, and the only ferret species native to this country," said Alan Pollom, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Kansas (http://www.nature.org/kansas). "But today's historic event represents significant conservation progress, and shows that we are one step closer to removing these incredible animals from the federal Engendered Species list." The nocturnal black-footed ferret, which weighs no more than three pounds and measures less than two feet, has been at the brink of extinction in recent decades due to disease, loss of native grasslands from land conversion and development, and a steep decline in the number of prairie dogs, their main food source. According to the U.S. FWS, populations of black-footed have decreased by approximately 95 to 98 percent over the last century. "Efforts to change the species' status from endangered to threatened involve establishing 10 free-ranging populations of ferrets, spread over large areas in the Western U.S.," said Dan Mulhern of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Our goal is to have 1,500 breeding adult ferrets established in the wild by 2010."....
Pearce not happy with wolf program Rep. Stevan Pearce is expressing his discontent with regards to the direction the Mexican gray wolf recovery program is heading in New Mexico. "I am disappointed more of my colleagues could not see the wisdom in eliminating an unsuccessful, ineffective program that has not only failed to produce results, but also threatens the lives and livelihoods of New Mexicans," he said. "We have tried the reintroduction program for 10 years and have seen only growing problems and more wolf-human interactions." Pearce said he believes the time has come to concede that wolves cannot successfully be reintroduced into New Mexico, and is disappointed Congress has not yet reached that view. "I will continue working to ensure that we are protected from these captive-bred habituated wolves," he said. "The Fish and Wildlife Service must take active steps to better manage problem wolves and guarantee that farmers, ranchers, their families, and their livestock are not repeatedly stalked and attacked....
Pinon Canyon delay included in omnibus budget bill President Bush and congressional Democrats may have have settled their long fight over the 2008 budget when the Senate approved the $555 billion omnibus bill Monday night that includes important amendments for Colorado, including a one-year ban on the Army spending any money on expanding the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The Pinon Canyon amendment began with Reps. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., and John Salazar, D-Colo., and it prohibits the Army from spending any money next year on the proposed 414,000-acre expansion of the Pinon Canyon training site northeast of Trinidad. Musgrave and Salazar argue that nearly tripling the size of the Army training area will ruin the ranching economy of Las Animas County and the surrounding area. "As many as 400,000 head of cattle are raised in this region of the state," Salazar said in a statement Tuesday. "The one-year moratorium on expanding Pinon Canyon marks a significant victory for farmers and ranchers throughout Colorado."....
Prairie dog decision delayed until February A U.S. Forest Service official says a decision on the poisoning of prairie dogs on some national grasslands in South Dakota and Nebraska has been delayed until at least early February. Nebraska National Forest supervisor Don Bright says the first part of the decision will deal with grasslands outside the southwestern South Dakota areas where endangered black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced. He says the second decision will follow within a few months to deal with ferret recovery areas. The Nebraska National Forest manages the federally owned grasslands in South Dakota. It issued draft plans in June to allow varying levels of poisoning and other methods of controlling prairie dogs on interior sections of the grasslands....
Beef packing houses once dotted the coast At the end of the Civil War, Confederate soldiers returned to South Texas to find huge numbers of almost wild, unbranded longhorns. They took those not branded and drove them to Kansas railheads where they were shipped to northern cities hungry for beef. In 1866, the year after the war ended, 260,000 longhorns went up the trail. It was too much. This flood of beef glutted the market and prices fell to almost nothing. In 1867, only 37,000 head went north, for little gain. The value of the longhorn had been quickly reduced to the value of its hide, tallow that could be rendered for candles, horns and bones that could be used to make buttons and knife handles. Almost overnight, beef slaughter houses sprang up all along the coast, from Padre Island to the Rockport area. Such slaughterhouses were not unknown here before. Henry Kinney, founder of Corpus Christi, opened a slaughterhouse on North Beach in the 1840s where mustangs and longhorns were killed for their hides. In the 1850s, C.R. Hopson, with Kinney as his partner, operated a beef packing house at Peoples and Water, the center of town. After the Civil War, in 1866, rancher Richard King built a packing house inside the city limits on the south side....
Congress bans incandescent bulbs In addition to raising auto fuel efficiency standards 40 percent, an energy bill passed by Congress yesterday bans the incandescent light bulb by 2014. President Bush signed the 822-page measure into law today after it was sent up Pennsylvania Avenue in a Toyota Prius hybrid vehicle. The House passed the bill by a 314-100 vote after approval by the Senate last week. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the legislation will boost the energy efficiency of "almost every significant product and tool and appliance that we use, from light bulbs to light trucks." The phase-out of incandescent light is to begin with the 100-watt bulb in 2012 and end in 2014 with the 40-watt. All light bulbs must use 25 percent to 30 percent less 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70 percent more efficient than they are today....
The Nature Conservancy in Kansas Provides Release Site for First Black-Footed Ferrets On Tuesday, at The Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/)'s 17,000-acre Smoky Valley Ranch preserve in Logan County, Kansas, 10 endangered black footed-ferrets were released into the wild by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). This reintroduction marks the first time that live ferrets, once believed extinct, have been documented on Kansas soil in 50 years. "The black-footed ferret is the rarest mammal in North America, and the only ferret species native to this country," said Alan Pollom, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Kansas (http://www.nature.org/kansas). "But today's historic event represents significant conservation progress, and shows that we are one step closer to removing these incredible animals from the federal Engendered Species list." The nocturnal black-footed ferret, which weighs no more than three pounds and measures less than two feet, has been at the brink of extinction in recent decades due to disease, loss of native grasslands from land conversion and development, and a steep decline in the number of prairie dogs, their main food source. According to the U.S. FWS, populations of black-footed have decreased by approximately 95 to 98 percent over the last century. "Efforts to change the species' status from endangered to threatened involve establishing 10 free-ranging populations of ferrets, spread over large areas in the Western U.S.," said Dan Mulhern of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Our goal is to have 1,500 breeding adult ferrets established in the wild by 2010."....
Pearce not happy with wolf program Rep. Stevan Pearce is expressing his discontent with regards to the direction the Mexican gray wolf recovery program is heading in New Mexico. "I am disappointed more of my colleagues could not see the wisdom in eliminating an unsuccessful, ineffective program that has not only failed to produce results, but also threatens the lives and livelihoods of New Mexicans," he said. "We have tried the reintroduction program for 10 years and have seen only growing problems and more wolf-human interactions." Pearce said he believes the time has come to concede that wolves cannot successfully be reintroduced into New Mexico, and is disappointed Congress has not yet reached that view. "I will continue working to ensure that we are protected from these captive-bred habituated wolves," he said. "The Fish and Wildlife Service must take active steps to better manage problem wolves and guarantee that farmers, ranchers, their families, and their livestock are not repeatedly stalked and attacked....
Pinon Canyon delay included in omnibus budget bill President Bush and congressional Democrats may have have settled their long fight over the 2008 budget when the Senate approved the $555 billion omnibus bill Monday night that includes important amendments for Colorado, including a one-year ban on the Army spending any money on expanding the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The Pinon Canyon amendment began with Reps. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., and John Salazar, D-Colo., and it prohibits the Army from spending any money next year on the proposed 414,000-acre expansion of the Pinon Canyon training site northeast of Trinidad. Musgrave and Salazar argue that nearly tripling the size of the Army training area will ruin the ranching economy of Las Animas County and the surrounding area. "As many as 400,000 head of cattle are raised in this region of the state," Salazar said in a statement Tuesday. "The one-year moratorium on expanding Pinon Canyon marks a significant victory for farmers and ranchers throughout Colorado."....
Prairie dog decision delayed until February A U.S. Forest Service official says a decision on the poisoning of prairie dogs on some national grasslands in South Dakota and Nebraska has been delayed until at least early February. Nebraska National Forest supervisor Don Bright says the first part of the decision will deal with grasslands outside the southwestern South Dakota areas where endangered black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced. He says the second decision will follow within a few months to deal with ferret recovery areas. The Nebraska National Forest manages the federally owned grasslands in South Dakota. It issued draft plans in June to allow varying levels of poisoning and other methods of controlling prairie dogs on interior sections of the grasslands....
Beef packing houses once dotted the coast At the end of the Civil War, Confederate soldiers returned to South Texas to find huge numbers of almost wild, unbranded longhorns. They took those not branded and drove them to Kansas railheads where they were shipped to northern cities hungry for beef. In 1866, the year after the war ended, 260,000 longhorns went up the trail. It was too much. This flood of beef glutted the market and prices fell to almost nothing. In 1867, only 37,000 head went north, for little gain. The value of the longhorn had been quickly reduced to the value of its hide, tallow that could be rendered for candles, horns and bones that could be used to make buttons and knife handles. Almost overnight, beef slaughter houses sprang up all along the coast, from Padre Island to the Rockport area. Such slaughterhouses were not unknown here before. Henry Kinney, founder of Corpus Christi, opened a slaughterhouse on North Beach in the 1840s where mustangs and longhorns were killed for their hides. In the 1850s, C.R. Hopson, with Kinney as his partner, operated a beef packing house at Peoples and Water, the center of town. After the Civil War, in 1866, rancher Richard King built a packing house inside the city limits on the south side....
MEXICAN GRAY WOLF
Last chance for the Lobo Miller keeps an eye on predators that may threaten livestock, especially the Mexican gray wolf. After being hunted to the brink of extinction, the wolf is once again roaming the grasslands, mountains and streams of western New Mexico and eastern Arizona. So Miller was concerned when the Durango female showed up near his house about a dozen times. Yet instead of trying to scare it off, he did the opposite. On June 21, he branded cattle less than a half-mile from the wolves’ den, the enticing aroma of seared flesh surely reaching the pack’s super-sensitive nostrils. Miller was, in essence, offering up a cow as a sacrifice. The government’s Mexican gray wolf reintroduction rulebook says that a rancher cannot shoot a wolf simply because she threatens his livestock. But if a single wolf kills three cows or sheep or other domestic animals in a single year, then federal officers may kill or capture the wolf. The wolf Miller had his eye on already had two strikes against her; Miller was hoping for a third. "We would sacrifice a calf to get a third strike," Miller told High Country News, candidly revealing a tactic that could help ranchers get the upper hand in their protracted, bloody war against the endangered Mexican wolves....
Ranch Hand Admits to Baiting Wolves to Prey on Livestock; Results in Removal of Endangered Wolves Today, High Country News reported in an article, Last Chance for the Lobo, that a ranch hand working on the Adobe-Slash Ranch in New Mexico abandoned a pregnant cow that was about to give birth in an area wolves were known to inhabit, in order to lure wolves into attacking livestock which would provide an excuse for removing the wolves. According to the article, the ranch hand knew where the wolves were by using radio-tracking data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which is meant to help ranchers avoid livestock losses. As the article reports, this baiting incident resulted in the lethal removal of the Durango pack's alpha female. "If the accusations detailed in Last Chance for the Lobo are true, it is deeply disturbing that someone would use the very tools offered to help them avoid conflict with wolves as a means to derail the recovery of the Mexican wolf. Defenders of Wildlife has worked hard to help ranchers coexist with wolves through compensation, cooperation and trust. It appears that ranch hand Mike Miller abused that trust and deliberately sacrificed livestock under his care to force the removal of endangered wolves....
Last chance for the Lobo Miller keeps an eye on predators that may threaten livestock, especially the Mexican gray wolf. After being hunted to the brink of extinction, the wolf is once again roaming the grasslands, mountains and streams of western New Mexico and eastern Arizona. So Miller was concerned when the Durango female showed up near his house about a dozen times. Yet instead of trying to scare it off, he did the opposite. On June 21, he branded cattle less than a half-mile from the wolves’ den, the enticing aroma of seared flesh surely reaching the pack’s super-sensitive nostrils. Miller was, in essence, offering up a cow as a sacrifice. The government’s Mexican gray wolf reintroduction rulebook says that a rancher cannot shoot a wolf simply because she threatens his livestock. But if a single wolf kills three cows or sheep or other domestic animals in a single year, then federal officers may kill or capture the wolf. The wolf Miller had his eye on already had two strikes against her; Miller was hoping for a third. "We would sacrifice a calf to get a third strike," Miller told High Country News, candidly revealing a tactic that could help ranchers get the upper hand in their protracted, bloody war against the endangered Mexican wolves....
Ranch Hand Admits to Baiting Wolves to Prey on Livestock; Results in Removal of Endangered Wolves Today, High Country News reported in an article, Last Chance for the Lobo, that a ranch hand working on the Adobe-Slash Ranch in New Mexico abandoned a pregnant cow that was about to give birth in an area wolves were known to inhabit, in order to lure wolves into attacking livestock which would provide an excuse for removing the wolves. According to the article, the ranch hand knew where the wolves were by using radio-tracking data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which is meant to help ranchers avoid livestock losses. As the article reports, this baiting incident resulted in the lethal removal of the Durango pack's alpha female. "If the accusations detailed in Last Chance for the Lobo are true, it is deeply disturbing that someone would use the very tools offered to help them avoid conflict with wolves as a means to derail the recovery of the Mexican wolf. Defenders of Wildlife has worked hard to help ranchers coexist with wolves through compensation, cooperation and trust. It appears that ranch hand Mike Miller abused that trust and deliberately sacrificed livestock under his care to force the removal of endangered wolves....
Feds make minor changes to Idaho's roadless plan The U.S. Forest Service made minor changes in an Idaho plan to protect 8.7 million acres of roadless national forest. The agency released its draft environmental impact statement on the plan written by former Gov. and now Lt. Gov. Jim Risch and has the endorsement of current Gov. Butch Otter. It plans to schedule more than a dozen public meetings around the state in January and February. The proposed roadless plan would release 609,500 acres of lands currently protected as roadless under the 2001 roadless rule pushed by the Clinton administration. That would allow logging, road building, mining and other activities. But the rest of the land would be managed under four other designations that offer progressively more restricted limits on development. The most controversial, called backcountry restoration areas, would allow temporary roads and logging "to protect public health and safety in cases of significant risk or imminent threat of flood, fire, or other catastrophic event." These areas account for more than 5 million of the total 9.3 million acres currently protected under the Clinton rule....
EPA blocks California bid to limit greenhouse gases from cars The Bush administration blocked efforts by California and 16 other states Wednesday to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, setting up a political and legal fight over whether states can take a lead role in combatting global warming. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California's request for a waiver from the federal government to impose its tough tailpipe emissions standards. The other states were poised to adopt similar rules if California's request was granted. The states represent nearly half the U.S. population, and their laws would effectively require automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, despite President Bush's rejection of mandatory national standards. Johnson said Congress' passage of an energy bill this week that raises fuel economy standards for all cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 made the state laws unnecessary. Bush signed the law Wednesday morning....
Whales may have evolved from raccoon-sized creature In the search for a missing evolutionary link to modern whales, scientists have come up with an unlikely land cousin -- a raccoon-sized creature with the body of a small deer. Prior molecular studies have proposed the hippo as the closest land relative of today's whales, but researchers reporting in the journal Nature on Wednesday suggest a four-footed creature from India known as Indohyus, which probably hid in water in times of danger. Scientists have long known that whales had ancestors that walked on land. Now a team lead by Hans Thewissen of Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy have pieced together a series of intermediate fossils that trace the whale's evolutionary journey from land to sea....
EPA blocks California bid to limit greenhouse gases from cars The Bush administration blocked efforts by California and 16 other states Wednesday to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, setting up a political and legal fight over whether states can take a lead role in combatting global warming. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California's request for a waiver from the federal government to impose its tough tailpipe emissions standards. The other states were poised to adopt similar rules if California's request was granted. The states represent nearly half the U.S. population, and their laws would effectively require automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, despite President Bush's rejection of mandatory national standards. Johnson said Congress' passage of an energy bill this week that raises fuel economy standards for all cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 made the state laws unnecessary. Bush signed the law Wednesday morning....
Whales may have evolved from raccoon-sized creature In the search for a missing evolutionary link to modern whales, scientists have come up with an unlikely land cousin -- a raccoon-sized creature with the body of a small deer. Prior molecular studies have proposed the hippo as the closest land relative of today's whales, but researchers reporting in the journal Nature on Wednesday suggest a four-footed creature from India known as Indohyus, which probably hid in water in times of danger. Scientists have long known that whales had ancestors that walked on land. Now a team lead by Hans Thewissen of Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy have pieced together a series of intermediate fossils that trace the whale's evolutionary journey from land to sea....
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Food Inspection Agency Confirms New Mad Cow Case in Canada A new case of mad cow disease has been confirmed Tuesday in Canada on a 13-year-old beef cow from western Alberta province, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said. The cow was discovered in a farm east of Red Deer, Alta and it is the 11th case since the first diseased animal was discovered in 2003. The discovery led to ban on Canadian beef by many countries, by that time, including the U.S., Japan and Mexico. Red Deer is located about 140 kilometers north of Calgary. Alberta province accounts for 40 percent of beef exports from Canada. Moreover, Alberta has 42 percent of the 13.7 million cows in this country. An investigation has been started to determine the birth farm, trace any animals born within a year of this cow on that farm and remove them from the population. Specialists also want to find out how the cow became infected. It is already known that the cow was born on the farm where it was found in March 1994. Because the cow became thinner, doctors thought it had suffered from an abdominal infection, George Luterbach, a senior veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said, according to the National Post. Instead, the tests revealed bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. "These cases, while I suppose unwelcome, are not unexpected," said Luterbach, who also said that he expects to find a small number of BSE cases over the next 10 years....
Three governors trying to end water war Water wars, once the domain of the arid West, have moved to the East, a region more familiar with water problems like hurricanes and floods. But a Southeastern drought that has drained rivers and lakes to historic low levels brought three governors and the U.S. Department of Interior secretary on Monday to Florida's governor's mansion, where officials aired their differences in a five-hour, closed-door meeting described as "candid" and "frank." Govs. Charlie Crist of Florida, Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Bob Riley of Alabama and U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne emerged from the meeting optimistically saying they could have an agreement by March 15 that would allow the three states to better share their water resources during severe droughts....
Building owner vows a stand on K Street Moe Mohanna said he doesn't intend to speak today when the Sacramento City Council decides whether to use eminent domain to force him to sell his properties in the 700 block of K Street. That doesn't mean he will go quietly, however. Standing in the space he recently fixed up for the Texas Mexican restaurant off K Street, Mohanna said he'll fight to the end. "When the sheriff comes, I will be chained to that door with my family and daughters, and they'll have to drag me out of here," he said. Mohanna, who has owned property downtown since the 1970s, has become a celebrity as his fight with the city drags on. The city has portrayed Mohanna as the biggest obstacle to redevelopment of a particularly bleak stretch of K Street. Mohanna, in turn, has positioned himself as a champion of small, locally owned businesses against big developers funded by city subsidies....
Building owner vows a stand on K Street Moe Mohanna said he doesn't intend to speak today when the Sacramento City Council decides whether to use eminent domain to force him to sell his properties in the 700 block of K Street. That doesn't mean he will go quietly, however. Standing in the space he recently fixed up for the Texas Mexican restaurant off K Street, Mohanna said he'll fight to the end. "When the sheriff comes, I will be chained to that door with my family and daughters, and they'll have to drag me out of here," he said. Mohanna, who has owned property downtown since the 1970s, has become a celebrity as his fight with the city drags on. The city has portrayed Mohanna as the biggest obstacle to redevelopment of a particularly bleak stretch of K Street. Mohanna, in turn, has positioned himself as a champion of small, locally owned businesses against big developers funded by city subsidies....
FLE
Spending Bill 'Guts' Border Fence, Critics Say The House passed a large omnibus spending bill late Monday that included a provision which some conservatives say would "gut" plans to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The provision would eliminate requirements for a double fence and would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) more discretion on where and how the fence can be built. "By eliminating the double-fence requirement, the Democratic Congress is going to make it easier for drug and human smugglers to cross our Southern land border," said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) in a statement. "This goes against the interests of any family that has been touched by illegal drugs or any American who has seen their job taken by an illegal alien....
The Incredible Disappearing Border Fence Do you know the story of the Incredible Disappearing Border Fence? It's an object lesson in gesture politics and homeland insecurity. It's a tale of hollow rhetoric, meaningless legislation and bipartisan betrayal. And in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, it's a helpful learning tool as you assess the promises of immigration enforcement converts now running for president. Last fall, Democrats and Republicans in Washington responded to continued public outrage over border chaos by passing the "Secure Fence Act." Did you question the timing? You should have. It's no coincidence they finally got off their duffs to respond just before the 2006 midterm elections. Lawmakers vowed grandiosely to keep America safe. The law specifically called for "at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors" at five specific stretches of border totaling approximately 700 miles. Six months after passage of the Secure Fence Act -- now interpreted by Washington as the Flexible Non-Fence Act or, as I call it, the FINO (Fence in Name Only) Act -- 700 miles shrunk to "somewhere in the ballpark" of 370 miles. A 14-mile fence-building project in San Diego was stalled for years by environmental legal challenges and budget shortfalls. The first deadline -- a May 30, 2007 requirement for installation of an "interlocking surveillance camera system" along the border in California and Arizona-passed unmet. GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter, one of the few Republican presidential candidates to walk the talk on border security, blasted the Bush administration for suffering from "a case of 'the slows' on border enforcement." More than a year after the law's passage, the citizen watchdog group Grassfire reports that just five miles of double-layer fencing has been built in the first 12 months of implementation of the act. Five lousy miles. The Government Accountability Office claims 70 miles were erected -- but most of that fencing failed to meet the specifications of the law....
Border Patrol Agents Face Massive Increase in Assaults The U.S. Border Patrol says its agents have been assaulted 250 times along the Mexican border since Oct. 1, a number that represents a 38 percent increase from the same period last year. Officials say the rising violence indicates smugglers are frustrated and more desperate as it has become more difficult to cross the border illegally. Agents have been attacked with rocks, vehicles and Molotov cocktails. The agency's San Diego sector, which encompasses western California, reported the steepest increase. Assaults more than quadrupled to 110 from Oct. 1 through Sunday, up from 24 in the same period last year. The agency recently equipped agents in California and Arizona with a powerful, pepper-spray launcher that has a range of more than 200 feet. It has also fired tear gas into Tijuana, Mexico, several times in response to attacks. Overall, the Border Patrol said agents were attacked 987 times during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, the highest since it began keeping track in the late 1990s....
Government Power Grabs: 'Predicting' 2008 As the end of the year approaches, it's time for another column of government overreach predictions for the New Year. What outrageous, beyond-parody grabs at power and erosions of civil liberties will transpire in 2008? My predictions: — The Bush administration will claim it has the power to kidnap citizens of foreign countries for violating U.S. law, and extradite them to the U.S. for trial and imprisonment—even for white collar crimes unrelated to terrorism, and even for acts that aren't illegal in the countries where the target is a citizen. — Police will take enforcement of prostitution laws to a new level, by arresting and seizing the cars of anyone who merely talks to an undercover cop posing as a sex worker. Good samaratans, beware. — The war on prescription painkillers will also reach new absurdities, as people will begin to be arrested and convicted of possessing painkillers for which they have a prescription . Prosecutors will weirdly argue that there is no "prescription defense" to possessing prescribed medication. — While it continues to federalize crime and find new reasons to toss people in prison, members of Congress will simultaneously continue to attempt to put themselves above the law. I predict that the House of Representatives will attempt to prevent police from searching the computers of one of its members, even if that member is being investigated for soliciting sex with minors....
Surveillance Bill Stalls in Senate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled legislation from the floor that would overhaul electronic surveillance rules, leaving Congress little time to act early next year before provisions in the current law expire. Reid, D-Nev., faced with a backed-up agenda and numerous procedural obstacles on legislation (S 2248) that would rewrite the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA (PL 95-511), decided late Monday to delay consideration of the bill until January. Reid’s move dimmed prospects that Democrats would be able to pass new FISA legislation before Feb. 1, the expiration date for a temporary law (PL 110-55) that gave President Bush broad surveillance authority. That measure cleared Congress in the final moments before the August recess when Democrats, under intense pressure from Bush not to leave without authorizing the new surveillance powers, bowed to the president’s demands....
How many more will die in 'gun-free' zones before the media start asking why? Police have identified Robert A. Hawkins, 19, as the assailant who killed eight people with a semi-automatic rifle (not an assault rifle) at the Westroads Mall in Omaha Dec. 5. Chalk up eight more deaths to "gun control." The shooting was at least the fourth at an American mall or shopping center so far this year, including one in February in Salt Lake City. Once again, the killer chose a "gun-free" zone. Nebraska issues permits "allowing" qualified individuals to carry concealed handguns. (The Second and 14th amendments reaffirm that carrying a weapon is a right, not a privilege -- states have no more legitimate power to require a "permit" for weapons carrying than they have to require a "permit" to attend church or publish a newspaper.)....
The Lawless Surveillance State There are several vital points raised by the new revelations in The New York Times that "the N.S.A.'s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before" and includes both pre-9/11 efforts to tap without warrants into the nation's domestic communications network as well as the collection of vast telephone records of American citizens in the name of the War on Drugs. The Executive Branch and the largest telecommunications companies work in virtually complete secrecy -- with no oversight and no notion of legal limits -- to spy on Americans, on our own soil, at will. More than anything else, what these revelations highlight -- yet again -- is that the U.S. has become precisely the kind of surveillance state that we were always told was the hallmark of tyrannical societies, with literally no limits on the government's ability or willingness to spy on its own citizens and to maintain vast dossiers on those activities. The vast bulk of those on whom the Government spies have never been accused, let alone convicted, of having done anything wrong....
Spending Bill 'Guts' Border Fence, Critics Say The House passed a large omnibus spending bill late Monday that included a provision which some conservatives say would "gut" plans to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The provision would eliminate requirements for a double fence and would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) more discretion on where and how the fence can be built. "By eliminating the double-fence requirement, the Democratic Congress is going to make it easier for drug and human smugglers to cross our Southern land border," said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) in a statement. "This goes against the interests of any family that has been touched by illegal drugs or any American who has seen their job taken by an illegal alien....
The Incredible Disappearing Border Fence Do you know the story of the Incredible Disappearing Border Fence? It's an object lesson in gesture politics and homeland insecurity. It's a tale of hollow rhetoric, meaningless legislation and bipartisan betrayal. And in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, it's a helpful learning tool as you assess the promises of immigration enforcement converts now running for president. Last fall, Democrats and Republicans in Washington responded to continued public outrage over border chaos by passing the "Secure Fence Act." Did you question the timing? You should have. It's no coincidence they finally got off their duffs to respond just before the 2006 midterm elections. Lawmakers vowed grandiosely to keep America safe. The law specifically called for "at least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors" at five specific stretches of border totaling approximately 700 miles. Six months after passage of the Secure Fence Act -- now interpreted by Washington as the Flexible Non-Fence Act or, as I call it, the FINO (Fence in Name Only) Act -- 700 miles shrunk to "somewhere in the ballpark" of 370 miles. A 14-mile fence-building project in San Diego was stalled for years by environmental legal challenges and budget shortfalls. The first deadline -- a May 30, 2007 requirement for installation of an "interlocking surveillance camera system" along the border in California and Arizona-passed unmet. GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter, one of the few Republican presidential candidates to walk the talk on border security, blasted the Bush administration for suffering from "a case of 'the slows' on border enforcement." More than a year after the law's passage, the citizen watchdog group Grassfire reports that just five miles of double-layer fencing has been built in the first 12 months of implementation of the act. Five lousy miles. The Government Accountability Office claims 70 miles were erected -- but most of that fencing failed to meet the specifications of the law....
Border Patrol Agents Face Massive Increase in Assaults The U.S. Border Patrol says its agents have been assaulted 250 times along the Mexican border since Oct. 1, a number that represents a 38 percent increase from the same period last year. Officials say the rising violence indicates smugglers are frustrated and more desperate as it has become more difficult to cross the border illegally. Agents have been attacked with rocks, vehicles and Molotov cocktails. The agency's San Diego sector, which encompasses western California, reported the steepest increase. Assaults more than quadrupled to 110 from Oct. 1 through Sunday, up from 24 in the same period last year. The agency recently equipped agents in California and Arizona with a powerful, pepper-spray launcher that has a range of more than 200 feet. It has also fired tear gas into Tijuana, Mexico, several times in response to attacks. Overall, the Border Patrol said agents were attacked 987 times during the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, the highest since it began keeping track in the late 1990s....
Government Power Grabs: 'Predicting' 2008 As the end of the year approaches, it's time for another column of government overreach predictions for the New Year. What outrageous, beyond-parody grabs at power and erosions of civil liberties will transpire in 2008? My predictions: — The Bush administration will claim it has the power to kidnap citizens of foreign countries for violating U.S. law, and extradite them to the U.S. for trial and imprisonment—even for white collar crimes unrelated to terrorism, and even for acts that aren't illegal in the countries where the target is a citizen. — Police will take enforcement of prostitution laws to a new level, by arresting and seizing the cars of anyone who merely talks to an undercover cop posing as a sex worker. Good samaratans, beware. — The war on prescription painkillers will also reach new absurdities, as people will begin to be arrested and convicted of possessing painkillers for which they have a prescription . Prosecutors will weirdly argue that there is no "prescription defense" to possessing prescribed medication. — While it continues to federalize crime and find new reasons to toss people in prison, members of Congress will simultaneously continue to attempt to put themselves above the law. I predict that the House of Representatives will attempt to prevent police from searching the computers of one of its members, even if that member is being investigated for soliciting sex with minors....
Surveillance Bill Stalls in Senate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled legislation from the floor that would overhaul electronic surveillance rules, leaving Congress little time to act early next year before provisions in the current law expire. Reid, D-Nev., faced with a backed-up agenda and numerous procedural obstacles on legislation (S 2248) that would rewrite the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA (PL 95-511), decided late Monday to delay consideration of the bill until January. Reid’s move dimmed prospects that Democrats would be able to pass new FISA legislation before Feb. 1, the expiration date for a temporary law (PL 110-55) that gave President Bush broad surveillance authority. That measure cleared Congress in the final moments before the August recess when Democrats, under intense pressure from Bush not to leave without authorizing the new surveillance powers, bowed to the president’s demands....
How many more will die in 'gun-free' zones before the media start asking why? Police have identified Robert A. Hawkins, 19, as the assailant who killed eight people with a semi-automatic rifle (not an assault rifle) at the Westroads Mall in Omaha Dec. 5. Chalk up eight more deaths to "gun control." The shooting was at least the fourth at an American mall or shopping center so far this year, including one in February in Salt Lake City. Once again, the killer chose a "gun-free" zone. Nebraska issues permits "allowing" qualified individuals to carry concealed handguns. (The Second and 14th amendments reaffirm that carrying a weapon is a right, not a privilege -- states have no more legitimate power to require a "permit" for weapons carrying than they have to require a "permit" to attend church or publish a newspaper.)....
The Lawless Surveillance State There are several vital points raised by the new revelations in The New York Times that "the N.S.A.'s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before" and includes both pre-9/11 efforts to tap without warrants into the nation's domestic communications network as well as the collection of vast telephone records of American citizens in the name of the War on Drugs. The Executive Branch and the largest telecommunications companies work in virtually complete secrecy -- with no oversight and no notion of legal limits -- to spy on Americans, on our own soil, at will. More than anything else, what these revelations highlight -- yet again -- is that the U.S. has become precisely the kind of surveillance state that we were always told was the hallmark of tyrannical societies, with literally no limits on the government's ability or willingness to spy on its own citizens and to maintain vast dossiers on those activities. The vast bulk of those on whom the Government spies have never been accused, let alone convicted, of having done anything wrong....
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