While President Obama decries gun violence and presses for more laws to restrict ownership, his Justice Department has prosecuted 25 percent fewer cases referred by the main law enforcement agency charged with reducing firearms violence across the country, a computer analysis of U.S. prosecution data shows.
Federal prosecutors brought a total of 5,082 gun violation cases in 2013 recommended by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, compared with 6,791 during the last year of George W. Bush’s presidency in 2008, according to data obtained from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys. The 2013 totals represent a 42 percent decline from the record number of 8,752 prosecutions of ATF cases brought by the Justice Department in 2004 under Mr. Bush, according to the data.
Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, regarded as one of the premier researchers on federal prosecution performances and trends, analyzed the data at the request of The Washington Times.
U.S. attorneys have been slowing gun prosecutions even further, with 2,598 brought in the first seven months of this fiscal year. The pace of activity puts the Justice Department on track to prosecute the fewest ATF cases since 2000, well before the drug gang wars in Mexico sharply increased violence on both sides of the border. “We have this irony. The Obama administration, which is asking for more in the way of gun regulations — in terms of increased background checks for private sales and at gun shows — is actually prosecuting less of the gun laws already on the books,” said Robert Cottrol, a gun control historian at George Washington University. “For a lot of people, there’s more ideological cache harassing Bubba at the gun show than getting a handle on gun crime.”...more
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Obama Plan - Bring Kids to U.S. Directly From Central America
Hoping to stem the recent surge of migrants at the Southwest border, the Obama administration is considering whether to allow hundreds of minors and young adults from Honduras into the United States without making the dangerous trek through Mexico, according to a draft of the proposal.
If approved, the plan would direct the government to screen thousands of children and youths in Honduras to see if they can enter the United States as refugees or on emergency humanitarian grounds. It would be the first American refugee effort in a nation reachable by land to the United States, the White House said, putting the violence in Honduras on the level of humanitarian emergencies in Haiti and Vietnam, where such programs have been conducted in the past amid war and major crises.
Continue reading the main story
Critics of the plan were quick to pounce, saying it appeared to redefine the legal definition of a refugee and would only increase the flow of migration to the United States. Administration officials said they believed the plan could be enacted through executive action, without congressional approval, as long as it did not increase the total number of refugees coming into the country...more
Florida schools get ready for flood of border kids
With more than 51,000 unaccompanied Central American children already here, and more expected to come, school officials ask the federal government for a helping hand.
Border kids costs more to educate, about $1,900 per head. Teachers must be bilingual. The students will need health care and psychological services because many arrive sick and traumatized by things they;ve seen and experienced on their journeys north.
Daisy Gonzalez-Diego, communications officer at the Miami-Dade County Public School, said up until now, the school district have relied on their emergency funds to help cover the costs.
“We are asking the federal government to help us with this additional cost,” she said. “We are here to help those children, we have a history of helping them, as we did when the earthquake hit Haiti, and when political problems arose in Cuba.
“We won’t stop providing them an education,” she said. “But we don’t want the (local) taxpayer to pay for it. That’s why we are asking for federal funds.”
She said that just before the end of school in June, her district saw about 300 border kids, coming from Honduras.
“We don’t know how many more are coming this upcoming school year because Central America children usually enroll just two or three weeks before the school year begins,” Gonzalez-Diego said...more
Friday, July 25, 2014
NOAA/NASA Dramatically Altered US Temperatures After The Year 2000
For an interesting demonstration and discussion of all this see this post at Real Science (be sure and read the comments for the back and forth on why and when the numbers were "adjusted"). Below is the official chart from EPA, who didn't adjust their numbers.
HT: Bill Sellers
HT: Bill Sellers
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell hits Capitol Hill to drum up support for conservation program
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is making the rounds on Capitol Hill in hopes of swaying lawmakers to fully fund and permanently reauthorize a 50-year-old conservation program that expires next year.
Jewell held a series of meetings with lawmakers Wednesday about the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses offshore drilling revenue to offer states and local governments matching grants for conservation projects and easements for hunting and fishing, wetlands and parks. The fund is set to expire in 2015, and its supporters are trying to convince congressional Republicans to permanently extend it and to fully fund it at $900 million for just the second time in its history. "Why should it be at 900 [million dollars]? Because the revenues from oil and gas production have been coming in that should have been funding this and it's being used by Congress to fund other things," Jewell told reporters on the sideline of a Washington event hosted by a handful of conservation groups. "The intent was we're taking something out of the earth, we ought to give something back to the earth. And we're not doing that."...more
Jewell says the fund is "being used by Congress to fund other things". The same is happening to the Social Security fund, so why aren't you and Obama out lobbying to "fix" that problem? It affects millions of more people than the LWCF. Even enviros pay into the Social Security fund, so let's fix that first.
Jewell says the fund is "being used by Congress to fund other things". The same is happening to the Social Security fund, so why aren't you and Obama out lobbying to "fix" that problem? It affects millions of more people than the LWCF. Even enviros pay into the Social Security fund, so let's fix that first.
Fight heats up over EPA sabotage of Alaska gold mine (more missing emails)
The Environmental Protection Agency is under fire for a preemptive strike against a massive copper and gold mine in Alaska, where hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs are at stake.
The controversy centers on Pebble Mine, located 200 miles southeast of Anchorage. It is the largest deposit of copper and gold in North America. But environmental groups and fishermen, worried about the impact to the world’s most abundant salmon run in Bristol Bay, fought the mine from the beginning.
“It was people from Alaska that requested the EPA come in and take action,” said Tim Bristol, of Trout Unlimited in Anchorage. “We just don’t feel like we’re getting our concerns heard by the state of Alaska.”
The EPA did act, using the 1972 Clean Water Act for the first time ever to stop a mine before the owners even came out with a detailed plan.
The company behind the mine claims the agency went too far.
“The intent of the EPA is to take on an authority that nowhere has Congress given them, to go across America and determine where development should occur and where it shouldn’t occur before anyone ever files a permit,” Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier said. EPA officials have said the agency only got involved after Alaska Native tribes asked for a special Clean Water Act 404(c) veto in 2010. But internal memos suggest some government ecologists wanted to sabotage the mine long before that. One email from 2009 reads, “we should be the ones to shape the discussion. We will need to do tribal outreach, they need to understand the risk.”
Another email listed the pros and cons of an early veto. Among the pros, it said a preemptive strike “can serve as a model of proactive watershed planning.”
Pebble Limited Partnership, along with the state of Alaska, sued the EPA. The inspector general is looking into whether the EPA adhered to laws, regulations, policies and procedures in developing its assessment of potential mining impacts on ecosystems in Bristol Bay.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., also is investigating. A year into its inquiry, though, the committee is hitting roadblocks. Phil North, a key, now-retired EPA biologist can’t be located. North worked in the EPA’s Kenai office and is a longtime acquaintance of the lawyer who filed the tribe’s request for an EPA veto. Some accuse North of initiating the Pebble Mine veto discussion within the EPA and even helping opponents craft the letter to the agency.
Now, not only is North unavailable to the committee, but two years’ worth of his emails about Pebble Mine are also missing. In response to the oversight committee’s request, the EPA searched North’s laptop and old computer hard drive, and three external hard drives, but could not find any of his electronic documents related to the mine for the period between April 2007 and May 2009. The EPA says it is still searching...more
Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1251
Mom, here's a Tennessee Ernie Ford tune I like and that I'm dedicating to Sweet Sharon - Tailor Made Woman.
http://youtu.be/WjHo5eVEEAs
http://youtu.be/WjHo5eVEEAs
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Aboard 'The Beast', migrants fear Texas crackdown, use NM instead
Texas Governor Rick Perry's plan to send troops to reinforce the Mexican border was enough to deter Salvadoran couple Edwin and Sandra, who decided to make a difficult trek through New Mexico instead.
The young couple, who are expecting a baby in six months, are crossing Mexico aboard an infamous freight train known as "The Beast," which tens of thousands of Latin Americans hop on each year to make their way to the US border.
Carrying two small backpacks, the pair had jumped off The Beast -- actually a network of trains crossing Mexico from south to north -- to stop for the night at Christ the King, a shelter in the central Mexican town of Apizaco that provides rooms to migrants hoping to sneak into the United States.
The couple had been on the road for 18 days since leaving El Salvador, but when they heard the news about presidential prospect Perry's move to send 1,000 National Guard reservists to the already tightly guarded border, they decided to ditch their plan to cross at Eagle Pass, Texas, and take an even longer route.
"A friend told me he crossed in New Mexico. Nobody goes there. It's very far, very high and you have to walk about three days through the desert," said Edwin, 36, who lived for years in Dallas and has done this all before...more
In Texas, a Surge of Migrants Also Means a Surge of Dead Bodies
It had become a routine call.
On June 21, Brooks County Deputy Elias Pompa was called to the Wagenschein Ranch in southern Texas. A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor escorted Pompa and a justice of the peace onto the property. The three walked a fifth of a mile and arrived at GPS coordinates N.27.05702-W.98.14811. There, the remains of a migrant lay on the dry, grassy ground.
“The skeletal remains appeared to be from a small frame female. She was wearing a black shirt, blue bra, black pants and some black Puma shoes with some pink and purple lines on the side. There was no ID found on the remains or in the surrounding area,” read the Sheriff’s Department report. The remains, the report continued, were picked up by a south Texas mortuary and would be translated to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office, in Laredo.
And the journey has grown deadlier. In 2012, the National Foundation for American Policy reported that migrants were eight times more likely to die in an attempt to cross the border illegally than a decade before.
Medical Examiner Corinne Stern, a petite 48-year-old woman with a take-charge demeanor, remembers the case of the Wagenschein Ranch well. A Guatemalan man living in Boston had called her office shortly before those skeletal remains arrived, saying his sister was missing. He described what she had been wearing when she left home en route to the U.S., and it was a close match. He said she had light brown hair, green eyes, no tattoos or scars. First, Stern pulled out the missing person’s file, looking for potential matches. Then, she tagged the body and X-rayed it to look for screws or surgical plates. Stern photographed the remains, documented the clothing—its size, brand and color—and performed a complete autopsy.
Sometimes, says Stern, migrants hide phone numbers in the stitching behind belts and under the soles of their shoes. Stern’s staff will also look for SIM cards on the migrants and then insert them into their own cell phones. “We have a lot of chargers here,” says Stern. If no IDs are found on a deceased migrant, recent calls can provide the first clue to their home country: The most frequent country codes found on the call log nowadays are 502 for Guatemala, 503 for El Salvador and 504 for Honduras. Sometimes, investigators come to the conclusion that the most recent number belongs to a “coyote,” or human smuggler, because when they’re called they slam the phone down almost immediately...more
Feds Pay Tuition, Child Support for Foreign Minors
Teenagers caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are being transported via plane to states around the nation. One such state is Massachusetts, where a foster care agency is currently seeking foster parents to take the minors in.
Lutheran Social Services, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is "the only program in the New England states that assists refugee and migrating youth exclusively." The organization seeks out individuals, couples, and families willing to foster illegal immigrant minors from Latin America.
A spokeswoman from Lutheran told Breitbart Texas that foster parents receive financial assistance from the government at a "daily rate." She said that the older the child, the higher the daily payment to foster parents.
"Most of our children are teenagers," she said. "They have crossed the border, so they're older. For youths who are 13 and older, [the payment to foster parents is] $24.79 per day." $24.97 per day adds up to about $750 per month, but foster parents who take in more than one minor can collect thousands of dollars each month.
In addition to standard payments, foster parents additionally receive a "clothing allowance" for the minors every three months.
The spokeswoman pointed out that that healthcare costs for the illegal immigrant minors are "provided for" by the government, and that the children receive "education and tuition assistance."...more
On the Front Lines With Border Patrol in South Texas
The Rio Grande Valley Sector covers land as big as the state of South Carolina and is monitored by more than 3,000 agents, along with Texas Game Wardens and Parks and Wildlife officials.
Together, they're working to prevent the flow of illegal migrants coming from Central America.
The Rio Grande serves as a natural divider, and from the American side you can see clear paths to the water. On the other side, beaten down brush shows where the illegal trek picks up again.
There's an even bigger telltale sign: children's clothing left near the riverbank.
In as few as three weeks, there will be more eyes and ears monitoring the border with National Guard troops on the way. Once they arrive, they will set up observational posts.
While they can't make arrests, the troops will hold on to those crossing the border for border agents.
"There's more manpower on the ground, so we can apprehend these immigrants when they come on north," said Border Patrol agent Joe Gutierrez. About 220,000 migrants have been captured in this sector alone, Gutierrez said, and less than a quarter of them were unaccompanied children...more
Hagel Authorizes More Housing for Children From Central America
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has authorized more temporary housing to shelter an additional 5,000 unaccompanied alien children anticipated to arrive in the United States from Central America in the coming months.
Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said Hagel approved the additional space last week and also extended through January what had been a four-month mission by the Defense Department to house children fleeing violence and crime in Central America.
“Today, there are currently 2,500 children that we are assisting. We have not yet determined where these additional 5,000 spaces will come from,” Warren told reporters.
The Department of Health and Human Services has requested that the Defense Department provide the accommodations, which currently include space at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, and Naval Base Ventura County in California...more
Amid Wave Of Child Immigrants, Reports Of Abuse By Border Patrol
Some of the immigrant children crossing the border say they are being subjected to abusive and inhumane treatment in U.S. Border Patrol stations in South Texas. This includes frigid holding rooms, sleep deprivation, verbal and psychological abuse, inadequate food and water, denial of medical care, and worse.
Dozens of children have come forward to make complaints against Customs and Border Protection officers. The agency responds that any complaints are the result not of mistreatment, but of its stations being overwhelmed by the surge of minors. The complaints center on what happens inside the group holding cells that immigrants call las hieleras, the freezers. The concrete cells are used by the Border Patrol to house adult and under-age immigrants for days or weeks while they're being processed into U.S. immigration courts. The children are later sent to better-equipped government-run shelters.
"I suffered a lot in la hielera," says 11-year-old Sixta, who is brought to tears by the memory. "I still wake up crying thinking I'm there. And I never want to return there again as long as I live." Her last name has been omitted because she is here illegally.
Sixta crossed the Rio Grande with her older sister early last month after making the trip from San Pedro Sula, Honduras — the world's most violent city. She's now living with her mother in a ramshackle house outside of Dallas. Their living room is still full of balloons from her welcome party. Sixta was asked what was worse: the treacherous journey through Mexico, or her 17 days inside two Border Patrol stations in South Texas.
"The experience inside the freezer," she says without hesitation.
Sixta says the room was kept so frigid she caught a cold, and it went untreated for so long that she started bleeding from her nose and throat. When she asked for a doctor, she says, agents slammed the steel door to the cell in anger. Most Border Patrol stations have paramedics who are supposed to provide medical care.
Sixta says agents told her and her sister, "You damned Hondurans are a pest in our country."...more
Border Patrol Says Arizona Border Is More Secure Than Texas Border, Sees Fewer Crossings
According to the Border Patrol, the Arizona-Mexico border is the United States' most secure border.
Since October 2013, 57,000 unaccompanied minors, mostly from Central America, have been caught at the border, EFE reports. Of these children, just 6,945 were caught at the Arizona-Mexico border. Meanwhile, 42,358 mothers with their children have been found at the border in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Only 3,117 mothers have been caught in Arizona.
Last year marked the first time in 22 years that more undocumented immigrants were detained at the Texas border than the Arizona border despite the influx of unaccompanied Central American children attempting to cross.
"Crossing in this area has diminished quite a lot in the past 10 years," Alejandro Martinez, Border Patrol chief in Douglas, Arizona, said...more
Federal Land Managers Intimidation, Bullying Threaten Citizens Rights, Create a Hostile Environment
WASHINGTON, D.C.,
July 24, 2014 -
Today, the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulations held an oversight hearing on “Threats, Intimidation and Bullying by Federal Land Managing Agencies.” This
hearing continued Committee oversight into bullying by federal land
management agencies and federal law enforcement agencies on private,
state, and federal lands.
State and local governments, ranchers, business owners, and private citizens have been subject to threats, lack of cooperation, and numerous unfair or heavy-handed tactics which threaten public safety, the environment, endangered species, and the livelihoods of communities. Congressional oversight is necessary to provide an effective check on federal officials who abuse their regulatory powers.
“Today we took a second look at threats, intimidation and bullying by Federal Land Managing Agencies. During a hearing the Committee held last year and again today, we heard first-hand accounts of mistreatment at the hands of federal officials seeking to extort the witnesses into relinquishing their property rights,” said Representative Doug LaMalfa (CA-01). “These firsthand accounts give the victims of abusive conduct by a federal land managing official a chance to tell their story to Congress. Status quo agency oversight, policies and procedures are inadequate for addressing or deterring employee abuses and may instead embolden overreaching or malicious employee behavior with little risk of retribution for their actions.”
Witnesses highlighted examples of flagrant intimidation met by citizens who refuse to surrender their constitutional rights, land and water rights, grazing permits and other multiple-use benefits.
Press Release
State and local governments, ranchers, business owners, and private citizens have been subject to threats, lack of cooperation, and numerous unfair or heavy-handed tactics which threaten public safety, the environment, endangered species, and the livelihoods of communities. Congressional oversight is necessary to provide an effective check on federal officials who abuse their regulatory powers.
“Today we took a second look at threats, intimidation and bullying by Federal Land Managing Agencies. During a hearing the Committee held last year and again today, we heard first-hand accounts of mistreatment at the hands of federal officials seeking to extort the witnesses into relinquishing their property rights,” said Representative Doug LaMalfa (CA-01). “These firsthand accounts give the victims of abusive conduct by a federal land managing official a chance to tell their story to Congress. Status quo agency oversight, policies and procedures are inadequate for addressing or deterring employee abuses and may instead embolden overreaching or malicious employee behavior with little risk of retribution for their actions.”
Witnesses highlighted examples of flagrant intimidation met by citizens who refuse to surrender their constitutional rights, land and water rights, grazing permits and other multiple-use benefits.
Sheriff James Perkins, Garfield
County, UT, highlighted his perspective from 27 years of law enforcement
and experience working with various federal law enforcement agencies.
“BLM’s attitude towards coordinating
with local law enforcement is summed up best by a conversation I had
with a BLM law enforcement officer while we were attending a drug task
force meeting in Cedar City, Utah. He told me point blank that he didn’t
care about any authority that I thought I had as the Garfield County
Sheriff, and that he did not feel like he had to coordinate anything
through my office… This refusal to coordinate, coupled with a lack of
any meaningful oversight, has created a perfect environment where the
abuse of federal law enforcement powers can occur.”
Leland Pollock, Garfield County
Commissioner, Garfield County Utah, testified on how BLM law enforcement
has moved away from a public service philosophy due to polarization of
personnel and bullying and cancellation of cooperative agreements.
“Our concerns/ complaints are not just a
matter of hurt feelings, bullying, intimidation, lack of integrity, and
a host of social issues. BLM’s Chief of Law Enforcement has cost
Garfield County real dollars… We are befuddled how one individual can
override a State Director and negatively impact an entire county with
impunity.”
A. Grant Gerber, Elko County
Commissioner, Elko Nevada, discussed specific examples of wrongdoings,
threats, intimidation, and bullying by both BLM law enforcement and a
district manager.
“When I was a boy and as I grew up the
few Federal Agents were mainly local or from rural areas and fit in well
with the local area. They knew the people and worked cooperatively. Now
the Federal agents are predominantly from outside the area and do not
develop connections with the locals as was done previously. Many start
off with a belligerent attitude, even a commanding presence. They are
especially offended if anyone opposes any Federal Government actions.
The worst are the Federal Law Enforcement Agents that arrogantly
announce that they are not governed by Nevada law, but can enforce it if
they choose. Now we have been informed, that without notice of
hearings, the BLM has determined that two more BLM Law Enforcement
Agents are necessary to control the people in the Elko area. All of this
is resulting in less use of Federal Lands by citizens as the citizens
become afraid of being accosted and berated.”
Jose Valera Lopez, President of the
New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association, Rancher, Santa Fe New Mexico,
testified on current justifications Federal Land Managers use to
intimidate and bully including Endangered Species protection and
resource protection.
“Endangered species ‘protection’ is
the biggest culprit. At the moment the Fish and Wildlife Service is
considering critical habitat for the lesser prairie chicken, the New
Mexico meadow jumping mouse, and two varieties of garter snakes.
Expansion of the Mexican wolf habitat is expected as early as tomorrow.
We have had 764,000 acres in New Mexico and Arizona recently designated
critical habitat for the jaguar although only a few male jaguar have
been sighted in the U.S. over the last 60 years… In my own case, the BLM
has been buying up private lands near my family ranch within the
boundaries of an Area of Critical Environmental Concern that they
designated part of their Resource Management Plan. They now refer to our
ranch as an in-holding. What this designation has done is de-valued our
land and effectively prohibits any type of future development on the
ranch.”
Press Release
Grant County Commissioners vote to appeal Gila National Forest Travel Management Plan
The commissioners also voted to appeal the U.S. Forest Service's Gila National Forest Travel Management Plan, a document that was eight years in the making.
The travel plan, which was unveiled in early June, received mostly positive responses from a variety of organizations, including The New Mexico Wildlife Federation, the state chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and the state Public Lands Coordinator for Trout Unlimited. The Center for Biological Diversity expressed some concerns about the plan when it was made public, but Todd Schulke, senior staff and cofounder of the group, said at the time he saw "positive changes," in the travel management plan.
Grant County commissioners, however, have written a 108-page appeal. According to statements from Gila National Forest supervisor, Kelly Russel, made in June, those who commented on the draft during the public comment period from January to March 2011, had 45 days to appeal the new rules. Now that the commission is appealing, a series of discussions with the Forest Service and ultimately a regional forester will take place. The regional forester will make the final decision. If a regional forester rules in favor of the Forest Service, Grant County commissioners can take the matter to the courts.
There are two main issues at stake, Robinson said after the meeting.
"The Forest Service did not cooperate with local agencies," Robinson said.
She also said roads closed by the Forest Service were not included in the travel management plan and the county considers this a grave issue...more
Hispanic clergy: Protect Browns Canyon in Colorado
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to hold a hearing on providing permanent protection for Browns Canyon on the Arkansas River. As pastors, we want to see our public lands protected -- we have a moral obligation to do so. We also see the need for Congress and the White House have an opportunity to work with the faith community and others throughout Colorado.
Last month, President Obama protected the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces, N.M. These lands are significant to Hispanics because of our history with these lands, and because our families today can access and enjoy them.
Fortunately for Colorado, President Obama said, "I'm not finished."
Protecting Browns Canyon would ensure these public lands near Salida are protected from mining and other energy development, while providing a boost in economic benefit from recreation and tourism for nearby communities. We've been to Browns Canyon and can vouch for the beauty of the place. In fact, we'll be taking dozens of our youth to Browns Canyon for camping and whitewater rafting later this month as part of Latino Conservation Action Week.
Late last year, Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., unveiled a proposal to protect Browns Canyon as a national monument...more
Looks like the same formula they used in Las Cruces to get the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. They ran into a little hitch here though when the Las Cruces Hispano Chamber of Commerce came out in strong opposition to the enviros proposal. That didn't stop the big green machine from rolling on. If the Hispanics are for it, great. If not, well that's just too damn bad.
Looks like the same formula they used in Las Cruces to get the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. They ran into a little hitch here though when the Las Cruces Hispano Chamber of Commerce came out in strong opposition to the enviros proposal. That didn't stop the big green machine from rolling on. If the Hispanics are for it, great. If not, well that's just too damn bad.
Drunk with power, agencies come for our water
There may not be sufficient documentation to prove that Mark Twain ever said, “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over,” but Nevada ranchers and farmers are having to fight over water with two branches of their own federal government. It’s enough to drive one to drink.
First, the Environmental Protection Agency rewrote the rules for the Clean Water Act in such a way that gives it authority over just about any stream, dry creek bed or backyard wading pool in the country, even though the law as originally written was meant to protect navigable interstate waterways from pollution. This would allow the Interior Department to require a permit and demand a fee for any work that alters the flow of water near any rivulet — anything from dredging an irrigation ditch to terracing a field — on public or private land.
At a recent meeting of the Nevada Conservation Commission, state engineer Jason King, whose office determines who in Nevada has rights to various water sources, was quoted as saying, “I look at this as an attempt to get into the regulation of the amount of water — an attempt to get their nose under the tent.”
As if grabbing a claim on every drop of water on the surface were not enough insult and injury, the U.S. Forest Service, a division of the Agriculture Department, has published a “Proposed Directive on Groundwater Resource Management” that would give it virtual veto power over the use of any aquifer remotely connected to any land under Forest Service jurisdiction...more
Western Land Commissioners Concerned About EPA Water Rule
Land commissioners from 23 western states gathered in Bismarck, North Dakota during July to discuss and debate policy issues affecting land management actions on over 440 million acres of state land and water throughout the western United States. The issue attracting the most attention was the federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”), and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) proposed rule change affecting Waters of the United States (“WOTUS”).
According to the EPA, the proposed rule merely clarifies the existing jurisdictional reach of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) over WOTUS, having little impact to existing regulations or the economy. Western land commissioners see it differently. In a resolution approved by the Association at its business meeting, the commissioners note that despite assurances to the contrary from the EPA, the proposed rule appears to greatly expand the jurisdiction of the Corp over WOTUS.
A major concern among the commissioners is that the EPA is moving forward on adoption of the proposed rule without making available a draft economic report, which the EPA claims supports the proposed rule. According to WSLCA President, John Thurston, “the draft economic report has not been released to the public, nor has it been subject to a mandatory peer review by the Science Advisory Board.” While EPA has extended the public review and comment period until October 20, 2014, there will not be adequate time to complete a thoughtful, in-depth peer review and analysis to facilitate the development of meaningful comments.
On the surface it would appear that changes to the CWA, administered by the Corps, would mostly affect states having large amounts of surface waters and wetlands. However, the economies of states like Arizona could be devastated if the new rule is adopted as currently proposed. “Developers, ranchers, and private landowners in the State of Arizona could see a tremendous increase in the need to obtain expensive and time consuming Section 404 permits from the Corps,” said Vanessa Hickman, Arizona State Land Commissioner...more
Property Rights at Stake in EPA’s Water Power Grab
Thanks to the federal government, it soon may become far more
difficult to use and enjoy private property. The Environmental
Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers want to make a
water—and land—grab that should scare everyone. Under the Clean Water Act, the federal government has jurisdiction over “navigable waters,” which the statute further defines as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” Property owners often need to get permits
if waters covered under the law will be impacted. Therefore, a critical
question is what types of “waters” are covered under the CWA. That’s
what the EPA and Corps seek to address with a new proposed rule
that would define “the waters of the United States.” As expected, the
EPA and the Corps are seeking to expand their authority to cover waters
never imagined when the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972. For example, the new proposed rule would regulate all ditches,
except in narrow circumstances. This even includes man-made ditches.
The rule would apply to tributaries that have ephemeral flow. This would
include depressions in land that are dry most of the year except when there’s heavy rain...more
Conservatives Derail Democrat’s Bill on Rare Earth Minerals
Conservatives in the U.S. House revolted yesterday against a
taxpayer-funded program on rare earth minerals, defeating a bill that
was expected to quickly pass without much debate. Because the measure came up under suspension of House rules,
two-thirds of lawmakers needed to approve it. The bill failed when 142
Republicans and one Democrat voted against it. It received 260 votes; it
needed 269. The defeat dismayed the Democrat sponsor of the Securing Energy
Critical Elements and American Jobs Act, which Heritage Foundation
economist Nick Loris described in The Daily Signal as a government “handout” and unnecessary. In a press release,
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, decried “extreme right-wing groups,
Heritage Action and Club for Growth” for their opposition. “This bill was the product of a year’s worth of cooperation between
me and Republican leadership,” Swalwell said. “Unfortunately, this hard
work was derailed by puppeteering from right-wing groups.” Heritage Action spokesman Dan Holler said, “Conservatives in the
House deserve credit for defeating a bill that would have expanded the
government’s role in this important industry.” The bill sought to “address price volatility for rare earth” elements
by creating additional programs within the Department of Energy to
research and develop new extraction and recycling methods...more
Dog killed by wolves - video
The owner of a dog recently killed by wolves wants something to be done to protect animals from wolves. This attack happened in the same area as another attack just a few months ago. Both happened in northern Gem County near Sage Hen Reservoir. Chisolm and Tom Blessinger have been together for the past nine years.
"He was my best buddy," said Blessinger. The 150-pound Great Pyrenees was Blessinger's guard dog to protect their sheep and cattle from wolves.
On Monday, July 14, there were no sheep or cattle when Blessinger took Chisolm up to the Sage Hen area to meet with the Forest Service. They were inspecting water tanks in the area. On this hot day, Chisolm ran off.
"When he didn't show back up I wasn't too concerned because he had been there before and I figured he'd go right on down the creek. He had shade and water," said Blessinger.
But minutes turned to hours.
"I whistled and hollered and we waited a while for him," said Blessinger.
And hours eventually turned to days. On Wednesday, someone found Chisolm dead just 20 feet from a road and a half mile from a campground.
"It was bad, on account when you see those pictures you'll understand why," said Blessinger.
Despite wolves in the area, Blessinger says Chisolm has never had a run-in with wolves before, but he has killed two coyotes on separate occasions.
"I know he could have handled his own if he had one [wolf], but where there was one that ganged him up on the front and one the rear end, they just killed him," said Blessinger...more
Here's the KTVB video report:
Here's the KTVB video report:
Reject The HSUS Petition That Threatens Hunting On Public Lands
(Ammoland.com)- The future of hunting is under attack!
Hornady Manufacturing urges firearms owners, hunters and sportsmen to call Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and demand she reject a petition filed by the HSUS that seeks to ban hunting with traditional ammunition on public lands.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), anti-hunting groups, and five individual “sportsmen” have teamed up to file a petition with the Interior Department demanding rules that ban hunting with traditional ammunition on public lands – more than 160 million acres of federal lands managed by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Tell Interior Secretary Sally Jewell how this petition falls short on reason and logic:
Hornady Manufacturing urges firearms owners, hunters and sportsmen to call Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and demand she reject a petition filed by the HSUS that seeks to ban hunting with traditional ammunition on public lands.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), anti-hunting groups, and five individual “sportsmen” have teamed up to file a petition with the Interior Department demanding rules that ban hunting with traditional ammunition on public lands – more than 160 million acres of federal lands managed by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That’s one-fifth of the total land area in the United States.Weighing in at a hefty 50 pages, this petition is rife with emotional statements based on fuzzy science, and fails to make the case that using traditional ammunition threatens wildlife or humans in such a way as to justify eliminating it altogether. It claims prohibiting lead ammunition should be an easy accomplishment since non-lead alternatives are available. But this is nothing more than a back-door way to ban hunting altogether, by making the sport of hunting in America cost prohibitive. Once the rules change with regard to traditional ammunition on public land, it opens the floodgates for over-reaching restrictions on hunting as a whole.
Tell Interior Secretary Sally Jewell how this petition falls short on reason and logic:
- It lacks sound science to support banning the traditional hunting ammunition used by hunters for centuries.
- It is another attempt by the HSUS to ban hunting altogether.
- The adverse impact of traditional ammunition upon wildlife has not been substantiated to the point of necessitating such a drastic move.
- There is no evidence that consuming game taken with traditional ammunition poses a human health risk to hunters and their families.
- Approving this ban would reduce the 11% excise taxes currently raised from the sale of traditional ammunition, which is used to support wildlife conservation. A ban of traditional ammunition would harm the very animals HSUS claims to protect.
Michael Martin Murphy kicks off new season at Ruidoso's Mountain Annie's
Rolling Stone Magazine calls him "one of the best songwriters" in the country. Jennings Brown of Cowboys and Indians Magazine says of singer/songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, "Few people are dedicated to preserving the heritage and beauty of the American West quite like cowboy singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. Through his music he tells the stories and romance of the Native Americans, cowboys, horsemen, ranchers, outlaws, and lawmen. Michael Martin Murphey, known as the "singing cowboy poet," is not only the number one, best-selling singer/songwriter of American Cowboy Music — he's one of the world's most respected singer/songwriters in the Pop and Country Western fields.
The Texas native will bring his musical talents and storytelling magic of the American West to Ruidoso Friday Aug. 1, kicking off the concert season at the newly reopened Mountain Annie's.
"We are honored to be able to present this icon of western music to the Ruidoso community," said entrepreneur Blake Martin. Murphey has received many awards for his accomplishments in the western and cowboy music field, including five awards from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City...more
Max W. "Billy" Kiehne 1925-2014
Max W. “
Billy” Kiehne, 88 years old, of Silver City, New Mexico passed away on
Saturday July 19, 2014. A Rosary will be recited on Saturday August 2,
2014 at 11:00 am at St. Francis Catholic Church in Middle Frisco, NM
(just south of Reserve). The Funeral Mass will also be on Saturday
August 2, 2014 at 1:00pm at The Catron County Fair Grounds in Reserve;
burial will follow at the cemetery in Middle Frisco. Billy was born September 16, 1925 in Reserve, New Mexico to Max
Chavez Kiehne and Teresita Lopez Kiehne, delivered by a midwife, and
born on the Five Bar Ranch, which had been founded in 1900 by his
grandfather. He was the youngest of three brothers Emil Oliver Kiehne
(wife Beverly) of El Paso, Texas, Tom Lee Kiehne (wife Ellen), who
preceded him in death, of Luna, New Mexico. Billy also had a younger
sister, Nellie Dora, who preceded him in death as an infant prior to 1
year of age. Billy was married to Anne Giampetro Kiehne on May 30, 1954.
They recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and they raised
five children: Zeno Kiehne of Reserve, New Mexico, Zane Kiehne (wife
Tanya) of Pecos, Texas, Travis Kiehne (wife Tammy) of Magdalena, New
Mexico, Clell Kiehne (Kathy Trujillo) of Lemitar, New Mexico, and Tita
Kiehne Heinen (husband Bobby) of Farmington, New Mexico. In addition to
the above, Billy is also survived by 20 grandchildren, 2 great
grandchildren, and numerous cousins, nephews, and nieces. Billy served
in the Navy during World War II, enlisting when 17 years old, and later
served on the Draft Board. He was a Catron County Commissioner, Reserve
School Board member, Soil Conservation Service Board member, and was an
Advisory Board Member to the US Forest Service for Grazing
Permittees. Billy was raised on and later owned and operated the Five
Bar Ranch, located in the mountains SE of Reserve, New Mexico. He was a
mountain cowboy. Billy hunted a lot of lion and bear in New Mexico and
Arizona and hunted jaguar in Mexico. Billy enjoyed training and
watching good dogs work. Although he often hunted alone, he preferred
to hunt with family and friends. In 2004 Billy wrote the book,
“Hunters, Hounds and Horsemen”. Billy roped a while and if he had any
regrets it would be not having the opportunity to rope more. He opened
the chute on thousands of calves and steers for nephews, sons, and
friends. He enjoyed seeing a rope horse trained and appreciated a good
horse. Billy liked ranching, rodeo, horses, hounds and the mountains.
After retiring from ranching, Billy purchased and operated the Road
Runner Mobile Home Park in Silver City, New Mexico until his death.
Billy was a great friend to many. He enriched many lives with laughter,
wit, and wisdom. He truly enjoyed life until the very day he
died. Billy will be missed by many. Pallbearers are: Terrell Shelly,
Travis Nuckols, Barney Spurgeon, Kenny Brown, Rex Nichols, Rufus Choate,
and Keith Wilkerson. Honorary Pallbearers are: Darryl Welty, Tink
Burris, Alan Swenson, Mike Thomas, Jim Bob Nuckols, Andy Carrejo, Glyn
Griffin, Allan Robinson, Dave Farr and Chuck
Dinwiddie. Bright/Lordsburg Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements,
210 W. College Ave. Silver City, NM phone: 575-388-1911. “Traditional
services and care for your family and friends”. To send condolences log
into www.brightfuneral.net.
Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1250
Tennessee Ernie Ford already had a #1 hit with Mule Train when in 1950 he recorded I'll Never Be Free with Kay Starr, which made the top 5 on both the country and pop charts.
More importantly this is my Mom's favorite song, so I'm slowly but surely working myself out of trouble.
http://youtu.be/LZsmvkAxNzw
More importantly this is my Mom's favorite song, so I'm slowly but surely working myself out of trouble.
http://youtu.be/LZsmvkAxNzw
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
National Guard Would Be Waste of Resources, Border Patrol Agents Say
As Texas Gov. Rick Perry activates troops to help manage a
surge of immigrants entering his state through Mexico, Border Patrol
agents responsible for apprehending the illegal crossers say they do not
want assistance from the National Guard to secure the border. Perry announced Monday he would deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops to help manage a crisis on Texas’ southwest border with Mexico. House leaders also favor summoning troops to the border to stem the tide of Central American children illegally crossing there. A group of mostly border-state Republicans released a plan Wednesday
that would deploy the National Guard “to assist Border Patrol in the
humanitarian care and needs of the unaccompanied minors, which will free
up the Border Patrol to focus on their primary mission,” the group’s
leader, Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, said in a statement. But Border Patrol agents, and leaders from their union, argue that
the National Guard would not augment existing manpower because troops
are limited in what they can actually do. Shawn Moran, vice president for the National Border Patrol Council,
says when troops were deployed to border states in 2006-2008 for Operation Jump Start, they could not “make contact with illegal aliens,” let alone arrest them. The troops were also unarmed. “They were mostly line-watching with binoculars on mountains and
helping use surveillance cameras,” said Moran, speaking at a Border
Patrol event Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Moran said Border Patrol would have to assign agents to stand
side-by-side with troops, diverting resources from arresting people. “The theory is that it [the National Guard] frees up agents to do
patrols,” Moran said. “But it takes a lot of training and experience to
put agents in the right places. There’s no net gain in manpower. The
National Guard is good at building infrastructure, like border fences
and all-weather roads. They’re the best in the world at that. But I have
serious concerns about how they will be utilized. We have to see what
the governor has in store.”...more
130 Environmental Groups Call For An End To Capitalism
Environmentalists have declared that global warming can’t be stopped
without ending the “hegemonic capitalist system,” saying that
cap-and-trade systems and conservation efforts are “false solutions.” “The structural causes of climate change are linked to the current capitalist hegemonic system,” reads the final draft of the Margarita Declaration, presented at a conference including about 130 environmental groups. “To combat climate change it is necessary to change the system,” the declaration adds. Environmental activists met in the oil producing, socialist country
of Venezuela as part of a United Nations-backed event to increase civil
engagement in the lead up to a major climate conference. But environmentalists surprised U.N. officials by offering up a
declaration that not only seeks to end capitalism, but one that also
opposes U.N.-backed efforts to fight global warming — namely,
cap-and-trade and forest conservation programs. Climate-change news analysis site RTCC reports
that it’s unclear which groups signed onto the declaration, adding that
it runs in the face of the “green economy” solutions to global warming
backed by rich nations. But many poor countries, like Venezuela, do not support a “green
economy” solution to global warming, instead, arguing that rich
countries should give poor nations cash payments and technology
transfers...more
Roberts to EPA Administrator: Farmers and Ranchers Under Attack from Agency
You have to appreciate what Senator Roberts is saying, and thank him for saying it. But on the other hand here is a guy who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1980 to 1996, and has served in the Senate since 1997. So whatever actions EPA takes it does so because politicians like Roberts have voted to grant that authority to EPA and have annually voted to fund the agency to undertake those actions. Grilling agency heads is nice but just spewing words will bring no change. Maybe that's why he's refusing to debate his opponent in the Republican primary.
The National Park Service Tells an Oyster Farm to Shuck Off
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court reiterated Lewis Carroll's pronouncement when it refused to hear an appeal of a lower-court decision that would banish an oyster company from its home on a bucolic estuary an hour north of San Francisco. The highest court was the last hope for Drake Bay Oyster Company (DBOC) to stay in business; after almost a decade of political and legal wrangling, the family-run farm has been evicted from its home of 70 years. The oyster company is located in the Point Reyes National Seashore, a wilderness area established in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy and managed by the National Park Service. Drakes Estero, home of the oyster farm, was designated a "potential" wilderness area. The Park Service took over management and leased land back to preexistent dairymen, cattle ranchers, and the then-owner of the oyster farm. Since then, the NPS has consistently renewed expiring leases of ranchers. Based on the assumption that the oyster company's leases would also be renewed, a local rancher and businessman, Kevin Lunny, bought the farm in 2005. He invested nearly a million dollars for cleanup and upgrades, but the park service informed him that his lease wouldn't be renewed after all. He'd have to shut down when it expired in 2012.
Members of the community and other supporters joined Lunny in a campaign to convince the park service to allow the farm to continue. They argued that the forced expulsion would be anathema to the original vision of the park, one in which wilderness would coexist with limited, sustainable agriculture (in this case, mariculture). They also challenged the very definition of wilderness as incompatible with people or farming in a place where humans have lived for 5000 or more years and coastal Miwok tribes cultivated oysters and other shellfish. Indeed, the original state of wilderness in the greater Bay Area included an abundance of oysters, which were wiped out when Europeans settled here.
Lunny sued. Some environmentalists sided with DBOC, while others adamantly opposed it. (I'm friends with environmentalists on both sides of the issue.) The latter group held that if the oyster business were allowed to remain, it would set a dangerous precedent, potentially opening up protected wilderness throughout the country to commercial interests and even offshore oil drilling. They also charged that the farm threatened native harbor seals and eelgrass and otherwise harmed the estuary's fragile ecology...more
That's a shame, but if that's a Wilderness area I'm sure the Park Service decisions were based on "sound science". Well, maybe not...
Lunny challenged the veracity of the research that showed environmental damage. Independent analyses of the studies, conducted by the National Academy of Science and Interior Department's Inspector General, determined that the reports were replete with errors and distortions. Corey Goodman, PhD, former Chair of the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Life Sciences, conducted an independent investigation and concluded, "There is no scientific evidence of environmental harm, and I'll put my reputation on the line for it." In an editorial, Senator Dianne Feinstein chastised the NPS, writing, "The Park Service's repeated misrepresentations of the scientific record have damaged its trust with the local community, and stained its reputation for even-handed treatment of competing uses of public resources."
That should settle the issue. Well, maybe not...
Eventually the NPS apologized and removed the faulty studies for its website, but it continued its efforts to evict the farm.
When it comes to Wilderness, it will win out over human enterprise every time, even if the federal rationale is "replete with errors and distortions". And the federal employees who made "repeated misrepresentations of the scientific record"? I'm sure they are doing fine, as are the enviros who pushed this. Hurt are the family, their employees and the local economy, all sacrificed on the alter of Wilderness.
That's a shame, but if that's a Wilderness area I'm sure the Park Service decisions were based on "sound science". Well, maybe not...
Lunny challenged the veracity of the research that showed environmental damage. Independent analyses of the studies, conducted by the National Academy of Science and Interior Department's Inspector General, determined that the reports were replete with errors and distortions. Corey Goodman, PhD, former Chair of the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Life Sciences, conducted an independent investigation and concluded, "There is no scientific evidence of environmental harm, and I'll put my reputation on the line for it." In an editorial, Senator Dianne Feinstein chastised the NPS, writing, "The Park Service's repeated misrepresentations of the scientific record have damaged its trust with the local community, and stained its reputation for even-handed treatment of competing uses of public resources."
That should settle the issue. Well, maybe not...
Eventually the NPS apologized and removed the faulty studies for its website, but it continued its efforts to evict the farm.
When it comes to Wilderness, it will win out over human enterprise every time, even if the federal rationale is "replete with errors and distortions". And the federal employees who made "repeated misrepresentations of the scientific record"? I'm sure they are doing fine, as are the enviros who pushed this. Hurt are the family, their employees and the local economy, all sacrificed on the alter of Wilderness.
Tracy: Balukoff Wrong on Wolf ‘Introduction,’ Depredation
As the Information Director
for the Idaho Farm Bureau from 1988 to 1996, I had a front row seat to
the so-called “reintroduction” of the wolves in 1995. I say so-called
because the species of wolf that had lived in Idaho no longer existed.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Defenders of Wildlife
(DW) along with the other wolf supporters, like A.J. Balukoff, knew
when they introduced the Canadian wolves into Idaho they would be
placing a non-native species into the ecosystem. They did it anyway.
Why is this a problem? Environmental groups and wildlife biologists always claim we need to protect species in an ecosystem—like steelhead and salmon. Not always. The bull trout is now listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). USFWS and most sportsmen called bull trout a “char” before environmentalists decided it needed protection. Char feed on salmon and steelhead fingerlings like candy. Bull trout are not only a competitor to steelhead and salmon they are also a predator on these endangered species. Even former Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus and his Fish and Game Department said bull trout had been referred to as “trash fish.“ So when faced with the dilemma of what to do when the native Idaho wolves no longer existed the USFWS ignored the science, the biology and their own arguments and dumped an alien predator smack in the middle of Idaho.
Balukoff is wrong on the difference between “introduction” and “reintroduction.” During my time with the Idaho Farm Bureau (along with the Montana, Wyoming and American Farm Bureaus) we fought for years in the federal courts to keep these non-native wolves from being introduced into our states. We pointed out the devastation of wolf introduction in Minnesota on livestock and wildlife. DW promised Idaho that they would take care of any possible depredation payments to ranchers should they lose livestock to the wolves.
It didn’t take long for the wolves to strike. They were introduced in 1995. Within months a calf in the Stanley/Challis area was taken by a wolf. The rancher shot the wolf and a local veterinarian did an autopsy immediately on the non-native predator. He found plenty of calf parts in the wolf. We at the Farm Bureau had a video of the autopsy. In fact, the USFWS contacted me personally and threatened us with legal action if we didn’t provide the video.
Balukoff is wrong on how bad depredation has become for ranchers and sportsmen in Idaho. Predator wolves have decimated elk herds that have been one of the biggest tourism draws for out-of-state and out-of-country sportsmen wanting a big game experience. As if that were not bad enough, DW have not kept their promises they made 20 years ago about providing depredation payments to ranchers in Idaho.
Balukoff is wrong on the Wolf Board as well. If ranchers had been listened to in the first place, the wolf board and the tens of millions of dollars spent to bring in an alien predator; millions more would have never been needed to control this predator. Balukoff and his friends in the DW are the ones that have politicized this and haven’t listened from the start. Idaho was just fine until the Canadian wolves were introduced into Balukoff’s “ecosystem.“
Perhaps Balukoff wouldn’t be so wrong on wolves and endangered species when he supported their “introduction” in 1995 if he had done his research. Maybe it’s because he is a wealthy, liberal democrat from Boise without an inkling of what the average Idahoan thinks or feels about these issues. Balukoff in the Statehouse would be like inviting Obama, Clinton, the USFWS, and Defenders of Wildlife to Idaho to make these species decisions for us because Balukoff, like his friends, politicize ecosystem balance. They lack a true understanding of the needs of Idahoans.
Tracy was the Idaho Farm Bureau Information Director from 1988-96, served as Communication Director to U.S. Senator Larry Craig from 1996-2006, and now is a consultant in Boise.
MAJICVALLEY.COM
Why is this a problem? Environmental groups and wildlife biologists always claim we need to protect species in an ecosystem—like steelhead and salmon. Not always. The bull trout is now listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). USFWS and most sportsmen called bull trout a “char” before environmentalists decided it needed protection. Char feed on salmon and steelhead fingerlings like candy. Bull trout are not only a competitor to steelhead and salmon they are also a predator on these endangered species. Even former Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus and his Fish and Game Department said bull trout had been referred to as “trash fish.“ So when faced with the dilemma of what to do when the native Idaho wolves no longer existed the USFWS ignored the science, the biology and their own arguments and dumped an alien predator smack in the middle of Idaho.
Balukoff is wrong on the difference between “introduction” and “reintroduction.” During my time with the Idaho Farm Bureau (along with the Montana, Wyoming and American Farm Bureaus) we fought for years in the federal courts to keep these non-native wolves from being introduced into our states. We pointed out the devastation of wolf introduction in Minnesota on livestock and wildlife. DW promised Idaho that they would take care of any possible depredation payments to ranchers should they lose livestock to the wolves.
It didn’t take long for the wolves to strike. They were introduced in 1995. Within months a calf in the Stanley/Challis area was taken by a wolf. The rancher shot the wolf and a local veterinarian did an autopsy immediately on the non-native predator. He found plenty of calf parts in the wolf. We at the Farm Bureau had a video of the autopsy. In fact, the USFWS contacted me personally and threatened us with legal action if we didn’t provide the video.
Balukoff is wrong on how bad depredation has become for ranchers and sportsmen in Idaho. Predator wolves have decimated elk herds that have been one of the biggest tourism draws for out-of-state and out-of-country sportsmen wanting a big game experience. As if that were not bad enough, DW have not kept their promises they made 20 years ago about providing depredation payments to ranchers in Idaho.
Balukoff is wrong on the Wolf Board as well. If ranchers had been listened to in the first place, the wolf board and the tens of millions of dollars spent to bring in an alien predator; millions more would have never been needed to control this predator. Balukoff and his friends in the DW are the ones that have politicized this and haven’t listened from the start. Idaho was just fine until the Canadian wolves were introduced into Balukoff’s “ecosystem.“
Perhaps Balukoff wouldn’t be so wrong on wolves and endangered species when he supported their “introduction” in 1995 if he had done his research. Maybe it’s because he is a wealthy, liberal democrat from Boise without an inkling of what the average Idahoan thinks or feels about these issues. Balukoff in the Statehouse would be like inviting Obama, Clinton, the USFWS, and Defenders of Wildlife to Idaho to make these species decisions for us because Balukoff, like his friends, politicize ecosystem balance. They lack a true understanding of the needs of Idahoans.
Tracy was the Idaho Farm Bureau Information Director from 1988-96, served as Communication Director to U.S. Senator Larry Craig from 1996-2006, and now is a consultant in Boise.
MAJICVALLEY.COM
‘Gut-wrenching’ losses in wildfire
Fires in Washington's Okanogan County have burned thousands of acres of rangeland, killed livestock, left ranches and orchards without power for irrigation and destroyed homes.
TWISP, Wash. — Forage on thousands of acres of rangeland is gone, cattle are dead and orchards have been damaged by the Carlton Complex Fire that has also claimed 100 to 200 houses and other structures. As of July 22, 2,110 firefighters were battling the blaze, which was estimated at 250,000 acres, making it the largest fire in state history. Among the agricultural losses, about a dozen cattle ranchers with U.S. Forest Service grazing allotments appeared hardest hit since they won’t be able to graze those lands for a couple of years. They were still trying to determine the total number of cattle killed in the fire. Some apple, pear and cherry orchards were damaged, but mostly just their edges were singed as fire sought the path of least resistance and skirted green trees to find dry grass. The fire also destroyed a large part of Okanogan County’s electrical grid. With electricity knocked out, orchardists and ranchers were using small, gasoline generators to keep refrigerators and freezers running and acquiring larger generators to power irrigation pumps. The irrigation water is needed for orchard crops and trees, alfalfa and pastures. It may be a month or more before power is restored to some areas, said Dan Boettger, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for Okanogan County Public Utility District. “Our system has basically evaporated,” he said. “We have areas where the poles, wires and everything is gone. No trace of metal or anything.”...more
TWISP, Wash. — Forage on thousands of acres of rangeland is gone, cattle are dead and orchards have been damaged by the Carlton Complex Fire that has also claimed 100 to 200 houses and other structures. As of July 22, 2,110 firefighters were battling the blaze, which was estimated at 250,000 acres, making it the largest fire in state history. Among the agricultural losses, about a dozen cattle ranchers with U.S. Forest Service grazing allotments appeared hardest hit since they won’t be able to graze those lands for a couple of years. They were still trying to determine the total number of cattle killed in the fire. Some apple, pear and cherry orchards were damaged, but mostly just their edges were singed as fire sought the path of least resistance and skirted green trees to find dry grass. The fire also destroyed a large part of Okanogan County’s electrical grid. With electricity knocked out, orchardists and ranchers were using small, gasoline generators to keep refrigerators and freezers running and acquiring larger generators to power irrigation pumps. The irrigation water is needed for orchard crops and trees, alfalfa and pastures. It may be a month or more before power is restored to some areas, said Dan Boettger, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for Okanogan County Public Utility District. “Our system has basically evaporated,” he said. “We have areas where the poles, wires and everything is gone. No trace of metal or anything.”...more
Buzzard wildfire near Burns leaves more dead and burned cattle in its wake
It's before dawn Tuesday but the mosquitoes are already up and biting as Bill Wilber, his two brothers, George and Pat Wilber, and their nephew, Casey Wilber, load four horses into a long aluminum trailer.
Eight days ago, a wildfire — one of five that grew together to form the Buzzard complex about 45 miles southeast of Burns — raced across the rangeland above the Drewsey Field Ranch, scattering the family herd of about 750 cattle and calves.
"We had lots of lightning, but we also had lots of rain,'' Bill Wilber says. "We really didn't anticipate the intensity of the fires. It just went on and on. There were not enough assets, not enough firefighters to get a handle on it."
The complex has blackened nearly 400,000 acres of sagebrush and bunchgrass on steep, rocky hillsides, hop-scotching across the high desert in a mosaic. It's the largest range fire since 2012's Long Draw fire that burned 557,648 acres in southeastern Oregon – considered the most extensive in Oregon's modern history.
The Buzzard complex – named for local landmark Buzzard Butte -- spared some areas, but other spots burned so hot and fast that 100-year-old junipers went up like Roman candles, a circular carpet of ash at their base.
The cattle took off -- many trapped by the fire and losing their bearings. The Wilbers set out to find their livestock and inventory the damage. In the days before, they found seven cows and 13 calves that had succumbed to smoke or flames. They had to euthanize two other injured cows...more
45 cows killed by single lightning strike
3 injured when lightning hits rodeo grounds
A cowboy and two spectators were taken by ambulance to a Hamilton hospital Saturday night after lightning hit a power pole at the Elite Bull Connection, sending an electric shock through the grandstands, rodeo chutes and bull pens.
“It hit that one light pole and came down, and everything was so wet, it went in every direction,” said Cal Ruark, the Bull-O-Rama’s chairman. “I’m telling you what. It was deafening almost when it hit.”
Miraculously, everyone survived the lightning’s strike, he said. “Everyone is accounted for, and as far as we know there is nothing life-threatening at this point. Thank goodness. That’s the important thing.”
All three people taken to Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital were alert and conscious when they were loaded into ambulances, Ruark said.
Sixty bull riders and probably 1,000 spectators were in the rodeo arena and grandstands when a thunderstorm rolled in from the south and pummeled Darby, drenching the grounds.
Then came the lightning. One bolt struck directly across the river. The second strike hit the Bull-O-Rama.
The strike was so sudden, Ruark said. “We had only bucked two bulls of 60. We were just getting started.”
The injured bull rider was standing on the back of a metal chute, awaiting his ride. The injured spectators were in the grandstands. One of the rodeo announcers also suffered a burn to his hand, where he was holding the microphone in the middle of the wet arena...more
A bison boost for Native economies
“Buffalo is better for you than skinless chicken,” Karlene Hunter will tell you. “It has more omega-3s than an avocado.”
Hunter is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and CEO of Native American Natural Foods. The company, which she cofounded in 2007, makes all-natural, low-calorie buffalo snacks (Tanka Bars, Tanka Sticks, Tanka Bites) sold in over 6,000 retail outlets, including Whole Foods, REI and Costco. Hunter’s company, which aims to source its food and ingredients from Native American producers, is now beginning a new project: Help native ranchers find economic opportunities and create more Native American sources of buffalo meat for her products.Currently Native American Natural Foods buys the wild rice it uses from Red Lake Nation Foods in Minnesota and its cranberries from processors in Wisconsin who deal directly with native growers. Yet only 17 percent of the company’s buffalo supply comes from Native producers. The new project, called the Tanka Fund, would help finance and support Natives in raising bison on Indian land in Western and Midwestern states. To make this happen, the company recently teamed up with Indian Land Tenure Foundation, a national organization that restores Native control of reservation lands that have fallen out of tribal ownership.
“It’s a pretty broad area where buffalo do well,” says Cris Stainbrook, president of the Tenure Foundation. Over the next ten years, the money that Tanka Fund hopes to raise will be used to convert one million acres of land to tribal buffalo production. In addition, they plan to help support programs that introduce “sustainable, healthy food systems in American Indian communities.” Raising bison on Indian land isn’t new. Currently, there are groups like the Intertribal Buffalo Council, made up of 59 tribes, which own 15,000 to 20,000 buffalo intended to serve tribal communities. The Tanka Fund, however, will be looking to support entrepreneurs looking to engage in the market, rather than restoring communal herds...more
Border Ranchers: Politicians should have taken action 5 years ago
Meanwhile, ranchers say they've been bombarded by immigrants for a very long time, are paying the price and need lawmakers' help.
"You'll see some evidence, every day, of them coming through," cattle rancher Ronnie Osburn says.
The evidence could be an empty water jug, tossed like a bread crumb on the trail, or a fence ripped apart by desperate hands.
"That's the way we live down here," Osburn says.
Every day, Osburn works his land knowing - even while we're talking - immigrants are all around the extensive property.
"Of course the coyotes, the guys leading them, they don't want to get caught," he says.
The ranch is along Highway 281, a major highway that's also a major smuggling route.
"I'm four miles south of the checkpoint," Osburn says.
So to avoid Border Patrol agents, huge groups of immigrants - often armed, often carrying drugs - wind their way north through his ranch.
"It's rough going in this sand," Osburn says. "You walk a mile in this sand, it's like walking five miles down the paved road."
And along the way, they cut holes in fences or break pipes to get water.
"Any equipment that's out there that has a key in it - or whichever way they can crank a tractor up - they're going to get in it and use it," Brooks County Sheriff's Office chief deputy Benny Martinez says.
He says the cost of the damage is staggering.
"Since '09, it's half a million dollars," chief deputy Martinez says. "Maybe closer to a million dollars in property damage to these ranchers."
What you can't put a price on: the human toll.
"You get that many people, you get that many stories," Osburn says. "Everyone's got their own story."
His personal photographs show sometimes, his ranch becomes a final resting place.
"This is about a 14-year-old girl that we found down south of where we're standing right now," Osburn says. "She'd been dead probably about ten days, maybe."
It's chilling. And it's why the cattle rancher hopes this time, politicians are truly realizing just how high the stakes are.
"It's like somebody finally turned on the light bulb up north of here," Osburn says...more
If any light bulbs are flickering, its only because this is an election year.
If any light bulbs are flickering, its only because this is an election year.
Migrant Crisis Stretches Into Texas Wilderness
Daniel Zamarripa loaded his police dog into the back of his patrol car and set out to track his quarry -- immigrants circumventing the local Border Patrol checkpoint.
Zamarripa, 27, is one of 15 reserve deputies brought in to assist the Brooks County Sheriff's Office, whose four deputies have lately found themselves overwhelmed by 911 calls from migrants stranded on the vast ranches that stretch from here to the horizon in all directions.
Then there are the bodies of migrants who didn't make it to retrieve and identify: 42 so far this year.
Most attention to the crisis on the Southwest border has focused in recent weeks on the Rio Grande Valley, where many of the 57,000 unaccompanied children and a large number of families have crossed from Mexico since October, twice last year's total. Many surrender to immigration agents willingly at the Rio Grande, aware that they will be allowed to stay pending immigration court hearings.
But an unknown number end up here, 70 miles north of the border, in the meadows and scrubland that have become the region's deadliest killing fields for migrants. Since 2009, authorities have recovered more than 400 immigrants' bodies in the county, including that of a 16-year-old Central American boy discovered last month. Law enforcement is under growing pressure to move quickly to save migrants and recover the dead. The challenge comes at a bad time of year, when brush is still abundant and high from recent rains, concealing both migrant routes and human remains.
"These are critical months," Martinez said. "When the vegetation goes down, that's when you start locating bodies."...more
Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1249
Ranch Radio's tune today is You Oughta See Pickles Now by Tommy Collins. The song was recorded in Hollywood on June 17, 1955 for Capitol Records.
And yes, that is Alvis E. "Buck" Owens playing lead guitar and yes, Tommy Collins' real name was Leonard Sipes and he is the "Leonard" that Merle Haggard sang about in his cut by that name.
http://youtu.be/D6w8naRMqDE
And yes, that is Alvis E. "Buck" Owens playing lead guitar and yes, Tommy Collins' real name was Leonard Sipes and he is the "Leonard" that Merle Haggard sang about in his cut by that name.
http://youtu.be/D6w8naRMqDE
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Monday, July 21, 2014
Obama aides were warned of brewing border crisis
Nearly a year before President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis on the border,
a team of experts arrived at the Fort Brown patrol station in
Brownsville, Tex., and discovered a makeshift transportation depot for a
deluge of foreign children. Thirty Border Patrol agents were assigned in August 2013 to drive the
children to off-site showers, wash their clothes and make them
sandwiches. As soon as those children were placed in temporary shelters,
more arrived. An average of 66 were apprehended each day on the border
and more than 24,000 cycled through Texas patrol stations in 2013. In a 41-page report to the Department of Homeland Security,
the team from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) raised alarms
about the federal government’s capacity to manage a situation that was
expected to grow worse. The researchers’ observations were among the
warning signs conveyed to the Obama administration over the past two
years as a surge of Central American minors has crossed into south Texas
illegally. More than 57,000 have entered the United States this year,
swamping federal resources and catching the government unprepared. The administration did too little to heed those warnings, according
to interviews with former government officials, outside experts and
immigrant advocates, leading to an inadequate response that contributed
to this summer’s escalating crisis...more
So was this mere incompetence, legitimate policy disagreement or pure politics dealing with immigration reform and Obama's re-election?
Writing at Breitbart, John Sexton says it was pure politics:
The White House was warned repeatedly that there was a growing crisis of unaccompanied minors on the border but chose not to address the issue for fear it would ruin the President's push for comprehensive immigration reform. A story in the Washington Post highlights a number of times the Obama administration was warned of the growing crisis on the border. For instance, a 2012 report by the Women's Refugee Commission spelled out the growing number of unaccompanied minors at the border which started in the fall of 2011...The Post story makes it clear that the administration didn't just fumble its response to the situation. The crisis was ignored for two years because of political considerations including the President's re-election and his push for comprehensive immigration reform. An unnamed source with knowledge of the situation tells the Post it came down to an internal disagreement between White House national security staffers worried about the border and "domestic policy advisers" focused on the politics. The individual tells the Post, "Was the White House told there were huge flows of Central Americans coming? Of course they were told. A lot of times. Was there a general lack of interest and a focus on the legislation? Yes, that’s where the focus was." In other words, the White House put its political goals over dealing with the crisis when it would have been more manageable.
So was this mere incompetence, legitimate policy disagreement or pure politics dealing with immigration reform and Obama's re-election?
Writing at Breitbart, John Sexton says it was pure politics:
The White House was warned repeatedly that there was a growing crisis of unaccompanied minors on the border but chose not to address the issue for fear it would ruin the President's push for comprehensive immigration reform. A story in the Washington Post highlights a number of times the Obama administration was warned of the growing crisis on the border. For instance, a 2012 report by the Women's Refugee Commission spelled out the growing number of unaccompanied minors at the border which started in the fall of 2011...The Post story makes it clear that the administration didn't just fumble its response to the situation. The crisis was ignored for two years because of political considerations including the President's re-election and his push for comprehensive immigration reform. An unnamed source with knowledge of the situation tells the Post it came down to an internal disagreement between White House national security staffers worried about the border and "domestic policy advisers" focused on the politics. The individual tells the Post, "Was the White House told there were huge flows of Central Americans coming? Of course they were told. A lot of times. Was there a general lack of interest and a focus on the legislation? Yes, that’s where the focus was." In other words, the White House put its political goals over dealing with the crisis when it would have been more manageable.
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