Analysis: Polar bear's impact on people is felt It's not about saving the polar bear as much as the polar bear saving us. The Arctic bear facing extinction because of global warming is bringing home the consequences of cheap energy and — until recently — the need for little sacrifice. It also reminds us that a choice soon may come between accepting higher electricity and transportation costs and reducing the pollution that is raising the earth's temperature. In listing the bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration is taking pains to draw a line between protection of the majestic mammal and the origin of its plight — global warming. "This listing should not open the door ... to regulating greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, power plants and other sources," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, in line with views expressed by President Bush last month. There is a reason for that. Business fears the bear. But will the administration, in its final eight months in power, be able to maintain that firewall. The odds are it will not. Environmentalists already are working on strategies for lawsuits challenging the limits that Kempthorne put on the polar bear listing. That includes assuming no relationship between greenhouse gas emissions from, for example, a Texas power plant, and melting sea ice, and that the bear should have no more protection from oil drilling than it now has. In fact, those restrictions may not survive a new administration....
Cap-And-Trade Folly Legislation pending in the Senate might warm environmentalists' hearts, but not because of potential cuts in carbon emissions. Their interest is in the heavy economic costs the plans would inflict. Each bill uses the cap-and-trade scheme to control carbon dioxide emissions. Each establishes limits, then prescribes how to distribute or sell to the private sector the rights to emit specific amounts of greenhouse gases under the cap. The bill sponsored by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., is the least egregious. It would force greenhouse gas emissions to be cut to about 3% below last year's level. The others, one from Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Independent from Connecticut, and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, another from Lieberman and Sen. John Warner, Republican of Virginia, are more draconian. The former would cut emissions to 16% below the 2007 output, the latter 44%. None would affect climate change. All, however, would carry heavy economic losses. Naturally, the environmentalists, having pushed the environment down their list of concerns, like that. It's no surprise that the most expensive of the three is the Warner-Lieberman bill. The Environmental Protection Agency reckons it could cost as much as $3 trillion a year in lost GDP. In an economy of roughly $14 trillion, that's a significant loss. But even the Bingaman-Specter legislation, the least costly of the three, would hit the economy for about $1 trillion a year. Much of the pain would be caused by increases in gasoline and electricity prices. The Science Applications International Corporation calculates that Lieberman-Warner by 2030 would boost gasoline prices from 60% to 144% while electricity prices would be up 77% to 129%....
Sea lions likely died from the heat The deaths of six sea lions found in traps on the Columbia River earlier this month were likely caused by the heat, and not by gunshots as officials first suspected, the National Marine Fisheries Service said. Oregon and Washington officials had been trapping the animals as part of a federally approved removal process because they feast on salmon at the Bonneville Dam. Federal and state officials initially said the sea lions had been shot, but they did an about-face after necropsies by state and federal experts found no evidence of bullet wounds. The fisheries service said Wednesday the results of necropsies on all six animals were consistent with death from heat stroke. Studies of tissue samples taken after the May 4 deaths are expected in about 10 days and might reveal more....
Ranch owner surrenders in bison deaths Jeffrey Scott Hawn, the Texas businessman facing multiple criminal counts in the killing of 32 bison in South Park, turned himself in at the Park County Jail earlier this week, the Park County Sheriff's Office said today. While there, said the sheriff's department, Hawn, 44, of Austin, posted the $15,000 bail set by District Judge Stephen Groome. Groome has given Hawn, who has a home and ranch in South Park, permission to travel outside Colorado, but the judge is determining whether Hawn can leave the country. According to an arrest warrant issued last week, the bison apparently were killed over a span of a couple of weeks. A group of hunters claimed that Hawn, in a letter sent to one of them Feb. 25, said they could kill the bison, which belonged to South Park rancher Monte Downare....
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Polar Bears: 'Still Alive... Having Fun' The Interior Department ruled Wednesday that the polar bear will be protected as a threatened species. Why special treatment for an animal whose population has more than doubled over the last 50 years? Because it's politically correct. The polar bear has become such a beloved icon that even a pro-development Republican secretary of the Interior can't muster the courage to say no to the forces of environmentalism. The polar bear is more than just a cuddly looking beast that roams the Arctic region. It's a wishbone in the fight between misanthropic activists determined to send the developed world back a few centuries and those who wish to see human development go forward. These beautiful creatures have become pawns in the environmentalists' campaign to block oil and gas exploration and drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and beyond. Though bullied by the court, Kempthorne still had a choice. He just made the wrong — and an unnecessary — one. The polar bear is already under the shield of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act and its population is at a historic high. Oh, you thought its numbers were shrinking? Forget the maudlin media wailing about global warming leading to the extinction of the polar bear because man-made global warming will melt its habitat. Its numbers are actually growing. There might be as many as 25,000, and probably no fewer than 22,000, today while 50 years ago, there were somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000....
Unbearable Legislation The decision announced yesterday by the Secretary of the Interior, to list the polar bear as "threatened," removes all doubt that the Endangered Species Act is broken and in need of urgent repair. It is the environmental movement that must take responsibility for breaking it. A sensible discussion of the polar bear requires acknowledging a simple fact: that the polar bear is merely a proxy for something else. The environmental pressure groups like the Center for Biological Diversity that have petitioned for the listing acknowledge that their reason for doing so is concern over global warming. The more warming, they argue, the less sea ice; the less sea ice, the fewer polar bears. So their hope was that the Endangered Species Act will give the federal government power to curtail sources of global warming -- such as your car or air conditioning system. Secretary Dirk Kempthorne attempted to frustrate this desire by erecting regulatory barriers, like a statement from the Director of the US Geological Survey that melting ice in specific areas could not be tied to specific sources of carbon emissions. These barriers have all the legislative strength of tissue paper. It will take but a few moments of a new Administration to blow them away. After that, the first effects of the now-sacrosanct listing will probably be felt not in Alaska, where America's polar bears range, but in any state thinking of adding a coal-fired power plant to its energy infrastructure. The Act will be used by the new government to intervene -- and by activists to litigate -- against new construction in any controversial permitting process. Once that precedent is set, the Act would be used to stop uncontroversial, even popular permit applications....
Polar Bear Decision Gives Environmental Trial Lawyers A "New Legal Sledgehammer" The government's decision to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act will give environmental trial lawyers "a powerful new legal sledgehammer" against virtually every business and agricultural operation in the Western U.S. and will deliver virtually no benefit to the polar bear species, according to Jim Sims, President and CEO of the Western Business Roundtable. "This decision marks a sad day for the American West and for the polar bear. The only beneficiaries of this decision will be a small handful of environmental trial lawyers who make their living suing those Americans who work the land and keep our nation strong," Sims said. "Those who made this decision did so with the best of intentions and under a highly flawed and failed law," Sims said. "Nonetheless, this will unleash a torrent of lawsuits by a small group of extremists who are opposed to responsible development of any of the America's bountiful resources. Those lawsuits are going to cost Americans jobs, expose millions of farmers and ranchers and small businesses to citizen lawsuits, slow economic growth and force our nation to become even more dependent on foreign sources of energy." "The bulk of the economic damage from this decision will fall upon the American West and on the State of Alaska, which together comprise our nation's energy and natural resource breadbasket," Sims said....
Feds to consider protecting New Mexico's state fish New Mexico's state fish, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, has been designated as a candidate for possible protection under the federal Endangered Species Act as threats continue to mount against the fish and the cold water streams it calls home. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that federal biologists will develop a proposal to list the fish as either threatened or endangered. The process can take up to a year, and the agency is waiting for funding to begin the work. This is not the first time the agency has done such a review for the Rio Grande cutthroat. In 2002, it determined that listing the fish wasn't warranted because the trout was neither endangered nor likely to become endangered throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Since then, the number of secure populations has dropped from 13 to five and many of the other populations are isolated and occur in short stream segments. One concern is that disease, nonnative fish or events such as forest fires, droughts or floods could wipe out those isolated populations. Another concern is how the trout's cold mountain streams will be affected by climate change. Myers pointed to research that shows an increase in the air temperature in the Southwest and increases in the temperature of many streams....
McCain's 'Better Way': 'Eco-Friendly' Campaign Merchandise It’s not quite Birkenstocks and tie-dyed T-shirts, but presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has shown he’s willing to go the extra mile to embrace the global warming movement. The latest sign of that is the recently introduced “eco-friendly” campaign merchandise the McCain campaign has showcased on its Web site. Included are his and hers “Go Green” McCain embroidered polo shirts, T-shirts, hats and visors with or without the recycle logo. Organic cotton onesies for the babies. You can also find “Go Green” McCain tote bags, notebooks and travel mugs (with up to 100 percent recycled material and an “enhanced biodegradability additive”). This is the latest move by McCain to show his willingness to include so-called “green” issues as part of his campaign’s platform. This comes on the heels of a May 12 speech in which he addressed global warming. He also used the opportunity to take a swipe at policy under the Bush administration....
Sheep ranchers back non-lethal wolf management Local predator experts claim a federally driven program that aims to separate wolves and sheep on portions of the Sawtooth National Forest northwest of Ketchum could become a model for other wolf-occupied ranching areas throughout the West. The program, proposed by the Idaho branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, anticipates working with three local sheep ranchers who graze bands of sheep on federal grazing allotments in the Smoky and Boulder mountains. The program could begin as early as this summer. Rick Williamson, wolf management specialist for Wildlife Services in Idaho, said details still need to be ironed out with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Measures that would be implemented include herding sheep into electrified night pens at dusk, hazing wolves that venture too close to sheep bands and using radio-activated guard boxes, which blare loud sounds to deter wolves from preying on livestock....
Panelists urge residents to stay involved After sitting through environmental meetings held first by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and then the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Sublette County citizens turned away from government completely on Tuesday night to hold a public information meeting of their own. Their goal? To educate themselves on the county’s delicate environmental health and search for solutions that the state and federal governments haven’t offered so far. As a PBS camera perused the high-profile event, 125 people shuffled into the Pinedale High School auditorium to hear the panel discussion sponsored by Citizens Learning about Ozone’s Unhealthy Destruction (CLOUD). The crowd, which included the general public as well as representatives of the BLM and energy industry, was evidence of locals’ lingering fixation with how to best address air and water quality regulations after recent pollution crises....
Salazar aims to slow oil shale leasing U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar said Tuesday that he will introduce legislation that would require several additional measures before any possible commercial oil shale leasing in the West. The Colorado congressman's proposed bill includes provisions that were in a Senate-passed 2005 energy bill, which Salazar said cleared the chamber on a broad bipartisan vote of 85-12. However, many of the Senate-passed provisions were later stripped, and the final bill had several "unrealistic deadlines," according a statement from Salazar's office. "That language has been interpreted to require final leasing regulations and commencement of commercial oil shale leasing in 2008, before the results of important research and development have been completed and without any results of that research being known," according to the statement. Salazar's new legislation would provide another year to analyze a plan to open nearly 2 million acres of federal land to development in western Colorado, eastern Utah and southwest Wyoming. The bill would also allow a year for development of a commercial leasing program after the analysis is finished....
Questions raised about uranium mining Northeast Wyoming residents are raising questions about plans for in-situ leach mining of uranium in light of violations by the state's only such mine. Their questions concern how the mining process will affect soils and aquifers, how reliable producers are when it comes to self-monitoring, and whether state regulators are prepared to properly oversee the pending rush on in-situ uranium mining in the state. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has fielded numerous questions in recent weeks following a recent report documenting a long history of violations at Cameco Corp.'s Smith Ranch-Highland in-situ uranium mine in Converse County. The in-situ mining process involves a series of closely spaced wells that flush uranium material through water aquifers and then to the surface. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received six applications for uranium in-situ operations, including four in Wyoming, and has been notified of interest in 24 more in-situ and conventional uranium operations in Wyoming and elsewhere in the West....
Growing focus on fires leaves other Forest Service programs withering The U.S. Forest Service plans to spend $1.9 billion — nearly half of its annual budget — to prevent and fight wildfires this summer. That continues a trend that critics say is turning the agency into primarily a firefighting operation at the expense of other programs. The $1.9 billion represents 45 percent of the agency budget. In 2000, 20 percent of the budget went to fire programs. Between 2000 and 2008, the agency's budget for other programs declined 35 percent. "It makes it pretty darn difficult for them to maintain campgrounds or hire rangers when they're spending almost 50 percent of their budget on fire suppression," said Tom Fry, wildfire program coordinator for The Wilderness Society in Denver. The federal government has pledged $25 million to Colorado to fight fires this year and another $35 million for fuel reduction and other wildfire-prevention efforts, according to regional forester Rick Cables. Agency officials say that general inflation and the rising cost of fuel for everything from air tankers and helicopters to caterers and support crews are driving much of the increase....Federal environmental reg's have prevented the construction of new refineries and federal refusal to drill off our coasts or at ANWR have driven up the cost of fuel, increasing the costs of fighting fire. Federal energy policy has subsidized ethanol and distorted our grain markets, driving up the cost of food, and thus of fighting fires. Are you getting the picture? We will pay more for fuel, we will pay more for food and we will pay more to federal agencies.
Memorial to men of Roosevelt era to open The CCC has something for you to see. The plan for the James R. Wilkins Sr. Civilian Conservation Corps interpretive center will become more than something in talks or on paper Saturday when an outdoor memorial honoring the men in the program is dedicated at the U.S. Forest Service office at 102 Koontz Road. The center is under the same roof as the government office that houses the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. The CCC memorial is a statue of a CCC boy and a brick wall with granite pavers containing the names of some members of Camp Roosevelt in Fort Valley. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the corps during the Great Depression to give boys and men ages 17-25 an opportunity to work and preserve America's natural resources. Stephanie Bushong, who works for the Lee District office, said officials are ready to put contracts out for the design of the center. At that point, a price and timeline for the indoor portion of the facility, which will have displays, a small auditorium and more to serve educational purposes, can be determined, she said. The statue that will be dedicated Saturday is an $18,000 replica of a CCC worker, standing 6 feet and weighing 460 pounds....Interpretive centers and statues. Does this look like an agency who's strapped for money? They will always find the money to construct a monument to large government programs.
Forest Service warehouse holds plenty of questions Mention a mysterious government-owned building in a remote corner of southwest Washington, and conspiracy-minded folks may wonder if Bigfoot or D.B. Cooper could be hidden away inside. The truth doesn't appear to be quite so riveting, but the hazy history of a nondescript Forest Service warehouse still raises plenty of questions. The Forest Service deems the warehouse so important, it chose to locate a new $1.75 million headquarters for the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument next door. Siting the two buildings close together tightens security in a post-9/11 world, and it's their understanding that the warehouse is a potential federal emergency operations center. "We're under agreement to evacuate within 48 hours if requested by FEMA," said Ron Freeman, public services staff officer for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Much of the material is stored on pallets to hasten a quick exit. There's just one problem: the Federal Emergency Management Agency knows nothing about the warehouse. "There's no FEMA facility anywhere near there," said Mike Howard, spokesman for the agency's regional headquarters in Bothell. Tom McDowell, the longtime director of North Country EMS and Volcano Rescue Team in Yacolt, was equally perplexed. "I've never heard any such thing like that in my life," he said. "I've never even heard a rumor of that." Yet the decision to locate the monument headquarters near the warehouse came at a substantial cost. In making that decision, the forest officials killed plans to build on a nearby site where they had already spent $1 million on clearing, grading and paving....Yes sir, we need to get these folks some more money. They are really hurtin'.
Study: Lead bullets taint game meat The meat in your freezer from the deer you shot last fall may be contaminated with lead from tiny bullet fragments. A study released Tuesday by the Peregrine Fund and Washington State University shows that people who consume venison from game animals killed with lead bullets may be ingesting the poisonous metal themselves - and that can cause brain damage in children and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke in adults. The Boise-based Peregrine Fund, which has been reintroducing California condors back into in California and Arizona, discovered most of the birds had elevated levels of lead in their system, which scientists conclude comes from gut piles and dead game animals shot by hunters. Last year, the group's lobbying spurred the California Legislature to ban the use of lead bullets in areas frequented by the California condor, one of the rarest birds in the world. But the latest study, released Tuesday at a Peregrine Fund conference, ups the stakes even more. X-rays showed processed ground venison from 80 percent of deer sampled in Wyoming contained metal fragments, of which 92 percent were lead. Tiny amounts of lead can cause brain development problems in children. Even amounts previously considered safe in adults are now known to increase rates of death from heart attack and stroke....
Court blocks Bush's plan for logging in Sierra A federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration's plans Wednesday for logging three tracts in the northern Sierra and said the government has failed to justify a critical element in its plan for the forests: selling trees to lumber companies to pay for removing brush that increases the threat of fire. Preventing fires is important, "but are there no alternative ways of getting money to do the clearing?" asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The court said the U.S. Forest Service has not explored the obvious alternatives: finding the money elsewhere in its budget or asking Congress for more. The tracts covered in Wednesday's ruling were included in the Forest Service's management plan for 11 million acres of Sierra forests, which the agency announced in 2004. The plan overhauled regulations that the Clinton administration issued in January 2001 but that were never implemented. Environmental groups said the Bush administration's plan allows five times as much logging as the Clinton rules would have permitted and weakened protections for water and wildlife. The Bush administration's Forest Service said one of its highest priorities was reducing the danger of wildfires that have been ravaging Northwest forests. The agency increased the scope of logging and the size of trees to be cut in the forests, up to a diameter of 30 inches, and said it would use proceeds of the timber sales to pay for removal of brush and small trees that fuel fires....
Ruling says property owners, lessees not properly notified The state attorney general’s office issued a ruling last week determining that the Feb. 22 emergency meeting that designated 600 square miles of Mount Taylor as traditional cultural property for one year was held illegally. A May 8 letter from the attorney general’s office to the Historic Division said that notification before the meeting, held in Albuquerque, was inadequate and in violation of the New Mexico 1978 Open Meeting Act. The ruling renders all action taken in the February meeting invalid; Mount Taylor cannot at this time be considered a state traditional cultural property, even on a temporary basis. The Historic Division must call another meeting, with proper notice; produce a summary of comments made at the February meeting and retake the vote if it wants to designate the mountain an emergency TCP status. The attorney general’s office ruled that notice to property owners and lessees in the designated area was inadequate, although it found that notification to the media followed the letter of the OMA guidelines....
How Schwarzenegger Is Trying to Finagle More Big Dam Construction California Governor Schwarzenegger wants to build two new dams -- Sites and Temperance Flat. They are being sold as necessary to cope with the reduction in Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Klamath Mountains snowpack expected as a result of climate change. New and "enhanced" storage are being marketed by Lester Snow, director of California's Department of Water Resources (DWR) as part of a "portfolio approach" which, in addition to "enhanced" storage, calls for urban water conservation, better groundwater facilities, improved wastewater processing and research into lowering the cost of desalination. The dams are to provide increased capacity in order to catch earlier runoff that -- according to climate change data and predictions -- will no longer be held in mountain snowpack. Schwarzenegger and Snow are counting on the climate change predictions to be fairly accurate. If the actual climate does not follow the predictions, the new and "enhanced" reservoirs might never fill....
Byfields fight Trans-Texas Corridor Taylor-area residents Dan and Margaret Byfield hope to become the Trans-Texas Corridor’s worst nightmare. The married couple head up two land rights organizations, the American Land Foundation and Stewards of the Range, that aim to keep rural communities from having land encroached upon by state and federal agencies through eminent domain. Both organizations operate across the U.S., in Wyoming, California, Colorado, South Dakota and Nebraska, but their current main goal is to challenge TxDOT in hopes of completely eliminating proposals for the quarter-mile wide superhighway. Currently they offer advice to residents of small towns and rural communities on how to corral TxDOT into coordinating with them, rather than just listening to and ignoring grievances some cities have with the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Byfields work in Texas is based on a local government code from 2001, which requires state and federal agencies to coordinate “to the greatest extent feasible” with future planning commissions created by two or more governmental entities — usually a city or county. “As individual cities, their opinions aren’t going to be listened to,” Dan Byfield said. They provide extensive literature with step-by-step instruction on how to create planning commissions and how opponents to the Trans-Texas Corridor should approach cities and counties that are sitting on proposed future areas for the highway....
Researchers want to know if lion shot in Chicago is SD animal The mountain lion killed in April on a Chicago street came from somewhere west, scientists say. Soon they hope to know if it came from the Black Hills of South Dakota. The initial study of the lion’s DNA showed a match to the cougar a man encountered in January in Wisconsin. The DNA also matched many characteristics of animals in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. Scientists now are zeroing in on additional genetic traits to see if it specifically matches those in western South Dakota. John Kanta, regional wildlife manager for state Game, Fish and Parks in Rapid City, said 250 mountain lions live in the Black Hills. He said he hopes to learn within a month if the Chicago lion began its journey from the Hills. A U.S. Forest Service lab in Montana is analyzing a specimen from the animal. The Chicago Tribune reported that the team will compare the DNA to 300 cougar samples in a database of animals from the American West.
Wolverines Return to California, Scaring Bears, Mountain Lions It was Moriarty's motion-triggered camera that captured the image of an animal thought to be a wolverine in February, surprising scientists who thought humans had driven the predator and scavenger from the state. Within two weeks, 19 volunteers arrived to scour 150 square miles (400 square kilometers) of Tahoe National Forest, on the Nevada border. The volunteers didn't glimpse the creature, but did find evidence of its presence. Samples of scat and hair they collected, and additional photos, confirmed the animal was a wolverine. That got wolverines added to the target list of a four-month search for rare species in the Sierra Nevada starting in June, said Eric Loft, chief of the California Fish and Game Department's wildlife division. Scientists think the wolverine might have wandered from Idaho's Sawtooth Range, 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) away, and are trying to determine why, said Jeff Copeland, a biologist at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. That's twice the distance of any known wolverine range, he said. Wolverines, members of the weasel family, are also called ``skunk bears'' for their resemblance to both. They're found in Alaska, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming and Montana, and in western Canada. The animals are known for their ferocity, said Patrick Kobernus, a biologist at Coast Range Ecology in San Francisco. Wolverines top out at about 40 pounds (18 kilograms), but that doesn't stop them from stealing kills from bears, mountain lions and other bigger animals. A wolverine can drag a dead deer as far as 20 miles, he said....
Harvest Of Shame Congress may think it's doing the "people's work," as they like to say, but the pork-laden, market-distorting farm bill is anything but. In fact, it's an obscene waste of money that will leave us all poorer and hungrier for the effort. GOP members are already trying to lay low. Not so the Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately hailed the bill as a "significant reform" — a statement so wrong it's laughable. The bill hands out a record $300 billion in new spending on agriculture over five years. This might be worth it if all the spending led to lower prices. It won't. As Heritage Foundation economist Brian Riedl has noted, since enactment of the last farm bill in 2002, prices for key crops have surged 281%. And they're still surging. Yet, we continue to support, subsidize and shower this sector with billions in taxpayer dollars. Also Wednesday, the government reported that in contrast with tame inflation overall last month, food prices shot up 5.1% from a year earlier — the largest gain since 1990 (see chart). Reform? In addition to $25 billion a year in subsidies and $5 billion in direct payments to farmers, regardless of crop prices, the bill provides another $1 billion for food stamps, school lunches and other social programs; more protection for sugar growers; tax breaks for thoroughbred race horses; money for fruit and vegetable marketing; more cash support for "organic" foods; and, of course, a billion more for biofuels. But not a shred of "reform."....
Farm bill full of pet causes backed by individual lawmakers A good farm bill wouldn't be complete without a little pork. Individual lawmakers, mostly senators, slipped several dozen "earmarks," or pet causes, into the $290 billion bill that have at best tentative connections to the tilling of the land. There's tax breaks for horse owners, water for Nevada desert lakes, aid for the Pacific Coast salmon fishery industry and a crackdown on puppy trafficking. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a leading opponent of earmarks, complained that some had been "airdropped in" at the last minute. "If you dig into them, you might find something untoward. You might not, but the fact is we don't have time to do that." Republicans went after Democratic-backed provisions, such as one backed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that allows the federal government to sell portions of the Green Mountain National Forest to a ski resort in the state. Leahy's office countered that the provision, backed by the state and the Forest Service, would save the Forest Service management costs by selling land that has long been used for skiing. Another controversy was over a provision allowing state and local governments and non-profits to issue $500 million in tax-credit bonds to buy forest land for conservation purposes. The White House, which opposes the bill because of its cost and benefits for wealthy farmers, said that provision would authorize the purchase of 400,000 acres of land in Montana from a single owner, the Plum Creek Timber Co....
What Will Be Required Of Cow Calf Producers Under The COOL Rules This September? The title of this article asks a question that is not yet totally answered. However, the answer is beginning to be clearer and soon may be finalized. As you likely know, in 2002, the US Congress passed a law requiring certain “covered commodities” to be verified and labeled as to their county of origin. The acronym used commonly for this law is COOL, denoting County of Orgin Labeling. Final rules for COOL will be written following final passage of the 2007 Farm Bill which has passed the Senate and House Conference Committee and will likely be sent to the President’s desk soon. If the President signs the Farm Bill, final rules will then be written. As of now, the following definitions and requirements are likely to become rules. Let’s examine some of these as they apply to cow-calf producers in Colorado....
Ants swarm over Houston area, fouling electronics In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers. The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants"—crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on. "They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew of Pearland, who is constantly sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy." The ants—formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens"—have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002....
Raccoon bite causes school to lock down Officials decided to lock down the Clarke School Tuesday after a raccoon bit a school crossing guard minutes before school was released for the day. According to Detective Sgt. Tim Cassidy, Judith Hapgood was stationed at the Clarke School on Norfolk Avenue just after 2 p.m. when she felt something rub against her leg and was then bitten by a raccoon. School Resource Officer Rose Cheever was contacted and she immediately contacted officials at Clarke School and administrative offices. Cassidy said the school was placed in lockdown until the raccoon was disposed of. He said the animal was located behind a house across from the school and Sgt. Richard McCarriston euthanized the raccoon. Calls to Principal Lois Longin were not immediately returned on Tuesday but Superintendent Matthew Malone said students were inside the school when the incident occurred....
Unbearable Legislation The decision announced yesterday by the Secretary of the Interior, to list the polar bear as "threatened," removes all doubt that the Endangered Species Act is broken and in need of urgent repair. It is the environmental movement that must take responsibility for breaking it. A sensible discussion of the polar bear requires acknowledging a simple fact: that the polar bear is merely a proxy for something else. The environmental pressure groups like the Center for Biological Diversity that have petitioned for the listing acknowledge that their reason for doing so is concern over global warming. The more warming, they argue, the less sea ice; the less sea ice, the fewer polar bears. So their hope was that the Endangered Species Act will give the federal government power to curtail sources of global warming -- such as your car or air conditioning system. Secretary Dirk Kempthorne attempted to frustrate this desire by erecting regulatory barriers, like a statement from the Director of the US Geological Survey that melting ice in specific areas could not be tied to specific sources of carbon emissions. These barriers have all the legislative strength of tissue paper. It will take but a few moments of a new Administration to blow them away. After that, the first effects of the now-sacrosanct listing will probably be felt not in Alaska, where America's polar bears range, but in any state thinking of adding a coal-fired power plant to its energy infrastructure. The Act will be used by the new government to intervene -- and by activists to litigate -- against new construction in any controversial permitting process. Once that precedent is set, the Act would be used to stop uncontroversial, even popular permit applications....
Polar Bear Decision Gives Environmental Trial Lawyers A "New Legal Sledgehammer" The government's decision to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act will give environmental trial lawyers "a powerful new legal sledgehammer" against virtually every business and agricultural operation in the Western U.S. and will deliver virtually no benefit to the polar bear species, according to Jim Sims, President and CEO of the Western Business Roundtable. "This decision marks a sad day for the American West and for the polar bear. The only beneficiaries of this decision will be a small handful of environmental trial lawyers who make their living suing those Americans who work the land and keep our nation strong," Sims said. "Those who made this decision did so with the best of intentions and under a highly flawed and failed law," Sims said. "Nonetheless, this will unleash a torrent of lawsuits by a small group of extremists who are opposed to responsible development of any of the America's bountiful resources. Those lawsuits are going to cost Americans jobs, expose millions of farmers and ranchers and small businesses to citizen lawsuits, slow economic growth and force our nation to become even more dependent on foreign sources of energy." "The bulk of the economic damage from this decision will fall upon the American West and on the State of Alaska, which together comprise our nation's energy and natural resource breadbasket," Sims said....
Feds to consider protecting New Mexico's state fish New Mexico's state fish, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, has been designated as a candidate for possible protection under the federal Endangered Species Act as threats continue to mount against the fish and the cold water streams it calls home. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that federal biologists will develop a proposal to list the fish as either threatened or endangered. The process can take up to a year, and the agency is waiting for funding to begin the work. This is not the first time the agency has done such a review for the Rio Grande cutthroat. In 2002, it determined that listing the fish wasn't warranted because the trout was neither endangered nor likely to become endangered throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Since then, the number of secure populations has dropped from 13 to five and many of the other populations are isolated and occur in short stream segments. One concern is that disease, nonnative fish or events such as forest fires, droughts or floods could wipe out those isolated populations. Another concern is how the trout's cold mountain streams will be affected by climate change. Myers pointed to research that shows an increase in the air temperature in the Southwest and increases in the temperature of many streams....
McCain's 'Better Way': 'Eco-Friendly' Campaign Merchandise It’s not quite Birkenstocks and tie-dyed T-shirts, but presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has shown he’s willing to go the extra mile to embrace the global warming movement. The latest sign of that is the recently introduced “eco-friendly” campaign merchandise the McCain campaign has showcased on its Web site. Included are his and hers “Go Green” McCain embroidered polo shirts, T-shirts, hats and visors with or without the recycle logo. Organic cotton onesies for the babies. You can also find “Go Green” McCain tote bags, notebooks and travel mugs (with up to 100 percent recycled material and an “enhanced biodegradability additive”). This is the latest move by McCain to show his willingness to include so-called “green” issues as part of his campaign’s platform. This comes on the heels of a May 12 speech in which he addressed global warming. He also used the opportunity to take a swipe at policy under the Bush administration....
Sheep ranchers back non-lethal wolf management Local predator experts claim a federally driven program that aims to separate wolves and sheep on portions of the Sawtooth National Forest northwest of Ketchum could become a model for other wolf-occupied ranching areas throughout the West. The program, proposed by the Idaho branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, anticipates working with three local sheep ranchers who graze bands of sheep on federal grazing allotments in the Smoky and Boulder mountains. The program could begin as early as this summer. Rick Williamson, wolf management specialist for Wildlife Services in Idaho, said details still need to be ironed out with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Measures that would be implemented include herding sheep into electrified night pens at dusk, hazing wolves that venture too close to sheep bands and using radio-activated guard boxes, which blare loud sounds to deter wolves from preying on livestock....
Panelists urge residents to stay involved After sitting through environmental meetings held first by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and then the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Sublette County citizens turned away from government completely on Tuesday night to hold a public information meeting of their own. Their goal? To educate themselves on the county’s delicate environmental health and search for solutions that the state and federal governments haven’t offered so far. As a PBS camera perused the high-profile event, 125 people shuffled into the Pinedale High School auditorium to hear the panel discussion sponsored by Citizens Learning about Ozone’s Unhealthy Destruction (CLOUD). The crowd, which included the general public as well as representatives of the BLM and energy industry, was evidence of locals’ lingering fixation with how to best address air and water quality regulations after recent pollution crises....
Salazar aims to slow oil shale leasing U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar said Tuesday that he will introduce legislation that would require several additional measures before any possible commercial oil shale leasing in the West. The Colorado congressman's proposed bill includes provisions that were in a Senate-passed 2005 energy bill, which Salazar said cleared the chamber on a broad bipartisan vote of 85-12. However, many of the Senate-passed provisions were later stripped, and the final bill had several "unrealistic deadlines," according a statement from Salazar's office. "That language has been interpreted to require final leasing regulations and commencement of commercial oil shale leasing in 2008, before the results of important research and development have been completed and without any results of that research being known," according to the statement. Salazar's new legislation would provide another year to analyze a plan to open nearly 2 million acres of federal land to development in western Colorado, eastern Utah and southwest Wyoming. The bill would also allow a year for development of a commercial leasing program after the analysis is finished....
Questions raised about uranium mining Northeast Wyoming residents are raising questions about plans for in-situ leach mining of uranium in light of violations by the state's only such mine. Their questions concern how the mining process will affect soils and aquifers, how reliable producers are when it comes to self-monitoring, and whether state regulators are prepared to properly oversee the pending rush on in-situ uranium mining in the state. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has fielded numerous questions in recent weeks following a recent report documenting a long history of violations at Cameco Corp.'s Smith Ranch-Highland in-situ uranium mine in Converse County. The in-situ mining process involves a series of closely spaced wells that flush uranium material through water aquifers and then to the surface. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received six applications for uranium in-situ operations, including four in Wyoming, and has been notified of interest in 24 more in-situ and conventional uranium operations in Wyoming and elsewhere in the West....
Growing focus on fires leaves other Forest Service programs withering The U.S. Forest Service plans to spend $1.9 billion — nearly half of its annual budget — to prevent and fight wildfires this summer. That continues a trend that critics say is turning the agency into primarily a firefighting operation at the expense of other programs. The $1.9 billion represents 45 percent of the agency budget. In 2000, 20 percent of the budget went to fire programs. Between 2000 and 2008, the agency's budget for other programs declined 35 percent. "It makes it pretty darn difficult for them to maintain campgrounds or hire rangers when they're spending almost 50 percent of their budget on fire suppression," said Tom Fry, wildfire program coordinator for The Wilderness Society in Denver. The federal government has pledged $25 million to Colorado to fight fires this year and another $35 million for fuel reduction and other wildfire-prevention efforts, according to regional forester Rick Cables. Agency officials say that general inflation and the rising cost of fuel for everything from air tankers and helicopters to caterers and support crews are driving much of the increase....Federal environmental reg's have prevented the construction of new refineries and federal refusal to drill off our coasts or at ANWR have driven up the cost of fuel, increasing the costs of fighting fire. Federal energy policy has subsidized ethanol and distorted our grain markets, driving up the cost of food, and thus of fighting fires. Are you getting the picture? We will pay more for fuel, we will pay more for food and we will pay more to federal agencies.
Memorial to men of Roosevelt era to open The CCC has something for you to see. The plan for the James R. Wilkins Sr. Civilian Conservation Corps interpretive center will become more than something in talks or on paper Saturday when an outdoor memorial honoring the men in the program is dedicated at the U.S. Forest Service office at 102 Koontz Road. The center is under the same roof as the government office that houses the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. The CCC memorial is a statue of a CCC boy and a brick wall with granite pavers containing the names of some members of Camp Roosevelt in Fort Valley. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the corps during the Great Depression to give boys and men ages 17-25 an opportunity to work and preserve America's natural resources. Stephanie Bushong, who works for the Lee District office, said officials are ready to put contracts out for the design of the center. At that point, a price and timeline for the indoor portion of the facility, which will have displays, a small auditorium and more to serve educational purposes, can be determined, she said. The statue that will be dedicated Saturday is an $18,000 replica of a CCC worker, standing 6 feet and weighing 460 pounds....Interpretive centers and statues. Does this look like an agency who's strapped for money? They will always find the money to construct a monument to large government programs.
Forest Service warehouse holds plenty of questions Mention a mysterious government-owned building in a remote corner of southwest Washington, and conspiracy-minded folks may wonder if Bigfoot or D.B. Cooper could be hidden away inside. The truth doesn't appear to be quite so riveting, but the hazy history of a nondescript Forest Service warehouse still raises plenty of questions. The Forest Service deems the warehouse so important, it chose to locate a new $1.75 million headquarters for the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument next door. Siting the two buildings close together tightens security in a post-9/11 world, and it's their understanding that the warehouse is a potential federal emergency operations center. "We're under agreement to evacuate within 48 hours if requested by FEMA," said Ron Freeman, public services staff officer for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Much of the material is stored on pallets to hasten a quick exit. There's just one problem: the Federal Emergency Management Agency knows nothing about the warehouse. "There's no FEMA facility anywhere near there," said Mike Howard, spokesman for the agency's regional headquarters in Bothell. Tom McDowell, the longtime director of North Country EMS and Volcano Rescue Team in Yacolt, was equally perplexed. "I've never heard any such thing like that in my life," he said. "I've never even heard a rumor of that." Yet the decision to locate the monument headquarters near the warehouse came at a substantial cost. In making that decision, the forest officials killed plans to build on a nearby site where they had already spent $1 million on clearing, grading and paving....Yes sir, we need to get these folks some more money. They are really hurtin'.
Study: Lead bullets taint game meat The meat in your freezer from the deer you shot last fall may be contaminated with lead from tiny bullet fragments. A study released Tuesday by the Peregrine Fund and Washington State University shows that people who consume venison from game animals killed with lead bullets may be ingesting the poisonous metal themselves - and that can cause brain damage in children and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke in adults. The Boise-based Peregrine Fund, which has been reintroducing California condors back into in California and Arizona, discovered most of the birds had elevated levels of lead in their system, which scientists conclude comes from gut piles and dead game animals shot by hunters. Last year, the group's lobbying spurred the California Legislature to ban the use of lead bullets in areas frequented by the California condor, one of the rarest birds in the world. But the latest study, released Tuesday at a Peregrine Fund conference, ups the stakes even more. X-rays showed processed ground venison from 80 percent of deer sampled in Wyoming contained metal fragments, of which 92 percent were lead. Tiny amounts of lead can cause brain development problems in children. Even amounts previously considered safe in adults are now known to increase rates of death from heart attack and stroke....
Court blocks Bush's plan for logging in Sierra A federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration's plans Wednesday for logging three tracts in the northern Sierra and said the government has failed to justify a critical element in its plan for the forests: selling trees to lumber companies to pay for removing brush that increases the threat of fire. Preventing fires is important, "but are there no alternative ways of getting money to do the clearing?" asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The court said the U.S. Forest Service has not explored the obvious alternatives: finding the money elsewhere in its budget or asking Congress for more. The tracts covered in Wednesday's ruling were included in the Forest Service's management plan for 11 million acres of Sierra forests, which the agency announced in 2004. The plan overhauled regulations that the Clinton administration issued in January 2001 but that were never implemented. Environmental groups said the Bush administration's plan allows five times as much logging as the Clinton rules would have permitted and weakened protections for water and wildlife. The Bush administration's Forest Service said one of its highest priorities was reducing the danger of wildfires that have been ravaging Northwest forests. The agency increased the scope of logging and the size of trees to be cut in the forests, up to a diameter of 30 inches, and said it would use proceeds of the timber sales to pay for removal of brush and small trees that fuel fires....
Ruling says property owners, lessees not properly notified The state attorney general’s office issued a ruling last week determining that the Feb. 22 emergency meeting that designated 600 square miles of Mount Taylor as traditional cultural property for one year was held illegally. A May 8 letter from the attorney general’s office to the Historic Division said that notification before the meeting, held in Albuquerque, was inadequate and in violation of the New Mexico 1978 Open Meeting Act. The ruling renders all action taken in the February meeting invalid; Mount Taylor cannot at this time be considered a state traditional cultural property, even on a temporary basis. The Historic Division must call another meeting, with proper notice; produce a summary of comments made at the February meeting and retake the vote if it wants to designate the mountain an emergency TCP status. The attorney general’s office ruled that notice to property owners and lessees in the designated area was inadequate, although it found that notification to the media followed the letter of the OMA guidelines....
How Schwarzenegger Is Trying to Finagle More Big Dam Construction California Governor Schwarzenegger wants to build two new dams -- Sites and Temperance Flat. They are being sold as necessary to cope with the reduction in Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Klamath Mountains snowpack expected as a result of climate change. New and "enhanced" storage are being marketed by Lester Snow, director of California's Department of Water Resources (DWR) as part of a "portfolio approach" which, in addition to "enhanced" storage, calls for urban water conservation, better groundwater facilities, improved wastewater processing and research into lowering the cost of desalination. The dams are to provide increased capacity in order to catch earlier runoff that -- according to climate change data and predictions -- will no longer be held in mountain snowpack. Schwarzenegger and Snow are counting on the climate change predictions to be fairly accurate. If the actual climate does not follow the predictions, the new and "enhanced" reservoirs might never fill....
Byfields fight Trans-Texas Corridor Taylor-area residents Dan and Margaret Byfield hope to become the Trans-Texas Corridor’s worst nightmare. The married couple head up two land rights organizations, the American Land Foundation and Stewards of the Range, that aim to keep rural communities from having land encroached upon by state and federal agencies through eminent domain. Both organizations operate across the U.S., in Wyoming, California, Colorado, South Dakota and Nebraska, but their current main goal is to challenge TxDOT in hopes of completely eliminating proposals for the quarter-mile wide superhighway. Currently they offer advice to residents of small towns and rural communities on how to corral TxDOT into coordinating with them, rather than just listening to and ignoring grievances some cities have with the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Byfields work in Texas is based on a local government code from 2001, which requires state and federal agencies to coordinate “to the greatest extent feasible” with future planning commissions created by two or more governmental entities — usually a city or county. “As individual cities, their opinions aren’t going to be listened to,” Dan Byfield said. They provide extensive literature with step-by-step instruction on how to create planning commissions and how opponents to the Trans-Texas Corridor should approach cities and counties that are sitting on proposed future areas for the highway....
Researchers want to know if lion shot in Chicago is SD animal The mountain lion killed in April on a Chicago street came from somewhere west, scientists say. Soon they hope to know if it came from the Black Hills of South Dakota. The initial study of the lion’s DNA showed a match to the cougar a man encountered in January in Wisconsin. The DNA also matched many characteristics of animals in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. Scientists now are zeroing in on additional genetic traits to see if it specifically matches those in western South Dakota. John Kanta, regional wildlife manager for state Game, Fish and Parks in Rapid City, said 250 mountain lions live in the Black Hills. He said he hopes to learn within a month if the Chicago lion began its journey from the Hills. A U.S. Forest Service lab in Montana is analyzing a specimen from the animal. The Chicago Tribune reported that the team will compare the DNA to 300 cougar samples in a database of animals from the American West.
Wolverines Return to California, Scaring Bears, Mountain Lions It was Moriarty's motion-triggered camera that captured the image of an animal thought to be a wolverine in February, surprising scientists who thought humans had driven the predator and scavenger from the state. Within two weeks, 19 volunteers arrived to scour 150 square miles (400 square kilometers) of Tahoe National Forest, on the Nevada border. The volunteers didn't glimpse the creature, but did find evidence of its presence. Samples of scat and hair they collected, and additional photos, confirmed the animal was a wolverine. That got wolverines added to the target list of a four-month search for rare species in the Sierra Nevada starting in June, said Eric Loft, chief of the California Fish and Game Department's wildlife division. Scientists think the wolverine might have wandered from Idaho's Sawtooth Range, 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) away, and are trying to determine why, said Jeff Copeland, a biologist at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. That's twice the distance of any known wolverine range, he said. Wolverines, members of the weasel family, are also called ``skunk bears'' for their resemblance to both. They're found in Alaska, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming and Montana, and in western Canada. The animals are known for their ferocity, said Patrick Kobernus, a biologist at Coast Range Ecology in San Francisco. Wolverines top out at about 40 pounds (18 kilograms), but that doesn't stop them from stealing kills from bears, mountain lions and other bigger animals. A wolverine can drag a dead deer as far as 20 miles, he said....
Harvest Of Shame Congress may think it's doing the "people's work," as they like to say, but the pork-laden, market-distorting farm bill is anything but. In fact, it's an obscene waste of money that will leave us all poorer and hungrier for the effort. GOP members are already trying to lay low. Not so the Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately hailed the bill as a "significant reform" — a statement so wrong it's laughable. The bill hands out a record $300 billion in new spending on agriculture over five years. This might be worth it if all the spending led to lower prices. It won't. As Heritage Foundation economist Brian Riedl has noted, since enactment of the last farm bill in 2002, prices for key crops have surged 281%. And they're still surging. Yet, we continue to support, subsidize and shower this sector with billions in taxpayer dollars. Also Wednesday, the government reported that in contrast with tame inflation overall last month, food prices shot up 5.1% from a year earlier — the largest gain since 1990 (see chart). Reform? In addition to $25 billion a year in subsidies and $5 billion in direct payments to farmers, regardless of crop prices, the bill provides another $1 billion for food stamps, school lunches and other social programs; more protection for sugar growers; tax breaks for thoroughbred race horses; money for fruit and vegetable marketing; more cash support for "organic" foods; and, of course, a billion more for biofuels. But not a shred of "reform."....
Farm bill full of pet causes backed by individual lawmakers A good farm bill wouldn't be complete without a little pork. Individual lawmakers, mostly senators, slipped several dozen "earmarks," or pet causes, into the $290 billion bill that have at best tentative connections to the tilling of the land. There's tax breaks for horse owners, water for Nevada desert lakes, aid for the Pacific Coast salmon fishery industry and a crackdown on puppy trafficking. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a leading opponent of earmarks, complained that some had been "airdropped in" at the last minute. "If you dig into them, you might find something untoward. You might not, but the fact is we don't have time to do that." Republicans went after Democratic-backed provisions, such as one backed by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that allows the federal government to sell portions of the Green Mountain National Forest to a ski resort in the state. Leahy's office countered that the provision, backed by the state and the Forest Service, would save the Forest Service management costs by selling land that has long been used for skiing. Another controversy was over a provision allowing state and local governments and non-profits to issue $500 million in tax-credit bonds to buy forest land for conservation purposes. The White House, which opposes the bill because of its cost and benefits for wealthy farmers, said that provision would authorize the purchase of 400,000 acres of land in Montana from a single owner, the Plum Creek Timber Co....
What Will Be Required Of Cow Calf Producers Under The COOL Rules This September? The title of this article asks a question that is not yet totally answered. However, the answer is beginning to be clearer and soon may be finalized. As you likely know, in 2002, the US Congress passed a law requiring certain “covered commodities” to be verified and labeled as to their county of origin. The acronym used commonly for this law is COOL, denoting County of Orgin Labeling. Final rules for COOL will be written following final passage of the 2007 Farm Bill which has passed the Senate and House Conference Committee and will likely be sent to the President’s desk soon. If the President signs the Farm Bill, final rules will then be written. As of now, the following definitions and requirements are likely to become rules. Let’s examine some of these as they apply to cow-calf producers in Colorado....
Ants swarm over Houston area, fouling electronics In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers. The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants"—crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on. "They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew of Pearland, who is constantly sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy." The ants—formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens"—have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002....
Raccoon bite causes school to lock down Officials decided to lock down the Clarke School Tuesday after a raccoon bit a school crossing guard minutes before school was released for the day. According to Detective Sgt. Tim Cassidy, Judith Hapgood was stationed at the Clarke School on Norfolk Avenue just after 2 p.m. when she felt something rub against her leg and was then bitten by a raccoon. School Resource Officer Rose Cheever was contacted and she immediately contacted officials at Clarke School and administrative offices. Cassidy said the school was placed in lockdown until the raccoon was disposed of. He said the animal was located behind a house across from the school and Sgt. Richard McCarriston euthanized the raccoon. Calls to Principal Lois Longin were not immediately returned on Tuesday but Superintendent Matthew Malone said students were inside the school when the incident occurred....
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
EDITORIAL: A tortoise tale Native Las Vegan Harry Pappas was appointed to the Bureau of Land Management Citizen Advisory Council by then-Rep. Barbara Vucanovich. He later represented the State Rifle & Pistol Association on the Clark County Tortoise Advisory Council. "They said the (desert) tortoise was threatened, so they had to fence off these huge areas and shut out all the cattle, which means no one is out there shooting the coyotes and the raven or trapping the lions anymore, so of course that wrecked the hunting," Mr. Pappas recalled, back in 2001. "They said anyone who found a tortoise had to turn it in" to Clark County authorities. "So what happened? They got so overrun with tortoises being turned in that they told us they were going to have to start euthanizing them. I said, 'Hold on a minute, here. Euthanize them? Why don't you just drop them out in the desert?' They said, 'Oh no, they'll fight with the native tortoises that already live out there and they'll kill each other, because all these lands are already at saturation levels.' I said, 'Wait a minute, now: Which is it? How can they be "threatened," or "endangered" ... but now you tell us all these lands are at "saturation levels" for tortoises?' " Cattle weren't the problem, Mr. Pappas has always insisted. In fact, cattlemen formerly reduced the populations of predators including the coyote and the raven, which benefited tortoise populations. "But now they say the way to protect the tortoise is to fence off the land and not let the ranchers and the hunters in, when the biggest tortoise populations we ever had were in the '50s and '60s, when you had plenty of ranching, and plenty of hunting, and plenty of predator control," Mr. Pappas insists. Needless to say, it's hard to qualify as a federal bureaucrat if you're not willing to keep repeating the same mistakes. It was also back in 2001 that Congress authorized Fort Irwin -- a prime site for desert combat training near Barstow in Southern California's western Mojave desert -- to expand into prime tortoise habitat. As mitigation, the Army agreed to move the tortoises from the expansion area onto unoccupied public lands, an effort that finally began in March 2008. But so far, at least 14 of the translocated adult tortoises and 14 resident tortoises in the area have been killed and eaten by coyotes, according to biologists monitoring survival rates of the reptiles, many of which were fitted with radio transmitters. Fifteen of 70 baby tortoises collected at the training center as part of the relocation program have also died of various causes, Army officials tell the Los Angeles Times. The problem, they say, might be linked to a severe drought that killed off plants and triggered a crash in rodent populations. As a result, coyotes that normally thrive on kangaroo rats and rabbits are turning to gopherus agassizii for sustenance. In an effort to prevent further losses, the Army has requested that the predators, described by one military spokesman as a "rogue clan of coyotes," be eradicated by sharpshooters. The hunt, however, has been delayed by bureaucratic red tape. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Tucson, Ariz.-based environmental group, meantime announces it plans to file suit later this month against the Army, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management for allegedly violating the federal Endangered Species Act in their big tortoise move. William Boarman, an adjunct professor of biology at San Diego State University who's helping direct the translocation project, explains that after the Army decided to expand operations at Fort Irwin, "We were stuck with bad options: move the tortoises or leave them in place, which would have been much worse." Said U.S. Geological Survey biologist Kristin Berry: "Coyotes didn't seem to be a problem when we started. The question in the back of all of our minds now is this: How could we have determined that this was going to happen?" Oh, please. As documented in Vernon Bostic's "Ecology of the Desert Tortoise in Relation to Cattle Grazing," the greatest death loss among Southern Nevada desert tortoises during the severe drought of 1981 occurred in the Crescent Valley Allotment, where cattle had been excluded from grazing. "On the adjoining Christmas Tree Pass Allotment, which was grazed (by cattle) all year long, the tortoises were relatively unaffected by the severe drought. ... The reason is simple: Cows provide tortoises with both food and drink," wrote Mr. Bostic. Cattle also help the tortoises by eating off the previous year's dried growth from grasses and other desert plants, clearing the way for new growth close enough to the ground to provide turtle fodder. The solution? Move the Fort Irwin tortoises not onto parched habitat from which they will only start their long, lumbering walk home, but rather, onto well-maintained cattle grazing lands where local ranchers have improved the springs, putting in windmills, ponds and water tanks.
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Contact: LuAnn Tafoya, (575) 532-2106
luann.tafoya@state.nm.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 14, 2008:
LAS CRUCES RESIDENTS URGED TO AVOID ENCOUNTERS WITH MOUNTAIN LIONS
LAS CRUCES -- Early Wednesday morning a poodle was attacked and killed in its owner’s back yard of a residential area near the intersection of I-25 and U.S. 70 in northeast Las Cruces.
Officials from Las Cruces Animal Control, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish investigated the area and found animal tracks in the area that could be from a young mountain lion. Bite marks found on the poodle are consistent with those from a small mountain lion.
Mountain lion sightings are not uncommon in the Las Cruces area. The Department of Game and Fish will set a live trap in hopes of catching the animal. It is hard to predict if the lion will be seen again or return to the location.
Lions generally are attracted to communities for food. They are most active from dusk to dawn, although they sometimes travel and hunt in daylight. Lions prefer to eat deer; however, they also kill elk, small mammals, livestock and a variety of domestic animals such as dogs and cats.
Here are some ways to protect yourself, your family and the lions from unwanted encounters with mountain lions and other large predators:
--Do not feed wildlife. Use native plants, not non-natives, so as to not attract deer, which are the primary prey of lions. Remember, predators follow prey.
--Do not let your pets roam around outside. Bring them in at night. If you keep pets outside, provide a kennel with a secure top. Do not feed pets outside where the food can attract lions or other smaller animals which lions prey upon. Store and dispose of all garbage securely.
--Closely supervise children. Make sure they are home before dusk and not outside before dawn. Make lots of noise if you come or go during times when mountain lions are most active -- dusk to dawn. Teach your children about lions and what they should do if they encounter one.
--Landscape or remove vegetation to eliminate hiding cover for lions, especially around areas where children play. Make it difficult for a lion to approach unseen.
--Install outdoor lighting, especially in areas where you walk, so you can see a lion if one were present.
--Close off open spaces below porches or decks.
--Place all livestock in enclosed sheds or barns at night. Close the doors to all outbuildings so that an inquisitive lion is prevented from going inside to look around.
Mountain lion encounters and attacks are extremely rare, but if you do encounter a lion in the wild or in town:
--Stop or back away slowly if you can do so safely.
--Stay calm when you come upon a lion talk calmly yet firmly to it and move slowly.
--Immediately pick up all children off the ground and tell them to stay calm.
--Do not run from a lion as fleeing behavior may trigger the instinct of the lion to attack.
--Face the lion -- do not turn your back -- remain in an upright position and look as large as possible (raise your arms, open up your coat, if your wearing one).
--Carry a walking stick and use it to defend yourself by keeping it between you and the lion. If the lion approaches closer or behaves aggressively, arm yourself with the stick, throw rocks or sticks at the lion, and speak louder and more firmly to the lion. Convince the lion you are dominant and a danger to it.
--Fight back if a lion attacks you. Use any possible object within reach as a weapon, such as rocks, sticks, jackets, a backpack or your bare hands. Lions have been driven away by prey that fights back. Stay standing and if you fall down try to get back up on your feet.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is responsible for managing, conserving and protecting wildlife. If you have an encounter with a lion or an attack occurs, please immediately contact the Southwest Area Department of Game and Fish Office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at (575) 532-2100; or the main office in Santa Fe at (505) 476-8000. Anyone in Las Cruces or Dona Ana County can report mountain lion encounters to Las Cruces Central Dispatch at (575) 526-0795 anytime.
For more information about mountain lions and living around large predators, please visit the Department website, www.wildlife.state.nm.us.
###
Contact: LuAnn Tafoya, (575) 532-2106
luann.tafoya@state.nm.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 14, 2008:
LAS CRUCES RESIDENTS URGED TO AVOID ENCOUNTERS WITH MOUNTAIN LIONS
LAS CRUCES -- Early Wednesday morning a poodle was attacked and killed in its owner’s back yard of a residential area near the intersection of I-25 and U.S. 70 in northeast Las Cruces.
Officials from Las Cruces Animal Control, U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish investigated the area and found animal tracks in the area that could be from a young mountain lion. Bite marks found on the poodle are consistent with those from a small mountain lion.
Mountain lion sightings are not uncommon in the Las Cruces area. The Department of Game and Fish will set a live trap in hopes of catching the animal. It is hard to predict if the lion will be seen again or return to the location.
Lions generally are attracted to communities for food. They are most active from dusk to dawn, although they sometimes travel and hunt in daylight. Lions prefer to eat deer; however, they also kill elk, small mammals, livestock and a variety of domestic animals such as dogs and cats.
Here are some ways to protect yourself, your family and the lions from unwanted encounters with mountain lions and other large predators:
--Do not feed wildlife. Use native plants, not non-natives, so as to not attract deer, which are the primary prey of lions. Remember, predators follow prey.
--Do not let your pets roam around outside. Bring them in at night. If you keep pets outside, provide a kennel with a secure top. Do not feed pets outside where the food can attract lions or other smaller animals which lions prey upon. Store and dispose of all garbage securely.
--Closely supervise children. Make sure they are home before dusk and not outside before dawn. Make lots of noise if you come or go during times when mountain lions are most active -- dusk to dawn. Teach your children about lions and what they should do if they encounter one.
--Landscape or remove vegetation to eliminate hiding cover for lions, especially around areas where children play. Make it difficult for a lion to approach unseen.
--Install outdoor lighting, especially in areas where you walk, so you can see a lion if one were present.
--Close off open spaces below porches or decks.
--Place all livestock in enclosed sheds or barns at night. Close the doors to all outbuildings so that an inquisitive lion is prevented from going inside to look around.
Mountain lion encounters and attacks are extremely rare, but if you do encounter a lion in the wild or in town:
--Stop or back away slowly if you can do so safely.
--Stay calm when you come upon a lion talk calmly yet firmly to it and move slowly.
--Immediately pick up all children off the ground and tell them to stay calm.
--Do not run from a lion as fleeing behavior may trigger the instinct of the lion to attack.
--Face the lion -- do not turn your back -- remain in an upright position and look as large as possible (raise your arms, open up your coat, if your wearing one).
--Carry a walking stick and use it to defend yourself by keeping it between you and the lion. If the lion approaches closer or behaves aggressively, arm yourself with the stick, throw rocks or sticks at the lion, and speak louder and more firmly to the lion. Convince the lion you are dominant and a danger to it.
--Fight back if a lion attacks you. Use any possible object within reach as a weapon, such as rocks, sticks, jackets, a backpack or your bare hands. Lions have been driven away by prey that fights back. Stay standing and if you fall down try to get back up on your feet.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is responsible for managing, conserving and protecting wildlife. If you have an encounter with a lion or an attack occurs, please immediately contact the Southwest Area Department of Game and Fish Office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at (575) 532-2100; or the main office in Santa Fe at (505) 476-8000. Anyone in Las Cruces or Dona Ana County can report mountain lion encounters to Las Cruces Central Dispatch at (575) 526-0795 anytime.
For more information about mountain lions and living around large predators, please visit the Department website, www.wildlife.state.nm.us.
###
Polar bear added to endangered species list The Bush administration today designated the polar bear as threatened with extinction, making the big arctic bear, whose fate clings to shrinking sea ice, the first creature added to the endangered species list primarily because of global warming. The designation invokes federal protections under the Endangered Species Act, the nation's most powerful environmental law that requires designation of critical habitat to be protected as well as forming a strategy to assist the bear population's recovery. The decision came only after a U.S. District Court in Oakland forced the Bush administration's hand by imposing a May 15 deadline for the decision that was supposed to have been completed by Jan. 9. It was the first time in more than two years that the Interior Department extended protections to another species under the Endangered Species Act -- the longest hiatus of new listings by the department since President Richard Nixon signed the law in 1973. Pressure has been mounting from inside and outside the government. Various congressional committees have held hearings to nudge the administration to protect the bear and complained about delays on the decision. Meanwhile, the government marched ahead on Feb. 6 to open offshore oil fields to exploratory drilling in prime polar bear habitat. The court's deadline evolved from a lawsuit seeking a court order to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to comply with the legal deadline for the decision and another suit challenging the offshore leases. And then the Interior Department's inspector general opened an investigation into allegations that the decision had been detained by "inappropriate political influence."....
The Nature Conservancy Acquires Diamond A Ranch Easement Today local ranchers and state biologists applauded the conservation of approximately 12,349 acres of the New Mexico ranching landscape. The Diamond A Ranch (which includes land formerly known as the “Gray Ranch”) is located in the southwest corner of New Mexico. The ranch is operated by a long-time ranching family and is owned by the Animas Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to protect the natural and cultural heritage of the Animas region. With a lead grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Nature Conservancy recently purchased a conservation easement, or voluntary land preservation agreement, from the Animas Foundation for $2.3 million. The Animas Foundation contributed over $400,000 in value to the easement transaction. This action supports the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS) – which identifies the region as one of the top three habitat conservation priorities in the state. Edward Elbrock, a lifelong resident of the area and neighboring rancher said, “I’m just so glad that the Animas Foundation will now be the owner of this property and that it’s in conservation easement, so it’s going to stay as open country and never be subdivided. I just drove past the area this morning and I saw thirty head of deer.” Elbrock continued, “it’s just great to have a big block of land that can be managed for ranching and wildlife, without having to work around forty acre subdivisions -- I support this 100%.” Elbrock is also a principal of the Malpai Borderlands Group, a sister rancher-led non-profit in the region that has used conservation easements to protect land in the Animas Valley as well as the San Bernardino Valley....
Eminent domain threatens Music Row studio A Music Row publishing and recording studio is at the center of a turf war with a Houston-based developer. Country International Records, which has been located off Music Square East since 1980, is being threatened by eminent domain. The owner of the building, Joy Ford, said Houston-based Lionstone Group wants to bulldoze her building and make it a parking lot for an office tower slated to be build beside it. The building is wanted as part of a redevelopment plan aimed at revitalizing Demonbreun and Division streets, along Nashville's historic Music Row. Ford said she doesn't want to leave behind her company that she says has helped so many country music stars and fears if her property is taken, it will set a precedent for all property owners....
Congress More Understanding Of Horse Ban's Bad Consequences Members of Congress showed a growing understanding of the unintended consequences of the closing of America’s three horse slaughter plants, according to participants in Livestock Marketing Association’s fourth annual Washington, D.C. Fly-In. Since a series of legislative and judicial actions closed the three plants, LMA President Jim Santomaso said the industry is seeing “more and more reports of abandoned horses, and of horses turned out and left to starve, because owners can’t afford their upkeep, or have the means to properly dispose of them.” Santomaso, the operator of a Sterling, Colo., market, said LMA members are also reporting that horses are being left at their facilities when they don’t sell, “because their owners don’t want them back.” Lawmakers, he said, “are ready to listen to the argument that banning slaughter is creating huge problems. For example, the ban takes away individual property rights, when you tell a horse owner what he can and cannot do with an animal that may be at the end of its useful life.” The LMA representatives made these points in meetings with the chairman or staff members of key panels, including the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, and lawmakers from the members’ home states....
Iowa meatpacking plant raided in ID theft investigation At least 300 people were arrested Monday on immigration and identity theft charges at Agriprocessors, one of the USA's largest packing plants for kosher meats. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors complex in this northeast Iowa community of 2,500 during morning work hours, executing warrants for fraudulent use of others' Social Security numbers in connection with their employment at the plant. The packing plant has attracted workers from Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere. Nathaniel Popper, a journalist who has written about Agriprocessors for The Jewish Daily Forward, based in New York, said the raid could disrupt the supply of kosher meat....
A Ropers' Reunion It's like a family reunion. Every year, the annual Elks Team Roping competition brings together family and friends from throughout the Central Coast. Saturday's day-long event at the Santa Maria Elks Unocal Events Center was no exception. It was an opportunity for friends, old and new, to gather for a full day of team roping. “This is a community event,” said Elks Recreation President Keith Barks. “There are cowboys and cowgirls here from all over Santa Barbara County and a good deal of San Luis Obispo County. Most everyone knows each other. You've got two or three generations from many of the families here - fathers and sons or daughters, even grandchildren out there competing.” The ropers spend the day catching up with each other and giving each other a good-natured hard time. But this is also serious competition. The best are rewarded with a few hundreds dollars in prize money and, more importantly, bragging rights for the next year. “There are a lot of tough cowboys out here today,” said Barks. “A few of them are ranchers. A lot of them have non-ranch jobs but they grew up riding and roping. They still love it and are continuing their family tradition....
Old timers recognized at Cloudcroft event Approximately 100 people came to honor three long-time residents of the Sacramento Mountains in the commons area of Cloudcroft High School Saturday. Honorees have to be at least 84 years of age and must have spent the majority of their lives in the area. Georgie Cadwallader, of High Rolls; Aris Frizzell, of Mayhill; and Robert Bell, of Pi-on, were selected as this year's honorees. "Next to my family, two of my great loves have been the mountains and horses," Georgie said. "I have loved the mountains since I was young girl. I used to ride with three of my friends from Haynes Canyon to Cloudcroft and back." When she lived in El Paso, Georgie and her friends used to ride horses from her home near Ysleta to the El Paso airport. "We used to get a hamburger before our ride home," she said. "That area was very bare and desolate back then, with nothing in between." Georgie was an accomplished horsewoman, participating as a trick rider for many shows and rodeos. She also traveled with Monty Montana and was part of his shows. "I'm grounded now and I regret that," she said. "I rode horse into my 70s."....Three interesting life stories. Check it out.
It's All Trew: Hanging preceded death of a town Chipita Rodriquez died on Friday, Nov. 13th, 1863. She is believed to be the only woman ever legally hanged by the state of Texas. Though guilty by circumstantial evidence only, her death seemed to place a curse on the town of San Patricio, Texas, as it signaled the beginning of the end of the small settlement. History states a horse trader stopped by Chipita's home on the Aransas River between Refugio and San Patricio to spend the night. His saddle bags held $600 in gold taken in payment for a horse herd sold to the Confederate Army earlier and he was returning home. He left the next morning early but was later found hacked to death, floating in a canvas bag just down-river from Chipita's home. The investigation linked Chipita and her employee Juan Silvera to the death with robbery as the motive. The pair were indicted for murder and both pled not guilty. Strangely, neither uttered another word during the trial, supposedly protecting each other through silence. The details have not survived but somehow Juan received a five-year sentence for his part, but Chipita was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to be hanged. She was hanged at sunrise from a mesquite tree on Friday the 13th, convicted on purely circumstantial evidence and buried in an unmarked grave. Later, the gold was found intact in the trader's saddlebags sitting on the riverbank. Some years later a dying rancher finally confessed to the murder in a dispute over a horse trade deal gone bad....
Eminent domain threatens Music Row studio A Music Row publishing and recording studio is at the center of a turf war with a Houston-based developer. Country International Records, which has been located off Music Square East since 1980, is being threatened by eminent domain. The owner of the building, Joy Ford, said Houston-based Lionstone Group wants to bulldoze her building and make it a parking lot for an office tower slated to be build beside it. The building is wanted as part of a redevelopment plan aimed at revitalizing Demonbreun and Division streets, along Nashville's historic Music Row. Ford said she doesn't want to leave behind her company that she says has helped so many country music stars and fears if her property is taken, it will set a precedent for all property owners....
Congress More Understanding Of Horse Ban's Bad Consequences Members of Congress showed a growing understanding of the unintended consequences of the closing of America’s three horse slaughter plants, according to participants in Livestock Marketing Association’s fourth annual Washington, D.C. Fly-In. Since a series of legislative and judicial actions closed the three plants, LMA President Jim Santomaso said the industry is seeing “more and more reports of abandoned horses, and of horses turned out and left to starve, because owners can’t afford their upkeep, or have the means to properly dispose of them.” Santomaso, the operator of a Sterling, Colo., market, said LMA members are also reporting that horses are being left at their facilities when they don’t sell, “because their owners don’t want them back.” Lawmakers, he said, “are ready to listen to the argument that banning slaughter is creating huge problems. For example, the ban takes away individual property rights, when you tell a horse owner what he can and cannot do with an animal that may be at the end of its useful life.” The LMA representatives made these points in meetings with the chairman or staff members of key panels, including the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, and lawmakers from the members’ home states....
Iowa meatpacking plant raided in ID theft investigation At least 300 people were arrested Monday on immigration and identity theft charges at Agriprocessors, one of the USA's largest packing plants for kosher meats. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors complex in this northeast Iowa community of 2,500 during morning work hours, executing warrants for fraudulent use of others' Social Security numbers in connection with their employment at the plant. The packing plant has attracted workers from Mexico, Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere. Nathaniel Popper, a journalist who has written about Agriprocessors for The Jewish Daily Forward, based in New York, said the raid could disrupt the supply of kosher meat....
A Ropers' Reunion It's like a family reunion. Every year, the annual Elks Team Roping competition brings together family and friends from throughout the Central Coast. Saturday's day-long event at the Santa Maria Elks Unocal Events Center was no exception. It was an opportunity for friends, old and new, to gather for a full day of team roping. “This is a community event,” said Elks Recreation President Keith Barks. “There are cowboys and cowgirls here from all over Santa Barbara County and a good deal of San Luis Obispo County. Most everyone knows each other. You've got two or three generations from many of the families here - fathers and sons or daughters, even grandchildren out there competing.” The ropers spend the day catching up with each other and giving each other a good-natured hard time. But this is also serious competition. The best are rewarded with a few hundreds dollars in prize money and, more importantly, bragging rights for the next year. “There are a lot of tough cowboys out here today,” said Barks. “A few of them are ranchers. A lot of them have non-ranch jobs but they grew up riding and roping. They still love it and are continuing their family tradition....
Old timers recognized at Cloudcroft event Approximately 100 people came to honor three long-time residents of the Sacramento Mountains in the commons area of Cloudcroft High School Saturday. Honorees have to be at least 84 years of age and must have spent the majority of their lives in the area. Georgie Cadwallader, of High Rolls; Aris Frizzell, of Mayhill; and Robert Bell, of Pi-on, were selected as this year's honorees. "Next to my family, two of my great loves have been the mountains and horses," Georgie said. "I have loved the mountains since I was young girl. I used to ride with three of my friends from Haynes Canyon to Cloudcroft and back." When she lived in El Paso, Georgie and her friends used to ride horses from her home near Ysleta to the El Paso airport. "We used to get a hamburger before our ride home," she said. "That area was very bare and desolate back then, with nothing in between." Georgie was an accomplished horsewoman, participating as a trick rider for many shows and rodeos. She also traveled with Monty Montana and was part of his shows. "I'm grounded now and I regret that," she said. "I rode horse into my 70s."....Three interesting life stories. Check it out.
It's All Trew: Hanging preceded death of a town Chipita Rodriquez died on Friday, Nov. 13th, 1863. She is believed to be the only woman ever legally hanged by the state of Texas. Though guilty by circumstantial evidence only, her death seemed to place a curse on the town of San Patricio, Texas, as it signaled the beginning of the end of the small settlement. History states a horse trader stopped by Chipita's home on the Aransas River between Refugio and San Patricio to spend the night. His saddle bags held $600 in gold taken in payment for a horse herd sold to the Confederate Army earlier and he was returning home. He left the next morning early but was later found hacked to death, floating in a canvas bag just down-river from Chipita's home. The investigation linked Chipita and her employee Juan Silvera to the death with robbery as the motive. The pair were indicted for murder and both pled not guilty. Strangely, neither uttered another word during the trial, supposedly protecting each other through silence. The details have not survived but somehow Juan received a five-year sentence for his part, but Chipita was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to be hanged. She was hanged at sunrise from a mesquite tree on Friday the 13th, convicted on purely circumstantial evidence and buried in an unmarked grave. Later, the gold was found intact in the trader's saddlebags sitting on the riverbank. Some years later a dying rancher finally confessed to the murder in a dispute over a horse trade deal gone bad....
McCain Climate Speech
For those interested, the New York Times has an annotaded version of the speech here.
For those interested, the New York Times has an annotaded version of the speech here.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Earmark That Backfired
Today's Downsizer-Dispatch . . .
In 2005 Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska championed a $10 million earmark for a highway interchange. The earmark appeared in an 835-page transportation bill called SAFETEA-LU. Rep. Young was the man behind Alaska's infamous $233 million "Bridge to Nowhere," so this sounds like nothing unusual for him, except that . . .
* The project wasn't in Alaska, but as far away as possible, in the Florida district of Republican Rep. Connie Mack.
* Mack and other local Republicans opposed the project. There were environmental concerns and higher priorities.
* But they were told that they had to accept the project or risk losing future federal funds.
Why? Because a local developer who owned 4,000 acres near the proposed interchange had raised $40,000 for Rep. Young's re-election campaign. The interchange would multiply the value of his land. When asked about it by a reporter for the New York Times Rep. Young responded with an obscene gesture.
But there's more:
* This earmark wasn't even in the 835-page bill passed by the House and Senate.
* The original earmark (#462) was for widening I-75, not for an interchange.
* After the bill passed, but before President Bush signed it, someone changed it to an interchange project.
* This was done during the "enrollment"process when punctuation and other technical corrections are made.
* But this was clearly a substantive change, not a "technical correction."
Incredibly, no one noticed the change for two years! Finally . . .
* In August, 2007, a former Department of Labor official, Darla Latourneau, reported that the interchange didn't appear in the original bill passed by the House and Senate.
* The Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to return the money, asking that it be used for its original purpose.
* That change was included this year in H.R. 1195, which passed both the House and Senate.
* H.R. 1195 also includes a provision for the Justice Department to investigate the alteration of the earmark.
Little investigation is actually needed. Don Young's staff has admitted that they made the change, but no member of the House has filed an ethics complaint. Without a complaint, the House ethics committee can't investigate.
Have other House members done something similar? Is it common practice? Could this be why no one has complained to the ethics committee?....
Today's Downsizer-Dispatch . . .
In 2005 Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska championed a $10 million earmark for a highway interchange. The earmark appeared in an 835-page transportation bill called SAFETEA-LU. Rep. Young was the man behind Alaska's infamous $233 million "Bridge to Nowhere," so this sounds like nothing unusual for him, except that . . .
* The project wasn't in Alaska, but as far away as possible, in the Florida district of Republican Rep. Connie Mack.
* Mack and other local Republicans opposed the project. There were environmental concerns and higher priorities.
* But they were told that they had to accept the project or risk losing future federal funds.
Why? Because a local developer who owned 4,000 acres near the proposed interchange had raised $40,000 for Rep. Young's re-election campaign. The interchange would multiply the value of his land. When asked about it by a reporter for the New York Times Rep. Young responded with an obscene gesture.
But there's more:
* This earmark wasn't even in the 835-page bill passed by the House and Senate.
* The original earmark (#462) was for widening I-75, not for an interchange.
* After the bill passed, but before President Bush signed it, someone changed it to an interchange project.
* This was done during the "enrollment"process when punctuation and other technical corrections are made.
* But this was clearly a substantive change, not a "technical correction."
Incredibly, no one noticed the change for two years! Finally . . .
* In August, 2007, a former Department of Labor official, Darla Latourneau, reported that the interchange didn't appear in the original bill passed by the House and Senate.
* The Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to return the money, asking that it be used for its original purpose.
* That change was included this year in H.R. 1195, which passed both the House and Senate.
* H.R. 1195 also includes a provision for the Justice Department to investigate the alteration of the earmark.
Little investigation is actually needed. Don Young's staff has admitted that they made the change, but no member of the House has filed an ethics complaint. Without a complaint, the House ethics committee can't investigate.
Have other House members done something similar? Is it common practice? Could this be why no one has complained to the ethics committee?....
Loaded for Bear In late January, Jim Sims, the president and CEO of the Western Business Roundtable, an industry trade group that represents mining and energy interests, told his colleagues to prepare for the worst: The polar bear was almost certain to receive "threatened" status under the Endangered Species Act. "The negative implications of this to business and industry [are] breathtaking," he wrote in an email, obtained by Mother Jones. But, he said, his and other groups had devised a plan to fight and "quite possibly reverse" the imminent ruling. Part of that strategy involved a legal challenge to the listing. On that score, Sims promised they had "secured a truly extraordinary plaintiff for this effort: one of America's most prominent civil rights leaders of the four past decades." That prominent plaintiff was Roy Innis, the longtime chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality. A civil rights group that dates back to the 1940s, CORE's agenda has taken a distinct rightward tilt under Innis' leadership, aligning itself with conservative activists opposed to the environmental movement. Speaking in March at a conference of global warming skeptics sponsored by the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, which has received more than $600,000 in funding from ExxonMobil since the late '90s, Innis announced that his organization, itself a recipient of Exxon funding, would sue the Bush administration if the polar bear were listed. He cast the issue as one of economic justice, if not civil rights, saying that the pending ruling would "result in higher energy prices across the board which will disproportionately be borne by minorities," causing "countless families in our country in winters ahead to choose between food on the table and fuel in the furnace."....
For Mother's Day THE WAR AGAINST GLOBAL warming is producing collateral damage to family life. One American city may even ban the hearth--San Francisco is contemplating a prohibition on private fireplaces to reduce air pollution. But this is nothing compared to the family sacrifice of the future: babies. A new trend among some of the world's most eco-conscious is to forgo children for the sake of the planet. In a recent interview with Britain's Daily Mail, one woman who works for an environmental charity told of aborting her baby because she felt it was "immoral to give birth to a child that . . . would only be a burden to the world." She also had herself permanently sterilized at age 27 for good measure. According to another woman, who works for Ethical Consumer magazine, sterilization was the most ethical decision because " . . . a baby would pollute the planet--and that never having a child was the most environmentally friendly thing I could do." What about the assertion that kids--whether they make you happy or not--are a net burden on our world? It turns out that this does not stand up to the evidence either. Economists estimate that the net benefits to society from children are, on average, significant and positive. Balancing the negative and positive socioeconomic impacts from children, one well-regarded study from 1990 in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science placed the benefit in net government revenues in excess of $100,000 per American child--a number that has obviously greatly increased since that time. What we choose to do with this public surplus per child is obviously up to us--it reflects our society's values. As our population rises, we can use our resulting public wealth increases to ensure the preservation of our natural environment, for example. To argue against human reproduction to save the planet amounts to arguing that lowering our prosperity is the best strategy to cut resource consumption and greenhouse gases....
U.S. consumers worst at being green Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey released Wednesday that compares environmental-consumption habits in 14 countries. Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three out of four categories - housing, transportation and consumer goods, according to the assessment. In the fourth category, food, Americans ranked ahead of Japanese consumers, who eat more meat and seafood. The rankings, called "Greendex," are the first to compare the lifestyles and behaviors of consumers in multiple countries, according to the National Geographic Society. It plans to conduct the 100-plus-question survey annually and considers trends more important than yearly scores, said Terry Garcia, executive vice president of National Geographic's mission programs....
The Biofuels Dilemma The agriculture lobby has legendary clout in Washington, so current biofuel targets, along with heavy subsidies that keep the industry alive, will stay in place for now. The 2008 farm bill, which has entered the homestretch in Congress, cuts the corn-ethanol subsidy by only 6 cents, to 45 cents per gallon, while the subsidy for the "next generation" of ethanol (to be made from grass, straw, and other cellulosic materials) will rise to more than a dollar a gallon. To soften the rapid food-price inflation that's expected to result, the new law will increase food aid to lower-income Americans. Perhaps the starkest measure of the car culture's energy appetite is the fact that the state of Iowa, the nation's leading corn producer, will soon be importing corn. If a meteorite were to land randomly in Iowa, there's a 35 percent chance it would land in a cornfield; Iowa's corn harvest last year contained more calories than the state's human population would consume in 85 years of eating; yet Iowa will be hauling corn in from other states. The grain will be fed to a multitude of new fuel-ethanol factories, along with the state's existing corn syrup and livestock industries. The world is learning fast that when fuel demand competes with food needs for the sun's energy, it's not a fair fight....
Ecology and free markets I think future intellectual historians will be fascinated by the disconnect between approaches to economics emphasizing the market's character as a spontaneous order and ecological science that emphasizes ecosystems as spontaneous order processes. Both markets and ecologies are complex processes relying on negative and positive feedback to coordinate otherwise independent actions into more productive and adaptive patterns of interaction than could ever be accomplished by deliberate planning. Both are resilient and fragile. In ecologies 'keystone species' can shape an entire ecosystem, whereas non keystone species can exist or not and make little difference. The same applies to markets. Nail a keystone and the whole thing degrades significantly. Nail a non keystone and not much happens besides its disappearance. And yet, these similarities and others are largely ignored by both sides, though in my experience even more by economists than ecologists. People who are exquisitely sensitive to distortions generated in markets by external political intervention enthusiastically endorse central control or overriding of ecological processes. For their part, many environmentalists who are well versed in ecological understanding are insensitive to the deep distortions arising from political intervention in the market. Sometimes they blame markets for what is really the result of political intervention. Sometimes they seek political intervention without appreciating how it is likely to backfire....
The Problems with Conservation Easements Increasingly with the larger conservation easements such as those involving big timber companies like Plum Creek and other large land owners, federal or state funds are being used to directly fund the easements. Yet because these funds are often funneled through second parties like land trusts, there is little public review of the agreements and/or cost benefit analysis. Since the land owner has a direct stake in maximizing the value of his/her contribution, and thus tax breaks and/or payment, there is a tendency to inflate the conservation and land values. And since many land trusts are driven by the desire to make a deal and claim yet another ranch, farm, or forest saved from development, they are also anxious to accommodate the land owner. Though appraisals are often done by an outside agent, everyone knows the deal won’t happen unless a positive evaluation is returned. Due to the lack of oversight in the appraisal process and analysis of its real conservation value, nearly any land can receive an easement. Second, one of the strengths of conservation easements heralded by supporters is their ability to adapt to nearly any situation and desire. However, calling such agreements “conservation easements” tells you nothing about what is being conserved. Because there are no uniform codes or standards, the proliferation of conservation easements presents a major legal challenge to future generations since nearly every term could be subject to different legal interpretations, making monitoring and enforcement difficult....
McCain Woos Democrats on Environment After spending several weeks staking out positions on taxes, Iraq and judges designed to appeal to conservatives, John McCain is shifting his attention to independents and Democrats, with proposals on climate change. The Republican presidential candidate also is using his stance on energy and the environment to draw distinctions between himself and President Bush, whose popularity is at a near-record low. Sen. McCain's support of regulating global-warming gases like carbon dioxide -- the biggest environmental issue before Congress -- more closely resembles the stance of his Democratic rivals, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, though he disagrees with them on how such regulations should be structured. Besides championing legislation to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions, Sen. McCain has opposed the administration's call to open parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, citing the refuge as a natural treasure on par with the Florida Everglades and the Grand Canyon in his home state of Arizona. In a sign of Sen. McCain's potential appeal to environmentally conscious voters, a top official at the Sierra Club, one of the nation's most influential environmental groups, said the group might not endorse any candidate for president. The group endorsed Democrats in six of the past seven presidential elections; it declined to endorse a candidate in 1988....
Owyhees bill hits new snag A dispute over a bill to preserve the Snake River in Wyoming presents a new hurdle for Sen. Mike Crapo's proposal to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands and nearby ranchers. Sen. Larry Craig and Idaho water users oppose a bill to protect 387 miles of the Snake River and its tributaries in Wyoming, which was sent to the Senate floor last week with a package of other bills, including Crapo's Owyhees bill. Craig has opposed the Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act from the start, saying it presented a threat to Idaho irrigation farmers downstream. It is still not clear the two bills will be in the same package on the floor, Crapo said Friday. But irrigation districts around Twin Falls own the rights to most of the water stored in Jackson Lake inside Grand Teton National Park. Craig and the Idaho Water Users Association say a Wild and Scenic Rivers designation, especially for the stretch of river below Jackson Lake, could change the times water is released from the Jackson Lake Dam or provide a legal platform for environmentalists to sue to reduce Idaho's control over Wyoming's water. The water rights involved are among the most valuable in Idaho. Most of the Magic Valley's farm economy depends in part on these rights - and they also are critical to the state's future industrial growth....
Judge appears to tip his hand in wolf lawsuit U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy appeared to show his hand when he rejected the federal government’s motion Wednesday to delay a hearing on a suit to reverse wolf delisting. The hearing is set for May 29 in Missoula and Molloy’s main argument for not delaying it was that the federal government knew as far back as February that environmentalists were going to challenge the decision in March to remove wolves from the endangered species list. But since March 28 at least 39 of the more than 1,500 wolves have been killed, which environmentalists say bolsters their argument that wolves should remain federally protected. Molloy also expressed concern. "The court is unwilling to risk more deaths by delaying its decision on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction," Molloy wrote in his court order. Federal officials argue that most of the wolves would have been killed even had they still been under federal control. Wolves have been growing at a rate of 20 percent or more since they were reintroduced in 1995 in the face of 20 percent annual mortalities, supporters of delisting argue. But Molloy seemed to side with environmentalists when he pointed out the federal lawyers acknowledge that as many as 10 of the wolves killed would not have died if federal protection remained....
California 2-Year-Old Dragged From Yard by Coyote in Third Such Attack in Five Days A coyote grabbed a 2-year-old girl by the head and tried to drag her from the front yard of her mountain home in the third incident of a coyote threatening a small child in Southern California in five days, authorities said. The coyote attacked the girl around noon Tuesday when her mother, Melissa Rowley, went inside the home for a moment to put away a camera, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in an incident report. Rowley came out of the house and saw the coyote dragging her daughter towards a street. She ran towards her daughter, and the animal released the girl and ran away, said sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire. Rowley took her daughter to a hospital where the toddler was treated for several punctures to the head and neck area, and a laceration on her mouth. She was then flown to Loma Linda University Hospital for further treatment, although her injuries were not life-threatening. State Fish and Game wardens and county animal control authorities set traps for the coyote and were monitoring the neighborhood high in the San Bernardino Mountains about 65 miles miles northeast of Los Angeles. On Friday, a nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote at Alterra Park in Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County community about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The girl suffered puncture wounds to her buttocks and was treated at a hospital. A coyote came after another toddler in the same park Sunday. The child's father kicked and chased the coyote away. Alterra Park is near Chino Hills State Park, a natural open space of thousands of acres spanning nearly 31 miles.
Energized effort to protect wildlife The complacency of Utah anglers and hunters has always confounded me. Most organized group reactions to issues concerning wildlife are emotional outbursts that come too late in the game. There are some key examples where special interest groups used forethought and pre-emptive strikes to thwart troubling developments, but for the most part sportsmen and sportswomen in Utah usually stand back and let somebody else explain their passion for wildlife and the lands that provide them a home. Things have changed with our country's ever-increasing demand for energy. As oil and gas exploration and development rages, obvious concerns for wildlife have emerged. To provide a venue for hunters and anglers, and anybody else with a concern about pulling oil and gas from the land and the impacts on wildlife, Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development was formed. The main players in the group include Trout Unlimited, the National Wildlife Federation and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. All three groups have stood in Washington, D.C., backrooms fighting for preservation and conservation in the West. Now they are asking hunters and anglers to stand with them united. To make one thing clear, the idea is not to fight energy development as a whole. The groups realize energy exploration and tapping is something the country should be doing, but there are ways to do it without wiping out wildlife and they want to make sure it is done with that in mind....
Videos capture images of sheep killer The video shot in Jack Foerschler’s barn shows his flock of sheep lying quietly in the dark. It’s a windy night, and dust that flies in front of the lens looks like snow, and the wind sounds like thunder in the night-vision camera’s microphone. The flock seems peaceful, until the animals are suddenly startled. A nanosecond later, a blur leaps into the screen and tackles one of the sheep. The ewe is able to escape momentarily, jumping up from the creature’s clutches, running to the viewer’s left. But the invader is faster. It bounds to its feet and extends a claw toward its fleeing prey. The viewer can see its massive claws, slender muscular body and distinctively long tail. The culprit that killed four ewes, a ram and seven lambs on Foerschler’s southeast Carson ranch last month has been revealed, for everyone to see. It’s a hungry mountain lion....
B.C. man lives through vicious grizzly attack A B.C. man who survived a ferocious attack by a grizzly bear the size of five men then drove to get help is resting in hospital today. "I'm doing OK," Brent Case said Wednesday. "But I'm not a pretty sight. It's been pretty traumatic. I just need to relax." Case, a 53-year-old father of two sons, was taking pictures Saturday for survey work near Bella Coola, in northwest B.C., when he was attacked by a 400-kilogram grizzly on Saturday. "(The bear) initially grabbed him and threw him to the ground," said his son Dean Case. "It was kind of boggy where he was and he fell down and there was a log nearby, so he tried to . . . put himself under the log. But the bear grabbed him by the other arm and pulled him out from under there." Dean's father wasn't dead, but he pretended to be while the bear jumped up and down on him several times, then wandered off. Case had gashes on his head, arm and knee. "(The bear) had him by the head and he was shaking him," said Case's friend, Tony Knott. "He said he felt like (the bear's) teeth were in his brain. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it through." Knott credits Case with saving his own life because he didn't struggle. "When you have a bear shaking you and tearing away your scalp, to play dead is very difficult task," said Knott....
New county ordinance bans wolf release with little hope of enforcement An ordinance prohibiting the release of wolves and specifying criminal penalties for violations was proposed by Board Chairman J.R. DeSpain at the May 6 supervisors meeting. "I want to give you some background," he said, holding up a copy of the Pioneer newspaper. "They reported that in New Mexico cages were built for the children who were waiting to catch the bus because of the fear of being attacked by wolves. "It's pretty ironic to have to cage kids to protect them from wildlife. This ordinance is in conflict with the federal program to release to the wild, but we are the Board of Supervisors for Navajo County and have the right to protect our citizens." He said the new habitat proposed by federal Fish and Wildlife would open up all of Arizona for the release program....
Pima buys land, lots of land Four years ago this month, voters authorized Pima County to spend $164 million for lands that would receive special protection under the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. In that bond election of May 2004, more than 65 percent of those voting agreed that money dedicated to preserving native plants and animals would be money well spent. So far, Pima County has spent roughly $73 million of the 2004 bond authorization to acquire six ranches that include nearly 26,000 acres of private (patented) land and more than 116,000 acres in grazing leases, in addition to smaller parcels known as "community open space" properties. The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, our manual for preserving and enhancing our unique landscape, was created in reaction to the announcement in 1997 that the federal government had placed the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl on the Endangered Species List. That decision required that measures be taken to improve the habitat that might keep the animal from becoming extinct. Invariably, such measures lead to controversies over property rights because they tend to limit where and how land can be developed — exacerbated, in this case, by the fact that the federal government later decided the owl was not endangered....
These Daredevils Don’t Dust the Crops. They Plant Them As rice farmers in Northern California plant their flooded fields over the next couple of weeks, most will not head for a tractor or a tiller or any kind of seeder. They will head for the skies. With rice selling at record high prices and global demand rising, California’s farm belt and the airspace above are increasingly home to one of aviation’s, and agriculture’s, most heart-pounding stunts: aerial seeding. Using a fleet of single-engine planes and squads of modern-day barnstormers, California’s farmers are expected to plant more than 500,000 acres this spring, most of it laid by pilots like Danny Hawk. “Do I get scared?” asked Mr. Hawk, 45, repeating a question from behind a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. “You’re too busy to get scared.” Mr. Hawk is one of dozens of agricultural aviators in California, which plants more than 90 percent of its rice fields from the air, a method that dates to the 1920s but has gone high-tech over the last decade with the introduction of global positioning systems that allow pilots to drop seed to within three feet of a target. From the ground, the seeding looks like daredevil work, with planes loaded with a ton of seed diving as low as 30 feet and banking at angles that make carnival rides look tame. From the sky, the feeling is even more intense, as G-forces cause blood to rush to the head and, occasionally, food to rush from the belly....
British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus For decades the national dish has been a staple meal on the national carrier. But now British Airways has taken beef off the menu for economy passengers amid concerns about its "religious restrictions". The airline has instead switched to a fish pie or chicken dish option for the so-called "cattle class" passengers. BA's second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority Hindu population do not eat beef because of their beliefs....
For Mother's Day THE WAR AGAINST GLOBAL warming is producing collateral damage to family life. One American city may even ban the hearth--San Francisco is contemplating a prohibition on private fireplaces to reduce air pollution. But this is nothing compared to the family sacrifice of the future: babies. A new trend among some of the world's most eco-conscious is to forgo children for the sake of the planet. In a recent interview with Britain's Daily Mail, one woman who works for an environmental charity told of aborting her baby because she felt it was "immoral to give birth to a child that . . . would only be a burden to the world." She also had herself permanently sterilized at age 27 for good measure. According to another woman, who works for Ethical Consumer magazine, sterilization was the most ethical decision because " . . . a baby would pollute the planet--and that never having a child was the most environmentally friendly thing I could do." What about the assertion that kids--whether they make you happy or not--are a net burden on our world? It turns out that this does not stand up to the evidence either. Economists estimate that the net benefits to society from children are, on average, significant and positive. Balancing the negative and positive socioeconomic impacts from children, one well-regarded study from 1990 in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science placed the benefit in net government revenues in excess of $100,000 per American child--a number that has obviously greatly increased since that time. What we choose to do with this public surplus per child is obviously up to us--it reflects our society's values. As our population rises, we can use our resulting public wealth increases to ensure the preservation of our natural environment, for example. To argue against human reproduction to save the planet amounts to arguing that lowering our prosperity is the best strategy to cut resource consumption and greenhouse gases....
U.S. consumers worst at being green Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey released Wednesday that compares environmental-consumption habits in 14 countries. Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three out of four categories - housing, transportation and consumer goods, according to the assessment. In the fourth category, food, Americans ranked ahead of Japanese consumers, who eat more meat and seafood. The rankings, called "Greendex," are the first to compare the lifestyles and behaviors of consumers in multiple countries, according to the National Geographic Society. It plans to conduct the 100-plus-question survey annually and considers trends more important than yearly scores, said Terry Garcia, executive vice president of National Geographic's mission programs....
The Biofuels Dilemma The agriculture lobby has legendary clout in Washington, so current biofuel targets, along with heavy subsidies that keep the industry alive, will stay in place for now. The 2008 farm bill, which has entered the homestretch in Congress, cuts the corn-ethanol subsidy by only 6 cents, to 45 cents per gallon, while the subsidy for the "next generation" of ethanol (to be made from grass, straw, and other cellulosic materials) will rise to more than a dollar a gallon. To soften the rapid food-price inflation that's expected to result, the new law will increase food aid to lower-income Americans. Perhaps the starkest measure of the car culture's energy appetite is the fact that the state of Iowa, the nation's leading corn producer, will soon be importing corn. If a meteorite were to land randomly in Iowa, there's a 35 percent chance it would land in a cornfield; Iowa's corn harvest last year contained more calories than the state's human population would consume in 85 years of eating; yet Iowa will be hauling corn in from other states. The grain will be fed to a multitude of new fuel-ethanol factories, along with the state's existing corn syrup and livestock industries. The world is learning fast that when fuel demand competes with food needs for the sun's energy, it's not a fair fight....
Ecology and free markets I think future intellectual historians will be fascinated by the disconnect between approaches to economics emphasizing the market's character as a spontaneous order and ecological science that emphasizes ecosystems as spontaneous order processes. Both markets and ecologies are complex processes relying on negative and positive feedback to coordinate otherwise independent actions into more productive and adaptive patterns of interaction than could ever be accomplished by deliberate planning. Both are resilient and fragile. In ecologies 'keystone species' can shape an entire ecosystem, whereas non keystone species can exist or not and make little difference. The same applies to markets. Nail a keystone and the whole thing degrades significantly. Nail a non keystone and not much happens besides its disappearance. And yet, these similarities and others are largely ignored by both sides, though in my experience even more by economists than ecologists. People who are exquisitely sensitive to distortions generated in markets by external political intervention enthusiastically endorse central control or overriding of ecological processes. For their part, many environmentalists who are well versed in ecological understanding are insensitive to the deep distortions arising from political intervention in the market. Sometimes they blame markets for what is really the result of political intervention. Sometimes they seek political intervention without appreciating how it is likely to backfire....
The Problems with Conservation Easements Increasingly with the larger conservation easements such as those involving big timber companies like Plum Creek and other large land owners, federal or state funds are being used to directly fund the easements. Yet because these funds are often funneled through second parties like land trusts, there is little public review of the agreements and/or cost benefit analysis. Since the land owner has a direct stake in maximizing the value of his/her contribution, and thus tax breaks and/or payment, there is a tendency to inflate the conservation and land values. And since many land trusts are driven by the desire to make a deal and claim yet another ranch, farm, or forest saved from development, they are also anxious to accommodate the land owner. Though appraisals are often done by an outside agent, everyone knows the deal won’t happen unless a positive evaluation is returned. Due to the lack of oversight in the appraisal process and analysis of its real conservation value, nearly any land can receive an easement. Second, one of the strengths of conservation easements heralded by supporters is their ability to adapt to nearly any situation and desire. However, calling such agreements “conservation easements” tells you nothing about what is being conserved. Because there are no uniform codes or standards, the proliferation of conservation easements presents a major legal challenge to future generations since nearly every term could be subject to different legal interpretations, making monitoring and enforcement difficult....
McCain Woos Democrats on Environment After spending several weeks staking out positions on taxes, Iraq and judges designed to appeal to conservatives, John McCain is shifting his attention to independents and Democrats, with proposals on climate change. The Republican presidential candidate also is using his stance on energy and the environment to draw distinctions between himself and President Bush, whose popularity is at a near-record low. Sen. McCain's support of regulating global-warming gases like carbon dioxide -- the biggest environmental issue before Congress -- more closely resembles the stance of his Democratic rivals, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, though he disagrees with them on how such regulations should be structured. Besides championing legislation to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions, Sen. McCain has opposed the administration's call to open parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, citing the refuge as a natural treasure on par with the Florida Everglades and the Grand Canyon in his home state of Arizona. In a sign of Sen. McCain's potential appeal to environmentally conscious voters, a top official at the Sierra Club, one of the nation's most influential environmental groups, said the group might not endorse any candidate for president. The group endorsed Democrats in six of the past seven presidential elections; it declined to endorse a candidate in 1988....
Owyhees bill hits new snag A dispute over a bill to preserve the Snake River in Wyoming presents a new hurdle for Sen. Mike Crapo's proposal to protect the Owyhee Canyonlands and nearby ranchers. Sen. Larry Craig and Idaho water users oppose a bill to protect 387 miles of the Snake River and its tributaries in Wyoming, which was sent to the Senate floor last week with a package of other bills, including Crapo's Owyhees bill. Craig has opposed the Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act from the start, saying it presented a threat to Idaho irrigation farmers downstream. It is still not clear the two bills will be in the same package on the floor, Crapo said Friday. But irrigation districts around Twin Falls own the rights to most of the water stored in Jackson Lake inside Grand Teton National Park. Craig and the Idaho Water Users Association say a Wild and Scenic Rivers designation, especially for the stretch of river below Jackson Lake, could change the times water is released from the Jackson Lake Dam or provide a legal platform for environmentalists to sue to reduce Idaho's control over Wyoming's water. The water rights involved are among the most valuable in Idaho. Most of the Magic Valley's farm economy depends in part on these rights - and they also are critical to the state's future industrial growth....
Judge appears to tip his hand in wolf lawsuit U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy appeared to show his hand when he rejected the federal government’s motion Wednesday to delay a hearing on a suit to reverse wolf delisting. The hearing is set for May 29 in Missoula and Molloy’s main argument for not delaying it was that the federal government knew as far back as February that environmentalists were going to challenge the decision in March to remove wolves from the endangered species list. But since March 28 at least 39 of the more than 1,500 wolves have been killed, which environmentalists say bolsters their argument that wolves should remain federally protected. Molloy also expressed concern. "The court is unwilling to risk more deaths by delaying its decision on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction," Molloy wrote in his court order. Federal officials argue that most of the wolves would have been killed even had they still been under federal control. Wolves have been growing at a rate of 20 percent or more since they were reintroduced in 1995 in the face of 20 percent annual mortalities, supporters of delisting argue. But Molloy seemed to side with environmentalists when he pointed out the federal lawyers acknowledge that as many as 10 of the wolves killed would not have died if federal protection remained....
California 2-Year-Old Dragged From Yard by Coyote in Third Such Attack in Five Days A coyote grabbed a 2-year-old girl by the head and tried to drag her from the front yard of her mountain home in the third incident of a coyote threatening a small child in Southern California in five days, authorities said. The coyote attacked the girl around noon Tuesday when her mother, Melissa Rowley, went inside the home for a moment to put away a camera, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in an incident report. Rowley came out of the house and saw the coyote dragging her daughter towards a street. She ran towards her daughter, and the animal released the girl and ran away, said sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire. Rowley took her daughter to a hospital where the toddler was treated for several punctures to the head and neck area, and a laceration on her mouth. She was then flown to Loma Linda University Hospital for further treatment, although her injuries were not life-threatening. State Fish and Game wardens and county animal control authorities set traps for the coyote and were monitoring the neighborhood high in the San Bernardino Mountains about 65 miles miles northeast of Los Angeles. On Friday, a nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote at Alterra Park in Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County community about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The girl suffered puncture wounds to her buttocks and was treated at a hospital. A coyote came after another toddler in the same park Sunday. The child's father kicked and chased the coyote away. Alterra Park is near Chino Hills State Park, a natural open space of thousands of acres spanning nearly 31 miles.
Energized effort to protect wildlife The complacency of Utah anglers and hunters has always confounded me. Most organized group reactions to issues concerning wildlife are emotional outbursts that come too late in the game. There are some key examples where special interest groups used forethought and pre-emptive strikes to thwart troubling developments, but for the most part sportsmen and sportswomen in Utah usually stand back and let somebody else explain their passion for wildlife and the lands that provide them a home. Things have changed with our country's ever-increasing demand for energy. As oil and gas exploration and development rages, obvious concerns for wildlife have emerged. To provide a venue for hunters and anglers, and anybody else with a concern about pulling oil and gas from the land and the impacts on wildlife, Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development was formed. The main players in the group include Trout Unlimited, the National Wildlife Federation and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. All three groups have stood in Washington, D.C., backrooms fighting for preservation and conservation in the West. Now they are asking hunters and anglers to stand with them united. To make one thing clear, the idea is not to fight energy development as a whole. The groups realize energy exploration and tapping is something the country should be doing, but there are ways to do it without wiping out wildlife and they want to make sure it is done with that in mind....
Videos capture images of sheep killer The video shot in Jack Foerschler’s barn shows his flock of sheep lying quietly in the dark. It’s a windy night, and dust that flies in front of the lens looks like snow, and the wind sounds like thunder in the night-vision camera’s microphone. The flock seems peaceful, until the animals are suddenly startled. A nanosecond later, a blur leaps into the screen and tackles one of the sheep. The ewe is able to escape momentarily, jumping up from the creature’s clutches, running to the viewer’s left. But the invader is faster. It bounds to its feet and extends a claw toward its fleeing prey. The viewer can see its massive claws, slender muscular body and distinctively long tail. The culprit that killed four ewes, a ram and seven lambs on Foerschler’s southeast Carson ranch last month has been revealed, for everyone to see. It’s a hungry mountain lion....
B.C. man lives through vicious grizzly attack A B.C. man who survived a ferocious attack by a grizzly bear the size of five men then drove to get help is resting in hospital today. "I'm doing OK," Brent Case said Wednesday. "But I'm not a pretty sight. It's been pretty traumatic. I just need to relax." Case, a 53-year-old father of two sons, was taking pictures Saturday for survey work near Bella Coola, in northwest B.C., when he was attacked by a 400-kilogram grizzly on Saturday. "(The bear) initially grabbed him and threw him to the ground," said his son Dean Case. "It was kind of boggy where he was and he fell down and there was a log nearby, so he tried to . . . put himself under the log. But the bear grabbed him by the other arm and pulled him out from under there." Dean's father wasn't dead, but he pretended to be while the bear jumped up and down on him several times, then wandered off. Case had gashes on his head, arm and knee. "(The bear) had him by the head and he was shaking him," said Case's friend, Tony Knott. "He said he felt like (the bear's) teeth were in his brain. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to make it through." Knott credits Case with saving his own life because he didn't struggle. "When you have a bear shaking you and tearing away your scalp, to play dead is very difficult task," said Knott....
New county ordinance bans wolf release with little hope of enforcement An ordinance prohibiting the release of wolves and specifying criminal penalties for violations was proposed by Board Chairman J.R. DeSpain at the May 6 supervisors meeting. "I want to give you some background," he said, holding up a copy of the Pioneer newspaper. "They reported that in New Mexico cages were built for the children who were waiting to catch the bus because of the fear of being attacked by wolves. "It's pretty ironic to have to cage kids to protect them from wildlife. This ordinance is in conflict with the federal program to release to the wild, but we are the Board of Supervisors for Navajo County and have the right to protect our citizens." He said the new habitat proposed by federal Fish and Wildlife would open up all of Arizona for the release program....
Pima buys land, lots of land Four years ago this month, voters authorized Pima County to spend $164 million for lands that would receive special protection under the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. In that bond election of May 2004, more than 65 percent of those voting agreed that money dedicated to preserving native plants and animals would be money well spent. So far, Pima County has spent roughly $73 million of the 2004 bond authorization to acquire six ranches that include nearly 26,000 acres of private (patented) land and more than 116,000 acres in grazing leases, in addition to smaller parcels known as "community open space" properties. The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, our manual for preserving and enhancing our unique landscape, was created in reaction to the announcement in 1997 that the federal government had placed the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl on the Endangered Species List. That decision required that measures be taken to improve the habitat that might keep the animal from becoming extinct. Invariably, such measures lead to controversies over property rights because they tend to limit where and how land can be developed — exacerbated, in this case, by the fact that the federal government later decided the owl was not endangered....
These Daredevils Don’t Dust the Crops. They Plant Them As rice farmers in Northern California plant their flooded fields over the next couple of weeks, most will not head for a tractor or a tiller or any kind of seeder. They will head for the skies. With rice selling at record high prices and global demand rising, California’s farm belt and the airspace above are increasingly home to one of aviation’s, and agriculture’s, most heart-pounding stunts: aerial seeding. Using a fleet of single-engine planes and squads of modern-day barnstormers, California’s farmers are expected to plant more than 500,000 acres this spring, most of it laid by pilots like Danny Hawk. “Do I get scared?” asked Mr. Hawk, 45, repeating a question from behind a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. “You’re too busy to get scared.” Mr. Hawk is one of dozens of agricultural aviators in California, which plants more than 90 percent of its rice fields from the air, a method that dates to the 1920s but has gone high-tech over the last decade with the introduction of global positioning systems that allow pilots to drop seed to within three feet of a target. From the ground, the seeding looks like daredevil work, with planes loaded with a ton of seed diving as low as 30 feet and banking at angles that make carnival rides look tame. From the sky, the feeling is even more intense, as G-forces cause blood to rush to the head and, occasionally, food to rush from the belly....
British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus For decades the national dish has been a staple meal on the national carrier. But now British Airways has taken beef off the menu for economy passengers amid concerns about its "religious restrictions". The airline has instead switched to a fish pie or chicken dish option for the so-called "cattle class" passengers. BA's second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority Hindu population do not eat beef because of their beliefs....
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Good stories and bad knees
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Julie Carter
Cowboys, while being rugged individualists, have at least three things in common: a competitive spirit, the love of a good story and bad knees.
The knees are often the result of that aggressive nature and the stories most assuredly are.
One can quickly spot the cowboys without bad knees. As a rule, they are still attending high school classes. Through the years, their path can be traced through a number of orthopedic offices, culminating in the bionic replacement of body parts in later years.
That is where the stories come in.
The gimping cowboy will willingly impart the story about that sun fishing son-of-a-gun that finally got the best of him and busted up that knee.
A few of the more honest ones will admit to the limp originating with a football injury, even if that sometimes meant he fell out of the stands while watching.
Others will confess to less cowboy-like activities such as water or snow skiing or even a friendly game of Budweiser-fueled volleyball at a family reunion.
Cowboys with a horse- or cow-related limp will scoff at those embarrassing injuries and say with disdain, "It serves them right."
One particular cowboy I know has cured the limp he acquired as a young cowboy and subsequently nursed all through his adult years as a cattleman. Then he became a cowboy again and took to team roping full time. The only benefit he can get from his limp now is bragging rights to the story.
He was day-working his way through college gathering cattle in the South Texas brasada. On the day of the legendary injury, he was assigned with a corrida of vaqueros to gather a bunch of snaky brush cattle.
They had spent the long, hot day in brush that consisted mostly of stickers and close-quartered oak and mesquite trees. Just as the cattle were finally gathered up and headed to the pens, one of the bulls decided he'd rather be where he had been rather than where he was.
The cowboy of this story and one other got the signal to go bring him back. The race was on. Both horses were fast and both men were hard riders. The brush was heavy and the bull thought his tail was on fire.
Our cowboy was in the lead to rope when the bull cut between two fair-size oaks. He calculated he had the one on the left cleared, shifted in the saddle to miss the one on the right.
The bull, the horse or the tree moved, it was never determined exactly which, and the cowboy hit the oak square on his knee. Of course, this happened as he was traveling at approximately the speed of light.
Nothing to say except "Dang, that will hurt a feller."
After the knee healed up as good as it was ever going to, what hurt the most for a long time was that the other cowboy got to rope the bull. However, the now-gimpy cowboy had a wild tale he could tell for years.
That almost made up for the bad knee.
Almost, except on cold mornings, long days in the saddle, long drives and worse yet, when there was no one around to hear the tale.
For more stories, visit Julie’s website at www.julie-carter.com
The Farmer's Rooster
From Email
John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets', and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs.
The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.
The farmer's favorite rooster was old Butch, a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover.
But to Farmer John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.
The result...The judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.
Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making: who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.
Vote carefully this year...the bells are not always audible.
Quote
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
- P.J. O'Rourke.
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Julie Carter
Cowboys, while being rugged individualists, have at least three things in common: a competitive spirit, the love of a good story and bad knees.
The knees are often the result of that aggressive nature and the stories most assuredly are.
One can quickly spot the cowboys without bad knees. As a rule, they are still attending high school classes. Through the years, their path can be traced through a number of orthopedic offices, culminating in the bionic replacement of body parts in later years.
That is where the stories come in.
The gimping cowboy will willingly impart the story about that sun fishing son-of-a-gun that finally got the best of him and busted up that knee.
A few of the more honest ones will admit to the limp originating with a football injury, even if that sometimes meant he fell out of the stands while watching.
Others will confess to less cowboy-like activities such as water or snow skiing or even a friendly game of Budweiser-fueled volleyball at a family reunion.
Cowboys with a horse- or cow-related limp will scoff at those embarrassing injuries and say with disdain, "It serves them right."
One particular cowboy I know has cured the limp he acquired as a young cowboy and subsequently nursed all through his adult years as a cattleman. Then he became a cowboy again and took to team roping full time. The only benefit he can get from his limp now is bragging rights to the story.
He was day-working his way through college gathering cattle in the South Texas brasada. On the day of the legendary injury, he was assigned with a corrida of vaqueros to gather a bunch of snaky brush cattle.
They had spent the long, hot day in brush that consisted mostly of stickers and close-quartered oak and mesquite trees. Just as the cattle were finally gathered up and headed to the pens, one of the bulls decided he'd rather be where he had been rather than where he was.
The cowboy of this story and one other got the signal to go bring him back. The race was on. Both horses were fast and both men were hard riders. The brush was heavy and the bull thought his tail was on fire.
Our cowboy was in the lead to rope when the bull cut between two fair-size oaks. He calculated he had the one on the left cleared, shifted in the saddle to miss the one on the right.
The bull, the horse or the tree moved, it was never determined exactly which, and the cowboy hit the oak square on his knee. Of course, this happened as he was traveling at approximately the speed of light.
Nothing to say except "Dang, that will hurt a feller."
After the knee healed up as good as it was ever going to, what hurt the most for a long time was that the other cowboy got to rope the bull. However, the now-gimpy cowboy had a wild tale he could tell for years.
That almost made up for the bad knee.
Almost, except on cold mornings, long days in the saddle, long drives and worse yet, when there was no one around to hear the tale.
For more stories, visit Julie’s website at www.julie-carter.com
The Farmer's Rooster
From Email
John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets', and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs.
The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.
The farmer's favorite rooster was old Butch, a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover.
But to Farmer John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.
The result...The judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.
Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making: who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.
Vote carefully this year...the bells are not always audible.
Quote
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."
- P.J. O'Rourke.
FLE
U.S. immigration raids are about to get ugly Letters listing millions of Social Security “no-match” workers are ready to mail to employers. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency personnel are trained and ready. Buses and vans are standing by for raids. Detention facilities have expanded. All that is lacking is clearance from the courts. Employers should be prepared in the coming months for immigration raids on scales never before staged by the federal government. The stakes for employers will be especially high if the courts give a green light to the mailing of Social Security no-match letters. Employers receiving the new no-match letters would have 93 days to resolve discrepancies, said Lashus and Loughran of Tindall & Foster's Austin office. Employers could find themselves trapped by federal laws that on the one hand prohibit unauthorized workers and, on the other hand, ban discrimination. Employers cannot look beyond the employees' documents. If they do, they face federal discrimination lawsuits. If employers have not followed steps listed in the no-match letters or are determined to knowingly employ unauthorized workers, they will face criminal charges....
Sealed Borders Work Both Ways Apparently not having enough to do to keep illegal immigrants from entering the country, U.S. officials are now also spending their time looking for illegal immigrants leaving the country. According to an article entitled “Border Busts Coming and Going in the Los Angeles Times, federal customs and immigration officials are setting up random checkpoints 500 yards from the Mexican border to search vehicles leaving the United States for illegal immigrants, drugs, and other contraband. People who cannot produce their papers are taken into custody and then turned over to the Border Patrol, which then deports them a few hours later. Pardon me for asking a discomforting question, but isn’t it likely that, like other government interventions, this measure will have an unintended consequence that is opposite to what government officials want? Once illegal immigrants realize that there is a strong likelihood of being caught returning home, wouldn’t that encourage them to remain permanently in the United States rather than return home after making some money? And wouldn’t that, in turn, induce them to smuggle their wife and children into the United States? And isn’t that the exact opposite of what U.S. officials wish to accomplish with their immigration-enforcement measures? The U.S. checkpoints for people leaving the country should also remind Americans of something that Germans and Koreans learned long ago: a government that is sufficiently powerful to keep people out is sufficient powerful to keep people in. In a national emergency, people soon discover that enforcement measures that were previously applied to people trying to illegally enter a country can be quickly converted to apply to citizens trying to quickly get themselves, their families, and their capital out of the country. Sealed borders can seal people in as effectively as they seal people out....
FBI, ATF Battle for Control Of Cases In the five years since the FBI and ATF were merged under the Justice Department to coordinate the fight against terrorism, the rival law enforcement agencies have fought each other for control, wasting time and money and causing duplication of effort, according to law enforcement sources and internal documents. Their new boss, the attorney general, ordered them to merge their national bomb databases, but the FBI has refused. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has long trained bomb-sniffing dogs; the FBI started a competing program. At crime scenes, FBI and ATF agents have threatened to arrest one another and battled over jurisdiction and key evidence. The ATF inadvertently bought counterfeit cigarettes from the FBI -- the government selling to the government -- because the agencies are running parallel investigations of tobacco smuggling between Virginia and other states. The squabbling poses dangers, many in law enforcement say, in an era in which cooperation is needed more than ever to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Michael A. Mason, a former head of the FBI's Washington field office who retired in December from a senior post at FBI headquarters, said outside intervention might be needed. "A lot of these things require a little adult supervision from the Justice Department or Congress, which will resolve a lot of the food fights these two agencies find themselves in," he said....
FBI is called slow to join the terrorism fight Nearly seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI "has yet to make the dramatic leaps necessary" to become an effective intelligence-gathering organization and protect the country from terrorism, a congressional analysis released Thursday said. The Senate Intelligence Committee recommended that the bureau yield more of its historic autonomy to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and that "performance metrics and specific timetables" be established to address a variety of shortcomings. The panel found widespread problems in the FBI intelligence program, including gaps in the training and deployment of hundreds of analysts hired since Sept. 11, 2001, to assess threats to the nation. Field Intelligence Groups, which are considered the front lines of the intelligence effort in FBI field offices around the country, are "poorly staffed, are led overwhelmingly by special agents, and are often 'surged' to other FBI priorities," the report said. The bureau has also struggled to fill key national security and intelligence positions at FBI headquarters. The report found that more than 20% of the supervisory positions in the section at headquarters that covers Al Qaeda-related cases were vacant. The critique is the latest to question whether the bureau -- which is celebrating its centennial this year -- can effectively transform itself from a law enforcement organization to one that also roots out terrorists before they strike. Its progress was questioned by the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission, which gave the FBI a "C" in a December 2005 report card grading the implementation of its recommended reforms....
E-Mails Show Derogatory Banter at Secret Service Secret Service supervisors shared crude sexual jokes and engaged in racially derogatory banter about blacks, and passed around an anecdote about a possible assassination of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, according to internal e-mail disclosed in a federal court filing on Friday by lawyers for black Secret Service agents. The filing includes 10 e-mail messages that were among documents the agency recently turned over to lawyers for the black agents as part of an increasingly bitter discrimination lawsuit. The messages were written mainly from 2003 through 2005, and were sent to and from e-mail accounts of at least 20 Secret Service supervisors. The messages offer a glimpse into the darker recesses of an agency known for protecting presidents and other dignitaries but whose culture is regarded as one of the most insular in federal law enforcement. The disclosure of the messages follows an incident last month in which a noose was found in a room used by a black instructor at a Secret Service training facility in Beltsville, Md. Agency officials said that episode was under internal investigation....
Government in secret The Bush administration recently announced it will allow select members of Congress to read Justice Department legal opinions about the CIA's controversial detainee interrogation program that have been hidden from Congress until now. But as the administration allows a glimpse of this secret law -- and it is law -- we are left wondering what other laws it is still keeping under lock and key. It's a given in our democracy that laws should be a matter of public record. But the law in this country includes not just statutes and regulations, which the public can readily access. It also includes binding legal interpretations made by courts and the executive branch. These interpretations are increasingly being withheld from the public and Congress. Perhaps the most notorious example is the recently released 2003 Justice Department memorandum on torture written by John Yoo. The memorandum was, for a nine-month period in 2003, the law that the administration followed when it came to matters of torture. And that law was essentially a declaration that the administration could ignore the laws passed by Congress. Another body of secret law involves the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In 1978, Congress created the special FISA court to review the government's requests for wiretaps in intelligence investigations, which is -- and should be -- done behind closed doors. But with changes in technology and with this administration's efforts to expand its surveillance powers, the court today is doing more than just reviewing warrant applications. It is issuing important interpretations of FISA that have effectively made new law. These interpretations deeply affect Americans' privacy rights, and yet Americans don't know about them because they are not allowed to see them. The code of secrecy also extends to yet another body of law: changes to executive orders. The administration takes the position that a president can "waive" or "modify" a published executive order without any public notice -- simply by not following it. It's every president's prerogative to change an executive order, but doing so without public notice works a secret change in the law. And, because the published order stays on the books, Congress and the public have no idea that it's no longer in effect. We don't know how many of these covert changes have been made by this administration or, for that matter, by past administrations....
Buy Guns with Your Tax Rebate Checks The checks are in the mail. Those would be the so-called economic stimulus, or tax rebate, checks, rushed out to about 75 percent of Americans by Congress. But what to buy? What to buy? There are so many options. Never fear, we have suggestions. Buy guns. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will drive liberal Members of Congress crazier than tax rebates being spent on guns. Little will make you feel better and safer than some additional firepower. You want stimulus? You got stimulus....
U.S. immigration raids are about to get ugly Letters listing millions of Social Security “no-match” workers are ready to mail to employers. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency personnel are trained and ready. Buses and vans are standing by for raids. Detention facilities have expanded. All that is lacking is clearance from the courts. Employers should be prepared in the coming months for immigration raids on scales never before staged by the federal government. The stakes for employers will be especially high if the courts give a green light to the mailing of Social Security no-match letters. Employers receiving the new no-match letters would have 93 days to resolve discrepancies, said Lashus and Loughran of Tindall & Foster's Austin office. Employers could find themselves trapped by federal laws that on the one hand prohibit unauthorized workers and, on the other hand, ban discrimination. Employers cannot look beyond the employees' documents. If they do, they face federal discrimination lawsuits. If employers have not followed steps listed in the no-match letters or are determined to knowingly employ unauthorized workers, they will face criminal charges....
Sealed Borders Work Both Ways Apparently not having enough to do to keep illegal immigrants from entering the country, U.S. officials are now also spending their time looking for illegal immigrants leaving the country. According to an article entitled “Border Busts Coming and Going in the Los Angeles Times, federal customs and immigration officials are setting up random checkpoints 500 yards from the Mexican border to search vehicles leaving the United States for illegal immigrants, drugs, and other contraband. People who cannot produce their papers are taken into custody and then turned over to the Border Patrol, which then deports them a few hours later. Pardon me for asking a discomforting question, but isn’t it likely that, like other government interventions, this measure will have an unintended consequence that is opposite to what government officials want? Once illegal immigrants realize that there is a strong likelihood of being caught returning home, wouldn’t that encourage them to remain permanently in the United States rather than return home after making some money? And wouldn’t that, in turn, induce them to smuggle their wife and children into the United States? And isn’t that the exact opposite of what U.S. officials wish to accomplish with their immigration-enforcement measures? The U.S. checkpoints for people leaving the country should also remind Americans of something that Germans and Koreans learned long ago: a government that is sufficiently powerful to keep people out is sufficient powerful to keep people in. In a national emergency, people soon discover that enforcement measures that were previously applied to people trying to illegally enter a country can be quickly converted to apply to citizens trying to quickly get themselves, their families, and their capital out of the country. Sealed borders can seal people in as effectively as they seal people out....
FBI, ATF Battle for Control Of Cases In the five years since the FBI and ATF were merged under the Justice Department to coordinate the fight against terrorism, the rival law enforcement agencies have fought each other for control, wasting time and money and causing duplication of effort, according to law enforcement sources and internal documents. Their new boss, the attorney general, ordered them to merge their national bomb databases, but the FBI has refused. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has long trained bomb-sniffing dogs; the FBI started a competing program. At crime scenes, FBI and ATF agents have threatened to arrest one another and battled over jurisdiction and key evidence. The ATF inadvertently bought counterfeit cigarettes from the FBI -- the government selling to the government -- because the agencies are running parallel investigations of tobacco smuggling between Virginia and other states. The squabbling poses dangers, many in law enforcement say, in an era in which cooperation is needed more than ever to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Michael A. Mason, a former head of the FBI's Washington field office who retired in December from a senior post at FBI headquarters, said outside intervention might be needed. "A lot of these things require a little adult supervision from the Justice Department or Congress, which will resolve a lot of the food fights these two agencies find themselves in," he said....
FBI is called slow to join the terrorism fight Nearly seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI "has yet to make the dramatic leaps necessary" to become an effective intelligence-gathering organization and protect the country from terrorism, a congressional analysis released Thursday said. The Senate Intelligence Committee recommended that the bureau yield more of its historic autonomy to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and that "performance metrics and specific timetables" be established to address a variety of shortcomings. The panel found widespread problems in the FBI intelligence program, including gaps in the training and deployment of hundreds of analysts hired since Sept. 11, 2001, to assess threats to the nation. Field Intelligence Groups, which are considered the front lines of the intelligence effort in FBI field offices around the country, are "poorly staffed, are led overwhelmingly by special agents, and are often 'surged' to other FBI priorities," the report said. The bureau has also struggled to fill key national security and intelligence positions at FBI headquarters. The report found that more than 20% of the supervisory positions in the section at headquarters that covers Al Qaeda-related cases were vacant. The critique is the latest to question whether the bureau -- which is celebrating its centennial this year -- can effectively transform itself from a law enforcement organization to one that also roots out terrorists before they strike. Its progress was questioned by the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission, which gave the FBI a "C" in a December 2005 report card grading the implementation of its recommended reforms....
E-Mails Show Derogatory Banter at Secret Service Secret Service supervisors shared crude sexual jokes and engaged in racially derogatory banter about blacks, and passed around an anecdote about a possible assassination of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, according to internal e-mail disclosed in a federal court filing on Friday by lawyers for black Secret Service agents. The filing includes 10 e-mail messages that were among documents the agency recently turned over to lawyers for the black agents as part of an increasingly bitter discrimination lawsuit. The messages were written mainly from 2003 through 2005, and were sent to and from e-mail accounts of at least 20 Secret Service supervisors. The messages offer a glimpse into the darker recesses of an agency known for protecting presidents and other dignitaries but whose culture is regarded as one of the most insular in federal law enforcement. The disclosure of the messages follows an incident last month in which a noose was found in a room used by a black instructor at a Secret Service training facility in Beltsville, Md. Agency officials said that episode was under internal investigation....
Government in secret The Bush administration recently announced it will allow select members of Congress to read Justice Department legal opinions about the CIA's controversial detainee interrogation program that have been hidden from Congress until now. But as the administration allows a glimpse of this secret law -- and it is law -- we are left wondering what other laws it is still keeping under lock and key. It's a given in our democracy that laws should be a matter of public record. But the law in this country includes not just statutes and regulations, which the public can readily access. It also includes binding legal interpretations made by courts and the executive branch. These interpretations are increasingly being withheld from the public and Congress. Perhaps the most notorious example is the recently released 2003 Justice Department memorandum on torture written by John Yoo. The memorandum was, for a nine-month period in 2003, the law that the administration followed when it came to matters of torture. And that law was essentially a declaration that the administration could ignore the laws passed by Congress. Another body of secret law involves the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In 1978, Congress created the special FISA court to review the government's requests for wiretaps in intelligence investigations, which is -- and should be -- done behind closed doors. But with changes in technology and with this administration's efforts to expand its surveillance powers, the court today is doing more than just reviewing warrant applications. It is issuing important interpretations of FISA that have effectively made new law. These interpretations deeply affect Americans' privacy rights, and yet Americans don't know about them because they are not allowed to see them. The code of secrecy also extends to yet another body of law: changes to executive orders. The administration takes the position that a president can "waive" or "modify" a published executive order without any public notice -- simply by not following it. It's every president's prerogative to change an executive order, but doing so without public notice works a secret change in the law. And, because the published order stays on the books, Congress and the public have no idea that it's no longer in effect. We don't know how many of these covert changes have been made by this administration or, for that matter, by past administrations....
Buy Guns with Your Tax Rebate Checks The checks are in the mail. Those would be the so-called economic stimulus, or tax rebate, checks, rushed out to about 75 percent of Americans by Congress. But what to buy? What to buy? There are so many options. Never fear, we have suggestions. Buy guns. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will drive liberal Members of Congress crazier than tax rebates being spent on guns. Little will make you feel better and safer than some additional firepower. You want stimulus? You got stimulus....
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