Assignment Earth: Mexican wolves (video)

‘Family feud’ threatens to hurt ethanol lobby

A “family feud” between rival ethanol lobbies represents a "clear and present danger to the corn industry," according to an internal memo written by the president of a third trade association that represents corn farmers. The memo provides a rare public airing between trade groups usually limited to internal conference calls or K Street happy hour conversations. Darrin Ihnen, president of the National Corn Growers Association, painted a dramatic picture of a bitter rivalry between the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy for members in a lengthy report that warned of dire consequences, including the loss of political support on Capitol Hill...read more

Vilsack: Climate bill tough sell to farmers

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack acknowledged today that he’s having a tough time selling farmers on the idea that climate legislation won’t hurt their bottom line and could increase their income. “It’s going to require us to repeat it over and over again to sink through,” he said during an appearance before the Society of Environmental Journalists in Madison. Studies have shown, in fact, that the House-passed bill contains provisions that would soften the impact on fertilizer and fuel costs and that many farmers, including corn and soybean growers, actually will benefit from the bill because it will increase the price of their crops. He assured the journalists farmers will figure out ways to reduce their use of fertilizer and energy to reduce their costs. Vilsack also expressed confidence that farmers will widely benefit from selling carbon credits, but he pointedly said it’s too early to tell what farming practices will qualify for credits. Vilsack also said the climate bill “shouldn’t necessarily drive up food costs,” noting that commodity costs represent only a fraction of the price of processed foods...read more

Decline in grocery food prices stretches to farmers' profits

Prices in the grocery store are down by 10 percent from last year, the Iowa Farm Bureau reports. So are farmers' profits. The Farm Bureau's survey of food prices shows the fourth consecutive quarterly decline from 2008, when corn and soybean prices hit record levels and food processing companies and supermarket chains were warning of spikes in food prices. Instead, commodity prices have come down. Prices for corn, soybeans and livestock are slightly more than half of what they were 12 months ago. Not surprisingly, it's the farmers who now feel the squeeze. "While the decline in global demand has helped bring prices down for shoppers, a combination of decreased demand and other factors has made things more difficult for farmers, particularly those who raise livestock," said Dave Miller, director of research and commodity services for the Iowa Farm Bureau...read more

Prospects Distant for Offshore Wind in West

Eastern states from North Carolina to Maine are working on plans for offshore wind power. Why is nothing happening off the West Coast, where the winds also blow strong? The main problem, experts say, is topography. Whereas the continental shelf extends for miles off the East Coast, the bedrock drops off sharply just beyond the West Coast –- making it too deep to anchor the turbines with current technology. A second difficulty is power prices. Electricity in California, while expensive relative to the middle of the country, is still cheaper than in most of New England. This makes offshore wind projects less economical. (Electricity in Washington and Oregon is cheaper still.) Western states also have an abundance of what Easterners do not: land...read more

Wounded bear mauls 83-year-old hunter

A brown bear turned the tables Monday on an 83-year-old hunting party member in the Tahoe National Forest near Camptonville, severely mauling the man's arm and shoulder, authorities said. The victim, Orval Sanders of Oroville, was taken by helicopter to Sutter Roseville Medical Center where he underwent surgery for a crushed left wrist, said Mark Lucero of the state Department of Fish and Game. Sanders and six other men were hunting with dogs near Alleghany in Sierra County when they treed three bears. One of three bears came down from the tree after being shot and attacked Sanders, said Lucero. "The bear came out of the tree and grabbed the guy," badly mauling his arm and shoulder, said Lucero. Sanders told an investigator that he tried to protect himself by raising both arms in front of him. The bear slashed and bit both arms, said Lucero. It was not clear if Sanders was carrying a gun when attacked, said Lucero...read more

Lisa Jackson's California Dreaming

According to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, climate change regulations have their "roots" in California, and much of what President Obama is trying to accomplish is guided by what California has already achieved. She touts that the United States is finally "catching up with what's happening in California."

But what do we want to catch up to, asks the Heritage Foundation?

* A report by the American Lung Association from May 17, 2009 shows that Los Angeles, Fresno, Bakersfield, Sacramento, Visalia and Hanford all rank in the top 10 of one or all three categories of pollution: short-term particle pollution, ozone pollution and year-round particle pollution.
* California's unemployment rate for August 2009 was 12.2 percent, nearly 5 percentage points higher than a year ago and tied for fourth highest in the country.

Maybe the results will come in the future but it's highly unlikely the economic pain will be worth the negligible environmental benefits. Supporters argue that thousands of green jobs will be created, however, David Kreutzer of the Heritage Foundation warns that green job growth is "grossly overstated because they don't take into account the jobs lost elsewhere."

The irony of mainstream environmentalists praising one of the most polluted states as a model to follow in one of the most polluted cities in America has not been lost on critics. It has become very clear that the concern is not so much for the pollution itself: mainstream environmentalists offer effulgent praise to California, calling it a "green state" not because it is clean but because it has installed stringent greenhouse gas regulations. The California energy plan should be used as a lessons learned model rather than hailed as a success.

Source: Nick Loris, "EPA's Lisa Jackson: It's Time the Rest of the U.S. Caught Up with California," Heritage Foundation, October 7, 2009.

For text go here.

NCPA

When fire came over the mountain

THE BIG BURN By Timothy Egan Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26, 352 pages. Not since David McCullough's 1968 "The Johnstown Flood" grabbed readers and hurled them down the narrow Conemaugh Valley to certain doom can I remember a natural-disaster yarn that yanks one by the back of the neck face to face with horror the way Timothy Egan's "The Big Burn" brings the great Western fire of 1910 over the mountain to destroy the town of Wallace, Idaho. Before it burned itself out, the inferno consumed 3 million acres in just two days, and blazes elsewhere in the panhandle of Idaho, western Montana and eastern Oregon had burned up an area larger than the state of Connecticut. More than 10,000 men had been dispatched to the various conflagrations from as far away as California and Arizona, but most were too late to do more than rescue the handful of fledgling U.S. Forest Service rangers who had never had a chance to snuff out the early fires before they became an incinerating tsunami that evaporated everything in its path. Mr. Egan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (one of his five previous books, "The Worst Hard Times," won a National Book Award) is at the top of his game with this tale. It is both the story of the worst fire ever to sweep modern America at that time and a deft political tale of how we got the public land policy and conservation movement we have today - and how vulnerable that policy is to the pressures of human greed...read more

Light Bulbs vs. The Nanny State (video)

Debate Follows Bills to Remove Clotheslines Bans

After taking a class that covered global warming last year, Jill Saylor decided to save energy by drying her laundry on a clothesline at her mobile home. Mary Lou Sayer, who uses her dryer sparingly, hanging wet laundry indoors at her condominium in Concord, N.H. “I figured trailer parks were the one place left where hanging your laundry was actually still allowed,” she said, standing in front of her tidy yellow mobile home on an impeccably manicured lawn. But she was wrong. Like the majority of the 60 million people who now live in the country’s roughly 300,000 private communities, Ms. Saylor was forbidden to dry her laundry outside because many people viewed it as an eyesore, not unlike storing junk cars in driveways, and a marker of poverty that lowers property values. In the last year, however, state lawmakers in Colorado, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont have overridden these local rules with legislation protecting the right to hang laundry outdoors, citing environmental concerns since clothes dryers use at least 6 percent of all household electricity consumption...read more

Song Of The Day #154

Ranch Radio is still having a little fun with Obama Named Country Music Entertainer of the Year and Mr. President, I Knew Charley Pride, And You're No Charley Pride.

Personally, I think Obama is taking this country off the reservation with his assinine economic policies and the many wooden heads he's appointed to high positions.

Speaking of the reservation and wooden heads, our tune today is Kawliga by, you guessed it, Charley Pride. Both Pride songs featured can be found on The Essential Charley Pride.

Mr. President, I Knew Charley Pride, And You're No Charley Pride

Obama Named Country Music Entertainer of the Year

NASHVILLE (The Borowitz Report) - President Barack Obama stunned the country music world today by picking up its highest honor, Country Music Entertainer of the Year. Mr. Obama was chosen unanimously, according to the Country Music Association, beating out such favorite as Carrie Underwood and Toby Keith. In Nashville, country music insiders were shocked by Mr. Obama's selection, given that he has only been in office for eight months and during that time has yet to record a single country song. But Mr. Obama was gracious in receiving the honor, saying that he was "honored and humbled" by the award before excusing himself to accept this year's Heisman Trophy.

Obama Urged to Intensify Push for Climate Measure

President Obama is coming under renewed pressure internationally and in the United States to throw his weight behind climate-change legislation, which advocates fear has suffered in light of the president's sweeping domestic agenda. The Nobel committee's announcement Friday that Obama won the Peace Prize was a fresh reminder that much of the world expects him to lead the way toward a global climate pact. The committee cited his "more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges." And in Washington, advocates are clamoring for more evidence that Obama will make good on his campaign promise to impose the first-ever national cap on greenhouse gases. Last week, the leading author of Senate climate legislation sought personal assurances from Obama during an Oval Office meeting, saying he wanted to "hear it from him directly" as he pushed ahead...read more

Republican Senator Announces Support For Climate Bill

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced his support for a climate bill this year on Sunday – but Democrats still face a steep climb to gain broad bipartisan backing for the legislation. Democrats need just a handful of Republicans to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a Senate filibuster – if they can convince skeptical coal- and manufacturing-state Democrats to support the bill. But while environmentalists heralded Graham’s support as a “game changer,” any climate bill still faces steep obstacles in the Senate. “We are also convinced that we have found… a framework for climate legislation to pass Congress,” Graham wrote in a Sunday New York Times op-ed co-authored with Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry. “It begins now, not months from now — with a road to 60 votes in the Senate.”...read more

Is Climate Change a Moral, Philosophical Belief? And Can You Be Fired Over It?

Tim Nicholson, former Head of Sustainability at Grainger, a UK property company, claims that he was let go in 2008 for his "strong" views on climate change and the environment, reports CNN. Turns out, Nicholson feels his dismissal was a form of discrimination against his beliefs and he's taking the case to court. It does seem a bit ironic to us that a sustainability officer would be fired for being...a sustainability officer. It would be one thing if the fella was at his wits end and chose to leave, but to be fired for environmental beliefs seems a little backwards. Here is where the story gets more interesting. Nicholson was fired back in 2008 and has since taken his case to court, alleging that believing in climate change and its future effects on the planet are more of a philosophical belief and therefore protected under the UK's Employment Equality (Religion and Beliefs) Regulations. Essentially, this climate change case has turned into an anti-discrimination case. Not only was Nicholson fired, but he claims that leader in the company "showed contempt" for his beliefs and even taunted him...read more

Feeling green while the poor starve

Of all the insanities committed in the name of green politics, one of the most insane is the production of biofuels from food crops. In pursuit of increased proportion of energy from renewable sources, governments have realized that wind and solar power cannot make sufficiently large contributions. They have therefore turned to biofuels, a move that hugely delights their farming lobbies. Left at that, this might not have done too much damage outside of a massive misallocation of resources, but in a move that compounds insanity with thoughtless wickedness, they have chosen to do so out of food crops, rather than push forward the development of fuels from biological waste products such as husks, stalks and other cellulose surplus. Now Robin Pagnamenta reports in the Times that "Britain's self-sufficiency in wheat will end next year because a giant new biofuel refinery needs so much of the staple crop that home-grown supplies will be exhausted." Yes, we are now buying wheat on world markets to turn into fuel that is more expensive than that we can buy elsewhere or pump out of North Sea wells. That puts upward pressure on world prices, forcing up the price of foodstuffs. To affluent people this will be an inconvenience; to the poor it might mean starvation. We have, in effect, reintroduced the Corn Laws which were abolished in 1846, ensuring that the poor have to pay more for their bread as landowners and farmers benefit from higher prices. Well-to-do ladies driving their children to school in 4x4s can feel good that they are driving on 'green' fuel, even as people in poorer countries go hungry. Already there have been pasta protests in Italy and tortilla riots in Mexico, as poor people protest as the higher prices...read more

Algae Energy Orgy

When Adam Freeman graduated last December from Kennesaw State University in Georgia with a degree in biochemistry, he wanted to work in only one field: pond scum. Freeman had read that entrepreneurs were squeezing out fuel from the green muck known as algae, and he wanted to be one of them. So he set out on an algae road trip. With a list of more than 40 companies to visit, he drove from his hometown of Roswell, Georgia, to Vancouver, British Columbia, and back—sleeping on couches and knocking on companies' doors. But after four months and 18,000 miles, he realized that the industry wasn't what it purported to be. No one actually seemed to be producing oil. Most companies were simply growing scum without analyzing it. Some were bizarrely secretive. "I thought there'd be established companies where I could get a job, but there weren't," he says. Freeman saw firsthand the algae industry's slimy secret: Some companies have promised impossible amounts of oil based on speculation, raising millions from unwitting investors...read more

'Ill' wind blowing globally

In the world of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses, the planet is growing ever more interconnected, and possibly ill, say some researchers meeting in Flagstaff. These are some of the types of questions probed by researchers like Jeff Foster and Paul Keim at the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University. Researchers gathering in Flagstaff last week described new and changing threats to coral reefs, local birds and even prairie dogs as a result of multiple factors. It was a conference to share research on the Colorado Plateau, and farther. It's likely the overlaps between climate change, global commerce, inbreeding in small populations, introduced species, poor land management and domestic animals mingling with wildlife that all add up, Foster said. These factors together have lead to what's thought to be an upswing in infectious disease affecting animals and ecosystems worldwide, being tracked at NAU's labs, and elsewhere. "There is often no cure for wildlife or ecosystems that become infected," Foster said. The goal is largely to prevent infection from the start. Foster looks at brucellosis, a bacterial disease that can be passed from infected cattle and goats through milk and cheese to humans in unpasteurized milk. He's tracking the evolution of the disease, which pre-dates the domestication of cattle...read more

When Public Power Is Used for Private Gain

In December 2003, Bruce Ratner, a New York real estate tycoon and owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, announced his long-simmering plans to build a 22-acre "urban utopia" in central Brooklyn, featuring more than a dozen office and apartment towers rising as high as 60 stories, a 180-room hotel, and a fancy new basketball arena for Ratner's Nets to call home. Dubbed the Atlantic Yards, this ambitious project faced several potentially ruinous obstacles. First, various private parties owned more than half of the 22-acre site, which meant time-consuming and possibly unsuccessful negotiations to acquire their land. Second, the size and scope of the project would violate numerous zoning restrictions on height, density, and use. And third, the powerful Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which runs New York City's subways, buses, and commuter trains, controlled a crucial 8-acre rail yard at the center of the proposed footprint. So Ratner did what most politically-connected elites do when they run into trouble: He turned to the government—including his old Columbia law school pal Gov. George Pataki—for a bailout. More specifically, Ratner partnered with the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), a controversial and embattled state agency with the power to bypass zoning laws and seize private property via eminent domain. The result of that unholy union is Goldstein v. New York State Urban Development Corporation, which New York's Court of Appeals—the state's highest court—will hear next Wednesday in Albany. At issue is the ESDC's use of eminent domain to seize privately-owned homes and businesses on behalf of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards. It's a classic case of eminent domain abuse. Ratner isn't planning to build a bridge or a road or any other legitimate public project that might permit the forceful taking of private property. He wants to build a basketball arena, sell tickets to the games (not to mention sell broadcast rights, advertising space, concessions, and merchandise), and make a big fat profit. That's not public use, it's private gain...read more

Obama administration backs Organ Mountains bill

Support for the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act continues to grow, as the Obama administration has now offered its support to the legislation intended to protect the mountain range just east of Las Cruces and other scenic areas in Dona Ana County. The Obama administration endorsed the legislation at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday in Washington, D.C. Resolutions in support of the legislation written by Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, both D-N.M., to protect the Organs have already been adopted by the city of Las Cruces, town of Mesilla and Do-a Ana County governments. Gov. Bill Richardson has also thrown in his support for the bill. "This bill already had strong local support, and now we have the backing of the Obama administration," said Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Oscar Butler, vice chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, and Jerry Schickedanz, chairman of the group People for Preserving Our Western Heritage, were invited to testify at the hearing. While Schickedanz said he certainly supports efforts to preserve the Organs, he and others are opposed to the limitations that could be placed on ranchers and other users of the wilderness areas. "There are other ways to protect the lands," Schickedanz said. "It's premature to put this on the fast track for approval without a public hearing."...read more

Locals excluded from Devils Tower stakeholders meeting

A rancher whose property adjoins Devils Tower is upset over being excluded from a meeting in which stakeholders discussed which stories visitors should hear when they travel to the national monument. Park officials say the meeting was invitation only. And since the park is overseen by a federal agency, a meeting concerning Devils Tower is not subject to Wyoming’s open meetings law. About a dozen stakeholders made up of American Indians, climbing enthusiasts and park historians were invited to a two-day meeting last week in Hulett. The attendees discussed the park’s interpretation plan, an internal document that spells out which stories park rangers should tell to tourists. Rancher Ogden Driskill, whose property is next to the park’s south and east boundaries, feels he should have had a say in the process. Driskill said his family has lived near the park since 1880. He claims park officials have a history of excluding ranchers from stakeholder meetings. “I really honestly don’t think this was an oversight,” Driskill said. “We feel we should be offered a seat at the table.”...read more

Roof-Dwelling Boa Constrictor Captured

After causing a major stir in Fall River, Mass., a roof-dwelling boa constrictor is now in custody, reported TV station WPRI. The snake had been spotted repeatedly on the roof of a multifamily dwelling in recent weeks, according to various news reports. Nine feet in length, it was eye-catching enough to bring onlookers and aspiring nature photographers to the neighborhood. When animal control officers attempted to catch the reptile earlier this week, they had no luck, said WPRI. According to the station, the landlord and his friends pounced on the giant snake Thursday night as it slithered into the attic...read more

Golfer loses arm to alligator

A 77-year-old man lost his arm below the elbow Thursday when he was attacked by an alligator while playing golf on Fripp Island. The man, the father of a Fripp Island property owner, was playing the 11th hole of the island's Ocean Creek Golf Course at about 3 p.m. when the attack occurred. The victim was leaning down to pick up his ball when a 10-foot long alligator grabbed his arm, said Kate Hines, general manager of the Fripp Island Property Owners Association. Hines said the alligator dragged the man into a nearby pond and went into a series of "death rolls," a technique the reptile uses to tear apart its food. The man lost his arm in the struggle...read more

Two families crucial to saving American bison

Jackie Means has only faded memories of her childhood pilgrimages to Custer State Park to view the famous buffalo herd. Her first adult visits, back in the 1960s, remain much more vivid. “There were buffalo all over,” she said. Back then, the herd’s size numbered 2,500, its peak, since reduced to prevent overgrazing its Black Hills refuge. Those glimpses of the buffalo were family reunions of a sort. Means’ paternal grandfather, Scotty Philip, once lauded as “The Man Who Saved the Buffalo,” raised the bison that provided the foundation for today’s Custer State Park herd. The park’s herd started in 1914, three years after his death, with the purchase of 36 buffalo for about $11,000 from the Philip ranch near Fort Pierre. Actually, Philip had a bit of help. He bought 83 buffalo from the estate of another rancher, Fred Dupree, who had rounded up five bison calves when buffalo were on the brink of extinction. But, as descendants of both the Philip and Dupree families attest, there was more to the story of how those two legendary ranchers helped spare the American bison from annihilation. Their wives, Mary Good Elk Woman Dupree and Sarah Philip, were unsung heroines in the saga, largely ignored by historians but credited by their families for their roles. Both women were Lakota, for whom the buffalo are sacred. And both, according to their descendants, helped persuade their husbands to rescue buffalo for their preservation...read more

Access pits neighbor against neighbor

A legal battle out of Beaverhead County has once again irritated Montana's sore spot of public access and pitted neighbor against neighbor. The parties in this case are tailor-made to get the public fist-shaking angry: On one side, a longtime Montana cowboy; on the other, a transplanted California lawyer. The fracas started two years ago when Peter Tomaryn (the lawyer from California) and owners of the Diamond Bar J Ranch cut off access to a private road that runs through their property. The crux is this action has prevented Art Robinson (Montana cowboy) from using this road - a road that he has traveled for the past 20 years - to get back and forth to his ranch in the mountains south of Dillon. The road at the center of the litigation is about an 8-mile stretch that starts at state Highway 91 and runs along Grasshopper Creek. The private road runs through the Diamond J Bar Ranch and Tomaryn's land continues to Robinson's property, which is known as the Frenchie Place. Robinson purchased the Frenchie Place in 1987, long before the current owners of the J Bar Ranch and Tomaryn bought their land. Robinson used the road - called Grasshopper Creek Road - for two decades as the main access to and from his property. Robinson's lawyer, W. Dennis Starkel, said his client was never prevented from using the road in all that time...read more

Oregon ranchers consider mobile slaughterhouse

Eastern Oregon ranchers are considering a mobile slaughtering plant in Baker County to process beef that's now hauled out of state. Over the last 30 years, dozens of Oregon plants have been shut down, said Dan Forsea, president of the Baker County Livestock Association. Financial and environmental considerations have weighed against building a meat processing plant in Oregon. But Forsea said Joel Huesby, a rancher near Walla Walla, Wash., has built one of the first mobile slaughtering plants the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved. Huesby slaughters cattle for hire, but he told the Baker County ranchers his primary purpose is to process his own brand of grass-fed cattle, which he markets through the Internet and selected grocery stores and meat markets. Huesby said he saw it as a way to increase the value of his cattle and cattle raised by other ranchers around Walla Walla County and other areas...read more

Korean students learn the cowboy way

Dorothy Jung and other cowboys broke into song as they stood near the campfire Sunday on a ranch east of Longview. They sang in Korean, but the words translated like any matter-of-fact song a cowboy might croon as raindrops began and a cool wind stirred. "It's like, 'It's windy, it's windy,' " Jung translated. "It's a Korean traditional song. It's not a cowboy song. We don't know anything about cowboys." The junior economics major at LeTourneau University knew more about cowboys than she and about 20 fellow exchange students had known that morning. A window on the West — the American West — opened for the Koreans on Sunday afternoon at rancher Jay Knight's spread. The cowboy-curious herd was corralled by the college ministry at Alpine Church of Christ, where they worship. "Handong University is kind of a sister university with LeTourneau," Alpine member C.B. Dixon said. "This is the first year they've come out here to this place." The students wore jeans, and many sported western hats. Each moseyed about the working ranch in sneakers — not a pair of boots among them...read more

Hailey celebrates wool with 'Trailing of the Sheep' Event continues today

Ford literally wears her passion on her sleeve. The underwear she wears is made of soft merino wool. Her sweater is "a mix of all my children." And her scarf is a mix of Angora rabbit and wools from her various sheep. The merino wool is finding a market in the underwear the United States uses for its troops in Afghanistan and Iraq since the wool can be machine-washed, Ford said. Fortunately, for sheep ranchers, American-grown wool and lamb meat is enjoying some of its best markets in years - in part because the weak American dollar is keeping imports from countries like New Zealand down, said Carey Flat Top Sheep Rancher John Peavey. That said, the weak American dollar didn't keep dozens of tourists from traveling from as far away as Florida to the Wood River Valley this weekend to take in the three-day Trailing of the Sheep Festival. The visitors enjoyed an array of free lamb nibbles - from Moroccan stew to lamb curry - at Ketchum art galleries on Friday night. And then they dug into lamb chops at the annual Basque Dinner served up by Hailey's St. Charles Catholic Church on Saturday...read more

Cattle drive a Bickleton mainstay

A cattle drive -- the old-fashioned, horseback kind -- brought traffic to a halt in Bickleton on Friday afternoon. In Bickleton terms, that means five or six cars had to wait while a herd of cows moseyed around them down Market Street. "There's not much traffic to stop," said Bob Harvey, an auto mechanic who organizes family members and friends in the annual cattle drive through the heart of this unincorporated Klickitat County community of 90 residents. Harvey, 45, and more than a dozen volunteers meet every October to help area cattle rancher Mat Spalding move his cows from summer pastures to his barns for pregnancy checking, calf rearing and winter feeding. In exchange, Spalding allows them to hunt deer on his land. The easiest and quickest way is to drive them by horseback right through the center of town. Loading them into a truck would take too much time. "It takes longer to corral them up and then haul them," said Spalding, 56. Justin Harvey, Bob's 17-year-old nephew, added: "And it's fun."...read more

Dallas Auction Gallery to bang the gavel on Dallas man's lifetime bovine collection

Dallas Auction Gallery bangs the gavel next week on the lifetime bovine collection of Derrill Osborn. The fabled Neiman Marcus men's clothing director (now seven years retired) has become as celebrated for his objets vaches as for his keenly eccentric personal style. Of course, most of us would need multiple lifetimes to amass the bounty of more than 500 pieces that, until recently, filled every inch of his modestly sized Oak Lawn townhouse. His collection includes 19th- and 20th century bovine oil paintings, Black Forest carvings, Staffordshire figurines, 150-year-old majolica and even an Empire-style armchair clad in fabric given to Osborn by Gianni Versace. Each piece seems bathed in the aura of its famously stylish curator. Osborn, with his mustache, wide-brimmed hats and penchant for dressing in elaborate suits (even for the most mundane errands), has graced the pages of GQ, Esquire and Vogue Hommes. He was once in charge of assisting a young John Kennedy Jr. with his wardrobe. Even today, Osborn rarely leaves home without a fresh red rose or carnation boutonniere in his lapel. He was just a child when he acquired his first bovine object, a piece whittled by his rancher great-grandfather. "I remember as a boy watching cows, studying cows," says Osborn, a New Mexico native who spent his early childhood on the family ranch. He recalls marveling at the herds that roamed over their land and getting a front row seat at the brandings. Clearly, something stuck...read more

WINDMILL: Predicting the weather has come a long way

These early cold fronts coming through West Texas are reminiscent of the old days of the 1970s when I met almost daily with a roundtable of morning coffee drinkers at the old Jackson House on West Beauregard on my way to the Standard-Times. The oldtimers of that time would forecast a wet winter when the first northers came in with rain. Those were the days when folks like the late Boze Hartgrove, a Concho and Reagan County rancher, the late D. K. McMullen, also a Reagan County rancher and lamb buyer, and the late Tom Poteet, one of the last country traders, would forecast the weather by the signs of the moon or the length of their horse’s hair. A legend told to me by Harry Firstbrook of Marfa when I was writing Windmill Country in the 1970s promoted the theory that more mesquite beans mean more wintertime. The late Jerry Mack Johnson, a San Angelo author and weather prognosticator, said a severe winter is likely when the tree leaves fall late. If the leaves drop early, the fall will be short and the winter will be mild. “A late frost means a long, hard winter. Two frosts mean winter will soon appear,” Johnson wrote in his book “Country Wisdom. In today’s world, with a 24-hour weather channel supplying us with pictures of current conditions from space, it’s hard for this generation to believe we lived without computer models to plan farm and ranch activity. Much of the oldtimers’ foundation in weather prediction was based on knowledge passed down from the American Indians, who observed natural phenomena...read more

It's All Trew: Turtle hunt leaves us shellshocked

Among this year's experiences to date is a story about our developing a new fishing lake and the turtles contained therein, plus a couple of turtle stories. I have a Native American friend who, for years, has "rescued" turtles from the freeways, placing them in her large, fenced backyard. At feeding time, she steps to her back porch, bangs a pan with a spoon and the entire backyard comes alive with healthy turtles arriving to be fed. A relative living in California, also with a large backyard, became host to a wayward desert turtle who took up residence. Since it is on the endangered species list, it sported its own tattoo number, registered description and has been to the local vet twice. The turtle tale continues. We have a small, swampy lagoon area that old timers called Blue Hole, where they played hooky from Alanreed school, rode their horses across the pastures and swam in the cool waters. It must have been larger and deeper in the old days. At the urging of our daughter-in-law, Janice, we decided to clean the place, trim the brush and develop it into a fishing camp for the family. A plan was agreed, the work began and, after a few months passed, the camp was finished, complete with a new fence to keep the cattle out. After the fish were released, the expert asked if we had any turtles? When we stopped to study the lake and watch, we had more turtles than you could count. Big turtles, middle-sized turtles and many little, bitty turtles. We were told that would not do. We had to lower the count. We built a home-made turtle trap. After all, a turtle can't be too smart. Ha! The only turtle casualty was one that laughed himself to death after seeing our contraption. We ordered a manufactured turtle trap from the fish people. It was a square aluminum cage that floated with trap doors on top that dumped the turtles as they lay in the sun. The great turtle hunt began...read more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Changing of the seasons - Cowboy Style

Julie Carter

For most people, fall is the season of turning leaves, cooler weather, and the last bloom of summer flowers. For the cowboy, like Monday starts a new week, fall begins a new year.

It is the time of year for gathering the cattle and turning sassy calves into weanlings. The long days in the saddle, the billowing dust of corrals full of cattle, the long lines of cattle trucks all mean one thing. Pay day. That reward for a year of work that started this time last year.

For one more year, they have watched a cow buyer drive off down the dusty road, knowing that they probably won't see him again for a year. One more time, they heave a sigh of relief as the last cattle truck rolled over the cattle guard headed for feedlots and wheat pastures.

Yearling cattle operators have shipped the summer cattle and are looking to get the fall stockers received and tucked away in winter pastures.

Fall is when you get out all the jackets, down vests, wild rags and leggings. You make every effort to find the winter gloves, all of them, including the right and left one of each pair. It's commonly known that while empty cardboard boxes multiply in captivity, winter gloves in matching pairs are an endangered species.

My first concession to the season is giving up my sandals in trade for full-cover footwear. It usually doesn't happen before I've been seen in public a number of times wearing a turtleneck sweater and the aforementioned shoes with no tops.

The horses begin to grow furry coats and spend more time at the feed bunk. They have little interest in working, socializing or doing anything but soaking up the afternoon sun.

Fall is when you start breaking the two-year-old colts and hope they retain just a little of it before you turn them out for winter. It is hard to maintain any cowboy athletic prowess with a bucking colt when you are dressed with enough layers to resemble the Michelin man.

Preferred menu changes move from sandwiches and salads to pots of chili and a complete assortment of crock-pot ready-to-eat cuisine options.

Pumpkins are everywhere. Pumpkin cake and pumpkin bread are a favorite whether it is for the taste of cinnamon and clove or simply a good reason for the cream cheese frosting. While I happen to think pumpkin comes in a can, the real thing does look pretty sitting around next to Indian corn or bundled corn stocks.

It is not yet calving season and there is not yet any ice to break on the water tanks. The feed pickups stand by ready for work. However, the season is too short to start any major fencing, pipelining or corral building.

It is not that winter is an idle season but it has a specific list of jobs that, for the most part, leave no time for special projects.

Fall is the time to review what has been accomplished during the year - you can't get it back but you can always hope to improve on it.

Ranching is like that. A rancher is always looking forward to getting this year over with so he can start on the next one. He simply is able to start a little earlier with his New Year resolutions.

And those almost always begin with a prayer for full water tanks, good grass and decent cattle prices.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net.

Budweiser - The American Dream (video)

Telephone Company Is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit

The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: The nation’s telecom companies are an arm of the government — at least when it comes to secret spying. Fortunately, a judge says that relationship isn’t enough to squash a rights group’s open records request for communications between the nation’s telecoms and the feds. The Electronic Frontier Foundation wanted to see what role telecom lobbying of Justice Department played when the government began its year-long, and ultimately successful, push to win retroactive immunity for AT&T and others being sued for unlawfully spying on American citizens. The feds argued that the documents showing consultation over the controversial telecom immunity proposal weren’t subject to the Freedom of Information Act since they were protected as “intra-agency” records. The feds were supposed to make the documents available Friday, but in a motion late Thursday, the Obama administration is asking for a 30-day emergency stay (.pdf) so it can file a further appeal...read more

Police stop more than 1 million people on street

A teenager trying to get into his apartment after school is confronted by police. A man leaving his workplace chooses a different route back home to avoid officers who roam a particular street. These and hundreds of thousands of other Americans in big cities have been stopped on the street by police using a law-enforcement practice called stop-and-frisk that alarms civil libertarians but is credited by authorities with helping reduce crime. Police in major U.S. cities stop and question more than a million people each year - a sharply higher number than just a few years ago. Most are black and Hispanic men. Many are frisked, and nearly all are innocent of any crime, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press. The practice is perfectly legal. A 1968 Supreme Court decision established the benchmark of "reasonable suspicion" - a standard that is lower than the "probable cause" needed to justify an arrest. Not all stops are the same. Some people are just stopped and questioned. Others have their bag or backpack searched. And sometimes police conduct a full pat-down...read more

NYPD tracking cell phone owners, but foes aren't sure practice is legal

The NYPD is amassing a database of cell phone users, instructing cops to log serial numbers from suspects' phones in hopes of connecting them to past or future crimes. In the era of disposable, anonymous cell phones, the file could be a treasure-trove for detectives investigating drug rings and other criminal enterprises, police sources say. A recent internal memo says that when cops make an arrest, they should remove the suspect's cell phone battery to avoid leakage - then jot down the International Mobile Equipment Identity number. The IMEI number is registered with the service provider whenever a call is made. And that data could allow a detective to match, for example, a cell phone used by one suspect to a phone used by another. New York Civil Liberties Union associate legal director Christopher Dunn said it appears the NYPD is "taking phones apart to get information" without warrants. "It's hard to believe they feel there's a real need to take out the battery to prevent leakage," he said. "Instead, it looks like they're doing this to circumvent the warrant process."...Read more

Class Challenges California DNA Sampling Law

A California law forcing anyone arrested or charged with a felony to submit to DNA sampling is unconstitutional, according to a class action in Federal Court. Sampling subjects say the requirement constitutes an illegal seizure of their genetic information and violates their due process rights. The lawsuit, filed by a group of Californians subject to the law, challenges a provision of Proposition 69, effective since January, mandating that all adults arrested or charged with a felony provide police with a DNA sample. Such felonies include "many offenses for which their DNA has no conceivable relevance," from writing bad checks to cocaine possession, the plaintiffs claim. Lead plaintiff Elizabeth Haskell was arrested in March 2009 at a peace rally. She claims police told her she would be charged with a separate misdemeanor when she refused to let authorities swab the inside of her cheek. Haskell "was told she would not be released from jail until after arraignment if she did not provide a DNA sample on the spot and without advice from lawyer," the lawsuit claims. Haskell says no charges were filed against her. Before Proposition 69 passed in 2004, only convicted felons were required to submit to DNA testing. The genetic data were then compiled into a state-wide database. The plaintiffs say Proposition 69 allows their DNA to also be entered into the system, and people such as Haskell, who are eventually found innocent of the charges, must wait at least three years for their DNA samples to be expunged from the database. Failure to comply with the mandate can result in a fine and one year of imprisonment, the class adds...read more

Senate committee approves Patriot Act changes

A divided Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a revised version of the nation's major counterterrorism law, after intelligence and law enforcement officials assured lawmakers that counterterrorism operations would not be harmed. The 11-8 vote sent the bill to the full Senate, where several senators who voted "yes" said they had enough concerns to oppose the legislation unless more changes are made. The expiring sections allow roving wiretaps on multiple phones, access to business records and a never-used provision to conduct surveillance of a non-U.S. citizen who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group. Several of the changes adopted Thursday govern use of National Security Letters, which are FBI demands for information without a court order. These letters can be subject to a court order prohibiting the recipient from disclosing the letter. One change would require the government to notify recipients when the non-disclosure order is no longer required. This is aimed at recipients of letters who challenged the order. If the government meets a legal test for an order not to disclose a national security letter, a judge would have to issue the order. The attorney general would be given six months to establish procedures to acquire, destroy, and prevent dissemination by the FBI of records received in response to a National Security Letter. Other changes would: _Clarify the types of library records entitled to a higher level of review. _Require the FBI to include specific facts in its written statement supporting the issuance of the National Security Letter. The government would have to demonstrate the information requested is relevant to an authorized investigation...read more

Mobs, violent criminals turn to Medicare fraud

Lured by easier money and shorter prison sentences, Mafia figures and other violent criminals increasingly are moving into Medicare fraud and spilling blood over what was once a white-collar crime. Around the nation, federal investigators have been threatened, an informant's body was found riddled with bullets, and a woman was discovered dead in a pharmacy under investigation, her throat slit with a piece of broken toilet seat. For criminals, Medicare schemes offer a greater payoff and carry much shorter prison sentences than offenses such as drug trafficking or robbery. "We've seen more people that used to be involved in (dealing) drugs are switching over to health-care fraud because it's not as dangerous," Miami FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said...read more

The mob's gonna love health care reform.

America's Internet police

You may have won $10 million dollars!!! Or not, but the same federal agency that can't stop those dishonest sweepstakes mailings wants the right to supervise everything bloggers, Facebookers, tweeters and practically anyone else writes on the Internet starting in December. You see, bad, bad regular people may write something nice about puppy kibble after nefarious corporate goons pay them off with a free bag of dog food. Consumers must be protected from such trickery. The plans of the Federal Trade Commission don't bother us newspaper folks none because we're exempt. Our book reviewers can keep right on taking free books, and our music reviewers can wallow in a torrent of freebie music downloads until their iPods explode. But if you readers do the same thing and fail to disclose the full details of your "financial relationship" with a "marketer" before you tweet, both you and the book publisher may have broken the law, resulting in fines of more than $10,000...read more

Feds limit Arizona sheriff's immigration powers

An Arizona sheriff known for aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration is being stripped of some of his power to enforce immigration law. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says federal officials won't let him renew a deal that let his deputies make federal immigration arrests. The U.S. government is changing its rules for allowing local police to enforce more expansive federal immigration laws. Federal officials did renew a deal that will let Arpaio's jail officers determine the immigration status of people in his jails. Arpaio says federal officials offered no explanation of why his powers were cut in half. A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on the curtailment of Arpaio's powers. AP

NYC undercover stings expose 'gun show loophole'

New York City officials secretly videotaped dozens of firearm purchases they say were illegal at gun shows in states that have not closed the "gun show loophole." The sting, described in a city report released Wednesday, was conducted at seven gun shows in Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada. Those states are among the many that permit private unlicensed dealers, known as "occasional sellers," to sell weapons at gun shows without conducting background checks. Gun-control advocates say the loophole makes it easier for criminals to acquire guns and prevents law enforcement from being able to trace those weapons if they are used in crimes. Nine states, including New York, have passed laws to close the loophole, requiring background checks on at least all handgun purchases at gun shows. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has long campaigned for Congress to close the loophole, and for states to do it on their own if the federal government does not. Even in states that haven't closed the loophole, federal law bars "occasional sellers" from selling guns to people they have reason to believe would fail a background check. This is where the Bloomberg operation says 19 out of 30 sellers broke the law during the investigation, in which undercover buyers wore tiny cameras concealed in baseball hats and purses and audio recorders hidden in wristwatches...read more

Hutchison, Tester, Souder wading into gun rights case

Two pro-gun rights senators are wading into a lawsuit pending before the Supreme Court that could further expand the Second Amendment and restrict governments’ ability to police the flow of firearms. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) are joining Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) in filing a joint amicus brief before the Supreme Court — repeating an effort they first made last year in the District of Columbia’s gun-rights case. The lawmakers say they plan to ask justices to apply the Second Amendment more forcibly to states, siding with the National Rifle Association in seeking to overturn the city of Chicago’s handgun registration laws...read more

Victory for First Amendment: Pittsburgh-Area College Allows Student to Advocate for Concealed Carry on Campus

After months of national media attention, a student threatened with punishment for attempting to form a gun-rights group at Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) is finally allowed to distribute pamphlets about the group on campus. The college has also rescinded its unconstitutional policy demanding "prior written approval" for "personal contact with individuals or groups related to non-sponsored college material or events." After Christine Brashier, who wanted to form a chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), was told that her pamphlets were unacceptable "solicitation" and that any further efforts would be considered "academic misconduct," she turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help. In April, Brashier created pamphlets to distribute to her classmates encouraging them to join her in forming a chapter of the SCCC national organization at CCAC. Her pamphlets stated that the group "supports the legalization of concealed carry by licensed individuals on college campuses." She personally distributed copies of the pamphlets, which identified her as a "Campus Leader" of the effort to start the chapter. Brashier was quickly summoned to a meeting with administrators, who told her that passing out her non-commercial pamphlets was prohibited as "solicitation." Furthermore, they insisted that the college pre-approve any pamphlets, that pamphlets like hers would not be approved, and that Brashier destroy all copies of her pamphlet. At one point during the meeting, Dean Yvonne Burns reportedly said, "You may want to discuss this topic but the college does not, and you cannot make us." Brashier was warned that any further efforts would be considered "academic misconduct."...read more

Gun control

At what point does the government change from protecting its citizens to controlling them? This is not an easy question, and it is one too often ignored by both citizens and governments. Government has a duty to protect its citizens from enemies and at times from each other. However, it is a slippery slope that leads governments down the path to total social control in the interest of protecting everyone everywhere all the time. Although the government should indeed be able to police its own citizens it should never be allowed to absolutely remove any single right. Does the government have a right to outlaw the possession of firearms by its citizens in the interest of protection if it means that they are severely limited in their own ability to protect themselves? Absolutely not. The other question is that of deterrence. Is public or private deterrence a more useful method in fighting crime? In many crimes the use of public deterrence by the government is most often the best means. The government can do things not available to ordinary citizens such as fines and jail time. But in cases dealing with public or personal safety many times the best deterrence is private. A gun wielding criminal will be more afraid of a gun wielding citizen than of the possibility of incarceration. Private citizens concerned only for their own safety and not held back by court proceedings, warrants, or properly reading someone their rights can be the biggest deterrent of violent crime available...read more

Threat to sue athlete for fund-raising brothel

The New Zealand Olympic Committee has threatened to sue a local taekwondo athlete who plans to finance his 2012 London Games bid with the proceeds from a brothel. Logan Campbell, whose participation in the Beijing Olympics last year cost him NZ$150,000 ($110,600) -- most of which came from his parents -- opened a brothel with a friend in Auckland earlier this year. Campbell went public with the scheme in July and the 23-year-old said he hoped to raise NZ$300,000 to alleviate any financial burden on his parents and to have more time to concentrate on training...read more

ALE agents seize 929 gallons of moonshine

State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents seized 929 gallons of moonshine Wednesday and arrested a Wilkesboro man, authorities said Friday. Roger Lee Nance, of 1117 Shew Ridge Mission Road, was charged with possession of non-tax paid liquor, possession of non-tax-paid liquor for the purpose of selling, and possession of equipment and ingredients intended for the use in the manufacture of an alcoholic beverage. “This is one of the biggest seizures of white liquor I’ve seen come out of the mountains in my career,” ALE Director John Ledford said in statement...read more

Song Of The Day #153

Our Gospel tune this am is by a young George Jones singing Please Take The Devil Out Of Me.

It's available on the 22 track CD The Definitive Collection 1955-1962 and on the 48 track 2 CD Cup of Loneliness: The Classic Mercury Years.

Musician Rusty Wier dies after battle with cancer

Hearing was Rusty Wier's last sense to go, so although he was almost unresponsive when surrounded by relatives and friends, including Jerry Jeff Walker, at his son Coby's house in Driftwood on Thursday night, Wier tried to raise up his head when the group sang "Amazing Grace." By the next morning, the Austin musician, who had a hit when Bonnie Raitt covered his "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance" on the soundtrack to "Urban Cowboy," was dead after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 65. Although Wier got his own chapter in Jan Reid's book "The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock," which chronicled Austin's "cosmic cowboy" scene of the early 1970s, Wier's contribution to Austin music goes back to the mid-1960s. He established himself in the early 1970s as a folk singer with rock 'n' roll eyes and an ever-present, low-crowned black hat. Wier's first three albums — Stoned, Slow, Rugged in 1974, Don't It Make You Wanna Dance in 1975, and Black Hat Saloon in 1976 — came out on three different major labels. But it was in the clubs that he made his money...read more

Northeast dairy farmers sue milk handlers

A group of dairy farmers is suing four milk marketing firms, saying they've engaged in monopolizing the market into which farmers have had to sell milk, fixed prices and created an economic crisis in the Northeast dairy industry. The Washington-based law firm Cohen Milstein says it expects many farmers will join a class action suit against Kansas City-based Dairy Farmers of America and Dallas-based Dean Foods Co. The suit alleges DFA and Dean have seized effective control of the region's dairy industry and are forcing farmers to join DFA or its marketing affiliate Dairy Marketing Services to survive. DMS and HP Hood also were named as defendants. Brown said DFA, the nation's largest dairy cooperative, and Dean, the largest processor in the United States, had worked together to lower prices paid to farmers for their milk "by making DFA and its affiliates the exclusive suppliers of milk to Dean and HP Hood." Dean and Hood bottle about 90 percent of the fluid milk sold in the Northeast, Brown said...read more

Wolves And The Difference In Democrats

The Independen-Record has a story today announcing the wolf hunt near Yellowstone is being called to a halt. Even though the quota hasn't been met they are taking this action. Why? To protect the wolves? No, it’s to protect ranchers. From the article:

Even though the quota of 12 wolves in hunting district 316 hasn't been met, nine have been harvested so far, and state officials fear the quota would have been filled by the time the general hunting season starts on Oct. 25 had the hunt continued. That would mean hunters would only take wolves from the backcountry, instead of near ranches where they might have been preying on livestock. "… We don't want to kill the wilderness wolves and the wolves that don't need some education, (we want to go after) those on the ranch land," Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Ron Moody said on Thursday.


Montana has a Democrat Governor and a Democrat Game Commission.

New Mexico has a Democrat Governor and a Democrat Game Commission.

But my lord what a difference in their attitudes towards ranchers and wolves.

One of you fine folks in Montana ship me some of your water, and I'll see if I can get someone to slip it in Bill Richardson's drink.

Better send a gallon.

Treemometers: A new scientific scandal

A scientific scandal is casting a shadow over a number of recent peer-reviewed climate papers. At least eight papers purporting to reconstruct the historical temperature record times may need to be revisited, with significant implications for contemporary climate studies, the basis of the IPCC's assessments. A number of these involve senior climatologists at the British climate research centre CRU at the University East Anglia. In every case, peer review failed to pick up the errors. At issue is the use of tree rings as a temperature proxy, or dendrochronology. Using statistical techniques, researchers take the ring data to create a "reconstruction" of historical temperature anomalies. In particular, since 2000, a large number of peer-reviewed climate papers have incorporated data from trees at the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia. This dataset gained favour, curiously superseding a newer and larger data set from nearby. The older Yamal trees indicated pronounced and dramatic uptick in temperatures. How could this be? Scientists have ensured much of the measurement data used in the reconstructions remains a secret - failing to fulfill procedures to archive the raw data. Without the raw data, other scientists could not reproduce the results. The most prestigious peer reviewed journals, including Nature and Science, were reluctant to demand the data from contributors. Until now, that is. At the insistence of editors of the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions B the data has leaked into the open - and Yamal's mystery is no more. From this we know that the Yamal data set uses just 12 trees from a larger set to produce its dramatic recent trend. Yet many more were cored, and a larger data set (of 34) from the vicinity shows no dramatic recent warming, and warmer temperatures in the middle ages. In all there are 252 cores in the CRU Yamal data set, of which ten were alive 1990. All 12 cores selected show strong growth since the mid-19th century. The implication is clear: the dozen were cherry-picked...read more

Tree Ring Circus

If anyone is embarrassed in Copenhagen, though, it should be global warming alarmists. The framework of their claims is cracking. As it turns out — and this should be no surprise — the data that have been used to create the global warming bogeyman are flawed. For example, historical temperature patterns extracted from tree rings in Siberia's Yamal Peninsula look increasingly dubious. They indicate warming, but were taken from a sample of only 12 trees. A larger sample (34 trees) in the same area shows no warming. The scientists who compiled the record using the smaller sample are rightfully being accused of cherry-picking their data. But at least they didn't lose their data, as another group of scientists apparently has done. Researchers at Britain's University of East Anglia, entrusted with constructing what's been called the world's first comprehensive history of surface temperature, built a record that showed the Earth is warming. Impossible as it may seem, a good chunk of the raw data that were used to create the "hockey stick" record indicating man is responsible for global warming is suddenly unavailable. It's either been lost or destroyed. This is significant. Scientists who want to use the data to either confirm or dispute the global warming findings can't get them. Then there's the latest news on Arctic ice, which is cited as proof of global warming when it melts and ignored when it grows. Seems that it expanded this summer after shrinking for the previous two...read more

Feds: Grizzlies in more danger on threatened species list

Federal officials said Thursday that a recent court ruling returning Yellowstone grizzly bears to the threatened species list inadvertently puts the animals at greater risk. In September, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled that about 600 grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park remained in danger of extinction, despite a two-decade recovery effort. Molloy cited dwindling food supplies due to climate change, increased shootings and problems with federal and state conservation plans meant to shield bears from future decline. Molloy's ruling effectively voided the conservation plans, which had restricted road construction, livestock grazing and development in areas where bears live. Without those restrictions, bears will face new dangers, the government said. On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service submitted court filings asking Molloy to reverse his September ruling and keep bears off the threatened list...read more

Barrasso wants BLM investigated

Bureau of Land Management officials have had inappropriate relationships with advocacy groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, concluded a recent interior inspector general’s report released Tuesday. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., wrote a letter to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday asking for a full investigation and review of all decisions made by the implicated BLM officials during their tenure at the BLM. A spokesman in Barrasso’s office said as he understands there was some misconduct by officials at Wyoming BLM offices, but could not speak to the specifics. Barrasso’s letter states that BLM officials were serving special interests, not the people. That is an unacceptable situation, he said, adding that the issue must be fully addressed in order to restore the public trust...read more

Interior boss says no to drilling on 8 Utah parcels

Eight of the 77 oil and gas lease parcels sold during a December auction that a saboteur wrecked and a federal judge later halted will be off-limits to drilling, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has decided. Allowing development on the 7,670 public acres near Canyonlands and Arches national parks, Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile canyon could harm critical sage-grouse habitat with little obvious benefit to oil and gas development, concluded a 39-page analysis released Thursday. During a Washington news conference, Salazar said 52 parcels would be held back pending further study and 17 would be allowed back at upcoming auctions. Drawing from the report -- compiled by an 11-member team from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and Forest Service who examined more than 103,000 acres from the ground up -- Salazar scolded the Bush administration for allowing the Dec. 19 auction in Salt Lake City to go forward...read more

Grazing debate renewed after peppergrass listing

Barring any surprise developments, a desert flower found in parts of southwest Idaho - including the Juniper Butte area of Owyhee County - will receive new federal protections in just less than 60 days. And as is often the case with troubled species in southern Idaho's rangelands, officials are debating the role livestock grazing should play in its protection. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially published its decision to list the slickspot peppergrass as threatened on Thursday, starting the 60-day clock - a timeframe extended to allow the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to finish conferring with Fish and Wildlife about grazing permits set to be issued in the plant's range. The plant was originally proposed to be listed in 2003. But Fish and Wildlife changed its mind in 2005 after a challenge from the U.S. Air Force. But the Hailey-based environmental group Western Watersheds Project sued successfully to force the federal agency to reconsider. Officials announced last week that the plant deserves "threatened" status, primarily because of growing threats from wildfires and invasive species such as cheatgrass. But Western Watersheds' involvement - the group's top priority has always been fighting grazing - led critics of the listing to characterize the listing as less about the plant and more about limiting what ranchers can do...read more

McInnis says Ritter 'in over his head'; Disses Not 1 More Acre

Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis on Thursday stopped in Pueblo to tout his campaign plank of job creation and to criticize incumbent Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat. Among his criticisms of Ritter, those involving the U.S. Army's proposed expansion of Fort Carson's Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in Las Animas County were the harshest. McInnis said the law Ritter signed barring land transfers to the Army there was unnecessary, as expansion wasn't imminent. The governor's actions only served to stir the pot of a controversy that McInnis perceived to be mild, he said. McInnis, of Grand Junction, gave little credence to the group Not 1 More Acre, which has vocally opposed Pinon Canyon expansion and has accused the Army of cover-ups and deceit in its effort to grow the site. He said while just one formal “willing seller” has been identified among ranchers in the affected area, others have approached him privately and said their land isn't actively for sale, but that they'd entertain offers. “(Not 1 More Acre's) point of view is one of many down there,” McInnis said. “It's not the majority point of view.” Asked to respond to criticisms that he is pandering to the larger voter base in Colorado Springs, where Fort Carson is based, McInnis fired back that Ritter pandered by signing the bill banning land transfers into law. McInnis claimed he has been steadfast in his support of willing sellers having the right to cash in on their land...read more

Another Republican with a death wish. Sides with military over ranchers, federal over private ownership of land, larger vs. smaller government.

Producers chime in on 'adverse effect' ruling

A lawsuit brought by poultry producers against Pilgrim's Pride is gaining a lot of attention after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a producer does not have to show an adverse effect on competition to take legal action under the Packers and Stockyards Act. That ruling, which upheld the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas court ruling in the case, is in contrast to how other courts have long interpreted the act. Some courts have required that any plaintiff under the act must demonstrate "an adverse effect on competition." The brief argues that these decisions are contrary to the explicit language of the statute and congressional intent. "The current question before this court will have a dramatic effect on key provisions of the Packers and Stockyards Act allowing farmers and ranchers to enforce the act's protections," the brief states...read more

Rabbits Overrun Australian Town

Residents of Aberdeen say the furry marauders are burrowing beneath the foundations of their homes, as well as damaging highways and rail lines. Crops and flowerbeds are also not safe. “You don’t even bother trying to grow anything anymore because the mongrels will just go for it,” farmhand Ken Smith told the Daily Telegraph. Town leaders are drawing up a plan to combat the invasion, but many feel it’s too late to get rid of an infestation that has been growing steadily for 10 years...read more

Mine That Bird and company rise with a region

There are a lot of last places you would ever expect to see a Kentucky Derby ring. One of them has to be Jorge's Cafe on West U.S. Highway 70 in the town of Ruidoso Downs, high in the mountains of New Mexico's Lincoln National Forest. But there it was, all diamond-dotted black onyx, inlaid with delicate golden spires and attached to the right hand Chip Woolley was using to mop up the last of his huevos rancheros with a corn tortilla. "After I got divorced I swore I'd never wear a ring again," Woolley said, sipping an iced tea. "Until this one came along." Maybe it wasn't so unusual after all, a ring like that in this part of the world. For one thing, Ruidoso Downs has been home for half a century to the All American Futurity for Quarter Horses, a race worth a million dollars even before the Thoroughbred game came up with such a number. Win the All American and you've earned Southwestern bragging rights the rest of your life. The Kentucky Derby, though, is a little tougher to put into context. Since that day last May when, in Woolley's words, "some dumbass from New Mexico just won the Kentucky Derby," the legend of Mine That Bird and his people has grown, stanza by stanza...read more (registration required)

Cowboys beat cops in SASS shooting competition

It seems appropriate that the state where Billy the Kid and his ragtag bunch of outlaws scoffed the law would hold a match to settle who is best with a shooting iron: cops or cowboys. That shootout was held Saturday at the Founders Ranch near Edgewood, and the cowboys won. The Buffalo Range Riders, a local chapter of the Single Action Shooting Society, put the match together and invited SASS members and law enforcement from all over to participate. The cowboys could only use single action pistols and old-fashioned rifles and shotguns against local law enforcement, who used modern weapons. There are also penalties for missed shots, so the winning combination is one of speed and accuracy in loading guns, switching from one weapon to the next and accurately shooting metal targets in order. Torrance County Sheriff Clarence Gibson, who can shoot a rifle with gusto, gave the cowboys credit for their skills. "These guys are very fast and very competitive," he said, adding that they had skills that would make them valuable as sheriff's deputies, if he needed a few good cowboys. "I don't know about their driving skills, but they're handy with weapons." About 30 cops entered the match, coming from departments all over New Mexico, including departments in the East Mountains and the Estancia Valley, and even from California and Texas. They pitted their skills against 55 cowboys from across the state...read more

Song Of The Day #152

Ranch Radio will finish the week with another western swing tune, Betty Ann by Jesse Ashlock.

This cut comes from a Rambler LP album titled Texas Sand: Anthology of Western Swing.

I think Joe Delk and Bobby Jones will like it.

The Mayor, The Movie and Roads

The Las Cruces Sun-News has the story about the closing of HWY 70 on Tuesday for the movie set, and all the problems and frustrations that caused.

The article says the state hwy. dept. was controlling and quotes Mayor Miyagishima as saying "We wouldn't have done it."

So do I believe the Mayor?

I have a hard time believing him. After all, just the day before he worked hard to get the City Council to endorse a federal measure (the Bingaman Wilderness bill) that would permanently close hundreds of miles of roads in Dona Ana County. I mean, the Mayor really likes to close roads.

Now if you believe the Mayor, that can only mean one thing. He wants the city folks who vote for him to have open roads to travel for work, business or pleasure. But when it comes to county folks, and the hunters, campers & ranchers who visit or work on our public lands, the Mayor sides with the Acorn-like radical enviro's and supports closing the roads and denying you access.

Kind of two-faced don't you think?

NOTE: I've served as an advisor to a western heritage group on this issue and am involved in natural resource issues across the west. The views expressed here are strictly my own and should not be attributed to any group or organization with whom I am or have been affiliated.

Endangered-species lists may be broadened

From wolverines to black-tailed prairie dogs, dozens of species here and across the nation are being re-evaluated for possible threatened or endangered status. The Obama administration is taking a fresh look, in many cases under court order, at Bush administration rejections of special status. A move to prevent extinction of more plants and animals could limit housing construction and energy development. New species under consideration for protection have "aesthetic, ecological, education, historical, recreational and scientific value," and those facing extinction "could be indicators of bigger ecosystem problems that could hurt us," said Bridget Fahey, regional director of endangered species for the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service. "Science shows that when you start removing species from our ecosystem, things can start to break down," Fahey said...read more

Threatened Preble's mouse could get 18,462 more acres of protection

A new federal push to protect 18,462 Front Range acres as habitat for the Preble's meadow jumping mouse has set off an endangered-species battle royale. Wildlife conservationists cheered the release Wednesday of the new federal proposal, which could limit development on the land, mostly along 184 miles of rivers and streams. Representatives of developers promised a court challenge, arguing that protecting more habitat isn't necessary because the mouse itself already is protected as a threatened species. Among projects that could be affected: the planned Jeffco Parkway southeast of Rocky Flats, an expansion of Chatfield Reservoir and housing developments in El Paso County along tributaries of Monument Creek. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to nearly double the current 20,680 acres of protected habitat for the mouse — a bug-loving brown omnivore that springs up as high as 3 feet to evade predators...read more

Salazar wants to move West's wild horses east

Thousands of mustangs that now roam the West would be moved to preserves in the Midwest and East under a new Interior Department plan to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. The wild horse program, run by the Bureau of Land Management, cost about $50 million this year, officials said, up from $36 million last year. Costs for the current program are expected to rise to at least $85 million by 2012. In a conference call with reporters, Salazar and bureau director Bob Abbey urged Congress to authorize seven wild horse preserves — including two owned and operated by the BLM. The agency would work with private groups on the remaining reserves, which would be located in states in the Midwest and East. Salazar did not identify where the preserves would be located, but said the two federally owned preserves would cost about $92 million to buy and build. The preserves would reduce taxpayer costs for care of wild horses in the long term, Salazar said. The seven preserves would hold about 25,000 horses. Many of the horses remaining on the range would be neutered and reproduction in Western herds would be strictly limited, Salazar said...read more

29 wolves shot in Idaho this season

Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials say a female wolf with the Phantom Hill pack was killed by a hunter, marking the 29th wolf kill since Idaho's hunting season opened this year. Senior Conservation Officer Lee Garwood says the kill occurred in the Eagle Creek drainage north of Ketchum. The wolf, which had been collared for tracking purposes, was about 2 years old. Garwood told the Idaho Mountain Express that there are at least nine more wolves remaining in the pack. Both Idaho and Montana are holding their first wolf hunts since the animals came off the Endangered Species List. Wolves are still under federal protection in Wyoming. AP

Let's work together to ensure the future of Idaho's wolves

Wolf recovery in the West has been the most successful program that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ever accomplished under the Endangered Species Act. Today there are more than 1,650 wolves in Idaho and Montana, Wyoming, and a couple more in Oregon, Washington and Utah. In 1994, only 15 years ago, there were none. I say this as one who doubted for many years that wolves could ever recover. But now a pack can be found in most of the formerly vacant drainages in central Idaho, filling nearly all of their original home grounds...Each of the environmental groups that has filed a lawsuit should accept that the wolves have recovered. Not to accept that is just disingenuous. Conservationists must be honest or nothing. More to the point, however, is that refusing to accept this remarkable win endangers the law, the ESA, that protects all of the other endangered species. What Defenders of Wildlife has done in filing a lawsuit may serve the narrow legal issues but it fails to serve the wolves, the integrity of the ESA and the people of Idaho and the West. The lawsuit should be negotiated to a conclusion that benefits the wolves...read more

Groups file suit over bighorn habitat

Environmental groups sued the federal government Wednesday, alleging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's more than 55 percent reduction in protected habitat for the endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep was unsupported by the agency's own science and was done to accommodate urban sprawl. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for Southern California, seeks to restore a protected critical habitat status of nearly 845,000 acres for the sheep. The Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking to reduce protected sheep habitat to about 377,000 acres...read more

Feds designate southwest Alaska shoreline as protected habitat for threatened sea otters

Four years after being placed on the Endangered Species List, the dwindling sea otters of southwest Alaska on Wednesday were given an important recovery tool. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated nearly 5,900 square miles as critical habitat for sea otters in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and Alaska Peninsula. The designated area includes all nearshore waters. "Critical habitat has a proven record of aiding the recovery of endangered species," said Rebecca Noblin, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed two lawsuits and engaged in years of litigation to get the animals protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The otters in southwest Alaska were listed as threatened in 2005...read more

Eagle killing case belongs in tribal court

The federal government's four-year effort to prosecute an Ethete man, Winslow Friday, for killing a bald eagle for use in his Northern Arapaho tribe's religious Sun Dance ceremony may be almost over. It's high time for it to end. U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson of Cheyenne has ordered the transfer of Friday's case to a tribal court, which should have a special insight about the underlying issue of American Indian religious freedoms. The young man has endured a baffling turn of events as the case has made its way through the federal court system. It all started when Friday made a promise to his dying grandmother to participate in the Sun Dance, a sacred ceremony under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that requires an eagle...read more

Endangered Snail Delaying Construction

The idea that a snail, half the size of a dime, would delay construction on a new boat ramp might sound silly but it's happening in Idaho Falls. Idaho Falls Power started reconstructing a public access boat ramp at South Tourist Park last year. So far construction hasn't even begun thanks to the Utah Valvata Snail. The Valvata Snail is currently listed as an endangered species, and present in that area of the Snake River. This isn't the first time the Valvata Snail has delayed construction in Eastern Idaho. In 2003 reconstruction of a Firth Bridge was put on hold because of the Valvata Snail...read more

Discovery of new species in Great Basin Nation Park caves adds fuel to debate

In the past two years alone, staff members have identified at least seven possible new cave species at Nevada's only national park, about 300 miles northeast of Las Vegas. So far only two of the tiny animals have been officially described and given scientific names, but Baker and Roberts expect at least one more of their discoveries to become official this year with the publication of a scientific paper on the critter. Several others are either in the process of being described or are awaiting the collection of additional specimens. This literal unearthing of new critters at Great Basin could do more than thrill entomologists and amateur bug enthusiasts. It could sharpen anxiety about the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans to pump billions of gallons of groundwater a year from Snake Valley, just east of the park. Snake Valley represents the final leg of the multibillion-dollar pipeline the authority plans to build to tap groundwater across eastern Nevada. The authority is seeking state permission to pump as much as 16 billion gallons of water a year from the vast and sparsely populated watershed on the Nevada-Utah border. The valley is home to many of the authority's harshest critics, including ranch families who have lived in the area for generations. Baker married into one of those families. Her father-in-law is Dean Baker, a longtime Snake Valley rancher who has become the de facto spokesman for pipeline opponents. For their part, though, Gretchen Baker and other staff members at Great Basin National Park are trying to let science do the talking when it comes to the groundwater project...read more

Congress may make it for easier Central Valley water transfers

A measure that would help ease the effects of severe drought in the Central Valley by allowing new voluntary water transfers of roughly 250,000 to 300,000 acre-feet of water, depending on rainfall that year, has been introduced in Congress by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. The legislation would grant new authority to the Bureau of Reclamation to approve water transfers between sellers and buyers in the San Joaquin Valley. The measure also would streamline environmental reviews for Central Valley water transfers by ensuring that they occur on a programmatic basis, instead of project-by-project basis as is current practice. The measure should reduce unnecessary delays in water transfers at a time when Central Valley farmers have been hard hit by a three-year drought, the senators say...read more

Government puts fish above farmers

Finally acknowledging that there is a significant government-created crisis in the San Joaquin Valley, the Interior Department convened a public hearing Sept. 30, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein has announced she has asked her staff to begin assembling a major piece of legislation to address the water crisis facing the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has issued a "memorandum of understanding" that will keep representatives from six federal agencies talking to various interest groups in California. The problem is that it will take months to make such decisions and years for results to be apparent. The crisis is immediate for San Joaquin Valley farmers in the agricultural breadbasket for California and much of the nation. While the search for long-range solutions is worthy, in the short run the best and highest-impact option is to reverse a questionable decision to cut off irrigation water to Central Valley farmers...read more

EPA to review health risk from popular weed killer

The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it will re-evaluate the health effects of a popular weed killer that has been found in drinking water supplies. The EPA will take another look at the science on atrazine, a herbicide commonly used on corn and other crops, and decide whether further restrictions are needed to protect human health. Research has shown that runoff after rain storms can wash the chemical into streams and rivers, where it can enter drinking water supplies. EPA monitoring of 150 drinking water systems in the Midwest, where the chemical is most heavily used, have not detected it at concentrations that would trigger health problems, including cancer. But new studies have shown that even at low levels atrazine in drinking water can cause low birth weights, birth defects and reproductive problems. In 2003, under the Bush administration, the EPA allowed atrazine to continue to be used with few restrictions...read more