Thursday, January 23, 2014

Grenades, .50 caliber machine guns on U.S. border

Mexican drug cartels are “killing each other” with .50-caliber machine guns and grenades just across the U.S. border with Mexico, sources have told WND. The gun battles are occurring near Fort Huachuca, Ariz., which is the location of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and school. The Army center is 15 miles from the Mexican border, but the installation runs up against the border. A source associated with the center said that only a “three-strand barbwire fence” is keeping any spillover of heavily armed cartel members out of the compound. Students at the post have had only basic training and haven’t handled weapons beyond the M-16, which shoots a 5.56 mm round, roughly equivalent to a .223 caliber, which is less than half the size of the .50 caliber. The episode is the latest flare-up in what American ranchers living along Arizona’s southern border say is a virtual war zone. Mark J. Dannels, sheriff of Cochise County in Arizona, said border security “should be a primary issue even before we talk about immigration reform.” Dannels has spent 25 years in law enforcement along the border. “All information received indicates that this is probably cartel related with massive amounts of munitions used to include automatic weapons, .50 caliber weapons and hand grenades,” Dannels said. “Reports of the death toll range from 8-13 people, none of whom are listed as U.S. citizens.”...more

More violence in Agua Prieta after deadly shootout

TUCSON- There are reports of more violence along the border, near Douglas, ahead of Wednesday's visit there by the Secretary of Homeland Security. According to the Cochise County Sheriff's Department and media outlet Notidiario, the latest incident happened Monday night in Agua Prieta. A car with an Arizona license plate refused to stop at a checkpoint. The car then led law enforcement on a chase, before crashing. Gun shots were fired in the street. Two people were arrested. The incident comes just days after a shootout in Agua Prieta that killed at least eight people. According to the Cochise County Sheriff's Department, the shootout was most likely drug related. "It just points again to the fact that we don't have a secure border, nothing approaching a secure border," says Sen. Jeff Flake (AZ-R), who was in Tucson today for an unrelated event. On Wednesday Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson will be in Douglas touring border operations. KVOA.com

There's a video report at the above link.


Fracking Protesters Arrested for Gluing Themselves to the Wrong Petrol Pumps

On Monday, four members of an anti-fracking group wound up in jail for using bicycle locks and glue to fasten themselves to gas pumps at a petrol station in Great Lever, England. The group sacrificed themselves in order to protest the hydraulic fracking activities of Total, a French petroleum company. But, to their embarrassment, the group sacrificed themselves to the wrong petrol station, which was no longer owned by Total. The petrol station was owned by Certas Energy, who neglected to take down the signs after buying the station. The petrol station’s manager, Reezwan Patel commented that some protesters were peaceful, but that those who shackled themselves to the pumps “were stupid and have cost us a lot of money.” He added that, “We had to close for six hours, so with the loss of customers and the damage to the pumps, it could be a couple of thousand pounds we have lost.”...more

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

It's the Olympics, Stupid or Russia 2; Greenpeace 0

By Benjamin Wolinski

Is Greenpeace coming unhinged?  Never ones to turn down time in the spotlight, 2013 saw the so-called environmentalist organization sink to new and dangerous depths in order to garner attention for itself and the "causes" it claims to support.  From breaking into French nuclear plants, to destroying Philippine agricultural research centers, childish violence and criminality have clearly become Greenpeace's chosen modus operandi.  And nowhere was this alarming trend more on display than in the high seas drama surrounding the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise.

This past summer, after entering Russian waters as part of Greenpeace's "Confronting Oil" campaign, the Arctic Sunrise did little more than harass law-abiding Russian citizens.  Russian authorities took a measured response to these provocations by giving the Greenpeace vessel every opportunity to turn back from her disruptive course.  The Russians tried everything from verbal warnings, to international diplomatic appeals, to a literal shot across the bow.  Displaying great restraint, the Russians even went so far as to allow the Greenpeace vessel to depart Russian waters peacefully following an inspection, literally letting them off with a warning.

Greenpeace's response to Russian leniency was, sadly, all too predictable.  Using a degree of double think that only leftists are capable of, Greenpeace took those warnings as both signs of weakness and fuel for the delusions of persecution that is so much a part of their diseased worldview, and thus they became increasingly aggressive.  Finally, in September, Greenpeace went too far when a team of "direct action specialists" attempted to force their way onto a Gazprom drilling platform at sea.  The time for leniency was past, the aggressive actions of the crew of the Arctic Sunrise were now placing themselves and all those around them (the local environment not least) in serious danger.  It was time for the adults to step in and put a stop to the nonsense before someone got hurt. And that's exactly what happened when the Russian Coast Guard took the Arctic Sunrise's crew into custody.

Following their arrest a months-long legal and diplomatic drama unfolded, and continues to unfold as of this writing.  Though prominently and predictably featuring that staple of the environmentalist movement, white boys with dreadlocks holding signs, Greenpeace's campaign calling for the release of the so-called “Arctic 30” took on decidedly disturbing overtones when the Dutch government not only filed a lawsuit against the Russians in international court but Dutch police when so far as to attack a Russian diplomat!  This made it quite clear just how thoroughly Greenpeace has wormed its way directly into the heart of the nations of Western Europe.



Encana slashing fuel costs by drilling with natural gas

Half of Encana Corp.’s drilling rigs are running on natural gas, which will save the company $200,000 to $1.5 million in annual fuel costs, the company’s CEO said during a Houston conference Tuesday. Speaking at World LNG Fuels 2014, Encana CEO Doug Suttles touted the Canadian oil and gas producer as a leader in using natural gas to power drilling rigs, hydraulic fracturing equipment, and even pickup trucks. About 30 percent of Encana’s pickup truck fleet run on natural gas, he said. Encana can save between $1 million and $1.5 million in annual fuel costs by using natural gas tapped directly from wells, Suttles said. The company saves less — between $200,000 and $250,000 — if it powers its equipment with liquefied natural gas trucked to well sites from plants, he said. Encana’s decision to use natural gas to power oil field operations wasn’t based solely on the producer’s own interest in the fuel. Environmental regulations drove the company to pursue the option when developing a well in southern Wyoming, Suttles said. “It started about meeting permit regulations, in particular (nitrous oxide) requirements that the (Bureau of Land Management) presented to us,” he said...more

'Burnt out' EU likely to curb climate goals

Binding national targets on renewable energy are expected to be dropped from new EU proposals due to be unveiled on Wednesday. The UK has lobbied hard to have the mandatory 2030 target watered down, saying it would drive up energy bills. The EU executive will also outline a goal on emissions cuts for 2030, set to be 35 or 40% below 1990 levels. But green groups said the proposals lacked ambition and were the acts of a "burnt out" Commission. Seven years ago, the EU set out a three-pronged energy and climate strategy for 2020.  But other countries, including the UK and Poland, have argued strongly that the mandatory target approach was too restrictive, and was preventing them cutting emissions in the most financially efficient way. A source within the Commission said that going forward, there would be a EU wide target on renewable energy for 2030, but it was likely that there would not be binding national targets. The Commission is also set to unveil a more modest carbon emissions cut target, expected to be either 35 or 40%, reflecting the changed economic circumstances since 2007. "We are moving from an ambitious targets and timetables approach to a classical muddling through approach," said Dr Oliver Geden from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "It is a changed world, it is not just about the financial crisis, it is also the result of changes in international climate policy. "There is not the 'we can change the world' optimism, they are retreating a little."...more

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Note to readers

Personal and professional obligations will be receiving the majority of my time this week, so posts may be sparse.

Secretary Jewell to Join Senators Udall, Heinrich in Visit to Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – On Friday, January 24, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will join New Mexico Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich in a visit to the Organ Mountains region of south-central New Mexico. While there, Jewell will spend time exploring the area and will attend a public meeting hosted by Senators Udall and Heinrich regarding the community’s vision to preserve, protect and enhance some of the public lands located in Doña Ana County.
The Organ Mountains stand just east of Las Cruces, extending for 20 miles and rising to nearly 9,000 feet in elevation. The area is home to a diversity of wildlife, including peregrine falcons and other raptors, as well as mountain lions and other mammals. The Bureau of Land Management currently manages over one million acres in Doña Ana County which is a popular destination for outdoor recreation, including hiking, camping, hunting and mountain biking. The area also hosts significant prehistoric cultural and historic sites.
At the invitation of the two Senators, Jewell will join Udall and Heinrich, as well as Principal Deputy Director at the Bureau of Land Management Neil Kornze, for a public listening session on the community’s conservation priorities in the area. The community meeting will take place Friday at 3pm MST at the Ramada Palms Las Cruces.

WHO

Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Neil Kornze, Principal Deputy Director at the Bureau of Land Management
Tom Udall, U.S. Senator from New Mexico
Martin Heinrich, U.S. Senator from New Mexico
Local leaders and community members

WHAT

Community Meeting

WHEN

Friday, January 24, 2014
3:00 p.m. MST

WHERE

Ramada Palms Las Cruces – Grand Ballroom
201 E University Ave
Las Cruces, NM 88005

RSVP

Media interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP here by 6:00 p.m. MST on Thursday, January 23.
NOTE: Doors will open at 2:15 p.m. MST; members of the public will be seated on a first-come, first-serve basis.
###

Interior Secretary Jewell to tour Colorado ranch working to conserve sage grouse habitat

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is visiting Colorado to learn about efforts by ranchers to help conserve sage grouse. She's scheduled to join Gov. John Hickenlooper Monday afternoon on a tour of a ranch in Craig. Hickenlooper is trying to persuade the Bureau of Land Management to change its proposed plan for protecting the birds. Last week, he protested the agency's proposal to set limits on the amount of land that could be disturbed based on the amount of bird habitat. He said protections for the birds should still allow northwestern Colorado's main economic drivers — ranching and energy development — to thrive. The federal government is considering whether the western sage grouse population should be federally protected. Wyoming has proportionally more sage grouse habitat than any other state...more

Cochise County on high alert after deadly shooting south of border

Mexican authorities say at least four men died in a series of shootouts in the city of Agua Prieta, across the border from Douglas, Arizona. Sonora state police said in a statement Saturday that two groups of criminals clashed before dawn in several of the city's neighborhoods. At least three bystanders were wounded. The statement said that three of the dead men are from the neighboring state of Sinaloa and that the fourth victim has not been identified. Police found the bodies scattered throughout Agua Prieta. Authorities didn't say what groups participated in the firefights but the area has seen an increase in violence as the Sinaloa and Zetas drug cartels fight over turf. The Cochise County Sheriff's Department not taking chances. The department is on high alert to ensure the violence doesn't spill over into the United States. "Our information indicates that this is an internal fight within the confines of the country of Mexico and will most likely stay there, however we remain vigilant in our duty to protect our citizens at all costs," said Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels. "If in fact there are criminal factions that intend to bring their issues to the United States, we want to assure them that we are working closely with local, state, and federal agencies to be prepared as necessary and be successful in our mission to stop any violence from occurring in our county."  ABC

Monday, January 20, 2014

Nevadan advances in bid to head BLM

A Senate panel on Thursday advanced the confirmation of Nevada native Neil Kornze to head the Bureau of Land Management. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Kornze’s nomination, 19-3, and sent it to the Senate floor for final confirmation. Kornze, 35, is acting head of the federal land agency, a post obtained after the May 2012 retirement of previous Director Bob Abbey. He joined the BLM in January 2011. Previously he worked eight years in the office of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. He was raised in Elko County. Republican Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Mike Lee of Utah and Tim Scott of South Carolina voted against Kornze...more

Tree-sitters leave BLM no choice but to close lands, official says

A timber sale east of Myrtle Creek meant to showcase an environmentally sensitive approach to logging may be canceled if federal managers can’t close the land to oust protesters, a Bureau of Land Management official said Thursday. The director of the BLM’s Roseburg District, Abbie Jossie, said closing 15 miles of roads and 2,167 acres is the only course of action the BLM could take to legally remove anti-logging tree-sitters. Jossie told The News-Review Editorial Board that the BLM may have to nix the White Castle timber sale if the Interior Board of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejects the closure request. She said if the sale is canceled, she doesn’t know what precedent it will set for future timber sales opposed by anti-logging activists. Jossie said the BLM concluded there wasn’t the legal authority to enlist the help of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to arrest the tree-sitters, who have strategically positioned themselves to block construction of a logging road. She said the BLM did not have the resources to continually remove a rotating cast of activists. The board of appeals has until the beginning of February to act on an appeal filed by Cascadia Forest Defenders to bar the BLM from closing the public lands. The board could let the closure go into effect by not taking any action. The BLM has proposed closing the land for up to two years. The Scott Timber Co., a subsidiary of Roseburg Forest Products, bid $1.335 million and was awarded a contract last May to log 6.4 million board feet. Jossie said the timber company had planned to move quickly on the sale, but has been held up since June, when Cascadia Forest Defenders volunteers started occupying trees within the 187-acre timber sale...more

 Jossie said the BLM concluded there wasn’t the legal authority to enlist the help of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to arrest the tree-sitters.  I don't understand that. Sec.303(c)(1)of FLPMA states,"When the Secretary determines that assistance is necessary in enforcing Federal laws and regulations relating to the public lands or their resources he shall offer a contract to appropriate local officials having law enforcement authority within their respective jurisdictions with the view of achieving maximum feasible reliance upon local law enforcement officials in enforcing such laws and regulations." The BLM has signed these type of contracts all over the West.

Ranchers Fight for Grazing in Sage Grouse Battle

Jim Patterson, a Gooding area rancher, said he’d love to see sage grouse populations make a comeback. Patterson said he hopes for a compromise in managing the bird in southern Idaho — one on which environmentalists and those with grazing interests can agree. But grazing has gotten an undeserved “black eye,” he said. While ranchers sacrifice nights and weekends to work on the issue, environmentalists are paid full-time to rail against them, he said. “We’re an easy target, too. We want to see them (sage grouse) back, but it has to be the right way.” Patterson was one of many at a Tuesday open house to comment on several sage grouse conservation plans proposed by federal agencies. The room was dominated by ranchers. That’s been the trend as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service tour Idaho, gathering comments, said BLM spokeswoman Jessica Gardetto. While grazing is one of the top concerns in Idaho, federal biologists don’t consider it a top threat. A federal study said primary threats to the bird in Idaho are fire, invasive species and human development. Jared Brackett, president of the Idaho Cattleman’s Association, said he and his organization support a plan by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s task force. That plan doesn’t change many existing grazing rules. If done properly, grazing can improve habitat by reducing wildfire fuel, Brackett said. “In Idaho, we have been very proactive,” he said. “On my allotment, we already turn water troughs off in certain areas in the spring so they don’t disturb the lekking (mating) process.” Environmentalists “are not out for the best interest of the bird,” Brackett said. “They are out for no livestock grazing. The bird is just the tool of the moment.” Not so, said Katie Fite, biodiversity director of the Western Watersheds Project’s southern Idaho office in Boise. Reached by phone Tuesday night, Fite said Otter’s plan is “abysmal.”...more

Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1191

Its Swingin' Monday and here is "Who Told You" by Woody Pines on the Rabbits Motel CD.  Kind of a cross between swing and rockabilly, with a slight blues touch.

http://youtu.be/hQP-ZLdgUoA

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy



The Leatherman phenomenon 

 by Julie Carter

Back in l975 a man named Tim Leatherman was traveling through Europe on a shoestring budget in a cranky car with leaky pipes.  It was during this trying time he birthed the idea of a pocket survival tool. That tool today is known simply as a “Leatherman.”

By 1977, the tool had taken on a rough form and in 1980 “Mr. Crunch” was patented.  In 1985, a full ten years after the first occurrence of the idea came the founding of Leatherman Tool.  By 1994 the company employed over 200 people. Through the ’90s new and better designs were released setting the standard in the all-purpose pocket tool industry.

For those of you that may be in the dark ages, the Leatherman tool is a fold up tool that incorporates all the following tools in one handy frame: Needle nose Pliers, regular pliers, wire cutters, hard-wire cutters, clip-point knife, serrated knife, diamond-coated file, wood saw, scissors, extra small screwdriver, small screwdriver, medium screwdriver, large screwdriver, Phillips screwdriver, can / bottle opener, wire stripper and lanyard attachment

Out here in “real men carry pocket knives” country, the Leatherman phenomenon was at first a little slow to catch on. A Leatherman was seen as quite pricey for a pair of pliers, and “I already have a good knife” made it easy to blow off the multipurpose handy for anything tool.  Soon they were showing as Christmas gifts and would then promptly end up in the dresser drawer next to the initial embroidered hankies and ugly boxers.

In the meantime, the world knew something we didn’t. Other tool companies began manufacturing acceptable affordable imitations of the revered original. Gerber, Seber, Sears and an assortment of companies not proud enough to even put their name on the tool, flooded the market in every shape size and color. Someone even put a teensy version on a key chain, handy for nose picking and nail cleaning.

Then it happened. Some “real” man dared to show up in the branding corral with one of the versions of that “fad” on his belt, neatly snapped in a little case. He used it to pull some cactus out of a horse’s leg and change the needles on a vaccine gun. He loaned it to a kid to use for a cooking utensil while they cooked calf fries on the branding iron burner.  He twisted and tightened the wire on a gate that was doubling as a hinge. He tightened a screw in the emasculators and popped open the lids on an assortment of things. 

That amazing day of demonstration opened the eyes and the dresser drawers of those “real men with pocket knives.” No longer did they break the good blades on their high dollar pocket knives prying and digging with them. No longer did they have to stick their heads under the seat of the pickup breathing unmentionable kinds of dust to find that pair of pliers or a wrench they knew was there somewhere.

Today it’s standard equipment on more belts than not. The women wear them or carry them in their purse. You will see the daintiest and most delicate of well-coiffed, finely garbed ladies slip a Leatherman from their fine leather purse and go to work with the tool like she’d been doing it forever.

The list of uses is as varied as the number of tools all hooked up into that one handy dandy tool.  There are stories of lives being saved, babies being birthed and legendary feats all because of a Leatherman.  Tomorrow when you strap yours on your hip, know it just might go down in history next to Colt and Smith and Wesson.

Julie, who should have bought stock in the Leatherman Company, can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com.

Zeitgeist be damned



Droughts are symptomatic
Freeman Dyson
Zeitgeist be damned
By Stephen L. Wilmeth


            So goes California … so goes the rest of the nation.
            Fact or argued fiction, that phrase is too often more true than not. The antics of a society gone mad are carried out on a daily basis in the Golden State.  From the comedic governance of buffoonery in Sacramento and urban centers to the artistry of hypocrisy in tinsel town, the state marches point to the horizons. It tends to highlight the way to communistic eventuality.
            There is, however, a problem. All the roads of Soroyan’s world leading to Fresno seem to be mired in quicksand and calamity rather than grandeur and the next discovery. Where is the California that once demonstrated to the world how free and independent men could not only climb mountains they can burrow through them just as readily? What happened along the way that altered the magnificence of newly manufactured resource conduits from a matter of creativity zenith to the matter of sensibility dissolution? How on earth does the world’s ninth largest economy submit to the ingenuity and imagination of the likes of Brown, Boxer, Feinstein, Waxman, Waters, and Pelosi?
            In the case of California, it all started and may end with … water.
            I didn’t witness the calamity of the drought of ’76-’77. We arrived years later, but the topic was still in debate.
            The magic of Lake Shasta was largely relegated to barren and dusty wasteland. Oroville and Folsom were in similar states of desiccation. It was the drought of droughts, or at least that was the case until the present. Current snow pack measurements are showing the same symptoms of pending catastrophe.
            Western Farm Press is forewarning a much different outcome if this happens. Their reminder is that the state is larger by 16 million souls than it was in 1977. What they didn’t report is it isn’t just California that will feel the impact. It is the entire nation that will feel the impact of a California water wreck. The population of the nation that depends on that agricultural production has increased 102 million souls since that same year.
Reality looms. The majority leadership of the state is no longer simply a California problem. It is a national problem … it is a world problem.
            Apocalyptic Zeitgeist
            The World Wars of the 20th Century continue to impact our lives as much as California leadership threatens to affect us all.
            At the onset of both, the German society was beset by absolutism and technological clout. Both events ended in an arms defeat, but, moreover, it left deep psychological wounds. Great clouds of cultural pessimism and “apocalypticism” resulted. It demonstrated cultural contagiousness.
            The condition gave rise to a word. The word is a German noun. It is Zeitgeist. Zeitgeist is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies or influences the prevailing culture.
            Debate of the subject can take the course of reaching back and suggesting, like I have, that the catastrophic impact of world war gave rise to a nagging adherence and acceptance of chronic cultural despair, or it can accept the logic that the consequences of an injected mood of despair related to the seizure of power or influence is a repeatable phenomenon.
Regardless of the debate, it is important we learn what the modern reoccurrence of global Zeitgeist has done to our society.
            The phenomenon is captured in the metamorphosis of the German word. It has had breathtaking consequences to our society. It is ‘environmentalism’ although that, too, is changing. Watch more closely henceforth for the altering use toward ‘sustainability’.
Our modern zeitgeist must, by its definition, achieve a prevailing fascination. That must be extended through mob action. The scheme of the latest western absurdity, global warming, is the perfect example. It could only be carried out with the authoritarian banner of doom and gloom. That was necessary to secure the funding to capitalize careers and permanence. Scientists, politicos, and zealots alike sold all hints of independence and intellectual autonomy to fuel what has become their funding dependency. They had to adhere to a rigidity of theory that is now crumbling in every quarter of their existence. That outcome is not the only issue. The truth is their phony constraint inducement and their self appointed dominion has harmed their craft inexorably.
Their body of work is unalterably untrustworthy.
They have also created an army of workers that now carry a mantel of questionable independence and inquisitiveness. The great man inspired creations of this world have all been the result of supreme independence and thought provocation. That is what propelled California to greatness. That is what delivered the water that created an unbelievable $100 billion dollar agricultural sector.
That is also what created and supported the human conditions of luxury that allowed the leadership buffoonery of California … to evolve and exist.
            Freeman Dyson
            Freeman Dyson, one of the world’s most preeminent theoretical physicists, must be added to your list of assignments.
Born in England and choosing America as his preferred home, Professor Dyson, stands as one of the treasured intellectuals who believes that real scientists are rebels who must stand steadfast behind their instincts rather than submit to the social demands and or philosophical principles of the zeitgeist mob.
He is a global warming skeptic and has written that the common element of scientific vision “is rebellion against the restrictions imposed by the prevailing culture” and that scientists “should be artists and rebels (in their craft).”
He is also the originator of the scientific theory of infinity and the principle of Maximum Diversity. In the former, he believes in a universe, if allowed, will grow without limit to richness and complexity, and, in the latter, life will evolve to make the universe as interesting a possible. In all cases, he remains more impressed by the examples of unfolding diversity than abstract philosophical principles.
Known for his religious and philosophical optimism, Dyson adds a brighter lamp to what has become a very dreary secular, scientific world.
“Hope is high on the list of virtues,” he says. “God did not put us her on earth to moan and groan.”
“As my mother used to say,” he continued, “God helps those who help themselves”.
A scientist who not only believes in the sovereignty of thought, but also of creator bestowed human genius!
He believes the western academic world is much like Weimar Germany when it found itself defeated and without power or influence. The outcome is doom, gloom, and decadence. The modern polar opposite is the emerging China and India where the scientific counterparts do not share such a mood. He compares those reversals to America of the ‘30s and ‘40s. That is when we believed that technology married to colossal projects were virtuous and within our grasp.
That is exactly what created the great water works of California.
Without a doubt, lives were improved. Wealth was also created with enough excess to fuel the emergence of the false prophets and their systemic appendages. The combination has become the arbitrator of dependency. Hope has been displaced with bogus science and extended through regulatory heist and political conflagration.
The only way this social parasitism can exist is through continued expansion and the prevailing dominance of this cultural sustainability nonsense. It is debilitating beyond imagination.
Toward diversity
The elections of 2014 are important.
It won’t be the hypocrisy of scrubbed faced politicos rushing to return to the center we should indulge, but, rather, their demonstration of tolerance and belief in human central importance. It is not some sage grouse that is going to save this world. It isn’t some contrived scheme of state equality, either. It is the intelligence of mortals that have the aptitude, the courage, and the foresight to solve real problems that allow our society to excel and prosper.
Droughts impact us because we have not built infrastructure to combat them before they arrive.
That is symptomatic of undermining what Dyson suggests is the salvation of life. He refers to a universe of life surviving forever and making itself known to its neighbors across unimaginable gulfs of space and time, but that all starts and ends with the immense imagination of the God given talents of free men.
“My optimism about the long-term survival of life comes mainly from imagining what will happen when life escapes from this planet and becomes adapted to living in a vacuum,” Dyson says. “There is then no real barrier to stop life from spreading through the universe.”
That summarizes his “Principle of Maximum Diversity”.
It also implies being centrally enthralled with the past compromises the future. If we are to survive, it is necessary to dislodge the Zeitgeisters and recognize their real goal is to solidify only their mortal existence at the expense of future generations.
They need to go.

. Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “Government dependency is the worst form of parasitism.”

“When freedom prevails, the ingenuity and inventiveness of people creates incredible wealth. This is the source of the natural improvement of the human condition.” - Brian S. Wesbury

"My standpoint is reinforced with the firm principle established in social and political sciences that humanity's progress is based upon the inseparability of freedom and creativity as its main engine, as the wings of progress. Hence, any society or regime that cuts one of these wings is doomed to backwardness and recession. What about those who cut away both wings? Creativity doesn't flourish except in a climate of total freedom. Thus, freedom is the mother of progress as well as its ultimate objective." - Nader Fergany

"The best road to progress is freedom's road." - John F. Kennedy

Baxter Black - Cattleman resists city's encroachment

A steady growth in population continues worldwide. As we grow, urban development paves and permanently changes the ecosystem.

Cities and towns, large and small, annex their surrounding natural woodlands, plains, farms and ranches. It results in city limits that extend miles from the edge of town and a beginning of the assessment imposing real estate housing development taxes and laws on rural inhabitants.

It happened to Mick. He had a 90-acre fenced pasture with a good well and easy access. A subdivision was progressing across the road.

One afternoon, he loaded his two cow dogs in the pickup to gather a bunch of his cows into the trap. Upon arrival, he crossed the cattle guard and sent the dogs out to gather the cows.

The dogs’ collars bore shock devices to receive Mick’s signals. He was concentrating on his dogs when a pickup with a camper banged over the cattle guard behind him. Mick looked back to see the town animal control officer.

“Whattya need?” asked Mick.

“Sir,” the officer said, “you are allowing your dogs to run loose. It is against the town leash law that prohibits canines to run unrestricted within the city limits. You, sir, are in violation.”

Mick explained to the officer these were working dogs, that they bring the cows into the trap and are under his control at all times.

They argued, but the officer wrote him a citation anyway.



Trail Dust: Water dowsing is nothing to shake a stick at

by Marc Simmons


Locating underground water by use of a forked stick is a practice that has been known and used for centuries. Indeed, a European scholar named Georgius Agrocola published a treatise on the subject as early as 1530.

The process is referred to variously as dowsing, witching or divining. People who practice it are called dowsers or water witches.


When I was a boy growing up in a rural area east of Dallas, everyone in our neighborhood dowsed for water as a matter of course. When we needed a new well, my father went into the peach orchard and cut a green stick in the shape of a Y.

With each hand he grasped a branch of the Y firmly and holding the point level, parallel to the ground, he walked around our pasture. At one spot, the fork seemed to twist in his hand and aim downward.
He passed the peach branch to each member of the family in turn and we all got the same result. The fork seemed to have a mind of its own; the pull was unmistakable. We drilled and got water at 30 feet.

Years passed before I discovered that water dowsing was considered superstitious nonsense by most people. I was even more surprised to learn that those who believed in it thought that dowsing was a special and mysterious gift limited to a few.

The truth is, the stick will perform for practically everybody, skeptic and non-skeptic alike. Often I’ve placed a dowsing fork in a scoffer’s hands and watched the amazement spread across his face as the branches twisted in his hands.

Like aspirin, dowsing works whether you believe in it or not...

After years of searching, I have been unable to run up any reference that would show the Hispanic settlers of colonial New Mexico had knowledge of dowsing. Most of their domestic water was dipped from streams or irrigation ditches. Occasionally, they had dug wells in valleys where the water table was shallow.

In 1880 when the railroad reached Albuquerque, Anglos, who founded New Town, two miles east of the old plaza, dug wells in their backyards. They had no need for dowsing either, because water could be found just two or three feet below the surface.

In a shallow hole, they inserted a wooden barrel with the bottom knocked out to serve as casing. Water seeped in and provided a plentiful source for an entire family.

I suspect that dowsing was introduced in New Mexico by Anglo emigrants from the East who took up farms on the plains and in the Pecos and Rio Grande valleys during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the practice was not widespread,, and today there are many residents who have never heard of it.






Jewell to Hastings: Document requests costing taxpayers

Document requests from the House Natural Resources Committee have saddled the Interior Department with thousands of hours of work, stalling the approval of oil and gas wells and infrastructure projects, Secretary Sally Jewell said. On the eve of a committee meeting to authorize new subpoenas into Interior activities, Jewell accused Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) of prying beyond his constitutional limits and wasting tax dollars. "I hope that we can work together on genuine reforms that will improve the operation of the department," Jewell wrote in a letter to Hastings last night. "However, the document requests that we received from your committee in 2013 appear overly broad to address your legitimate oversight interests and have significantly impacted the department's ability to accomplish its core mission for the American people." Jewell said she spoke with Hastings on Tuesday night about his document requests and that she wants to maintain a positive line of communication. But she warned that Interior last year received at least 27 letters from the committee related to document requests on 14 topics. The agency "conservatively estimates" it spent more than 19,000 staff hours and nearly $1.5 million in taxpayer money responding to those requests, Jewell said...more

This is an agency that was allocated $3 billion in "stimulus" funds and they are complaining about spending  $1.5 million?

Kerry: No rush to decide on Keystone XL pipeline

Brushing aside pressure from Canada, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that the United States will not be pushed into making a decision on the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline. At a joint appearance with Canada’s foreign affairs minister, John Baird, Kerry said he has not received a crucial environmental report on the $7 billion pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas. “My hope is that before long, that analysis will be available, and then my work begins,” Kerry said, referring to a recommendation he is expected to make on whether the pipeline is in the U.S. national interest. The State Department has jurisdiction over the pipeline because it crosses an international border. Kerry, who has rarely spoken about the pipeline since taking office a year ago, said “a lot of questions” were raised about the project in a lengthy public comment period the State Department conducted. “Those comments have necessitated appropriate answers,” he said. “I can promise our friends in Canada that all the appropriate effort is being put into trying to get this done effectively and rapidly,” Kerry added. Kerry’s comments came as Baird, his counterpart in Canada, concluded a three-day visit to Washington in which he repeatedly urged U.S. officials to decide quickly on the pipeline, which was first proposed by Calgary-based TransCanada in 2008. “If there’s one message I’m going to be promoting on this trip, it’s this: the time for Keystone is now. I’ll go further — the time for a decision on Keystone is now, even if it’s not the right one,” Baird told a U.S. Chamber of Commerce luncheon this week. “We can’t continue in this state of limbo.”...more

Elk overrun ranchers in Elmore County Idaho

An invasion of elk in parts of Elmore County has caused ranchers there to turn to state lawmakers for help. A group of ranchers visited the Statehouse Jan. 15 to ask legislators and state officials to help them deal with the thousands of elk that have set up residence on their land in recent years. According to the ranchers, who are mostly from the Mayfield area southeast of Boise, more than 4,000 elk have invaded the area. Idaho Fish and Game Department officials said several large wildfires in the region and the presence of wolves in higher country are two of the main reasons the elk have moved to the area in large numbers. Rancher Jeff Lord told members of the Senate Resources and Environment Committee that the elk are eating at the ranchers’ expense and they damage spring and winter range. “If we can’t solve this problem, we need to be compensated,” he said. “I don’t want to be a winter elk feed provider. I want to be a rancher.” Lord said his family has ranched in Mayfield since 1945 and the first elk in the area were seen in 1977. “Since then, the numbers have increased dramatically,” he said. Rancher Steve Damele said herds of up to 800 elk are going back and forth across private land, causing serious damage in the form of destroyed fences, degraded range and lost feed. “The economic loss is substantial,” he said. “The ranchers in this area are united in this effort and ready for a long-term solution.”...more

Filmmaker seeks funding for sheep rancher documentary

In 1997, then-18-year-old Yuri Chicovsky embarked on a bow-hunting trip in Northwest Colorado, one that changed his life forever. Being able to traverse the landscape and observe the natural splendor was one benefit, but the greater outcome was a chance meeting with the folks he has come to see as those who exemplify the spirit of the area. The sheep people. After four years in the making, Chicovsky’s documentary about area sheep ranchers is moving into the post-production stage. The film “Sage Country” — focusing on the lives of the family and workers of Villard Ranch — can be found as a campaign on the fundraising website Kickstarter, which allows independent filmmakers and others seeking money to get creative projects going through different avenues. Chicovsky first started filming footage of the ranch and its people and animals in early 2010, while he was teaching photography and writing at Colorado Northwestern Community College. If time and money were no concern, he’d still be out on the ranch with a camera. “It’s been very hard to tell when enough is enough, and there’s so much more that I want to film,” he said. “It’s just time to be done with this part of the story.” The years of filming have allowed the documentarian to create what he believes to be a well-rounded look at the Villard Ranch — “a complete portrait of the family, the place and, ideally, their way of life,” as the filmmaker puts it. Chicovsky said he didn’t want to be seen as a Hollywood type distanced from those whose lives he was recording. “I wanted to put my finger on the spirit of the American West,” he said...more

Man bitten by snake 45 minutes after killing it

A man in Australia was bitten by a venomous red-bellied black snake 45 minutes after slicing it in half with a shovel, according to Geobeats. Jake Thomas, 66, a volunteer at Werris Creek cemetery, was mowing the grass when he noticed the snake on a vase on top of a headstone. Fearing it would harm or scare visitors, he figured he'd kill it with the shovel, geobeats says. After finishing his work, he returned for the remains of the snake. When he stuck his hand in the vase, he felt it latch on to his hand, and when he pulled it out, he noticed two bite marks. He was taken to a hospital for anti-venom treatment. "My hand swelled up for a week, I won't be going near a snake dead or alive for a long time now," he said. Experts say a snake can keep its bite reflex for up to an hour after death. Source

Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1190

The gospel tune on Ranch Radio today is "Deed We Do", a 1947 recording by the Prairie Ramblers.  The song is on their The Oregon Trail CD. 

http://youtu.be/gcuyx6qs8x0

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