Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Judge strikes down California ban on foie gras

They tried to ban large sodas in New York City, but the courts said “no.” And now the same thing has happened to the ban on foie gras in California. West Coast nanny-state proponents took a hit Wednesday when a federal judge struck down the state’s two-year-old prohibition on foie gras, a delicacy made from fattened duck or goose liver. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson said in his opinion that California health and safety codes that ban restaurants from serving foie gras run afoul of federal law, namely the Poultry Products Inspections Act. According to the judge, this federal statute supersedes any state law in governing the production and sale of the pate. The California state legislature passed a foie gras ban in 2004 under pressure from animal rights advocates, who argued that foie gras is inhumane because it is traditionally made by force-feeding birds in order to enlarge their livers. The law went into effect in 2012 after legal challenges failed, but it was habitually undermined by restauranteurs who continued to serve foie gras, saying they were not selling it but giving it away as a gift, which is not prohibited under the law. Chef Ken Frank of La Toque restaurant in Napa, who was sued by the Animal Legal Defense Fund for continuing to serve foie gras, sponsored an essay contest in June on the topic, “Why California’s Foie Gras Ban Is Foolish,” according to San Francisco Eater. Foodies rejoiced at the decision. Mr. Frank posted a celebratory message on Twitter shortly after the judge’s ruling was issued Wednesday: “Foie Gras is legal again in California. On the menu tonight.”...more

Does Yosemite Really Need $435,000 of Military Equipment?

Assault rifles, knives, tactical vests, night vision goggles, infrared-monitoring devices. It sounds like the gear for a company deployed to a Middle Eastern war zone, right? Wrong. This bevy of aggressive military equipment belongs to the National Park Service, according to new information released in November. It’s enough to make one think some villainous entity plans a full-scale invasion of our park system. The NPS quietly started acquiring high-end, military-grade weaponry from the U.S. Department of Defense 25 years ago. The initiative was part of the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which has distributed approximately $5 billion in military equipment to law enforcement agencies across the country since 1990. The initial goal was to bolster the police’s fight against drugs, but it was expanded in 1997 to let all agencies acquire military-grade equipment for “bona fide law enforcement purposes.” The program's come under fire recently as police violence has spurred protests across the nation. The images from Ferguson showed a law enforcement force that looked more like a military unit in hostile foreign territory than local police. In response, President Barack Obama released a report in December proposing to limit a law enforcement agency’s ability to get military equipment, but he stopped short of advocating to end the 1033 program. While the general outline of the weapons giveaway initiative has been widely reported, it wasn’t until late November that the Pentagon released details on the 1033 program following intense pressure from the media and civil liberties organizations. According to data from The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news outlet, the National Park Service has acquired roughly 4,100 pieces of equipment worth about $6 million since the program’s inception...more

Senator maps GOP strategy on environment

Senate Republicans are planning a full-on assault against a wide range of the Obama administration’s environmental rules, with a focus on overturning them or cutting their funding. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, told reporters Wednesday that the Congressional Review Act (CRA) will be a primary tool for the GOP. The CRA, a key piece of Republicans’ Contract with America in the 1990s, allows an expedited route for Congress to vote to overturn regulations, including those from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Inhofe is prioritizing fights against the EPA’s climate rules for power plants, its rule to redefine its Clean Water Act jurisdiction, potential limits on methane emissions for the oil gas sectors and ozone pollution limits. But the GOP will also battle Obama on larger fronts, such as the “social cost of carbon,” the internal accounting it uses to calculate the benefits of climate change regulations. Inhofe identified a total of six priorities for the committee, including infrastructure, changing the Endangered Species Act, rewriting the Toxic Substances Control Act and overseeing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission...more

FAA approves drones for ag use

Until now, the only nonhobbyist drones flying over crops in the U.S. were part of sanctioned studies or were operated by growers ignoring a ban on drone use for commercial purposes. The commercial drone industry - which experts estimate could be worth billions of dollars, serving a collage of other industries - has been on hold for years as the Federal Aviation Administration has struggled to develop rules for commercial drones' safe operation. But one small Treasure Valley company - Advanced Aviation Solutions, or Adavso - received the FAA's blessing Monday for its drone services. Adavso became the 13th business in the country and the first agriculture-based company to receive exemption from current FAA rules. An unmanned aviation vehicle, or drone, can snap hundreds of photos through infrared filters as it flies over farm fields, producing images that computers analyze to identify crops affected by insects, disease and lack of water or nutrients. The drone imaging helps farmers find and treat problems without spending hours or days traversing fields to spot problems from the ground...more

Green Power Would Make Life Nasty, Brutish And Short

...Three centuries ago, the world ran on green power. Wood was used for heating and cooking, charcoal for smelting and smithing, wind or water power for pumps, mills and ships, and whale oil for lamps. People and soldiers walked or rode horses, and millions of horses and oxen pulled ploughs, wagons, coaches and artillery.

But smoke from open fires choked cities, forests were stripped of trees, most of the crops went to feed draft animals, and streets were littered with horse manure. For many people, life was "nasty, brutish and short."

Then the steam engine was developed, and later the internal combustion engine, electricity and refrigeration came along. Green power was replaced by coal and oil. Carbon energy powered factories, mills, pumps, ships, trains, and smelters; and cars, trucks and tractors replaced the work-horses. The result was a green revolution — forests began to regrow and vast areas of cropland used for horse feed were released to produce food for humans. Poverty declined and population soared.

...Already urban environmentalists are polluting city air by burning wood and briquetted paper in stoves and home heaters, and trying to prevent millions in Asia and Africa from getting cleaner energy. Other misguided nations are clearing forests and transporting low-energy wood chips to burn in distant power stations. And the high costs of green energy are already forcing some poor people to burn old books and strip parks and forests for firewood.

In addition, crops that once fed people are now making "green" ethanol to fuel cars, and native forests are being cleared and burnt to make way for more fuel crops. Our modern iron "Horses" are eating the crops again.




Oil driller says its high-tech rigs can’t compete with cheap crude

Even the most technologically advanced drilling rigs are finding less work as oil prices crash. Oklahoma oil driller Helmerich & Payne expects 40 to 50 of its souped-up drilling machines to come off the market over the next few weeks, after 11 of those models went idle in the past month, it said in an investor presentation Tuesday. The firm added it has seen spot prices for its so-called FlexRig units fall 10 percent, and some oil companies are dropping out of contracts early. It’s a marked decline for rigs that had emerged in recent years better equipped than old mechanical models to take on dense shale formations, powered by AC top drives and capable of “walking” between drill sites with huge mechanical feet. Pressure on those rigs shows just how widespread the impact of the oil’s $58-a-barrel slide will be, as Helmerich & Payne’s new models are the cream of the crop in the U.S. land rig market, said Rob Desai, an analyst with Edward Jones. “H&P is one of the stronger operators,” Desai said. “Other players are probably going to be hit even harder.” Twenty-six U.S. land rigs stopped working last week, with a dozen of those idled in Texas, according to Baker Hughes, which has reported declines in the U.S. rig count for four straight weeks. Fourteen of last week’s idled rigs were horizontal drillers, which target shale plays...more

Forest Service yanks $10M contract to boost its public image

The U.S. Forest Service has abruptly decided not to spend $10 million on a five-year nationwide public relations campaign to brand itself as a public agency that cares about people and nature. The agency was planning on the campaign at a time when it’s struggling to pay for fighting wildfires, maintaining trails and offering timber for sale. It has also faced a major public backlash in the West over plans to close trails and roads to motorized vehicles due to a lack of money for maintenance, as well as to prevent erosion and protect fish and wildlife. The Forest Service issued a statement Tuesday saying that it had not accepted any contract bids and would look for other ways to enhance the public’s access to national forests and understanding about what the agency does. The agency wouldn’t say why it withdrew the contract. Andy Stahl, director of the watchdog group Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, said he thought the agency’s leaders “finally listened to Forest Service employees, and no one thought this was a good idea.” Stahl said that after he learned of the contract, he sent an email to 25,000 Forest Service employees, and about half of them opened it. He got about 50 replies, all critical, suggesting the money could be put to better use on recreation programs, revising forest management plans, restoring ecosystems, hiring more employees, and lifting a three-year wage freeze. Forest Service retirees also objected. Al Matecko, retired chief of public and legislative affairs for the northwest region and head of the Old Smokies, which represents about 950 retirees, said he received 50 emails from members who were strongly opposed. He passed on those objections to Forest Service leaders, Matecko said. “Retirees were just amazed that at this time of shrinking budgets, the Forest Service could find $10 million,” he said...more

Science doesn't lie: Forest thinning pays off


...For example, the Natural Resource Working Group — a collaboration of local and state governments, state and federal land management agencies, forest product and livestock industries, environmentalists, recreation industries and universities, including the University of Arizona — launched more than 20 years ago to address the devastation of forest fires. The group sought to identify and implement science-based solutions to reduce the number and intensity of wildfires, save lives, property and watersheds, as well as return forests to healthy, diverse and economically productive ecosystems. But to be successful, the effort needed funding and sites to test the science. With the assistance of then-state Sen. Jake Flake and then-Navajo County Supervisor Lewis Tenney, the U.S. Forest Service provided the working group with access to 12,000-forested acres in 1998 to try new forest restoration concepts. The effort eventually evolved into the White Mountain Stewardship Project and realized success: 70,000 acres of previously dense degraded forest were on the road to healthy diversity and thinned effectively to help mitigate low-intensity, ground and crown wildfires. Since then, several large wildfires have affected the White Mountains, and the areas managed by the working group did markedly better than those that were not. When the San Juan Fire reached this treated area last June, it changed abruptly from a high-intensity crown fire to a low-intensity ground fire. The initial investment in infrastructure in the working group was $130 million in federal money. That now provides more than $20 million annually in new regional income and more than 300 jobs for local families. Just like investing in roads and bridges, this has proven to be a prudent investment with an effective return many times over. In 2013, Navajo and Apache counties took over the working group, ensuring the work would continue and be managed by the local community. This program, and programs like it, serves as a national model and should be expanded for use in other fire-vulnerable states...more

Interior secretary seeks wildfire strategy that protects habitat

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is calling for a new wildfire-fighting strategy to protect a wide swath of sagebrush country that supports cattle ranching and is home to a struggling bird species. She issued an order Tuesday seeking a “science-based” approach that safeguards the greater sage grouse while contending with fires that have been especially destructive in the Great Basin region of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California. The wide-ranging Western bird has been on a collision course in recent years with oil and gas, agriculture and other industries. Jewell’s order stems at least in part from a conference this fall in Boise that brought together scientists and land managers to find collaborative ways to protect Great Basin rangelands from the plague of increasingly intense wildfires. One change suggested by Neil Kornze, director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, was to put the protection of rangeland resources ahead of property. The protection of human life would remain the top priority. “If we were to flip the bottom two, it would change a lot, and it would be hard,” Kornze said in closing remarks at the conference. “It would be hard to explain that to some of our urban and mixed-landscape firefighting partners.” Jewell’s order creates a task force and sets a March 1 deadline for it to report on guidelines for the 2015 wildfire season...more

We are fighting the “big boys” for our land

by Pamela Openshaw

What do you do when the “big boys” won’t give you your “stuff”? Do you cave, or fight?

That’s the issue with Utah’s lands and House Bill 148, the “Transfer of Public Lands Act”. The feds have our property and we want it. In 2012, the Utah legislature served notice that on Jan. 1, it intended to take title to, and management of, 31.2 million acres of Utah land that the feds claim—lands presently managed mostly by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. We aren’t asking for national parks, congressionally designated wilderness areas, military installations or Indian reservations. When we receive these lands we will make them public, unlike the federal government who is shutting us out.

January 1 has come and gone, and the feds still hold title to the land. The federal government claims 66 percent of Utah, despite its promise to give us our land at statehood, as was done to most other states. We are crying “foul”.

Those who oppose Utah’s move say managing these lands will break our piggy bank. A detailed study by three universities, Utah, Weber State and Utah State, disagrees. This task force considered best to worst case scenarios. It found that the increased revenue to the state from taxes and fees on oil, gas and coal production will cover the state’s land management costs in all but the worst case scenario. In addition, a profit of $100 million to $1 billion yearly will result. If the worst happens, and gas and oil prices do fluctuate, state profits from a renewed timber industry, minerals extraction and grazing, will cover any temporary shortfall.

Opponents say the effort is unreasonable; that we cannot succeed. Why? Other states have done it. In the 1930s, Illinois, Missouri, and several other states united to wrest their commandeered lands from the feds, and Hawaii got federal lands back in 1959. Canada is now returning lands to its provinces, having realized that local control is more economical and effective. Utah has help; eight other states in the same boat have joined us to demand federal fairness...



Government priorities constrain

by 

The Congressional freeze on expenses for sage hen listing is a hopeful step toward scientific and political propriety. Meanwhile, negative economic and ecological impacts of the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and other agencies continue range-wide.

Persistent grazing allotment reductions enhance cheatgrass invasion of the range, requiring expensive chemical and mechanical treatment. Basically, herbicides, drill-seeding and contractors expand agency budgets, unlike grazing cheatgrass with cattle and sheep. Agencies reduce public land grazing while ignoring results on private land where ranchers can rotate herds after grazing down cheatgrass before natives emerge.

Fundamentally, cheatgrass becomes fuel for fires which are the principal unquestioned off-budget spending approved for these land management agencies. Apparently with little effective oversight of their bureau-scientific complex, agencies evidently have established policies tending toward large firestorms.

They receive emergency funding with no substantial inquiry into methods of avoiding fires in the first place. Their studies seem to focus on justifying costs and blaming climate change, not eliminating firestorms. This especially is troubling since historical records and common sense show that grazing down fuel eliminates the problem before it erupts in flames. Range-wide, fires apparently take nearly 200,000 sage hen each year.

In addition to grazing down fuel, livestock provide food for the sage hen, who have no gizzards and must consume soft matter. Livestock excrete grouse-edible soft matter in abundance – readily apparent on stock-producing land across the 11 states of the birds’ range.

A significant factor persistently evaded by all land and wildlife management agencies is predation. Bureaucratically avoiding the scientific method by allowing no discussion, regulators declare predator effects unimportant to the matters facing sage hen. Yet population mortality calculations indicate more than 1.4 million sage hen embryos and nestlings are killed each year by predators. Evidently 1.1-1.3 million due to ravens, the rest predominately by coyotes.

Though based on government numbers and research, regulators never acknowledge either the base numbers or the mortality analysis … population mortality which is understood by every ranch and farm child. But if bureaucrats acknowledge existence of an immediate and effective solution to saving millions of sage hen, they would not be able to increase their employee headcount and control of the private sector.


Ski areas pay record amount for use of White River National Forest lands

The 11 ski areas that operate in the White River National Forest broke the record for fees they paid to use public lands during the 2013-14 season, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The ski areas — headed by four owned by Vail Resorts and four owned by Aspen Skiing Co. — combined to pay $15.75 million during the Forest Service’s 2014 fiscal year. That was up $2.26 million, or 17 percent, from the 2013 fiscal year, according to figures supplied by the national forest supervisor’s office. The federal agency’s fiscal year ends in September, so the fees paid reflect booming business during the snowy 2013-14 ski season and a small but growing amount from summer operations. The ski-area payments are determined by a complex formula that includes uphill chairlift capacity, percentage of public lands used for the ski area, skier visits and revenues from facilities and services operated on public lands...more

Wildlife managers approve plan to kill more bears in Utah

A troubling number of black bears were killed by federal and state wildlife managers in 2014 after they destroyed crops, feasted on livestock or threatened people. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) leaders hope changes to the bear hunt approved by the Utah Wildlife Board Tuesday could lead to rank-and-file hunters killing more black bears — perhaps an additional 70 to 90 animals each year — and cutting the number that have to be removed by other means. Last year, 91 black bears were identified as nuisance animals and killed. Most years, an average of 57 problem bears in Utah are destroyed by wildlife managers. Predators took center stage during the wildlife management meeting. Just over a week after a gray wolf was shot and killed outside Beaver, board members also approved a request from the state wildlife agency to extend Utah’s Wolf Management Plan, which expired on Dec. 31. Meanwhile, hunters in Utah will have more chances to kill black bears starting this spring...more

Feds ban rope-swinging from Utah arches for 2 years

Federal officials are temporarily banning daredevil rope-swinging, rappelling and other rope activities from several iconic Utah arches. The Bureau of Land Management announced a two-year restriction at Corona Arch and Gemini Bridges on Tuesday. The agency says rope activities can disturb people in the popular hiking areas and the arches are showing signs of wear. The ban comes after two people died in swing accidents in 2013, one at Corona Arch and the other in Day Canyon, about 7 miles west of Moab. YouTube videos helped the sport gain popularity...more

Federal court OK's Over the River

Huge gains were made last Friday for Over the River champions. A federal judge dismissed charges that the Bureau of Land Management had violated its own rules in approving the project, brought to court by OTR's main opposition group, ROAR.  The Pueblo Chieftain reported that U.S. District Judge William Martinez didn't find the BLM violated any laws, and in his 30-page ruling, wrote: "As long as an agency has complied with the procedural requirements of NEPA, the court should not second-guess that agency's decision. ... BLM engaged in a thorough consideration." ROAR can appeal the decision, and in a release sent from the group, says that it is reviewing its options. Should it decide not to appeal, only one suit still lies between Over the River and the chance to start the process, which is now being heard in the Colorado Court of Appeals. Though the Chieftain article speculated that, given the three years lead-up needed for the project, it could happen as soon as August 2018, Christo's camp won't give a possible date, saying they are waiting for "successful resolution of the legal process before identifying the Over the River exhibition date."...more

Farmers Deploy New DNA Test for Tastier Meat


When Mark Gardiner looks at one of his bulls, he sees generations of high-quality steaks. By having his animals’ DNA scanned by a gene-testing firm, Mr. Gardiner, a Kansas cattle breeder, can tell nearly from birth how many pounds they are likely to pack on per day and how much rich, marbled beef their carcasses will yield. U.S. cattle ranches, using technology developed by companies including food-safety firm Neogen Corp. and animal-drug maker Zoetis Inc., are conducting more-sophisticated genetic tests like the ones that give Mr. Gardiner a glimpse of his animals’ future. Advances in DNA analysis help veterinarians and breeders identify prize animals whose offspring will yield a larger volume of tastier steaks—fetching producers higher prices from Cargill Inc. and other beef processors. Testing also can save money on animal upkeep by culling cattle with less-desirable genes. Cattle breeders say such tests allow them to assess a bull’s genetic value with the same accuracy as if it already had sired up to 20 calves. Proponents describe the genetic analysis tools as “Moneyball” meets “Bonanza.” “This helps give you a higher batting average,” said Mr. Gardiner, 53 years old, whose family runs Gardiner Angus Ranch in Ashland, Kan. The American Angus Association estimates that about 20% of the purebred animals registered under its breed in 2014 were genetically tested, up from less than 1% in 2010, when the Angus-specific tests became available. Two-thirds of commercial cattle ranchers in the U.S. say their cow herds include animals with Angus genes, according to the association...more

Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1349

From his 2014 CD Another Day From Life we have Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers with Through A Coal Miner's Eyes.

http://youtu.be/9e7ODR2Os-Y

Arizona Game & Fish To Sue Federal Officials Over Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan

The Arizona Game and Fish Department today served a Notice of Intent with the secretary of the Department of Interior and director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service). The action was taken in an effort to support development of an updated recovery plan for Mexican wolves that utilizes the best available science as legally required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Game and Fish has requested an updated recovery plan from the Service on multiple occasions over the past several years because the current recovery plan for Mexican wolves developed in 1982 is so outdated that it no longer provides an adequate framework to guide the recovery effort. That plan also fails to identify the recovery criteria required by the ESA including downlisting and delisting criteria. “This Notice of Intent is an effort to ensure that the Fish and Wildlife Service adheres to its legal obligation to develop a thorough science-based plan that will lead to a successful recovery outcome that recognizes Mexico as pivotal to achieving recovery of the Mexican wolf given that 90 percent of its historical range is there,” said Arizona Game and Fish Department Director Larry Voyles...more


Tuesday, January 06, 2015

New Congress Grapples With Energy Issues

Legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline, which lawmakers will take up as soon as this week, will open the first broad debate on energy policy in Congress in eight years and give the new Republican majority a chance to push for significant changes to President Barack Obama ’s agenda. GOP lawmakers, who now control the Senate and have a firmer hold on the House, are planning measures that would aim to spur greater development of fossil fuels and curtail a series of Mr. Obama’s environmental regulations, including ones cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans are likely to run into roadblocks, however, including Mr. Obama’s ability to veto legislation. The first step in moving the GOP agenda will come Friday, when the House is expected to consider a measure to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, with the Senate following in the next few weeks. The legislation is expected to pass both chambers, but it is not clear whether Mr. Obama would sign it...more


Then, of course, there are the "moderates" in the party, and please remember how the Republican establishment supported Lamar Alexander in the primary.  We will all pay the price for that now:
The GOP also is sorting through how aggressive to be in trying to stop or delay environmental regulations. Some centrist Republicans, such as Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, for example, have in the past been reluctant to support completely stripping the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority over certain regulations.
That pretty well leaves us with the annual appropriations process.
Republicans will pursue their agenda through two main tracks. They aim to pass bills on the floor that can get 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. For more controversial items, such as stopping or delaying environmental regulations, they will seek to change policies through the appropriations process, which only requires 50 votes. Republicans hold 54 seats in the new Senate.
And guess who is a senior member of Senate Appropriations...that's right, Lamar Alexander.  And we lucky New Mexicans are "represented" on that Committee by Little Tommy YouDull.

Can't help but notice no mention is given of actually amending legislation such as the Antiquities Act of 1906 or the Endangered Species Act. 

Looks like the R's, at least on the Senate side, and even though they control both Chambers, are only going to play defense.
A Senate GOP aide said Monday the policies Republicans pursue will depend on how aggressively the administration writes its regulations, such as its draft standard setting a maximum level of ozone, commonly known as smog, that can be emitted into the atmosphere.

Obama Administration Burnishes Environmental Legacy at Expense of Jobs

by Marita Noon

For the past six years, the oil and gas industry has served as a savior to the Obama presidency by providing the near-lone bright spot in economic growth. Increased U.S. oil-and-gas production has provided new energy security. The president often peppers his speeches with braggadocio about our abundant supplies and decreased dependence on foreign oil.

So now that the economic powerhouse faces hard times, how does the administration show its appreciation?

By introducing a series of regulations—at least nine in total, according to the Wall Street Journal
(WSJ)—that will put the brakes on the US energy boom through higher operating costs and fewer incentives to drill on public lands.

The WSJ states: “Mr. Obama and his environmental backers say new regulations are needed to address the impacts of the surge in oil and gas drilling.”...

U.S. oil production, according to the Financial Times, “caught Saudi Arabia by surprise.” The kingdom sees that US shale and Canadian oil-sand development “encroached on OPEC’s market share” and has responded with a challenge to high-cost sources of production by upping its output—adding to the global oil glut and, therefore, dropping prices...

Last month, Enbridge Energy Partners “laid off some workers in the Houston area”—which the Houston Chronicle (HC) on December 12 called “the latest in a string of energy companies to announce cutbacks.” The HC continued: “Other key energy companies have also announced layoffs in recent days as oil tumbles to its lowest price in years. Halliburton on Thursday said it would slash 1,000 jobs in the Eastern Hemisphere as part of a $75 million restructuring. BP on Wednesday revealed plans to accelerate job cuts and pare back its oil production business amid crumbling oil prices.”...

Different from Obama, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets it. Under pressure from the environmental lobby to increase regulations on the oil-and-gas industry, he, said: “Under the current circumstances of the oil and gas sector, it would be crazy—it would be crazy economic policy—to do unilateral penalties on that sector.” He added: “We are not going to kill jobs and we are not going to impose a carbon tax.”

Introducing the new rules now kick the industry while it is down and shows that President Obama either doesn’t get it, or he cares more about burnishing his environmental legacy than he does about American jobs and economic growth.


The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion educational organization, the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America’s Voice for Energy—which expands on the content of her weekly column.

Warmists apoplectic as Brazil president names climate skeptic as science minister

By Thomas Lifson

You can almost feel the sense of betrayal emanating from this diatribe from the Environmental Defense Fund’s Steve Schwartzman, denouncing two cabinet appointments in Brazil.  You see, Brazil has a leftist government, and until now had mouthed all the politically correct positions at international gatherings.  And worst of all, the skeptic is a communist – a real one.
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff  has repeatedly claimed international leadership for Brazil on climate change in international forums, based on successes in reducing Amazon deforestation.
But days before the start of the new year, Rousseff appointed two ministers who cast doubt on Brazil’s leadership and bode ill for the atmosphere – especially given increases in Brazil’s deforestation rates from 2012–2013 and signs that deforestation may be once again be on the increase. (snip)
Bad choice #1: Katia Abreu, Minister of Agriculture
The new Minister of Agriculture Katia Abreu was the president of the National Confederation of Agriculture (the national association of large and middle-size landowners and ranchers). As senator, she led the Congress’ powerful anti-environmental, anti-indigenous “bancada ruralista”, or large landowners’, caucus and earned the title among environmentalists of “chainsaw queen.”
Well, if greenies call her a nasty name, that’s pretty conclusive.  We wouldn’t want people who actually own land to have their interests represented.  And God forbid, Brazil might actually lift some of its rural people out of poverty.  Can’t have that.
Bad choice #2: Aldo Rebelo, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation
Rebelo is clearly out of touch with modern science on climate change.
The new Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Aldo Rebelo is a long-time Communist Party of Brazil congressman and vocal anti-environmental advocate, and the principal author of the divisive and controversial Forest Code revision.
Rebelo is also on the record rejecting climate science. 


We already knew Brazil was providing some of the best bull riders to the PBR and PRCA, and some of the best MMA fighters to the UFC, and now we find out that even their Communists are better than ours!

Kansas expert questions effort to list monarch as threatened

A University of Kansas expert on monarch butterflies said he is leery of a request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the butterfly be considered for inclusion on the Endangered Species list. The federal agency was presented with a petition in August from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety, the Xerces Society in Arizona and monarch scientist Dr. Lincoln Brower asking that the monarch be listed because of its population has declined by more than 90 percent in less than 20 years. Chip Taylor, an insect ecologist and founder of Monarch Watch, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the butterfly, said he's concerned about the public reaction if the agency begins telling property owners that they need to conserve certain vegetation to provide critical habitat for the butterflies, The Lawrence Journal-World reported. "Nobody wants the government to tell them what to do with their property," Taylor said. "The real challenge is to get the message out and get the public involved. This really is the way to go." Taylor noted an ongoing controversy over the lesser prairie chicken, which began in March when the Fish and Wildlife Service listed the bird as threatened under the Endangered Species Act...more

Bloody good ideas: Novelist C.J. Cox shares inspirations for new story collection

C.J. Box
For someone known for writing and publishing an average of two books a year, the prospect of hammering out a short story might seem the literary equivalent of a walk in the park. C.J. Box would heartily disagree with that sentiment. “If anything, short stories are the hardest things in the world,” he said. “In a novel, you can meander a bit, fill in the back story a little more. But in a short story, there’s no room for error. You’ve got to launch in, establish your characters, the location, the motives for what’s to come, and everything has to be there for a reason.” It’s a challenge Box, the Edgar Award-winning author of “Blue Heaven” and the series of thrillers featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, has undergone about 10 times in his writing career. That’s the number of stories collected in his latest book, “Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country.” The collection includes three stories featuring Pickett and one that focuses on one of the secondary characters in the series, Nate Romanowski. The others range from a tale set in the 1830s, about two trappers who tax each other’s patience, to a story about people trying to smuggle unique microorganisms from the geysers of Yellowstone National Park, to a darkly twisted tale set in Disneyland Paris. “I believe everything you do helps make you better,” Box said. “Writing these stories, which I did over the past 10 years or so, has made me better as a novelist, just as writing the stand-alone novels like ‘Blue Heaven’ has helped me bring a fresh approach to the Pickett stories."...more

Regulators weigh proposal to close part of New Mexico plant

New Mexico regulators began taking testimony Monday on a plan that calls for shutting down part of an aging coal-fired power plant that provides electricity to more than 2 million people in the Southwest. The plan would curb haze-causing pollution at the San Juan Generating Station, but some environmentalists argue it doesn’t do enough to wean the state’s largest utility off fossil fuels. The hearing before the Public Regulation Commission began Monday with dozens of people braving frigid temperatures to protest. They talked about asthma, cancer and other health concerns throughout the region, which also is home to other coal-fired plants. Inside the packed hearing room, the head of the nation’s largest American Indian reservation told regulators the plan was the best option for meeting environmental mandates while avoiding what he called an unnecessary economic sacrifice, including job losses. Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly ticked off statistics that included the tribe’s high unemployment rate and the percentage of Navajo families who are without electricity and running water. He also cited the number of tribal members who work at the San Juan plant and the coal mine that feeds it. “I have seen the result of economic loss on the Navajo Nation, and I do not wish for Navajo communities or the region to become a further impoverished area because of the environmental rules,” Shelly said. “That leads to ripple effects.” He noted the 2005 closure of the Mojave Generating Station in Nevada. The power plant was the sole buyer of coal from a Navajo mine, which ultimately closed and took 160 jobs with it...more

Report ranks New Mexico second most violent state in nation

The Land of Enchantment is the second most violent state in America, according to an analysis by financial news website 24/7 Wall Street. The list is based on 2013 data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which defines violent crimes as murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery. New Mexico's high ranking comes from a 6.6 percent spike in the state's overall violent crime rate from 2012 to 2013. That put the state average at 597 violent crimes per 100,000 people. Most crime seems to happen in Albuquerque, which boasts a troubling rate of 775 crimes per 100,000 residents, which 24/7 Wall Street reports is twice that of the national average...more

Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1348

Bob Amos was the lead singer and guitarist for Front Range who made seven CDs. His first solo release (Borrowed Time) from 2012 has so many great songs its hard to pick a favorite, but let's go with the intrumental tune Last Mountain

http://youtu.be/apD9aRmi_jU

Monday, January 05, 2015

Ranchers the Real Ecoterrorists

By

In 2008 at a Bureau of Land Management Oil and Gas lease auction Tim DeChristopher bid on 14 parcels of land (totaling 22,500 acres) for $1.8 million that he had no intention of buying. The FBI arrested him and charged him with a two-count felony indictment. DeChristopher was branded an “eco-terroist.”  Even though the very leases he bid upon were later canceled because of their inadequate environmental review of impacts, DeChristopher nevertheless served 21 months in prison for his act of “terrorism”...

A good example of the opposite federal government reaction is how the BLM and FBI responded to Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. Bundy has repeatedly thumbed his nose at the federal government by refusing to pay minimal grazing fees for more than 20 years (he now owes more than a million dollars), and his failure to remove his cattle from federal property (our property). Instead of being arrested and taken off to jail as DeChristopher was, Bundy is still living free in Nevada, enjoying life as a celebrity...

One doesn’t have to instigate an armed insurrection to do damage to our patrimony and many acts of eco terrorism are not illegal, yet that doesn’t make them acceptable. Rancher Bill Hoppe, who lives outside of Gardiner Montana, began to run sheep on his ranch in retaliation for wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone which he has vocally opposed. Hoppe is President of the “Friends of the Northern Elk Herd” an anti-wolf organization that has resisted wolf recovery.

Hoppe openly admitted that his domestic animals might jeopardize nearby wild bighorns...

Is this an act of “eco terrorism?” It is my book.

...Rancher Frank Robbins of Wyoming who had his federal grazing leases canceled a number of years ago after more than a dozen violations including overgrazing the public’s grazing lands as well as trespass grazing of other people’s federal leases. Robbins is threating one of Wyoming’s largest wild bighorn sheep herds by purposely running domestic sheep on his property adjacent to occupied wild sheep herds...

 Some forms of “eco terrorism” are more subtle and more wide-spread—and unfortunately quite legal. When a rancher’s livestock overgrazes the range, it harms many other creatures dependent on that grass...


Mr. Wuerthner goes on to say other subtle forms of "eco terrorism" committed by ranchers and their livestock are: the trampling "of biocrust by the hooves of livestock damages soil, and permits the establishment of cheatgrass, an exotic alien weed";  "the draining of our rivers and streams for irrigated hay and alfalfa"; and the killing of "thousands of predators from grizzly bears to wolves to coyotes to 'protect' private livestock that are grazed on public lands."

He then concludes:

But do we hold ranchers accountable for these acts of eco terriorism? Hardly. Indeed, many politicians, media representatives, and others laud ranchers as the “true conservationists”.  These acts of “eco terriorism do far more damage to our collective heritage than bidding on oil and gas leases that are canceled. Yet while environmental activists like DeChristopher are arrested by Federal Agents and jailed, ranchers and other “eco terrorists” are pampered, and even allowed to continue destroying public property for their private gain. These different approaches to violations of the law demonstrates the blatant inequities in justice in our government’s willingness to fairly protect the public’s natural patrimony.

You can read his entire column at Wildlife News

There's a lot here to ponder, along with Actually, Raising Beef Is Good for the Planet .

Most importantly, it gives you a peek inside the mind of a committed enviro.  I believe his opinions about livestock grazing are shared by the vast majority of the enviro community.  The only difference is he has the cajones to say it and put it in writing. 


A mine in the Idaho wilderness?

The joy and revelry surrounding the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Wilderness Act had barely quieted when the U.S. Forest Service issued a draft decision last week to allow a road and 11 pads where core drilling will sample the ore structure for the Golden Hand gold mine in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in North-Central Idaho. Keith Lannom, supervisor of the Payette National Forest, knew his decision would be unpopular. He knows people won't understand why he is allowing American Independence Mines and Minerals Co. to construct 4 miles of temporary road and reopen an old mine tunnel near Big Creek, about 50 miles northeast of McCall in the heart of the wilderness named after the Idaho senator who fought to protect it. That road will connect with another that also will be improved outside the wilderness boundary. Lannom also knows that Church and others who wrote that 1964 law compromised to allow existing mining claims to be protected. And since no one has been able to overturn the 1872 Mining Act, Lannom does not have the choice of saying mining can't go forward, even in a wilderness area. "Federal mining laws dictate that the mining can take place, and the Forest Service does not have the ability to circumvent those laws," Lannom said...more

Stimulus money should have gone to taxpayers

When President Obama came up with the notion of throwing hundreds of billions of dollars to the winds to "stimulate" the economy, we wondered why not just send money back to the taxpayers from whence it came and let them spend it?

It seemed to us that if you want to simultaneously stimulate every sector of the economy, the quickest and easiest way to do it would be to write a check to every taxpayer — even to those who receive tax refunds on taxes they never pay. Some would save the money, but most would pay down debt or buy stuff with it. Either way, they would consume goods and services, thereby lifting all boats.

How much would you have gotten if every penny spent on stimulus then and since was sent back to the taxpayers? How about $13,500 to every American over age 18. Now that would have been a stimulus.
Instead, the government flushed hundreds of billions down the proverbial toilet, and we are much the worse for it. According to the Heritage Foundation, total stimulus spending, plus interest and debt service, will cost Americans some $3.3 trillion.

That's just about how much it takes to run the federal government for a year. Could you take a year's salary and throw it away? How long would it take you to recover from that? Likewise, American taxpayers will be many years paying down this debt.

What got stimulated? Relatively speaking, not much.

For instance, the Agriculture Department got about $28 billion to stimulate agriculture. Of that, $5 billion was used for "questionable or unsupported costs," says the department's inspector general. In other words, it was wasted.

The Rural Development Agency distributed $208 million to some 1,772 home loan borrowers with "no history of stable and dependable income" and who "did not meet repayment ability guidelines." The Forest Service dispensed $92 million in "questionable" purposes.



Montana man charged for killing grizzlies that ate his chickens

Dan Calvert Wallen is charged with three counts of unlawful taking of a threatened species, a federal offense. Law enforcement was first contacted about the case on May 27 when a neighbor of Wallen’s called Flathead County Dispatch saying he had shot and killed a grizzly that his neighbor (Wallen) had wounded. A state wildlife biologist responded to the call at Wallen’s residence, where the dead bear was lying in the driveway. According to the affidavit filed in the case, Wallen said the bear was killing chickens and he used a .22 caliber rifle to try and scare it away.  The wildlife biologist who first responded to the call on May 27, noted that there was a phone message from Wallens wife, left on May 27 at 7:08 p.m. Wallen’s wife had reported that they were having trouble with bears killing their chickens. On May 28, the wildlife biologist went to the Wallen home to set a trap for bears and he found a second dead grizzly in tall grass near the one that was reported shot and killed. When he was interviewed by a game warden, Wallen reportedly said that his family and friends were playing in the yard when the grizzlies arrived and he “was afraid of the bears around his family.” Wallen reportedly told the game warden that two bears approached his chicken coop and he chased them away in his pickup truck, but they soon returned and he got his rifle. In a second interview, Wallen reportedly told a game warden and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent that the incident began on May 27 when he discovered dead chickens in his yard. He reported that only seven of approximately 35 chickens were alive...more


You can't drop possums anymore, you can't even defend your own chickens. What's this world coming to?  Not only that, you can't "harass" an endangered species, so chasing them away in your pickup is also a federal offense.  Hope he wasn't speeding, or the locals will get him too.


Wolves kill dogs in Yukon community; government warns residents about pets

Wolves have killed two dogs in a Yukon community, prompting the territory’s government to warn residents about letting their pets run free. Kris Gustafson of Environment Yukon says the first dog was killed Dec. 23 in a community south of Whitehorse and the second on Tuesday. He says the attacks can happen during any season but most often in the winter when food may be scarce. Gustafson says investigating officers found tracks indicating a group of three wolves was in the area — a relatively small pack...more

Hunters kill 30 coyotes but no wolves at Idaho predator derby

Hunters participating in a wolf- and coyote-shooting contest in east-central Idaho killed 30 coyotes but no wolves. Idaho for Wildlife's Steve Alder says the Predator Hunting Contest and Fur Rendezvous that ran Friday through Sunday near Salmon drew less than 100 hunters, down slightly from last year. A 4.9-magnitude earthquake struck about 60 miles to the north of Salmon on Saturday and was followed by aftershocks on Sunday. The quakes caused no damage but Alder says experienced hunters reported the temblors spooked animals in the region and made hunting more challenging. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued the group a permit to use BLM lands but revoked it in November following two lawsuits by environmental groups. The derby instead was held on private ranches and Forest Service land.  AP

Forest Service set to allow oil, gas drilling in — not on — Pawnee National Grassland

The U.S. Forest Service’s recent “no surface occupancy” stipulation for developing oil and gas leases on more than 100,000 acres within Pawnee National Grassland in northeastern Colorado is receiving a lukewarm reception from energy industry officials and environmental groups, especially as a policy precedent for drilling other federal lands. This requirement “will work for the majority of leases in the grasslands” because most of the Pawnee Grassland is accessible by horizontal drilling from adjacent private lands, said Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs for Western Energy Alliance, which supports the oil and gas industry. But the stipulation should not be considered a precedent for proposed oil and gas leases on other federal lands, she said. “Pawnee is a unique patchwork of federal, state and private lands,” Sgamma said. The approach “is not suitable for wholesale application elsewhere.”...more

Judge dismisses environmental group's arguments against Forest Service wind project

A federal judge has dismissed arguments challenging a 15-turbine wind project authorized in the Green Mountain National Forest. The citizens group Vermonters for a Clean Environment said the approval process for the project was flawed and argued the installation would compromise a federally designated wilderness area near the site. The project in Searsburg was proposed by Deerfield Wind, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables. The Rutland Herald reports Judge J. Garvan Murtha late last month denied all claims made by environmental group. He cited previous court findings that concluded the decision of a federal agency such as the Forest Service could only be overturned if the decision was "arbitrary, capricious (or) an abuse of discretion." AP

Mexico vigilante founder, 26 others held for deadly clash

A judge in the western state of Michoacan has begun homicide proceedings against the founder of a vigilante group and 26 of his followers who were involved in a deadly clash with a rival force in December. Hipolito Mora founded a vigilante force to fight drug traffickers in Michoacan, which later became part of an official rural police force that received guns, uniforms and pay from the government. On Dec. 16, Mora’s group had a shootout with a rival rural police force led by Luis Antonio Torres, better known as “Simon the American,” that left 11 people dead in the remote mountain town of La Ruana, Michoacan. On Saturday, judge Maria Consuelo Lopez Ramirez said there was sufficient evidence against Mora and his followers of their involvement in 10 homicides during the shootout to merit the launch of proceedings. Mora’s son was killed in the clash. The only death not attributed to his group. The vigilante groups emerged in 2013, as farmers and ranchers took up shotguns and hunting rifles to push back against organized gangs exerting control in the region, specifically the Knights Templar cartel...more

Historic Royal Hotel in Yampa burns to ground

The historic Royal Hotel & Bar in Yampa burned to the ground Saturday night because of a malfunctioning coal-fired heating unit. No one was hurt in the fire that broke out at about 11 p.m. Hotel staff and guests evacuated the building, said Tammy Delto, a firefighter with the Yampa Fire Protection District. In the early 20th century, the Royal Hotel, built in 1906, was one of three hotels in Yampa that served miners, timber and railroad crews, ranchers and travelers on the Wolcott Stage line, according to the Routt County website. Western adventure novelist Zane Grey stayed at the Royal while he wrote his novel "The Mysterious Rider." The hotel also gained notoriety for being the home of a ghost named Rufus, according to the Steamboat Today website. Rufus supposedly died of the flu during the epidemic in the early 20th century. "Others claim Rufus was a gambler who was murdered after cheating in a poker game," the website said...more

Editorial - Tribe’s Prop. 48 end run must be squelched

In November, California voters rejected Proposition 48 in a landslide. The measure would have allowed the North Fork Tribe of Mono Indians to build a large casino near Fresno on land it had only purchased in 2012 — a parcel 38 miles away from the tribe’s nearest homeland.

Indian gaming has fared well on the ballot. But voters were properly alarmed about setting a precedent under which giant gaming corporations could team with tribes on proposals to build casinos on just-acquired land near the state’s population centers.

Now we could see another unwanted precedent: an Indian tribe rejecting the idea that state voters can have any say over its project. John Myers of KQED News reports North Fork Tribe leaders have discussed asking U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to invoke federal precedence on tribal matters and impose a gaming compact on the state. Myers reports Gov. Jerry Brown, who supported the casino project, believes the tribe may have a legal case for such a request.

Ultimately, North Fork Tribe leaders will do what they think is best for their members. But unless the Obama administration believes it has no wiggle room at all under the 1988 federal law legalizing Indian gaming — which seems dubious — it shouldn’t overrule California voters who don’t want their state to become West Nevada. 





Sorry, but this bunch ignores/overrules local citizens on almost a daily basis.  Besides, this is not an end run, its a straight beeline to the Executive Branch, which has become the most powerful of the three branches.

 

Interior secretary criticizes fracking bans

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell criticized local and state bans on hydraulic fracturing, saying they create confusion for the oil and natural gas industries. Jewell, who oversees the federal government’s various public land agencies, also said fracking bans often come as a result of what she sees as bad scientific decisions that incorrectly find safety or health problems associated with fracking, radio station KQED reported. “I would say that is the wrong way to go,” Jewell told KQED Friday about local fracking bans. “I think it’s going to be very difficult for industry to figure out what the rules are if different counties have different rules.”...more



And there you have the reason the oil & gas industry opposed the Sagebrush Rebellion in the 80s.

New Mexico regulators consider coal-fired plant

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is preparing to take up what some energy experts have called a watershed utility case that could set the stage for energy policy in the state for decades to come. The commission on Monday will begin a two-week hearing on a proposal that calls for closing part of the San Juan Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant that serves more than 2 million customers in the Southwest. The terms of the proposal were negotiated in 2013. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state attorney general’s office, the New Mexico Renewable Industries Association and others have already signed off, but the agreement still requires commission approval. The proposal is aimed at balancing the need to cut haze-causing pollution with keeping rates reasonable for customers. PNM has proposed doing that by shutting down two units at the power plant and replacing the lost power with a mix of coal from one of the plant’s other units, electricity generated by the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona, a new natural gas-fired plant and more solar generating stations. PNM’s regulatory filings estimate the cost over 20 years at more than $6.8 billion. The utility says its plan represents the most cost-effective alternative for dealing with federal environmental mandates that call for reducing emissions at San Juan. The environmental group New Energy Economy has accused PNM of withholding from the commission information about the plan’s price tag. The group contends PNM failed to weigh the costs of environmental regulations and the disposal of coal ash waste generated by the power plant...more

Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1347

Its Swingin' Monday and since yesterday's tune was from a 2014 CD by a bluegrass group, we'll spend the week with 2014 releases by bluegrass and string band groups.  Today's selection is Snufdipper by the Red Clay Ramblers.  Personally, I think they are a little choosey when it comes to women.  And no, that's not the way I spell snuff, but that's the way its listed on their 2014 CD Carolina Jamboree.

http://youtu.be/BXlUu73bnx8

Sunday, January 04, 2015

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Closing the door on last year

 by Julie Carter

I’m not an advocate of looking over my shoulder into the past unless it’s to learn something from it, document it, or simply offer one last glance at where I have been to understand where I am now. Perhaps the retrospect is to help see where I am going although that is almost always a surprise even to me.

Everyone reading this had a last year. Each of you had some highs, lows, quiet, busy, memorable and maybe even some you’d rather forget. Sorting that is an individual choice. Every year if we are lucky, we get a new year, a new number. Looking for God’s promise in the year gives hope and raises spirits.  Hope renewed -- never a shortage of those needing that. I’m at the front of that line.

We are here again - the dawning of new numbers, new opportunities. A good portion of us spent the calendar change looking at snowy skies and bitter cold temperatures. Some of us never lose the anticipation of spring being just beyond the winter, envisioning anticipate the first buds of flowering trees and shrubs, the peeping forth of those early spring bulbs and the arrival of migrating birds that herald warmer temperature.

Life is a lot like that -- looking for the better in it instead of dwelling on the hard parts.

In our humanness, we have all at one time or another wandered in the proverbial wilderness.

We live in a world long past understanding what is foundationally important in life. 

Gone are the days when the majority of the people work back-breaking hard just to survive and don’t have time to fuss over things that have no value in the survival scheme. Those days were of people who went to bed tired and woke in the morning thinking they were blessed.

In the world today, we expect much and offer little however, disasters have a way of leveling the playing field. Fires, flood, blizzards and more have rolled over civilization with no regard to rank or social standing. We continue to see that reminder unfold before us.

This country and its people are being tested, one test at a time. We are being put in a place to choose between fluff and value with the ability to do that buried somewhere deep within us. Some of us are forced into situations to find it.

We are two or three generations away from any learned survival skills for the really tough stuff. Our hardest decisions usually revolve around satellite or cable, butter or margarine and finding the gas station with the cheapest fuel.

It is said that the three essentials for happiness are something to do, something to love and something to hope for. It is not that hard to find some of each if we take the time to look.

A wise old fellow once told me that in all his 90-some years, he had seen changes come and go but that there were some things that never changed. “The way the sun rises and the way the sun sets. That has not changed one bit,” he said.

That wisdom offers solid thought for where to start a new season in your life.

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


The Gospel according to Luke

Tails they win, Heads we lose
The Gospel according to Luke
Godly change agent
By Stephen L. Wilmeth


            The breach of trust exhibited in CRomnibus and NDAA is historically profound.
            All of the gnashing of teeth, the jeering from the Republican sideline, and the brave, new rhetoric through the midterms can now be categorized for what it was … election day folderol.
            On a day when Americans demanded Constitutional integrity, the get along to go along underperformers prevailed. They heaped upon us not 3600 pages of legislation they heaped upon the American model perhaps as much as 45X that in layered measures that only their special interest goons were interested in sticking down our throats.
            If there is a single bamboozler among them who claims to have read the Acts, he is a liar. Nobody reads 50,000 pages in less than 72 hours.
            Nobody …
            Tails they win and heads we lose
            No brave new world leadership has emerged.
            We knew where the Democratic juggernaut would be.
With their vote, though, the Republicans have become the charlatans within a world gone mad. In what must be assumed to be gift of appeasement, the Republicans became the enablers of the nonsense they have condemned. They had become shrill vocal critics of presidential proclamations and massive land grabs without debate yet they turned around and voted for at least 67 land measures. There are now at least 11 national parks in the pipeline. Private property rights will only deteriorate with such added federalization.
They didn’t vote to serve notice that Obamacare would be targeted for major overhaul and Americans would not be forced to buy something they didn’t want. They voted to fund the debacle. In a nightmarish continuum of colors and chanting, we will see men forced to pay for visits to their gynecologists. We will address drug addiction by force feeding addictive drugs. We will abort babies and demand the provision of birth control measures so women can have the right to reproduce. The bill will advocate the killing of the undefended so the quality of life can be enhanced.
This is a nightmare.
Soon, the 50 million recipient mark will be surpassed in food stamp distributions, and, yet, the continued funding of the USDA will result in governmental recommendations to abolish natural red meat. Implicit in such tactics will be the stepwise elimination of historical industries with the customs and culture that have always been the foundation of character for the country. Free food is passed out in abundance, but what to eat is the result of the federal nexus.
What is equally revealing is the magnitude of the political brokering that was condoned. NDAA was the vehicle to expand the federal takings of private property through the auspices of defense spending. As for defense spending, it is certainly something we must have. This is especially true when executive actions are prioritized on the basis of aligning us with our enemies at the expense of our friends and allies.
The matter of climate change is so tedious even school children are starting to be skeptics. Is it now global warming or is it global cooling? In any case, it is full speed ahead with policy adaptation to alter our reliance on cheap energy and funding to continue to try to convince us we are the cause of climate change. The mantra remains that domestic oil production is a bad thing.
To make such a deal over the avalanche of children arriving on the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley, the vote funded the Obama amnesty program. There were no consequences for an administration that flaunts the requirement to enforce immigration laws.
Even the Endangered Species Act was the object of sidelong glances and a wink. The West is agonizingly in need of a more transparent and reasonable process to apply the law. The role of Tribes, states, and communities must be elevated in order to protect jobs, customs, and culture. Those that live and work closest to the land care deeply about their surroundings. They want to have a voice in the continued tumult that the law creates in the assault on rural America. The hypocrisy of hypocrisies is that so many western representatives who consistently join the chorus of its abuses also voted for its continued funding. They spearheaded no discussion even to the point of the consideration of a rider to revisit the rampage. When the vote counted, they were derelict.
Americans who thought the midterms would at least give Republicans brass knackers to step up and draw a line in the sand in order to start shaping reform rather than chattering from the end of the bench were again demoralized. Perhaps the more appropriate description is that they are outraged. These elected representatives were given a mandate and they shattered the first opportunity to honor the voters’ expectations. The Republicans were given a stunning victory in November only to concede a stunning fiscal victory back to the Democrats through 2015.
The question has been asked. Why should a single ‘yea’ voter among these quick-change artists be trusted again?
The federal agencies are in high gear.
            The fabrication of new policies and regulations are running at warp speed. The accumulation of regulations during this administration is a monstrous 21,000 with a known 2,375 more set for 2015. In one measure passed in 2011 that governs food handling in the presence of pathogens and now being implemented, the new regulations alone reached 500 pages. Within those regulations are triggers that could result in the condemnation of entire fields of vegetables. Those measures didn’t come from the Act’s mandates. They came from the World Health Organization.
            The call for public comments is another debacle. The intensity of calling for such comments on matters that affect local governments has literally become a full time job. The expectation of those comments altering any action by the agency, however, is suspect at best. This is especially true if the comments don’t reflect the environmental theme. A best case example is the recent deadline for comments for changes in the Mexican wolf recovery program. A brokered backroom agreement by the Center for Biological Diversity with US Fish and Wildlife dictated the steps of the process. A judge thereafter sided with the date of the implementation notwithstanding the demand by the public for their voices to be heard through an extended comment period.
            Clearly, the self supremacy of the courts and the influence of the environmentalists took precedent over the American citizenry.
            There is simply is no signal coming from anywhere that elevates the concern or the plight of the citizenry in the eye of this storm … we are left to defend ourselves.
The Gospel according to Luke
            In the end, perhaps the ingenuity and the commitment by individuals will be our salvation. West Texan Luke Shipp has consistently shown us a different way. His discipline to his priorities is worthy of high respect, and, whereas some of us tend to be short fused, Luke exemplifies patience.
            The most recent example is Luke’s research and rebuttal of the fictitious historical habitat overreach claimed by USFWS in the lesser prairie chicken discussions. Without a stable of experts, a staff of transcribers, or a committee of stakeholders, Luke structured a superbly crafted rebuttal to the claims of the southern reaches of the bird. He single handedly debunked misrepresented claims and cherry picked data. His work demonstrates the ability of the general public to review records and defend local customs and culture against meretricious science.
            He has done more.
            Luke believes we are in a spiritual war. Our government and the agencies consistently assume a polarizing position against local heritage, and he draws and shares scripture as a moderating and necessary defense.
            In private counsel, he references 2 Corinthians 10:3 (KJV) and reminds us that the power offered through Jesus is the only hope we can expect. He came not just as Savior but demonstrated how we are to overcome difficulties through the Holy Spirit.
            Luke believes those of us who choose to be are “Godly change agents”.
            “We must have faith that Jesus can enable us to restore the influence of His spiritual Kingdom,” he continues. “With faith and the Holy Spirit enabling, we can influence, and … see worthwhile change in our society.”
            Isaiah 9:6-7 and Matthew 16:19 give him and us passages that should reinforce the expectation that God’s Spiritual Kingdom, not earthly paradigms, will prevail.
            As a diligent researcher and faithful Christian, he has become the example to emulate. In adopting and following Luke’s lead, our approach must be tireless and respectful, but our work must be sound in logic and historically truthful.
            Spiritual courage is paramount …

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “When Luke talks about the need for right and good to prevail, his actions don’t start and end with words. Clearly, he has become an earthly model for ‘Godly change agent’.”