Sunday, December 07, 2014

Benny Binion Bucking Horse and Bull Sale

Benny Binion’s World Famous Bucking Horse and Bull Sale returns to the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Dec. 4th-6th. Much like the Permit Holder of the Year Challenge, 2014 marks a landmark year for the Bucking Horse and Bull Sale as they have completely revamped and restructured the entire event. There are several first for this years Benny Binion’s World Famous Bucking Horse and Bull Sale and one of them will kick off the event Thursday morning. For the first time ever at the sale, they will dummy buck both colts and bucking bulls which will then be sold in the arena after they are bucked. The dummy bucking section will include 20 two and three year old colts, and dummy yearling and two year old bulls. The first ever Permit Holder of the Year Challenge which features all events, with the top five permit holders entered from the standings, will also be part of the sale. All of the horses in the Bareback and Bronc Riding, along with the Bulls in the Bull Riding, are consignments that are featured Thursday, and sold Saturday.. The five contestants entered in each event, each get two rounds in that one performance so there will be ten Bares, Broncs and Bulls from Thursdays Permit Holder of the Year Challenge that are up on the auction block. Fridays event, the World Futurity Bronc Finale has quickly become a must see show in its short existence. Some of the rankest four and five year old Broncs in the business will match up against some of the very best Bronc Riders in the country. Just as the Thursdays consignments were, all of these horses that will be featured in the Bronc Finale on Friday, and sold on Saturday with video playback of their outs...more

New Mexico Fines U.S. $54 Million for Nuclear Accidents

New Mexico has fined the U.S. Energy Department more than $54 million over accidents at the country’s only underground repository for nuclear waste. The fines, which state officials announced Saturday morning, stem from an underground fire and a radiation leak earlier this year at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, known as WIPP. Nearly two dozen workers were exposed to contamination at the plant, which handles radioactive waste from the nation’s nuclear-weapons program. The fines represent the largest penalties New Mexico has ever levied against the Energy Department, state officials said, noting that their investigation found major procedural problems. The Energy Department committed 37 violations of state regulations in its handling of radioactive waste, the state said. Drums of the waste were improperly treated and stored at Los Alamos National Laboratory before being shipped to the nuclear repository, according to the state, contributing to the accidents last February...more


New Mexico struggles despite federal largess

Average per-capita income in Rio Arriba: $20,000, well below half Los Alamos County’s $50,740. The contrast highlights an unusual wealth gap in New Mexico: Unlike other states, the richest residents of New Mexico work mainly in the public sector, while almost everyone else is employed in the private sector. That dynamic is both a blessing and a curse. In all, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trust’s Fiscal Federalism Initiative, about 35 percent of New Mexico’s economy comes from the federal government – the highest such figure for any state. Critics say an inability to diversify the economy has exacerbated income disparities. They say that at a time of tight federal budgets, the state can’t afford to stake its economic future on government spending. Unless new industries can be attracted, workers will have to settle for whatever lower-paying government jobs are available or for low-wage service industry work, according to political leaders and experts on the state’s economy. “The rest of the nation is subsidizing New Mexico,” said Jake Arnold, a political consultant. New Mexico ranked last among states for job growth from January 2011 through 2013. It is second, behind Mississippi, in the percentage of its residents living in poverty – a percentage that increased from 20.8 percent in 2012 to 21.9 percent in 2013, Census figures show. It also consistently ranks at or near the bottom of national rankings for education and child welfare...more

New Mexico struggles because of the federal largess, not despite it.

Cowgirl Sass and Savvy

Cowboy code

by Julie Carter

We live in a time when rules and regulations are everywhere. If the government hasn’t regulated it, we the people have.

We write rules and pass out manuals with job descriptions. We have laws to abide by while on the job or as members of most organizations.

A cowboy’s job is not just a career. It is a heritage that has evolved over more than a century of man working with cattle. With it comes a code that isn’t written in any manual. The rules aren’t printed and handed out at the bunkhouse or posted on the saddle room door.

They have been passed from generation to generation among the cowboys themselves and between father and son. These are laws of respect and cowboy etiquette that are just part of the job.

The concepts are age-old but hold true still today. But, because more and more cowboys are “found” and not raised, fewer and fewer are aware of the content of this unwritten manual.

Genuine legitimate indisputable cowboys have influenced my life. Over the years, I have asked them to tell me what it was a cowboy should know in order to live true to the code.

If the cowboy had an employee handbook, these men all agreed that these simple laws, no matter which outfit it was on, would be included:

·         Never ride another cowboy’s horse unless it’s a matter of life and death.
·         Never use another cowboy’s equipment without permission.
·         Never ride between another cowboy and the herd. Always ride behind him to get where you are going.
·         Don’t ride in front of the boss. He knows what he wants to do. He will let you know what he wants you to know. If he’s tracking cattle, stay back or you’ll mess up the tracks.
·         Never ride into the herd if you haven’t been asked to do so. If you are holding herd, hold the herd -- period. Helping to cut cattle from the herd is not a volunteer option.
·         Don’t ask the boss what you are going to do the next day. Again, if he wants you to know, he’ll tell you.
·         Always take care of your horse before you take care of yourself.
·         Always be on time. Nothing makes a cow boss quite as mad as having to wait on someone.
·         Cowboy, take that hat off! If you are in the presence of a lady or if you go into someone’s house, show your respect and hold that hat in your hand. Watch your language in mixed company. If you are sitting in a room and a lady enters, stand up.
·         Always help the cook with wood and water and don’t ever get into his grub unless he asks. Always put your plate and silverware in the roundup pan (dishpan) after you eat.
·         Don’t ever take a dog when you go to help another outfit. They may not like dogs. Never yell at another man’s dog.
·          Always roll your bedroll when you first get out of it. ALWAYS leave a clean camp.

The best advice my mentors could offer was to always be respectful, dependable and do your best at whatever it was you were asked to do. Manners count.

There is no one finer to be in the presence of than a gentleman cowboy.


Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com


NDAA - The Case of Private Rights Massacre

NDAA
The Case of Private Rights Massacre
Absurd and Suicidal Leadership
By Stephen L. Wilmeth


            My friend Myles Culbertson remains a disgusted democrat.
            In discussions over the past several years, I must admit I have given him a tough time regarding his political affiliation. The basis for our friendship, however, is not predicated on absolutes. Rather, the allegiance to our families and our industry, Agriculture, gives us ample common ground. More often than not, we agree on the fundamentals of that bond. The sanctity of family and private property rights allows us to emerge from any debate to stand united. On that basis, our friendship endures.
            The matter of the idiocy of the pending National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), though, draws attention to the vacuum between Myles and the Republican Party. It came to light in a spontaneous remark.
“Every time I think about changing affiliation I am reminded of why I don’t,” he once said. “I look at a republican and ask myself why I would want to be one of those!”
More than a few of us have been asking ourselves … the same question.
NDAA
To the political skeptic yet the unbending Constitutional devotee, the measure to fund this nation’s defense should be limited to military operations. That would necessarily include a package of tanks, a submarine or two, a number of equipped combat teams, the allocation of corrupt gratuity for clandestine operatives, worldwide catastrophe reparations, electronic camouflaging technology, a new front sign for Ft. Bliss (in Spanish), paper for congressional committee presentations, the recruitment of superior coaching talent at the military academies, 7.62 brass, NightForce scopes, rules of engagement critics, a unit train of purple hearts, billet machined actions, F-18 biofuel overhaul kits, unisex caps, meager wages, cadavers without thumb prints, portable mosques, a warehouse of Starbucks coffee, 8,232,001 miscellaneous items, and toilet paper.
What actually came out of the Armed Services panels of both chambers was a package negotiated by those bastions of military nemeses, the leadership of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources and House Natural Resources committees. NDAA has been morphed into an omnibus bill that includes the noted .308 brass along with an environmental dream of immense proportions.
In a hypocritical announcement of bipartisanship, even Doc Hastings (R-WA) is proclaiming victory. “The agreement offers a balanced approach to public land management, providing opportunities for new job creation and energy and mineral production, while simultaneously protecting special areas”, he said.
 He said nothing, though, about whether the United States would be prepared to fight the next dozen world conflicts. Combine that with what others have divulged and this matter must worry us all.
To the hinterlands
We didn’t expect to face this fight on this front. We thought we could trust Representative Hastings and Senator Inhofe (R-OK), ranking member of Senate Armed Services Committee.
The problem is those of us in the hinterlands have come to know what the terms “balanced approach” and “protecting special places” actually imply. Those are code words signifying members within our ranks are going to get hosed.
We view overlaying this omnibus approach into a defense spending package as a cowardice leadership facade. To exploit the funding of military needs with a concession toward more wilderness, more agency regulations, and more restrictions on private property rights in the West is unconscionable.
There is no balance.
Tax payers are in line for 11 more national parks!
The nation is going to get gored with another 250,000 acres of wilderness for the meager offset to release 26,000 acres of wilderness study areas.
Arizona is going to be ceded the right to create jobs in the Resolution copper project on 2,000 acres of federal land by giving up 5,000 acres of private land in a state that needs more government land ownership like Washington needs more politicians.
Section 3023 of the bill is actually rewriting parts of the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the act that promised the West certain usage rights of federal lands in a vacuum of private land ownership. In a first read through this monster bill, there is a suggestion that ‘looks’ will be overlaid into grazing permit renewal and transfer process. Does that mean that if somebody sells a permit it might wind up with zero value because the ‘look’ determines cattle numbers may be reduced or eliminated?
Martin Heinrich (D-NM) is one senator who seeks such federal grazing elimination. Moreover, he and Tom Udall (D-NM) are going to be rewarded in NDAA with the inclusion of another 45,000 acres of wilderness in northern New Mexico to go along with their 575,000 acres of federal, state, and private land national monument debacle in southern New Mexico that couldn’t pass legislatively on its own merit.
In fact, none of the 250,000 acres of wilderness involved has demonstrated worthiness or it would already be law. The more you read, the more you realize this is a continuing model of self-serving political exploitation on the backs of our military and the West.
That point is particularly illuminated when Paul Spitler of the Wilderness Society labels this whole package as a wilderness …“blockbuster”.
November results
Do Republicans understand the consequences of November?
Do they comprehend they were sanctioned to put their money where their mouth is with the demand to lead this nation out of an absurd and suicidal glide path toward destruction or do they think they got elected on their looks and tedious chatter?
The signs of sincerity and capability of doing what they promised in their campaign slogans and democratic lambasting are starting to appear curiously and hesitatingly tentative. What many of us have feared … the propensity for republicans to avoid conflict by annulling political advantages when actually placed in the leadership spotlight is already starting to be manifested.
When the news of NDAA hit the airwaves, our anger was immediate!
How dare this congress horse trade into another 1,648 page entanglement suggesting that it is a law of fairness and bipartisanship. The reality is we are embarking on another example of leadership tomfoolery that must be passed before we figure out what is in it and what the consequences will be to our freedoms.
In short, what the hell does a defense appropriation measure have to do with creating wilderness, rewriting the FLPMA, ostensibly streamlining oil and gas permitting, and nominating at least 67 additional provisions in a natural resources title of measures that should begin and end with munitions to kill our enemies?
This nation is in the throes of a systemic private rights massacre.
If NDAA is indeed a bipartisan victory, we can expect nothing new from this incoming republican congress. What we are witnessing is a continuation of citizenry sacrifice for a subversive environmental policy that has become an existential threat to the West, specifically, and to America’s economic base, in general.
If republicans waver and continue on this imbecilic path… their fate will be sealed in a similar November ambush.


Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “America has committed to a unilateral effort to create wilderness. This country is now feeling the affects of a policy that can only exist on the expansion of itself.”

First, I don't like the precedent of the House agreeing to land use legislation that hasn't even had a hearing in the House.

Second, I question the timing of this agreement.  Why not include the NDAA in the short-term CR and then negotiate these provisions when the Senate is controlled by the R's?

And third, this shows the R's are as guilty of package log-rolling on non-related legislation as the D's.  

Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) released the following statement on the House passage of the NDAA:

“Voting against the NDAA today was a difficult decision for me,” said Congressman Steve Pearce.  “As a Vietnam veteran, I always look to support the military and their families. However, the NDAA does not fully meet the needs of our troops and grossly expands the federal footprint in the West.”  “As well as being a veteran, I am the co-chair of the Congressional Western Caucus. In this capacity I have a responsibility to protect and fight for the West.  Included within this NDAA is a massive lands package, added at the last minute of negotiations.  Creating nearly 250,000 new acres of wilderness that will greatly restrict multiple use on the lands, is simply unacceptable.  Already extremely disadvantaged by massive amounts of public lands, the West continues to be under attack by environmental and special interest groups that degrade the Western way of life.  In the past year, New Mexico has seen this first hand with the President designating a nearly 500,000-acre monument, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. While the bill does include a small allocation for local governments through a payment system called Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILT), this does little to offset the dramatic damages this package will have to access and ranching in the West.”...

Baxter Black: Try Me, a rodeo story

When Marvin Garrett nodded his head, no one knew that 8 seconds later the Thomas and Mack Arena would be covered with goose bumps.

Marvin drew “Try Me” in the fourth round at the National Finals Rodeo 1989. He marked her out and hung the steel to’er like the rods on a Union Pacific driver! “Try Me” jumped the track! She slid, slipped and rolled around inside her skin! She punched holes in the arena dirt!

Somewhere in the last 2 seconds, Marvin reached his limit. Everything in his firebox — experience, intuition, talent and training — were at full throttle and blowin’ blue smoke! It was then, over the din of 15,000 rabid fans, Marvin reached down inside himself, I heard him whisper, “Yer mine.”

The hair stood up on the back of my neck. The buckin’ horse went down! From where I sat 60 rows up, it looked like Marvin’s shoulders actually hit the ground. His legs pistoned; the horse exploded; she climbed out of that hold with Marvin stuck to’er like a remora on a shark’s belly.

I don’t believe you could’a cut Marvin loose with an acetylene torch.

The whistle blew. The crowd went wild. Marvin tipped his hat. But if you’d touched him at that moment it would’a been like layin’ your hand on an electric motor. He was hummin’!

The case of the missing 13th amendment to the Constitution

by Scott Bomboy

A few years ago, a group of Iowa Republicans claimed the legitimate 13th Amendment to the Constitution was “missing.” The debate is part of a historical detective story with some surprising twists that is still taking place.

The Daily Beast did a fairly extensive feature on the missing amendment in 2010, which didn’t feature a cloaked Freemason stealing the amendment because it had a secret treasure map printed on it.

Instead, the debate between historians and conspiracy buffs is about an amendment that was almost ratified in 1812 that would have been the 13th Amendment, bumping back the current 13th Amendment–which was ratified on this day in 1865 and abolished slavery–to the position of the 14th Amendment.

Writer Jerry Adler’s 2010 explanation of the “Thirteenthers” controversy is pretty detailed and covers both sides of the issue—which isn’t new but got a big burst of publicity thanks to the Iowa GOP’s 2010 platform.

The Iowa Republicans didn’t want the current 13th Amendment banned; they just wanted the “original” one reintroduced for approval.

That “missing” proposal was called the “Titles of Nobility Amendment” (or TONA). It sought to ban any American citizen from receiving any foreign title of nobility or receiving foreign favors, such as a pension, without congressional approval. The penalty was loss of citizenship.

It was an extension of Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, which doesn’t allow a public office holder to receive a foreign title or similar honors without the consent of Congress.

Today, the idea of a constitutional controversy about the royals may seem kind of silly, but in 1812, the United States was fighting the British and had a rocky relationship with France.

The fear of both nations using noble titles as bribes, along with pensions from a foreign government, was persistent. And both the Senate and the House easily passed the TONA and passed it on to the states.
By late 1812, a total of 12 states had approved the 13th Amendment and ironically, it needed a 13th state to become ratified. As the War of 1812 escalated, the TONA faded away as an issue and was never ratified.

Or so we think.

In the 1980s, Adler says a conspiracy researcher started finding copies of the Constitution from the pre-Civil War era that had TONA listed as the 13th Amendment. The premise was that Virginia’s legislature had approved the amendment in 1819, but somehow, it was never listed as accepted by the federal government.

Further research revealed that President James Monroe asked his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, to confirm that the TONA was never ratified, which he did.

A law journal article from 1999 by Jol A. Silversmith, an attorney, explains how the TONA appeared in widely published versions of the Constitution for more than 30 years, including the official United States Statutes at Large (an official compilation of laws published by the government in 1815).



Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

Obama Deputies Free 30,862 Foreign Criminals

President Barack Obama’s immigration deputies released 30,862 foreign criminals into the United States’ cities and neighborhoods, according to a federal document. The document also showed that Obama repatriated less than 1 percent of the 12 million illegals living in the United States during the 12 months up to October 2014. Officials also repatriated only 8,805 of the roughly 180,000 unskilled Central American migrants who flooded across the border since 2011, according to the “Fiscal Year 2014 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operation Report.”  Immigration enforcement has been destroyed by this President,” Sen. Jeff Sessions said in a Dec. 5 statement. Enforcement was so lax that 129,921 illegals — including 30,862 criminals — were released back into American neighborhoods rather than being sent home. Overall repatriations are down sharply, to 315,943 in 2014, from 409,849 in 2012. Roughly 130,000 Central American migrants crossed the border in 2014, including roughly 66,000 adults and children in so-called family units.” Only 852 of those individuals were sent home — the rest were invited to apply for green cards, attend schools, take jobs and receive some federal aid while their cases are resolved by courts over several years...more

ObamaCare and your cows

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on November 25 that “chain restaurants, similar retail food establishments and vending machines with 20 or more locations” must post calorie counts on their menus or menu boards. The new rules were required by a provision in the Affordable Care Act.  Neither CBS, nor NBC interviewed any food experts who disagreed with the new regulations when they reported on the FDA’s announcement during their evening broadcasts November 25. Instead, both networks’ coverage overwhelmingly supported the regulations rather than questioning the effectiveness of the new rules.  According to the November 25 Wall Street Journal, complying with these regulations will cost $1 billion during the first year alone and “hundreds of millions of dollars” subsequently...more 

Michelle O's messed up school lunches, and this is the first step in messin' up the rest.

NM Girl Shoots Mountain Lion in Self Defense

Alyssa Caldwell and her father had been hunting all day. The weather had been nasty; cloudy skies with snow and rain alternating. They had seen a few elk, much too far away to take a shot. They left their makeshift blind to see if they could spot another elk before the end of the day. It was the middle of the afternoon. At 12, Alyssa was already an experienced huntress. She had started shooting at 5, and had a new rifle, a stainless Howa 1500, as her elk gun. They had only gone a few hundred yards when her father remembered that he had left the shooting sticks back at the blind. He told Alyssa to wait while he went back to retrieve them. It sounds like the start of a horror movie. A young blond girl, left alone in the wilderness by circumstance, the weather cloudy and rainy and cold, darkness only a couple of hours away. Less than a minute later, she saw it. A cat. A big cat, stalking her, only a car length away. The cat crouched, ready to spring. Alyssa shouldered the rifle and fired point blank. It was too close to use the scope. She worked the bolt, ready to fire again. One shot from the 30-06 had been enough. The 165 grain Accubond Nosler projectile had skinned the cheek, hitting the lion facing her at the junction of neck and shoulder, traveling the length of its body, killing it instantly.  Mountain lion attacks have been on the rise in recent decades, as lion populations have grown and hunting has been curtailed.  There is only one documented case of a 12 year-old girl shooting a lion in self defense, and that is Alyssa.  It happened on October 19th of this year, 2014.  The lion appears to have been in classic predatory mode, stalking the smaller prey in the opportune moment that the larger animal had left the young unprotected.  The big cat did not know how deadly an armed human girl could be.   Joshua Caldwell returned to Alyssa at the shot, thinking his daughter had downed an elk.    The mountain lion demanded immediate action, so they returned to their family to report it.  The shooting sticks remained behind.  It took a day for the New Mexico officials to reach the remote hunting spot on San Antonio Mountain.  It is a rugged area north of Albuquerque near the Colorado border.  Once there, the officials investigated and ruled the shooting a case of self defense.   They took the cat and left the family to continue their hunt...more

Saturday, December 06, 2014

JalapeƱo study to benefit NM growers

New Mexico is famous for its green chile. Now, the Chile Pepper Institute in Las Cruces is working to come up with the perfect New Mexico jalapeƱo flavor. The sight, smells and flavor of green chile is associated with New Mexican pride. But locals may be surprised to know which pepper is more popular across the country. “Nationwide, jalapeƱos do sell more,” explained Paul Bosland, Director of the Chile Pepper Institute, and Horticulture Professor at New Mexico State University. Bosland and his students are working on a study that could make the state’s jalapeƱos a hot commodity. “Our mission is to help our New Mexico chile growers be competitive,” said Bosland. Bosland explained it’s all about the science behind the spicy product. “It’s not only jalapeƱos, but all chiles,” Bosland told KRQE News 13. “There’s a trend with fruits and vegetables to be more flavorful and more tasty.” “I always like to use the analogy of wine,” Bosland explained. “We know the flavor components that make a merlot versus a cabernet, and what we’d like to know, well what are those flavor compounds in chiles?” JalapeƱos are a key ingredient for lots of fan favorites. They’re in salsa, guacamole and serve as popular side items for ballpark snacks nationwide...more

Friday, December 05, 2014

Virginia brewery taps 300-year-old beer recipe

What do you get when you combine water, American persimmons and hops and ferment it with yeast? A beer based on a 300-year-old recipe scribbled in a cookbook kept by Virginia's prominent Randolph family. Ardent Craft Ales in Richmond recently brewed "Jane's Percimon Beer" unearthed from the book in the Virginia Historical Society's collections from the 1700s that contains food, medicinal remedies and beer recipes. The formula for the Colonial-era concoction is one of thousands of alcoholic recipes in the society's collection that provide a glimpse into what Virginians and others were drinking in the 18th century and other points in history. "You can feel a connection across time when you're drinking something that maybe hasn't been drunk for a couple hundred years," said Paul Levengood, president and CEO of the Virginia Historical Society, a privately funded nonprofit that collects, preserves and interprets the state's history. "It's a fun way to bring the past into the present." The libation is considered a table beer, clocking in at an extremely easy-drinking 3 percent or less of alcohol by volume. That would be pretty typical of alcoholic beverages of the time that were enjoyed with many meals. In 1790, annual per-capita alcohol consumption for those over age 15 was 34 gallons of beer and cider, five gallons of distilled spirits and one gallon of wine, according to US government figures cited in an article in the "Colonial Williamsburg" history magazine...more

 Damn, I'd like to "feel a connection" right now.

Defense bill hits snag over land swaps, wilderness

Quick passage of a sweeping defense policy bill hit a snag on Wednesday over public lands, dividing Senate Republicans. The $585 billion measure authorizing funds for the military includes several unrelated bills to expand wilderness areas in the West and expand the program streamlining oil and gas permits, a popular step with western state lawmakers. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., objected to their inclusion and promised to block any attempt to quickly finish the bill next week in the final days of the lame-duck session. "A bill that defines the needs of our nation's defense is hardly the proper place to trample on private property rights," Coburn wrote in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Nor is it the place to restrict access to hunting, fishing and other recreational opportunities on massive swaths of taxpayer-supported lands."...more

Boy, are we gonna miss Senator Coburn of Oklahoma, who is retiring.  Instead we are stuck with R's like Senator Murkowski who somehow believes restricting people's access to federal lands (Wilderness) creates jobs:

In a closed-door GOP lunch, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski argued that the wilderness expansion and other changes create jobs...

Is she thinking that Wilderness will create more federal jobs?  How does not managing the lands require more employees than managing it?  Besides, Section 2(b) of the Wilderness Act states:

No appropriation shall be available for the payment of expenses or salaries for the administration of the National Wilderness Preservation System as a separate unit nor shall any appropriations be available for additional personnel stated as being required solely for the purpose of managing or administering areas solely because they are included within the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Perhaps we have a new statesman in Senator Cruz of Texas:

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined Coburn in criticizing the legislation, complaining about the designation of 250,000 acres of new wilderness, in addition to 15 new national park units or expansions and three new wild and scenic river designations.  "With the military's shrinking budget, it is offensive that this bill would be used to fund congressional pork. And, at a time where jobs are scarce and the federal government has removed billions of acres of land from productive use, Congress should not be restricting more than a half-million new acres," Cruz said in a statement.

Notice that both Senators who are proceeding as statesmen on this issue are from non-federal lands states. 

R.J. Smith with the National Center for Public Policy Research hits the issue hard

The leaders of both parties have cut a dark-of-night deal to slip a public lands lock-up package into the murky depths of the nearly 2,000 page National Defense Authorization Act. The federal lands package will take still more of the so-called public lands -- lands supposedly owned by all the people and available for multiple use -- and lock them up for the benefit of elite minorities and pressure groups in mainly limited-use or non-use categories, preventing their use by or benefit to the vast majority of the American people. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land all across the West will be permanently locked up. Still more un-inventoried land will be locked up as Wilderness Areas, set aside and left completely unmanaged to serve as source of forest disease, insect infestation, degradation, death and catastrophic wildfires. America already has over 107 MILLION acres of its lands permanently locked up as Wilderness, which is an area larger than the state of California plus Massachusetts. There is hardly a pressing need for any additional Wilderness.  

And nobody sums it up better than our own Caren Cowan:

"This is a continuation of the governance by blackmail," Cowan said. "The national defense authorization is vital to our nation and those who serve in the military. It should not be used as a bargaining chip for land grabs. Working on land packages in this manner is a disservice to the land and the people who enjoy it."


‘They Know Their Lands Better Than We Do’: Sally Jewell on Tribal Keystone XL Opposition

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell invoked not only tribal sovereignty but also environmental expertise when she spoke to MSNBC’s JosĆ© DĆ­az-Balart about the Keystone XL pipeline, which many tribes oppose. “I think the fact that the tribal nations are standing up saying, ‘We are concerned about this. We are concerned about water quality. We’re concerned about tribal sovereignty. We’re concerned about what this pipeline may do for our lands and our rights,’ needs to be heard,” she said when he asked her to put tribal opposition to Keystone in context. “In my role as secretary of the interior we will make sure that there’s a platform for those tribal voices to be heard,” she said. “And I think they will make a very effective case because they know their lands better than we do.” In the end it will all come down to the State Department, she said, which will make the pipeline decision “by listening to all of the facts and information they have,” including tribal voices...more


If they are depending on Sally Jewell to listen to local voices, they need to pow wow with the folks in Dona Ana County.  

Jewell says, "...they know their lands better than we do."  Too bad she doesn't feel the same way about non-Native Americans.

EPA, Corps May Withdraw Interpretive Rule On Permit-Exempt Conservation Practices

The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers haven't ruled out the option of withdrawing a non-binding interpretive rule that outlines agricultural conservation practices that would be exempt from Clean Water Act dredge-and-fill permits due to the confusion it has caused among farmers and ranchers, an Agriculture Department official said Dec. 3. “It is one of the options that is being considered,” Jason Weller, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, told Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. The committee convened the hearing to examine voluntary approaches by farmers and ranchers to improve water and soil quality. Roberts, who will take over as the committee chairman when the 114th Congress convenes in January, asked Weller why the agencies even chose to single out 56 conservation practices as being exempt when the Clean Water Act already exempts all normal agricultural and silvicultural practices from a requirement to obtain Section 404 dredge-and-fill permits. Weller deferred to the EPA and the corps on the need to issue the interpretive rule, saying they are reviewing the 1 million or so comments received on the waters of the U.S. proposed rule...more 



 Weller then testifies:

At the same time, Weller defended the agencies, saying “their intent was good, but unfortunately a lot of concerns were raised,” and much confusion has ensued as a result of the conservation practices that were identified in the interpretive rule.

Their intent was good? And the only reason they may withdraw that section is because all of us country rubes are "confused"? 

Residents living near Petroglyphs National Monument still worried about flood hazards

For one Albuquerque neighborhood, Thursday's rain was not the most welcome sight. A torrential downpour last year sent an avalanche of mud down from the Petroglyphs barreling through their fences and filling their backyards. It took months to clean up, and Thursday, KOB learned there's still no solution in place – not even a temporary one. There are proposals on the table for temporary and permanent solutions, but the federal government and city government have to work together on the project, and one can imagine how much red tape that has caused. "There always a concern here, because as your can see, the trench and all the rocks and stuff…it's always a concern," said Chris Sena, whose home backs up to the Petroglyph National Monument. 2013's downpour opened up the trench behind his house and sent a mudslide into his backyard. He and his family have since cleaned out the mud and rebuilt strong back walls, but every time it rains, it's a reminder that there's still no real solution to prevent it from happening again. "It's going to be a mess if they don't do anything soon, I'm sure. This rain is scary because you never know Mother Nature," Sena said. The City of Albuquerque proposed a quick fix to the problem by installing hay bales along the base of the hill behind homes. But with the city and federal governments both working on the project, the quick fix is anything but...more

I don't understand.  What about all those jobs and other wonderful things that happen with a national monument?

Here's the KOB-TV report:

‘The Homesman’ is a bleak, beautiful look at life in 1850s Nebraska

Brutal. Tommy Lee Jones’ “The Homesman” is a stark and beautiful and bleak portrait of life in the Midwest in the 1850s. The Nebraska territory is so unforgiving, conditions so harsh, you wonder why anyone chose to live there. This is more of a Midwestern than a pure Western, and it contains not an ounce of romance about the time period. There’s no majestic score, no choreographed gunfight, no scene where the hero walks into a saloon in the middle of the day and it’s filled with gamblers, roustabouts and women of ill repute. “The Homesman” is a film about women who go mad after having to bury their children, ranchers barely eking out a living and bargains that are struck in the name of survival. Hilary Swank, as good as she’s ever been (and we’re talking about a two-time Academy Award winner), is Mary Bee Cuddy, who lives alone on a small patch of land, doing the back-breaking work herself while comporting herself as a lady. (After a hard day plowing the fields, Mary Bee washes up and tidies up her home, meticulously placing a vase of flowers just so on the table.) Mary Bee’s in search of a husband, but as a neighboring farmer bluntly tells her after she’s cooked him dinner, sung a tune for him and proposed marriage, she’s far too bossy and plain...more

The Battle of Rattlesnake Springs

On August 6, 1880 two companies of Colonel Benjamin Grierson’s African-American 10th Cavalry troopers from Fort Davis defeated a band of Apaches led by the Warm Springs chief Victorio and turned them back into Mexico, where Victorio was shortly afterward killed. Grierson himself directed the battle. The fight was at a place called Rattlesnake Springs, just west of the highway and about 40 miles north of Van Horn. Victorio’s band had left the Mescalero Apache reservation, near Ruidoso, New Mexico in September 1879 and for the next 11 months struck terror in the hearts of ranchers and settlers in New Mexico, Chihuahua, and West Texas as they raided back and forth across the region, crossing the border into Mexico when the army got too close. In June of 1880 Grierson got word that Victorio intended to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico and slip back to the Mescalero Reservation to replenish his ammunition and recruit more warriors. Grierson’s strategy for intercepting him was to place small detachments of troops at the water holes that he knew Vicrorio’s men would have to use on their journey. On July 29, 1880, Grierson was on his way from Fort Quitman with an escort of a lieutenant and six African-American soldiers to Eagle Springs, near Sierra Blanca, to personally direct part of this operation. He was accompanied by his 20-year old son, Robert, who had just graduated from high school (he was a late bloomer) and was spending the summer with his father at Fort Concho. In his official report of the incident, Grierson wrote that his son “was out in search of adventure and suddenly found it.” As his party reached the eastern end of Quitman Canyon he got word that a large group of Indians had crossed the Rio Grande and was headed north. Determined to intercept them, even though he had only 7 soldiers, he made his camp that evening in the rocks above an intermittent waterhole called Tinaja de las Palmas, where he knew Victorio would have to stop, and sent messages to both Fort Quitman and Eagle Springs asking for reinforcements...more

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Livestock grazing language in NDAA


Below is the grazing language in the NDAA.  The bill is 1648 pages long, and this language starts on page 1187.  You can see the entire bill here.  I'm not sure we have gained much as this has been handled on a yearly basis through appropriations language.  The enviros got 250,000 acres of Wilderness (45,000 in NM), plus more parks (including Valles Caldera) and wild & scenic rivers.


SEC. 3023. GRAZING PERMITS AND LEASES.
Section 402 of the Federal Land Policy and Manage-
ment Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1752) is amended—
 (1) in subsection (c)—
 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2),
and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), re-
spectively;
 (B) by striking ‘‘So long as’’ and inserting
the following:
 ‘‘(1) RENEWAL OF EXPIRING OR TRANSFERRED
PERMIT OR LEASE
.—During any period in which’’;
and
 (C) by adding at the end the following:
 ‘‘(2) CONTINUATION OF TERMS UNDER NEW
PERMIT OR LEASE
.—The terms and conditions in a
grazing permit or lease that has expired, or was ter-
minated due to a grazing preference transfer, shall
be continued under a new permit or lease until the
date on which the Secretary concerned completes
any environmental analysis and documentation for
the permit or lease required under the National En-
vironmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.) and other applicable laws.
 ‘‘(3) COMPLETION OF PROCESSING
.—As of the
date on which the Secretary concerned completes the
processing of a grazing permit or lease in accordance
with paragraph (2), the permit or lease may be can-
celed, suspended, or modified, in whole or in part.
 ‘‘(4) ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS
.—The Sec-
retary concerned shall seek to conduct environmental
reviews on an allotment or multiple allotment basis,
to the extent practicable, if the allotments share
similar ecological conditions, for purposes of compli-
ance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and other applicable
laws.’’;
 (2) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub-
section (j); and
 (3) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol-
lowing:
 ‘‘(h) NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF 1969.—
 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL
.—The issuance of a grazing
permit or lease by the Secretary concerned may be
categorically excluded from the requirement to pre-
pare an environmental assessment or an environ-
mental impact statement under the National Envi-
ronmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.) if—
 ‘‘(A) the issued permit or lease continues
the current grazing management of the allot-
ment; and
 ‘‘(B) the Secretary concerned—
 ‘‘(i) has assessed and evaluated the
grazing allotment associated with the lease
or permit; and
 ‘‘(ii) based on the assessment and
evaluation under clause (i), has determined
that the allotment—
 ‘‘(I) with respect to public land
administered by the Secretary of the
Interior—
 ‘‘(aa) is meeting land health
standards; or
 ‘‘(bb) is not meeting land
health standards due to factors
other than existing livestock
grazing; or
 ‘‘(II) with respect to National
Forest System land administered by
the Secretary of Agriculture—
 ‘‘(aa) is meeting objectives
in the applicable land and re-
source management plan; or
 ‘‘(bb) is not meeting the ob-
jectives in the applicable land re-
source management plan due to
factors other than existing live-
stock grazing.
 ‘‘(2) TRAILING AND CROSSING
.—The trailing
and crossing of livestock across public land and Na-
tional Forest System land and the implementation of
trailing and crossing practices by the Secretary con-
cerned may be categorically excluded from the re-
quirement to prepare an environmental assessment
or an environmental impact statement under the Na-
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.).
 ‘‘(i) PRIORITY AND TIMING FOR COMPLETION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSES
.—The Secretary concerned, in
the sole discretion of the Secretary concerned, shall deter-
mine the priority and timing for completing each required
environmental analysis with respect to a grazing allot-
ment, permit, or lease based on—
 ‘‘(1) the environmental significance of the graz-
ing allotment, permit, or lease; and
 ‘‘(2) the available funding for the environmental
analysis.’’.

Change protects wolf release

By Chad Smith

The New Mexico State Game Commission, at their meeting in Espanola on Nov. 13, took action that hunters, hikers and ranchers are applauding since it ensures state control over the reintroduction process for the Mexican gray wolf population.

The commission unanimously approved an amendment to the rule detailing the holding and releasing of a carnivore. The new section states, "The state game commission must review any permit application for the possession or use of any carnivore that is held, possessed or released on private property for the purpose of recovery, reintroduction, conditioning, establishment or re-establishment in New Mexico."

Why is this an important layer of protection for our state's hunters, hikers, bikers and ranchers? Because it makes it illegal for pro-wolf activists to release privately held wolves in our state. Imagine the consequences if you were in the Lincoln National Forest outside of Ruidoso and were not aware of the possibility of wolves, and thus were not vigilant. Your inattention could be fatal.

But who would expect a wolf in that area, 200 miles from Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, the boundaries of which are currently centered in the Apache-Sitgreaves and Gila National Forests? Pro-wolf activists are not only expecting it, they are advocating for it. At a United States Fish and Wildlife Service meeting held Aug. 13 in Truth or Consequences, changes were proposed to the current Mexican gray wolf re-introduction plan that would change both the habitat and current management guidelines. The designated habitat of the wolf would expand dramatically so that wolves "found" in the Mexican Wolf Experimental Population Area (MWEPA) would not be relocated but would be allowed to stay. The MWEPA consists of 60 percent of the state, stretching south from I-40 and across from the California/Arizona line to the New Mexico/Texas line. Not only are wandering wolves in this zone allowed to remain, but at the request of a land-owner, adult wolves can be released on private land. There is no minimum-sized land holdings required for the agreement, and the release can occur without the consent of the land-holder's neighbors.  



Chad Smith is the CEO of New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau, an 18,000 member organization comprised of farmers and ranchers, and those who are interested in private property rights and a local food supply. NMF&LB is the state's largest, private agricultural organization and was founded in 1917.

California wildlife board bans coyote hunting derbies

California wildlife officials on Wednesday banned coyote hunting contests that have sparked a culture clash by offering cash and other prizes to marksmen who killed the most animals. It was the first ban of its kind in the U.S., according to Camilla Fox, executive director of Project Coyote, which petitioned the state to end the popular contests that occur almost every month in California or nearby states. The vote by the state Fish and Game Commission allows hunters to shoot as many of the predators as they wish year-round, but stops the awarding of prizes...more

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Wyoming fence law targets unlawful grazing

A bill that would make it a crime to unlawfully allow livestock to graze on neighboring lands will be sponsored by the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Agriculture committee. The legislation makes it a misdemeanor to open a gate or remove a fence for the purpose of allowing livestock to graze on neighboring lands outside the landowner's land use rights. The charge carries a fine of up to $750. Jim Magagna, executive director of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said at the group’s 2014 Annual Winter Meeting that the law is aimed to keep owners of small ranchettes from releasing overcrowded animals on larger ranches' private lands. “Somebody might have 40 acres and they think they can put 50 head of horses on that,” he said. “It doesn’t work. They run out of something to eat and they look to larger pastures with grass owned by a rancher and think 'Let’s just leave the gate open; the horses will get filled up and when they’re full come back home.'”...more

Pendley to Speak at Joint Stockmen’s Convention

William Perry Pendley, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at the 2014 Joint Stockmen’s Convention Family Luncheon, sponsored by Farm Credit of New Mexico, on Friday, December 5. 
“Mountain States Legal Foundation is one of the biggest champions that we in agriculture – as individuals, as landowners and as family enterprises - have,” said Jose Varela Lopez, New Mexico Cattle Growers Association (NMCGA) President, La Cieneguilla.  “We are looking forward to Mr. Pendley’s insights.”
The Mountain States Legal Foundation is a grassroots organization that provides legal representation to individuals, local governments and small businesses to protect constitutional freedoms, individual liberty and property rights.
Pendley, a native of Wyoming, received B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics and Political Science from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps, after which he received his J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law.  He served as an attorney to former Senator Clifford P. Hansen (R-Wyoming) and to the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee. During the Reagan Administration, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy and Minerals of the Department of Interior, where he authored President Reagan's National Minerals Policy and Exclusive Economic Zone proclamation. He was a consultant to former Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman, Jr., and was engaged in the private practice of law in the Washington, D.C., area before his return to the West in 1989. 
He has argued cases before the Supreme Court of the United States as well as various federal courts of appeals; he won what Time called a "legal earthquake" when the Supreme Court ruled in his favor in the historic Adarand (equal protection) case. His monthly column, Summary Judgment, appears throughout the country; he is the author of four books: It Takes A Hero (1994); War on the West (1995); Warriors for the West (2006); and Sagebrush Rebel (2013).
The annual Joint Stockmen’s Convention, set for December 4-7 at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North, brings together members of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association (NMCGA), the New Mexico Wool Growers, Inc. (NMWGI), Dairy Producers of New Mexico (DPNM), the New Mexico CowBelles (NMCB) and the New Mexico Federal Lands Council (NMFLC).  For more information, contact the NMCGA at (505) 247-0584 or visit www.nmagriculture.org.
-30-

Major package of wilderness, parks and energy bills hitches ride on defense authorization



In a major bipartisan breakthrough, House and Senate lawmakers last night successfully attached a slew of public lands and energy bills to the defense authorization bill that Congress hopes to pass in the coming week.

If passed, the dozens of bills would represent -- by far -- the largest public lands package advanced by Congress since the 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act.

The package, negotiated by leaders on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources and House Natural Resources committees and backed by leaders on the Armed Service panels in both chambers, represents a major compromise between conservation and development interests.

It would designate nearly 250,000 acres of new wilderness in a handful of Western states while preserving hundreds of thousands of additional acres from drilling and mining in states, including Montana and Colorado.

It would also allow the Bureau of Land Management to expedite oil and gas and grazing permits, promote a copper mine in Arizona and convey federal timberlands to an Alaska Native-owned corporation in the Tongass National Forest -- all major Republican priorities.

In total, there appear to be roughly 70 provisions in the natural resources title of the 1,648-page National Defense Authorization Act, which was crafted by members of the House and Senate Armed Services panels.

...It remains to be seen whether senators who have historically opposed omnibus parks packages -- including Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) -- will oppose the package once it reaches the Senate floor.
It's also unclear whether the measure will garner opposition from any major environmental groups.
Like the 2009 omnibus bill -- which contained a controversial bill by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to authorize a road through an Alaska wilderness area -- the package attached to NDAA contains some potential poison pills for green groups.

They include a proposal by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to swap lands in Arizona to build a copper mine and a bill by Murkowski to convey tens of thousands of acres of the Tongass National Forest to Juneau, Alaska-based Sealaska Corp., allowing the clearcutting of some old-growth trees. The package also appears to have a proposal by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) to expedite grazing permits on public lands.
Some environmental activists yesterday were girding to oppose the package if it included those three provisions.

...Also included was a bill by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) to designate the 45,000-acre Columbine-Hondo wilderness in Taos County, N.M.

"We are closer than ever to making historic gains in protecting some of New Mexico's most treasured landscapes," Heinrich said yesterday in a statement. "From designating the Columbine-Hondo as wilderness, increasing public access to the Valles Caldera, and establishing the Manhattan National Historical Park, to streamlining the oil and gas drilling permit process, these provisions will have a significant impact on growing our economy."