Gallup Poll: Economy Takes Precedence Over Environment

For the first time in Gallup's 25-year history of asking Americans about the trade-off between environmental protection and economic growth, a majority of Americans say economic growth should be given the priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent. Gallup first asked Americans about this trade-off in 1984, at which time over 60% chose the environmental option. Support for the environment was particularly high in 1990-1991, and in the late 1990s and 2000, when the dot-com boom perhaps made economic growth more of a foregone conclusion. The percentage of Americans choosing the environment slipped below 50% in 2003 and 2004, but was still higher than the percentage choosing the economy. Sentiments have moved up and down over the last several years, but this year, the percentage of Americans choosing the environment fell all the way to 42%, while the percentage choosing the economy jumped to 51%. The findings reflect many recent Gallup results showing how primary the economy is in Americans' minds, and help document the fact of life that in times of economic stress, the public can be persuaded to put off or ignore environmental concerns if need be in order to rejuvenate the economy...Gallup

Gore vs. the Greens in the Golden State?

In a move that could only come straight out of Hollywood, environmental groups are trying to block the construction of solar farms in California’s Mojave Desert. Almost straight from Mel Brooks’ classic comedy “Blazing Saddles,” the projects are supported by Repower America, the clean energy advocate connected to — wait for it!!! — Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. Despite Gore’s best intentions, at least three environmental groups are trying to nix these projects. Further complicating matters for green power enthusiasts is the opposition by a powerful California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She has announced her intention to block solar power from desert lands in the Mojave and have the acreage in question declared a national monument. Yet, the really delicious irony is that, according to the Desert Protection Council’s Larry Hogue, such projects actually run counter to Gore’s mission. Hogue said scraping deserts for solar farms could actually contribute to global warming...Fox News

EPA review of mining permits signals policy shift

Breaking with the policies of the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharpening its oversight of mountaintop coal mining to ensure projects do not harm streams and wetlands. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson on Tuesday directed the agency staff to review 150 to 200 applications for new or expanded surface coal mines, many mountaintop removal operations, pending before the federal government. The agency also recommended that two permits slated for approval by the Army Corps of Engineers be denied because the companies had not done enough to avoid and minimize damage to water quality and stream channels. The permits authorize mining companies that blast away mountaintops to access coal to dump the waste into streams and wetlands...AP

Shell official confirms thirsty nature of oil shale, denies push to ‘corner water market’

A Shell Oil official confirmed Friday that the “in-situ” oil shale production the company is researching at its Mahogany facility near Rangely currently consumes about three barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced. But, he said, contrary to recent media reports on an environmental study of energy company water rights on Colorado’s Western Slope, Shell is not trying to “corner the market on water” in the Colorado and White River basins. “We’ve been working for quite a number of years to acquire a pretty broad diversity of water rights in different areas that will allow us to have the flexibility so that we can source water from different locations so that the impacts to the agriculture and the other historical and traditional users will be minimized,” said James Thurman, a government affairs manager for Shell. A report released Wednesday by Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates (WRA) cataloged more than 200 water rights held by six different energy companies with the potential to divert 7.2 million acre-feet and store up to 2 million acre-feet of Western Slope water. By contrast, the entire Denver metro area annually consumes less than 300,000 acre-feet of water...Colorado Independent

Tracking the ‘Water Footprint’

Last week, delegates from over 100 countries converged in Istanbul for the Fifth World Water Forum. Among the many topics of discussion at the weeklong conference, which ended Sunday (World Water Day), was one that has been gaining steam for the last couple of years: “water neutrality.” The idea — conceptually analagous to minding one’s carbon footprint — is that companies ought to be tracking their water footprints as well. “Water neutrality is a relatively new idea put forward by a small number of corporations to try to address their use of water,” said Peter H. Gleick, a co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute, which is working with the United Nations to develop more robust corporate reporting of water use. There is little agreement over how water footprints should be measured...NY Times

Udall aims to shift money for land damage

Sen. Mark Udall is taking a second shot at a bill that would redirect fines for illegally damaging public lands to the federal agencies responsible for restoring that damage. Under the legislation, when violators pay fines for illegally harming public lands -- such as starting a wildfire -- the money collected could be used to help fix the damage. Now, fines are collected by the U.S. Treasury. Udall's bill, similar to legislation that failed in 2007, would allow the funds to instead go to the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior...Colorado Daily

PETA founder makes bizarre online will for animal rights

The founder of the world's largest animal rights organization wants to give Canada's parliamentarians an earful, in a bizarre online will. Ingrid Newkirk, founder and president of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said that upon her death, she wants one of her ears "removed, mounted" and sent to Ottawa to help the government "in hearing, for the first time perhaps, the screams of the seals, bears, raccoons, foxes, and minks bludgeoned, trapped, and sometimes skinned alive for their pelts." Newkirk said that she wants her body parts to be used to draw "attention to needless animal suffering and exploitation" after her death. She asked that her other ear be displayed outside an India slaughterhouse "to remind all who do business there that the screams of the cattle who are slaughtered within its walls are heard around the world."...Calgary Herald

Estate taxes would increase under proposal before Congress

The window of opportunity may be closing on the use of family limited partnerships and similar entities in succession planning. House Resolution No. 436 was introduced on Jan. 9 by U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. The legislation, known as The Certain Estate Tax Relief Act of 2009, would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, but its name may be a misnomer. As currently worded, H.R. 436 would hardly provide relief for U.S. taxpayers. Instead, its provisions would likely result in substantially increased estate and gift tax payments. The legislation does have some good news for taxpayers. H.R. 436 proposes to freeze the unified credit exclusion amount at $3.5 million beginning next Jan. 1, which shelters the first $3.5 million of a decedent's estate ($7 million for couples) from taxation. It would also freeze the maximum estate tax rate at 45 percent. However, it would eliminate valuation discounts on transfers and estates that hold interests in entities that are not actively traded, or are controlled by other family members. These consequences are devastating for owners of closely held family businesses, partnerships and farming entities...California Farm Bureau

Cattle Rustling Plagues Ranchers

Crashing through a gate in the dead of night, thieves using trucks and trailers recently robbed a farmer here of 53 Brahman crossbreed cows valued at some $50,000. “Those were full-grown cows,” Sheriff Joey Kyle of Christian County said. “Around 1,100 pounds apiece. That’s 53,000 pounds of beef on the hoof. Your normal stock trailer will handle a dozen to 15 cows, so do the math.” It was the first cattle theft in the county in more than two years and the largest state officials could recall. It came amid a surge of such thefts here in southwestern Missouri. In January, rustlers hauled away 41 cows in nearby Lawrence County. Investigators in Barry County report 30 head stolen in the last six months. In Greene County, Sheriff Jim Arnott said rustlers had struck 10 times since October, stealing a total of 93 cows. “It’s a big spike,” Sheriff Arnott said. “Usually we’ll go a year or two with no thefts, but it’s really picked up. In these economic times people are taking desperate measures, whether it’s stealing, or whether they’re trying to come up with money through insurance fraud.” Earlier this month, rustlers in Watertown, S.D., used tractor-trailers to steal nearly 200 cows from an auction market. State officials in Wyoming report that thieves stole 225 head of cattle in 2008, up from 90 in 2006. In Montana, where 60 cattle were recently reported missing in a series of thefts, officials described an increase in rustling since the summer, and the International Livestock Identification Association reported swelling numbers of missing-animal claims this year among its 20 member states. Equally alarming, investigators say, is a spike in cattle-related fraud. Out-of-state buyers build a relationship with an auction market, only to disappear with livestock they used in-house credit to buy but never paid for. Investigators also say that people are now falsely claiming ownership of cattle as collateral for loans. “It’s across the board,” Lee Romsa, state brand commissioner for the Wyoming Livestock Board, said. “We’re not just seeing more thefts, we’re seeing more large thefts.”...NY Times

CEM Investigation Includes More Than 700 Horses

The ongoing investigation into contagious equine metritis (CEM) now includes more than 700 exposed or positive horses, according to the USDA. The investigation began in mid-December 2008, when a Quarter Horse stallion on a Kentucky farm tested positive during routine testing for international semen shipment. According to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), as of March 24 the positive horses included 13 stallions and three mares. In addition to these horses, they had confirmed the locations of 695 horses exposed to Taylorella equigenitalis. The 711 horses were located in 46 states. There were 112 exposed or positive stallions in 19 states and 599 exposed or positive mares in 44 states. Authorities were still actively tracking six exposed mares and four exposed stallions. An exposed horse is one that was bred to a positive horse, either naturally or via artificial insemination, or one that is otherwise epidemiologically linked to a positive horse, as determined by animal health officials...The Horse

Song Of The Day #002

Born in Oklahoma but raised in the Bakersfield, Ca. area, Jean Shepard has one of purest voices of any female country singer. While playing with the Melody Ranch Girls, an all-female country band which formed in 1948, she was discovered by Hank Thompson, who helped her get a record deal with Capitol. Her first recording session was in 1953.

The selection today is her 1955 recording of Beautiful Lies, available on the 5cd collection The Melody Ranch Girl. It's also available on the 24 track Honky Tonk Heroine.





Email recipients go here to play the song.

New FOIA Memo

On March 19, the Obama administration issued a new set of guidelines to federal agencies on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), replacing Bush-era rules that many thought promoted a culture of secrecy in government. Written by Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum outlines a spirit of transparency that reflects President Obama’s Jan. 21 assertion, "In the face of doubt, openness prevails." Among other things, Holder's memo promises to defend agency decisions to withhold information only if the agency demonstrates a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to an interest protected by FOIA exemptions or statutory law. Further, the memo focuses on timeliness, declaring that "long delays should not be viewed as an inevitable and insurmountable consequence of high demand." The Holder memo also expands on the earlier discretionary disclosure language. Holder encourages agencies to not just make discretionary disclosures, but to do in so in anticipation of the public interest. This language aims to prevent agencies from being able to allege compliance with the guidance but to do so by releasing irrelevant material. He also encourages the use of technology and publication on the Internet in making this type of disclosure...OMB Watch

Go here to view the Holder memo.

U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms

The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document. The government at present has the authority to seize only banks. Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president's Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document. The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury's role, are still in flux...Washington Post

EPA Presses Obama To Regulate Warming Under Clean Air Act

The Environmental Protection Agency's new leadership, in a step toward confronting global warming, submitted a finding that will force the White House to decide whether to limit greenhouse gas emissions under the nearly 40-year-old Clean Air Act. Under that law, EPA's conclusion -- that such emissions are pollutants that endanger the public's health and welfare -- could trigger a broad regulatory process affecting much of the U.S. economy as well as the nation's future environmental trajectory. The agency's finding, which was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget without fanfare on Friday, also reversed one of the Bush administration's landmark decisions on climate change, and it indicated anew that President Obama's appointees will push to address the issue of warming despite the potential political costs. "This is historic news," said Frank O'Donnell, who heads the environmental watchdog group Clean Air Watch. "It will set the stage for the first-ever national limits on global-warming pollution. And it is likely to help light a fire under Congress to get moving." But even those who support cutting greenhouse gases warn that doing so under the Clean Air Act could be complicated. "This would be a regulatory maze far exceeding anything we've seen before," said David Schoenbrod, a professor of environmental law at the New York Law School. While the EPA's finding is not final, experts steeped in the Clean Air Act began debating yesterday what it would mean for utilities, vehicles, manufacturing plants and consumers. Kovacs predicted it could halt many of the projects funded under the just-passed economic recovery package. "This will mean that all infrastructure projects, including those under the president's stimulus initiative, will be subject to environmental review for greenhouse gases," he said...Washington Post

We all knew this was coming. The CAA & the ESA will become powerful tools for the Obama Administration, the courts and the environmental groups.

The Fight Plan for Clean Air

The Environmental Protection Agency, about to declare heat-trapping gases to be dangerous pollutants, has embarked on one of the most ambitious regulatory challenges in history. The move is likely to have a profound effect across the economic spectrum, affecting transportation, power plants, oil refineries, cement plants and other manufacturers. It sets the agency on a collision course with carmakers, coal plants and other businesses that rely on fossil fuels, which fear that the finding will impose complex and costly rules. But it may also help the Obama administration’s efforts to push through a federal law to curb carbon dioxide emissions by drawing industry support for legislation, which many companies see as less restrictive and more flexible than being monitored by a regulatory agency. And it will lay a basis for the United States in the negotiations leading up to a global climate treaty to be signed in Copenhagen in December. Once made final, the agency’s finding will pave the way for federal regulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. Earlier this month, the agency proposed creating a greenhouse-gas emissions registry, which would require industries — including oil refineries and cement makers, as well as utilities and pulp and paper manufacturers — to report how much pollution they were emitting. The endangerment proposal is another step...NY Times

UK Green Advisor: Population Must Be Cut 50%

JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society. Porritt’s call will come at this week’s annual conference of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), of which he is patron. The trust will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably. Porritt is winning scientific backing. Professor Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum, will use the OPT conference, to be held at the Royal Statistical Society, to warn that population growth could help derail attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Rapley, who formerly ran the British Antarctic Survey, said humanity was emitting the equivalent of 50 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. “We have to cut this by 80%, and population growth is going to make that much harder,” he said. This is part of the thinking behind the OPT’s call for Britain to cut population to 30m — roughly what it was in late Victorian times. Britain’s population is expected to grow from 61m now to 71m by 2031. Some politicians support a reduction. Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, said: “You can’t have sustainability with an increase in population.”...London Times

Global Warming = Population Control.

Who is going to exercise this control? You can bet it will be the Politically Superior Ones.

Lands bill lassoes longtime foes

Like a long, slow-moving wagon train, an omnibus lands bill is poised to finally clear Congress this week, with Republican senators and Western outfitters riding alongside the environmental lobby they have so often fought in the past. The giant package is nearly 170 bills in one, a uniquely American mosaic covering millions of acres of wilderness, water settlements and land exchanges that have been years in the making. In this time of self-doubt and economic stress, it’s also a primer on the nation’s rich heritage: Revolutionary War battlefields, historic inventors and explorers, and the natural wonders of Mount Hood and the Copper Salmon Wilderness in Oregon. Each wagon carries its own story, but the most consistent theme is a greater emphasis on home-grown, bottoms-up settlements in the West, where lands policy has so long been dominated by swings to the right and left at the top in Washington. “This bill was never the brainchild of any national organization,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told POLITICO. “It’s more a grass-roots aggregation of bills that represent a lot of years of work in individual states. Many of the most pro-environment provisions are sponsored by Republicans.” “Balance” is the new watchword. And more than in the past, sportsman groups such as Trout Unlimited have stepped forward and brought their brand of “hook and bullet” organizing that can bring in more Republican, often small-business support. “It’s more a sportsman bill than a Sierra Club bill,” one Democratic aide said, looking back...POLITICO

Environmentalists in a Clash of Goals

As David Myers scans the rocky slopes of this desert canyon, looking vainly past clumps of brittlebush for bighorn sheep, he imagines an enemy advancing across the crags. That specter is of an army of mirrors, generators and transmission towers transforming Mojave Desert vistas like this one. While Whitewater Canyon is privately owned and protected, others that Mr. Myers, as head of the Wildlands Conservancy, has fought to preserve are not. To his chagrin, some of Mr. Myers’s fellow environmentalists are helping power companies pinpoint the best sites for solar-power technology. The goal of his former allies is to combat climate change by harnessing the desert’s solar-rich terrain, reducing the region’s reliance on carbon-emitting fuels. Mr. Myers is indignant. “How can you say you’re going to blade off hundreds of thousands of acres of earth to preserve the Earth?” he said. As the Obama administration puts development of geothermal, wind and solar power on a fast track, the environmental movement finds itself torn between fighting climate change and a passion for saving special places...NY Times

Nestle plan sets off water war

A plan to suck, truck and bottle Arkansas Valley spring water has residents here crusading against the world's largest food and beverage company. "Nestle is seeking to drain the blood of Chaffee County," said Salida local Daniel Zettler during a fiery public hearing last week. Nestle — with 12 U.S. brands of bottled water and almost $4.3 billion in North American sales in 2007 — came calling for Arkansas Valley spring water about two years ago. The company wants to draw 65 million gallons a year from an aquifer feeding two freshwater springs near Nathrop, pipe it 5 miles to a truck stop and ship it 100 miles to a Denver bottling facility. It would be sold under the company's Arrowhead brand...Denver Post

Portland timber firm at center of contested Idaho land swap

Seven former administrators of the Palouse Ranger District in Idaho are blasting a U.S. Forest Service plan to trade 28,000 acres of managed forest for about 39,000 acres of logged-over land controlled by Western Pacific Timber of Portland. John Krebs, a retired Forest Service employee, said the plan is fundamentally flawed because much of the public land has been carefully managed for the public's use. "The whole Palouse is prime," he said. "It's got old growth in it, riparian protection. It is the prime example of management. And the Forest Service has never told the public this story." Western Pacific Timber is offering to trade land it owns in northern Idaho that includes portions of the Lewis and Clark and Nez Perce National Historic Trails. Reilly has said the trade will eliminate some of the checkerboard pattern of public land in the region that makes it hard to manage. The Nez Perce Tribe and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation have supported the trade because of the historic significance and good habitat that is contained in the Upper Lochsa River Basin...AP

Alaska's Mount Redoubt Erupts Six Times

Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano erupted six times, sending an ash plume more than 9 miles into the air in the volcano's first emissions in nearly 20 years. Ash from Alaska's volcanos is like a rock fragment with jagged edges and has been used as an industrial abrasive. It can injure skin, eyes and breathing passages. The young, the elderly and people with respiratory problems are especially susceptible to ash-related health problems. Ash can also cause damage engines in planes, cars and other vehicles. Alaska Airlines on Monday canceled 19 flights because of the ash. In-state carrier Era Aviation canceled four, and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage kept 60 planes, including fighter jets, cargo aircraft and a 747 commercial plane, in shelters...Fox News

Redoubt ash goes north

Mount Redoubt roared to life Sunday and Monday, blasting a column of ash and steam almost 12 miles above Cook Inlet. The eruptions -- which started Sunday night, persisted through the early hours Monday, then struck again Monday evening -- canceled commercial airline flights and spurred Alaskans north of Anchorage to protect their cars and homes. "That's a very high plume," Alaska Volcano Observatory geophysicist John Power said of the largest ash cloud, which rose 60,000 feet high. "That's about as high as they go." The latest explosion, which occurred at 7:41 p.m., prompted the National Weather Service to declare a new ash fall advisory for Susitna Valley -- including the communities of Willow, Talkeetna and Cantwell -- which was scheduled to remain in effect until 5 a.m. today. An advisory was also issued for Bristol Bay, west of the volcano. Earlier Monday, lower-level winds carried Redoubt's abrasive volcanic particles roughly due north over the Susitna Valley, and significant ash fall was reported in Skwentna, Willow, Trapper Creek and Talkeetna, according to the National Weather Service...Anchorage Daily News

U.S. Chamber unveils NIMBY Watch Web site

Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce unveiled a NIMBY-Watch Web site called Project No Project. With case studies from more than 30 states, Project No Project chronicles how NIMBY (”not in my backyard”) activists “block energy projects by organizing local opposition, changing zoning laws, opposing permits, filing lawsuits, and bleeding projects dry of their financing.” Many of the projects blocked are not coal plants but alternative energy projects or infrastructure often touted as “green.” The site invites readers to provide examples from their own locales of NIMBY efforts to block or stall energy-related projects. Proponents of “green jobs” should be concerned as much as free-market and property-rights advocates, because ”stimulus” projects are vulnerable to the same NIMBY tactics that, for example, have immobilized the Cape Wind Project in Nantucket, Mass...Open Market

Here's Your Sign

His first mistake was trying to steal four guns. His second one was trying to steal them at a gun show. The alleged crook scooped up four Smith & Wesson guns from a vendor's table at the RK Gun Inc. show Sunday at Cessna Activity Center, 2744 George Washington Blvd. But he didn't make it far. The vendor and at least two others who were at the show grabbed the man before he could make it out the door, held him down, then cuffed him with zip ties -- hard plastic fasteners -- until law enforcement officers arrived. Austin Sechler, the vendor who said the man tried to steal from him, said it was "the very wrong place to do this." "He finally gave up when there was four guys laying on him," Sechler said...Wichita Eagle

Reign of toads

Nevada's U.S. Senator Harry Reid and others seeking to curry favor with the green extreme have virtually guaranteed no new nuclear or coal-fired generating plants will be built to provide Southern Nevadans with reliable, relatively inexpensive power in the near future. Not to worry, though. Lawmakers and bureaucrats in Washington who have never so much as worked a summer as a replacement meter reader -- let alone run a power company -- assure us the gap will easily be filled with all the new wind and solar plants due to come on line any day now. True, that energy may cost a little more -- if your heart started to race last summer when you opened your electric bill and found it exceeded $300, start contemplating the number "nine hundred" -- but it's all to "save the planet," you understand. There's plenty of money in Washington's new "stimulus package" to fund any hustler with some fast patter who promises to set up a "public-private partnership" to get new green energy on line. Hopefully all those federal dollars can do just as well this time as when they funded the big "Colorado oil shale" miracle of the 1970s. On the bright side, at least the green extremists can be counted on not to file any lawsuits that might block or delay the development of ...Oh, wait...Las Vegas Review-Journal

Elko panel seeks to block forest service road plan

The Elko County Commission is trying to find a way to block or at least postpone the U.S. Forest Service's pending plan to regulate use of national forest roads and close some it determines are redundant or damaging to the environment. The commissioners directed the district attorney's office this week to research legal options to prevent the agency from moving forward with its Travel Management Plan for most of the northern and eastern parts of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. They also said they intend to request the Forest Service to complete a more thorough environmental impact statement in reviewing the proposed plan instead of a less detailed environmental assessment. Commissioner Demar Dahl said on Wednesday that the comment period was about to close and they only have maps that "hardly anyone can read." County planner Randy Brown said Forest Service officials "have not conducted themselves in a manner in which we can offer any good comments."...Las Vegas Review-Journal

Elko road settlement headed back to federal court

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to wade into a decade-old dispute between Elko County and the federal government over protection of a threatened fish and public access to a remote road on national forest land. The high court's refusal to hear the rural county's appeal of a federal appeals court ruling was cheered by environmentalists, who said it reaffirms their right to intervene in the case on behalf of the bull trout. It means the legal battle over South Canyon Road in northeast Nevada is headed back to U.S. District Court in Reno, where a judge earlier had ruled the conservationists have no legal standing to participate in the case that pits private property interests against environmental protection. After years of legal wrangling, the Forest Service agreed to give Elko County right of way to the road. In return, the county agreed not to perform any road work without prior Forest Service approval. The environmental groups sued, arguing the federal government lacked authority to cede the right of way without environmental studies and a public process. Last June, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. Elko County then appealed to the Supreme Court...AP

Ranchers complain about increasing wolf attacks on herds

Ranchers in southwestern Alberta say they have seen more wolf attacks on their herds than ever before. At last 17 cattle have been killed in the Porcupine Hills area since November, twice as many as the year before, and the ranchers say wolves are costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lifetime Porcupine Hills rancher Clay Chattaway is calling for a cull, saying the wolves seem to be getting braver, moving in closer and becoming more aggressive. "Only part of the wolf problem is the ones that they kill," he said. "The other part is the harassment. If cattle aren't happy and settled, they're definitely not gaining weight, and if they're really harassed, they're probably losing weight, and we make our money on weight gain." "There is no doubt they have to be managed, and culling is one of the management tools."...CBC News

Producers should expect even harder attacks from HSUS

The industrial activism movement "is coming at us like a freight train," it affects all of livestock and poultry production, it affects states with and without ballot initiatives and there will likely be federal and state legislation restricting the way livestock and poultry are grown, according to Chad Gregory, senior vice president of the United Egg Producers. He emphasized that the "freight train" analogy came from a cabinet secretary in the Obama Administration. Gregory, speaking at the Midwest Poultry Federation's "Simmering Issues Workshop," discussed the aftermath of the passage of the Proposition 2 (Prop 2) ballot initiative in California last November and "what's next," and he said what's next will be even harder attacks by industrial activist groups such as the $120-million Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which has been emboldened by its victory in securing the passage of Prop 2. Gregory noted that the HSUS agenda involves stopping all food animal production in the U.S. -- leaving consumers only a choice of a vegetarian diet -- as well as ending all fishing and hunting, all zoos and all human-oriented health and wellbeing research that uses animals. "If you don't think that can happen in the U.S., look to Europe," Gregory said in response to a question. He pointed to how the European Union was the largest beef exporter in the world 10 years ago and is today the largest beef importer in the world because of regulatory restrictions on the way animals are produced...Feedstuffs

Top 10 Time-Lapse Videos Show Nature at Work

The world is filled with sluggish spectacles. Watching them would be painful were it not for time-lapse photography, which can make those long stories short and remarkably entertaining. When a phenomenon happens very slowly, viewing accelerated footage helps scientists take a step back and see the big picture: At higher speeds, things that we regard as fixed take motion — even the dullest scenes spring to life. Here are Wired Science's picks of the best time-lapse videos of nature at work...

Go here for their top ten.

PLC & NCBA Join With Conservation Groups To Comment On USDA Funding

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), Partnership of Rangeland Trusts (PORT), the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) joined the Public Lands Council (PLC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and American Sheep Industry (ASI) in submitting comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on an interim final rule on the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The groups urged USDA to support ranching and conservation in the west by making EQIP available on both private and public lands. From an environmental standpoint, public and private lands in the west cannot be distinguished. “EQIP is one of the most important and widely used conservation programs to which our members have access,” said Skye Krebs, PLC President and rancher from Ione, Oregon. “The ability for ranchers to make improvements on public lands while benefiting their operation is important to the greater Western landscape.” Although EQIP is principally intended to serve production agriculture and address natural resource concerns on private lands, in many western states, production agriculture occurs on private, state and federal lands. “Federal permittees control more than 110 million acres of the most biologically diverse private lands in the West,” Krebs explains...cattlenetwork

Song Of The Day #001

This is an experiment. I like old-time country, bluegrass, string band, western, western swing and dixieland jazz. I also like modern artists who honor the traditional sound. I will be experimenting with sharing my library by this "song of the day" posting.

If you don't like the old-time sound, don't waste your time listening.

The first selection is Cliff Carlisle's 1939 recording of Black Jack David. Carlisle, from Kentucky, was born in 1903 and passed away in 1982. He was a yodeler, and pioneered the use of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music.

This song is available from Cliff Carlisle - Blues Yodeler and Steel Guitar Wizard



Email recipients go here to play song

FileFactory.com

Love the Longears? Mule Days Are Coming!

Mule Day is a week-long celebration held each year in Columbia, Tenn. This year's event will be Monday March 30 until Sunday April 5. According to the Mule Days muleday.com official Web site, this event started in 1840 as "Breeder's Day," a meeting for mule breeders. Organizers say it now attracts more than 200,000 people and takes place over four days. In addition to mules, traditional Appalachian food, music, dancing, and crafts are featured. "Mule Day" has been a popular Columbia tradition for nearly 170 years. The heavy involvement of Maury County, Tennessee, in the mule industry has caused the event to grow over time into "one of the largest livestock markets in the world." Of course the draw for many is the mule sale on Tuesday March 31, but there also are many other events, including a mule and donkey seminar on the evening of Thursday April 2. Other events include "working mule," "best of breed," and lumberjack competitions. The annual mule pull contest requires a pair of mules to pull a sled loaded with cinder blocks 10 feet. Each pair is given three tries to make it the full 10 feet. The team that pulls the most weight wins. There's also classes for Western riding, mule driving, gaited mules, draft mules, mini-mules, and a riding mule show...The Horse

Obama Administration: Constitution Does Not Protect Cell-Site Records

The Obama administration says the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures does not apply to cell-site information mobile phone carriers retain on their customers. The position is being staked out in a little-noticed surveillance case pending before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The case has wide-ranging implications for Americans, as most citizens have or will carry a mobile phone in their lifespan. At issue is whether the government can require federal judges to order mobile phone companies to release historical cell-tower information of a phone number without probable cause — the standard required for a search warrant. While judges have varied on the issue, the resulting evidence can be used in a criminal prosecution. The court filing underscores that the Obama administration is continuing to maintain the Bush administration's hard-line position when it comes to supporting warrantless surveillance...Wired

Obama Administration Supports Telco Spy Immunity

The Obama administration vigorously defended congressional legislation late Wednesday that immunizes U.S. telecommunication companies from lawsuits about their participation in the Bush administration's domestic spy program. It was the first time the Obama administration weighed in on a federal court challenge questioning the legality of the legislation President Barack Obama voted for as an Illinois senator in July. "Accordingly, the court should now promptly dismiss these actions," the Justice Department wrote (.pdf) U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco late Wednesday. Walker is weighing a challenge to the immunity legislation in a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation of San Francisco. Congress crafted the bill after Walker refused to dismiss separate challenges brought by EFF accusing the nation's telecoms of violating the rights of millions of Americans for allegedly funneling electronic communications to the National Security Agency without warrants. The EFF claims Congress was prohibited from legalizing what the EFF termed was unconstitutional activity by the telecommunication companies. The government claimed immunity was necessary (.pdf) because the spying allegations threatened to expose state secrets...Wired

Drug Cartel Violence Spills Into U.S. From Mexico

Sgt. David Azuelo stepped gingerly over the specks of blood on the floor, took note of the bullet hole through the bedroom skylight, raised an eyebrow at the lack of furniture in the ranch-style house and turned to his squad of detectives investigating one of the latest home invasions in this southern Arizona city. A 21-year-old man had been pistol-whipped throughout the house, the gun discharging at one point, as the attackers demanded money, the victim reported. His wife had been bathing their 3-month-old son when the intruders arrived. “At least they didn’t put the gun in the baby’s mouth like we’ve seen before,” Sergeant Azuelo said. That same afternoon this month, his squad was called to the scene of another home invasion, one involving the abduction of a 14-year-old boy. This city, an hour’s drive north of the Mexican border, is coping with a wave of drug crime the police suspect is tied to the bloody battles between Mexico’s drug cartels and the efforts to stamp them out. Since officials here formed a special squad last year to deal with home invasions, they have counted more than 200 of them, with more than three-quarters linked to the drug trade. Tucson is hardly alone in feeling the impact of Mexico’s drug cartels and their trade. In the past few years, the cartels and other drug trafficking organizations have extended their reach across the United States and into Canada. Law enforcement authorities say they believe traffickers distributing the cartels’ marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs are responsible for a rash of shootings in Vancouver, British Columbia, kidnappings in Phoenix, brutal assaults in Birmingham, Ala., and much more...NY Times

Group pushes for more Gila wilderness, grazing buyout

The Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico is where famed naturalist Aldo Leopold first hatched the idea of setting aside the nation's untamed lands as wilderness. Nearly 85 years ago, he helped carve the world's first designated wilderness out of the Gila. Now, conservationists want the federal government to protect more land in the region, saying the diversity and remote roadless landscapes that straddle New Mexico and Arizona are on par with the country's top natural gems. "It's because the wildlife and the wild landscapes down there are so exemplary that we think we have the Yellowstone of the Southwest," said Bryan Bird, public lands director for WildEarth Guardians. The group released a report this month on what Bird calls a "novel" and "surgical" approach to protecting the greater Gila region, which includes parts of three national forests, a handful of wilderness areas and hundreds of thousands of acres managed by state and federal agencies. The report recommends that roadless areas radiating from the Gila River and its headwaters be added to the nation's wilderness preservation system and that Congress authorize a voluntary grazing permit retirement program to elevate conflicts between the needs of ranchers and wildlife, namely the endangered Mexican gray wolf...Silver City Sun-News

As they expand the wolf recovery area, will we see more wilderness and more buyouts?

Feinstein: Solar energy could destroy the Mojave Desert

Increasing the nation's use of wind and solar power has been seen as an ideal way to protect the environment against pollution, oil spills, and nuclear waste. Now, however, fears are rising that the pressure to quickly ramp up large-scale production of alternative energy may in itself become a threat to fragile ecosystems. That is the concern of Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA, who announced last week that she intends to introduce legislation to declare part of the Mojave Desert a national monument, closed to further development. The area in question is a 500,000 acre parcel, once owned by the railroads and known as the former Catellus lands, which conservationists acquired between 1999 and 2004 and handed over to the federal government. The Bureau of Land Management has made the land available for any purpose except mining. Fourteen solar energy projects and five wind energy projects have now submitted applications to build there, though all the applications are years away from being approved. "This is unacceptable," Feinstein wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "I urge you to direct the BLM to suspend any further consideration of leases to develop former railroad lands for renewable energy or for any other purpose."...Raw Story

The greenies continue their NIMBY ways, even on renewable energy.

As climate changes, is water the new oil?

If water is the new oil, is blue the new green? Translation: if water is now the kind of precious commodity that oil became in the 20th century, can delivery of clean water to those who need it be the same sort of powerful force as the environmental movement in an age of climate change? And, in another sense of green, is there money to be made in a time of water scarcity? The answer to both questions, according to environmental activists watching a global forum on water, is yes. The week-long meeting in Istanbul ends Sunday, which is International World Water Day, an annual United Nations event that began in 1993 to focus attention on sustainable management of fresh water resources. What was clear at this year's World Water Forum in Turkey was the notion that clean, fresh water supplies are waning due to a warming world. "As climate change accelerates and we see a changing hydrological cycle, diminishing access to resources, there are direct human impacts that are water-related," said Jonathan Greenblatt, a professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who advised the Obama transition team on civic engagement and national service...Reuters

Quickly, try to think of something that is not related to global warming.

Stimulus Ideals in Conflict on the Texas Prairie

Over the years the Katy Prairie has survived the cattle ranchers who tamed its fields, the rice farmers who cleared its wildflowers and tall grasses, and even the encroachment of Houston, some 30 miles to the east, whose spiraling outward growth turned most of the formerly lonesome prairie into subdivisions and strip malls. Now the prairie is facing a new threat: the federal stimulus law. Texas plans to spend $181 million of its federal stimulus money on building a 15-mile, four-lane toll road — from Interstate 10 to Highway 290 and right through the prairie — that will eventually form part of an outer beltway around greater Houston called the Grand Parkway. The road exemplifies an unintended effect of the stimulus law: an administration that opposes suburban sprawl is giving money to states for projects that are almost certain to exacerbate it. North Carolina is extending Interstate 295 outside Fayetteville, which will benefit Fort Bragg but use up limited resources that were being sought by bigger areas like Charlotte and Raleigh. New Hampshire plans to widen Interstate 93, which gets clogged because so many residents of southern New Hampshire now commute to Boston for work. Lawmakers in Washington decided to widen several highways around the state, but snubbed projects sought by Seattle. The plan to build a new leg of the Grand Parkway near here highlights the tension between some of the competing priorities of the Obama administration. The administration’s desire to change the way the country thinks about development, and to wean it from its dependency on foreign oil, is clashing with its need to spend stimulus money as fast as possible...NY Times

PLC partners with conservation groups to maintain open space in the West

The Public Lands Council concluded a two-day summit Feb. 27 on ranching and conservation in the West. More than 120 people attended, representing more than 40 agricultural, government, agency, and conservation organizations. "Maintaining open spaces and keeping ranchers on public lands makes our western landscapes vibrant, healthy, and productive," says Skye Krebs, president of PLC and rancher from Ione, Ore. "In that sense, ranchers have a great deal in common with groups dedicated to conservation and environmental protection. The partnerships created at this summit will help us make progress on shared goals." Summit participants spent the first day discussing the public perception of ranching and developed strategies to increase awareness of the environmental benefits of range management through managed grazing. "Allowing private landowners to graze livestock on public lands not only ensures that vast tracts of land remain open for wildlife habitat and recreational use, but also provides for wildfire management and conservation efforts that might not otherwise occur," Krebs explains. "When you lose ranches, you get subdivisions in their place. That hurts all of us--rancher, sportsman, and conservationist alike." The second day of the conference was dedicated to identifying common legislative and litigation issues...High Plains Journal

Colorado reins in rainwater runoff

Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law. Holstrom's violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain. But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom's property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways. What Holstrom does is called rainwater harvesting. It's a practice that dates to the dawn of civilization and is increasingly in vogue among environmentalists and others who pursue sustainable lifestyles. They collect varying amounts of water, depending on the rainfall and the vessels they collect it in. The only risk involved is losing it to evaporation. Or running afoul of Western states' water laws. Those laws, some of them more than a century old, have governed the region's development since pioneer days. "If you try to collect rainwater, well, that water really belongs to someone else," said Doug Kemper, executive director of the Colorado Water Congress. "We get into a very detailed accounting on every little drop."...Salt Lake Tribune

What should to be done with excess horses?

Last fall, federal workers discovered 17 domestic horses abandoned on Bureau of Land Management land in Owyhee County. This year, the agency discovered 21 horse carcasses illegally dumped in Gem County. With cases of horse neglect, cruelty and abandonment rising as the economy weakens, "I would like Congress to back off of this and let market forces take effect the way they always were," said Rep. Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona. Loertscher has drafted a nonbinding memorial calling on Congress to remove any prohibitions on horse slaughterhouses "so that horses that are no longer useful or people just can't afford them, that there is a market out there for them to be processed." The last domestic slaughterhouse closed in 2007 after then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich banned horse slaughter in the state. Several bills have come before Congress in recent years to ban horse slaughter and the exportation of horses for slaughter. None passed. Now, Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, is trying again. Conyers has introduced the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009, which would prohibit the slaughter and shipment of horses for human consumption. Conyers has 103 co-sponsors...Idaho Statesman

The Dinosaur Fossil Wars

Buried beneath a barren stretch of South Dakota badland, the deceased appeared small for its species. As Ron Frithiof, an Austin, Texas, real-estate developer turned dinosaur prospector, dug cautiously around it in a rugged expanse of backcountry, he was growing increasingly confident that he and his partners were uncovering a once-in-a-lifetime find. Frithiof was keenly aware that the skeleton of a mature Tyrannosaurus rex ( "Sue," named in honor of prospector Sue Hendrickson, who made the find in western South Dakota in 1990) had been auctioned off—at Sotheby's in New York City in 1997—for more than $8 million. The specimen that Frithiof and his fellow excavators began unearthing in 1998, in a painstaking, inch-by-inch dig was about four feet tall, less than half Sue's height. With unfused vertebrae and scrawny shin and ankle bones, the skeleton was almost certainly that of a juvenile. If so, it would likely be the most complete young T. rex ever discovered. A find of this magnitude, Frithiof knew, would create a sensation. Its value would be, as he put it, "anyone's guess." $9 million? $10 million? This was uncharted territory. For nearly three years, the excavators—including longtime fossil hunter Kim Hollrah, who had first investigated the site—continued their meticulous work...Smithsonian

Bill Seeks to Reorganize FDA

The Obama Administration and Congress are considering ways to upgrade the nation’s food safety system. “The push for change is urgent and the time is now,” says Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, (D-Conn.), House Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration Appropriations subcommittee chairwoman. DeLauro has sponsored a House bill entitled the Food Safety and Modernization Act. She says it would divide the FDA into two agencies-- one for drugs and one for food safety. “We are conscious of the needs of small farms and the strains they already face,” says DeLauro. “The legislation addresses foods under FDA jurisdiction only – and not the USDA. And it does not include mandatory animal identification.” “We included technical assistance for small farmers to help them comply with the law while targeting the large, high-volume food processing facilities that pose the highest risk to the food safety system,” says DeLauro. DeLauro says small farms would need to develop their own food safety plan and identify critical control points...Pork

If this bill were to become law, I predict:

1. The big boys will adapt and move on.

2. The little guy will get hurt.

3. The increased cost of the new regulations will limit competition, resulting in the big boys getting bigger.

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?

Although unit sales of organic food have leveled off and even declined lately, versus a year earlier, the mood among those crowded into the conference room was upbeat as they awaited a private screening of a documentary called “Food Inc.” — a withering critique of agribusiness and industrially produced food. They also gathered to relish their changing political fortunes, courtesy of the Obama administration. “This has never been just about business,” said Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of Stonyfield Farm, the maker of organic yogurt. “We are here to change the world. We dreamt for decades of having this moment.” After being largely ignored for years by Washington, advocates of organic and locally grown food have found a receptive ear in the White House, which has vowed to encourage a more nutritious and sustainable food supply. The most vocal booster so far has been the first lady, Michelle Obama, who has emphasized the need for fresh, unprocessed, locally grown food and, last week, started work on a White House vegetable garden. More surprising, perhaps, are the pronouncements out of the Department of Agriculture, an agency with long and close ties to agribusiness. In mid-February, Tom Vilsack, the new secretary of agriculture, took a jackhammer to a patch of pavement outside his headquarters to create his own organic “people’s garden.”...NY Times

New Mexico’s International Border

New Mexico’s 179.47 miles of international boundary are the result of the Gadsden Treaty of 1853. The line was originally surveyed in 1855 by Major William H. Emory, commissioner, chief astronomer and surveyor of the International Boundary Commission. On the entire 697.67 miles long land boundary between the United States and Mexico (including about twenty-four miles along the Colorado River) Major Emory set a total of only fifty-two monuments. The boundary was so poorly marked that only eight month after it’s establishment U. S. Deputy Surveyor John W. Garretson had to rerun eighteen miles of it in order to set a closing corner for the New Mexico Principal Meridian. Nevertheless, on June 2, 1856 President Pierce proclaimed the boundary surveyed. For almost thirty years this vague border left local residents wonder whether they were living in the United States or in Mexico. Ranchers quarreled over water holes, miners fought over minerals, state and federal officials of the two countries argued over jurisdiction. At a convenient pile of rocks of unknown origin near Antelope Wells in Hidalgo County, Mexico collected custom duties three miles inside American territory. As complaints grew louder, the two governments appointed delegates who met in Washington in July 1882, where they decided to send military officers to inspect the entire line and submit a report...American Surveyor

Ranch Tours: Running the show takes the heart of a pioneer

You never know what you might find in the middle of 32,000 acres and in this case, it was a mom, two sons, a daughter and a ranch foreman who make the Thomas Pinon Ranch turn on its proverbial axis. Nancy Thomas has lived on the sprawling ranch with her children, Daniel 18, Elsie, 14 and Micah, 11, since August 2007, when her doctor husband, John Thomas, purchased the operation from another local rancher. John Thomas resides in Van Horn, Texas, where he practices medicine. "I find a great deal of satisfaction in my personal accomplishments for both myself and my children," said Nancy. "I don't fear being alone." That's a good thing, because in the days between the doctor's bi-weekly weekend visits, Nancy, her kids and foreman Bob York keep the operation running smoothly on land that's interlaced with the Lincoln National Forest. All but 1,500 acres of the ranch is leased from the Forest Service, said Nancy. "I really enjoy my lifestyle because, at heart, I think I was born a pioneer woman," she said. "The challenges to me are invigorating and I have a deep sense of satisfaction at the end of every day." Thomas Pinon Ranch is home to about 260 head, mostly Brangus and F-1s, a cross of two separate breeds. The gathering and cattle works is a family affair and a favorite time on the ranch. Micah said he enjoys gathering cows and Elsie agreed, although she said she has participated in nearly every activity, including castrating, vaccinating and getting the ear tags ready. Nearly every animal on the ranch has a purpose, from the lipless llama to the cat. Nancy buys 50 fryer chickens every spring to be butchered eight weeks later. The process of butchering usually takes about four days and no one is exempt from helping...Silver City Sun-News

Native American Horse Breed Teeters on Extinction

To the North Plains Indians, the Nokotas were "indispensable and treasured," according to Robert Utley, the former chief historian and assistant director of the National Park Service. "Wealth tended to be counted in number of ponies," Utley said in an e-mail. "These were simply Indian ponies, not Nokotas." After Chief Sitting Bull surrendered to American forces in 1881, the Army confiscated his ponies and auctioned them off. In the following hundred years, the horses continued to dwindle in face of the Park Service. "The point is that the cowboy horses and the Indian ponies merged over the years into the distinctive breed now labeled Nokota, of which the best descendants are under care of the Nokota Horse Conservancy and Frank Kuntz," Utley also wrote. According to Utley, the National Parks now refuses to recognize the present-day Nokotas as descendants of Sitting Bull's ponies, saying it needs genetic evidence. "That's bosh, of course," Utley countered. "This is not a scientific question but a historical question." Though lacking authority to legally protect these horses, the Conservancy tries to encourage others to acknowledge the horses' historical ties, and to reintroduce Native American children to a valued symbol of their culture...zootoo

It's all Trew: Go see your old people, write it down

While attending a funeral at the McLean Hillcrest Cemetery recently I noticed the Trew plot needed some attention. A trip to Clarendon provided sacks of gray gravel and cement for repair. The old plot is filled now with grandparents, parents, uncle and a cousin. A second plot has been purchased awaiting the next generation. The hour spent working at the site was flooded with memories of the past and about the different people who had influenced my life in so many ways. Once again, I wished I had spent more time with my various ancestors listening to their stories about my roots and traditions. I urge each of you, don't wait. Go see your old people and write it down...Amarillo Globe News

USDA AMENDS BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS REGULATIONS IN NEW MEXICO

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2009--The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has determined that New Mexico meets the requirements for zone classification and will be removed from the list of modified accredited advanced states for bovine tuberculosis (TB).

Previously, the entire state of New Mexico was classified as modified accredited advanced. However, all of the state’s affected herds are located in a small area along its eastern border. Based on this, APHIS has determined that New Mexico meets our requirements for zone classification. Therefore, we are removing it from the list of modified accredited advanced states and are adding an area consisting of Curry and Roosevelt counties, N. Mex., to the list of modified accredited advanced zones. The remainder of the state will be added to the list of accredited free zones. This action relieves restrictions on the interstate movement of cattle and bison from these areas of New Mexico outside of the modified accredited zone in two counties.

Bovine TB is a contagious and infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis. It affects cattle, bison, deer, elk, goats and other warm-blooded species and can be fatal. The disease can be transmitted to humans through direct contact with infected animals or consumption of raw milk. It is not transmitted through consumption of pasteurized milk. If producers suspect TB in their herds, they should isolate the animal immediately and contact their veterinarian for a proper diagnosis.

Notice of this interim rule is scheduled for publication in the March 23 F­­­­ederal Register and becomes effective upon publication.

Consideration will be given to comments received on or before May 22. Send two copies of postal or commercial delivery comments to Docket No. APHIS-2008-0124, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Comments can be submitted on the Federal eRulemaking portal at
http://www.reglations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2008-0124.

Comments are posted on the Regulations.gov Web site and also can be viewed at USDA, Room 1141, South Building, 14th St. and Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. To facilitate entry into the comment reading room, please call (202) 690-2817.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Rodeo Fever - Part 2

Julie Carter

You will recall our Rodeo Fever heroes last week were headed to Gatesville to the first of four pro-rodeos they had entered.

From where Robby and Darrel hang their hats, Gatesville is a long way down in the tick-picking East Texas woods.

Robby had been in charge of researching the roping and mis-read the entry fee listing.

He thought the fees were $75 a man, $150 a team.

You guessed it. The fees were $150 a man and so began the depletion of the minimal funds the duo had to start this venture.

They drew a "pup" but missed, stopped for steak on the way home and began calculating their expenses. Planning ahead is not one of their better traits.

Undaunted by lack of funds, they were set on going again the following weekend to Silverton and then on to Post.

The practice steers they leased were still not broken in and by reports, "the little Speedy Gonzales' had racing stripes down their sides."

When the pair asked the roping steer contractor for "rodeo steers," they got more than they bargained for.

Their plan was to haul them to the town arena and rope them since the arena had been worked the month before for the rodeo.

Then they would turn them out on the creek bottom and let them eat down some city grass so little kids didn't get snake bit.

Altruistic fellas, one and all.

An aside, this particular arena was built, due to a slight miscalculation on the part of the rodeo club, in a location that was at the convergence of four watersheds, on the banks of a creek which floods anytime there is a quarter of an inch of rain anywhere within a four county area.

This has resulted in it being named the Comanche Rodeo Arena and Yacht Club.

Robby was not real happy with his horse's performance, saying he was an "average winner" not a "rodeo run" horse.

So to make sure things were in veterinary order, they both decided they needed to have their horses "beaned."

A bean, where horses are concerned, is a firm lump of dirt and excretion that builds up in a horse's sheath and must be removed as often as necessary.

It can cause serious pain to a horse and these cowboys were sure any negative behavior by their horses was due to this condition.

And just to add a little insurance to their plan, they headed out to practice with the Cowboy Church crowd, thinking a few prayers couldn't hurt.

So with two practices under their belts, beaned horses, prayers and the requisite amount of beer, the team ropers were, again, off down the road.

And Curly? Well he had a new get-rich-quick enterprise going so he stayed behind. He was collecting up old, worn our ropes and selling them for $5 a pop at the feed store.

Business picked up when one of the farmers who had become the proud owner of one these treasures came in with a story. He had put a hired hand in the back of a pickup with the rope, tied on hard and fast to the headache rack.

The hand finally got one of the cows roped and things went downhill from there. The end result was the cow ran off to the back side of the pasture with half the headache rack trailing behind her on the rope.

The good news was the farmer had come to buy another rope to catch the cow again so they could get the headache rack off.

Curly was sure that, at this rate, he'd be able to retire PDQ.

Which reminds me, you know how on TV all the ailments go by initials now - ED, COPD, RLS and suchlike. Well, ropers are now picking up on this with such abbreviations as NER (nod en route) for when they are pushing the barrier all the way to DAL (dead arse last). Guaranteed, this bunch of cowboy hillbillies is right up there on the latest trends.

RBR (ride baby ride), RFA (rodeo fever arrived).

Julie can be reached for comment at www.julie-carter.com

Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns

After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings. Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology. The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots. This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs. Fewer than one percent of the officers have any administrative actions brought against them and, we are told, virtually all of those cases “are trumped up.” Since Mr. Obama's election, pilots have told us that the approval process for letting pilots carry guns on planes slowed significantly. Last week the problem went from bad to worse. Federal Flight Deck Officers - the pilots who have been approved to carry guns - indicate that the approval process has stalled out...Washington Times

Federal Officials Deny Report That Obama Seeks to End Pilot Gun Program

Federal officials are denying a report that the Obama administration is seeking to end a program that allows trained airline pilots to carry guns. In an editorial published Tuesday in The Washington Times, the newspaper wrote that "President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology." Sterling Payne, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, denied the report and said the program that oversees a reported 12,000 federal flight deck officers (FFDO) is actually expanding. "It's inaccurate, this program continues to grow," Payne told FOXNews.com of the editorial. "TSA continues to recruit and put new FFDOs on planes, and we continue to train them and do recurring training." Payne said TSA officials have recently opened a training center for FFDOs in Atlantic City, N.J., with others planned to open in Texas and other states...Fox News

SAF challenges DC handgun ban scheme

The Second Amendment Foundation and three Washington, D.C. residents today filed a lawsuit challenging a regulation by District of Columbia city government that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of “acceptable” handguns approved by the State of California. The District is using this list despite a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer that protects handguns “that ordinary people traditionally use for self-defense.” This scheme could eventually bar the ownership of any new handguns. Attorney Alan Gura, representing the plaintiffs in this case, noted that District bureaucrats “told Tracy Ambeau Hanson her gun was the wrong color.” Americans are not limited to a government list of approved books, or approved religions, he said. A handgun protected by the Second Amendment doesn’t need to appear on any government-approved list either. “The Springfield XD-45 is approved for sale in Washington,” Gura noted, “so long as it is black, green, or brown, but her bi-tone version is supposedly ‘unsafe’.”...SAF

Go here to read the SAF complaint.

Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police

Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations. The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates. Joining Cornyn was Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who said such a measure would let "law enforcement stay ahead of the criminals." Two bills have been introduced so far--S.436 in the Senate and H.R.1076 in the House. Each of the companion bills is titled "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act," or Internet Safety Act. Each contains the same language: "A provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user." Translated, the Internet Safety Act applies not just to AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and so on--but also to the tens of millions of homes with Wi-Fi access points or wired routers that use the standard method of dynamically assigning temporary addresses. (That method is called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP.) The legal definition of electronic communication service is "any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications." The U.S. Justice Department's position is that any service "that provides others with means of communicating electronically" qualifies. That sweeps in not just public Wi-Fi access points, but password-protected ones too, and applies to individuals, small businesses, large corporations, libraries, schools, universities, and even government agencies. Voice over IP services may be covered too...CNET News

DNA left at crime scene could be used to create picture of criminal's face

Forensic experts will soon be able to reconstruct facial features and skin just by reading DNA, U.S. scientists said. 'Forensic molecular photofitting' maps the genes that are linked to skin pigmentation and facial structure which means a person's face could emerge from the analysis, Dr Mark Shriver from Pennsylvania State University said. The process has already been used to help identify and convict serial killer Derek Todd Lee who murdered seven women in Louisiana. Dr Shriver said he has now linked DNA that mark a person's ethnic origin with the gene mix of fixed points on the face, e.g. corners of the mouth and tip of the nose. This allows the computer to build up an image of a face based on the gene mix found in the DNA...Daily Mail

So that's why there's a tank at the DUI checkpoint

Rightfully so, attention after the recent mass shooting in Alabama focused on the trail of blood left by Michael McLendon, a former police officer on a rampage. But several Reuters photos taken after the incident, showing Army troops from nearby Fort Rucker patrolling the streets of Samson, Alabama, are starting to draw attention. The use of military personnel in a police role often raises concerns given their different missions and training. The practice is also, despite loosening of statutes in recent years, almost certainly illegal under federal law. Passed in the wake of Reconstruction, when formerly rebellious regions of the country chafed under military occupation, the Posse Comitatus Act reads: Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. The motivation for the law is clear. Military personnel are trained and equipped to wage war against an enemy. Police are trained to maintain order and keep the peace among their neighbors. The two roles don't interchange very well -- as has been amply demonstrated by the carnage resulting in recent years from increased police use of military tactics...Disloyal Opposition