Cost of Govt. Day in 2008: July 16 July 16 was Cost of Government Day – that day of the year when average Americans finish paying off their share of federal, state, and local taxes and the cost of complying with regulations. “Finally, starting today, you are working for yourself and no longer for Uncle Sam,” said Brian Riedl, senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. This year, Cost of Government Day occurred four days later than last year because of increasing tax burdens, but also higher regulatory costs, according to Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), which released its annual Cost of Government Day report at a Washington news conference on Wednesday. “All the regulations the government imposes ... none of them are free. They cost resources. And sometimes you don’t have to send a dollar to Washington ... in order to lose it – you just have to pay a higher price for a car, or a house, or a consumer product because of a regulatory cost,” said ATR President Grover Norquist. The report, calculated by ATR’s Center for Fiscal Accountability, takes into account the total spending burden as a percentage of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), coupled with the cost of complying with government regulations. Norquist said the average American worked:
-- 84 days to fund federal spending
-- 50 days to pay for state and local spending
-- 42 days to cover federal regulation
-- 21 days to pay for state/local regulation
Combined, on average, Americans worked 197 days -- 54 percent of the year -- to pay their share of the cost of government, he said. According to Riedl, in 2008, Washington will spend $25,117 per household, the highest inflation-adjusted total since World War II. That represents $5,000 more per household than in 2001. Riedl said that any plan that would raise taxes to climb out of the economic crisis is “budgetary fantasyland.” He concluded, “Not surprisingly, Cost of Government Day continues to move away from Independence Day and closer to Halloween.”....
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Formal charges filed in South Park bison deaths Texas businessman Jeffrey Scott Hawn has been charged with 32 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals in connection with the killing this past winter of 32 bison belonging to South Park rancher Monte Downare. The animal cruelty charges allege that between Feb. 26 and March 14, the 44-year-old Hawn unlawfully and knowingly "tortured, needlessly mutilated, or needlessly killed" the animals. Hawn is also charged with one count of theft of more than $20,000, alleging that Hawn intended to permanently deprive Downare of the bison and a single count of criminal mischief. Cruelty to animals is a Class 6 felony; and the theft and criminal mischief charges are both Class 3 felonies. Hawn is to appear in court on Aug. 4 to be advised of the charges. Pamela Mackey, Hawn's criminal defense lawyer, didn't return a call for comment. The shootings of the bison came shortly after Hawn and his Denver civil attorney, Stephen E. Csajaghy, complained about Downare's bison damaging Hawn's property....
Robert Redford Fights Global Warming With Poetry Robert Redford has been fighting on behalf of the environment for more than 30 years. From producing documentary films about solar power to lobbying Congress, his work has been both in the field and inside the Beltway. These days, he has a new venue for environmental activism: slam poetry. Sponsored by Redford's Sundance Preserve, in collaboration with Youth Speaks, a nonprofit that presents spoken-word performances, the Academy Award-winning actor is getting his message out in rhyme....
Grizzlies kill 71 sheep south of Choteau At least one and possibly two subadult grizzly bears have killed an estimated 71 sheep on two ranches southeast of Choteau since June 13, state and federal wildlife officials said on Monday. Snares have been set on both ranches but as of Monday nothing had been caught and wildlife officials were putting out the word that anyone recreating along the Teton River should be aware of the bears’ presence. Also, homeowners along the river corridor should take care to remove potential bear attractants — such as bird feeders, garbage and dog and cat food — from their yards and to put vulnerable small livestock — sheep, goats, chickens and ducks, for example — in safe, enclosed pens or buildings at night. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly management specialist Mike Madel of Choteau on Monday said that the depredations occurred over at least five different nights on June 11 and 12 and then again on July 8, 9 and 10. The bear or bears killed 65 head of ewes and lambs owned by Zane Drishinski and six head owned by Bill and Betty Jo Miller in pastures along the Teton River about a mile south of Choteau on the east side of U.S. Highway 89, Madel said....
Governor names 5 to oversee easements Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday named five people to a new panel established to prevent abuses of the state's land-preservation tax- credit program. Four more commissioners will be appointed by the board of Great Outdoors Colorado, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado agricultural commissioner. The commission, created by House Bill 1353, will meet at least once a quarter to review applications for conservation-easement holder certification. The bill calls for several other measures to thwart abuses to the conservation-easement program, including increased accountability for conservation-easement appraisals and creating a one-year holding requirement mirroring the IRS limitation on the value of a conservation contribution for property held less than a year....
Idaho rules on 3 recent wolf killings Idaho Fish and Game officials say 2 of 3 recent cases of wolf killings have been declared legal under state rules. But a third case remains under investigation. That case involves a wolf taken near Casner Creek near Lowman. Agency investigators say the wolf was shot with a small caliber rifle. The two cases deemed legal involve wolves attacking sheep dogs or livestock. A wolf killed by a sheepherder on June 21 in Boise County was deemed legal after investigators concluded the wolf was attacking two border collies. State and federal agents recently wrapped up an investigation into a wolf killed by an Arco rancher after finding the wolf mingling with his cattle....
Preble's mouse still threatened in Colo., not Wyo. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it will remove the Preble's meadow jumping mouse from the threatened species list in Wyoming, but keep the mouse on the list in Colorado. The government said the mouse can be delisted in Wyoming because new populations have been confirmed in habitat not at risk for development. But in Colorado, home construction and other types of development continue to threaten Preble's mouse habitat, Fish and Wildlife officials said. “Much of Preble's riparian habitat in Colorado has been severely altered or destroyed by human activities,” said Steve Guertin, director of Fish and Wildlife's Mountain-Prairie Region. “Continued rapid development is expected along Colorado's Front Range as the population continues to grow. Without the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act, much of Preble's habitat would be lost.” The Preble's mouse, a largely nocturnal mammal with a tail twice the length of its 3-inch body, lives mostly in streamside habitats thick with vegetation and adjacent foothills of southeastern Wyoming and along part of Colorado's Front Range, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It can jump as far as three feet to escape predators....
Unlocking the Water Held by U.S. Forests Not So Easy Can forests, which process nearly two-thirds of the nation’s water supply, be managed to help slake our growing demand for water and avert the worst consequences of climate change? A new report from the National Research Council suggests a need for caution in trying to tap greater water output from forests, and recommends more research and citizen involvement to help protect water quality and quantity as forests come under increased pressure from many directions. The National Research Council report, written by a panel of 14 experts, was requested by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the nation’s largest water wholesaler, and the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of land. The report, "Hydrologic Effects of a Changing Forest Landscape," explores how better management of forest resources could increase water supplies and quality and identifies future research needs. The report examines how removing the forest canopy, wildfires, insects, climate change, road networks, and applications of chemicals like fertilizers and fire retardants can affect the water output of a forest....
Rural lawmakers, cattle groups work to block beef imports from Argentina Farm-state lawmakers have introduced legislation to prevent the Bush administration from allowing imports of meat from Argentina into the United States. Fresh and frozen beef, mutton and other meat imports from Argentina, one of the world’s largest cattle producers, have been banned since 2001 because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. But a pending rule at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would allow imports from certain areas of Argentina deemed clear. Reps. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit fresh and frozen Argentine meat from entering the U.S. market until the USDA the South American country can categorically prove is free of foot-and-mouth disease. The bill mirrors a similar effort proposed in the Senate by Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) last week. The moves follow an intense lobbying effort by U.S. cattle producers....
Brucellosis probe spurs one Wyo. rancher to spay herd A western Wyoming rancher opted to have 750 cattle spayed rather than tested for brucellosis as part of an investigation into an outbreak of the livestock disease, a state livestock official said Wednesday. State and federal investigators are testing 13 herds for brucellosis, a disease mainly passed among animals, that can cause weight loss, infertility, lameness and abortions. The 13 herds had contact with a herd near Daniel that tested positive last month for brucellosis. Two of the 13 herds tested negative last week for the bacterial infection. Assistant state veterinarian Jim Logan said the rancher who chose to spay his herd had the choice of testing for brucellosis, slaughtering the herd or spaying the herd. By having the animals spayed, he eliminated the possibility that the cows could transmit brucellosis. The herd of 750 "feeder heifers" was not intended for breeding and will likely be sent from pasture to a feedlot and then the slaughterhouse, Logan said. Investigators still need to test 10 more herds in Wyoming. Logan said he expects that testing to take place in August, September and October, when the cattle are brought in from their summer ranges....
Equestrian community still saddled with slaughter debate Beginning in the late 1990s, animal activism organizations, including the National Horse Protection League and the Humane Association, and celebrities as varied as Bo Derek, Willie Nelson and Paul Sorvino, threw considerable weight against slaughterhouses, ultimately succeeding in convincing legislators, state by state, to ban killing horses for human consumption. The last horse slaughter facility in the United States, the Cavel plant in DeKalb, Ill., owned by a Belgian company that shipped horse meat to Europe, closed after an Illinois law made horse slaughter illegal. Cavel International appealed the ban in federal appeals court and lost; the Supreme Court refused to hear the case last month, thus rendering it judicially dead. But what sounds like a triumph for horses, owners and equine aficionados everywhere is actually a far more complex issue, because the question of how to deal with unwanted horses, including debilitated, dangerous and abandoned animals, remains unanswered. In the equestrian community, the subject is so sticky that while everyone is talking about it, no one's using names. One area veterinarian who wishes to remain anonymous believes the emotional arguments against killing "pet" horses fail to confront the realities of starvation, neglect and death from untreated ailments....
Robert Redford Fights Global Warming With Poetry Robert Redford has been fighting on behalf of the environment for more than 30 years. From producing documentary films about solar power to lobbying Congress, his work has been both in the field and inside the Beltway. These days, he has a new venue for environmental activism: slam poetry. Sponsored by Redford's Sundance Preserve, in collaboration with Youth Speaks, a nonprofit that presents spoken-word performances, the Academy Award-winning actor is getting his message out in rhyme....
Grizzlies kill 71 sheep south of Choteau At least one and possibly two subadult grizzly bears have killed an estimated 71 sheep on two ranches southeast of Choteau since June 13, state and federal wildlife officials said on Monday. Snares have been set on both ranches but as of Monday nothing had been caught and wildlife officials were putting out the word that anyone recreating along the Teton River should be aware of the bears’ presence. Also, homeowners along the river corridor should take care to remove potential bear attractants — such as bird feeders, garbage and dog and cat food — from their yards and to put vulnerable small livestock — sheep, goats, chickens and ducks, for example — in safe, enclosed pens or buildings at night. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly management specialist Mike Madel of Choteau on Monday said that the depredations occurred over at least five different nights on June 11 and 12 and then again on July 8, 9 and 10. The bear or bears killed 65 head of ewes and lambs owned by Zane Drishinski and six head owned by Bill and Betty Jo Miller in pastures along the Teton River about a mile south of Choteau on the east side of U.S. Highway 89, Madel said....
Governor names 5 to oversee easements Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday named five people to a new panel established to prevent abuses of the state's land-preservation tax- credit program. Four more commissioners will be appointed by the board of Great Outdoors Colorado, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado agricultural commissioner. The commission, created by House Bill 1353, will meet at least once a quarter to review applications for conservation-easement holder certification. The bill calls for several other measures to thwart abuses to the conservation-easement program, including increased accountability for conservation-easement appraisals and creating a one-year holding requirement mirroring the IRS limitation on the value of a conservation contribution for property held less than a year....
Idaho rules on 3 recent wolf killings Idaho Fish and Game officials say 2 of 3 recent cases of wolf killings have been declared legal under state rules. But a third case remains under investigation. That case involves a wolf taken near Casner Creek near Lowman. Agency investigators say the wolf was shot with a small caliber rifle. The two cases deemed legal involve wolves attacking sheep dogs or livestock. A wolf killed by a sheepherder on June 21 in Boise County was deemed legal after investigators concluded the wolf was attacking two border collies. State and federal agents recently wrapped up an investigation into a wolf killed by an Arco rancher after finding the wolf mingling with his cattle....
Preble's mouse still threatened in Colo., not Wyo. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it will remove the Preble's meadow jumping mouse from the threatened species list in Wyoming, but keep the mouse on the list in Colorado. The government said the mouse can be delisted in Wyoming because new populations have been confirmed in habitat not at risk for development. But in Colorado, home construction and other types of development continue to threaten Preble's mouse habitat, Fish and Wildlife officials said. “Much of Preble's riparian habitat in Colorado has been severely altered or destroyed by human activities,” said Steve Guertin, director of Fish and Wildlife's Mountain-Prairie Region. “Continued rapid development is expected along Colorado's Front Range as the population continues to grow. Without the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act, much of Preble's habitat would be lost.” The Preble's mouse, a largely nocturnal mammal with a tail twice the length of its 3-inch body, lives mostly in streamside habitats thick with vegetation and adjacent foothills of southeastern Wyoming and along part of Colorado's Front Range, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It can jump as far as three feet to escape predators....
Unlocking the Water Held by U.S. Forests Not So Easy Can forests, which process nearly two-thirds of the nation’s water supply, be managed to help slake our growing demand for water and avert the worst consequences of climate change? A new report from the National Research Council suggests a need for caution in trying to tap greater water output from forests, and recommends more research and citizen involvement to help protect water quality and quantity as forests come under increased pressure from many directions. The National Research Council report, written by a panel of 14 experts, was requested by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the nation’s largest water wholesaler, and the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of land. The report, "Hydrologic Effects of a Changing Forest Landscape," explores how better management of forest resources could increase water supplies and quality and identifies future research needs. The report examines how removing the forest canopy, wildfires, insects, climate change, road networks, and applications of chemicals like fertilizers and fire retardants can affect the water output of a forest....
Rural lawmakers, cattle groups work to block beef imports from Argentina Farm-state lawmakers have introduced legislation to prevent the Bush administration from allowing imports of meat from Argentina into the United States. Fresh and frozen beef, mutton and other meat imports from Argentina, one of the world’s largest cattle producers, have been banned since 2001 because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. But a pending rule at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would allow imports from certain areas of Argentina deemed clear. Reps. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit fresh and frozen Argentine meat from entering the U.S. market until the USDA the South American country can categorically prove is free of foot-and-mouth disease. The bill mirrors a similar effort proposed in the Senate by Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) last week. The moves follow an intense lobbying effort by U.S. cattle producers....
Brucellosis probe spurs one Wyo. rancher to spay herd A western Wyoming rancher opted to have 750 cattle spayed rather than tested for brucellosis as part of an investigation into an outbreak of the livestock disease, a state livestock official said Wednesday. State and federal investigators are testing 13 herds for brucellosis, a disease mainly passed among animals, that can cause weight loss, infertility, lameness and abortions. The 13 herds had contact with a herd near Daniel that tested positive last month for brucellosis. Two of the 13 herds tested negative last week for the bacterial infection. Assistant state veterinarian Jim Logan said the rancher who chose to spay his herd had the choice of testing for brucellosis, slaughtering the herd or spaying the herd. By having the animals spayed, he eliminated the possibility that the cows could transmit brucellosis. The herd of 750 "feeder heifers" was not intended for breeding and will likely be sent from pasture to a feedlot and then the slaughterhouse, Logan said. Investigators still need to test 10 more herds in Wyoming. Logan said he expects that testing to take place in August, September and October, when the cattle are brought in from their summer ranges....
Equestrian community still saddled with slaughter debate Beginning in the late 1990s, animal activism organizations, including the National Horse Protection League and the Humane Association, and celebrities as varied as Bo Derek, Willie Nelson and Paul Sorvino, threw considerable weight against slaughterhouses, ultimately succeeding in convincing legislators, state by state, to ban killing horses for human consumption. The last horse slaughter facility in the United States, the Cavel plant in DeKalb, Ill., owned by a Belgian company that shipped horse meat to Europe, closed after an Illinois law made horse slaughter illegal. Cavel International appealed the ban in federal appeals court and lost; the Supreme Court refused to hear the case last month, thus rendering it judicially dead. But what sounds like a triumph for horses, owners and equine aficionados everywhere is actually a far more complex issue, because the question of how to deal with unwanted horses, including debilitated, dangerous and abandoned animals, remains unanswered. In the equestrian community, the subject is so sticky that while everyone is talking about it, no one's using names. One area veterinarian who wishes to remain anonymous believes the emotional arguments against killing "pet" horses fail to confront the realities of starvation, neglect and death from untreated ailments....
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Global Warming Led to ‘Black Hawk Down,’ Congressman Says A top Democrat told high school students gathered at the U.S. Capitol Thursday that climate change caused Hurricane Katrina and the conflict in Darfur, which led to the “black hawk down” battle between U.S. troops and Somali rebels. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House (Select) Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, also equated the drive for global warming legislation with the drive for women’s suffrage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Markey was speaking to 25 students from the World Wildlife Fund's Allianz Southeast Climate Witness Program. The students had come to the Capitol to brief members of Congress on the risks of global warming. The students were from the Gulf States. But Myron Ebell, director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at CEI, told Cybercast News Service that Markey’s remarks reveal his ignorance about the science of global warming. “Yes, that part of the world is subject to drought at times, but it has very little to do with global warming,” said Ebell. “It is subject to drought whether the global average temperature is going up, down, or staying the same. To say you know the conflict was caused by global warming is to show how really ignorant you are of the scientific issues involved.” The students who testified at the event, most of whom had lived in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, described the difficulties they faced after the storm and blamed global warming for the disaster....
U.S. researchers predict global warming may increase kidney stone incidence Among the many diseases predicted to come with climate change, a team of U.S. researchers say kidney stones may become more common as the temperature rises across North America, media reports said Monday. Researchers from University of Texas examined how the incidence of kidney stones would change with increasing temperatures and suggest kidney stones may increase across the United States by as much as 30 percent in the most affected areas. In addition, they calculate the direct and indirect costs of treating approximately 2 million new kidney stone cases annually could increase by 1 billion U.S. dollars by 2050, which is 25 percent more than the current expenditures. Previous research has found the risk of kidney stone formation is increased by low urine volume, which reflects the state of body hydration....This is enough to piss you off.
Environmental Bills Called Pretext to Loosen Border Security Open-border advocates operating under the guise of environmentalism are prepared to push for legislation that could result in an accelerated flow of illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and human trafficking from Mexico into Arizona, according to law enforcement experts familiar with the terrain. The two bills, sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), would restrict federal and state law enforcement officials from patrolling an already porous border area that extends from Sonora, Mexico into Santa Cruz County, Ariz., critics charge. However, some members of Congress and environmental activists maintain the legislation would provide for greater flexibility in enforcing the border while safeguarding natural treasures. Grijalva has proposed extending federal wilderness protection to approximately 84,000 acres of the Tumacacori Highlands within the Coronado National Forest, which is located adjacent to the Pajarita Wilderness that runs along the Mexican border. This wilderness designation would effectively push the Mexican border 30 miles to the north of its present location, according to Zack Taylor, a retired U.S. Border Patrol officer. Kent Lundgren, chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO), said the impetus behind the legislation does not come from any public outcry on the part of citizens in Arizona or in other border states, but is instead the handiwork of environmental activists connected with the Sky Island Alliance (SKI), a self-described grassroots organization formed in 1991. The alliance has long opposed motorized activity in the Coronado National Forest and supports the creation of an “interconnected” conservation area across southeastern Arizona. Matt Skroch, SKI executive director, expressed strong support for Grijalva’s Wilderness Act in testimony last year before the House Natural Resources Committee’s national parks, forests and public lands subcommittee....
Bush Acts on Drilling, Challenging Democrats President Bush lifted nearly two decades of executive orders banning drilling for oil and natural gas off the country’s shoreline on Monday while challenging Congress to open up more areas for exploration to address soaring energy prices. Democrats in Congress, joined by environmentalists, criticized the step and ridiculed it as ineffectual, while most Republicans and industry representatives applauded it as long overdue. The lifting of the moratorium — first announced by Mr. Bush’s father, President George Bush, in 1990 and extended by President Bill Clinton — will have no real impact because a Congressional moratorium on drilling enacted in 1981 and renewed annually remains in force. And there appeared to be no consensus for lifting it in tandem with Mr. Bush’s action. Rather than signaling a change in the country’s policy, the president’s decision appeared only to harden well-established positions, intensifying an already contentious issue in the middle of an election year....
Efforts on 2 Fronts to Save a Population of Ferrets A colony that contains nearly half of the black-footed ferrets in the country and which biologists say is critical to the long-term health of the species has been struck by plague, which may have killed a third of the 300 animals. A much-publicized endangered species in the 1970s that had dwindled to 18 animals, the black-footed ferret had struggled to make a comeback and had been doing relatively well for decades. But plague, always a threat to the ferrets and their main prey, prairie dogs, has struck with a vengeance this year, partly because of the wet spring. The ferrets are an easy target for the bacteria. “They are exquisitely sensitive to the plague,” said Travis Livieri, a wildlife biologist here who is trying to save the colony. “They don’t just get sick, they die. No ifs, ands or buts.” Humans can catch plague, but it is easily treated with antibiotics. Mr. Livieri is working with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service’s black-footed ferret recovery team, the Forest Service and some volunteers to try to save the colony at Conata Basin by dusting prairie dog burrows with flea powder that kills the plague-carrying insects. Mr. Livieri is also working on a vaccination program, prowling the prairie all night to capture ferrets for injections....
Plan reworks ski-area law A proposal to expand the federal Ski Area Permit Act to recognize winter sports beyond alpine and nordic skiing and promote summer recreation is drawing concern from environmental groups. The draft bill by U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, is aimed at updating the 1986 law to reflect the changing nature of ski resorts operating on U.S. Forest Service land. "My bill would make it clear that activities like mountain biking, concerts and other appropriate uses can be allowed at these ski areas," Udall said in a statement. Environmental groups say they are worried that the language in the draft is too broad. "The concern is that this will open the door for things like water parks or roller coasters," said Ryan Bidwell, executive director of Colorado Wild. Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said ski resorts shouldn't get preferential treatment. "The bill needs to be explicit that when it comes to summer activities, ski resorts have to meet the same rules and standards as an outfitter or any other permit applicant," Mall said....
Court: Ore. land plan should consider wilderness Federal appeals judges have told the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to take another look at its plans for about 4.5 million acres in Eastern Oregon — and to consider wilderness values when it does. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday the bureau's plans for the area are too narrow. The judges say the bureau should include in its management plans areas where grass, sagebrush and juniper are reclaiming unused roads. And it said the bureau should manage lands with an eye toward preserving their wilderness characteristics — even if they haven't been designated as wilderness areas. The suit was brought in 2003 by the Oregon Natural Desert Association. It involves land in three counties, Malheur, Grant and Harney, where the bureau leases extensive tracts of grazing land to ranchers....And they are closing roads all across the West. Will these areas "recover" thus creating more wilderness in a never ending process?
Hundreds of wild horses corralled The state Bureau of Land Management said it corralled hundreds of horses roaming free in Nevada in an effort to decrease the number of wild horses. The agency has corralled 161 horses in Nevada's Fox and Lake mountain ranges since Friday, the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal reported. At least 300 horses were corralled last week outside Lovelock, Nev., BLM Assistant Field Manager Arlan Hiner said. The agency said it plans to corral 114 additional horses in coming days. Approximately half of the country's 30,000 wild horses are in Nevada, with others in California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. Government officials say they want to decrease the wild horse population to about 27,000. Susie Stokke, manager of the Nevada BLM roundup plan, said the animals are put into captivity because water and food in the wild is scant.
A Battle Over Wild Horses If you drew up a list of things that divide the country, horses probably wouldn't appear near the top. But they should, if the response to NEWSWEEK's interview last week with wild horse advocate Deanne Stillman is anything to go by. She blasted the Bureau of Land Management's proposed policy of euthanasia to curb the wild horse population, claiming that American mustangs deserve better than "a trip to the gallows." But for every defender of the horse's right to roam free, there is an equally hard-core realist who says that management is an inescapable reality. When people from those two camps met on Newsweek.com, it got as wild as the Old West, stretching more than 100 printed pages, including letters from the BLM and the governor of Wyoming. Here were the major dustups, and a taste of the reader comments....
Bush-appointed sportsmen offer conservation ideas An advisory group appointed by the Bush administration says hunters and fishermen - touted as the nation's first conservationists - ought to continue to play an important role as advocates for conserving wildlife and habitat. But the Sporting Conservation Council says conflicting government policies, dwindling interest in hunting, and growing threats to big game, fish and fowl populations have made that role a more challenging one. The council recently released a package of draft reports outlining those concerns and possible long-term policy solutions. Drawn from expert testimony at a conference in Denver in April, the reports will be the starting point for a planned presidential conference on wildlife policy in Washington, D.C., this fall. The goal is a 10-year, national wildlife management policy. Council members said such long-term planning will require bipartisanship - and they've even reached out to both the John McCain and Barack Obama campaigns with the assumption that one of the two will soon be in a position to enact their recommendations....
U.S. researchers predict global warming may increase kidney stone incidence Among the many diseases predicted to come with climate change, a team of U.S. researchers say kidney stones may become more common as the temperature rises across North America, media reports said Monday. Researchers from University of Texas examined how the incidence of kidney stones would change with increasing temperatures and suggest kidney stones may increase across the United States by as much as 30 percent in the most affected areas. In addition, they calculate the direct and indirect costs of treating approximately 2 million new kidney stone cases annually could increase by 1 billion U.S. dollars by 2050, which is 25 percent more than the current expenditures. Previous research has found the risk of kidney stone formation is increased by low urine volume, which reflects the state of body hydration....This is enough to piss you off.
Environmental Bills Called Pretext to Loosen Border Security Open-border advocates operating under the guise of environmentalism are prepared to push for legislation that could result in an accelerated flow of illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and human trafficking from Mexico into Arizona, according to law enforcement experts familiar with the terrain. The two bills, sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), would restrict federal and state law enforcement officials from patrolling an already porous border area that extends from Sonora, Mexico into Santa Cruz County, Ariz., critics charge. However, some members of Congress and environmental activists maintain the legislation would provide for greater flexibility in enforcing the border while safeguarding natural treasures. Grijalva has proposed extending federal wilderness protection to approximately 84,000 acres of the Tumacacori Highlands within the Coronado National Forest, which is located adjacent to the Pajarita Wilderness that runs along the Mexican border. This wilderness designation would effectively push the Mexican border 30 miles to the north of its present location, according to Zack Taylor, a retired U.S. Border Patrol officer. Kent Lundgren, chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO), said the impetus behind the legislation does not come from any public outcry on the part of citizens in Arizona or in other border states, but is instead the handiwork of environmental activists connected with the Sky Island Alliance (SKI), a self-described grassroots organization formed in 1991. The alliance has long opposed motorized activity in the Coronado National Forest and supports the creation of an “interconnected” conservation area across southeastern Arizona. Matt Skroch, SKI executive director, expressed strong support for Grijalva’s Wilderness Act in testimony last year before the House Natural Resources Committee’s national parks, forests and public lands subcommittee....
Bush Acts on Drilling, Challenging Democrats President Bush lifted nearly two decades of executive orders banning drilling for oil and natural gas off the country’s shoreline on Monday while challenging Congress to open up more areas for exploration to address soaring energy prices. Democrats in Congress, joined by environmentalists, criticized the step and ridiculed it as ineffectual, while most Republicans and industry representatives applauded it as long overdue. The lifting of the moratorium — first announced by Mr. Bush’s father, President George Bush, in 1990 and extended by President Bill Clinton — will have no real impact because a Congressional moratorium on drilling enacted in 1981 and renewed annually remains in force. And there appeared to be no consensus for lifting it in tandem with Mr. Bush’s action. Rather than signaling a change in the country’s policy, the president’s decision appeared only to harden well-established positions, intensifying an already contentious issue in the middle of an election year....
Efforts on 2 Fronts to Save a Population of Ferrets A colony that contains nearly half of the black-footed ferrets in the country and which biologists say is critical to the long-term health of the species has been struck by plague, which may have killed a third of the 300 animals. A much-publicized endangered species in the 1970s that had dwindled to 18 animals, the black-footed ferret had struggled to make a comeback and had been doing relatively well for decades. But plague, always a threat to the ferrets and their main prey, prairie dogs, has struck with a vengeance this year, partly because of the wet spring. The ferrets are an easy target for the bacteria. “They are exquisitely sensitive to the plague,” said Travis Livieri, a wildlife biologist here who is trying to save the colony. “They don’t just get sick, they die. No ifs, ands or buts.” Humans can catch plague, but it is easily treated with antibiotics. Mr. Livieri is working with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service’s black-footed ferret recovery team, the Forest Service and some volunteers to try to save the colony at Conata Basin by dusting prairie dog burrows with flea powder that kills the plague-carrying insects. Mr. Livieri is also working on a vaccination program, prowling the prairie all night to capture ferrets for injections....
Plan reworks ski-area law A proposal to expand the federal Ski Area Permit Act to recognize winter sports beyond alpine and nordic skiing and promote summer recreation is drawing concern from environmental groups. The draft bill by U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, is aimed at updating the 1986 law to reflect the changing nature of ski resorts operating on U.S. Forest Service land. "My bill would make it clear that activities like mountain biking, concerts and other appropriate uses can be allowed at these ski areas," Udall said in a statement. Environmental groups say they are worried that the language in the draft is too broad. "The concern is that this will open the door for things like water parks or roller coasters," said Ryan Bidwell, executive director of Colorado Wild. Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said ski resorts shouldn't get preferential treatment. "The bill needs to be explicit that when it comes to summer activities, ski resorts have to meet the same rules and standards as an outfitter or any other permit applicant," Mall said....
Court: Ore. land plan should consider wilderness Federal appeals judges have told the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to take another look at its plans for about 4.5 million acres in Eastern Oregon — and to consider wilderness values when it does. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday the bureau's plans for the area are too narrow. The judges say the bureau should include in its management plans areas where grass, sagebrush and juniper are reclaiming unused roads. And it said the bureau should manage lands with an eye toward preserving their wilderness characteristics — even if they haven't been designated as wilderness areas. The suit was brought in 2003 by the Oregon Natural Desert Association. It involves land in three counties, Malheur, Grant and Harney, where the bureau leases extensive tracts of grazing land to ranchers....And they are closing roads all across the West. Will these areas "recover" thus creating more wilderness in a never ending process?
Hundreds of wild horses corralled The state Bureau of Land Management said it corralled hundreds of horses roaming free in Nevada in an effort to decrease the number of wild horses. The agency has corralled 161 horses in Nevada's Fox and Lake mountain ranges since Friday, the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal reported. At least 300 horses were corralled last week outside Lovelock, Nev., BLM Assistant Field Manager Arlan Hiner said. The agency said it plans to corral 114 additional horses in coming days. Approximately half of the country's 30,000 wild horses are in Nevada, with others in California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. Government officials say they want to decrease the wild horse population to about 27,000. Susie Stokke, manager of the Nevada BLM roundup plan, said the animals are put into captivity because water and food in the wild is scant.
A Battle Over Wild Horses If you drew up a list of things that divide the country, horses probably wouldn't appear near the top. But they should, if the response to NEWSWEEK's interview last week with wild horse advocate Deanne Stillman is anything to go by. She blasted the Bureau of Land Management's proposed policy of euthanasia to curb the wild horse population, claiming that American mustangs deserve better than "a trip to the gallows." But for every defender of the horse's right to roam free, there is an equally hard-core realist who says that management is an inescapable reality. When people from those two camps met on Newsweek.com, it got as wild as the Old West, stretching more than 100 printed pages, including letters from the BLM and the governor of Wyoming. Here were the major dustups, and a taste of the reader comments....
Bush-appointed sportsmen offer conservation ideas An advisory group appointed by the Bush administration says hunters and fishermen - touted as the nation's first conservationists - ought to continue to play an important role as advocates for conserving wildlife and habitat. But the Sporting Conservation Council says conflicting government policies, dwindling interest in hunting, and growing threats to big game, fish and fowl populations have made that role a more challenging one. The council recently released a package of draft reports outlining those concerns and possible long-term policy solutions. Drawn from expert testimony at a conference in Denver in April, the reports will be the starting point for a planned presidential conference on wildlife policy in Washington, D.C., this fall. The goal is a 10-year, national wildlife management policy. Council members said such long-term planning will require bipartisanship - and they've even reached out to both the John McCain and Barack Obama campaigns with the assumption that one of the two will soon be in a position to enact their recommendations....
Monday, July 14, 2008
FLE
EDITORIAL: Border agent murder outrage
The Justice Department and the White House have some explaining to do with regard to the investigation of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar, 35, in January - in particular, whether Washington bothered to request Navarro's extradition.
Mr. Aguilar was attempting to stop two suspected drug smugglers Jan. 19 about 20 miles west of Yuma, Ariz., as they fled back into Mexico. The six-year Border Patrol veteran was trying to lay spike strips to stop the pair when he was struck and killed by a Hummer, allegedly driven by Navarro. The suspect was arrested three days later by Mexican authorities after an international manhunt. The Mexican Embassy in Washington, which announced Navarro's arrest, said he had been driving a Hummer, "presumably carrying drugs," when Border Patrol agents attempted to stop the vehicle, and that "Agent Aguilar was run down, and Mr. Navarro fled the scene back to Mexican territory." The statement said that Navarro (who had served time for transporting illegal aliens to the United States) would be prosecuted in Mexico, but that the Mexican government was awaiting an extradition request from the United States.
Fast forward to last month: Navarro applied for and was granted bail after being "cleared" of an unrelated migrant-smuggling charge. The Mexican government says it knew nothing about Navarro's release until after it occurred, and that it is now trying to put him behind bars. But that begs the question of how Navarro could be released given that the Mexican government itself had issued a statement implicating him in drug smuggling and running down Mr. Aguilar with his Hummer.
But the U.S. government (and in particular, the White House and the Justice Department) also has questions to answer. Mexico said late last month that Washington had not issued an arrest warrant, provided evidence or contacted it regarding Navarro's extradition. Then, on Thursday, Mexico said that U.S. officials did in fact make "a provisional arrest request for extradition purposes" - but did so more than a week after Navarro's release. So, we've heard Mexico's versions of what happened in the Navarro case (both of them.) It's past time for the White House and the Justice Department to come forward with their own explanation of how things were fouled up, and why Jesus Navarro Montes is a free man.
EDITORIAL: Border agent murder outrage
The Justice Department and the White House have some explaining to do with regard to the investigation of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar, 35, in January - in particular, whether Washington bothered to request Navarro's extradition.
Mr. Aguilar was attempting to stop two suspected drug smugglers Jan. 19 about 20 miles west of Yuma, Ariz., as they fled back into Mexico. The six-year Border Patrol veteran was trying to lay spike strips to stop the pair when he was struck and killed by a Hummer, allegedly driven by Navarro. The suspect was arrested three days later by Mexican authorities after an international manhunt. The Mexican Embassy in Washington, which announced Navarro's arrest, said he had been driving a Hummer, "presumably carrying drugs," when Border Patrol agents attempted to stop the vehicle, and that "Agent Aguilar was run down, and Mr. Navarro fled the scene back to Mexican territory." The statement said that Navarro (who had served time for transporting illegal aliens to the United States) would be prosecuted in Mexico, but that the Mexican government was awaiting an extradition request from the United States.
Fast forward to last month: Navarro applied for and was granted bail after being "cleared" of an unrelated migrant-smuggling charge. The Mexican government says it knew nothing about Navarro's release until after it occurred, and that it is now trying to put him behind bars. But that begs the question of how Navarro could be released given that the Mexican government itself had issued a statement implicating him in drug smuggling and running down Mr. Aguilar with his Hummer.
But the U.S. government (and in particular, the White House and the Justice Department) also has questions to answer. Mexico said late last month that Washington had not issued an arrest warrant, provided evidence or contacted it regarding Navarro's extradition. Then, on Thursday, Mexico said that U.S. officials did in fact make "a provisional arrest request for extradition purposes" - but did so more than a week after Navarro's release. So, we've heard Mexico's versions of what happened in the Navarro case (both of them.) It's past time for the White House and the Justice Department to come forward with their own explanation of how things were fouled up, and why Jesus Navarro Montes is a free man.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Court says EPA overreached with emissions rule A federal appeals court unanimously struck down a signature component of President Bush's clean air policies Friday, dealing a blow to environmental groups and probably delaying further action until the next administration. The regulation, known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule, required 28 mostly Eastern states to reduce smog-forming and soot-producing emissions that can travel long distances in the wind. The Environmental Protection Agency predicted that it would prevent about 17,000 premature deaths a year. North Carolina and some electric power producers opposed aspects of the regulation, and President Bush found himself with some unusual allies. "This is the rare case where environmental groups went to court alongside the Bush administration," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a group that has criticized other Bush administration policies. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the EPA had overstepped its authority. It said the Clean Air Act did not give the EPA the authority to change pollution standards the way it had. Citing "more than several fatal flaws," the court scrapped the entire regulation....
White House rejects regulating greenhouse gases The Bush administration, dismissing the recommendations of its top experts, rejected regulating the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming Friday, saying it would cripple the U.S. economy. In a 588-page federal notice, the Environmental Protection Agency made no finding on whether global warming poses a threat to people's health or welfare, reversing an earlier conclusion at the insistence of the White House and officially kicking any decision on a solution to the next president and Congress. The White House on Thursday rejected the EPA's suggestion three weeks earlier that the 1970 Clean Air Act can be both workable and effective for addressing global climate change. The EPA said Friday that law is ``ill-suited'' for dealing with global warming. ``If our nation is truly serious about regulating greenhouse gases, the Clean Air Act is the wrong tool for the job,'' EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson told reporters. ``It is really at the feet of Congress.''....
EPA dropped wetlands cases after high court ruling The Bush administration didn't pursue hundreds of potential water pollution cases after a 2006 Supreme Court decision that restricted the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate seasonal streams and wetlands. From July 2006 through December 2007 there were 304 instances where the EPA found what would have been violations of the Clean Water Act before the court's ruling, according to a memo by the agency's enforcement chief. Officials "chose not to pursue formal enforcement based on the uncertainty about EPA's jurisdiction," according to the memo, which was released Monday by two Democratic House committee chairmen. The EPA also chose to "lower the priority" of 147 other cases because it was unclear whether the intermittent streams, swamps and marshes flowed into navigable waterways. Chief Justice John Roberts predicted the court's decision would be confusing, saying "regulated entities will now have to feel their way on a case-by-case basis." The confusion primarily surrounds temporary streams and wetlands not large enough to be navigable, but which are among the most prevalent types of waters across the country....
Agricultural water pollution on the line The Bush Administration has been trying since 2005 to change Clean Water Act rules so that agricultural interests can dump polluted water into public lakes and streams without obtaining a permit. Each step of the way, Florida environmentalists represented by Earthjustice lawyers have filed lawsuits to block the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) from implementing the new rules. On June 9th, the Bush EPA tried once again and again environmentalists are going to court to block the proposed rules. Click here to read an article about the legal challenge. The rule change proposal is the Administration’s response to three lawsuits – one in South Florida, one in Upstate New York and one in the upper Klamath River Basin. Each lawsuit seeks court action to require those discharging agricultural waste water into a public waterbody through a “discrete conveyance” (i.e. a pipe or a pump) to obtain a pollution discharge permit. Prior to these cases it was assumed that all agricultural discharges were “non point sources” and therefore exempted from the Clean Water Act’s discharge permit requirements. The Florida case went all the way to the Supreme Court which opened the door to permit requirements if agricultural wastewater is moved from one waterbody to another through a discrete conveyance. The Bush Administration countered with the rule change. The implications of extending Clean Water Act permit requirements to agricultural discharges are huge in the West where water has been wheeled freely using subsidized power and giant pumps....
Santa Fe Forest Proposal Would Limit Use of ATVs Santa Fe National Forest officials unveiled a proposal on Thursday that would cut in half the roads available to motorized travel and practically eliminate off-road or off-trail use of motorized vehicles. And then they stepped back to brace themselves for public reaction. "I understand that every time we make a big change, people are really emot i o n a l a b o u t it," said Forest Supervisor Daniel Jiron. "We're trying to leave Santa Fe National Forest for future generations in the best shape possible." The public outcry already has been heard for at least two years, the time that has lapsed since local officials first started work to conform with motorized travel regulations issued for forests nationwide. People who use the forest -- including off-road trails that appeared through usage but never were official routes -- complained that their recreational opportunities were being closed down, while those who oppose the noisy machines, especially in areas where they live, have said not enough was being done to keep them out of the forest. Jiron said he expects to hear more of the same, even though Forest Service officials tried to develop the plans by taking into account input they've gotten so far from the public. On Glorieta Mesa, where there has been controversy over ATV use, no cross-country travel will be allowed, but there will be "minor" camping corridors and one loop trail where motorized vehicles will be allowed, Jiron said....
Wildlife officials kill 2 wolves State wildlife officials killed two wolves belonging to separate packs in different parts of Western Montana on Friday, after two calves and a 600-pound heifer were found dead on private property. "It's kind of the aligning of random events," said Mike Thompson, wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The USDA Wildlife Services confirmed Monday and Friday that several wolves from the Brooks Creek pack were responsible for the death of two calves on private land near Florence in the Bitterroot Valley. The wolves also chased seven yearling cattle through a fence on the property, but they were unharmed, according to a press release issued by FWP. The Brooks Creek pack has a den near where the Bitterroot landowner is calving, Thompson said. Wildlife Services killed one of the wolves they believe is responsible on private land near the area of the attacks. The pack now has five wolves. North of there, another wolf attack took place. On Thursday, the USDA Wildlife Services confirmed that a wolf from the Superior pack killed a heifer on private land west of Superior....
Booz, Allen & Hamilton, the Army's accomplice in Southeast Colorado Booz, Allen & Hamilton (hereafter Booz Allen), a privately held corporation owned by about 300 senior executives, is the Army's accomplice in their attempted private property seizure in southeast Colorado. Their expertise, they declare, is strategy and public sector mission effectiveness. Booz Allen contracted with the Army for $500,000 to maneuver the ranchers out of their property rights. Skillful facilitators (provocateurs), despite their friendly demeanor, very likely use an advanced version of the deceptive Delphi Method, mind-games developed by the U.S. Air Force's RAND Project, financed by the Ford Foundation. Booz Allen knows the financial/credit history, computer key-strokes, personality traits, political affiliations, friends, associates, medical issues, weaknesses and strengths of every single southeast Colorado rancher and will use that information for the army's objective — the seizure of private land. Their surveys, meetings, polls are a façade — citizen's input is irrelevant. For additional pressure, the Army claims they have a "willing seller" with 100,000 acres, perhaps a newly-arrived non-rancher strategically-placed in order to influence and alter the balance of opinions....
Tribe works to regain lost land During the past 30 years, the Spirit Lake Tribe has repurchased about 50,000 acres of reservation land. Tribal Chairman Myra Pearson knows when acquisition efforts will cease. “When we own it all,” she said. Because about two-thirds of reservation land still is owned by non-Indians, complete ownership won’t happen soon. But the tribe’s rate of buyouts still is brisk enough to alarm local nonreservation taxing authorities. That’s because tribe-purchased land goes into a federal trust, which isn’t subject to property taxes. So, the county, townships and school districts lose those tax dollars. In Benson County, where most of the reacquired acres exist, the annual losses to those taxing entities total about $240,000. The county government’s share of that figure is $89,000....$240,000??
Feds have duty to help pay for wolf kills The U.S. Department of Interior's negative reaction to a livestock compensation bill for animals killed by wolves isn't surprising, but it is disappointing. Keep in mind that the federal government reintroduced gray wolves to the Yellowstone ecosystem in 1995. About 1,500 of the predators now roam Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The feds administered the recovery program until earlier this year, when wolves were removed from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Now the three states each have their own management plans for the animals. The states are now responsible for compensating ranchers for cattle and sheep killed by wolves. A conservation group, Defenders of Wildlife, had been paying for documented kills before wolves were delisted. Now, Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., have sponsored a bill that would require the federal government to pay a portion of those costs. Barrasso is probably overstating the problem when he says it's time for the feds to pay "to fix Washington's mistake." While wolf reintroduction has always been opposed by the livestock industry, conservation groups have supported it and don't view restoring the wolf to the environment as a mistake. But the senator is correct when he says the federal government should be responsible to contribute matching funds to the state's compensation trust funds. Critics contend that the compensation program amounts to welfare for ranchers. But losses due to the predator's presence are considerable. The National Agricultural Statistics Service estimates that wolves killed 100 adult cattle and 600 calves in Wyoming in 2007. Sheep losses for the year were estimated at 100 ewes and 400 lambs. Ranchers' estimates are considerably higher....
Meat Recalls to Name Retailers The Department of Agriculture will change its policy and begin to identify retailers who have received recalled meat, but only in cases that pose the most serious health threat. The information will be provided only in Class I recalls, those of "most serious concern to public health," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said. The rule will take effect in August, 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. "People want to know if they need to be on the lookout for recalled meat and poultry from their local stores," Schafer said. Listing the outlets "will improve public health protection by better informing consumers." The USDA came under criticism earlier this year for refusing to name retail outlets and schools that received ground beef recalled by Westland/Hallmark Meat, citing privacy concerns. That recall, involving 143 million pounds, was the biggest in U.S. history....
Settlers up to no good at Portales Springs Doak Good had settled in comfortably in his rock and adobe house at Portales Springs, but his peaceful existence did not last long. In 1882 Jim Newman began bringing his cattle from Texas to Salt Lake and established the DZ Ranch near Arch, 11 miles east of Good’s place. Newman’s cattle would drift over to the plentiful water at Portales Springs. Bad feelings developed and violence was bound to follow. After the fight with Gabe Henson, which he blamed on Newman, Good was afraid to stay by himself and he picked up a transient boy about 14 years old to work for him. Old-time cowboy Col. Jack Potter had this to say about the new cowhand, “He was a hard-looking kid; had an old Stetson hat with the crown out, thrown away by some cowpuncher. He had long hair and it stuck out through the crown of the hat. He was dubbed by the cowboys as ‘Portales Bill,’ though I learned later his real name was McElmore.” Good gave him a few dogies or mavericks for his work, and it was commonly believed that he added to his herd by rustling other people’s cattle....
White House rejects regulating greenhouse gases The Bush administration, dismissing the recommendations of its top experts, rejected regulating the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming Friday, saying it would cripple the U.S. economy. In a 588-page federal notice, the Environmental Protection Agency made no finding on whether global warming poses a threat to people's health or welfare, reversing an earlier conclusion at the insistence of the White House and officially kicking any decision on a solution to the next president and Congress. The White House on Thursday rejected the EPA's suggestion three weeks earlier that the 1970 Clean Air Act can be both workable and effective for addressing global climate change. The EPA said Friday that law is ``ill-suited'' for dealing with global warming. ``If our nation is truly serious about regulating greenhouse gases, the Clean Air Act is the wrong tool for the job,'' EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson told reporters. ``It is really at the feet of Congress.''....
EPA dropped wetlands cases after high court ruling The Bush administration didn't pursue hundreds of potential water pollution cases after a 2006 Supreme Court decision that restricted the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate seasonal streams and wetlands. From July 2006 through December 2007 there were 304 instances where the EPA found what would have been violations of the Clean Water Act before the court's ruling, according to a memo by the agency's enforcement chief. Officials "chose not to pursue formal enforcement based on the uncertainty about EPA's jurisdiction," according to the memo, which was released Monday by two Democratic House committee chairmen. The EPA also chose to "lower the priority" of 147 other cases because it was unclear whether the intermittent streams, swamps and marshes flowed into navigable waterways. Chief Justice John Roberts predicted the court's decision would be confusing, saying "regulated entities will now have to feel their way on a case-by-case basis." The confusion primarily surrounds temporary streams and wetlands not large enough to be navigable, but which are among the most prevalent types of waters across the country....
Agricultural water pollution on the line The Bush Administration has been trying since 2005 to change Clean Water Act rules so that agricultural interests can dump polluted water into public lakes and streams without obtaining a permit. Each step of the way, Florida environmentalists represented by Earthjustice lawyers have filed lawsuits to block the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) from implementing the new rules. On June 9th, the Bush EPA tried once again and again environmentalists are going to court to block the proposed rules. Click here to read an article about the legal challenge. The rule change proposal is the Administration’s response to three lawsuits – one in South Florida, one in Upstate New York and one in the upper Klamath River Basin. Each lawsuit seeks court action to require those discharging agricultural waste water into a public waterbody through a “discrete conveyance” (i.e. a pipe or a pump) to obtain a pollution discharge permit. Prior to these cases it was assumed that all agricultural discharges were “non point sources” and therefore exempted from the Clean Water Act’s discharge permit requirements. The Florida case went all the way to the Supreme Court which opened the door to permit requirements if agricultural wastewater is moved from one waterbody to another through a discrete conveyance. The Bush Administration countered with the rule change. The implications of extending Clean Water Act permit requirements to agricultural discharges are huge in the West where water has been wheeled freely using subsidized power and giant pumps....
Santa Fe Forest Proposal Would Limit Use of ATVs Santa Fe National Forest officials unveiled a proposal on Thursday that would cut in half the roads available to motorized travel and practically eliminate off-road or off-trail use of motorized vehicles. And then they stepped back to brace themselves for public reaction. "I understand that every time we make a big change, people are really emot i o n a l a b o u t it," said Forest Supervisor Daniel Jiron. "We're trying to leave Santa Fe National Forest for future generations in the best shape possible." The public outcry already has been heard for at least two years, the time that has lapsed since local officials first started work to conform with motorized travel regulations issued for forests nationwide. People who use the forest -- including off-road trails that appeared through usage but never were official routes -- complained that their recreational opportunities were being closed down, while those who oppose the noisy machines, especially in areas where they live, have said not enough was being done to keep them out of the forest. Jiron said he expects to hear more of the same, even though Forest Service officials tried to develop the plans by taking into account input they've gotten so far from the public. On Glorieta Mesa, where there has been controversy over ATV use, no cross-country travel will be allowed, but there will be "minor" camping corridors and one loop trail where motorized vehicles will be allowed, Jiron said....
Wildlife officials kill 2 wolves State wildlife officials killed two wolves belonging to separate packs in different parts of Western Montana on Friday, after two calves and a 600-pound heifer were found dead on private property. "It's kind of the aligning of random events," said Mike Thompson, wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The USDA Wildlife Services confirmed Monday and Friday that several wolves from the Brooks Creek pack were responsible for the death of two calves on private land near Florence in the Bitterroot Valley. The wolves also chased seven yearling cattle through a fence on the property, but they were unharmed, according to a press release issued by FWP. The Brooks Creek pack has a den near where the Bitterroot landowner is calving, Thompson said. Wildlife Services killed one of the wolves they believe is responsible on private land near the area of the attacks. The pack now has five wolves. North of there, another wolf attack took place. On Thursday, the USDA Wildlife Services confirmed that a wolf from the Superior pack killed a heifer on private land west of Superior....
Booz, Allen & Hamilton, the Army's accomplice in Southeast Colorado Booz, Allen & Hamilton (hereafter Booz Allen), a privately held corporation owned by about 300 senior executives, is the Army's accomplice in their attempted private property seizure in southeast Colorado. Their expertise, they declare, is strategy and public sector mission effectiveness. Booz Allen contracted with the Army for $500,000 to maneuver the ranchers out of their property rights. Skillful facilitators (provocateurs), despite their friendly demeanor, very likely use an advanced version of the deceptive Delphi Method, mind-games developed by the U.S. Air Force's RAND Project, financed by the Ford Foundation. Booz Allen knows the financial/credit history, computer key-strokes, personality traits, political affiliations, friends, associates, medical issues, weaknesses and strengths of every single southeast Colorado rancher and will use that information for the army's objective — the seizure of private land. Their surveys, meetings, polls are a façade — citizen's input is irrelevant. For additional pressure, the Army claims they have a "willing seller" with 100,000 acres, perhaps a newly-arrived non-rancher strategically-placed in order to influence and alter the balance of opinions....
Tribe works to regain lost land During the past 30 years, the Spirit Lake Tribe has repurchased about 50,000 acres of reservation land. Tribal Chairman Myra Pearson knows when acquisition efforts will cease. “When we own it all,” she said. Because about two-thirds of reservation land still is owned by non-Indians, complete ownership won’t happen soon. But the tribe’s rate of buyouts still is brisk enough to alarm local nonreservation taxing authorities. That’s because tribe-purchased land goes into a federal trust, which isn’t subject to property taxes. So, the county, townships and school districts lose those tax dollars. In Benson County, where most of the reacquired acres exist, the annual losses to those taxing entities total about $240,000. The county government’s share of that figure is $89,000....$240,000??
Feds have duty to help pay for wolf kills The U.S. Department of Interior's negative reaction to a livestock compensation bill for animals killed by wolves isn't surprising, but it is disappointing. Keep in mind that the federal government reintroduced gray wolves to the Yellowstone ecosystem in 1995. About 1,500 of the predators now roam Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The feds administered the recovery program until earlier this year, when wolves were removed from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Now the three states each have their own management plans for the animals. The states are now responsible for compensating ranchers for cattle and sheep killed by wolves. A conservation group, Defenders of Wildlife, had been paying for documented kills before wolves were delisted. Now, Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., have sponsored a bill that would require the federal government to pay a portion of those costs. Barrasso is probably overstating the problem when he says it's time for the feds to pay "to fix Washington's mistake." While wolf reintroduction has always been opposed by the livestock industry, conservation groups have supported it and don't view restoring the wolf to the environment as a mistake. But the senator is correct when he says the federal government should be responsible to contribute matching funds to the state's compensation trust funds. Critics contend that the compensation program amounts to welfare for ranchers. But losses due to the predator's presence are considerable. The National Agricultural Statistics Service estimates that wolves killed 100 adult cattle and 600 calves in Wyoming in 2007. Sheep losses for the year were estimated at 100 ewes and 400 lambs. Ranchers' estimates are considerably higher....
Meat Recalls to Name Retailers The Department of Agriculture will change its policy and begin to identify retailers who have received recalled meat, but only in cases that pose the most serious health threat. The information will be provided only in Class I recalls, those of "most serious concern to public health," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said. The rule will take effect in August, 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. "People want to know if they need to be on the lookout for recalled meat and poultry from their local stores," Schafer said. Listing the outlets "will improve public health protection by better informing consumers." The USDA came under criticism earlier this year for refusing to name retail outlets and schools that received ground beef recalled by Westland/Hallmark Meat, citing privacy concerns. That recall, involving 143 million pounds, was the biggest in U.S. history....
Settlers up to no good at Portales Springs Doak Good had settled in comfortably in his rock and adobe house at Portales Springs, but his peaceful existence did not last long. In 1882 Jim Newman began bringing his cattle from Texas to Salt Lake and established the DZ Ranch near Arch, 11 miles east of Good’s place. Newman’s cattle would drift over to the plentiful water at Portales Springs. Bad feelings developed and violence was bound to follow. After the fight with Gabe Henson, which he blamed on Newman, Good was afraid to stay by himself and he picked up a transient boy about 14 years old to work for him. Old-time cowboy Col. Jack Potter had this to say about the new cowhand, “He was a hard-looking kid; had an old Stetson hat with the crown out, thrown away by some cowpuncher. He had long hair and it stuck out through the crown of the hat. He was dubbed by the cowboys as ‘Portales Bill,’ though I learned later his real name was McElmore.” Good gave him a few dogies or mavericks for his work, and it was commonly believed that he added to his herd by rustling other people’s cattle....
FLE
The Unitary Executive Congress On Wednesday July 9, the Senate voted to pass the FISA Amendments Act. This was a new law the Democratic majority in Congress had opposed in principle for the last five months in defiance of President Bush. They had suffered no political harm for taking the stand. Indeed, they defied him with as much success here as in opposing the privatization of social security. The collapse of the Democratic leadership on FISA was thus a sheer political calculation; yet the panic of the reversal ran ahead of any visible threat. It betrayed an embarrassment at the leadership's complicity with the president -- but in a manner that only increases the embarrassment and only tightens the complicity. The collapse also reflected a weakness of collective character. The fourth amendment sets up a law no executive may stand above: a law that forbids the trawling by the government for information against citizens without probable cause. It says every warrant must be supported by an oath or affirmation which particularly describes the place to be searched, and the things to be seized. Under pressure (but a very general not a particular pressure), the Democrats showed that, for them, the fourth amendment is dispensable in a way in which social security is not dispensable. The new law has these important effects: (1) It reaffirms the president's right to order individual taps as well as massive data mining, on foreign targets and on American citizens with foreign contacts whom the president finds suspicious. (2) It extends from three days to a week the period during which he can spy on a person or many people, abroad or in this country, without telling anyone. (3) It contracts the authority of the FISA court from approval of individual warrants to approval of the general procedures used in surveillance. (4) It replaces the FISA court, as the single approver of individual warrants, with the inspectors general at the government agencies and departments; most of all (it would seem) the inspector general of the NSA. (5) It narrows the investigation around the telecom immunity lawsuits from a sifting for possible violations of the law by the president in seeking warrantless wiretaps -- and by the telecoms in supplying those wiretaps -- to the bare question whether the president had attached a note from a legal authority in requesting help with his searches and seizures. Not "Was it illegal and did the president and telecoms know it was illegal?", but rather, "Did he get a lawyer to sign for it?" has become the question for a court to decide. (6) Not the FISA court but a district court will answer that question for all the lawsuits covering the years 2001-2005....
The Bipartisan Surveillance State The Democratic Congress passed and Bush signed the "FISA Amendments Act of 2008," legalizing the president's longstanding illegal wiretapping program. The law allows broad warrantless surveillance of Americans in the United States, so long as the call or e-mail is thought to be international. Eavesdropping on domestic communications is legal for a week before court papers even have to be filed. The telecom companies that cooperated with Bush are immune from civil lawsuits. Most important, the administration's illegal conduct has been retroactively approved and future administrations have wider powers than ever to spy on Americans. The Democratic leadership and virtually all Congressional Republicans approved the law. In a complete reversal of his campaign promise, so did Senator Barack Obama. Last October, his campaign announced, "To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." Instead, he voted to prevent a filibuster and then he voted for the bill. Democrats and Obama supporters defend the betrayal with hollow claims that the law actually protects civil liberties. Why then was Bush so eager to sign it? Missouri Republican Senator Christopher Bond, a leader in this “compromise,” says “the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped.” Two years ago, the Democrats seemed outraged after we learned Bush had ordered the National Security Agency— a military outfit—to spy on Americans without warrants, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Now they control Congress with good odds at the presidency. Power and the hope for more power corrupt. As Salon.com civil liberties expert Glenn Greenwald notes, “in 2006, when the Congress was controlled by [Republicans], the administration tried to get a bill passed legalizing warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, but was unable. They had to wait until the Congress was controlled by [Democrats] Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to accomplish that.”....
The New FISA Compromise: It's Worse than You Think Last month, the House of Representatives passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, Congress's latest response to President Bush's demands for expanded eavesdropping authority. The Democratic leadership, seemingly intent on avoiding real debate on the proposal, scheduled the final vote just a day after the bill was introduced in the House. Touted by Democratic leaders as a "compromise," it was supported almost unanimously by House Republicans and opposed by a majority of Democrats. The 114-page bill was pushed through the House so quickly that there was no real time to debate its many complex provisions. This may explain why the telecom immunity provision has received so much attention in the media: it is much easier to explain to readers not familiar with the intricacies of surveillance law than the other provisions. But as important as the immunity issue is, the legislation also makes many prospective changes to surveillance law that will profoundly impact our privacy rights for years to come. Specifically, the new legislation dramatically expands the government's ability to wiretap without meaningful judicial oversight, by redefining "oversight" so that the feds can drag their feet on getting authorization almost indefinitely. It also gives the feds unprecedented new latitude in selecting eavesdropping targets, latitude that could be used to collect information on non-terrorist-related activities like P2P copyright infringement and online gambling. In short, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 opens up loopholes so large that the feds could drive a truck loaded down with purloined civil liberties through it. So the telecom immunity stuff is just the smoke; let's take a look at the fire....
The Worst of All Worlds Why did nearly half the Democrats in the House vote for the "FISA Amendments Act" that's now pending in the Senate, when most of them had opposed warrantless spying and telecom immunity before? The answer is that they were bribed, using your tax dollars. The Washington Post claims a deal was cut: the Democratic Leadership would support the FISA bill if the President would agree to add $95 billion in DOMESTIC spending to the latest Iraq appropriation. In other words, House Democrats voted to continue the war and sold the Fourth Amendment for $95 billion. Republicans say they want less spending. Democrats say they want less war. What's their compromise? More spending and more war....
Domestic spying quietly goes on With Congress on the verge of outlining new parameters for National Security Agency eavesdropping between suspicious foreigners and Americans, lawmakers are leaving largely untouched a host of government programs that critics say involves far more domestic surveillance than the wiretaps they sought to remedy. These programs - most of them highly classified - are run by an alphabet soup of federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They sift, store and analyze the communications, spending habits and travel patterns of U.S. citizens, searching for suspicious activity. The surveillance includes data-mining programs that allow the NSA and the FBI to sift through large databanks of e-mails, phone calls and other communications, not for selective information, but in search of suspicious patterns. Other information, like routine bank transactions, is kept in databases similarly monitored by the Central Intelligence Agency. "There's virtually no branch of the U.S. government that isn't in some way involved in monitoring or surveillance," said Matthew Aid, an intelligence historian and fellow at the National Security Archives at The George Washington University. "We're operating in a brave new world."....
Want some torture with your peanuts? A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below). This bracelet would: • Take the place of an airline boarding pass • Contain personal information about the traveler • Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage • Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.” Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if the passenger got out of line....
U.S. defends laptop searches at the border Is a laptop searchable in the same way as a piece of luggage? The Department of Homeland Security believes it is. For the past 18 months, immigration officials at border entries have been searching and seizing some citizens’ laptops, cellphones, and BlackBerry devices when they return from international trips. In some cases, the officers go through the files while the traveler is standing there. In others, they take the device for several hours and download the hard drive’s content. After that, it’s unclear what happens to the data. The Department of Homeland Security contends these searches and seizures of electronic files are vital to detecting terrorists and child pornographers. It also says it has the constitutional authority to do them without a warrant or probable cause. But many people in the business community disagree, saying DHS is overstepping the Fourth Amendment bounds of permissible routine searches. Some are fighting for Congress to put limits on what can be searched and seized and what happens to the information that’s taken. The civil rights community says the laptop seizures are simply unconstitutional. They want DHS to stop the practice unless there’s at least reasonable suspicion....
Gun stolen? Report it Reporting a lost or stolen gun to police seems pretty logical to Mayor Michael Nutter. Not doing it in Philadelphia now comes with a cost — $1,900. Nutter and other city officials yesterday announced that the lost-or-stolen reporting requirement passed by City Council in April and upheld in court early last month will go into full effect Aug. 8. Nutter suggested residents take the next month to take inventory of their firearms in preparation of the new law and report any missing guns to police. “If you lose your piece, call police,” he said at a press conference. “We are serious about aggressively enforcing public safety laws.” The hefty fine will be imposed as a first penalty upon anyone who through the course of a police investigation or any other city investigation has been identified as failing to report their firearm missing within 24 hours, officials said. Second and third offenses by the same person will result in jail time and alleged law breakers will have their cases heard in civil court, Nutter said. The National Rifle Association has already filed an appeal to Commonwealth Court to have the lost-or-stolen law and two other city gun laws, the group’s attorney said yesterday....
While Bloomberg frets about our guns, NYPD can’t keep track of theirs Anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg should “mind his own store before telling others how to operate theirs,” said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, after an audit found that the New York Police Department lost track of dozens of guns in its own storage lockers. “While this guy has been bullying gun dealers around the country about so-called ’slip-shod’ operations,” chuckled CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “his own police department seems to be slipping quite a bit on its own. Bloomberg needs to back off, shut up and get his own house in order before telling others how to operate.” According to the New York Times, “nearly one out of three handguns and rifles that had been turned in to the police could not be immediately accounted for in a Manhattan property clerk’s office.” “We’re waiting for Bloomberg to send a team of undercover vigilante investigators down there to find out what’s wrong,” Gottlieb said. “Can one of his infamous lawsuits be far behind?” Bloomberg dispatched non-police “investigators” to run stings on gun shops in several states more than two years ago, ostensibly to show how easy it is to illegally obtain guns in other states. He then sued gun dealers in five states....
Suing George W. Bush: A bizarre and troubling tale On July 3, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court in California made a ruling particularly worthy of the nation's attention. In Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc. v. Bush, a key case in the epic battle over warrantless spying inside the United States, Judge Walker ruled, effectively, that President George W. Bush is a felon. Judge Walker held that the president lacks the authority to disregard the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA -- which means Bush's warrantless electronic surveillance program was illegal. Whether Bush will ultimately be held accountable for violating federal law with the program remains unclear. Bush administration lawyers have fought vigorously -- at times using brazen, logic-defying tactics -- to prevent that from happening. The court battle will continue to play out as Congress continues to battle over recasting FISA and possibly granting immunity to telecom companies involved in the illegal surveillance. The story of how Al-Haramain's lawyers negotiated the journey thus far to Judge Walker's ruling -- a team of seven lawyers that includes me -- sheds light on how much is at stake for the Bush administration and the country. It is a surreal saga, involving a top-secret document accidentally released by the government, a showdown between Bush lawyers and a federal judge, the violent destruction of a laptop computer by government agents,....You should take the time to watch the ad and then read this article.
The Unitary Executive Congress On Wednesday July 9, the Senate voted to pass the FISA Amendments Act. This was a new law the Democratic majority in Congress had opposed in principle for the last five months in defiance of President Bush. They had suffered no political harm for taking the stand. Indeed, they defied him with as much success here as in opposing the privatization of social security. The collapse of the Democratic leadership on FISA was thus a sheer political calculation; yet the panic of the reversal ran ahead of any visible threat. It betrayed an embarrassment at the leadership's complicity with the president -- but in a manner that only increases the embarrassment and only tightens the complicity. The collapse also reflected a weakness of collective character. The fourth amendment sets up a law no executive may stand above: a law that forbids the trawling by the government for information against citizens without probable cause. It says every warrant must be supported by an oath or affirmation which particularly describes the place to be searched, and the things to be seized. Under pressure (but a very general not a particular pressure), the Democrats showed that, for them, the fourth amendment is dispensable in a way in which social security is not dispensable. The new law has these important effects: (1) It reaffirms the president's right to order individual taps as well as massive data mining, on foreign targets and on American citizens with foreign contacts whom the president finds suspicious. (2) It extends from three days to a week the period during which he can spy on a person or many people, abroad or in this country, without telling anyone. (3) It contracts the authority of the FISA court from approval of individual warrants to approval of the general procedures used in surveillance. (4) It replaces the FISA court, as the single approver of individual warrants, with the inspectors general at the government agencies and departments; most of all (it would seem) the inspector general of the NSA. (5) It narrows the investigation around the telecom immunity lawsuits from a sifting for possible violations of the law by the president in seeking warrantless wiretaps -- and by the telecoms in supplying those wiretaps -- to the bare question whether the president had attached a note from a legal authority in requesting help with his searches and seizures. Not "Was it illegal and did the president and telecoms know it was illegal?", but rather, "Did he get a lawyer to sign for it?" has become the question for a court to decide. (6) Not the FISA court but a district court will answer that question for all the lawsuits covering the years 2001-2005....
The Bipartisan Surveillance State The Democratic Congress passed and Bush signed the "FISA Amendments Act of 2008," legalizing the president's longstanding illegal wiretapping program. The law allows broad warrantless surveillance of Americans in the United States, so long as the call or e-mail is thought to be international. Eavesdropping on domestic communications is legal for a week before court papers even have to be filed. The telecom companies that cooperated with Bush are immune from civil lawsuits. Most important, the administration's illegal conduct has been retroactively approved and future administrations have wider powers than ever to spy on Americans. The Democratic leadership and virtually all Congressional Republicans approved the law. In a complete reversal of his campaign promise, so did Senator Barack Obama. Last October, his campaign announced, "To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." Instead, he voted to prevent a filibuster and then he voted for the bill. Democrats and Obama supporters defend the betrayal with hollow claims that the law actually protects civil liberties. Why then was Bush so eager to sign it? Missouri Republican Senator Christopher Bond, a leader in this “compromise,” says “the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped.” Two years ago, the Democrats seemed outraged after we learned Bush had ordered the National Security Agency— a military outfit—to spy on Americans without warrants, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Now they control Congress with good odds at the presidency. Power and the hope for more power corrupt. As Salon.com civil liberties expert Glenn Greenwald notes, “in 2006, when the Congress was controlled by [Republicans], the administration tried to get a bill passed legalizing warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, but was unable. They had to wait until the Congress was controlled by [Democrats] Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to accomplish that.”....
The New FISA Compromise: It's Worse than You Think Last month, the House of Representatives passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, Congress's latest response to President Bush's demands for expanded eavesdropping authority. The Democratic leadership, seemingly intent on avoiding real debate on the proposal, scheduled the final vote just a day after the bill was introduced in the House. Touted by Democratic leaders as a "compromise," it was supported almost unanimously by House Republicans and opposed by a majority of Democrats. The 114-page bill was pushed through the House so quickly that there was no real time to debate its many complex provisions. This may explain why the telecom immunity provision has received so much attention in the media: it is much easier to explain to readers not familiar with the intricacies of surveillance law than the other provisions. But as important as the immunity issue is, the legislation also makes many prospective changes to surveillance law that will profoundly impact our privacy rights for years to come. Specifically, the new legislation dramatically expands the government's ability to wiretap without meaningful judicial oversight, by redefining "oversight" so that the feds can drag their feet on getting authorization almost indefinitely. It also gives the feds unprecedented new latitude in selecting eavesdropping targets, latitude that could be used to collect information on non-terrorist-related activities like P2P copyright infringement and online gambling. In short, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 opens up loopholes so large that the feds could drive a truck loaded down with purloined civil liberties through it. So the telecom immunity stuff is just the smoke; let's take a look at the fire....
The Worst of All Worlds Why did nearly half the Democrats in the House vote for the "FISA Amendments Act" that's now pending in the Senate, when most of them had opposed warrantless spying and telecom immunity before? The answer is that they were bribed, using your tax dollars. The Washington Post claims a deal was cut: the Democratic Leadership would support the FISA bill if the President would agree to add $95 billion in DOMESTIC spending to the latest Iraq appropriation. In other words, House Democrats voted to continue the war and sold the Fourth Amendment for $95 billion. Republicans say they want less spending. Democrats say they want less war. What's their compromise? More spending and more war....
Domestic spying quietly goes on With Congress on the verge of outlining new parameters for National Security Agency eavesdropping between suspicious foreigners and Americans, lawmakers are leaving largely untouched a host of government programs that critics say involves far more domestic surveillance than the wiretaps they sought to remedy. These programs - most of them highly classified - are run by an alphabet soup of federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies. They sift, store and analyze the communications, spending habits and travel patterns of U.S. citizens, searching for suspicious activity. The surveillance includes data-mining programs that allow the NSA and the FBI to sift through large databanks of e-mails, phone calls and other communications, not for selective information, but in search of suspicious patterns. Other information, like routine bank transactions, is kept in databases similarly monitored by the Central Intelligence Agency. "There's virtually no branch of the U.S. government that isn't in some way involved in monitoring or surveillance," said Matthew Aid, an intelligence historian and fellow at the National Security Archives at The George Washington University. "We're operating in a brave new world."....
Want some torture with your peanuts? A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below). This bracelet would: • Take the place of an airline boarding pass • Contain personal information about the traveler • Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage • Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.” Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if the passenger got out of line....
U.S. defends laptop searches at the border Is a laptop searchable in the same way as a piece of luggage? The Department of Homeland Security believes it is. For the past 18 months, immigration officials at border entries have been searching and seizing some citizens’ laptops, cellphones, and BlackBerry devices when they return from international trips. In some cases, the officers go through the files while the traveler is standing there. In others, they take the device for several hours and download the hard drive’s content. After that, it’s unclear what happens to the data. The Department of Homeland Security contends these searches and seizures of electronic files are vital to detecting terrorists and child pornographers. It also says it has the constitutional authority to do them without a warrant or probable cause. But many people in the business community disagree, saying DHS is overstepping the Fourth Amendment bounds of permissible routine searches. Some are fighting for Congress to put limits on what can be searched and seized and what happens to the information that’s taken. The civil rights community says the laptop seizures are simply unconstitutional. They want DHS to stop the practice unless there’s at least reasonable suspicion....
Gun stolen? Report it Reporting a lost or stolen gun to police seems pretty logical to Mayor Michael Nutter. Not doing it in Philadelphia now comes with a cost — $1,900. Nutter and other city officials yesterday announced that the lost-or-stolen reporting requirement passed by City Council in April and upheld in court early last month will go into full effect Aug. 8. Nutter suggested residents take the next month to take inventory of their firearms in preparation of the new law and report any missing guns to police. “If you lose your piece, call police,” he said at a press conference. “We are serious about aggressively enforcing public safety laws.” The hefty fine will be imposed as a first penalty upon anyone who through the course of a police investigation or any other city investigation has been identified as failing to report their firearm missing within 24 hours, officials said. Second and third offenses by the same person will result in jail time and alleged law breakers will have their cases heard in civil court, Nutter said. The National Rifle Association has already filed an appeal to Commonwealth Court to have the lost-or-stolen law and two other city gun laws, the group’s attorney said yesterday....
While Bloomberg frets about our guns, NYPD can’t keep track of theirs Anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg should “mind his own store before telling others how to operate theirs,” said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, after an audit found that the New York Police Department lost track of dozens of guns in its own storage lockers. “While this guy has been bullying gun dealers around the country about so-called ’slip-shod’ operations,” chuckled CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “his own police department seems to be slipping quite a bit on its own. Bloomberg needs to back off, shut up and get his own house in order before telling others how to operate.” According to the New York Times, “nearly one out of three handguns and rifles that had been turned in to the police could not be immediately accounted for in a Manhattan property clerk’s office.” “We’re waiting for Bloomberg to send a team of undercover vigilante investigators down there to find out what’s wrong,” Gottlieb said. “Can one of his infamous lawsuits be far behind?” Bloomberg dispatched non-police “investigators” to run stings on gun shops in several states more than two years ago, ostensibly to show how easy it is to illegally obtain guns in other states. He then sued gun dealers in five states....
Suing George W. Bush: A bizarre and troubling tale On July 3, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court in California made a ruling particularly worthy of the nation's attention. In Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc. v. Bush, a key case in the epic battle over warrantless spying inside the United States, Judge Walker ruled, effectively, that President George W. Bush is a felon. Judge Walker held that the president lacks the authority to disregard the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA -- which means Bush's warrantless electronic surveillance program was illegal. Whether Bush will ultimately be held accountable for violating federal law with the program remains unclear. Bush administration lawyers have fought vigorously -- at times using brazen, logic-defying tactics -- to prevent that from happening. The court battle will continue to play out as Congress continues to battle over recasting FISA and possibly granting immunity to telecom companies involved in the illegal surveillance. The story of how Al-Haramain's lawyers negotiated the journey thus far to Judge Walker's ruling -- a team of seven lawyers that includes me -- sheds light on how much is at stake for the Bush administration and the country. It is a surreal saga, involving a top-secret document accidentally released by the government, a showdown between Bush lawyers and a federal judge, the violent destruction of a laptop computer by government agents,....You should take the time to watch the ad and then read this article.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Major water ruling issued A bid to pump more than 11 billion gallons of groundwater a year from three rural Nevada valleys to Las Vegas was cut to just over 6 billion gallons and approved Wednesday by the state's water engineer. The ruling by state Engineer Tracy Taylor follows a hearing that ended in February with the Southern Nevada Water Authority saying it's entitled to the water from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave Valleys and opponents warning that the pumping could have a catastrophic impact. SNWA representatives had contended the water authority met all requirements for the pumping and critics' disaster scenarios are unfounded. The Great Basin Water Network opposed the plan, saying SNWA tried to hide evidence that the pumping may harm existing water users and the environment in rural Nevada because there's not enough water in the valleys for long-term exportation. Taylor said use of the water in the amounts he approved "will not unduly limit future growth and development" in the three valleys, all in central Lincoln County. But before any water is pumped, Taylor wants to see more biological and hydrologic studies. He also said that pumping will be halted or modified if it proves "detrimental to the public interest or is found to not be environmentally sound." While the SNWA application sought more than 11.3 billion gallons of groundwater a year from the valleys and the ruling allows about 6.1 billion gallons, Susan Lynn of the Great Basin Water Network said, "It's way too much considering there are a whole lot of downstream groundwater users who rely on that groundwater flow that is going to be intercepted." Launce Rake, also representing the network, said a legal effort to overturn the ruling or have it revised by Taylor "is certainly a prospect. It's something we will be looking at carefully as we review this decision." Rake added that the valleys already are "really stressed" by drought conditions, adding, "This decision can only exacerbate those issues."....
BLM asks for public comment regarding grazing on Ore. monument The Bureau of Land Management is asking for public comment regarding the future of cattle ranching in the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. Monument Assistant Manager Howard Hunter says a decision will be made next year on whether cattle can stay. Meanwhile, a bill is pending in Congress that would pay ranchers with money raised by conservation groups to turn back their grazing leases. "The cattle have been on that monument, or on that piece of land, for 150 years, and the cattle have been so detrimental to it that Clinton made it a national monument because of all the special plants and the community that has grown up there. And in my opinion, the cattle have probably enhanced that," says Rancher Bruce Buckmaster. "The monument proclamation says retire the allotments. It's been clear for several years that the BLM doesn't intend to do that, it's been clear that the BLM has said, 'Oh we can change a little here, change a little there, and everything will be fine'. Well, that's illegal," says Dave Willis of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council....
Thousands of healthy trees destroyed by windstorm It’s fairly common for forest fires to impact Idaho’s wilderness areas this time of year, but that's not what closed down parts of the Sawtooth National Recreation area. At the main beach along Redfish Lake there are absolutely no signs of the windstorm that wreaked havoc here over the Fourth of July weekend, but go to some of the most popular campsites and the damage is devastating. "When you get into these campgrounds, you'd be amazed no one was majorly hurt or even killed," said Scott Loos, U.S. Forest Service. Trees are broken, bent and ripped right out of the ground. "We're calling it a microburst with thunderstorm winds in excess of 70 miles per hour," said Vernon Preston, National Weather Service....
Recipe for an avalanche Forecasting a snow avalanche takes more than measuring the angle of a mountain slope, researchers report in the July 11 Science. Whether an avalanche happens might also depend on how the snow cracks and collapses, the study suggests. “The new theory could be a breakthrough in understanding what is going on at the very moment when an avalanche begins,” says University of Edinburgh physicist Joachim Heierli, lead author of the study. It “gives hints on what snow properties to look for to anticipate the risk of triggering a slab avalanche.” Slab avalanches are the most common and most dangerous because a slab of snow breaks loose and cascades to the slope’s bottom. By modeling this avalanche type the team found that snow fractures much easier than previously thought. Also, friction between snow layers may be more important in avalanche dynamics than once thought....
House spending bill markups at a standstill The regular order for the appropriations process inched closer to oblivion Wednesday as House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., shot down the possibility of any movement from his panel. "There aren't going to be any markups," he said. The rift stems from the fracas that took place during the House Appropriations Committee markup of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill just prior to the Independence Day break. At the markup, Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., tried to offer the Interior appropriations bill as an amendment to the Labor-HHS bill. The move was an effort to try to force a vote on repealing a restriction on offshore oil drilling. Republicans have been eyeing the Interior appropriations bill as a vehicle to advance their energy agenda, including allowing more domestic drilling and production. In response, Obey angrily adjourned the meeting and said the appropriations process was done for the year....
Suit Filed To Stop Four Timber Sales on Largest National Forest Environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court today arguing that the agency has concealed impacts of old-growth logging to the environment and to subsistence hunting in four Tongass National Forest timber projects. At issue is whether environmental impact statements have thoroughly evaluated the effect of the projects on Sitka black-tailed deer – a species that is key to viability of the "Islands Wolf" (Alexander Archipelago wolf) and is among the most important subsistence foods in the area. he plaintiffs are Greenpeace and Cascadia Wildlands Project, both of which have offices in Alaska. They say the Forest Service has violated bedrock environmental laws by deliberately ignoring their legitimate criticisms of how impacts to deer were assessed in the decision process and not providing a “full and fair discussion” of their concerns. While not a plaintiff in the suit, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game has repeatedly challenged these same flaws. The lawsuit demands that the four logging projects be stopped and that supplemental analysis be ordered to fairly evaluate their impacts. Combined, the projects would take 33 million board feet of timber from 1,700 acres of old-growth forest and construct 9.5 miles of new, permanent logging roads....
Democrats Counter Republicans With a New Alaska-Oil Plan House Democrats moved Thursday to counter a Republican push for more domestic drilling with a proposal that would increase oil production from areas of Alaska already open to drilling. n recent weeks as the public outcry over high gasoline prices has built, Republicans in Washington have positioned themselves as champions of increased domestic energy production. Fearful of appearing obstructionist, Democrats are jostling to get in front of the issue. "Democrats support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said Thursday. The Democrats' plan would speed up production in the National Petroleum Reserve, an area in Alaska already approved for drilling but where so far much of the land hasn't been leased. "This administration has been dragging its feet on leasing those areas," Mr. Hoyer said....
USCA: "Keep America FMD-Free" Bill Introduced In Congress The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) today hailed the introduction of legislation in the U.S. Senate that would block meat shipments from Argentina until that country is free of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), an airborne livestock disease that is devastating to livestock production. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) introduced the Foot and Mouth Disease Prevention Act of 2008, which would add common sense to a proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that would allow importation of Argentine fresh and pre-packaged beef, lamb and other meat from select regions of Argentina, as well as live animals. "Cattlemen from across the country appreciate Senator Johnson and Senator Enzi along with the other co-sponsors of this important legislation," said Jon Wooster, a California rancher and USCA president. "We’re calling it the ‘Keep America FMD-Free bill’." Wooster explained that an outbreak of FMD within the U.S. cattle industry would bring livestock commerce to a standstill overnight and would likely result in the depopulation of millions of cattle, hogs, lambs, goats and wildlife....
U.S. judge refuses to stop some Canadian beef imports from crossing border A U.S. federal judge has refused to stop some Canadian beef imports but agreed with lawyers for cattle, consumer and health interests that the U.S. government should revisit rules that protect against the threat of mad cow disease. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol granted in part a preliminary injunction sought by several groups that filed a lawsuit in federal court in South Dakota. They want the judge to suspend a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that went into effect Nov. 19 allowing Canadian cattle more than 30 months old into the United States. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the change exposes consumers to a fatal disease linked to eating meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, increases the risk that U.S. cattle would be infected with the disease, and could harm the U.S. cattle market. But a government lawyer argued in court documents and at a hearing in February that rules and changes in the industry adequately protect American animals, people and markets, and there's no way to get 100 per cent compliance with any rule....
Cattle Producers Seek Solutions To Judge’s Halt of CRP Grazing In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided to initiate the Critical Feed Use (CFU) program to help cattle farmers and ranchers by allowing grazing and hay production on CRP land because of drought and other natural disasters and because of the high costs of feed. The plaintiffs in this case assert that USDA should have conducted an environmental impact assessment before launching the Critical Feed Use program. A full hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 17. R-CALF USA Member Steve Parker ranches in the Oklahoma Panhandle and said he has been back and forth 50 miles to town several times to visit with officials at his Farm Service Agency office in the past two days and has spent a lot of time on the phone asking his congressional representatives to step in. “Right now, I understand they’re scrambling trying to decide what to do with our $75 CRP sign-up fee,” he said. “We gave that money in good faith. I spent the better part of three weeks building fence and moving tanks and scrambling trying to figure out how we’re going to water these cattle on these old, worn out wheat fields that have been planted back to blue stem grass, and now some judge in Washington is telling me I can’t run cattle on this, so yes, I’m upset. The Senator’s office told me they’re getting their heads together to fight this thing, and I said, ‘Boys, hurry!’ In another month, we’d just as well forget it. Time is of the essence.”....
Riders mosey through town Col. Rocky Woolman of Oklahoma and his colleagues are on a mission to ride the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) from Mexico to Canada on horseback. Woolman and Larry Hanson of Minnesota are attempting to ride on or along the entire trail. Woolman explained “We're trying to develop the trail for horses.” They are trying to establish an equestrian accessible route along the CDT. He added they are aiming to be “the first ones to pull this off in one season.” They started from Antelope Wells on the Mexican border on June 21 and hope to arrive at the Canadian border by the end of summer. The men are not riding for any charity or organization. However, they would like people to “just remember our troops.” Woolman recently returned from Iraq as a contracted civilian worker. The riders have a support team of two. Kathy Merrill of New York and Paul Hauert of Texas are following with the alternate horses and the trailers. Each man rides one horse and takes a packhorse. The horses all get breaks and trips in the trailer. Woolman and Hanson camp along the trail and only meet up with their support for supplies or when a problem arises....
Singing the history of the Old West "Out on the Bell Ranch in New Mexico/Cattle graze and horses run/We'd lay in the bunkhouse at the end of the day/And dream about havin' some fun." Earl Gleason has been playing guitar since around 1945, but this is the first year he's been able to put out two solo albums in one year. As shown in the lines above, taken from "Saturday Nite," a Gleason original, the Belen resident has long been adept at painting a picture of the old West for listeners. From stories of trying to rope an ornery steer to tragedies or simply looking forward to the next day off from cowboying, Gleason's most recent work allows him to combine his own work with some traditional cowboy songs and a few covers. While none of the songs is likely to be as familiar sounding as they were 100 years ago, Gleason's music continues to serve as part folk history lesson and part timeless, compelling entertainment. "Saturday Nite" and "Wanderers" are the titles of the two albums Gleason has released in 2008, his fourth and fifth solo efforts. Both have combinations of original work and songs Gleason has found important and relevant enough to include....
BLM asks for public comment regarding grazing on Ore. monument The Bureau of Land Management is asking for public comment regarding the future of cattle ranching in the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. Monument Assistant Manager Howard Hunter says a decision will be made next year on whether cattle can stay. Meanwhile, a bill is pending in Congress that would pay ranchers with money raised by conservation groups to turn back their grazing leases. "The cattle have been on that monument, or on that piece of land, for 150 years, and the cattle have been so detrimental to it that Clinton made it a national monument because of all the special plants and the community that has grown up there. And in my opinion, the cattle have probably enhanced that," says Rancher Bruce Buckmaster. "The monument proclamation says retire the allotments. It's been clear for several years that the BLM doesn't intend to do that, it's been clear that the BLM has said, 'Oh we can change a little here, change a little there, and everything will be fine'. Well, that's illegal," says Dave Willis of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council....
Thousands of healthy trees destroyed by windstorm It’s fairly common for forest fires to impact Idaho’s wilderness areas this time of year, but that's not what closed down parts of the Sawtooth National Recreation area. At the main beach along Redfish Lake there are absolutely no signs of the windstorm that wreaked havoc here over the Fourth of July weekend, but go to some of the most popular campsites and the damage is devastating. "When you get into these campgrounds, you'd be amazed no one was majorly hurt or even killed," said Scott Loos, U.S. Forest Service. Trees are broken, bent and ripped right out of the ground. "We're calling it a microburst with thunderstorm winds in excess of 70 miles per hour," said Vernon Preston, National Weather Service....
Recipe for an avalanche Forecasting a snow avalanche takes more than measuring the angle of a mountain slope, researchers report in the July 11 Science. Whether an avalanche happens might also depend on how the snow cracks and collapses, the study suggests. “The new theory could be a breakthrough in understanding what is going on at the very moment when an avalanche begins,” says University of Edinburgh physicist Joachim Heierli, lead author of the study. It “gives hints on what snow properties to look for to anticipate the risk of triggering a slab avalanche.” Slab avalanches are the most common and most dangerous because a slab of snow breaks loose and cascades to the slope’s bottom. By modeling this avalanche type the team found that snow fractures much easier than previously thought. Also, friction between snow layers may be more important in avalanche dynamics than once thought....
House spending bill markups at a standstill The regular order for the appropriations process inched closer to oblivion Wednesday as House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., shot down the possibility of any movement from his panel. "There aren't going to be any markups," he said. The rift stems from the fracas that took place during the House Appropriations Committee markup of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill just prior to the Independence Day break. At the markup, Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., tried to offer the Interior appropriations bill as an amendment to the Labor-HHS bill. The move was an effort to try to force a vote on repealing a restriction on offshore oil drilling. Republicans have been eyeing the Interior appropriations bill as a vehicle to advance their energy agenda, including allowing more domestic drilling and production. In response, Obey angrily adjourned the meeting and said the appropriations process was done for the year....
Suit Filed To Stop Four Timber Sales on Largest National Forest Environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court today arguing that the agency has concealed impacts of old-growth logging to the environment and to subsistence hunting in four Tongass National Forest timber projects. At issue is whether environmental impact statements have thoroughly evaluated the effect of the projects on Sitka black-tailed deer – a species that is key to viability of the "Islands Wolf" (Alexander Archipelago wolf) and is among the most important subsistence foods in the area. he plaintiffs are Greenpeace and Cascadia Wildlands Project, both of which have offices in Alaska. They say the Forest Service has violated bedrock environmental laws by deliberately ignoring their legitimate criticisms of how impacts to deer were assessed in the decision process and not providing a “full and fair discussion” of their concerns. While not a plaintiff in the suit, the Alaska Department of Fish & Game has repeatedly challenged these same flaws. The lawsuit demands that the four logging projects be stopped and that supplemental analysis be ordered to fairly evaluate their impacts. Combined, the projects would take 33 million board feet of timber from 1,700 acres of old-growth forest and construct 9.5 miles of new, permanent logging roads....
Democrats Counter Republicans With a New Alaska-Oil Plan House Democrats moved Thursday to counter a Republican push for more domestic drilling with a proposal that would increase oil production from areas of Alaska already open to drilling. n recent weeks as the public outcry over high gasoline prices has built, Republicans in Washington have positioned themselves as champions of increased domestic energy production. Fearful of appearing obstructionist, Democrats are jostling to get in front of the issue. "Democrats support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said Thursday. The Democrats' plan would speed up production in the National Petroleum Reserve, an area in Alaska already approved for drilling but where so far much of the land hasn't been leased. "This administration has been dragging its feet on leasing those areas," Mr. Hoyer said....
USCA: "Keep America FMD-Free" Bill Introduced In Congress The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) today hailed the introduction of legislation in the U.S. Senate that would block meat shipments from Argentina until that country is free of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), an airborne livestock disease that is devastating to livestock production. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) introduced the Foot and Mouth Disease Prevention Act of 2008, which would add common sense to a proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that would allow importation of Argentine fresh and pre-packaged beef, lamb and other meat from select regions of Argentina, as well as live animals. "Cattlemen from across the country appreciate Senator Johnson and Senator Enzi along with the other co-sponsors of this important legislation," said Jon Wooster, a California rancher and USCA president. "We’re calling it the ‘Keep America FMD-Free bill’." Wooster explained that an outbreak of FMD within the U.S. cattle industry would bring livestock commerce to a standstill overnight and would likely result in the depopulation of millions of cattle, hogs, lambs, goats and wildlife....
U.S. judge refuses to stop some Canadian beef imports from crossing border A U.S. federal judge has refused to stop some Canadian beef imports but agreed with lawyers for cattle, consumer and health interests that the U.S. government should revisit rules that protect against the threat of mad cow disease. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol granted in part a preliminary injunction sought by several groups that filed a lawsuit in federal court in South Dakota. They want the judge to suspend a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that went into effect Nov. 19 allowing Canadian cattle more than 30 months old into the United States. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the change exposes consumers to a fatal disease linked to eating meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, increases the risk that U.S. cattle would be infected with the disease, and could harm the U.S. cattle market. But a government lawyer argued in court documents and at a hearing in February that rules and changes in the industry adequately protect American animals, people and markets, and there's no way to get 100 per cent compliance with any rule....
Cattle Producers Seek Solutions To Judge’s Halt of CRP Grazing In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) decided to initiate the Critical Feed Use (CFU) program to help cattle farmers and ranchers by allowing grazing and hay production on CRP land because of drought and other natural disasters and because of the high costs of feed. The plaintiffs in this case assert that USDA should have conducted an environmental impact assessment before launching the Critical Feed Use program. A full hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 17. R-CALF USA Member Steve Parker ranches in the Oklahoma Panhandle and said he has been back and forth 50 miles to town several times to visit with officials at his Farm Service Agency office in the past two days and has spent a lot of time on the phone asking his congressional representatives to step in. “Right now, I understand they’re scrambling trying to decide what to do with our $75 CRP sign-up fee,” he said. “We gave that money in good faith. I spent the better part of three weeks building fence and moving tanks and scrambling trying to figure out how we’re going to water these cattle on these old, worn out wheat fields that have been planted back to blue stem grass, and now some judge in Washington is telling me I can’t run cattle on this, so yes, I’m upset. The Senator’s office told me they’re getting their heads together to fight this thing, and I said, ‘Boys, hurry!’ In another month, we’d just as well forget it. Time is of the essence.”....
Riders mosey through town Col. Rocky Woolman of Oklahoma and his colleagues are on a mission to ride the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) from Mexico to Canada on horseback. Woolman and Larry Hanson of Minnesota are attempting to ride on or along the entire trail. Woolman explained “We're trying to develop the trail for horses.” They are trying to establish an equestrian accessible route along the CDT. He added they are aiming to be “the first ones to pull this off in one season.” They started from Antelope Wells on the Mexican border on June 21 and hope to arrive at the Canadian border by the end of summer. The men are not riding for any charity or organization. However, they would like people to “just remember our troops.” Woolman recently returned from Iraq as a contracted civilian worker. The riders have a support team of two. Kathy Merrill of New York and Paul Hauert of Texas are following with the alternate horses and the trailers. Each man rides one horse and takes a packhorse. The horses all get breaks and trips in the trailer. Woolman and Hanson camp along the trail and only meet up with their support for supplies or when a problem arises....
Singing the history of the Old West "Out on the Bell Ranch in New Mexico/Cattle graze and horses run/We'd lay in the bunkhouse at the end of the day/And dream about havin' some fun." Earl Gleason has been playing guitar since around 1945, but this is the first year he's been able to put out two solo albums in one year. As shown in the lines above, taken from "Saturday Nite," a Gleason original, the Belen resident has long been adept at painting a picture of the old West for listeners. From stories of trying to rope an ornery steer to tragedies or simply looking forward to the next day off from cowboying, Gleason's most recent work allows him to combine his own work with some traditional cowboy songs and a few covers. While none of the songs is likely to be as familiar sounding as they were 100 years ago, Gleason's music continues to serve as part folk history lesson and part timeless, compelling entertainment. "Saturday Nite" and "Wanderers" are the titles of the two albums Gleason has released in 2008, his fourth and fifth solo efforts. Both have combinations of original work and songs Gleason has found important and relevant enough to include....
Thursday, July 10, 2008
California Asks for Federal Troops to Battle Fires California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said his state is approaching a ``tipping point'' in its battle against more than 300 wildfires and needs federal help to turn the tide. The state requires assistance, including from the military, after lightning sparked the blazes, which have been exacerbated by high temperatures and dry grass and brush, Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter sent to Republican President George W. Bush today. ``With more lightning storms forecast for later this week, we sit at a critical tipping point in California that requires immediate federal help and aggressive pre-positioning of federal resources,'' wrote Schwarzenegger, also a Republican. ``I respectfully request federal active duty forces.'' More than 1,090 square miles, an area roughly the size of Rhode Island, has burned in California since June 21, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire. Excessive heat warnings and red flag warnings, which mean conditions are right for ``explosive fire growth,'' cover a 659-mile (1,060-kilometer) stretch from the Oregon border south to Los Angeles. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said federal officials are working with California to help battle the blazes and are reviewing Schwarzenegger's request....
Giant Omnibus Bill, Wetlands and NLCS Coming To Votes
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@pacifier.com
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
Dangerous Time In Congress Next 30 Days Until August 8th Recess
-----Congress Often Rushes Bad Legislation While You Are Busy With Summer and Vacation Activities.
-----Your Congressman and both Senators may be home at times during the next month and later and will likely be home after August 8th for the month long Congressional August Recess.
-----You must make sure you call, fax and e-mail your Congressman and both Senators to get their July to September schedules for when they will be in your area. It is critical that you follow the directions below. Your private property rights are severely threatened.
----------------------------
-----During the month of July up to approximately August 8th both the House and Senate are expected squeeze in a lot of votes including votes on a number of land grab bills that threaten you. They rush to get bills out before the recess that would come approximately August 8th.
-----------------------------
During this time the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee could vote on HR 2421, the Clean Water Restoration Act (Wetlands Corps of Engineers and EPA Land Grab) and it could move swiftly to the full House for a vote.
-----HR 2421 is the Democrat effort to overturn the Rapanos (2006) and Swancc (2001) Supreme Court Wetlands Decisions favorable to private property owners and seize control of all US watersheds.
HR 2421 would give control over Wetlands and other lands back to the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and make their jurisdiction the same as it was before the Supreme Court limited their jurisdiction.
-----That means national land use controls. It will give the Corps of Engineers and EPA control over your property.
The Senate will likely vote before August on S 3213 (new Omnibus Lands Bill just introduced), the giant new Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008.
S 3213 includes the dreaded BLM National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), numerous new Wilderness areas, Heritage Areas and many other Federal lands and parks bills put together as one giant omnibus bill.
Think of it as the Omnibus Federal lands, BLM NLCS and Wilderness Bill, S 3213 or just Senate Omnibus Lands Bill. This Omnibus bill includes over 90 bills you have not likely seen.
The NLCS was created Administratively in 2000 by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The NLCS has lain low for eight years until they could get Congress to pass it and make it permanent.
The NLCS will lay a preservationist National Park type regulatory overlay over 26,000,000 acres of BLM land including many National Monuments, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Study Areas and much more. It threatens access and use by ranchers, miners, forestry advocates, recreationists and many other Federal land users.
These votes will come while you are busy on vacation or distracted by summer activities. There will be so many bills rushed to a vote that many Members of the House and Senate will not have time to even read them.
That means your friends in the House and Senate that you count on to keep an eye open to protect you could easily allow bills to pass that would threaten you and not be aware of it or have a bill of their own in the Omnibus Bill and not want to touch it. So they look the other way as bad bills pass.
You need to insist that your Senators and Representatives read each bill they vote on and protect you.
I cannot stress too strongly how critical your calls, faxes and e-mails are to your Congressman and both Senators during the coming four weeks opposing the Senate Omnibus Lands Bill (S 3213) and HR 2421, the Wetlands Corps of Engineers EPA land grab in the House....
The following bulletin from Federal Parks & Recreation newsletter reports on the giant new Federal Lands Omnibus Bill in the Senate.
From Parks and Recreation Newsletter:
New Omnibus Bill Bigger Than Last One, It Includes NLCS
90-Bill Omnibus Measure Contains NLCS, 10 Heritage Areas and More
Here Are Some Of The Omnibus Bill (S3213) Specifics:
The Senate Energy Committee, having succeeded in pushing a big omnibus bill through Congress in April, is trying again.
The old bill (PL 110-229 of May 8) included only individual measures approved by both the committee and the House, about 50 in total.
This time committee chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has assembled a bill (S 3213) that includes more than 90 individual bills the committee has approved, whether the House has acted or not.
There are controversies. Included in the package is legislation (S 1139) to certify the 26 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM.) The Senate Energy Committee approved S 1139 May 23, 2007, but the bill has not moved since. The House approved a counterpart NLCS bill (HR 2016) April 9 by a 278-to-140 vote.
Western Republicans opposed the House NLCS bill. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said the bill not only failed to address existing problems in multiple use management of BLM lands in the system, but also could hamper management. He cited such ongoing problems as lack of access for energy development, grazing and other activities. Bishop said the bill could impose Park Service-like restrictions on BLM.
Besides, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has said she will attempt to expand the system to 32 million acres from 26,000,000 by adding the entire California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) to the NLCS.
Some four million acres of the CDCA are already in the system but Feinstein would add another six million acres.
Beyond the NLCS, S 3213 includes individual bills that would:
* Designate two new National Park System units: Paterson National Historical Park in New Jersey and Thomas Edison National Historical Park in New Jersey,
* Authorize additions to nine existing National Park System units,
* Designate ten new national heritage areas (NHAs) and authorize studies of two NHAs. The new NHAs would be: Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, Colorado; Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area, Colorado; South Park National Heritage Area, Colorado; Northern Plains National Heritage Area, North Dakota; Baltimore National Heritage Area, Maryland; Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, Massachusetts and N.H.; Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area; Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area; Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Alabama; and Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area, Arizona,
* Designate four national trails: Arizona National Scenic Trail; New England National Scenic Trail; Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail; and Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail,
* Authorize studies of additions to four National Historic Trails: Oregon National Historic Trail; Pony Express National Historic Trail; California National Historic Trail; And The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail,
* Add three wild and scenic rivers: Fossil Creek, Arizona; Snake River Headwaters, Wyoming; and Taunton River, Massachusetts, and
* Designate a Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area of about 3.5 miles of cave passages in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
The Senate Energy Committee said June 27 that the bill runs 759 pages long and includes measures sponsored by Democrats, Republicans and both parties.
The committee puts together the omnibus bills because Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) routinely places holds on individual bills, preventing them from being considered on the Senate floor. When assembled in one omnibus bill, the individual measures create a critical mass and sponsors can obtain the 60 votes needed to break Coburn's holds. Coburn has objected to any legislation that would come with a price tag and require additional federal spending.
But these giant Omnibus Bills are killing you.
Consider subscribing to:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Parks & Recreation is published by Resources Publishing Co., P.O. Box 41320, Arlington, VA 22204. EIN 52-1363538. Phone (703) 553-0552. FAX (703) 553-0558. E-mail james@resourcespublishing.com. Website: http://www.plnfpr.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Cushman
American Land Rights Association
(360) 687-3087
ccushman@pacifier.com
Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400 - Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: 360-687-3087 - Fax: 360-687-2973
E-mail: alra@pacifier.com
Web Address: http://www.landrights.org
Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE - Washington, DC 20003
Dangerous Time In Congress Next 30 Days Until August 8th Recess
-----Congress Often Rushes Bad Legislation While You Are Busy With Summer and Vacation Activities.
-----Your Congressman and both Senators may be home at times during the next month and later and will likely be home after August 8th for the month long Congressional August Recess.
-----You must make sure you call, fax and e-mail your Congressman and both Senators to get their July to September schedules for when they will be in your area. It is critical that you follow the directions below. Your private property rights are severely threatened.
----------------------------
-----During the month of July up to approximately August 8th both the House and Senate are expected squeeze in a lot of votes including votes on a number of land grab bills that threaten you. They rush to get bills out before the recess that would come approximately August 8th.
-----------------------------
During this time the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee could vote on HR 2421, the Clean Water Restoration Act (Wetlands Corps of Engineers and EPA Land Grab) and it could move swiftly to the full House for a vote.
-----HR 2421 is the Democrat effort to overturn the Rapanos (2006) and Swancc (2001) Supreme Court Wetlands Decisions favorable to private property owners and seize control of all US watersheds.
HR 2421 would give control over Wetlands and other lands back to the Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and make their jurisdiction the same as it was before the Supreme Court limited their jurisdiction.
-----That means national land use controls. It will give the Corps of Engineers and EPA control over your property.
The Senate will likely vote before August on S 3213 (new Omnibus Lands Bill just introduced), the giant new Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2008.
S 3213 includes the dreaded BLM National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS), numerous new Wilderness areas, Heritage Areas and many other Federal lands and parks bills put together as one giant omnibus bill.
Think of it as the Omnibus Federal lands, BLM NLCS and Wilderness Bill, S 3213 or just Senate Omnibus Lands Bill. This Omnibus bill includes over 90 bills you have not likely seen.
The NLCS was created Administratively in 2000 by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The NLCS has lain low for eight years until they could get Congress to pass it and make it permanent.
The NLCS will lay a preservationist National Park type regulatory overlay over 26,000,000 acres of BLM land including many National Monuments, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Study Areas and much more. It threatens access and use by ranchers, miners, forestry advocates, recreationists and many other Federal land users.
These votes will come while you are busy on vacation or distracted by summer activities. There will be so many bills rushed to a vote that many Members of the House and Senate will not have time to even read them.
That means your friends in the House and Senate that you count on to keep an eye open to protect you could easily allow bills to pass that would threaten you and not be aware of it or have a bill of their own in the Omnibus Bill and not want to touch it. So they look the other way as bad bills pass.
You need to insist that your Senators and Representatives read each bill they vote on and protect you.
I cannot stress too strongly how critical your calls, faxes and e-mails are to your Congressman and both Senators during the coming four weeks opposing the Senate Omnibus Lands Bill (S 3213) and HR 2421, the Wetlands Corps of Engineers EPA land grab in the House....
The following bulletin from Federal Parks & Recreation newsletter reports on the giant new Federal Lands Omnibus Bill in the Senate.
From Parks and Recreation Newsletter:
New Omnibus Bill Bigger Than Last One, It Includes NLCS
90-Bill Omnibus Measure Contains NLCS, 10 Heritage Areas and More
Here Are Some Of The Omnibus Bill (S3213) Specifics:
The Senate Energy Committee, having succeeded in pushing a big omnibus bill through Congress in April, is trying again.
The old bill (PL 110-229 of May 8) included only individual measures approved by both the committee and the House, about 50 in total.
This time committee chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has assembled a bill (S 3213) that includes more than 90 individual bills the committee has approved, whether the House has acted or not.
There are controversies. Included in the package is legislation (S 1139) to certify the 26 million-acre National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM.) The Senate Energy Committee approved S 1139 May 23, 2007, but the bill has not moved since. The House approved a counterpart NLCS bill (HR 2016) April 9 by a 278-to-140 vote.
Western Republicans opposed the House NLCS bill. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said the bill not only failed to address existing problems in multiple use management of BLM lands in the system, but also could hamper management. He cited such ongoing problems as lack of access for energy development, grazing and other activities. Bishop said the bill could impose Park Service-like restrictions on BLM.
Besides, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has said she will attempt to expand the system to 32 million acres from 26,000,000 by adding the entire California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) to the NLCS.
Some four million acres of the CDCA are already in the system but Feinstein would add another six million acres.
Beyond the NLCS, S 3213 includes individual bills that would:
* Designate two new National Park System units: Paterson National Historical Park in New Jersey and Thomas Edison National Historical Park in New Jersey,
* Authorize additions to nine existing National Park System units,
* Designate ten new national heritage areas (NHAs) and authorize studies of two NHAs. The new NHAs would be: Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, Colorado; Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area, Colorado; South Park National Heritage Area, Colorado; Northern Plains National Heritage Area, North Dakota; Baltimore National Heritage Area, Maryland; Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, Massachusetts and N.H.; Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area; Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area; Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Alabama; and Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area, Arizona,
* Designate four national trails: Arizona National Scenic Trail; New England National Scenic Trail; Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail; and Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail,
* Authorize studies of additions to four National Historic Trails: Oregon National Historic Trail; Pony Express National Historic Trail; California National Historic Trail; And The Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail,
* Add three wild and scenic rivers: Fossil Creek, Arizona; Snake River Headwaters, Wyoming; and Taunton River, Massachusetts, and
* Designate a Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area of about 3.5 miles of cave passages in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
The Senate Energy Committee said June 27 that the bill runs 759 pages long and includes measures sponsored by Democrats, Republicans and both parties.
The committee puts together the omnibus bills because Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) routinely places holds on individual bills, preventing them from being considered on the Senate floor. When assembled in one omnibus bill, the individual measures create a critical mass and sponsors can obtain the 60 votes needed to break Coburn's holds. Coburn has objected to any legislation that would come with a price tag and require additional federal spending.
But these giant Omnibus Bills are killing you.
Consider subscribing to:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Parks & Recreation is published by Resources Publishing Co., P.O. Box 41320, Arlington, VA 22204. EIN 52-1363538. Phone (703) 553-0552. FAX (703) 553-0558. E-mail james@resourcespublishing.com. Website: http://www.plnfpr.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Cushman
American Land Rights Association
(360) 687-3087
ccushman@pacifier.com
BLM finds grazing harmful to protected monument Cattle grazing on the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument harms the flora and fauna the monument was created to protect, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has concluded. In a long-awaited assessment expected to be released today, the agency found that cattle grazing on the monument, created by presidential proclamation in 2000 to protect its rich biodiversity, does not meet the proclamation's intent, said Howard Hunter, the monument's assistant manager. "We have determined the grazing practices are not compatible with the proclamation, meaning we are not adequately protecting the tangible and intangible items in the monument," he said. The assessment's release kicks off a 30-day public comment period. The 52,947-acre monument in the BLM's Medford District was established to protect what scientists say is one of the most biologically diverse places in North America. For instance, the monument contains more than 100 species of butterflies. However, the area has been used by local ranchers for more than a century for cattle grazing when the lower elevation pastures dry up each summer. Eleven ranchers currently hold grazing leases for 2,714 animal unit months on nine grazing allotments within the monument....
Bush admin opposes federal pay for wolf kills The Bush administration is objecting to legislation that would ask the federal government to help compensate livestock owners whose animals are killed by wolves. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming sponsored the bill that would approve federal matching money for state trust funds that pay ranchers for those losses. It would also allow federal grants for states to help lower the risk of wolf kills. Officials testifying at a Senate hearing Wednesday said the payments should not be a federal responsibility. Barrasso said Wyoming paid $1.2 million in such compensation last year. The legislation follows the federal government's decision to remove gray wolves from protection under the Endangered Species Act and turn over wolf management to Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, where an estimated 1,500 wolves roam. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in the mid-1990s after the population dwindled significantly, and the species' population has grown rapidly. Both Tester and Barrasso reacted angrily to the administration stance. An Interior official testifying at the hearing declined to answer questions about the administration's position and referred all senators' inquiries to Ed Bangs, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who led the wolf recovery effort. Bangs was reluctant to elaborate on the reasons for administration opposition, saying only that it was most appropriate for the state to determine compensation....
New records for smokejumpers, air tankers The unprecedented number of fires in Northern California during the past two weeks has elicited a record-breaking pace from smokejumpers and air tanker crews. In just the past two weeks, the Redding Smokejumper Base has supported 363 jumps - already more than their 10-year average of about 320 jumps a season. "At this point we are well on pace to beat our record of 523 jumps in a single season, which we set in 1999," said Don Sand, Redding Smokejumper Base manager for the U.S. Forest Service. Normally 40 jumpers are based in Redding as a national resource that may be dispatched anywhere in the United States. An additional 100 smokejumpers were brought into Redding from other bases during the past two weeks to help with the large number of fires. Air tankers operating out of the Redding Air Tanker Base have dropped 750,000 gallons of fire retardant this year supporting firefighting operations in Northern California. Their 10-year average is 762,000 gallons per season. "The most retardant delivered from this base in a season is 1.8 million gallons," said John Richardson, air operations branch chief for Cal Fire. "At this pace, the Redding base will exceed its annual record."....
House Passes FLAME Act - HR 5541 Congressman Raul M. Grijalva, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, praised the passage of the “Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act” (FLAME Act) (HR. 5541). Rep. Grijalva is an original sponsor with Representative Rahall, Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, of the bill, which creates funds for federal agencies at the start of forest fire season. “As our communities see longer and more intense fire seasons, this bill allows us to be proactive,” stated Grijalva. “Public land managers can have the resources for prevention and protection without destroying their day to day operational budget.” The FLAME Act aims to prevent future catastrophic, wildland fires from crippling federal land management agency budgets by creating an emergency federal fund dedicated solely to fighting these devastating fires, separate from appropriated agency fire fighting funding. Over the last decade, the rapid increase in destructive forest fires across the United States has caused federal fire suppression costs to skyrocket– dramatically shifting spending priorities at the expense of other important Interior Department and Forest Service programs, especially programs that would reduce the intensity of fires and protect communities....
Obama Chimes In on Plum Creek, Forest Service Agreement Barack Obama, who is ramping up his efforts to woo Montanans, weighed in this week on the “closed-door" deal between the Plum Creek Timber Company and the Forest Service that could pave the way for development of Plum Creek timberlands in the state. When the issue hit the pages of the Washington Post the Obama campaign was moved to chime in, Obama staffer Nayyera Haq said. In a written statement released Tuesday, Obama wrote: At a time when Montana’s sportsmen are finding it increasingly hard to access lands, it is outrageous that the Bush administration would exacerbate the problem by encouraging prime hunting and fishing lands to be carved up and closed off. We should be working to conserve these lands permanently so that future generations of Americans can enjoy them to hunt, fish, hike and camp....
Four Arrested in Ketchikan in U.S. Marshal's Operation The U.S. Marshals, in coordination with 25 other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies conducted a six day enforcement operation in Alaska from June 23 to June 28. Operation FALCON, standing for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally, targeted violent felons, gang members, and sex offenders. FALCON 2008 captured 69 fugitives and cleared 83 warrants in Alaska for crimes including failures to register as a sex offender, distribution of child pornography, drug offenses, assault, burglary, robbery and theft. These arrests also included probation violations stemming from sexual abuse of minors, weapon offenses, and failures to appear for various original charges. In Ketchikan, members of the Ketchikan Police Department, Alaska State Troopers, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Federal Marshall participated in this operation....Another one to remember when the Forest Service claims they don't have the money or personnel to police federal lands. They are too busy arresting sex offenders and gang members.
Land grant claims won’t go away Some of my neighbors in northern New Mexico call this region “occupied Mexico.” They’re only half joking. Heirs of community land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments are still arguing – 160 years later – that the U.S. did not honor its obligations under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty promised to protect all pre-existing land grants and other property rights of the former Mexican citizens when the U.S. took this territory from Mexico. But it didn’t. As a result, over 80 percent of community land grants were lost to Indo-Hispano villagers, in most cases after a century, or two or three, of living and working on those lands. All the Indian Pueblos retained their land grants, which became reservations under the U.S. system, but most of the rest ended up as Forest Service or BLM land. Of course this is not the first or last time the U.S. violated a treaty for land, but this fight is still going strong. In the latest issue of La Jicarita News, scholar David Correia reviews the well-documented history of fraud and various chicanery within the office of the Surveyor General and the Court of Private Land Grant Claims, which were supposed to adjudicate land claims during the late 1800s. And he lays out a convincing legal argument about how the U.S. government did not fulfill its fiduciary duty under the treaty....
Rise of the unelected America's future prosperity may hinge on who wins an internal fight within the Bush administration. On the one side are the bureaucrats of the Environmental Protection Agency. In the name of combating global warming, they are gearing up to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. It's not just the carbon dioxide from auto tailpipes. It's emissions from all sources: factories, schools, restaurant kitchens, heating and cooling systems, power plants, farm equipment and businesses of all types. In a nutshell: everything. Because almost everything that uses energy produces CO2. But media reports reveal EPA is in conflict with the White House Office of Management and Budget, which answers more directly to the president. Their job is to ride herd on other bureaucrats so our economy isn't stifled by excessive red tape. The immediate fight is over an unreleased (but leaked to the press) 250-page proposal from the EPA, announcing its intent to adopt rules that expand the 1970 Clean Air Act by designating carbon dioxide as a pollutant that endangers us. Who gave EPA such power despite no clear language in U.S. law? Congress never agreed. As noted by Ben Lieberman of The Heritage Foundation, "Legislatively, Congress has rejected every attempt to control carbon dioxide emissions." But another unelected body, the U.S. Supreme Court, in last year's 5-4 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, embraced the United Nations' philosophy that global warming is an imminent danger. The justices decreed that EPA must therefore possess power to address it by regulating CO2....
Top Democrat may back new offshore drilling A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling. "I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move. However, Durbin said his support for opening new areas to drilling was contingent on setting requirements that oil and gas companies begin production within a specified time frame on acreage they have leased from the government. The spike in oil prices to record highs above $145 per barrel has prompted calls for the U.S. government to allow energy producers to explore for oil and gas off the East and West Coasts and in the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico. Those areas are currently off limits to exploration....
New book reveals the extraordinary story behind "Orange Blossom Special" One of the most bizarre stories in all of popular music is the story behind Orange Blossom Special, arguably the century's best-known fiddle tune as well as one of the most-performed songs of the 20th century and a signature hit for the late Johnny Cash. In a newly released book, Florida-based author Randy Noles investigates the lives of the two men credited with authoring the song, which salutes a legendary streamlined passenger train. The book, Fiddler's Curse: The Untold Story of Ervin T. Rouse, Chubby Wise, Johnny Cash and the Orange Blossom Special (Centerstream Publishing, $14.95), reveals the luckless Rouse to be the sole author. Rouse, who endured tragedy, alcoholism and mental illness, spent his final years fiddling for tips in isolated taverns at the edge of the Everglades. Wise, who achieved fame as the seminal fiddler of the bluegrass era and the acclaimed author of the song, also struggled to overcome personal demons and heal the scars of childhood abuse and abandonment. Cash, the tortured superstar who made the Special a mainstream hit, quietly championed Rouse and earned the enmity of Wise following a perceived onstage slight. "The book settles a longstanding authorship controversy over the song," said Noles. "More importantly though, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the private lives of these brilliant but deeply flawed men and paints a vivid portrait of life as an itinerate musician in the 1930s and 1940s."....
Bush admin opposes federal pay for wolf kills The Bush administration is objecting to legislation that would ask the federal government to help compensate livestock owners whose animals are killed by wolves. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming sponsored the bill that would approve federal matching money for state trust funds that pay ranchers for those losses. It would also allow federal grants for states to help lower the risk of wolf kills. Officials testifying at a Senate hearing Wednesday said the payments should not be a federal responsibility. Barrasso said Wyoming paid $1.2 million in such compensation last year. The legislation follows the federal government's decision to remove gray wolves from protection under the Endangered Species Act and turn over wolf management to Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, where an estimated 1,500 wolves roam. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in the mid-1990s after the population dwindled significantly, and the species' population has grown rapidly. Both Tester and Barrasso reacted angrily to the administration stance. An Interior official testifying at the hearing declined to answer questions about the administration's position and referred all senators' inquiries to Ed Bangs, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who led the wolf recovery effort. Bangs was reluctant to elaborate on the reasons for administration opposition, saying only that it was most appropriate for the state to determine compensation....
New records for smokejumpers, air tankers The unprecedented number of fires in Northern California during the past two weeks has elicited a record-breaking pace from smokejumpers and air tanker crews. In just the past two weeks, the Redding Smokejumper Base has supported 363 jumps - already more than their 10-year average of about 320 jumps a season. "At this point we are well on pace to beat our record of 523 jumps in a single season, which we set in 1999," said Don Sand, Redding Smokejumper Base manager for the U.S. Forest Service. Normally 40 jumpers are based in Redding as a national resource that may be dispatched anywhere in the United States. An additional 100 smokejumpers were brought into Redding from other bases during the past two weeks to help with the large number of fires. Air tankers operating out of the Redding Air Tanker Base have dropped 750,000 gallons of fire retardant this year supporting firefighting operations in Northern California. Their 10-year average is 762,000 gallons per season. "The most retardant delivered from this base in a season is 1.8 million gallons," said John Richardson, air operations branch chief for Cal Fire. "At this pace, the Redding base will exceed its annual record."....
House Passes FLAME Act - HR 5541 Congressman Raul M. Grijalva, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, praised the passage of the “Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act” (FLAME Act) (HR. 5541). Rep. Grijalva is an original sponsor with Representative Rahall, Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, of the bill, which creates funds for federal agencies at the start of forest fire season. “As our communities see longer and more intense fire seasons, this bill allows us to be proactive,” stated Grijalva. “Public land managers can have the resources for prevention and protection without destroying their day to day operational budget.” The FLAME Act aims to prevent future catastrophic, wildland fires from crippling federal land management agency budgets by creating an emergency federal fund dedicated solely to fighting these devastating fires, separate from appropriated agency fire fighting funding. Over the last decade, the rapid increase in destructive forest fires across the United States has caused federal fire suppression costs to skyrocket– dramatically shifting spending priorities at the expense of other important Interior Department and Forest Service programs, especially programs that would reduce the intensity of fires and protect communities....
Obama Chimes In on Plum Creek, Forest Service Agreement Barack Obama, who is ramping up his efforts to woo Montanans, weighed in this week on the “closed-door" deal between the Plum Creek Timber Company and the Forest Service that could pave the way for development of Plum Creek timberlands in the state. When the issue hit the pages of the Washington Post the Obama campaign was moved to chime in, Obama staffer Nayyera Haq said. In a written statement released Tuesday, Obama wrote: At a time when Montana’s sportsmen are finding it increasingly hard to access lands, it is outrageous that the Bush administration would exacerbate the problem by encouraging prime hunting and fishing lands to be carved up and closed off. We should be working to conserve these lands permanently so that future generations of Americans can enjoy them to hunt, fish, hike and camp....
Four Arrested in Ketchikan in U.S. Marshal's Operation The U.S. Marshals, in coordination with 25 other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies conducted a six day enforcement operation in Alaska from June 23 to June 28. Operation FALCON, standing for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally, targeted violent felons, gang members, and sex offenders. FALCON 2008 captured 69 fugitives and cleared 83 warrants in Alaska for crimes including failures to register as a sex offender, distribution of child pornography, drug offenses, assault, burglary, robbery and theft. These arrests also included probation violations stemming from sexual abuse of minors, weapon offenses, and failures to appear for various original charges. In Ketchikan, members of the Ketchikan Police Department, Alaska State Troopers, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Federal Marshall participated in this operation....Another one to remember when the Forest Service claims they don't have the money or personnel to police federal lands. They are too busy arresting sex offenders and gang members.
Land grant claims won’t go away Some of my neighbors in northern New Mexico call this region “occupied Mexico.” They’re only half joking. Heirs of community land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments are still arguing – 160 years later – that the U.S. did not honor its obligations under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty promised to protect all pre-existing land grants and other property rights of the former Mexican citizens when the U.S. took this territory from Mexico. But it didn’t. As a result, over 80 percent of community land grants were lost to Indo-Hispano villagers, in most cases after a century, or two or three, of living and working on those lands. All the Indian Pueblos retained their land grants, which became reservations under the U.S. system, but most of the rest ended up as Forest Service or BLM land. Of course this is not the first or last time the U.S. violated a treaty for land, but this fight is still going strong. In the latest issue of La Jicarita News, scholar David Correia reviews the well-documented history of fraud and various chicanery within the office of the Surveyor General and the Court of Private Land Grant Claims, which were supposed to adjudicate land claims during the late 1800s. And he lays out a convincing legal argument about how the U.S. government did not fulfill its fiduciary duty under the treaty....
Rise of the unelected America's future prosperity may hinge on who wins an internal fight within the Bush administration. On the one side are the bureaucrats of the Environmental Protection Agency. In the name of combating global warming, they are gearing up to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. It's not just the carbon dioxide from auto tailpipes. It's emissions from all sources: factories, schools, restaurant kitchens, heating and cooling systems, power plants, farm equipment and businesses of all types. In a nutshell: everything. Because almost everything that uses energy produces CO2. But media reports reveal EPA is in conflict with the White House Office of Management and Budget, which answers more directly to the president. Their job is to ride herd on other bureaucrats so our economy isn't stifled by excessive red tape. The immediate fight is over an unreleased (but leaked to the press) 250-page proposal from the EPA, announcing its intent to adopt rules that expand the 1970 Clean Air Act by designating carbon dioxide as a pollutant that endangers us. Who gave EPA such power despite no clear language in U.S. law? Congress never agreed. As noted by Ben Lieberman of The Heritage Foundation, "Legislatively, Congress has rejected every attempt to control carbon dioxide emissions." But another unelected body, the U.S. Supreme Court, in last year's 5-4 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, embraced the United Nations' philosophy that global warming is an imminent danger. The justices decreed that EPA must therefore possess power to address it by regulating CO2....
Top Democrat may back new offshore drilling A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling. "I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move. However, Durbin said his support for opening new areas to drilling was contingent on setting requirements that oil and gas companies begin production within a specified time frame on acreage they have leased from the government. The spike in oil prices to record highs above $145 per barrel has prompted calls for the U.S. government to allow energy producers to explore for oil and gas off the East and West Coasts and in the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico. Those areas are currently off limits to exploration....
New book reveals the extraordinary story behind "Orange Blossom Special" One of the most bizarre stories in all of popular music is the story behind Orange Blossom Special, arguably the century's best-known fiddle tune as well as one of the most-performed songs of the 20th century and a signature hit for the late Johnny Cash. In a newly released book, Florida-based author Randy Noles investigates the lives of the two men credited with authoring the song, which salutes a legendary streamlined passenger train. The book, Fiddler's Curse: The Untold Story of Ervin T. Rouse, Chubby Wise, Johnny Cash and the Orange Blossom Special (Centerstream Publishing, $14.95), reveals the luckless Rouse to be the sole author. Rouse, who endured tragedy, alcoholism and mental illness, spent his final years fiddling for tips in isolated taverns at the edge of the Everglades. Wise, who achieved fame as the seminal fiddler of the bluegrass era and the acclaimed author of the song, also struggled to overcome personal demons and heal the scars of childhood abuse and abandonment. Cash, the tortured superstar who made the Special a mainstream hit, quietly championed Rouse and earned the enmity of Wise following a perceived onstage slight. "The book settles a longstanding authorship controversy over the song," said Noles. "More importantly though, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the private lives of these brilliant but deeply flawed men and paints a vivid portrait of life as an itinerate musician in the 1930s and 1940s."....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)