War Of The Roses Islamofascists demonize Valentine's Day in Arab countries, but here in the West, the holiday draws its puritanical zealots from the environmental left. They've made Valentine's Day a boogeyman. Alone among cash crops, it seems, roses pollute the environment, exploit workers and cause global warming. Quite a lot of blame for one of nature's finer creations, but not if the idea is to turn consumers against the flower trade, much of which is based in Colombia and is sustained with Valentine's Day sales. It's become an annual event. This year, it's "Blood Roses: Valentine's Day in Bogota," as the Huffington Post screeched, smearing Colombia's flower trade as a twin industry to the illegal blood diamond trade in West Africa. Other media reports were almost as bad and as irresponsible. In reality, lawfully produced flowers provide a livelihood to 99,000 poor Colombians, many of whom were driven from their homes by war and the global drug trade — which trashes the environment, too. When Americans buy roses at the market, they help sustain these war refugees by providing jobs to let them lead dignified lives. Targeting Colombia's rose trade is nothing more than attacking poor people out of environmental self-righteousness....
CAO would ‘welcome’ investigation into carbon offsets The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the House said Tuesday he would “welcome” an examination into the carbon offset marketplace, which has been a tool for the “Green the Capitol” initiative he oversees. CAO Daniel Beard was reacting to a letter sent by two top House Republicans to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last week, seeking a closer look at the program. As part of the one-year-old “Green the Capitol” project, which aims at reducing the level of pollution created by members of Congress, the House purchased $89,000 in carbon offsets from the Chicago Climate Exchange, an offset brokerage company. The company then paid farms in the Midwest to take steps to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is one of the leading causes of global warming and is released both naturally, such as through the breaking-apart of soil, and by man-made design, such as through coal-burning power plants. Carbon offsets were created to counterbalance the release of carbon into the air through practices such as planting trees, which feed off of carbon and produce oxygen, or employing companies to use non-carbon-producing fuels as energy. Last week Republican Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.) asked the GAO to look into “questionable purchases of carbon offsets” after recent media criticism of the venture revealed that while several farmers who had received money from the House purchase were actively sequestering carbon, they might not actually be using the money to further their carbon reduction efforts....
Will Global Warming Save Lives? A report commissioned by Britain's Health Department says that one blistering hot summer between now and 2017 could kill more than 6,000 Britons. The panel of scientific experts that compiled the study believes the chance of that is 25%. Naturally, the global-warming-will-kill-us-all crowd latched onto that speculation, as did headline writers. "U.K. May Suffer Heat Wave That Kills 3,000," topped a Bloomberg story, while Reuters opted for "Climate Change May Kill Thousands In U.K. By 2017." The panel also said global warming will bring warmer winters, which will cut down on cold-related deaths in Britain. So should we fear human-created climate change or embrace it? Surprisingly, the BBC stood out as one media agent that took enough care to balance its coverage. Under the Web site headline "Global Warming 'May Cut Deaths,' " it reported 20,000 deaths are linked to the cold each year in the U.K. and that those deaths fell 3% a year from 1971 through 2003, a period in which summers warmed but heat-related deaths did not change. In the U.S., a warmer climate could save tens of thousands. Thomas Gale Moore, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who has studied and written extensively about global warming, believes as many as 40,000 American lives would be spared each year....
Sheep versus sheep It's another example of the New and Old West coming into conflict. This time it's bighorn sheep versus domestic sheep or, more specifically, wildlife advocates versus the sheep herding industry. During a telephone conference call yesterday, Feb. 14, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission adopted an interim strategy for separating bighorn sheep from domestic sheep. The policy establishes buffer zones between occupied bighorn sheep range and sheep allotments on federal land statewide. Where the two overlap, however, bighorn sheep will be moved or killed. The Nez Perce Tribe, as well as sportsmen's groups, environmentalists and ranchers, have been watching closely as the state of Idaho and U.S. Forest Service attempt to sort out the problem. Fish and Game's new strategy came in response to Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's call for a policy to manage the interaction between the herds by Feb. 15. The governor established a working group led by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Idaho Department of Agriculture in response to judicial orders requiring sheep ranchers to pull their sheep off Hells Canyon allotments....
Green Jobbed As the Los Angeles Times noted this week, alternative energy "is becoming one of the darlings of Democratic-controlled Capitol Hill." Democrats even want to include tax breaks for it in the economic stimulus package. A cap-and-trade system to cut CO2 emissions has also found favor. The thinking is that we can radically alter our economy and at the same create millions of well-paying "green-collar jobs." Even some business groups embrace the idea. "The one thing that the Chamber of Commerce and the Sierra Club agree on," notes energy lobbyist Scott Segal, "is that the answer to climate change is transformative technologies." Maybe so. But claims that spending on green technologies will create "millions" of new jobs, as both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have repeatedly claimed, are false. Such assertions rest on fallacious economic logic that sounds good on the stump but in reality results in a lower standard of living and fewer jobs for all Americans....
Group to pay ranchers for losses caused by wolves A new state program will reimburse livestock producers for wolf predation losses. The new plan will replace the current one, which has been funded by Defenders of Wildlife for the past 20 years. The plan is called for under the state's wolf management plan, and George Edwards with the Montana Dept. of Livestock, says it's not tied to wolf population control. "Whether the wolves are listed. Still listed or de-listed will not affect this program because this program is primarily in place to help livestock producers who have suffered a wolf loss." The Defenders of Wildlife will provide a $100,000 grant to get the new program started, but Edwards says it will take federal funds and private dollars to maintain. The Department of Livestock is accepting donations, and all contributions are tax deductible.
The 2008 House Energy Tax Bill: Repeating Past Mistakes Taxing successful energy sources and subsidizing unsuccessful ones: That is the essence of Washington's energy policy mistakes during the 1970s and early 1980s. These mistakes are about to be repeated in the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, recently introduced in the House. This bill would effectively raise taxes on the oil and natural gas sector and spend much of the revenue on alternative energy sources like wind, solar, and biofuels. As it did decades ago, this approach would likely backfire and raise prices for consumers while reducing energy security. Congress should craft a new energy policy that relies on the market to meet the nation's energy needs. The bill proposes a number of changes in the tax code, the effect of which would be to raise taxes paid by companies working to expand domestic oil and natural gas supplies....
Save the prairie dogs! - PETA To combat these perceived injustices, a group - the prairie Dog Coalition - is working hard to secure a more stable footing for our burrowing friends, and pushing two ideas. The first, a legislative one, is recognition of a renamed “Prairie Dog Day” in our cities and counties. And they’ve been making headway. This year, the City of Denver joined Boulder in issuing a proclamation celebrating Prairie Dog Day, and giving our rodent residents the recognition they deserve. The second idea is to give another look to our yard-destroying, grazing-land inhabiting, “plague-carrying” neighbors. Says Dr. Lauren McCain, Co-Chair of the Coalition - which comprises some 30 member organizations - “we’re looking to raise awareness on groundhog day, and get people the information they need to know about prairie dogs. Because of population, destruction of habitat, disease and predation, and policies allowing them to be poisoned and exterminated, more than 90% of the historical prairie dog population has been destroyed.” As a “keystone” species, the health of the North American plains in many ways depends upon the continued survival of these social critters....I'm beginning to wonder just how damn many of these "keystone" and "canary in a coal mine" species there are.
The Transportation Commission's Proposed 200 Percent Gas Tax Increase In mid-January, the congressionally created National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission released its final report, which, among other proposals, recommends raising the federal fuel tax by 25 cents to 40 cents per gallon over the next five years and thereafter indexing it to the rate of infla­tion.[1] With the federal fuel tax at 18.3 cents per gallon of gasoline and 22.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel, the commission is proposing that one of the nation's most regressive taxes be increased by a staggering 136 per­cent to 218 percent. These tax revenues would then be spent on a variety of new road, transit, administra­tive, and environmental initiatives, including a 700 percent increase in Amtrak subsidies. While these recommendations are supported by several government-dependent transportation trade associations—including major tax users such as the American Road and Transportation Builders Associa­tion, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the American Public Transportation Association—the Administration, tax­payers, fiscal conservatives, and many Members of Congress have openly criticized the report. To date, critics and skeptics have focused largely on the pro­posed tax increase, which would be little more than a massive transfer of income and wealth from motorists to a much bigger version of today's ill-conceived fed­eral transportation program and the select few who benefit from it....
Alexander gets Restore New Mexico award Dennis Alexander, State Conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in New Mexico, was presented the Restore New Mexico Award today in recognition of the agency's participation and financial support of landscape-scale restoration efforts across the state. Jesse Juen, Associate State Director for the BLM in New Mexico, presented the award at the annual meeting of the National Association of Conservation Districts in Reno, Nev. on behalf of all New Mexico partners involved in the program. The NRCS has provided over $4 million in Environmental Quality Incentives Program grants to over 100 landowners with federal grazing allotments to restore degraded rangelands in New Mexico. The BLM, landowners and other partners have been able to match or exceed these funds, greatly enlarging the size and scope of the restoration projects....
Keep polar bears off endangered species list The Department of the Interior, in response to litigation from environmental groups, is considering whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. For the first time in the history of the ESA, the threat of global warming would be the reason for listing a well-known species. Given the ESA’s sweeping powers, such a move would raise energy prices by putting an end to promising new oil and natural gas production in Alaska. Even more troubling, listing the polar bear could be used as a back door to implement global warming policy nationwide by restricting energy production and use throughout the U.S. This would obviously harm the economy and — considering the ESA’s poor track record — could also harm the polar bears as well. The President should tell the DOI not to take this highly problematic step. While being highly successful in violating private property rights and hampering economic activities—especially for farmers, ranchers, and loggers in the rural West and elsewhere — the statute has done little to protect species....
Lawmakers seek probe of meat safety of School Lunch Program Lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the safety of meat in the National School Lunch Program, citing concerns raised by alleged abuses at a slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif. Democratic Reps. George Miller of California, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Carolyn McCarthy of New York, along with Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, are asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., a supplier to school lunch programs, in the wake of release of a Humane Society video showing disabled cows being mistreated. Meanwhile, the San Bernardino County district attorney's office said it will hold a press conference Friday to announce whether charges will be filed against Westland/Hallmark. A phone message left late Thursday for Westland President Steven Mendell was not immediately returned. USDA officials have put a hold until Feb. 19 on meat products from the facility, which are used by major hamburger chains and school districts around the nation. Investigations have found no evidence that meat from disabled animals has entered the food supply....
Rodeos could be modified A Mexican-style rodeo tradition could be history after the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved drafting an ordinance that could go as far as banning so-called "coleadas" or steer tailing, which some local charros or cowboys admit they proudly practice. By a 3-2 vote, supervisors Tuesday approved the proposal that would also reiterate state law prohibiting cruelty to animals. Supervisors also agreed to prohibit tripping or felling an equine animal, or intentionally tripping, dragging, or felling any bovine animal by the tail. The proposal would also require veterinarians to be in attendance throughout the duration of any event using animals and provide local remedies for violations. According to San Juan Bautista resident Martin Marquez, president of the Asociacion de Charros El Herradero de San Martin, steer tailing exercises are happening in the county and are indeed part of so-called "charreadas" or Mexican style rodeo. However, he said, local charros no longer practice horse tripping and instead perform a modified exercise putting the rope through the horse's front legs without making it fall. "It's sad that despite all the pains we've taken to follow the rules, they will be targeting steer tailing which is traditional and part of the charreria," Marquez said. "Coleadas are not cruel and inhumane. How do they know it's painful to the bulls, which fall on soft sand."....
Lake Monster? Los Angeles may have the largest populus, but within its history lurks several anomalies which defy the hustle and bustle of city life. Elizabeth Lake, located close to Palmdale in "north county" was once inhabited by one of these anomalies. It is said that the old lake, one of ten named Elizabeth in California, was created by the Devil who bestowed upon the waters one of his demonic pets, that being a diabolical beast. Sightings of such a creature date back to the 1830s when a Spaniard named Don Pedro Carillo claimed that such a leviathan had burnt down his ranch which sat on the shore. Was a dragon to blame? Don Chico Lopez who also built a ranch near the lake was next to observe the monster some fifty years later during the early 1880s saying that it was winged, and had flippers. Workers reported seeing ominous shadows over the lake cast by the demon and the disappearance of livestock was recorded. In 1886 a Don Felipe Rivera claimed that a creature over forty-feet long, with six legs and two leathery wings had eaten one of his steers, although others claim that the beast was a giant snake. Basque immigrant Miguel Leonis purchased the ranch next and a great deal of land throughout southern California. Legend states that after losing several of his animals, Leonis stalked the beast and attacked it one night, causing injury to its eye after bullets seemed to bounce off its tough skin. The wounded creature skulked back into the lake and soon after allegedly fled, but rumour was rife that many settlers, ranchers and the likes avoided the area for years....