Thirtymile saga ends with slap on wrist for Daniels After more than seven years, a federal judge in Spokane on Wednesday seemingly closed the book on the fatal Thirtymile forest fire, sentencing incident commander Ellreese Daniels to work release and probation. Daniels was the only person formally charged after the July 2001 fire near Winthrop, which claimed the lives of Tom Craven of Ellensburg, and Yakima's Karen FitzPatrick, Jessica Johnson and Devin Weaver. In terms of punishment for culpability, he got off with a slap on the wrist -- 90 days of work release, three years of probation and a $1,000 fine....

Feds: LSD was traded at Rainbow gathering Federal authorities have charged an Oregon woman with distributing the hallucinogenic drug LSD, including some that authorities say went to the Rainbow Family gathering in western Wyoming last month. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Wyoming has filed a criminal complaint charging Vanessa Marie Griffee, 31, of Eugene, Ore., with felony distribution of LSD and conspiracy to distribute the drug. A confidential source told Colorado investigators last month that a North Carolina man at the Rainbow Family gathering in Wyoming claimed to be distributing LSD there, according to a sworn statement filed by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent Timothy Walsh. The statement was filed in court with the charges against Griffee. The man told investigators that he had received a shipment of LSD sheets from Griffee before he traveled to the Rainbow Family gathering in Wyoming, Walsh said. The man said that while he was at the gathering, he traded a sheet of paper containing 100 doses of LSD to another man there for a red beryl gemstone....

Investigation concludes Sequoia logging was legal A nine-month investigation has found that the logging of 300-year-old sugar pines and other trees in the Giant Sequoia National Monument was done properly. Last year congressional Democrats asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector General to investigate the allegations of illegal logging in the 328,000-acre preserve that is part of the Sequoia National Forest in Central California. The USDA investigators say the felling of the dying trees was to "improve public safety," adding that the U.S. Forest Service followed proper environmental requirements. Conservation groups had complained the Forest Service cut more than 200 trees between 2004 and 2005, when the protected area was hidden from public view.

The Navajo Nation Decision The U.S .Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently issued an en banc opinion in Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Service, which posed the question whether Indian tribes have the right to halt the use of recycled wastewater to make artificial snow on ski slopes located on land owned by the federal government. In this column, I will explain how the decision illustrates the folly and expense to taxpayers that occurs when the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) is applied to federal lands. It also highlights the issue that has become the major point of contention in most RFRA and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) cases. The tribes and their members do not claim that they have ceased worshipping as a result of the introduction of the artificial snow; they claim that it has diminished their religious experience. While they alleged a variety of federal law violations, their RFRA claim has been the crux of the case from the beginning....

Bears: Handle With Care Like physicians, wildlife biologists first want to cause no harm to the animals they study. But an analysis of the long-term effects of capturing and handling two species of bears--grizzly (Ursus arctos horribilis) and American black (Ursus americanus)--indicates that the animals suffer more than previously thought. "We're throwing up a red flag," says Roger Powell, an evolutionary ecologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and one of the study's authors. Powell suspects that the results apply to any species that is handled. "It's time to step back and reevaluate our methods." Powell's colleague, Marc Cattet, a wildlife biologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, began suspecting problems in the wildlife he was capturing about 5 years ago, particularly among grizzly bears in the Canadian Rocky Mountains....

NM Game and Fish's version of Catch-22 It turns out that 8-8-08 really was a lucky day, at least for New Mexico's lesser prairie chicken population. On that day, the news headlines proclaimed "State puts prairie chicken hunt on hold," except the actual headline should have been "What was the state Game and Fish Department thinking?" I guess the thought from the department is that there certainly should be lesser numbers of the species. Ten years ago, in an effort to increase the prairie chicken population in southeastern New Mexico, the state declared millions of acres off-limits during the bird's 90-day mating season. Fast forward to July 2008, when through some unexplained reasoning the Game and Fish Department recommended and sought approval from the Game Commission for a nine-day fall hunt. And it was approved!....

Federal truck rules upset Oklahoma state farmers Farmers and ranchers complained Thursday about a federal law that requires them to have a commercial driver's license if they drive farm trucks that can carry more than 10,000 pounds into another state to deliver crops or livestock or to buy supplies. "We do not make a living with our trucks, but we have to have our trucks to make a living,” Bob Howard, a farmer near Altus, said during a forum on the federal legislation. Most heavy pickups can haul more than 10,000 pounds, said U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, a member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She conducted a forum on the legislation at the state Capitol, which attracted nearly 100 people. Fallin said when a truck is considered a commercial motor vehicle, the driver must comply with federal requirements of a professional truck driver, including having a commercial driver's license and medical examination certificate, documenting hours of driving and becoming subject to controlled substance and alcohol testing. Failure to comply results in fines....

FDA to permit irradiation of spinach, lettuce Nearly two years after E. coli bacteria traced to California-grown spinach killed three people and sickened 205, the federal government says it will allow producers of fresh iceberg lettuce and spinach to use irradiation to control food-borne pathogens and extend shelf life. The Food and Drug Administration is amending the food-additive regulations to provide what it calls the safe use of ionizing radiation for just the two leafy greens. The FDA also has received petitions seeking permission to use irradiation for other lettuces and many other foods. The government is allowing the practice in the wake of the major E. coli outbreak in 2006 and numerous other problems with food safety and recalls. But this won't be first time such a technique has been used on food. Consumers have eaten irradiated meat for years....

Photo Exhibit Celebrates NM Women Ranchers Women have played an important role in ranching in the state, and Macey Center will celebrate the lives of those “cowbelles” with a photo exhibit in the second floor gallery. Albuquerque photographer Ann Bromberg will bring her acclaimed exhibit “Ranchwomen of New Mexico” to Macey Center Gallery for a five-week run starting Monday. The exhibit is a collection of 40 black-and-white photographs documenting the lives of 10 women who have “cowgirled,” or owned ranches, in New Mexico in the last 50 years. Women ranchers represented in the show include Felicia Thal, who settled at a ranch in Watrous and was named Cattleman of the Year; Navajo sheep rancher Dorothea Begay, who has a deep respect for the land and her sheep; and Nogal rancher and rodeo pioneer Fern Sawyer. Sawyer died in 1993 – in the saddle – with her boots on....

Two longtime Alaska politicians face ouster If there have been any immutable facts of life in a state chiseled by shifting glaciers, it is the state's two iconic politicians: Stevens, 84, the nation's longest-serving Republican senator; and Don Young, 75, the Republican who has held Alaska's only House seat for the last 35 years. Together, they have helped build one of the nation's wealthiest states out of an unruly territory, pushing foreign fishing fleets out of Alaskan waters, opening the way to oil development on the North Slope and using their considerable power from decades on Capitol Hill to funnel billions of dollars of federal money into roads, schools, hospitals and rural development. But the two men who once were considered unbeatable now face bruising fights in Tuesday's primary election that could put their once solidly Republican congressional seats up for grabs. Both have been caught up in a long-running federal investigation that has already seen three GOP state lawmakers, the former governor's chief of staff and three others convicted on corruption charges....

NYC mayor spins back his turbine idea for city Mayor Michael Bloomberg is backing off his suggestion to put windmills on city bridges and rooftops after newspapers mocked the idea with photo illustrations of turbines on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building. "There are aesthetic considerations," Bloomberg said. "No. 2, I have absolutely no idea whether that makes any sense from a scientific, from a practical point of view." Bloomberg sought to dial back his windmill proposal while speaking to reporters on Wednesday after returning from Las Vegas, where he gave a speech at the National Clean Energy Summit imagining, among other things, harnessing wind power with turbines on bridges and skyscrapers.

The Axis Of Oil What do Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez and Islamic extremists have in common? They're funded by America's thirst for foreign oil. If drilling isn't a cure by itself, it's a start. The resurgent Russian empire is one of the big winners in the massive wealth transfer that has taken place in recent years with rising oil prices. OPEC countries are cleaning up, too. The U.S., which consumes 24% of the world's oil while producing just 10%, is the main source of the oil powers' new riches. Not all this money goes into war, terrorism or other evils. Some is used to build over-the-top commercial real estate projects in places such as Dubai. Quite a bit finds its way back to the U.S. to finance our national debt....

Politicians bristle at idea of renegotiating Colorado River Compact Sen. John McCain, in an interview with the Pueblo Chieftain last week, broached the subject of renegotiating the compact, causing the collective eyebrow of Republicans, Democrats and water users statewide to shoot up another mile high. McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee for president and a Republican senator from Arizona, clarified his comments in a letter Wednesday to Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, saying his remarks "may have been mistakenly misconstrued" as a call to rescind the Colorado River Compact. "Let me be clear that I do not advocate renegotiation of the compact," he said, adding that he supports continuing dialogue about it....

Don't Ask, Don't Drill Barack Obama says tire inflation would replace all the new oil to be found offshore. How does he know, when he sponsors a bill forbidding us from even finding out how much is there? Obama, who has flip-flopped into alleged acceptance of offshore drilling as part of some grand energy compromise, has in fact been leading a one-man crusade to keep the American people ignorant about what is at stake in the debate over offshore drilling. In 2005, he voted to kill legislation that would have measured our offshore reserves. That effort failed and a preliminary inventory report was produced in February 2006....

Bison advocates go for space Bison, commonly called buffalo, are not an endangered species in the USA, but there are only about 20,000 or fewer wild bison nationwide, says Keith Aune, senior conservation scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Many wild bison live in national parks or reserves. Conservationists want to expand the territory for bison to roam and ensure they remain a public resource. "Our mission is also to restore the connections between people and bison," Aune says. A government research project aimed at building up the nation's wild herds began in 2005. At a joint federal-state compound near Gardiner, Mont., bison from Yellowstone National Park have been quarantined and prepared for new homes by government veterinarians. This winter, if all goes well, about 42 bison will be relocated in the West, says Jack Rhyan, a veterinarian with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which operates the Corwin Springs compound with the state of Montana. More will follow, he says. Several parties — including parks, conservation groups, tribes and private landowners — are likely to make proposals this fall to accept some of those animals....

Pelosi And The Big Wind Boone-Doggle House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently called congressional Republicans who want up-or-down drilling votes "handmaidens of the oil companies." Let's call Pelosi what she is: House girl of the Big Wind boondogglers. Though she seemingly backtracked on labeling drilling a "hoax" this week, Pelosi refuses to consider GOP energy proposals that don't include massive government subsidies for so-called eco-alternatives that have never panned out. Which brings us to the Speaker's 2007 financial disclosure form. Schedule III lists "Assets and Unearned Income" of between $100,001-$250,000 from Clean Energy Fuels Corp.-Public Common Stock. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) is a natural gas provider founded by T. Boone Pickens. As reported on dontgo-movement.com, Speaker Pelosi bought between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of stock in Pickens' CLNE Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public offering: "She, and other investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their investment if gasoline prices stay high, and municipal, state and even the federal governments start using natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert fleets over to them become less and less attractive."....

New oil and gas rules worry ranchers The proposed oil and gas rules and regulations seem to cross the line when it comes to government interference in allowing landowners use of their own property. They aren't necessarily directed at Colorado agriculture, but certainly have caught many of us in their cross hairs. The rules, as initially written, would have stipulated the details of “proper” interim and final reclamation by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, not left the specifics to the landowners through negotiation of a surface use agreement between the landowners and the oil and gas companies. CCA members have joined with members of other agricultural associations in a group known as Colorado Agriculture to assure that our property rights are protected. Together, we have worked with the legislature and urged them to recognize the dangers inherent in government intrusion of property rights. As several producers stated in testimony before the commission, producer members make daily land use decisions based on goals and objectives. Those producers may raise crops, hay or native forage for their livestock; determining their choices on markets, weather, finances or other needs. Rules presented would limit their rights and the ability to make decisions about their land....

Ranchers seek Smith's help in grazing battle Cattle ranchers gathered in John Day Monday to press their case for proactive monitoring by the Forest Service in the face of what U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith termed a "perfect storm." Concerns raised Monday were that forest staff haven't monitored the allotments consistently, and haven't used scientific standards that will hold up in court. That leaves judges to decide grazing challenges based on the proofs submitted by environmental groups, the ranchers contend. The ranchers also said the attempts at monitoring don't take into account damage to the habitat by other animals, particularly the wild horses that roam parts of the MNF....

Ranchers, county need solution to monitoring gap on national forest To say that one of Grant County's most important industries - cattle ranching - is threatened by environmental litigation is just too simplistic. The fact is, the immediate threat stems not so much from the demands of environmentalists, but from the lack of adequate monitoring of grazing practices and their effects. The issue of monitoring is at the heart of still unresolved litigation over grazing allotments on the Malheur National Forest. Without adequate monitoring, the Forest Service - and the permit-holders - are at a loss to prove that their grazing program is a positive aspect of the forest's management. The issue is getting some attention in high places. U.S. Sens. Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden recently sent a joint letter to Mark Rey, Department of Agriculture undersecretary, supporting a proposed collaborative effort to develop appropriate monitoring that will draw on resources at Oregon State University and also involve the permittees....

Dozens of dead cows - no blood, no gunshots - mystify ranchers Ranchers in Chino Valley dug trenches Wednesday afternoon to bury dozens of dead cows. "Whatever killed them killed them fairly quick" Tom Silva lives in the area and traps small animals for a living. He wanted to see what all the commotion was about. "There's no struggle. When an animal dies it sometimes struggles, it's legs move but these animals just look like they dropped over." No blood. No gunshots. No one knows exactly killed these beasts. "Has to be some kind of poison, I mean, to kill this many and not have any signs of struggle it must be a very toxic kind of poison." The Department of Agriculture was called to the scene to investigate. A vet from their Arizona Livestock Incident Response Team took samples from the animals....

Jim Shoulders' Saddle for Sale on September 12th Jim Shoulders’ 1956 Cheyenne Frontier Days Championship Saddle will be included in a live, online auction Sept. 12, presented by Daugherty Auction Services. While most of Shoulders’ championship saddles are in the possession of museums around the country, the whereabouts of this saddle had been unknown for years until it was discovered among the assets of a bank foreclosure.

PBR Exec Makes Time Magazine List Randy Bernard, CEO of the Professional Bull Riders is listed in the top 10 of TIME Magazine's list of Top Sports Executives. The list consists of 35 sports execs compiled by the magazine's editorial staff. "[Bernard] built a barnstorming bull-riding circuit into a $100-million brand with mainstream sponsors," says Time.

Signature Spurs Pascal M. Kelly, born in 1886, turned out his first pair of spurs as early as 1903, in the Texas Panhandle town Childress. In 2008, one of his pairs of silver-mounted, silver and copper overlay spurs with a rare Diamond Dick Pattern, marked Kelly Bros., sold for $28,000, the highest price paid for a collectible from 80-year-old Buster Welch’s bit and spur collection. Welch is a four-time winner of the National Cutting Horse Association Open World Championship. So that other cowboys could enjoy his historic relics, he sold off 24 bits and spurs as part of the June 7, 2008, auction put on by A&S Auction Company in Waco, Texas. Other notable Texas artisans whose spurs hit high marks at the auction include James Oscar Bass, Joseph Carl Petmecky and John Robert McChesney. You can recognize a Texas spur by its single-piece construction; it also rarely features a chap guard (that feature is more popular with California spurs as it kept the cowboy’s chaps out of the rowel). But it was gear crafted by a protege of McChesney’s that would earn top dollar this year, almost a century after Pascal Kelly came to work for the master artisan....

New Mexico Environment Department Hosts Series of Public Meeting on NM’s Surface Water Quality Standards Triennial Review

WHAT: The New Mexico Environment Department’s Surface Water Quality Bureau (Bureau) will hold informational meetings to discuss proposed changes to State of New Mexico Standards for Interstate and Intrastate Surface Waters (20.6.4 NMAC). The Standards establish designated uses for surface waters of the state and water quality criteria to protect those uses. To gather input on the proposed changes, the Bureau has scheduled five public meetings. The meetings are being held in advance of the Water Quality Control Commission’s Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards Hearing, which is tentatively scheduled for fall 2009.

Proposed changes include new narrative biocriteria, revision of designated uses for unclassified waters, revision of segment descriptions to exclude waters under tribal jurisdiction, updates to human health and domestic water supply criteria, clarification of recreational designated uses, addition of public water supply as a designated use and revisions to segment-specific criteria.

The Bureau will publish its discussion draft of the proposed revisions by August 12, 2008, at www.nmenv.state.nm.us/SWQB/Standards/index.html. For more information, contact Pam Homer, Standards Coordinator, Surface Water Quality Bureau (contact information below).

WHERE & WHEN: Statewide

Carlsbad - Monday, August 25, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
Riverwalk Recreation Center, Powerhouse Room, 400 Riverwalk Dr.

Two Pecos River proposals may be of particular interest to people in the Carlsbad vicinity: to raise the criterion for boron downstream from the mouth of the Black River and to set benchmarks based on existing conditions for preventing salinity increases from Santa Rosa downstream to the state line.

Las Cruces – Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
NMSU Campus, Hernandez Hall, Room 106.

Statewide revisions only, no area-specific changes proposed.

Albuquerque – Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
NMED District 1 Office, 5500 San Antonio Dr. NE

Proposals that may be of particular interest to people in Albuquerque and surrounding areas include: the addition of public water supply designations and radionuclide criteria for the Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Española reaches of the Rio Grande; new segments for the Rio Puerco, the lower Jemez River, and the Rio Nutria and Ramah Lake in the Zuni basin; and a revised pH criterion on lower Sulphur Creek.

Farmington – Thursday, August 28, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
Farmington Civic Center, Meeting Room C, 200 West Arrington.

Proposals that may be of particular interest to people in the Farmington vicinity include a new segment for Lake Farmington (Beeline Reservoir), and the addition of public water supply designations for the El Rito, Rio Brazos, Rio Chama, Rio Vallecitas, the Los Pinos and Navajo Rivers, Heron and El Vado Lakes.

Raton – Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
NM Game & Fish Conference Room, 215 York Canyon Road.

Proposals that may be of particular interest to people in the Raton vicinity include revised classifications for the Dry Cimarron River and Corrumpa creek and the addition of public water supply designations for Cimarroncito and Chicorica Creeks.

HOW: The public is invited to submit written comments on the discussion draft. Please submit written comments (email preferred) by Tuesday, September 30, 2008 to:
Pam Homer, Water Quality Standards Coordinator
Surface Water Quality Bureau
PO Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87502
Phone 505-827-2822
Fax 505-827-0160
pamela.homer@state.nm.us

Additional information about water quality and the standards in general is available on the Surface Water Quality Bureau’s website: http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/SWQB/.

Do uranium mines belong near Grand Canyon? But what if a dozen or even scores of new uranium mines were leaching uranium radioisotopes into this critical water source? That is what Arizona’s governor, water authorities in two states, scientists, environmentalists, and Congress are all worried about. Should they be? Everybody from mining-industry officials to environmentalists agrees that the Orphan mine is a poster child for the bad old days of uranium mining going back to the 1950s. Today’s regulations and newer mining techniques make such pollution far less likely, industry officials say, though environmentalists vehemently disagree. The question remains: Is Orphan only a vision of the past – or is it a vision of the future, too? The US Southwest may be about to find out. Driven by soaring uranium prices and fresh interest in nuclear power, mining companies have staked more than 10,600 exploratory mineral claims – most of them smaller than five acres – spread across 1 million acres of federal land adjacent to the Colorado River and Grand Canyon National Park, a federal official told Congress in June. Most are uranium claims, though some may be for other metals, observers say....

Mexican peppers posed problem long before outbreak Federal inspectors at U.S. border crossings repeatedly turned back filthy, disease-ridden shipments of peppers from Mexico in the months before a salmonella outbreak that sickened 1,400 people was finally traced to Mexican chilies. Yet no larger action was taken. Food and Drug Administration officials insisted as recently as last week that they were surprised by the outbreak because Mexican peppers had not been spotted as a problem before. But an Associated Press analysis of FDA records found that peppers and chilies were consistently the top Mexican crop rejected by border inspectors for the last year. Since January alone, 88 shipments of fresh and dried chilies were turned away. Ten percent were contaminated with salmonella. In the last year, 8 percent of the 158 intercepted shipments of fresh and dried chilies had salmonella....

Agreement on Drilling Doesn't Yet Mean Action Republicans are in their third week of House floor protests on the energy issue, and the political terrain appears to have shifted significantly since they launched their efforts Aug. 1. On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in a conference call that an energy plan proposed by the "Gang of 10" -- a bipartisan group of senators seeking compromise on the issue -- was "a step in the right direction," indicating that some version of the plan could come up for a vote in September. The group's proposal includes allowing more drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. On Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) moved the ball a bit further during her delivery of the Democrats' weekly radio address. In it, she said the party's still-in-the-works energy plan "will consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil." More offshore drilling wouldn't be the only element of Democrats' energy package. They also would release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, push for more drilling on land that already has been leased, call for oil companies to pay disputed royalties on past leases and production, repeal their tax breaks, and encourage increased use of natural gas, among other proposals....

Allard to carry bill enabling Pinon land buys U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard plans to propose a law barring the U.S. Army from seizing land to expand Fort Carson's Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, but would clear the way for land purchases, a spokesman said. Allard, a lame-duck Republican who is leaving office after the November election, is working with Army officials on the measure to erase fears that the Army will use federal land seizure laws to displace ranchers from the 100,000 acres it wants to add to its training area east of Trinidad. He'll push the measure when the Senate reconvenes next month. Spokesman Steve Wymer said Allard will fight a funding ban that could prevent the Army from buying land from owners who want to sell. "Property rights go both ways. A landowner should have the right to either keep or sell their land if they so choose," Allard said in a statement. "If there are willing sellers in the area of the proposed expansion, the win-win situation we have all sought can be realized."....Another Republican for increasing the size of the federal estate. The feds already have 653 million acres, but just can't seem to find room to train the military.

Lyons speaks on sales of trust lands Commissioner of Public Lands Pat Lyons was in Las Cruces on Tuesday to talk about revenue generated by leases on and sales of state trust lands. Lyons addressed the New Mexico Farm Bureau Prime Timers, a group of retired farmers and ranchers. According to figures he presented, the land office generated some $545 million in revenues from leases, royalties and land sales in the 2007-08 year, which ended in June. That's up by about $69 million from the previous year. Roughly 83 percent of revenues benefit the public schools, according to Lyons. Between 2003 and 2008, some $2.26 billion has been generated for public schools. Of total revenues, 94 percent come from oil and gas royalties and leases.

Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit Turns out Bigfoot was just a rubber suit. Two researchers on a quest to prove the existence of Bigfoot say that the carcass encased in a block of ice — handed over to them for an undisclosed sum by two men who claimed to have found it — was slowly thawed out, and discovered to be a rubber gorilla outfit. The revelation comes just days after a much ballyhooed news conference was held in California to proclaim that the remains of the creature found in the North Georgia mountains was the legendary man-ape. Steve Kulls, executive director of squatchdetective.com and host of Squatchdetective Radio, says in a posting on a Web site run by Bigfoot researcher Tom Biscardi that as the "evidence" was thawed, the claim began to unravel as a giant hoax....

Anti-Regulation Aide to Cheney Is Up for Energy Post A senior aide to Vice President Cheney is the leading contender to become a top official at the Energy Department, according to several current and former administration officials, a promotion that would put one of the administration's most ardent opponents of environmental regulation in charge of forming department policies on climate change. F. Chase Hutto III has played a prominent behind-the-scenes role in shaping the administration's environmental policies for several years, the officials said, helping to rewrite rules affecting the air that Americans breathe and the waters that oil tankers traverse. In every instance, according to both his allies and opponents, he has challenged proposals that would place additional regulations on industry....

Bear Attacks Hit Record High in Alaska Most times, in Alaska, the bear eats you. But this summer, in a record year for maulings, Devon Rees managed a draw with the grizzly that leapt onto him as he sauntered home between a stream brimming with salmon and the busiest highway in the state. In a typical year, Rees would stand out as the Anchorage area's one and only mauling victim. These days, he's just a face in a crowd of them, notable chiefly for defying expert advice that playing dead is the best way to survive after spooking a grizzly. At least eight Alaskans have been battered by bears this year, with three maulings in five days in early August. And though no human fatalities have been recorded, the summer of the bear is testing Alaskans' carefully calibrated relationship with wildlife, an evolving attitude that differs from views in the Lower 48, where grizzlies run half as large....

The Great American Freedom Machine Let's hear it for automobiles. They are the great American freedom machines. They offer us enormous opportunities to go where we want, when we want. They are even more energy-efficient than the mass transit systems touted by "smart growth" advocates. Autos dramatically expand the geographical area in which people can work, shop, eat, attend school or just enjoy themselves without the extra time needed to match public transit schedules or to walk or bike. With extra range of movement comes a huge range of extra opportunity. It's quite convenient to live near where you work –but why limit your choices of where and how to live and raise your family? Even if you find a place that combines a great job setting with a good place to live, is it permanent? Every year, four in 10 Americans change jobs. Those aged 18 to 34 typically change jobs nine times before they turn 35. No other transportation mode offers the flexibility of the automobile, including the ability to separate our place of work from our place of abode and from our places of recreation....

Barrasso wants changes to species law U.S. Sen. John Barrasso says he supports changes in the federal Endangered Species Act that would clarify the delisting of recovered species. "I think it should be based on sound science and if something gets listed there should be a recovery plan in place immediately with a kind of a level of when do you know the tank is full and then once that happens then whatever that species is comes off the list," Barrasso said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. Barrasso cited the grizzly bear and the gray wolf as examples of recovered species whose delistings were held up....

Biofuel association forms to push industry forward Biofuel production in New Mexico and the Southwest could get a major boost from the newly formed Southwestern Biofuels Association. The organization, which planned a public launch event at the legislative session in Santa Fe on Aug. 15, includes industry, government officials, and scientists from the national labs, said Vaughn Gangwish, the group’s executive director. The association grew out of the first state biofuels summit, held in Albuquerque last March. About 100 scientists, businesspeople and government officials participated, and all agreed that an association was critical to build the industry, said Lenny Martínez, policy advisor for rural economic development under Gov. Bill Richardson....

Renewable Power's Growth in Colorado Presages National Debate When Colorado voters were deciding whether to require that 10 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable fuels, the state's largest utility fought the proposal, warning that any shift from coal and natural gas would be costly, uncertain and unwise. Then a funny thing happened. The ballot initiative passed, and Xcel Energy met the requirement eight years ahead of schedule. And at the government's urging, its executives quickly agreed to double the target, to 20 percent. In Colorado -- a state historically known for natural gas and fights over drilling -- wind and solar power are fast becoming prominent parts of the energy mix. Wind capacity has quadrupled in the past 18 months, according to Gov. Bill Ritter (D), and Xcel has become the largest provider of wind power in the nation. The politics and economics of energy are shifting here in ways that foretell debates across the country as states create renewable-energy mandates and the federal government moves toward limiting carbon emissions....

7 arrested in forest marijuana plantations Authorities arrested seven people and seized about $20 million worth of marijuana in a series of raids on marijuana plantations in the San Bernardino National Forest, officials said Monday. The raids were conducted over the last two weeks and yielded more than 60,000 marijuana plants, the U.S. Forest Service said. More than 40,000 marijuana plants were removed from the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountains, another 5,000 were taken from a canyon northwest of Lake Arrowhead, and 15,000 plants were confiscated in a drainage area west of Big Bear Lake....

DEA Unearths Illegal Marijuana Operation in National Parks Marijuana is being grown illegally on national park land in seven states: California, Tennessee, Washington, Oregon, Kentucky, Hawaii and West Virginia, according to the Office of Drug Control Policy. The dealers hide the marijuana deep in the forest, on land often accessible only on foot. Across thousands of acres of national forest, dealers have painstakingly laid miles of elaborate waterlines through the forests to irrigate their crop. Each marijuana plant has been carefully positioned to receive its own water supply and maximum sunlight. This extensive cultivation operation produces massive marijuana plants, some 15 feet tall, sprouting buds the size of ears of corn. So far this season, the DEA has cut down more than 168,000 marijuana plants in California. And the growing season's not over yet....

Farmers get money for capturing carbon Everett Dobrinski recently got a $4,000 check for storing carbon dioxide in his soil. Dobrinski, who farms near Makoti in northwestern North Dakota, said protecting the planet from global warming is not the primary reason he enrolled in National Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program. It's about money. "I am considerate of the environment, but I'm doing it more for my own pocketbook," Dobrinski said. "It just makes economic sense." North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said 990 farmers and ranchers in the state got about $2.6 million last month for using no-till and other practices to capture carbon dioxide, which is widely blamed for global warming. The program pools carbon credits for sale on the Chicago Climate Exchange, a private agency that trades greenhouse gases and other pollutants just as other exchanges trade such commodities as crops and livestock. Members of the exchange, such as corporations or cities, can buy carbon credits to help offset their emissions. Producers around the country have earned $8.5 million since the voluntary program started in 2006 in North Dakota, Carlson said. About 2,300 farmers and ranchers in about 20 states are enrolled in the program, Carlson said. Enrollment has tripled in the past year, he said....

Wildfires: Put them out or let them rage? Living with fire: Stop the wildfire. Or let it burn. It's a debate that vaulted into public consciousness at Yellowstone. And although the 1988 fires showed the world the natural value of fire, the debate rages on. Fire historian Stephen J. Pyne says we're still stuck on Smokey Bear and the question, "Does fire belong?" "That's easy - of course it belongs," he says. "The issue is how do we do it? How do you put the fire back in? We're still struggling with that." Meanwhile, the need for answers has become more urgent since Yellowstone. The size of wildfires has grown exponentially. More forest and range are susceptible to fire. More lives and more property are at risk than ever before as more people live and play in the West's wildlands. Firefighting costs have ballooned. Yet Americans still don't know how to live with fire....

Oregon wilderness fire was being managed A wildfire that got a boost from shifting winds and threatened an Eastern Oregon town began as a smaller blaze that was being managed rather than suppressed. The fire in wilderness in the Ochoco National Forest was being managed under the "wildland fire use" designation before the wind shifted. Fire managers said Monday it was threatening the small town of Mitchell in Wheeler County, as well as a campground and a fire lookout. "The wind shifted and came out of the southeast, and it went exactly where we didn't want it to go," fire team spokesman Robin Vora told The Oregonian newspaper. "The objective changed from wildland fire use to all-out suppression." Wildland-fire-use designations cover only a fraction of the many thousands of wildland fires each year. In 2007, there were 85,822 wildland fires in the United States - 346 managed in the new method, according to the National Interagency Fire Center....

On the Fire Lines, a Shift to Private Contractors Faced by a series of intense fire seasons and demands on firefighters nationwide, officials are increasingly working within a de facto public-private partnership. “The public always assumed that there was some private presence, but I don’t think they know that we cut line right next to hot-shot crews,” said Jess Wills, the operations manager at Firestorm Wildland Fire Suppression, a for-profit company in Chico, Calif. “We’re out there firefighting right next to them.” The federal government has long used private contractors for support, including the providing of showers, tents, catering, bulldozers and water trucks. Aviation, in particular, has been an area in which federal officials have depended on the private sector, arguing that because of the seasonal nature of fires it is better to contract work out than to pay for year-round staffing. But the increase in ground crews, and the lengthier fire season, has left some firefighter advocates wondering if taxpayer money would be better spent improving federal resources....

Scientists alarmed by ocean dead-zone growth Dead zones where fish and most marine life can no longer survive are spreading across the continental shelves of the world's oceans at an alarming rate as oxygen vanishes from coastal waters, scientists reported Thursday. The scientists place the problem on runoff of chemical fertilizers in rivers and fallout from burning fossil fuels, and they estimate there are now more than 400 dead zones along 95,000 square miles of the seas - an area more than half the size of California. The number of those areas has nearly doubled every decade since the 1960s, said Robert J. Diaz, a biological oceanographer at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "Dead zones were once rare, but now they're commonplace, and there are more of them in more places," he said....

Need cold facts? Send in seals Bitter cold and floating sea ice long frustrated scientists seeking to study the ocean around Antarctica in winter. The solution: Send in the seals. The polar regions are expected to be especially sensitive to climate change, but collecting data has been a problem, especially in the wind-whipped Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. So researchers decided to recruit help from residents of the area. They glued electronic data-collecting equipment to 58 elephant seals that lived in the region. The animals can dive more than a mile deep in search of food. The machines radioed back information on temperature, pressure, salinity and position whenever the seals surfaced. The result: nine times more data than had been available from buoys and ships, the researchers report in today's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences....

Grand Canyon Flooding Forces Evacuations, Searches Rescuers in northern Arizona are searching for campers missing in an area of Grand Canyon National Park that was overwhelmed by floodwaters over the weekend. Authorities resumed searches and evacuations this morning after suspending them last night because of darkness and dangerous terrain, Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, said in a telephone interview. Fewer than 20 people, all of them tourists, are missing, Blair said. The Redlands Earthen Dam broke after storms on Aug. 16, sending floodwaters down Cataract Canyon into Havasu Canyon, an area about 75 miles (121 kilometers) west of Grand Canyon Village on the park's South Rim, the sheriff's office said in a statement. The flooding forced the evacuation of about 170 people by helicopter, including some of about 200 visitors at a campground and residents of Supai Village, a community of about 400 Havasupai Indians in the canyon. The area, in the Havasupai Indian Reservation, is a popular destination for campers and hikers because of its waterfalls....

Equine Piroplasmosis Case in Florida Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson announced Aug. 15 that a horse in Manatee County, Fla., has been diagnosed with equine piroplasmosis, an animal disease that the U.S. has been considered free of since 1988. Blood and tissue testing of a 7-year-old gelding that had been euthanized after a three-week illness confirmed the presence of the disease in the animal. State officials immediately quarantined the premises on which the horse resided, as well as two adjacent properties containing horses until a determination of their status could be made. An ongoing investigation is being conducted by the state veterinarian's office to determine the source of the disease and whether it has spread beyond the immediate area where the infected animal was housed. Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a blood-borne parasitic disease primarily transmitted to horses by ticks or contaminated needles. The disease was eradicated from Florida in the 1980's, and the tick species believed to transmit EP in other countries have not been identified in Florida in many years....

The End Of Aviation As the age of cheap oil comes to a close, it's springtime for gloomy futurists. Visions of a brutish world marked by violent squabbles over dwindling reserves, of junkyards littered with abandoned cars, of suburban slums overrun by weeds, of the collapse of industrial agriculture--none of this sounds as outlandish as it once did. Still, most of these horror stories are likely overstated: Energy experts tend to agree that, with a little ingenuity and a generous helping of political will, we could transition away from fossil fuels without being forced to give up our modern lifestyles. But there's one big exception--an area where a post-carbon world really could mean a radical shift in the way we live. That's the world of commercial flight. Early signs of an aviation apocalypse are already upon us. As oil prices flirt with $130 per barrel and the dollar struggles, airlines are paying nearly 80 percent more for fuel than they did a year ago. Twenty-five airlines have gone belly-up this year--three to four times the usual yearly rate. Major carriers like American, Northwest, and United, still reeling from the industry downturn after September 11, go barely a month without announcing layoffs and capacity cuts....

Lawmakers take up battle against light bulb ban U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and 24 other representatives on Capitol Hill have asked the government to reconsider mandating that all Americans use exclusively compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs, in light of growing concerns over the safety and environmental impact of the bulbs. Bachmann and a group of 24 other representatives – including nationally-known figures such as Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Tom Tancredo – have sponsored H.R. 5616, the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The act repeals the parts of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that dictate the use of only CFLs unless the comptroller general can submit a report that finds specific financial benefits of using the bulbs, environmental benchmarks achieved by their use, and evidence that alleviates concerns of mercury dangers from CFLs....

Coalition: Leave bison alone Environmentalists and a group of property owners near Yellowstone National Park said Thursday they are seeking to intervene in a lawsuit over the capture and hazing of bison that wander outside the park. A group of ranchers in May asked a state judge to force the Department of Livestock to capture, kill or haze any bison in an area west of the park by May 15 of every year. The ranchers, along with the Montana Stockgrowers Association, argue the bison could spread the disease brucellosis, which causes cattle to abort their young. But no cattle graze on the land at the center of the dispute -- the Horse Butte peninsula on Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone. The Natural Resources Defense Council, Greater Yellowstone Coalition and eight nearby property owners want bison on the butte left alone. Although the groups seeking to intervene in the case have objected to the state's bison policies in the past, they contend the ranchers' lawsuit would lock in those policies and block any opportunity for more bison tolerance....

Renewed push for uranium mining in West Cattleman George Glasier sees the next nuclear era amid the blood-orange mesas of Paradox Valley, the same Western range lands that hold a darker legacy from the last rush to pull uranium from the ground. Residents of this valley near the Four Corners region are getting an unimpeded view of the second uranium rush. Many are worried. Glasier, a onetime mining executive-turned-rancher, wants to build a uranium mill on cattle-grazing land near his spread. It would be the country's first in decades. The land is not far from the toxic uranium mines, now mostly abandoned, that serve as a reminder of an industry born of the Cold War. As the third global energy shock begins to drastically alter national economies, a potential shift in U.S. energy policy has moved to the forefront of the upcoming presidential election....

Bill to inform farmers, buyers on land policies The State Senate voted 34-2 last week to support legislation by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk (D-Solano) to protect farmers from unwarranted nuisance suits by ensuring that the purchasers of property in agricultural areas are fully aware of the state's right-to-farm laws. "When housing and other non-agricultural development extend into agricultural areas, farmers can become the subject of unwarranted lawsuits over dirt, odor and other customary practices associated with farming. The state of California has adopted laws to protect farming, but often, when agricultural land is bought and sold, the purchasers are not aware that these laws exist," said Wolk. "Assembly Bill 2881 requires disclosure of the state's 'right-to-farm' laws to anyone who purchases real estate within one mile of farmland."....

Worry over tactics grows after firefighter deaths When a firefighting helicopter went down in Northern California last week, killing nine and injuring four, the mountain crash site was so remote that it could only be reached by air or a full day's hike. According to the U.S. Forest Service, fighting the stubborn wildfire in an area nowhere near homes or businesses was necessary because massive plumes of smoke were threatening the health of residents across the region. But in a summer when a staggering number of wildfires are costing millions to fight, not everyone agrees that sending firefighters to backcountry blazes that pose no obvious threat to lives or property is the right approach. "Sending them to put out a fire in the wilderness is both overkill and unnecessary," said Timothy Ingalsbee, a veteran firefighter and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. "Firefighters are being ordered to take significant risks of their lives, health and safety that are incommensurate with ... the benefits of suppression." Before the crash, most of the men who died had spent the day cutting fire lines in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, a protected area where under normal conditions federal law forbids all forms of mechanical transportation....

Air Force considering expansion of training complex The Air Force is considering expanding a western training airspace, which Ellsworth officials say would help B-1B Lancer pilots practice their craft in a more realistic atmosphere without having to travel long distances. But ranchers and others are concerned that the expansion would cause problems for wildlife, livestock and the environment. The Air Force proposed on May 29 an expansion of the Powder River Complex, which covers parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The expansion would increase that training area by about four times. Rancher Larry Nelson, who is also president of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, said he knows all too well what it’s like to live in B-1 training airspace. Ellsworth B-1s have been flying over one of his two ranches in southwestern Harding County since the 1970s....

THE PUZZLING INFERNO

Every summer wildfires wreak havoc across Southern California, but this year, land managers and agencies have mobilized fire crews and equipment to stop the flames before they spread. However, suppressing wildfires results in less carbon storage, says Scientific American.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, compared the biomass of California's wild forests in the 1930s with those in the 1990s and found that:

* The density in mid-altitude conifer forests increased by 34 percent during the 60 years that elapsed.
* Yet, contrary to conventional wisdom -- that more trees mean additional carbon storage -- they found that the amount of carbon held actually decreased by 26 percent in the same period.

The logic behind the unanticipated findings comes down to the size of the trees that are being saved by fire suppression:

* Over the past few decades firefighters have stopped the ground blazes common in California that would have otherwise wiped out the smaller trees and undergrowth; instead, these forests now have many small and midsize trees, adding to the forest's density.
* Preserving the heftier trees is the easiest solution to augmenting carbon storage and allowing them to play their ecological roles -- they offer varied habitats and shape the land.
* However, as the climate changes, it is probably better for the forest to get back to the way it used to be: thinner and less crowded. In fact, the national parks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains already use prescribed fire to thin forests.

Even though, burning or cutting down trees will release some carbon into the atmosphere, this method reduces the chances to lose all the carbon that could be lost due to a catastrophic wildfire, says Scientific American.

Source: Keren Blankfeld Schultz, "The Puzzling Inferno," Scientific American, August 2008.

For abstract: http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=08C0EA5E-3048-8A5E-10D2246D01E3D0D6

How will Desert Rock affect he environment? If — or when — the 1,500 megawatt Desert Rock Power Plant planned near Burnham on the Navajo Nation comes online, its emissions will add significantly to the pollution wafting over the Four Corners region, contends Mary Uhl, director of the New Mexico Environment Department's Air Quality Division. "The nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions from Desert Rock, while less than emissions from San Juan Generating Station and Four Corners Power Plant, are still substantial and are being added to an airshed that is on the brink of not attaining the federal ozone standard," Uhl said. The plant's effects won't be known completely until it begins its operations, burning pulverized coal to supply power to growing areas in Arizona and Nevada....

Solving Pump Pain The underlying cause, of course, is that oil, coal and natural-gas prices have all gone berserk - with no relief in sight. What to do? Individually, of course, most of us will start conserving - people are already driving less, buying more fuel-efficient cars, etc. We'll keep on finding ways to save as prices stay high. Should the government mandate even more conservation? No, "too much" conservation is as economically harmful as "too little." Just consider the economic harm that would be delivered by, say, capping speed limits at 30 miles per hour, or banning recreational long-distance travel. Both would save gobs of energy - but at the cost of doing more harm than good....

Burger and fries to go Hey, you, environmentalist: Want the greenest wheels going but find yourself lacking $109,000 for a Tesla Roadster? Despair not! There's a vehicular option that makes a Prius seem like a gas guzzler and can save you major bucks, too. (Here's the only catch: This option may not be strictly legal under the federal Clean Air Act. But more on that later.) The vehicle in question is a grease car, a ride capable of lowering your motoring greenhouse gas emissions by 78 to 87 percent over regular gasoline. A grease car is a diesel car, truck or Jeep that runs on waste vegetable oil from your local greasy spoon or fine-dining establishment. A grease car also significantly reduces a bevy of environmental badness -- asthma-triggering particulate matter, smog-forming carbon monoxide, likely carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the sulfur emissions that lead to acid rain. The only environmental downside is a small increase in smog-forming nitrogen oxide....

Unabomber objects to display of his cabin Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski wrote a letter to a federal appeals court, complaining about a museum exhibit of the tiny cabin where he plotted an 18-year bombing spree. Kaczynski, who is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole, says the display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., runs counter to his victims' wish to limit further publicity about the case. The 10- by 12-foot cabin is the largest of approximately 200 artifacts in the "G-Men and Journalists: Top News Stories of the FBI's First Century" exhibit, which opened in June. Kaczynski said in the three-page, handwritten letter to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that he learned his cabin was at the Newseum from a June 19 newspaper ad in the Washington Post. "Since the advertisement states that the cabin is 'FROM FBI VAULT,' it is clear that the government is responsible for the public exhibition of the cabin....

U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years. The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants. Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. They include a recent executive order that guides the reorganization of federal spy agencies and a pending Justice Department overhaul of FBI procedures for gathering intelligence and investigating terrorism cases within U.S. borders....

Gunmaker to feds: Give me my firearm! A licensed gunmaker who has reported retaliatory attacks on his work by federal agents upset over his testimony on behalf of a man sent to prison for having a broken gun has ordered the government to return one of his projects. "You have seized company property without any cause or court order to date. The company firmly demands the return of the firearm in question," Len Savage told John Spencer and other officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in a letter, a copy of which was sent to WND and also later posted online at the War on Guns blog run by David Codrea. "Therefore please return the property of the company [the firearm in question] immediately," he wrote. Savage's dispute with the federal agency stems from a recent project for which he sent a gun part he is developing to the federal government for review. The part is intended to allow a certain type of gun to be used with a different size and less expensive ammunition. Savage, owner of Historic Arms LLC., said his part would convert the caliber of the guns to operate with ammunition that costs 1 or 2 cents per shell, instead of 25 cents or more. He said such devices are fairly common. But he told WND he was stunned to get a letter from the BATFE stating that not only was his repair part a gun, it was a machine gun....

North Texas school district will let teachers carry guns A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported. Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements. In order for teachers and staff to carry a pistol, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun; must be authorized to carry by the district; must receive training in crisis management and hostile situations and have to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls. Superintendent David Thweatt said the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriff's office, leaving students and teachers without protection....

NYC Plans To Track All Vehicles In Manhattan The New York Police Department is working on a plan to track every single vehicle that enters Manhattan. The initiative, called "Operation Sentinel," is aimed at preventing terror attacks. With the use of cameras and radiation censors, police plan to track anything and everything that enters the Big Apple, reported CBS station WCBS-TV in New York. The NYPD wants to photograph the license plates of every vehicle coming into Manhattan and keep the image and information in a database. The proposal is part of a multimillion dollar plan to secure lower Manhattan. It includes cameras, license plate readers and radiation detectors. They would be set up at 7 vehicle crossings that function as major arteries into Manhattan....

Undergrads identify Pearl murder suspects after FBI gave up MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported on Thursday that a group of college students may have succeeded where the FBI failed in identifying the killers of journalist Daniel Pearl. Although four men were convicted of Pearl's murder in Pakistan in 2002, there were thought to be as many as 19 more suspects. But now, says Maddow, "A group of undergrads at Georgetown University, led by a professor who was a colleague of Pearl's at the Wall Street Journal, have themselves figured out the real identities of 15 of those 19 at-large suspects. The professor, Asra Nomani, says, 'The FBI says this is an open investigation, but in talking to officials it's clear there's no work being done on the ground.'" "This is what you call a war on terror?" asked Maddow....

Reasons not to assault a ranch woman

By Welda McKinley Grider

Violence does not scare us. We ride 1,500 pound horses and stare down an alley full of mad, snot-slinging cows that weigh over 800 pounds. We’ve held down calves that outweigh you by four times.

Don’t try to intimidate us. Most of our husbands stand a head and shoulders taller,outweigh us by 100 pounds and we aren’t scared of them.

Why would be we be frightened by someone who can’t keep their pants up?

Every time we work cows, our husbands threaten us if we don’t get out of the gate. They threaten us if we don’t stay in the gate. We are pretty much not impressed by threats.

Plus, if you get much closer we may give you some threats of our own to consider and be able to back it up.

Don’t wave that knife at me, boy. I castrate when we brand, throw the “mountain oysters” on the fire AND eat them, dirt and all. You probably don’t want to go there.

Don’t threaten to steal my pickup. I work for a living, so have insurance. The chances of you being able to drive a standard are next to none and there is no spare.

I’ve walked home from the back side of the ranch, I can walk from here.

You want my purse? Take my purse. It has little money in it because, as I mentioned, I work for a living.

You will find various receipts for feed and vet supplies, some dried up gum and the notice for my next teeth cleaning.

The only “drugs” you will find is something that is either aspirin or a calf scours pill but its been in there so long I’ve forgotten which it is.

Don’t threaten to hurt me. I may look old and fragile to you, but I can ride horseback for 12 hours, with nothing to eat or drink. I have been kicked, bucked off, run over and mucked out.

I’ve had worse things happen to me in the corrals than you have experienced in the little gang wars you’ve been through, and still cooked supper for a crew.

You may whip me, son, but you’ll be a tired, sore S.O.B. in the morning and yes, I will remember your face because I am used to knowing which calf belongs to which cow.

I’ll also remember which direction you went and what you were wearing because I’ve tracked many a cow with less information than you’ve given me.

You are not going to scare me with that little “Saturday Night Special” when I have a .38 in my boot.

You need not think I won’t shoot you. I’ve shot several coyotes and numerous rattlesnakes. I put down my horse when he broke his leg and shot my pet dog when he killed some sheep.

Don’t think I won’t consider you a rabid dog and go on my way.

Welda McKinley Grider was raised by a ranch woman, knows many and would pity the thug that tried to rob them.