Song Of The Day #166

Today's Ranch Radio tune is Cowboy Jack recorded in 1935 by the Sons Of The Pioneers.

It's available on their 4 disc box set Down Memory Trail with the Sons of the Pioneers.

Environmental staffers let go

In yet another sign that economic tough times continue to plague Lane County, a public interest environmental law firm will lay off four staff members by the end of the month. The Eugene-based Western Environmental Law Center has laid off two administrative staff members and attorney Charlie Tebbutt. Attorney Dave Bahr will also be let go sometime in the next few weeks. Tebbutt has specialized in federal Clean Water Act cases, while Dave Bahr’s expertise is in federal Freedom of Information Act work. He also recently represented local groups in a suit filed against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management over its plan to increase logging on Western Oregon forests. “It was a very unfortunate situation to find ourselves in,” said the law center Executive Director Greg Costello. Together, Bahr and Tebbutt represent more than 40 years of legal experience. The Western Environmental Law Center also has offices in Montana, New Mexico and Colorado, It employs nine attorneys. WELC isn’t the only local environmental nonprofit group struggling with the bottom line. Eugene-based Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics saw its revenues for the first nine months of 2009 decrease by 26 percent compared with the same period last year, said Executive Director Andy Stahl. Stahl’s nonprofit group opted to take 15 percent across-the-board pay cuts and eliminated matching retirement contributions to avoid layoffs, he said. “Those cuts kept us from closing our doors,” he said...read more

Save the planet: eat a dog?

The eco-pawprint of a pet dog is twice that of a 4.6-litre Land Cruiser driven 10,000 kilometres a year, researchers have found. Victoria University professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialise in sustainable living, say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits, in their provocative new book Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living. The couple have assessed the carbon emissions created by popular pets, taking into account the ingredients of pet food and the land needed to create them. "If you have a German shepherd or similar-sized dog, for example, its impact every year is exactly the same as driving a large car around," Brenda Vale said. In a study published in New Scientist, they calculated a medium dog eats 164 kilograms of meat and 95kg of cereals every year. It takes 43.3 square metres of land to produce 1kg of chicken a year. This means it takes 0.84 hectares to feed Fido. They compared this with the footprint of a Toyota Land Cruiser, driven 10,000km a year, which uses 55.1 gigajoules (the energy used to build and fuel it). One hectare of land can produce 135 gigajoules a year, which means the vehicle's eco-footprint is 0.41ha – less than half of the dog's...read more

HT: Paul Gessing

Agriculture nomination steams greens

When the Obama administration announced that it was nominating a former pesticide lobbyist to be the chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, it sparked more than the usual Internet chatter. “Obama’s Chief Agricultural Negotiator Nominee Is a Pesticide Pusher;” screamed one website. ‘Obama’s Ag Policy Is Giving Me Whiplash,” lamented another. “Obama Backtreads,” scolded a third. The nomination of Islam Siddiqui, vice president for science and regulatory affairs at CropLife America, struck an off-key note among environmentalists — and not just because they think pesticides and chemicals are unsafe for humans and detrimental to the environment. Perhaps more important was the sense of betrayal. After all, it was Michelle Obama herself who had demanded a pesticide-free garden for the first family at the White House, suggesting — environmentalists thought — that the Obama administration was sympathetic to their cause...read more

CO Ranchers, Communities Applaud Slow Approach for Oil Shale

The Obama administration says they'll be taking a closer look at some Bush-era deals to promote the development of oil shale in Colorado, and now local ranchers and communities say the "go-it-slower" approach has them breathing a sigh of relief. Doug Monger, a Routt County Commissioner, says it's good news that research into oil shale development will move forward, but he's glad that the potential effects on water, wildlife and the larger environment will be more seriously considered. Reed Kelley is a cattle rancher near Meeker, who sits on the board of the Colorado Independent Cattlegrowers Association, and who says some of his neighbors would have been directly affected by oil shale development as it was proposed under the last administration. "Water taken off of irrigated hay pastures would be a tremendous impact, and that's what some of these companies have already applied for." Kelley says people in the area also rely heavily on hunting big game locally, both for personal use and as a source of income through guiding. He worries oil shale development could take those opportunities away...read more

Forest Service Withdraws Five-year Permit for Off-road "Enduro" Races

The Eldorado National Forest has withdrawn its approval of a five-year special event permit for dirt bike “enduro” races in the Rock Creek Recreational Trails Area in response to an appeal by the Center for Sierra Nevada Conservation and the Center for Biological Diversity. Advocates for quiet recreation, clean water, and wildlife habitat challenged the permit for failing to provide adequate environmental review of impacts to soil, water and air quality, riparian habitats, and imperiled species, including the California red-legged frog and western pond turtle. “The Forest Service cannot continue to ignore the significant impacts off-road vehicle events have on the forest – tearing up soils, damaging creek banks and beds, and polluting the air,” said Lisa Belenky, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Soils loosened by these events wash into creeks and rivers as soon as rain comes, reducing water quality for downstream users and hurting important riparian and aquatic habitat for many species.”...read more

‘Rabid' rangers or a routine traffic stop?

Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper and her daughter Traci are teaming to try to stop what they claim are overbearing tactics by “rabid rangers” in the U.S. Forest Service. Traci, 20, is seeking a written apology from the Forest Service's law enforcement branch for what she considers an illegal search and seizure on Highway 82 up Independence Pass last Labor Day weekend. Clapper said there is a “bigger issue” that needs to be investigated regarding the conduct of Forest Service law enforcement officers' actions around Aspen. She estimated she has heard of 20 incidents where young adults and their property were searched under allegedly questionable circumstances. Forest Service officials said they haven't received other complaints about their law officers. “A lot of things have happened to the kids in the community,” Clapper said. She questioned if the Forest Service officers who stopped her daughter had the authority to pull her over on Highway 82, a state road. Two spokesmen for the Colorado State Patrol's public information office in Denver said the Forest Service could well contend jurisdiction on a state highway that goes through a national forest. There are numerous cases where police in a municipality or county have authority on a state road where it travels through their jurisdiction, the troopers noted. Any challenge to venue would need to be made in court, the troopers said...read more

Hidden Gems wilderness plan spurs formidable opposition

A group fighting to preserve access for all users of public lands has collected roughly 700 signatures on a petition opposing the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign, an organizer said Friday. The White River Forest Alliance plans to keep collecting signatures and then present its petition to local governments and Colorado's congressional delegation in an effort to stop the campaign to add 450,000 acres of Wilderness, according to Jack Albright, vice president of the organization. “We'll fight it at the national level if that's what we need to do,” he said. The alliance emerged in late August to provide a powerful counterpoint to Wilderness Workshop, a Carbondale-based environmental group heading a coalition that is promoting the Hidden Gems proposal. Albright said the alliance's goal is to make sure all forest users are aware of the Hidden Gems proposal and how it affects them, then provide foes of the Wilderness proposal with a voice. Among alliance members are snowmobilers, dirt bikers and four-wheeling enthusiasts. But Albright said its not just for motorized users. Its members also include mountain bikers, ranchers and even hikers...read more

We need to review legal system

Budd-Fallon documented three tax-exempt, non-profit groups that filed more than 700 cases against the Feds between 2007 and 2009. "Ranchers and other citizens are being forced to expend millions of their own money to protect their way of life (they have no chance of the same attorney fee recovery if they prevail)." In one 15 month long case the Earth Justice Legal Foundation and the Western Environmental Law Center filed for $500,000 in attorney fees. (Earth Justice said they count on those fees in part because it represents groups free of charge). "They're not filing these suits to protect the environment they're filing them to make money," she said. These attorneys are part of the same group that filed law suit after law suit, bankrupting a lumber company in Quincy putting 150 people out of work. Any legal system that allows this to happen is both morally and ethically corrupt. To their shame the California State Bar condones this activity! In order to receive millions in legal fees, all a group has to do is show a government body changed some policy or program as a result of their suit. The cash to cover these legal costs comes from our taxes through the Natural Resource Agency, the group charged with protecting our natural resources. Environmental attorneys get rich off our tax dollars, while the environment suffers because cash to clean it up is no longer available The reported salary of the president of the Environmental Defense fund is $446,000. The President of the World Wildlife Fund gets just under $440,000...read more

Wild horse debate gallops on

The Obama administration's first try at resolving the debate over the wild horses of the West has not gone over well with some. Animal rights groups say that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's proposal to relocate thousands of mustangs to preserves in the East and Midwest would compound years of federal mismanagement of the horses. They want the 37,000 horses now roaming federal lands in the West to remain despite the risk of starvation and conflicts with cattle. In response to Salazar's proposal, they reiterated their stand during the Bush administration: let the mustangs run loose on millions of acres of federal land where beef cattle are raised. "Why are we, a cowboy nation, destroying the horse we rode in on?" asks Deanne Stillman, author of Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West. "We may be heading toward the point where we only have wild horses in zoos."...read more

The graze divide: domestic sheep and bighorns separated for safety reasons

The bighorns weren't far from where the Martinez sheep-ranching operation would soon be herding out roughly 1,000 ewes and their lambs on a section of the Wenatchee National Forest. And bighorns and domestic sheep simply cannot mingle. The latter are often carriers of bacterial parasites, such as pasteurella, that have minimal effect on domestic sheep but in bighorns can cause pneumonia virulent enough to decimate a herd. So state wildlife biologists were called. They phoned officials at the Naches Ranger District, who contacted the Martinez family, which in turn delayed and then redirected its sheep, skipping some slopes they might have grazed simply to prevent even the faintest possibility of crossing paths with the bighorns. It was a typically proactive response by Nick and Mark Martinez, brothers who run a third-generation family business in Moxee that was begun by their grandfather nearly nine decades ago. Forest Service and state wildlife officials are highly complimentary of the Martinez family's can-do adaptability when bighorn issues arise. Soon, though, the game will be played with different rules. The people who manage Washington's wildlife and public lands are awaiting an Idaho plan that may lead to sweeping changes in how best to maintain a safe distance between bighorns and domestic sheep -- and just how big that buffer zone will have to be...read more

Delta water plan emerges for public to view

Strict conservation, new dams and a peripheral canal are all on the table after six weeks of closed-door negotiations to solve the state's water crisis and restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem. Leaders in the state Senate and Assembly are still discussing how to pay for the plan, which could cost $9.4 billion. The Legislature could vote on the plan as soon as the end of the week. State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said that he did not want the proposal to "linger" and that the overhaul that has been decades in the making has a "momentum that did not exist before." Water for 24 million people in California - about two-thirds of the state's population - flows through the delta system, which has a series of levees and canals at great risk of failing in a natural disaster such as an earthquake. The plan has several parts, including the creation of a Delta Stewardship Council that would have broad oversight of the delta and the ability to approve a peripheral canal. It would lead the effort to restore the delta and improve the state's water supply. Additionally, the plan would mandate a 20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use by 2020, though there may be exceptions for cities including San Francisco that have aggressive conservation practices. Also included are groundwater monitoring and increased penalties for illegal water diversion...read more

Congress Passes Legislation Protecting Pocketknives

Back in June, we reported on a proposed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rule change that would have expanded the Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 to include spring-assisted or one-handed-opening knives, and would have directly targeted the importation of “assisted opening” folding knives. Assisted opening knives are frequently used by hunters, anglers, farmers, ranchers, firefighters, law enforcement and emergency personnel and anyone else who may need to open a knife with only one hand. The proposed regulations would have designated all such knives as “switchblades” — despite the fact they do not fall under the federal definition of “switchblades” — and would have made them illegal for import into the United States. Fortunately, in July, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an amendment to the Federal Switchblade Act as part of the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2010. This NRA-supported amendment then headed to a House-Senate conference committee. Last week, the U.S. House passed the amendment. We are happy to report that this week, the U. S. Senate passed the measure as well...read more

Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet

People will need to consider turning vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming. In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said: “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.” Lord Stern, the author of the influential 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling global warming, said that a successful deal at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases. He predicted that people’s attitudes would evolve until meat eating became unacceptable. “I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”...read more

Cracking the Shell of Animal Rights Activism

It’s flu season, and as The New York Times reports today, President Obama has declared the H1N1 flu outbreak a national emergency while supplies of H1N1 flu vaccines are lagging. People have even been camping out in front of doctors’ offices to get the in-demand injections. So what would happen if this shortage faced additional pressures -- from animal rights groups? The possibility isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. Scientists produce vaccines for the flu by using chicken eggs. It takes 3 eggs to make a single dose of flu vaccine. So with over 307 million people in the US, somewhere in the neighborhood of 920 million eggs would be required to make a vaccine for every American man, woman, and child. Why is this important? Because as we’re telling readers of the Cleveland Plain Dealer today, animal rights activists like those who run the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are pushing efforts like across the U.S. (like California’s Proposition 2 last year) that threaten domestic egg production and our ability to respond to vaccine demand...read more

Mountain Meadow Wool Mill First U.S. Wool Company to Provide Full Traceability

Mountain Meadow Wool, as an American mill using American merino is championing the sustainability of the North American wool industry by producing full traceback accredited wool fibre products by using the ScoringAg traceback database. The Mountain Meadow Wool Mill, LP Company has scored a first with an agreement with ScoringAg for supplying trace-back records to prove MMWC quality-branded traceable wool. For over 100 years, Basque* sheepherders have grazed sheep on the plains and mountains of Wyoming. Carrying on this rural tradition, two women established Mountain Meadow Wool Company in 2002. Surrounded by the culture of ranching and of sheep, Valerie Spanos and Karen Hostetler searched for products made from the area wool. They built their own mill and have now moved into full traceable wool. ScoringAg's President, William Kanitz said with the new supply traceability online database system, Mountain Meadow Wool Company hopes to become the premier wool processing facility in Wyoming and unique to the country. They now have a working wool mill not only creating yarn from the fine wool of the area but also custom processing for growers. Mountain Meadow wool returns 10% of the sale of finished products back to their select group of ranchers. These ranchers are compensated at or above the current auction price of equivalent wool types...read more

NMSU scientists to study horse saddles

New Mexico State University is using science to give cowboys and cowgirls a smoother ride. The school is conducting the first scientific study of western saddles. Researchers are using a pad with sensors to map out the pressure levels different parts of the saddle put on the horse. They’re studying several hundred horse and rider combinations with the goal of improving the comfort and health of both horse and rider while challenging traditional ideas about saddle fit. KOB-TV

Here is KOB-TV's video report

It's All Trew: Old-timers' tales - true or not

When old-timers gather and talk about the good old days, you never know whether the story is the real truth or exaggerated nonsense. Here are a few samples I remember or have heard lately. # Some old men were comparing notes about their early years. One man said his family ran down jack rabbits for meat, as they were too poor to buy ammunition for their .22-caliber rifle. Another man said their family also ate jack rabbits for meat, and he and his little brother also ran down rabbits. Since he was older and wiser, he ran alongside the rabbits, feeling their ribs to see if they were fat enough to eat. When a rabbit passed inspection, he signaled his little brother to bring it in to eat. # This last story is true, so help me, as my father told it many times down through the years. During the early 1940s, after the dust quit blowing, the blessed rains came and the Great Depression ended, there was an abundance of wheat pasture on the Great Plains. My father placed hundreds of cattle on wheat in and around Perryton, Texas. One day, while in town on business, an out-of-work cowboy approached Dad for a job, saying he was broke and his family was hungry. There was an empty farmhouse out east of town on the Shuster farm where Dad had cattle, so he hired the man, gave him $20 for groceries and told him to move into the house. The man's family consisted of a tall, slender wife, two tall, skinny teen boys and a slender wisp of a girl about 10 years old. The next morning, Dad hauled the man two horses and a milk cow with a sucking calf weighing about 300 pounds. About three days later, Dad returned to the place to check cattle and saw the remains of the big calf hanging in the windmill tower with half the carcass gone. When he asked the man about the calf, it seems there was a strange accident. The man had tied the calf to the fence in order to milk the cow. The calf got loose, and when the man shooed the calf with the milk bucket, it struck the animal in the head and he fell over dead. To prevent waste, the calf was butchered and hung in the windmill tower to keep. Dad laughed about the story and noticed the wife and family had already gained considerable weight in three days...read more

Song Of The Day #165

Ranch Radio is heading out west this week. We'll start with Patsy Montana's 1939 recording of My Song Of The West.

It's available on her 24 track CD The Best of Patsy Montana.

The greatest good for the greatest number

Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the Forest Service, said that our public lands should provide for " the greatest good for the greatest number". He came up with this vision for our national forests over a hundred years ago. Today, Pinchot's goal is as meaningful as it was at the turn of the last century. Tens of thousands of Americans across the country and here in Colorado took up his cause this past Saturday, National Public Lands Day, by helping to plant trees, repair trails, clean campsites and pick trash out of rivers and wetlands. While it's always inspiring to see people take an interest in our public lands, it is important to consider how our view of public lands has changed over the last 104 years. The land-use practices on our public lands that bring the greatest good to the greatest number are different than they were a century ago. In Colorado and around the country, our public lands are of increasing relevance to us because of the accelerating rate at which we are losing our land and water to development. At this time, the available scientific evidence suggests that all major ecosystems are dominated by humans. That is, humans have altered the landscape so much that we're impacting the diversity of fish, plants and wildlife -- we are changing the very processes of life essential for human welfare...read more

The problem with "the greatest good for the greatest number" is who determines what "good" is. In a free society you determine what is best for you through the choices and purchases you make. In today's society too many of those choices about what is "good" are made by 536 people - The President and the Congress. In other words 536 ignorant government creatures are telling 308 million people what is "good" for them and it has been a prescription for disaster. So spare me the "greatest good for the greatest number" bunk.

Environmental Lawsuits: Follow The Money

I made a mistake in last week's blog when I said the tax-exempt environmental industry collected $4.7 billion dollars between 2004 and 2007 using the Equal Access to Justice Act. The funds were paid by the "Judgment Fund." My fault for quoting a secondary source. An alert reader sent a more original source document, a research memo from the Budd-Falen Law Offices LLC dated September 29, 2009, digging into attorney fees paid by the federal government to plaintiffs who prevail or reach a settlement in lawsuits or appeals. The memo lists 937 lawsuits filed by three of the most active environmental industry corporations* for the years 2000 to 2009, then goes on to state: One source of funding is called the "Judgment Fund." The Judgment Fund is a Congressional line-item appropriation and is used for Endangered Species Act cases, Clean Water Act cases, and with other statutes that directly allow a plaintiff to recover attorney fees. There is no central data base for tracking the payment of these fees, thus neither the taxpayers, members of Congress nor the federal government knows the total amount of taxpayer dollars spent from the Judgment Fund on individual cases. The only information regarding these fees that is available is: The memo goes on to detail statistics for the years 2003 thru 2007 by listing the number of payments and total dollars, then continues with the following: In total, $4,716,264,730.00 (that is billion with a "b") in total payments were paid in taxpayer dollars from the Judgment Fund from 2003 through July 2007 for attorney fees and costs in cases against the federal government. A careful reading of the memo indicates the researcher was not able to determine to whom the $4.7 billion was paid (i.e. whether the plaintiffs were environmental or non-environmental groups) since no system is in place to provide transparency and tracking of the funds...read more

A new demand for uranium power brings concerns for Navajo groups

Uranium from the Grants Mineral Belt running under rugged peaks and Indian pueblos of New Mexico was a source of electric power and military might in decades past, providing fuel for reactors and atomic bombs. Now, interest in carbon-free nuclear power is fueling a potential resurgence of uranium mining. But Indian people gathered in Acoma, N.M., for the Indigenous Uranium Forum over the weekend decried future uranium extraction, especially from nearby Mount Taylor, considered sacred by many tribes. Native people from Alaska, Canada, the Western United States and South America discussed the severe health problems uranium mining has caused their communities, including high rates of cancer and kidney disease. Uranium companies and government authorities do not dispute this, and federal environmental remediation and workers' compensation programs related to past uranium mining are ongoing. But mining companies say today's methods and regulations have improved so much that locals have nothing to fear...read more

Park Service says Gettysburg chief has been reassigned

The National Park Service announced Friday that it has removed its superintendent at Gettysburg National Military Park and reassigned him to work in a cultural resources office as an assistant to the associate director. His job duties have not yet been determined. John A. Latschar said Thursday that his demotion was in response to the public disclosure of Internet activity in which he viewed more than 3,400 "sexually-explicit" images over a two-year period on his government computer -- a violation of department policy. The misconduct, which Latschar acknowledged in a sworn statement, was found during a year-long investigation by the Interior Department's inspector general and was documented in an internal Aug. 7 report obtained by The Washington Post. The reassignment came after a Post report Monday about the results of the investigator's forensic analysis of Latschar's computer hard drive, which showed "significant inappropriate user activity" and numbered the "most sexually-explicit" images at 3,456...read more

Reactions mixed on appointment

Environmental and industry groups in Wyoming are both waiting to see how Harris Sherman, the new leader of the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, will affect Wyoming. Sherman, a former Colorado Department of Natural Resources executive director, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate last week as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's undersecretary for natural resources and the environment. That makes Sherman the new head of the USFS and the NRCS, meaning he'll oversee millions of acres of land in Wyoming and influence the state's largest industries, from agriculture to energy exploration. "It's a very important position," said Jim Magagna, president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. Environmental groups cheered news of Sherman's confirmation - in part because they reviled Sherman's predecessor, former timber industry lobbyist Mark Rey, for stopping or slowing new environmental rules, among other actions. However, Sherman was criticized by some environmental groups last year for his work on proposed state roadless area rules. The groups claimed that the proposed rules contained too many road-building exceptions for logging and oil and gas production and said Sherman didn't do enough to make the proposed rules tougher...read more

Forest Service misses 'red flag'

U.S. Forest Service administrator Bevan Killpack defends the choices made in fighting the Mill Flat fire in southern Utah this summer, but acknowledges that officials should have seen the fire growing quickly days before it reached New Harmony. "We weren't focusing on the acreage as much as where the fire was," said Killpack, a Pine Valley District ranger who oversaw the benefit resource fire. "We were looking at 100 acres growing every day, but it was staying on the mountain." The resource benefit fire started small in July but began to consume 100 acres a day around Aug. 26, according to a fire behavior analyst who reviewed the forest service's daily communications and papers in late September. The blaze was burning 40 acres or less a day prior to that, Killpack said. "That should have told us something," he said Thursday. "We should have realized 100 acres was substantial. That should have been a red flag and we missed it." An updated fire plan was put in place Aug. 26 and hand crews and engines were ordered to clear fuel breaks west of New Harmony "to hold the fire if it moves toward town," according to U.S. State Department of Agriculture documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune...read more

Hunters being given chance to manage wolves

The trial run was interesting but inconclusive. The real Montana wolf hunt begins this Sunday, and a lot rides on its results. Ranchers, hunters, wolf advocates and wolf biologists all want to see how effective citizen hunters can be against the state's newest predator. Whether Montana's quota of 75 wolves is met or missed, the 2009 hunting season will be an important piece of evidence in the federal lawsuit over the predator's endangered species status. "A big question everybody had was: Will it be just like Alaska and Canada" where wolf hunting has low success? wondered Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wolf program coordinator Carolyn Sime. "Here, Montanans know the field and know their hunting areas, and will be present where wolves are. We have a lot more to learn." Sime wants to know if hunters can be as effective as state and federal damage control officers in keeping wolf populations in check. Ranchers want to know if the hunt will discourage wolves from attacking domestic livestock. Hunters want to know if wolves are truly cutting into their big-game opportunities, and if they can push back. And wolf advocates wonder if the hunt will set back their hopes for a Montana landscape with all its natural wildlife intact...read more

Biologists interested in wolf hunt results

Montana's early wolf season in four remote hunting districts produced a puzzle. Hunters in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness around Cooke City shot nine wolves, nearly swallowing the 12-wolf quota for most of the southern half of the state. But in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, hunters in an area three times the size shot only three wolves. Granted, there are lots of complicating factors when comparing the two areas. The Beartooth has lots of open vistas on the edge of Yellowstone National Park, giving lots of wolves little cover. The Bob Marshall has thicker forests next to Glacier National Park, where wolves are more dispersed. What will happen Sunday, when roughly 12,000 hunters with wolf tags have almost the entire state in which to shoot? "We're real interested in finding out how successful hunters are going to be," said Ron Aasheim, spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "We really want to learn what is this going to do, affecting wolf distribution and wolf behavior. Will we be effective in taking some wolves that are livestock predators? Will they avoid livestock?"...read more

BLM memo upsets some environment organizations

Environmentalists are pointing to a Bureau of Land Management memo as evidence of their complaints about management plans for national monuments like the Missouri River Breaks, but officials in the agency said it's more of a clarification than a change in policy. The memo, sent out at the end of September, will apply to future land-use plans by emphasizing that the resource and environmental values for which the monument was created are the primary issues driving planning and management of the area, according to Doug Herrema, BLM's management and program analyst for the National Lands Conservation System. "This is not a change of policy," he said. One former member of the BLM's recreation advisory council said the agency went too far in catering to multiple use in the Breaks. But multiple-use advocates argue that they lost too much access and would like to have seen more roads left open to the public...read more

BLM Rounds Up 300 Wild Horses In Northern Wyoming

Federal officials captured and removed about 300 wild horses in northern Wyoming this week in a continuing effort to reduce the animals' numbers to more manageable levels. Bureau of Land Management managers conducted the gathering operation in the remote Fifteenmile Herd Management Area near Worland. The 83,000-acre area is located within Washakie, Big Horn and Park counties in north central Wyoming and includes rolling hills, rugged canyons and badlands, and a portion of the Bobcat Draw Wilderness Area. The BLM left another 85 animals in the wild to maintain the herd. The captured horses will be put up for adoption. Horses were last gathered in the area in 2004. The bureau removed a total of 906 wild horses from the same area during five roundups dating back to 1984. The gathering operations include use of a helicopter and wranglers on the ground to herd wild horses into a temporary trap...read more

Lidar sensing gives researchers clearer view of forests

For years, aerial photography has aided researchers in surveying the density of forests. However, a recent Texas AgriLife Research study shows that infrared detection allows for a more comprehensive measurement for trees and other plant life. Lidar technology, which can be applied both on the ground, air and space, uses intensive pulses of light to capture information and give researchers a more comprehensive look at a surveyed area. “Lidar creates the premise for 3-D modeling of vegetation structure, providing a three-dimensional look versus regular aerial photos that provide only a two-dimensional view,” said Dr. Sorin Popescu, AgriLife Research scientist, in the Spatial Sciences in Laboratory at Texas A&M University . “It gives us a more clear picture of what’s there.” Many of the conference presenters touted the merits of lidar technology, saying lidar applications, if adopted broadly by foresters, would cut down on the hundreds of hours of fieldwork required for surveying forests. According to Popescu, field collection yields only an estimate of tree and plant population and gives only a snapshot view of larger areas. The infrared laser technology can be used on the ground, air and in space. It can be applied in various aspects of forestry research, including carbon sequestration analysis and forest fire risk prediction. A separate project funded through the AgriLife Research Bioenergy Initiative is using ground-based lidar and remote-sensing imagery for assessing brushland biomass in Vernon in the Rolling Plains region...read more

Let’s conserve an endangered species: The heritage rancher

Here are my core Badlands principles, which I believe are shared by the overwhelming majority of the people of North Dakota. One - the Badlands are North Dakota's greatest scenic asset, the crown jewel of our 70,762-square-mile rectangle of prairie and Great Plains landscape. Two -the Badlands are our most important tourist destination and marketing resource, the main reason that the least visited state in the union gets visited. What makes the Badlands so attractive to everyone is some combination of the stark, broken landscape through which that whimsical improbable river flows and the palpable sense - felt by all visitors - that somehow the district has escaped the kinds of development that have compromised the heritage, the openness, the loneliness, and the spiritual possibilities of other remarkable landscapes of the American West. Three - the highest and best use of the North Dakota Badlands is traditional cattle ranching, which, of all human enterprises, pays the most respect to the fact that the Badlands are really grasslands.Traditional ranching represents the lightest human footprint on the Badlands. Ranching erects a minimal, unintrusive, and aesthetically pleasing infrastructure on the landscape. It supports the most attractive (and quintessentially American) human culture: the laconic cowboy in chaps, bold belt buckle and hat, riding the ridge alone against an endless horizon, saddle leather creaking, rifle ready. It is impossible to be a good rancher without developing an intimate, loving and subtle understanding of the rhythms of land and grass and season...read more

How They Are Turning Off the Lights in America

On October 31, 2009, the once largest aluminum plant in the world will shut down. With it goes another American industry and more American jobs. The Columbia Falls Aluminum Company in Montana will shut down its aluminum production because it cannot purchase the necessary electrical power to continue its operations. How did this happen in America? Columbia Falls Aluminum negotiated a contract with Bonneville Power Administration in 2006 for Bonneville to supply electrical power until September 30, 2011. But, responding to lawsuits, the 9th US Circuit Court ruled the contract was invalid because it was incompatible with the Northwest Power Act. Therefore, the combination of the Northwest Power Act and a US Circuit Court were the final villains that caused the shutdown of Columbia Falls Aluminum. But the real reasons are much more complicated. Why was it not possible for Columbia Falls Aluminum to find sources of electricity other than Bonneville? We need to look no further than the many environmental groups like the Sierra Club and to America's elected officials who turned their backs on American citizens and in essence themselves, for they too are citizens of this country. These officials bought into the green agenda promoted by the heavily funded environmental groups. Caving to pressure, they passed laws and the environmental groups filed lawsuits that began turning off the lights in America. The dominos stated to fall. They began stopping nuclear power plants in the 1970's. They locked up much of our coal and oil resources with land laws. They passed tax credits, which forces taxpayers foot the bill for billionaire investors to save taxes by investing in less productive wind and solar energy projects...read more

EPA to limit mercury emissions from power plants by 2011

The Environmental Protection Agency will put controls on the emissions of hazardous pollutants such as mercury from coal-fired power plants for the first time by November 2011, according to an agreement announced Friday to settle a lawsuit against the agency. Many other polluters were forced to reduce emissions of toxic material such as mercury, arsenic and lead after the Clean Air Act was strengthened in 1990. Power plants, however, the largest source of mercury pollution, aren't subject to nationwide rules. The tougher rules will clean up more than just heavy metals because some kinds of pollution controls -- scrubbers, for example -- also remove other pollutants, such as soot...read more

Carefully Cleaning Up the Garbage at Los Alamos

No one knows for sure what is buried in the Manhattan Project-era dump here. At the very least, there is probably a truck down there that was contaminated in 1945 at the Trinity test site, where the world’s first nuclear explosion seared the sky and melted the desert sand 200 miles south of here during World War II. But now a team of workers is using $212 million in federal stimulus money to clean up the 65-year-old, six-acre dump, which was used by the scientists who built the world’s first atomic bomb. They are approaching the job like an archeological dig — only with even greater care, since some of the things they unearth are likely to be radioactive, while others may be explosive. The dump has become part of the $6 billion stimulus program to clean up the toxic legacy of the arms race, which is one of the biggest sources of direct federal contracts in the $787 billion stimulus act. They also noted that the money was only a down payment on what is still a staggering task: the Department of Energy is responsible for cleaning up 107 sites, with as much acreage as Delaware and Rhode Island combined, in work that could take decades and cost up to $260 billion to complete...read more

There are people who've been fined and spent time in jail because the feds have gone after them, and yet the feds are held harmless for not cleaning up their own environmental mess.

Bats beneficial to regional ranchers

The sun sinks behind the western horizon, an orange glow lingers behind the florescent lights of an oil station northwest of Carlsbad. The faint whirr of oil pumps and chirp of crickets are all that can be detected by the human ear — but on other frequencies, it is not so quiet. Sporting brown waders, a blue flannel shirt, and a headlamp, Dan Taylor, a biologist with Bat Conservation International, slips into a murky pond armed with long metal poles wrapped in netting, which he stretches across the water. Called a "mist net," it is the size of a volleyball net with mesh so fine it looks like smoke. Taylor is attempting to capture bats as they swoop down to the pond for a drink of water. A small yellow device with a red light is switched on. Called a bat detector, it picks up the sonic pulses used by bats for echolocation and translates them into clicking noises audible to the human ear. The Western Mastiff can have a wingspan of two feet, and eats larger insects such as beetles, he said. Mexican Free-tailed bats are common to the area and known for their large colony size. A colony of 1 million lives in the Carlsbad Caverns. Each Mexican Free-tailed bat can eat close to its own bodyweight in insects a night, Taylor said, many of which are considered pests to farmers. This means the Carlsbad Caverns colony alone could eat 32,250 pounds of insects a night. Bats are also responsible for pollinating many plants around the globe Taylor said. Many tropical fruits and the agave plant, which is used for tequila, are primarily pollinated by bats. Farmers and orchard growers, such as pecan growers, are turning to bats as a natural source of pest control with quite a bit of success, he said...read more

Back where virus started, new scrutiny of pig farming

Despite the buttoned-up methods of farmers such as Schott, many experts think pig farming presents a serious and overlooked risk to public health. Proof of that assertion -- indirect but indisputable, in the opinion of virologists -- is the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza. Little is known about the origin of the novel H1N1. But one thing is virtually certain: The bug now infecting the people of more than 190 countries began in a pig. Detecting such cross-species transfers quickly -- or, better yet, preventing them -- is an urgent priority in a field that has spent most of its energy in recent years worrying about the emergence of flu from birds in Asia. A major concern now is what might happen if the pandemic H1N1 virus spreads widely in pigs, and then out again into the human population. What worries virologists is the mixing of human and swine flu strains -- or, worse, human, swine and bird strains. That can lead to "reassortment," in which strands of genetic material are exchanged to yield a new virus, often with behavior not seen in its parents. Those features can include higher contagiousness, rapid growth, the ability to infect the lungs and, most important, an unfamiliar appearance to the immune system. Reassortment is rare, and it is even rarer when the product is a strain that can spread like wildfire. That is one reason influenza pandemics occur only a few times a century. (The last one was in 1968.)...read more

Legendary Indian Rodeo Cowboy Gunned Down In Grants

Fans across New Mexico are remembering a legendary Indian Rodeo Cowboy, who was one of two men gunned down in a double murder case outside of Grants. Detectives believe a fight over property lines started it. Rodeo star Sonny Jim and his friend, Wayne Johnson, both men in their 70s, died in that shooting. Deputies say they’ve arrested the gunman, but that’s little comfort to the fans of the legendary cowboy Sonny Jim. “He was up in age and he was still here steer wrestling and we're probably going to miss that part,” said fan John Boyd. Like other rodeo fans, John Boyd will miss Sonny Jim… a world champion cowboy in the 1980s from the Navajo nation. He was remembered Sunday at the International Indian Rodeo Finals in Farmington. Fellow athletes say Jim brought character and class to the sport for decades along with a toughness rarely seen...read more

Song Of The Day #164

This Monday am Ranch Radio will help you get your heart started by playing Sad Singin' And Slow Ridin' by Jean Shepard.

It's available on her 32 track CD Beautiful Lies: The Early Years

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Call of the wild

Julie Carter

There is something about the cool fall air that brings out the plaid jackets, crock pot recipes and the smell of cedar burning in a wood stove. It is also Mother Nature's call of the wild to the world of hunters.

The primal instinct to hunt and kill "a little winter meat" rises up like sap in a maple tree. It brings out in men the same stalk, kill and drag-it-home instinct as it did in the days of the cave men.

Die-hard hunters look offended if you should ask them, "You going hunting this year?" In their minds it is a national holiday and they really do believe that. Ask any crew boss with a few hunters in his employment.

Hunting season is marked on the calendar before anything else for the year. Vacation time is scheduled around the season's dates.

I've known men that actually would quit a job in order to be able to go hunting. And another who would injure himself just enough to qualify for some paid time off, which of course, he used to go hunting. Neanderthal instincts are alive and well.

I know. There was a time when hunting kept food on the table, whether the table was a rock in a cave or a crudely built slab table in a log cabin. Don't dare mention that the cost of the sport far outweighs any justification said hunter can ever give for the possibility of the meat he is promising for the freezer.

The sport remains a huge business in many states and is very big business in the mountain counties of New Mexico. I've never been able to put a solid dollar value on the business statewide or what it pours into the economy in Lincoln County alone, but it's huge.

Between the hunters who come on their own and the guides and outfitters who import a good number from faraway points on the map, hunting brings income to the coffers of the businesses in town. Just try elbowing your way through the camouflaged shoppers at Walmart prior to or during a hunt.

Signs announcing the sale of licenses, food and beer flash up and down the streets and often free meals are offered to the hunters by grateful merchants. One fella said he spent $200 in gas driving from burg to burg to take part in the meals. He wasn't a hunter, just an eater.

The motels and restaurants are a sea of camouflage with parking lots filled with pickups and trailers loaded to the brim with coolers, 4-wheelers and camping paraphernalia.

As one local commented when he went into the grocery store to get a loaf of bread, only to find an endless checkout line, "I decided it was faster to go home and make biscuits."

I grew up in a family of hunters. We lived in the mountains, so the hunters hunted early in the mornings, did a day's work, squeezed in some hunting before sundown, and slept in their own beds each night. Camping was for the out-of-staters.

For us, hunting was a generational skill passed on from the days of truly needing winter meat.

My grandmother would laugh at the hunters when they arrived home empty-handed and telling tales of the big tracks they saw, but never spotted an game animal. "Well. I guess we'll just cook up some track soup," she would say.

One of the best things that has evolved over the years in this hunting deal is that now, the women can and do say "you killed it, you clean it." No Wilma Flintstone dresses hanging around this outfit. But I do have some of her jewelry!

Song Of The Day #163

Today's Gospel tune is for me and a feller named Tick, and possibly for a few of you listeners. The song is Sinner by Wayne Scott and it's available on his 13 track CD This Weary Way.

Who's in Big Brother's Database?

On a remote edge of Utah's dry and arid high desert, where temperatures often zoom past 100 degrees, hard-hatted construction workers with top-secret clearances are preparing to build what may become America's equivalent of Jorge Luis Borges's "Library of Babel," a place where the collection of information is both infinite and at the same time monstrous, where the entire world's knowledge is stored, but not a single word is understood. At a million square feet, the mammoth $2 billion structure will be one-third larger than the US Capitol and will use the same amount of energy as every house in Salt Lake City combined. Unlike Borges's "labyrinth of letters," this library expects few visitors. It's being built by the ultra-secret National Security Agency – which is primarily responsible for "signals intelligence," the collection and analysis of various forms of communication – to house trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and data trails: Web searches, parking receipts, bookstore visits, and other digital "pocket litter." Lacking adequate space and power at its city-sized Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters, the NSA is also completing work on another data archive, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome. Just how much information will be stored in these windowless cybertemples? A clue comes from a recent report prepared by the MITRE Corporation, a Pentagon think tank. "As the sensors associated with the various surveillance missions improve," says the report, referring to a variety of technical collection methods, "the data volumes are increasing with a projection that sensor data volume could potentially increase to the level of Yottabytes (10^24 Bytes) by 2015." Roughly equal to about a septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) pages of text, numbers beyond Yottabytes haven't yet been named. Once vacuumed up and stored in these near-infinite "libraries," the data are then analyzed by powerful infoweapons, supercomputers running complex algorithmic programs, to determine who among us may be – or may one day become – a terrorist. In the NSA's world of automated surveillance on steroids, every bit has a history and every keystroke tells a story...read more

Judge rules FBI can continue to gag recipient of National Security Letter

A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the government can continue to gag an internet servicer provider who received a National Security Letter from the FBI -- five years ago. Under the Patriot Act, the FBI can use such letters to demand personal records about customers from internet providers, financial institutions and credit card companies without a warrant, and then keep the companies from disclosing even that they'd received such a letter. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the ISP. The government maintains that revealing information about the letter could compromise ongoing investigations, even though the letter itself was sent five years ago and has been the subject of press accounts. The court also ruled that the FBI can continue to suppress an "attachment" to the NSL Doe received, the ACLU said. The ACLU "argued that the attachment, if disclosed, would show that the FBI tried to obtain records that it was not entitled to obtain under the NSL statute."...read more

FBI, ATF squabble over explosives investigations

Despite growing cooperation between U.S. law enforcement agencies since the September 11 attacks, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are still fighting over crimes involving explosives, said a new report released on Friday. The Justice Department's inspector general found that the ATF and the Federal Bureau of Investigation repeatedly fight over which agency will lead an investigation, have failed to meld information databases or coordinate training efforts. A 2004 memorandum by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was meant to clarify who was in charge for such cases, giving the ATF primary authority except in cases involving terrorism and those within the FBI's traditional jurisdiction. But that has caused confusion, giving each agency the ability to assert jurisdiction in almost every case, the report said, adding that a follow-up memorandum in 2008 also failed to sufficiently clarify the FBI and ATF roles. "Disputes between ATF and FBI personnel have affected working relationships and in some locations have resulted in their racing to crime scenes to determine which agency leads an investigation," the report said. It cited incidents as recent as last year when the FBI and ATF fought over who would investigate a suspect believed to have bombed the military recruiting station in Times Square in New York one early morning in March 2008. And in late 2007 the ATF said it was not notified about a pipe bomb found in a truck at a nuclear facility until hours after the FBI had already begun investigating, according to the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine...read more

Bureacratic turf and appropriations are at stake, so to hell with public safety.

Hitachi Develops RFID Powder

RFID keeps getting smaller. On February 13, Hitachi unveiled a tiny, new “powder” type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm — the smallest yet — which they aim to begin marketing in 2 to 3 years. By relying on semiconductor miniaturization technology and using electron beams to write data on the chip substrates, Hitachi was able to create RFID chips 64 times smaller than their currently available 0.4 x 0.4 mm mu-chips. Like mu-chips, which have been used as an anti-counterfeit measure in admission tickets, the new chips have a 128-bit ROM for storing a unique 38-digit ID number. The new chips are also 9 times smaller than the prototype chips Hitachi unveiled last year, which measure 0.15 x 0.15 mm. At 5 microns thick, the RFID chips can more easily be embedded in sheets of paper, meaning they can be used in paper currency, gift certificates and identification. But since existing tags are already small enough to embed in paper, it leads one to wonder what new applications the developers have in mind. Andrew Cheetham

Army Review Finds That Use of Troops in Alabama Town Broke the Law

An Army investigation found that soldiers should not have been sent to man traffic stops in a small Alabama town after 11 people were killed in March during a shooting spree. An Army report released to The Associated Press on Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request said the decision to dispatch military police to Samson from nearby Fort Rucker broke the law. But an Army spokesman said no charges have been filed following the Aug. 10 report. "As a result of the findings of the report, the Army took administrative action against at least one person," Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said. The action was less than a transfer or discharge but Garver would not elaborate. The report from the Department of Army Inspector General found the use of military personnel in Samson violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits federal troops from performing law enforcement actions...read more

Pentagon Researchers Unveil Blob-Like Robot

The Pentagon has unveiled a new "chemical robot" that's half liquid, half solid…and all weird. The new robot — which scientist are calling a ChemBot — moves by inflating and deflating parts of its body via a process called jamming. This causes its skin to change between semi-liquid and semi-solid states. Researchers say it could one day help save lives on the battle field. Foxnews.com spoke with Ward Carroll, the editor of military.com, about the chembot. "Jamming is simply introducing air into a membrane that's filled with particulate matter— BBs, if you will," he explained. "The plan is that this robot would go where other robots can't go, because it can change from a solid to a liquid-like state." By doing this, scientists are able to make the ChemBot get bigger or smaller, roll it around, and with more precise control, even manipulate it to pass through cracks in walls and reform on the other side...read more

Like other military equipment, soon to be used by federal law enforcement and your local police.

A Few Good Kids?

John Travers was striding purposefully into the Westfield mall in Wheaton, Maryland, for some back-to-school shopping before starting his junior year at Bowling Green State University. When I asked him whether he'd ever talked to a military recruiter, Travers, a 19-year-old African American with a buzz cut, a crisp white T-shirt, and a diamond stud in his left ear, smiled wryly. "To get to lunch in my high school, you had to pass recruiters," he said. "It was overwhelming." Then he added, "I thought the recruiters had too much information about me. They called me, but I never gave them my phone number." Nor did he give the recruiters his email address, Social Security number, or details about his ethnicity, shopping habits, or college plans. Yet they probably knew all that, too. In the past few years, the military has mounted a virtual invasion into the lives of young Americans. Using data mining, stealth websites, career tests, and sophisticated marketing software, the Pentagon is harvesting and analyzing information on everything from high school students' GPAs and SAT scores to which video games they play. Before an Army recruiter even picks up the phone to call a prospect like Travers, the soldier may know more about the kid's habits than do his own parents. Recruiters hit pay dirt in 2002, when then-Rep. (now Sen.) David Vitter (R-La.) slipped a provision into the No Child Left Behind Act that requires high schools to give recruiters the names and contact details of all juniors and seniors. Schools that fail to comply risk losing their NCLB funding. This little-known regulation effectively transformed President George W. Bush's signature education bill into the most aggressive military recruitment tool since the draft. Students may sign an opt-out form—but not all school districts let them know about it. Yet NCLB is just the tip of the data iceberg. In 2005, privacy advocates discovered that the Pentagon had spent the past two years quietly amassing records from Selective Service, state DMVs, and data brokers to create a database of tens of millions of young adults and teens, some as young as 15. The massive data-mining project is overseen by the Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies program, whose website has described the database, which now holds 34 million names, as "arguably the largest repository of 16-25-year-old youth data in the country."...read more

TSA Blog Responds to "TSA Agents Took My Son"

My original post is here and the TSA resonse is here.

It would appear from the video provided they never took the child away from the woman.

Their blog states:

After watching the video footage, you'll see the video clearly shows that this individual was never separated from her baby by TSA. You'll also see that a lot of the other claims are also unfounded.

I'm always happy to clear up any errors of mine, or of the sites I link to.

Justice Department Tells Prosecutors to Lay Off Medical Marijuana Users and Their Drugs

Pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in states that allow medical marijuana, prosecutors were told Monday in a new policy memo issued by the Justice Department. Under the policy spelled out in a three-page legal memo, federal prosecutors are being told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law. The guidelines issued by the department do, however, make it clear that federal agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes...read more

Woman, 70, kills intruder at motel

The 70-year-old woman who shot a would-be robber at a North Side motel last night is attending the All-American Quarter Horse Congress today and feels sick about the shooting, according to her son. Columbus police say the shooting occurred about 9:15 p.m. at the Continent Inn, 6225 Zumstein Dr., located at The Continent shopping center, off Rt. 161 near I-71. Sgt. Eric Pilya of the homicide squad said the woman was in a motel room with four or five others and they'd cracked open the door to get fresh air. Pilya said a man barged into the room, demanding money from those inside. Police said the woman, from southern Ohio, grabbed a gun that she had in the room and shot Wayne Winston, 25, of Columbus, who staggered into the parking lot of the motel and died. No charges had been filed. Pilya said it's likely that the case will be presented to a Franklin County grand jury to see whether the woman should be charged...read more

Gun-toting elderly woman scares off two home invaders

Bonnie woke up late Wednesday night when she heard a noise in her utility room. Two people had broken in the back door. But they were the ones spooked by Bonnie's quick thinking. "I live by myself, so I screamed my son's name: 'Charles, get the gun!'" Bonnie recalled. Charles wasn't there. But her gun, a loaded .38 revolver, was. She ran back to the bedroom to get it and call 911. The whole time, advice from her late husband was running through her mind. "My husband told me to pull the trigger and keep shooting," she said. "And if they'd have come toward me..." But they didn't. The screams, threats, and Bonnie's strong will drove them back out the door...read more

78 year old homeowner's one shot lands would-be burglar in ER

It took one shot for an East Texas senior to put an end to a would-be robber's crime spree. The story began around 2am Monday morning at Southside Bank in Hawkins. The branch is located inside Brookshire's, right off Highway 14. That is where police say 19-year-old David McWhorter was spotted, first. We spoke to the homeowner whose one shot landed the alleged burglar in the ER. "Just...put the gun up to the window, and he was standing there and I pulled the trigger," said the 78-year-old homeowner. One shot through the window was all it took. Our homeowner didn't mind an on camera interview, but asked his name not be released. He suffers from a hip injury and was sitting in his chair when the suspect broke into his screened porch. He says it is not the first time he has been broken into. Every window is now nailed shut and a baggie full of ammo for his 4-10 single-shot shotgun is always nearby. "Everything I worked hard for all my life...no one's just going to come in here and take it if I can help it," said the homeowner...read more

Be a Good Victim

In August, a man shot two people to death on a bridge near San Francisco. At the moment of the killings, two on-duty Marin County sheriff’s deputies were within 100 yards of the shooter. One was close enough to see the muzzle blast of the shotgun. The police officers, however, did not move against the culprit. One, stuck in traffic, called in a description of the killer’s vehicle as he fled. The other positioned her car to prevent traffic from entering the crime scene. These two law-enforcement officers did what police officers tell the public to do: Don’t intervene. Get a description of the offender. Call the police. Be a good witness. Much debate ensued about whether the officers’ behavior was appropriate, but the real tragedy is that the victims of this rampage did not have the legal opportunity to arm themselves. To them, the message was clear: Be a good victim. In Marin County, the jurisdiction where those two officers work, Sheriff Robert Doyle requires residents to demonstrate “extreme need” before they can get concealed-handgun permits. Among the few who have met this burden are private investigators, jewelry dealers, and a former district attorney. Ten states still use a system that subjects lawful self-defense to the whim of a functionary such as Sheriff Doyle, a practice known as a “may issue” policy...read more

U.S. quietly begins to study gun safety

More than a decade after Congress cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), another federal health agency has been spending millions of dollars to study such topics as whether teenagers who carry firearms run a different risk of getting shot compared with suffering other sorts of injuries. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also has been financing research to investigate whether having many liquor stores in a neighborhood puts people at greater risk of getting shot. Such studies are coming under sharp scrutiny by Republican lawmakers who question whether the money could be better spent on biomedical research at a time of increasing competition for NIH funding. They're also leery of NIH research relating to firearms in general, recalling how 13 years ago the House voted to cut CDC funding when critics complained that the agency was trying to win public support for gun control...read more

The Drug War Leads to Gun Control

A fundamental principle of interventionism holds that one government intervention inevitably leads to more interventions, in order to “fix” the problems of the previous interventions. At the end of this road lies omnipotent government and the loss of freedom. A good example of this phenomenon is being provided by a group called the Binational Task Force , whose co-chairman , Robert Bonner, is former head of the DEA. The group, which also includes two former U.S. ambassadors to Mexico, wants to reinstate the assault-weapon ban that was enacted during the Clinton era. Guess what the group cites as its justification for such gun control: the drug war. Yes, that war that everyone admits has failed to achieve its objectives despite 45 years of vicious warfare. The task force is saying that reenacting the assault-weapons ban will reduce the drug-war violence that now pervades Mexico...read more

Critical habitat in Alaska is proposed for polar bears

In what would be the largest habitat zone ever established in the U.S. to protect a species from extinction, the federal government on Thursday proposed designating 200,541 square miles on the coast of Alaska as critical habitat for polar bears. Officials said the designation was not likely to further slow the pace of oil and gas development, and it would not impose any controls to slow the biggest threat to polar bears: the melting of sea ice as a result of climate change. Those steps are crucial for polar bears but are being addressed separately in Congress through proposals to cap greenhouse gas emissions, said Tom Strickland, assistant Interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. The proposed critical habitat covers three distinct areas along the northern and northwestern coasts of Alaska: the coastal barrier islands and spits along the coast; sea ice over the continental shelf in waters less than 980 feet deep; and terrestrial denning habitat from five miles to about 20 miles inland...read more

A day built around a data point goes viral

Author Bill McKibben never saw this coming. Founder of 350.org, an environmental campaign aimed at holding atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below 350 parts-per-million, McKibben set this Saturday as the day to take to the streets. The call went viral in ways far beyond anything McKibben and fellow organizers imagined: As of Thursday morning some 4,227 actions and rallies are planned in 170 countries, with 300 events in China, 1500 across the United States, 500-plus in Central and South America. Organizers credit the increasing inter-connectedness of Web, cellular and social networks for the spread, saying such random and organic growth would have been impossible even two years ago. The climate crisis is also starting to resonate in a significant way, McKibben added. This is arguably the largest political event ever to take a data point as a rallying cry, he said, and people – particularly the youth behind many of the actions planned for Saturday – get it...read more

Senators Bingaman, Baucus and Whitehouse Champion Legislation to Address Climate Impacts on Wildlife and Natural Resources

Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chair Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) today introduced legislation aimed at safeguarding wildlife and natural resources, and the essential goods and services they provide to every American, from the harmful effects of climate change. Co-sponsored by Senators Baucus (D-MT) and Whitehouse (D-RI), the “Natural Resources Climate Adaptation Act” provides a framework for protecting and restoring wildlife and natural resources from the existing and forecasted impacts of climate change. The bill calls for dedicated funding for these safeguards, which is expected to come from revenue generated by clean energy and climate legislation. “The support of these key senators, including the chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the chair of the Finance Committee, reflects the clear and present danger that global warming is presenting to our treasured lands, water and wildlife,” said David Moulton, Director of Climate Policy and Conservation Funding for The Wilderness Society. The “Natural Resources Climate Adaptation Act” would establish a national policy framework to begin addressing the impacts of climate change on natural resources and would require federal, state and tribal agencies to use the best available science to develop plans and work alongside local groups and private landowners to identify and safeguard vulnerable ecosystems...read more

Poll: Americans' Belief in Global Warming Cools

The number of Americans who believe there is solid evidence that the earth is warming is at its lowest point in three years, and the number who see the situation as a serious problem has also declined, according to a survey released yesterday. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the United States and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change. In the poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down to 57 percent from 71 percent in April of last year. Only 36 percent of poll respondents said they believe that human activities - such as pollution from power plants, factories, and automobiles - are behind a temperature increase. That’s down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year’s poll...read more

Tiny bat pits green against green

Workers atop mountain ridges are putting together 389-foot windmills with massive blades that will turn Appalachian breezes into energy. Retiree David Cowan is fighting to stop them. Because of the bats. Cowan, 72, a longtime caving fanatic who grew to love bats as he slithered through tunnels from Maine to Maui, is asking a federal judge in Maryland to halt construction of the Beech Ridge wind farm. The lawsuit pits Chicago-based Invenergy, a company that produces "green" energy, against environmentalists who say the cost to nature is too great. It is the first court challenge to wind power under the Endangered Species Act, lawyers on both sides say...read more

Wolf hunts in Idaho, Montana still stirring up controversy

The wolf hunt in Idaho is proceeding with remarkable hunter success in some of the state's 12 hunting zones, and in Montana, where limited hunting is underway, the general season opens Sunday. Hunting wolves in both states, made possible after the removal of the predators from the endangered species list last spring, is controversial, and animal rights groups are trying to stop the hunts. The latest campaign was launched by Defenders of Wildlife, which is asking for donations to pay for an ad to be placed in New York's Times Square through Dec. 15. "Hundreds more wolves will be targeted in the coming weeks and months, threatening the very recovery of these amazing animals," the group states on its website. The group also is urging people to sign an online petition that will be sent to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, "urging him to withdraw his flawed delisting rule that prematurely removed vital protections for wolves in the northern Rockies region--before a lasting wolf recovery slips from our grasp." Sportsmen's groups, meanwhile, are backing state wildlife agencies claiming that wolf numbers in the northern Rockies have increased to the point where the animals need to be managed, via controlled hunting, to minimize interaction with ranchers and threats to livestock. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, in an action alert sent to members, cited a recent study by Montana State University that links the reintroduction of wolves into Rocky Mountains to a decline in elk numbers in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem...read more

Rancher ends public hunting in protest of wolf policies

A Big Hole Valley rancher has pulled his property out of a popular public hunting program in protest of Montana's wolf management policies. Fred Hirschy said Thursday he's fed up with Montana allowing too many wolves to roam and wants the predators numbers dramatically brought down. And he blasted the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks for what he said is a normally lackluster response when his cattle have been attacked. "When I call them, they don't do what I ask them to do anyway," he said. "We want more people on the ground and we want the people on the ground that can shoot some wolves." He said after years of inaction by FWP following repeated attacks on his cattle, he saw no other option but to pull out of the block management program, which pays landowners to allow public hunting on their land. Hunters will lose access to 45,000 acres of Hirschy and his family ranches property west of Wisdom. Portions of the ranch have been enrolled in the program since 1996 and the cancellation of the contract will cost the Hirschys $12,000 this year...read more

BLM approves wild horse roundup

Another wild horse roundup has been approved for Wyoming rangelands as federal officials continue to work to bring wild horse numbers down to acceptable levels. Bureau of Land Management managers issued a Record of Decision on Monday approving the wild horse gathering operations from the remote Fifteenmile Herd Management Area near Worland. The Fifteenmile HMA is located approximately 30 miles northwest of Worland, within Washakie, Big Horn and Park counties in north central Wyoming. The area includes rolling hills, rugged canyons and badlands, and a portion of the Bobcat Draw Wilderness Area. Plans call for capturing the wild horses from the approximately 83,000-acre Fifteenmile HMA as part of a population-control strategy that aims to manage the area in a range from 70 to 160 mature horses. Officials said the operations involve capturing about 280 wild horses, returning about 70 mature animals to the HMA, and removing the remainder of the horses...read more

Stockgrowers apologize to Montana gov for poor relations

The president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association apologized Thursday to Gov. Brian Schweitzer for a "distressed relationship" as the conservative-leaning group said it wants to stop quarreling with the Democrat. "I am deeply pained by the distressed relationship that our organization has chosen to maintain with you throughout your term of office," group president Tom Hougen wrote in a letter that he handed to Schweitzer. "I am not excusing our errors of the past, but I am asking you to consider our apology and to consider making amends." "We agree and we disagree, you know that," Hougen told Schweitzer in a meeting. "We like the debate, but we do want to do what we can to work with you." Hougen asked Schweitzer to be the keynote speaker at the ranching group's upcoming convention in Billings. Schweitzer did not immediately accept the invitation to the group's 125th annual meeting, saying he would have to check with his scheduler. The governor told Hougen and vice president Watty Taylor, of Kirby, that he is the first cattleman to serve as governor in 90 years. He said disputes with lobbyists and staff for the Stockgrowers have left him mystified...read more

Rabies confirmed in Grant County fox

Another confirmed case of rabies has been found in Grant County. The New Mexico Department of Health confirmed Thursday that a fox found about 10 miles south of Glenwood, near the Catron County line, tested positive for rabies. A calf from Socorro County was also confirmed to have rabies. The calf was from a ranch about 10 miles east of Datil. So far in 2009, 20 animals have tested positive for rabies in New Mexico. In 2008 there were 28 cases of rabies in New Mexico, including 18 foxes and one dog in the southwestern part of the state. In Grant County, 14 foxes and one dog were found to have rabies. Two rabid foxes were found in Catron County and one fox each in Sierra and Hidalgo Counties. So far this year, Grant County has had six foxes, two bobcats and a coyote test positive for rabies, while Socorro County had a bat from near Dusty test positive for rabies in July. Fox rabies has been a problem in Arizona for decades and was first discovered in New Mexico in the Glenwood area of Catron County in 2007. The fox had tussled with a dog, Ettestad said, but fortunately the dog was up to date on its rabies vaccination. Now, all the owners have to do is to get their pet an extra dose of medication and quarantine it at home for 45 days. New Mexico state law requires that an unvaccinated dog that comes into contact with a rabid animal be euthanized, or be put into strict quarantine for six months...read more

Navajos to reclaim bones misidentified as poet's

A few months ago, the family of Everett Ruess, an idealistic young artist who vanished on a wilderness journey in 1934, was ready to accept his grim fate — that he had been killed by Indians. They prepared to cremate remains that were found in wild Utah redrock country, which would have forever sealed the legend of Ruess with ashes in the Pacific Ocean. But nagging doubts led four nieces and nephews to another DNA lab, which reported the bones were from another, unknown person. It was a stunning reversal for a legend-busting story in National Geographic Adventure last spring. Now the family is shipping the bones and a few artifacts to the Navajo Nation reservation where they were discovered last year. Scientists say the remains are most likely those of a young Navajo Indian...read more

Abraham Lincoln: Vegetarian and Animal Rights Advocate?

Exhaustive examination of the Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, the solely cited source of Lincoln’s alleged quote in favor of animal rights, failed to find any such statement. Lincoln’s alleged abstinence from all hunting beyond his early childhood, put forth to corroborate his alleged animal rights views, is based upon an invalid generalization by Goodwin. And claims that Lincoln practiced vegetarianism are disproved by overwhelming contrary evidence from several independent sources, thereby unequivocally invalidating the claim that Lincoln held a rights-based philosophy toward animals. Additional evidence that Lincoln expressed humane sentiments about and performed humane actions toward animals (not cited in the present essay), while admirable, are insufficient to establish that Lincoln held a rights-based animal philosophy, rather than the more prevalent and weaker humane ethic...read more

Meet the Animal Rights Movement’s Rich Aunt

The deceptively named “Cancer Project” animal-rights group is at it again. This time its target isn’t hot dog makers, but grilled-chicken servers. The group, a branch of the PETA-linked Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), filed a lawsuit in Connecticut yesterday against three restaurant chains demanding warnings about a supposed link between grilled chicken and cancer. As we told the media, PCRM is nothing more than an animal rights front for pushing vegan activism, which is funded primarily by a single rich donor. Since 2003, PCRM and the Cancer Project have derived 60 percent of their budgets from a single woman: Nanci Alexander, the wealthy founder of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida. The Palm Beach New Times called up the Cancer Project and Nancy Alexander to inquire further about her funding role, but the newspaper was stonewalled by both parties: Ms. Alexander declined to comment for this article, but Jeanne Stuart McVey, a spokesperson for the Cancer Project, confirmed that the PCRM and Cancer Watch [sic] are "sister organizations." McVey played down the notion that the groups are radical vegetarians, but did acknowledge that they "recommend a plant-based diet for better health." McVey deflected questions about Ms. Alexander's role in funding the Cancer Project. Since the Cancer Project prefers to deflect answers, we’re happy to fill in the information gap. The tax returns for “Nanci’s Animal Rights Foundation, Inc.” tell the whole story. (Yes, she actually calls it “Nanci’s Animal Rights Foundation.” We call it “Nanci’s ARF” for short.) Since 2003, Nanci’s ARF has given $30 million to the PCRM Foundation, which in turn funds PCRM and the Cancer Project. That’s on top of $10 million Alexander reportedly gave PCRM before her foundation was incorporated, and $22 million that Nanci’s ARF has donated to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In 1998, PETA recognized Nanci and her now ex-husband Leslie Alexander -- a board member of the Humane Society of the United States -- as its largest individual donors...read more

Swine Flu Exacerbates Pork Industry Woes

The pork industry is facing one of its worst struggles in memory and an unwanted link to the so-called swine flu is exacerbating problems, experts told Congress on Thursday. "Over the past 24 months, pork producers have lost an average of $23 on each hog marketed ... and things look bleak going forward," said Don Butler, president of the National Pork Producers Council. Butler and other industry leaders testified to the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poulty. Experts told the panel that the media labeling the H1N1 flu virus as "swine flu" was an unforeseen blow to an industry that already was struggling with its bottom line. Butler said research by the National Pork Producers Council showed a short-term reduction in pork prices immediately after the swine flu label stuck on the H1N1 virus. He says the council's research also shows a lasting negative connotation in the eyes of some consumers even though the USDA has said that swine flu cannot be transmitted by eating pork products...read more

George Strait talks about songwriting, roping, and ranching

After dominating the record charts and selling out concert venues for the better part of 30 years, thereby establishing yourself as the uncontested King of Country, what can you do for an encore? If you're George Strait, you just keep doing what you've always done. All you need is a little Twang. The latest in a seemingly endless line of immaculately crafted crowd-pleasers released by the 57-year-old Texas-born living legend, Twang — Strait's 26th studio album and an instant No. 1 smash hit — underscores what every fan already knows: The reign of King George will continue unabated for as long as Strait keeps making records. The King of Country is a genuine cowboy: proud owner of a South Texas cattle ranch and occasional competitor — along with his son, Bubba — as a team roper. All of which explains why, when he's not performing on tour or in the recording studio or enjoying himself while fishing, hunting, or sitting courtside at a San Antonio Spurs game, chances are good you'll find George Strait back in the saddle again...read more

U.S. Farm Report Welcomes Cowboy Poet and Humorist Baxter Black

You can view his first appearance on the show here.

Song Of The Day #162

Here's a tune for all you weekend warriors. Hank Williams' 1947 recording of Honky Tonkin' should get you in the right frame of mind.

All of Williams work in widely available. This song is on his 20 of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits and on several other collections.

Remembering Cliff Hansen

Cliff Hansen, the oldest living former U.S. senator, who died today at age 97, served his last of two terms in a suite of rooms in Washington's Dirksen Senate Office building. His desk was at one end, and his most junior staff member worked at the other. Every evening when he was in town, Hansen would turn out his own light and walk through the string of offices, saying goodnight to members of his staff. When he got to the desk of that junior staffer, he'd ask, "May I borrow your phone?" "Senator," the staffer would say, "this is your phone. Of course you can use it." Hansen would pick up the receiver, dial a number and say, "Honey, I'm on my way home." And with that, he would be off to his apartment and his devoted wife, Martha. I know these details, because I was that junior staffer. Clifford P. Hansen was the last of a breed, a true Wyoming rancher, who rose from county commissioner, to president of the state stock growers association, to governor, and finally U.S. senator, serving from 1967 to 1978. Though he was friends with Washington's powerful, he avoided the cocktail party and dinner circuit. His idea of a stiff drink was half a capful of Cutty Sark in a tall glass of water. With his warm Western smile and utter lack of pretense, he was a favorite of his Senate colleagues and congressional employees alike. If the cafeteria workers found out you worked for Cliff Hansen, you got special treatment...read more

Obama to Give Senate Climate Bill a Push With MIT Speech

President Obama will try to push the Senate climate bill forward Friday with an energy-themed speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, just days before the start of a marathon series of hearings featuring testimony from top administration officials. The White House said Obama's remarks covering "American leadership in clean energy" will dovetail with the Senate's effort to place a first-ever economywide cap on greenhouse gas emissions. Obama largely stayed out of the spotlight during the House debate earlier this year, but many Democrats and environmentalists say the president must be more active in lobbying the Senate if leaders are to find the 60 votes necessary for the measure's passage. Obama's speech in Cambridge, Mass., comes the same day that U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson plans to release the agency's economic and environmental analysis of the climate bill (S. 1733 (pdf)) from Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). With the EPA analysis in hand, Boxer is set to begin a three-day series of hearings in her Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 27, with testimony from Kerry, Jackson, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff...read more

As Time Runs Short for Global Climate Treaty, Nations May Settle for Interim Steps

With the clock running out and deep differences unresolved, it now appears that there is little chance that international climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December will produce a comprehensive and binding new treaty on global warming. The United States and many other major pollutant-emitting countries have concluded that it is more useful to take incremental but important steps toward a global agreement rather than to try to jam through a treaty that is either too weak to address the problem or too onerous to be ratified and enforced. Instead, representatives at the Copenhagen meeting are likely to announce a number of interim steps and agree to keep talking next year...read more