Forest Service Open to Allowing Mountain Bikes on Continental Divide Trail

Along its 3,100 miles that wind from the Canadian border down to Mexico, the Continental Divide Trail is one of the most rugged, and in parts one of the most visually spectacular, hiking trails in the country. Now the U.S. Forest Service says the route could be opened in places to mountain bikes, a move that raises a question or two regarding possible impacts to national parks. From north to south the trail runs through portions of Glacier, Yellowstone, and Rocky Mountain national parks, as well as El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico. In places you need the skills of a mountain goat to negotiate the route, which, by the way, is not entirely in place. Early in October the Forest Service published its proposed rule changes to the trail's comprehensive management plan in the Federal Register. They took effect November 4. The updated management plan does not magically open the entire Continental Divide National Scenic Trail to mountain biking, but rather provides "that bicycle use may be allowed on the CDNST if the use is consistent with the applicable land and resource management plan and will not substantially interfere with the nature and purposes of the CDNST."...read more

Idaho Gov. Otter objects to ESA listing

Gov. Butch Otter said the federal government has let down the ranchers and others in Idaho who stepped forward to help a rare flowering bush that grows in the Foothills and in wet areas of Southwest Idaho's desert - even though it was not protected under the Endangered Species Act. "Frankly I feel betrayed by the feds," said Ted Hoffman, an Owyhee County rancher who worked with the state Office of Species Conservation to develop the "candidate species conservation plan" that was approved by the federal government. Slickspot peppergrass (Lepidium papilliferum) has been found on more than 20,000 acres in Ada, Canyon, Elmore, Gem, Owyhee and Payette counties. The listing, which would be finalized Dec. 7, could place new restrictions on ranchers and the U.S. Air Force, which use large portions of the core remaining habitat of the plant in Owyhee County. Ranchers may be subject to environmental lawsuits aimed at removing their cattle from federal grazing lands in the spring. Hoffman said ranchers helped researchers find even more of the bushes when they were working under the state plan. David Hensley, Otter's attorney, said the decision is more ominous because the state is working on similar species plans for the sage grouse, and it could make it harder to persuade rural residents to join in. The key difference, though, is that the Idahoans agreeing to the sage grouse plans are making changes on private land, so they have more protections if the species is ever listed. The public land grazers affected by the peppergrass decision would be immediately subject to any new federal rules. The peppergrass listing also could limit energy development, military training on the Orchard Training Area southeast of Boise, and even residential development...read more

Wolverine settles in Colorado

State wildlife biologists say they think M56, the solo male wolverine that migrated more than 500 miles to Colorado from Wyoming last spring, appears to have settled in at the snowy edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, raising hopes for the survival of the species and other threatened carnivores. Climate change appears to be shrinking nationwide the snowy habitat needed to sustain predators including wolves, wolverines and lynx, wildlife experts said Monday at a conference on climate change put on by the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife. Colorado, with its abundant federal lands at elevations higher than 12,000 feet, increasingly is seen as a prime refuge where threatened and endangered species could be reintroduced. "We have to focus on areas that are most resistant to climate change, and Colorado is one of them," said David Gaillard, northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife. "We'd love to help the state raise money" for a project. Colorado biologists who successfully reintroduced lynx in high-mountain terrain now are beginning to talk about the wolverine...read more

Critics Say UN Food Summit Wasteful, Ineffective

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, blamed for plunging his people into starvation, used his platform as Tuesday's opening speaker at the U.N. anti-hunger summit to decry what he called his neocolonialist foes. Another longtime African strongman, Moammar Gadhafi, held another nightly soiree at a villa in the Italian capital in the company of hundreds of young ladies selected by a "hostess" agency. Tunisia's first lady and her bodyguards blocked traffic on roads leading to Via Condotti, a glamorous street of designer boutiques near the Spanish Steps. Rome daily Il Messaggero ran a photo of Leila Zine in front of luxury jewelry store Bulgari. The images bolstered criticism that the summit called by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is long on rhetoric and extravagance and short on solutions for the world's 1 billion hungry...read more

Fielder promotes new book “Ranches of Colorado”

Tucked into every corner of the Colorado landscape are places where legends still live. The ranches of the West, and the ranchers who run them, embody what is true about America, and what Americans want to be true: self sufficiency, determination, independence, competence, fearlessness, and an abiding reverence for the land that has blessed us with abundance and opportunity. In 2007 and 2008 John Fielder traveled to photograph 50 of Colorado's most beautiful multi-generational working cattle ranches, most already protected from development. The resulting book “Ranches of Colorado” will play a part in the protection of other ranches. The project is a partnership of Fielder, Colorado's preeiminent outdoor photographer, and the Colorado land trust community including Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, Colorado Open Lands, and the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts. These organizations earn royalties from each copy of the book sold...read more

"The Weak Ones Turned Back, The Cowards Never Started: A Century of Ranching in Montana"

A century ago, Montana was vast and untamed. Without irrigation, drought was devastating. Harsh winters killed entire cattle herds. Considering the conditions, the book title, "The Weak Ones Turned Back, The Cowards Never Started: A Century of Ranching in Montana," may be even a bit understated. The book compiles the stories of 142 ranches that remain working livestock operations run by the same family in the same location 100 or more years after they were first established. "Great ranches are not made of the dirt, water, wind and grass that comprise their environment," wrote Charles P. Schroeder, executive director of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. "They are formed and sustained by the character of the people attached to them." The ranches date back to 1871, when the Berg Ranch Co. was first created in Lennep...read more

Seabiscuit and Woolf immortalized

Cardston jockey George Woolf and Seabiscuit — the horse he rode to victory in 1938 — will soon be immortalized in bronze, more than likely on the grounds of the Remington Carriage Museum, in Woolf’s home town. The sculpture, commissioned by Cardston-area rancher Jack Lowe for $130,000, will be completed by Lethbridge artist Don Toney and is to be unveiled in June, a month after what would have been Woolf’s 100th birthday. For Howard Snyder, manager of the Carriage Museum, it’s recognition that’s long overdue. “This monumental bronze will stand in tribute to the ‘Iceman,’ George Woolf, and his rise from small-town beginnings to lasting fame in the world of sporting achievement,” said Snyder...“He wasn’t particularly known to be a very handsome thoroughbred,” said Toney of the race horse. “He was almost what we might think of as a running quarter horse these days. Some people described him as a cow pony, but I think that’s something of an exaggeration. I know horses, and he was not a stretchy-looking thoroughbred type, but he was a handsome horse, maybe a little stockier and maybe not as tall. “He was over in one knee a bit, which really didn’t harm him in any way. The fact that he didn’t really look the part, and he had a rough beginning — he didn’t really want to run — is a real interesting part of the story. Then he got a new trainer that really turned things around.” Snyder said the Seabiscuit story is one of the great inspirational stories in American history, in which an unappreciated horse, a disappointed millionaire, a displaced Colorado cowboy and a young Canadian jockey in decline came together in an astounding combination of circumstance and talent...read more

Song Of The Day #183

Ranch Radio presents Faron Young's 1955 recording of It's A Great Life (If You Don't Weaken).

It's available on his The Complete Capitol Hits of Faron Young and several other of his collections.

Binding climate treaty may slip far into 2010

A binding international treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions will slip to mid-2010 or beyond and a summit in Copenhagen next month will fall short of its ambitions, the United Nations and Denmark said on Monday. The United Nations' top climate official said a treaty could be wrapped up at talks in Bonn by mid-2010. Denmark, host of next month's meeting, said it might take longer - until Mexico in December. Negotiations on a deal, initially due to be reached at the December 7-18 summit in Copenhagen, have stalled. A prominent member of the U.S. Congress also acknowledged it could be months before the Senate gets around to passing a domestic climate bill. Senator John Kerry, who is leading Senate negotiations on a compromise U.S. measure to tackle global warming, said he and other Democrats were working toward "trying to see if we can get this to the (Senate) floor sometime in the early spring, as early as possible."...read more

Environmental laws put gaps in Mexico border security

In the battle on the U.S.-Mexico border, the fight against illegal immigration often loses out to environmental laws that have blocked construction of parts of the "virtual fence" and that threaten to create places where agents can't easily track illegal immigrants. Documents obtained by Rep. Rob Bishop and shared with The Washington Times show National Park Service staffers have tried to stop the U.S. Border Patrol from placing some towers associated with the virtual fence, known as the Secure Border Initiative or SBInet, on wilderness lands in parks along the border. In a remarkably candid letter to members of Congress, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department could have to delay pursuits of illegal immigrants while waiting for horses to be brought in so agents don't trample protected lands, and warns that illegal immigrants will increasingly make use of remote, protected areas to avoid being caught. The documents also show the Interior Department has charged the Homeland Security Department $10 million over the past two years as a "mitigation" penalty to pay for damage to public lands that agencies say has been caused by Border Patrol agents chasing illegal immigrants. "I want this resolved so border security has the precedence down there. If wilderness designation gets in the way of a secure southern border, I want the designation changed," said Mr. Bishop, Utah Republican, who requested the documents. "If it means you lose a couple of acres of wilderness, I don't think God will blame us at the judgment bar for doing that." A major problem is wilderness - lands deemed so pristine that they should be maintained in that condition, free of man-made structures. Wilderness is governed under a 1964 law that imposed strict rules that tie Border Patrol agents' hands, and there is a lot of that land along the border. According to the Congressional Research Service, California has 1.8 million acres of wilderness within 100 miles of the border, and Arizona has 2.5 million acres. New Mexico and Texas have smaller plots. According to e-mails obtained by Mr. Bishop, Park Service officials at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and at the Denver office that oversees the park said they will not allow the Border Patrol to place electronic surveillance towers on parts of the park that are designated wilderness...read more

And yet Senator Bingaman continues to push S.1689 which would create 560 square miles of wilderness on our southern border.

Western Legacy Alliance Applauds Efforts of the Western Caucus to Bring Attention to EAJA Abuse

In an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), dated November 2, 2009, members of the Congressional Western Caucus expressed great concern to Attorney General Holder regarding the ongoing and apparent abuse of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) by certain organizations including environmental and special interest groups. The Caucus highlights the complete lack of oversight, accountability, and transparency in the overall process and allocation of funds under EAJA, which appears to have contributed to the egregious abuse. “Environmental groups have been working to deny grazing rights to America’s ranchers for decades. They do so by claiming violations of environmental policy, suing federal environmental agencies and ultimately, tying up ranchers’ time and resources in costly, and often baseless, court battles,” said Jeff Faulkner, Western Legacy Alliance (WLA) member. “What makes this situation worse is the fact that these environmental groups such as Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity are shaking down federal government programs so they can access taxpayer dollars to fund their radical agendas.” Two of the federal programs that are seemingly handing out millions, and possibly billions, to environmental groups are the EAJA and the Judgment Fund. The EAJA was established approximately 30 years ago by Congress to ensure that individuals, small businesses and/or public interest groups with limited financial capacity could seek judicial redress from unreasonable government actions that threatened their rights, privileges or interests. EAJA accomplishes this by allowing small businesses and individuals who would otherwise not be able to afford a court battle to obtain reimbursement of attorney’s fees if they are found to prevail in a case over a government agency such as the Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Forest Service...Press Release

I guess its time I fess up to being in on the ground floor of creating EAJA.

It all started with a coin broker in Portales, NM. He had ordered some gold coins for a customer. The coins had made it to El Paso when they were confiscated by treasury agents who had received info the coins were illegally imported. Then the treasury dept. dumped a bunch of gold bullion on the market which drove down the price of gold. On Monday or Tuesday of the next week, the treasury agents said oops, they were wrong and the coins were perfectly legal, and they released them to the coin dealer. However the customer, due to the hefty drop in the price of gold, declared bankruptcy and refused delivery. This then forced the coin dealer into bankruptcy.

The timing was such that the coins would have passed to the customer prior to the dumping if the federal agents hadn't confiscated them. So one NM businessman was down the drain as a result of the gov't confiscating private property based on faulty information. I was an aide to Senator Domenici at the time and approached him about the situation and convinced him the feds should compensate individuals in cases such as this. Domenici introduced legislation, which was amended and watered down and eventually became EAJA.

This whole thing reminds me of a recent essay by Dr. Robert Higgs, Can the Rampaging Leviathan Be Stopped or Slowed?, in which he claims all attempts to limit the size of government will fail and the beast will continue to grow until it implodes.

Anyway, all you cowboys can cuss me and all you enviros can thank me for having the original idea that has become so distorted in EAJA.

You see, it all started with a coin dealer in Portales, NM...

Wolf hunt shut down in Montana after quota filled

Montana is shutting down its first public hunt for gray wolves since their removal from the endangered species list after state officials said they expected to meet the season's quota of 75 by Monday evening. The quota was met two weeks before the season's scheduled close. The 75 killed equals about 15 percent of a statewide wolf population estimated at 500. Yet even with the success among hunters, the number of wolves in Montana is expected to increase this year by 20 percent or more because wolves are such prolific breeders. Whether a hunt will be repeated next year is uncertain: A lawsuit to return the predator to the endangered list is pending before Judge Donald Molloy in U.S. District Court in Missoula. State wildlife commissioner Bob Ream of Helena -- a wildlife biologist who spent 20 years studying the animals -- declared the 2009 hunt a success. "For a first try, the state did very well," Ream said Monday. "It happened quicker than a lot of us thought it would, but all in all, the geographic distribution of the harvest was good." Because the wolves killed were scattered across the state, Ream said the hunt might begin to put a dent in the number of livestock killed every year by the animals. That's become an increasing problem in recent years as wolves expanded into areas inhabited by people and livestock...read more

Australia exempts agriculture from cap & trade

Australia's opposition expressed confidence on Tuesday that it would reach a deal with the government to pass laws for a domestic carbon trade scheme, with a final government offer on negotiations due next week. The opposition's climate change negotiator, Ian Macfarlane, told Australian media he was optimistic he would secure a deal despite divisions within his own party on the issue. The government has bowed to a key opposition demand to permanently exclude agriculture, which accounts for around 16 percent of Australian emissions, from the scheme, but the opposition also wants more concessions for coal miners...read more

Britain cuts down forests to keep ‘green’ power stations burning

Britain is set to plunder the lungs of the world to feed its growing hunger for wood to burn in power stations. A series of biomass-fired plants are being built in the UK that will trigger a 150 per cent surge in timber imports from 20 million tonnes today to 50 million tonnes by 2015, according to the Forestry Commission. British power plants are already shipping wood from Canada, Brazil, Scandinavia and South Korea. Just one of the new biomass plants at Port Talbot, South Wales, will consume three million tonnes of wood per year — equivalent to 30 per cent of the UK’s domestic annual wood harvest of ten million tonnes. But the plant, which is due to open in 2012, will generate only 300 megawatt hours of electricity, or about 0.4 per cent of the UK's current power-generating capacity...environmental campaigners have raised concerns about the carbon emissions involved in shipping the wood such large distances, while to meet UK pest control laws the timber will need to be baked before it can be shipped to the UK...read more

Groups file suit to stop Grand Canyon uranium mine

Environmental groups are suing the federal Bureau of Land Management over its decision to allow a uranium mine to reopen north of the Grand Canyon. Canadian mining firm Denison Mines Corp. received the final state permit needed to move forward on its Arizona 1 Mine in September. The BLM says Denison has an approved mine plan and should be allowed to resume operations. The Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit Monday. They argue that the mine plan has expired, an environmental analysis is outdated and Denison has not proven its claims...read more

Feds to buy 5,000 acres for conservation

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday their agencies are buying seven parcels totaling 5,026 acres in Colorado, Montana and Nevada - including 4,573 in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument - as high-value conservation land. The acquisitions, private holdings surrounded by or adjacent to federal land, were authorized by the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act of 2000. The act provides funds to buy land in Western states from willing sellers. The government paid $11.7 million for the seven parcels, it was announced Monday...read more

Mustang roundup moratorium rejected

Wild horse advocates say they have no recourse but the courts after federal land managers rejected their request for an immediate moratorium on mustang roundups. The Bureau of Land Management plans to remove more than 30,000 horses from Western rangelands over the next three years to deal with soaring numbers of the animals and the cost to manage them. The Equine Welfare Alliance, which represents more than 60 organizations, is considering its legal options after the BLM rejected its request to halt the roundups, said John Holland, its president. The Chicago-based coalition opposes Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's proposal to move thousands of mustangs to preserves in the Midwest and East to protect horse herds and the rangelands that support them. Salazar has said his plan unveiled last month would avoid the slaughter of some of the 69,000 wild horses and burros under federal control to halt the rising cost of maintaining them...read more

Food summit turns down UN funding appeal

Pope Benedict XVI decried the steadily worsening tragedy of world hunger on Monday after a global summit rebuffed a U.N. call to commit billions of dollars a year for a new strategy to help poor countries feed themselves. The meeting at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization did unite nearly 200 countries behind a pledge to increase aid to farmers in poor countries to help the developing world lessen its dependence on foreign food aid. Only hours after the three-day summit began, some 60 heads of state and dozens of ministers rejected the U.N.'s call to commit $44 billion annually for agricultural development in these nations. The final declaration also omitted a pledge, sought by the United Nations, to eradicate hunger by 2025...read more

Boy,11, shoots bear on family's porch

An 11-year-old boy killed a bear at point-blank range last Wednesday night after it wouldn’t leave his family’s porch. The boy was at home with his younger sisters and after seeing the bear on the front porch and not being able to get it to leave, the boy retrieved a gun and killed the animal. Fish and Game Conservation Officer Doug Peterson said the black bear had been a problem in the area near the county transfer station, and he and Fish and Game Officer Lauren Wednt had set up a trap earlier in the week. The boy and his family are not in any trouble, and Peterson said he issued them a permit to keep the bear. Usually when a bear is put down by Fish and Game they sell the hide at a state auction, Peterson said...read more

HT: Outdoor Pressroom

Turkey on turnpike causes havoc

Authorities have stopped trying to capture a wild turkey that calls Interchange 14B on the New Jersey Turnpike home. The bird has been causing havoc for toll collectors and motorists as it runs across toll booths, plays in traffic, and sits atop toll collectors' parked cars. Turnpike Authority spokesman Joe Orlando said efforts over the weekend to catch the turkey were unsuccessful, and for the time being, the bird will be left alone. Collectors will have to continue putting cones on their parked cars because the turkey likes to jump on the cars, and motorists will continue dodging the bird. [link]

Building community in Two Dot

After 82 years, residents of Two Dot still chuckle over the March 29, 1927, fire that destroyed the Congregational Church and parsonage. Not that it was particularly funny at the time. Loss of the church undoubtedly resonated as a tragedy in the little ranching town within viewing distance of the Crazy, Snowy and Belt mountains. But over time, the community developed a sense of humor about the disaster and the small boys who ignited it. Now it’s everyone’s favorite piece of Two Dot lore. It was branding time and all the adults were busy with hot irons and terrified calves, the story goes. Little boys were shooed out of the way as the adults concentrated on the serious business at hand. Nobody paid much attention to the children, who had been busily capturing gophers all morning for a branding party of their own. They’d sneaked upstairs to a room in the empty parsonage and started a fire in a collection plate aiming to mark their captives with irons they’d made out of wire...read more

I'll bet there were some Ewings at that gopher brandin'.

Two Dot (population: 76) hangs on long after heyday

Not much remains of Two Dot, one of the many Montana pioneering communities that thrived in the homestead years in the early 1900s and then faltered in the farm crisis of the 1920s and the Depression of the 1930s. The census in 2000 put the number of residents at 76, and locals say the population seems to have stabilized. Almost everyone is involved in ranching — the reason most settlers found their way to Wheatland County in the early years. “A lot were displaced Southerners who came after the Civil War,” said rancher and local historian John Whelan. “There were a lot of family groups that came from Missouri.” Two Dot took its name from George “Two Dot” Wilson, Whelan said, who got his nickname from his brand — two horizontal dots. Wilson fashioned his brand from the only thing handy, a king pin out of a trail wagon. (A two-wheeled trail wagon was attached behind a four-wheeled wagon with the king pin.)...read more

Boot communication

Hey, Answer Girl -- Why do some fence posts around Casper have old cowboy boots on them? -- Liz Much like with shoefiti (the art of throwing tied-together shoes over light poles), a few rumors exist as to why cowboys would put boots on their fence posts. 1. In the time before cell phones, ranchers used a cowboy boot sitting on top of a fence post at the end of the driveway to signal that the rancher/homeowner was at home. That way, visitors didn't have to drive all the way up the driveway (which could be miles long) just to find out if the rancher was home. 2. In a variation on the first rumor, a boot is always left at the end of the driveway. If the boot faces outward, toward the open road, the rancher has gone to town for the day. If the boot faces inward, up the drive, toward home, the rancher is home. That sounds a little complicated to me, and an easy way to accidentally leave false signals. 3. It's a sign that a well-respected rancher died. Trying to verify any one of these rumors, I called the only real cowboy I know -- Rob Hendry, chairman of the Natrona County Board of Commissioners and a ranch owner in rural Natrona County. He had no idea...read more

On the edge of common sense: Using swine to eradicate waste is a 'no-brainer' idea

I had deja vu when I saw a photo of goats walking through garbage on an Egyptian street. The headline read: "A Little Late, Egypt discovers the Flaw in Killing all its Pigs." Apparently, swine were a major factor in Egypt's garbage disposal industry. Goats were a poor substitute. The whole mess is the result of the government's decision to eradicate all the nation's pigs to protect people from the swine flu. It must have seemed like a "no-brainer" for the "no-brains" in charge. There are plenty of examples of "no-brains" enacting "no-brainers." Hawaiians importing mongooses to kill the rats and ending up wreaking havoc on the native birds. Nobody looked to see that mongooses were diurnal and rats were nocturnal. Or how 'bout the "no-brains" who imported kudzu and starlings? Or the "no-brains" trying to protect some endangered plant or insect or snail, not caring if it eviscerated whole towns and communities. But who knew that pigs were a part of Egypt's ecosystem? What a wonderful example of the recycling cycle! People eat pigs ... pigs eat garbage ... people eat pigs! I'm wondering if this is something we could incorporate into our own "green movement."...read more

Song Of The Day #182

Ranch Radio brings you Eddy Arnold this morning, and his 1953 recording of The Missouri Waltz.

It's available on his 5 disc box set The Tennessee Plowboy & His Guitar.

Deal on Mexican Gray Wolf

The federal Fish and Wildlife Service and environmentalists reached an agreement Friday that scraps a rule the agency had used to kill or permanently remove any wolf that killed three head of livestock in a year. A spokesman for the agency, Tom Buckley, said the three-strikes rule would “no longer stand.” The agency has other ways to deal with livestock kills “and remains committed to assisting the local livestock operators in any negative impacts they may have related to wolves,” Mr. Buckley said. Environmentalists argued that the rule favored the ranching industry and was a major roadblock to the population recovery effort for the Mexican gray wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf. Ranchers said the policy was aimed at wolves that grow accustomed to preying on cattle. Several environmental groups sued in May 2008, asking a federal court in Arizona to stop the removal policy. Mr. Buckley said agency officials hoped a judge would sign the settlement this week...read more

The Center For Biological Diversity press release is here and the Arizona Game & Fish Department's response says:

The press release sent by the plaintiff organizations is misleading in that AMOC is not and never has been the deciding authority on whether or not a wolf stays in the wild. AMOC reviews situations in which management response is needed and when removal is one of the options considered makes recommendations based on an approved procedure and forwards those recommendations to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Prior to 2008 the USFWS Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator, per the 1998 final rule, made the final decision on removal. Since then, the Region 2 director of the USFWS has consulted on such recommendations with the directors of the other five lead agencies participating in AMOC, but ultimately is the sole deciding authority on wolf removal.

Obama, world leaders back delay to final climate deal

U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders on Sunday supported delaying a legally binding climate pact until 2010 or even later, but European negotiators said the move did not imply weaker action. Some argued that legal technicalities might otherwise distract the talks in Copenhagen and it was better to focus on the core issue of cutting climate-warming emissions. "Given the time factor and the situation of individual countries we must, in the coming weeks, focus on what is possible and not let ourselves be distracted by what is not possible," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the leaders. Rasmussen said the December 7-18 talks should still agree key elements such as cuts in greenhouse gases for industrialised nations and funds to help developing nations. Copenhagen would also set a deadline for writing them into a legal text...read more

Netherlands to levy "green" road tax by the kilometer

The Dutch government plans to bring the polluter-pays principle into the home garage. Rather than an annual road tax for their cars, drivers will soon pay a few cents for every kilometer (mile) on the road, in a plan aimed at breaking chronic traffic jams and cutting carbon emissions, the Cabinet decided Friday. The GPS monitoring system could be a test case for other countries weighing options for easing crowded roads. Some cities like London have created congestion charges to control traffic in downtown areas, but only Singapore has a similar scheme for charging according to the amount of travel. When the plan takes effect in 2012, new car prices will drop as much as 25 percent with the abolition of a purchase tax and the road tax, which now totals more than euro600 ($900) per year for a mid-sized car. Instead, an average passenger car will pay euro0.03 per 1 kilometer ($0.07 per mile), with higher charges levied during rush hour and for traveling on congested roads. Trucks, commercial vehicles and bigger cars emitting more carbon dioxide will be assessed at a higher rate, the Transport Ministry said. The GPS devices installed in cars will track the time, hour and place each car moves and send the data to a billing agency...read more

Soon to be coming our way...

Report: Terrain, brush to blame in huge wildfire

The largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history raged out of control because it jumped into inaccessible terrain, not because the U.S. Forest Service scaled back firefighters and aircraft attacking the flames, a federal review found Friday. The U.S. Forest Service study of decision-making during the Station Fire's first three days concluded that commanders used "best professional practices" while trying to knock down the fire that began Aug. 26 in Angeles National Forest. Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell ordered the review in September after residents and other critics said firefighters bungled the initial response. Government documents show the number of firefighters had been reduced on the first night of the fire, opening questions about whether commanders misread the threat of a blaze that ultimately killed two firefighters, destroyed 89 homes and blackened 250 square miles on the edge of Los Angeles. But a five-member review group said the challenge corralling the fire was its location - steep, rugged slopes thick with highly flammable brush - not decisions made by firefighters. As the blaze jumped into inaccessible areas, using aircraft to dump water or retardant without ground crews to help out would have been ineffective, the report found. "Additional resources during the evening of Aug. 26 and morning of Aug. 27 would not have improved the effectiveness of operations during that operational period and would have resulted in needless exposure of firefighters to the hazards of wildland fire," the report said. Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich challenged the findings, insisting the Forest Service erred by not calling in more aircraft to drop water and fire retardant in the early hours of the fire. Had more aircraft been used, "the fire would not have spread," Antonovich said in a statement Friday...read more

Clean Water Act 'fix' has major ramifications for state

Can Nevada water wars get any worse? Unfortunately, yes. We don't have endless streams, rivers and estuaries across the desert plain, so our water wars are legendary. At least, though, the fights are within our own borders given that Nevada is the sole authority over how our water is managed, allocated and distributed. But that may not last. The Clean Water Restoration Act pending in Congress right now would institute sweeping new changes to the federal Clean Water Act. Proponents say the changes are needed to "clarify the intent" of the law, but in removing just a single word from the text of the act, advocates of this plan will effectively force the Environmental Protection Agency to claim jurisdiction over every pond, tributary and ditch (that's dry ditches to us) nationwide. As we know, controlling water is controlling land in Nevada. The act has already been introduced and passed through committee on the fast track to the president's desk. If signed into law, the Clean Water Act would be amended to exclude the term "navigable" from the line of the law that gives the EPA regulatory authority over all "navigable waters." Take away that word and what is left is the EPA beginning to regulate all waters of the United States...read more

Surprise: biz group sues to Upgrade a species listing

It’s not every day that a group run by former Bush Administration Interior Department honcho Craig Manson files suit to get the status of a threatened species upgraded to endangered. It’s also not every day that such a group piggybacks on an earlier petition filed by the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity. But that’s what’s transpiring in the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region in northern California in the ongoing drama over the tiny, threatened Delta smelt. A federal judge in that area has been turning the screws on water pumping in the Delta by farmers to insure more reliable water for the smelt, which has suffered significant declines in recent years. The limits on pumping have reduced supplies by 30 to 50 percent to farmers and also threatened higher water rates for some consumers living in that area. The cutbacks have also pared state water deliveries to already parched Southern California. Now, a group calling itself the Council for Endangered Species Act Reliability has filed a suit to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the smelt as endangered instead of threatened. So why the litigation? Manson said in interviews that he would like to see the service go beyond what he calls its “Casablanca approach: Round up the usual suspects” — i.e. — water pumping — in fingering blame for the smelt’s declines. If the smelt is uplisted, the service will have to a new analysis of five factors listed in the ESA, and the analysis must be based on new rather than old data, Manson said...read more

New national park could save high plains in Kansas

In 1987, two Rutgers’ University researchers ignited a prairie fire by suggesting much of the high plains, including a large swath of Kansas farmland, should be returned to its natural state — what they called a Buffalo Commons. The idea, which envisioned parts of 10 prairie states being transformed into a massive short-grass prairie national park, was derided as impractical, impossible and un-American. It was called city-logic. Farmers questioned why the Easterners hadn’t suggested returning New York City to its wild roots. “The idea offended me,” said former Kansas Governor Mike Hayden, once a harsh Buffalo Commons critic. But in the decades since, the population decline that spurred the plan not only continued, but accelerated. The already-stressed Ogallala Aquifer, the sole source of water for much of the region, has dried up faster than anticipated. Irrigated farmland has become dry, low-production farmland. Local economies of the high plains have dwindled. Today, Buffalo Commons — far from threatening an iconic American lifestyle — may instead be a savior to the region. “How do we bring a vital economy to life in northwest Kansas?” Hayden asked recently from his office as Kansas Secretary of Wildlife and Parks. “The model we’re now following has failed. Buffalo Commons makes more sense every year.”...read more

Adapting to Climate Change - A Short Course for Land Managers

The U.S. Forest Service’s western research stations have released an interactive short course that presents current scientific knowledge on adapting to climate variability in wildland management. Titled “Adapting to Climate Change: A Short Course for Land Managers,” the course is available as a DVD or online at the Climate Change Resource Center (http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc). “It seems especially appropriate that a course on climate change is offered as a Web-based, distance-learning package, which minimizes the carbon costs of connecting scientists and experts with managers,” said Michael Furniss, a PNW Research Station hydrologist who produced and directed the course along with colleagues from the Pacific Southwest and Rocky Mountain Research Stations.

Suspended UI prof repeats sheep claims in journal

A University of Idaho professor suspended from sheep research duties since June has repeated claims that wild bighorns don't catch fatal diseases from domestic sheep, despite pledging not to disseminate information on the issue until the school completes an inquiry into her work. An August interview with Marie Bulgin, head of the UI's Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center in Caldwell, appeared in October's edition of The Shepherd: A Guide for Sheep and Farm Life, an industry journal based in New Washington, Ohio. In the story, Bulgin insists there's no proof bighorns die after catching diseases from domestic sheep on the range. "It's the bighorns' own pathogens that are killing them - not something they are picking up from domestic sheep or goats," she is quoted as saying. Wildlife advocates said her comments are virtually identical to those that helped lead to the UI inquiry. It was launched five months ago after environmentalists produced documents showing her research center had gathered evidence that bighorns get deadly disease from domestic sheep on the range since 1994 - a period in which Bulgin had been testifying for the ranching industry in federal court and at the Idaho Legislature that no such documentation existed...read more

Prehistoric man, giant animal coexisted

The secret is out: Man and gomphotheres once coexisted in Sonora. Tools and spear tips found with fossil bones at a remote Sonoran site suggest that Clovis-era hunters butchered two juvenile specimens of the elephantlike megafauna about 13,000 years ago. It's the first discovery of such recent evidence of gomphotheres in North America, said Vance Holliday, a University of Arizona anthropologist. It's also the first time gomphothere fossils were found together with implements made by Clovis people, the oldest known inhabitants of North America, Holliday said. The discovery, on a remote ranch in the Rio Sonora watershed, was actually made in 2007 but was kept quiet to avoid alerting fossil hunters to it. Archaeologists from Mexico and the United States named the site "El Fin del Mundo," or "The End of the World." They continue to work the site in the Mexican state that borders Arizona but presented some preliminary findings last month at a Geological Society of America meeting in Portland, Ore. Holliday said Guadalupe Sanchez of Mexico's national institute of anthropology was originally taken to the site by a rancher who had discovered large bones in an arroyo. Holliday said he was unsure if Clovis people were hunting gomphotheres or scavenging them. In either case, Holliday said, "this would be the first documentation that there was some sort of human interaction with gomphotheres in North America."...read more

Pecos park renovates 200-year-old trading post

Historic preservation specialist Jeff Brown is hoping his work crews won't find the spot where legs and arms are buried at Pecos National Historical Park. The appendages would be those amputated from Civil War soldiers in 1862 at a makeshift hospital housed in Kozlowski's Trading Post east of Santa Fe. Finding the bony remains, while exciting, would slow down Brown's current project: a six-year renovation of the almost 2-century-old stage stop and tavern. The low-slung pink stucco building with faded turquoise trim along N.M. 63 was a popular stop on the Santa Fe Trail for decades. Brown and crew will restore the adobe-and-pine building to its look from the 1940s and '50s, when E.E. "Buddy" Fogelson and his actress wife, Greer Garson, used the trading post as headquarters for their Forked Lightning Ranch. The historic character of the building and any usable original materials will be preserved, but it will be upgraded to house administrative offices and a place to greet visitors. Along with restoring the old trading post, Pecos National Historical Park plans to open 3,000 acres east of the building along the Pecos River, long closed to the public except for special occasions. The Pecos National Historical Park protects the ruins of Pecos Pueblo, a historic Catholic church and the site of the Civil War battle of Glorieta Pass. The original room of the trading post dates to 1810, according to a plaque posted on the building by Daughters of the American Revolution. When Polish immigrant Martin Kozlowski left the Army after five years fighting Apaches, he moved into the old building near Pecos Pueblo in 1858. He needed some room for 10 children he and his wife would eventually raise there...read more

America from the slow lane: By wagon

Lee the Horse Logger likes to say that what we all need most is to slow down. What he did, though, was to get up and go. Have you heard of Lee? He's made national and even world news for inching across America at 3 miles an hour in a horse-drawn covered wagon. A doctorate-dropout-turned-rancher, Lee Crafton started his pioneer odyssey three years ago. The family ranch in Montana was sold out from under him, so he took $75 and a couple of log-pulling horses and set off to see America. He has rolled and bumped to the East Coast and back, plus down to the Southwest. This modern-day Thoreau plans to clip-clop into Seattle within a month. What folks like about him is his utter lack of agenda. "I'm not here to raise money or your consciousness. I'm not protesting or trying to convert you. I've got no message whatsoever," he said by phone recently from Mead, Wash. But what grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me was the part of his story that isn't an old-time curio. It's the reason he hit the road. He's got cancer. Rather, he had cancer. Lymphoma, with a growing tumor in his neck...read more

Old West shooting contests returns to city

Leather creaks as cowboys lean on fences, chat quietly, and lope their horses to warm them up. At the table, they slide blank rounds into the cylinders of their revolvers. Kathy Hollmann trots her horse around in circles at the end of the arena, then charges. Her horse kicks up dirt as she draws her first revolver. She fires, bursting three balloons mounted on poles. She yanks the reigns with her left hand. Her horse knocks over a target, as she fires right handed, popping two more balloons. The crowd falls silent. Undeterred, she draws her second revolver as her horse digs in, circles a barrel and charges once more. She plugs the fallen balloon and the remaining three targets in rapid succession as cheers overcome the echo of gunfire. At 16 years of age, Hollmann is a world champion mounted shooter. A mounted shooting competition is being held this weekend for the first time in Carlsbad at the Eddy County Sheriff's Posse Arena. The event is being hosted by the New Mexico Territory Cowboy Mounted Shooting association...read more

Traildust: Frenchman left mark with adventures in Southwest

Soon after the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821, fur trappers from the East fanned out into New Mexico's northern mountains to catch beaver. Their rich harvest of pelts was shipped over the trail to St. Louis where it commanded a high price. Among the cavalcade of trappers were many of French Canadian origin. A number of them took up residence in New Mexico, married, and became citizens of the Republic of Mexico. Representative of this new element in New Mexican society was Antoine Robidoux, one of six brothers all involved in the fur trade. When Antoine first reached Santa Fe in 1823 at age 29, he scarcely looked the part of an outdoorsman. Tall, slender, with a sensitive face and a curling mass of black hair, he might have been mistaken for a French artist or composer of music. Yet, his career in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains and beyond was to be filled with excitement, danger and high adventure...read more

It's All Trew: With change came demise of tollgates

Most people familiar with area history know of Uncle Dick Wooten's tollgate leading over Raton Pass. The Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail passed from Bent's Fort to Trinidad, then south up Colorado canyons to the crest of Raton Pass, then down New Mexico canyons into Raton. The crafty old mountain man and trapper knew the terrain and took advantage of the narrow passage by erecting a tollgate. This moneymaker was successful until the railroad built through the pass utilizing a tunnel and bypassing the Wooten tollgate. Few are aware that approximately 40 to 50 miles to the east, at the east end of Johnson Mesa, another tollgate existed from 1873 to 1885. Also located on a natural passage from New Mexico to Colorado, Basil Bill Metcalf took advantage of a low-altitude passage, bought property and raised a log chain across a narrow rock canyon called Emory Gap. Like Uncle Dick Wooten, Basil Bill knew the terrain, and when the need arose for travelers to pass from the Mountain Branch to the Cimarron Cut Off, bypassing the Wooten route, he was ready to charge for passage. Operation of the Emory Gap tollgate was believed to have started in late 1873. As money became available, Bill went into the cattle business, built a home, a store and a saloon all at the site of the tollgate. A brother joined Bill in 1874, allowing Bill to branch out again with a freighting service to supply his store and surrounding ranchers. Records show the Emory Gate toll charges remained the same throughout the 12 years of operation. A fee of 75 cents was charged for a wagon and four-horse team. Buggies and hacks cost 35 cents and a wagon and two-horse team 40 cents. Individual horseback riders and cattle costs have not been kept. Annual receipts of the gate averaged from $3,000 to $4,000, a tidy sum at the time...read more

Song Of The Day #181

Ranch Radio will get your feet tappin' this Monday morning with the Buchanan Brothers'
1948 recording of Hootin-Nanny Papa.

My version is from their 18 track Bronco Buster CD Atomic Power.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Cowboy shorts

Julie Carter

Now that I have your attention, this is not about underwear, mostly. In the day-to-day nonsense and banter that whips through the cowboy world, there are always a few short stories that offer up a chuckle but aren't a volume on their own.

These are a few of those "shorts."

First, I will report that the buxom Fastenal nuts and bolts salesgirl that had our man Dan the Team Roper, aka farm store purchasing agent, so interested in fasteners, has quit. She's been replaced by just a regular guy.

Dan is broken hearted, bought no more bolts but did admit to having a three-year supply already in stock.

There seems to be a pattern here that keeps him in a state of bachelorhood with his dog Mary Margaret and cat Gato for company.

The upside is that all is well since he acquired the new toaster oven. He finds solace in cooking.

While the nuts and bolts business has plummeted at the New Holland store, Dan is admiring his friend Rob's operating plan.

Rob says he has three gals on the line and one on his "to-do" list.

While he seems to have one romantic disaster after another, it hasn't occurred to him that it could be his technique.

He told the current gal he didn't have any more time to spend with her.

This was while telling another that he had out there on the horizon and at the phone call stage, that he was out of a girlfriend at present because he mostly kept one around for recreational purposes.

She did not relate to that well at all.

From romance to ropers

Lloyd and Russell are both ace-high, in-demand heelers and the two of them seem to trade out winning it all at every event where they both show up to rope.

Russell is looking for a new heel horse and when Lloyd got word, he just happened to have a whizbang great heel horse for sale.

He wants a mere $17,500 for him.

In only the length of time it took to rope another steer, down the arena and back to the roping boxes, Lloyd decided he didn't want Russell to have that horse.

"Russell would be too hard to beat if he had that horse," he commented. "I better keep him for myself."

Seems the price or the quality isn't always what dictates a sale in the horse trading business.

Sometimes you have to find every edge you can to stay on top, even not selling the horse that was for sale.

OK, here's the underwear story.

It was a big roping, and a pretty flashy gal-roper named Lisa had drawn a steer with a guy she knew, but didn't see often.

The catch-up visiting commenced. The team knew approximately when they'd have to rope in their rotation, but somehow managed to miss their call and their steer was turned out.

When they finally wandered up to the roping box end of the arena and realized they'd missed their run, the guy-end of this team when up to the announcer fully armed with a plausible reason.

In case you missed it, team ropers are notorious for their excuses.

He told the announcer that the reason they'd missed the call was because Lisa's bra strap had broken and he'd been tasked with the chore of fixing it.

A twinkle in his eye and a nod toward the well-endowed Lisa, cinched the deal.

Whether the announcer really bought the story or not is doubtful, but he rewarded the effort by giving them another steer.

Only a male roping with a female would come up with a story like that to make it her fault. He was hilariously proud of himself. She was not at all entertained.

If you have a smile, share it. If don't own one, find one. Life is much better if you laugh.

Transportation Security Administration changes procedure after Lambert incident

Transportation Security Administration screeners at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport probably wish that the fellow they chose to grill last March about a box of cash wasn't a Ron Paul devotee who runs a committee devoted to individual rights and constitutional government. But grill Steven Bierfeldt they did, and eight months later the incident has yielded revised rules requiring TSA agents to stick to matters related to flight security rather than policing airports for other crimes. Bierfeldt and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented him in a lawsuit, announced in a news release this week that the TSA had changed its rules in response to the litigation. It's a huge victory for civil liberties that TSA agents no longer have free rein to conduct sweeping, baseless searches and detain passengers who don't pose a threat to flight safety," Bierfeldt said in a statement. Bierfeldt said he was ushered to a small room and questioned after passing a metal box containing $4,700 through a Lambert screening checkpoint. He said the cash related to his job as director of development for the Campaign for Liberty, a lobbying group that sprouted from the presidential campaign last year of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican from Texas. Bierfeldt said he was interrogated for a half-hour in an increasingly threatening manner and told he was being placed under arrest. He recorded audio of the episode on his iPhone. Before it was due to be heard in September, the ACLU said the TSA issued a policy directive stating that "screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security."...read more

Song Of The Day #180

Today's Gospel tune is Rhonda Vincent's recording of I Heard My Savior Calling Me.

It's available on her 12 track CD Destination Life.

Berlin Against Anti-Terror Bank Data Deal

The new German justice minister says Berlin is not comfortable with an EU measure that would grant US authorities access to European banking data. Now it seems likely that the Germans may scupper the deal, which is supposed to be pushed through at an EU meeting in Brussels at the end of November. The agreement was supposed to be laced up before others got involved in the tricky debate about data protection and individual rights. Now, though, it looks like European Union plans to push through an anti-terror agreement with Washington may not go ahead, thanks in part to the new German government. The Berlin coalition, which pairs Angela Merkel's conservatives with the Free Democrats (FDP), voted into power at the end of September, likely won't rubber stamp a proposal that would give the US wide ranging access to EU bank accounts in the course of terrorism investigations. The measure, proposed by Sweden as current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, was to have passed by Dec. 1. It foresaw allowing US investigators access to European bank accounts -- particularly international transactions -- as part of terror enquiries. Germany is not the only country to have doubts...read more

Public-private vendors demand national ID standards

Public-private partnerships are known for behavior we compare to vultures. Scavenging birds circling your tax payout to contract goods and services that may, or may not, directly benefit you. In the following example, the identity industry has the most to gain from mandating national identity standards to pursue life normally. Basic standards for a nationalized ID card are a far cry from what some of these corporations urge our government to endorse: massive database systems, biometric face prints, RFID, DNA laminates and now fingerprints in order to secure legal working status. Fingerprinting is one solution proposed to curb illegal immigration. There have been recent murmurs on Capitol Hill, that NY Senator Chuck Schumer has got a walking agenda for the biometrics industry based on immigration reform. He has plans to propel legislation requiring everyone to submit copies of their fingerprints in order to have the right to work in the United States...read more

Bush Feared Successor Might Revoke Telco Spy Immunity

The George W. Bush administration expressed concern future administrations might not use the legal amnesty it wanted to give the nation’s telecommunication companies that were being sued for assisting the president’s warrantless, electronic wiretapping program, according to internal documents released Thursday. The documents, unearthed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, also suggest the administration was wary it might first have to concede that the telcos were complicit in the alleged dragnet surveillance to garner congressional support for the amnesty bill. The legislation, passed in July 2008, killed the EFF’s federal civil rights lawsuit against the companies. Ultimately, Congress approved legislation granting immunity to the telcos without any admission of guilt — provided the attorney general requested the power on their behalf. In July 2008, President Bush signed the package, which was endorsed by then-Sen. Barack Obama...read more

House Judiciary Committee Approves Strong PATRIOT Act Reform

In a 16-10 party-line vote on Nov. 5, the House Committee on the Judiciary approved H.R. 3845, the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009. Among the most touted of the reforms provided by the bill, H.R. 3845 would permit the so-called “lone wolf” provision to sunset. This authority removed the requirement that an individual needed to be an agent of a foreign power to be placed under surveillance by intelligence officials and permitted surveillance of individuals with a much lower evidentiary threshold than allowed under criminal surveillance procedures. H.R. 3845 also restricts the use of national security letters. Under current law, intelligence agencies have few restrictions on the use of NSLs, and in numerous cases, they overuse the authority. An FBI inspector general report in 2007 “found that the FBI used NSLs in violation of applicable NSL statutes, Attorney General Guidelines, and internal FBI policies.” The reform provisions seek to create greater judicial scrutiny of NSL use, as the relevant agency would need to demonstrate to a judge the connection to foreign actors, as well as the need for a gag order, prior to issuing the NSL. In other reform provisions, the legislation would require the government demonstrate to a judge that the target of a roving wiretap is a single person in order to obtain a warrant. An even stricter evidentiary standard is mandated to obtain library and bookstore records. The roving wiretap and records seizure authorities are set to expire at the end of 2013 rather than in 2009...read more

House Committee Marks Up State Secrets Bill

On Nov. 5, the House Judiciary Committee began markups on a bill that would codify standards for when and how the executive branch may apply the state secrets privilege in civil litigation. Although the Obama administration has promised certain limitations on its own use of the privilege, civil liberties and open government groups continue to call for legislation to address the privilege. Ultimately, the committee approved the bill on an 18-12 vote and referred the legislation to the full House. The state secrets privilege was created by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Reynolds (1953). Historically, the privilege has typically been invoked to withhold specific pieces of evidence from being reviewed by a judge for possible introduction at trial. Officials in the Bush administration interpreted the privilege more broadly and repeatedly used it to pressure courts to dismiss entire cases, arguing that any and all records related to the government's defense would be state secrets. Despite the privilege’s court origins, few judges have been willing to question or limit its use. Critics contend that the privilege has been misused to cover up violations of U.S. and international law, such as wiretapping programs, torture, and rendition. In addition, the public learned that the classified material in the original Reynolds case, once declassified in 2000, actually contained no secret information. The bill would prevent the outright dismissal of an entire lawsuit without an independent review of the evidence deemed privileged. The legislation would require the White House to submit the information it deems a state secret to a federal judge, who would conduct an independent review of the material. Further, if the court believes the executive branch claim is legitimate, then the court can require a non-privileged substitute of the evidence to be created, if possible. Refusal to submit evidence would result in a finding against the government...read more

Mexico Border City Groups Call for UN Peacekeepers

Business groups in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez said Wednesday they are calling for United Nations peacekeepers to quell the drug-related violence that has given their city one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Groups representing maquiladora assembly plants, retailers and other businesses said they will submit a request to the Mexican government and the Inter American Human Rights Commission to ask the U.N. to send help. "This is a proposal ... for international forces to come here to help out the domestic (security) forces," said Daniel Murguia, president of the Ciudad Juarez chapter of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism. "There is a lot of extortions and robberies of businesses. Many businesses are closing." The government has sent more than 5,000 soldiers to the city across the border from El Paso, Texas, but killings, extortions and kidnappings continue...read more

Time to Put An End to Army Bases as Gun-Free Zones

It is hard to believe that we don't trust soldiers with guns on an army base when we trust these very same men in Iraq and Afghanistan. Shouldn't an army base be the last place where a terrorist should be able to shoot at people uninterrupted for 10 minutes? After all, an army base is filled with soldiers who carry guns, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. Beginning in March 1993, under the Clinton administration, the army forbids military personnel from carrying their own personal firearms and mandates that "a credible and specific threat against [Department of the Army] personnel [exist] in that region" before military personnel "may be authorized to carry firearms for personal protection." Indeed, most military bases have relatively few military police as they are in heavy demand to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. The unarmed soldiers could do little more than cower as Major Nidal Malik Hasan stood on a desk and shot down into the cubicles in which his victims were trapped...read more

U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade

The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto. The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush's administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would support the talks as long as the negotiating forum, the so-called Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, "operates under the rules of consensus decision-making." The proposed treaty is opposed by conservative U.S. think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which said last month that it would not restrict the access of "dictators and terrorists" to arms but would be used to reduce the ability of democracies such as Israel to defend their people. The U.S. lobbying group the National Rifle Association has also opposed the treaty...read more

Federal judge orders college to allow "empty holster" protest

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order Friday allowing two Tarrant County College students to stage their "empty holster" protest at the community college campuses. U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means said in his ruling that Clayton Smith and John Schwertz Jr., who attend TCC Northeast Campus in Hurst, can wear empty gun holsters and hand out fliers in "public-forum areas including, but not limited to, public streets, sidewalks, and common or park areas." TCC wanted to restrict the protest to a small designated area. But the students cannot wear their holsters in classrooms or hallways. They are protesting for the right of licensed gun owners to carry concealed handguns on college campuses...read more

Police property seizures ensnare even the innocent

Local law enforcement agencies are raising millions of dollars by seizing private property suspected in crimes, but often without charges being filed -- and sometimes even when authorities admit no offense was committed. The money raised by confiscating goods in Metro Detroit soared more than 50 percent to at least $20.62 million from 2003 to 2007, according to a Detroit News analysis of records from 58 law enforcement agencies. In some communities, amounts raised went from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands -- and, in one case, into the millions. "It's like legalized stealing," said Jacque Sutton, a 21-year-old college student from Mount Clemens whose 1989 Mustang was seized by Detroit police raiding a party. Charges against him and more than 100 others were dropped, but he still paid more than $1,000 to get the car back. "According to the law, I did nothing wrong -- but they're allowed to take my property anyway. It doesn't make sense." While courts have maintained the government's right to take property involved in crimes, police seizures -- also known as forfeitures -- are a growing source of friction in Michigan, especially as law enforcement agencies struggle to balance budgets. "Police departments right now are looking for ways to generate revenue, and forfeiture is a way to offset the costs of doing business," said Sgt. Dave Schreiner, who runs Canton Township's forfeiture unit, which raised $343,699 in 2008. "You'll find that departments are doing more forfeitures than they used to because they've got to -- they're running out of money and they've got to find it somewhere."...read more

Deputies Hold Boy Who Fled Flu Shot

It took the strength of two sheriff's deputies to keep a middle schooler still enough to receive a shot of the swine flu, or H1N1, vaccine at a recent clinic. During a regular Wheeling-Ohio County Health Board meeting Tuesday, health department Administrator Howard Gamble told board members about the student's attempt to flee Wheeling Middle School during a vaccination clinic held there last Friday. He noted the boy's mother could not bear to watch the scene and left the gymnasium. Out of apparent fear of receiving the injection, the student ran out of the building. The school's resource officer, Ohio County Sheriff's Deputy John Haglock, coaxed the boy back inside. Once at the shot station, however, Haglock apparently needed some help keeping the boy still, and another deputy assisted. "He tried to run. I looked over and saw two sheriff's deputies holding a kid down," Gamble said. "Mom took off, she couldn't take it. You had one nurse with the needle, two deputies holding him, one nurse is grabbing hands - because that's what they want to do, to go after the needle. And that's the last thing you want."...read more

Commuter train evacuated over spilled diet drink powder

Suspicious powder that caused the evacuation of a New Jersey Transit train turned out to be spilled diet drink mix, according to an NJ Transit spokesman. Dan Stessel told MyFoxNY.com that the powder was Ultra Slim Fast mix. Train 3221 was stopped at the Rahway station and 200 passengers were removed from the train. Hazardous materials teams in protective suits searched the cars. The analyzed the substance before determining it was harmless...read more

Ultra Slim Fast...that's what our government needs to be drinking, not investigating.

Micro Air Vehicles

NMSU rodeo team competes in first rodeo of the season

Margaret Kovar

The New Mexico State University rodeo team started the season strongly at National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) rodeos at Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, N.M., Sept. 18-19, and Cochise College in Douglas, Ariz., Sept. 25-26.

“These were great rodeos to start our season. We are a very young team, but I am confident we will be bringing home plenty of championships this year,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU rodeo coach.

During the Mesalands Community College rodeo, the men’s team finished third overall out of eight teams, and the women’s team placed third out of five teams.

For the men’s team, Steve Hacker, of Battle Mountain, Nev., won first in the saddle bronc riding event, with teammate Thorsen Dusenberry, of Desert Hills, Ariz., placing third.

Dusty Thornton, of Calhan, Colo., placed second in the bull riding.

Las Cruces, N.M., native Bo Simpson won first in the tie-down roping. JoDan Mirabal, of Grants, N.M., received second.

The team of Clinton Hiett, header, of El Paso, Texas, and Jared Sharp, heeler, of Dayton, Ore., placed third in the team roping event.

In the breakaway roping event, Carleigh Marr, of Belen, N.M., tied for first place. Jessica Silva, of Tularosa, N.M., placed second in the goat tying and also was named the women’s all-around champion for the rodeo.

The women’s team placed first overall at the Cochise College rodeo.

“The girls really stepped it up for this rodeo. They are all tough competitors and proved it this weekend,” said Megan Corey Albrecht, NMSU rodeo assistant coach.

In the saddle bronc riding event, Hacker, Dusenberry and Garrison DeWitt, of Rio Rico, Ariz., placed first, second and third, respectively.

In the bull riding, Cheyne Olney, of Toppenish, Wash., placed third.

Simpson placed third in the tie-down roping.

The team of Tyler Dietering, header, of Central Arizona College, and Corban Livingston, heeler, of El Paso, Texas, received third.

Fallon, Nev., native Marisa Julian received second in the breakaway roping, with Silva receiving third.

Jordan Bassett, of Dewey, Ariz., placed third in the barrel racing event.

Katie Waybourn, of Aztec, N.M., won first in the goat tying. Waybourn also was named the women’s all-around champion for the rodeo.

The next NIRA rodeo will be held at Dine College in Tsaile, Ariz., Oct. 9-10.

NMSU rodeo team competes in third rodeo of the season

Margaret Kovar

The New Mexico State University rodeo team continued to hold their own against the competition during the Dine College National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) rodeo Oct. 9-10 in Tsaile, Ariz.

“The Dine College hosted a great rodeo this year. We are starting to get in our groove and team scores are climbing. We just need to keep it up as we go into our final rodeo of the season here in Las Cruces,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU rodeo coach.

The men’s team placed third and the women’s team finished second during the rodeo.

Steve Hacker, of Battle Mountain, Nev., won first in the saddle bronc riding event.

JoDan Mirabal, of Grants, N.M., and Johnny Salvo, of Horse Springs, N.M., placed first and second, respectively, in the tie-down roping.

In the team roping, Mirabal, header, and Grayln Elkins, heeler, of New Mexico Highlands University, received third.

Mirabal also was named the men’s all-around champion for the weekend.

Capitan, N.M., native Staci Stanbrough placed third in breakaway roping and second in barrel racing.

“We did well this last rodeo, but we need to stay focused and really hit the practice pen before the next rodeo, especially since it is a home rodeo,” said Megan Corey Albrecht, NMSU rodeo assistant coach.

The next NIRA rodeo will be held at NMSU in Las Cruces Oct. 31.

NMSU rodeo team competes in final rodeo of the semester

Margaret Kovar

The New Mexico State University men’s rodeo team ended the fall season on top during the NMSU National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) rodeo Oct. 31 in Las Cruces.

The men’s team won first and the women’s team won second during the last rodeo of the semester. Both teams are ranked first in the NIRA’s Grand Canyon region.

“This rodeo was a great end to the fall season. The teams really shined this weekend and pulled ahead of the competition to claim the top spot in the region,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU rodeo coach.

Trevor Haught, of Payson, Ariz., won first in the bareback event.

Thorsen Dusenberry, of Desert Hills, Ariz., and Steve Hacker, of Battle Mountain, Nev., won first and second, respectively, in the saddle bronc riding.

Johnny Salvo, of Horse Springs, N.M., won first in the tie-down roping. Bo Simpson, of Las Cruces, N.M., received second.

In the team roping, Donny DeForest, header, of Yuma, Ariz., and Tyler Findley, heeler, of Silver City, N.M., placed first. Simpson and Garrison DeWitt, of Rio Rico, Ariz., finished second.

For the women’s team, Carleigh Marr, of Belen, N.M., received second in the breakaway roping. Teammate Staci Stanbrough, of Capitan, N.M., placed third.

Dewey, Ariz., native Jordan Bassett placed third in the barrel racing event.

Stanbrough was named the women’s all-around champion for the rodeo.

Climate Bill Likely on the Shelf For Rest of the Year

Key Senate Democrats Tuesday said it is unlikely there will be any more major committee action on climate-change legislation this year, the strongest indication yet that a comprehensive bill to cut greenhouse-gas emissions won't be voted on until at least next year. Although the Senate Environment Committee last week approved a version of the bill, the proposal will face strong revisions from moderate Democrats, particularly from senators on the Finance and Agriculture committees. "It's common understanding that climate-change legislation will not be brought up on the Senate floor and pass the Senate this year," Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus said on the sidelines of a caucus lunch. Mr. Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said he planned to hold a number of hearings on climate legislation and eventually mark up a bill in his panel. "But I don't know that I can get a bill put together by this year, as important as climate-change legislation is," he said. Mr. Baucus was the lone dissenting Democratic vote on the Environment Panel last week because he wanted weaker emission-reduction targets and stronger provisions to protect energy-intensive industries and encourage clean-coal technologies. "I wouldn't want to bet my paycheck that all the relevant committees will report out legislation by the end of this year," said Sen. Thomas Carper (D., Del.)...read more

Why did Apple & Nike quit the U.S Chamber?

The Cascade Policy Institute has "the rest of the story":

As it happens, Al Gore is a member of the board of Apple, and Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, sits on the board of Nike. So it should be fairly obvious why Nike and Apple are supporting cap-and-trade. Nike’s and Apple’s manufacturing bases also lie mostly outside the United States and would be unaffected by a cap-and-trade program. Thus, both Nike and Apple can project a “green” image for their young, environmentally conscious consumers and gain a market advantage by supporting a program that could hinder their U.S.-based competitors. Other companies, like Exelon, are simply waiting to feed from the government-imposed cap-and-trade money trough. Exelon is the biggest nuclear power operator in the country, and Exelon’s CEO John Rowe is endorsing cap-and-trade in order to cash in on the numerous subsidies and market manipulations currently written into the Senate climate bill, which could boost Exelon’s profits by $1.1 billion (39 percent). Apparently, it’s easy being “green,” when “green” means government-guaranteed profiteering and rent-seeking...

Religion’s Role in the Climate Challenge

A remarkable conclave of leading figures from nine of the world’s major religions is under way at Windsor Castle in Britain, under the auspices of Prince Philip and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. Called “Many Heavens, One Earth,” the meeting is intended to generate commitments for actions by religious organizations, congregants and countries that could reduce emissions of greenhouse gases or otherwise limit the human impact on the environment. Much of the discourse over climate has been focused on gigatons of gases, megawatt hours of electricity, miles per gallon or details of diplomatic accords or legislation. But Olav Kjorven, an assistant secretary general at the United Nations involved with the meeting, spent the last year visiting religious orders around the world to see what faiths could bring to the climate table. The answer, Mr. Kjorven told me, is a lot, and not simply in prayer. Religions, he explained, run more than half the world’s schools, so tweaking a curriculum to include more on the environment can have a big impact. Their vast financial holdings provide leverage and capital for investments with environmental or social benefits. At the conference, which ends on Wednesday, many faiths will be announcing long-term plans to make more of an impact in an arena that has not tended to be a top priority...read more

Church bells to ring out warning on climate change

The World Council of Churches on Thursday called on churches around the world to ring their bells 350 times during the Copenhagen climate change summit on December 13 as a call to action on global warming. The leading council of Christian and Orthodox churches also invited places of worship for other faiths to join a symbolic "chain of chimes and prayers" stretching around the world from the international date line in the South Pacific. "On that Sunday, midway through the UN summit, the WCC invites churches around the world to use their bells, drums, gongs or whatever their tradition offers to call people to prayer and action in the face of climate change," the council said in a statement. "By sounding their bells or other instruments 350 times, participating churches will symbolise the 350 parts per million that mark the safe upper limit for CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere according to many scientists," it added...read more

Well hell's bells.

New Army Corps Policy Forces Project Designers to Consider Rising Seas

The Army Corps of Engineers must consider the effects of climate change as it draws up plans for flood control, navigation and other water projects under a new agency policy. The idea is to keep rising seas from swamping major federal investments. In some cases, extra up-front investment could armor projects against worst-case scenarios, the policy's authors say. In others, the corps could leave room for future adjustments. "If you look at something like a levee in the Sacramento area and say we're going to design it to a certain height, well, if we get a higher sea-level rise, then a levee won't provide 100-year protection anymore," said Kevin Knuuti, engineering chief in the Sacramento district and the lead technical author of the policy. "We can either build it extra-high now, which is expensive and will cost more to design, or maybe we can do things that will make it easier to modify the project in the future, if the need arises." Planning for future changes in the case of the Sacramento levee, Knuuti said, might mean purchasing extra land to accommodate future widening. Officials said existing projects also will be evaluated with rising seas in mind...read more

What a surprise. Global warming will result in the feds gobbling up more private land.

River gets its bends back

Along the Truckee River east of Sparks, experts are laboring to correct well-intended mistakes of the past. The $7.8 million restoration of the river at Mustang Ranch, the former site of Nevada's first legal bordello, is the latest project in an ambitious effort to restore much of the lower part of a river that runs 116 miles from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake. Among the changes planned will be a return of the natural, meandering twists that historically characterized the river channel. It's one of several similar multimillion-dollar efforts around the country. In Florida, Texas and Utah, costly projects are under way to return rivers altered by people to a state more closely mirroring nature's intention...read more

Giant New Utah Wind Farm Will Power Los Angeles

The largest wind farm in Utah and one of the largest in the western United States was commissioned with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday at the project site near the small town of Milford. First Wind, an independent North American wind power company based in Boston, celebrated the completion of the first phase of its Milford Wind Corridor project in the presence of Utah Lt. Governor Greg Bell, officials with the federal Bureau of Land Management, state and local officials. The power generated by the wind farm will be sent south to serve Southern California, so representatives of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the cities of Burbank and Pasadena, and the Southern California Public Power Authority attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Featuring 97 wind turbines, the first phase of the project has the capacity to generate 203 megawatts of wind energy, enough to power about 45,000 homes per year, Gaynor says. The Milford Wind Corridor is the first wind energy facility permitted under the Bureau of Land Management's Wind Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for western states...read more

Fast-Tracked Solar Project Could Speed Mojave Desert's Demise

The federal government's determination that a 400-megawatt solar thermal power plant will not cause significant harm to a pristine strip of the Mojave Desert is a victory for those who want to place dozens of solar arrays on federal land in Southern California. But a closer look at a federal draft environmental impact statement released last week reveals that even with extensive mitigation, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System project would destroy rare plants and permanently alter prized views from the nearby Mojave National Preserve. It would also annually consume an estimated 32 million gallons of groundwater in a region where water is scarce. Such findings concern environmentalists who are almost certain to challenge the project. They also add to mounting criticism that the Obama administration is rushing to permit utility-scale renewable energy projects without considering the projects' effects on pristine public lands and the rare plants and animals that inhabit them...read more

What the ‘frack?’

Sublette County residents want oil and gas companies to disclose what chemicals are being used in their hydraulic fracking process — a technique used to break up rock or coal formations in the earth, allowing oil and gas to flow more easy to wells. Fluid made up of water and chemicals is pumped into the rock, creating pressure and causing it to break or fracture. Currently companies do not have to tell what chemicals they use. The problem with that lack of information is not knowing how to properly treat energy industry workers injured by the chemicals while placing medical personnel in danger when treating them. Another concern is the risk of those potentially toxic chemicals seeping into drinking water systems, as some of the fluids remain underground after the fracking process...read more

Domestic crimes may be considered ‘terrorist’ acts

Radical environmentalists may not see themselves as terrorists, but asked whether a terrorism enhancement applies to their sentences for destroying government property, the Seventh Circuit found the issue clear cut. On Nov. 9, the court affirmed application of U.S.S.G. 3A1.4 to members of the Earth Liberation Front who destroyed several research projects at a U.S. Forest Service facility in Rhinelander. In 2000, the defendants, Katherine Christianson and Bryan Rivera, and two others entered the facility and damaged or destroyed more than 500 trees that were part of a genetic engineering experiment, either by cutting them down or girdling them. (“Girdling” consists of removing a strip of bark from around a tree’s entire circumstance, causing eventual death.) Before addressing the merits, Judge Manion cautioned, “ELF and its members are not to be confused with the typical environmental protestor denouncing and peacefully demonstrating against such things as nuclear power, strip coal mining, cutting old-growth timber, offshore drilling, damming wild rivers, and so on.” Instead, Manion observed, “ELF’s members take their activism to unconscionable levels: since ELF’s inception in 1987, its members have been responsible for bombings, arson, vandalism, and a host of other crimes. In fact, between 2000 and 2005, 43 of the 57 reported terrorist attacks committed on American soil were done by ELF members or their sister organization, the Animal Liberation Front. ELF’s terror attacks have caused over fifty million dollars in damage to public and private property.” The guideline defines a terrorist act as a crime involving or intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism, as defined at 18. U.S.C. 2332b(g)...read more

Man missing in Gila spotted by rescuers

A Houston man who has been missing since Tuesday in the Gila Wilderness Area was spotted late Thursday afternoon by National Guard Search and Rescue crew members aboard an HO 58 helicopter. Ross Mason, 44, went into the Gila on about Nov. 5, and planned to do a solo hike of the Big Bear Loop, an approximately 25-mile round trip. But when he didn't check in with his friend, William Lidwell, back in Houston by noon on Tuesday, Mason's college buddy knew something was wrong. Gonzales said the region is so rugged that the only place to search was on the trails. The search team had dogs but didn't have a scent for the dogs to go on because it had been too long and they had no scent item to give the dogs. And, federal law prevents a helicopter from landing in the wilderness. At approximately 4 p.m. Thursday, Mason was spotted by members of the search and rescue team aboard the National Guard helicopter. A Forest Service employee had joined the team in the chopper to show them where the trails were. "They flew over White Creek Cabin, about 21 miles from the Cliff Dwellings up the West Fork," Gonzales said. Mason had spelled out S.O.S. in colored clothing on the ground and was spotted by the crew...read more

Seven Reasons Why Congress Should Repeal, Not Fix, the Death Tax

The House and Senate may soon begin debate on what to do with the federal estate tax. If Congress fails to act before January 1, 2010, current law calls for death taxes to disappear entirely for one year before returning in 2011 at a top rate of 55 percent and a $1 million exemption of taxable estate.[1] The 2009 tax rate is 45 percent, and the exemption stands at $3.5 million per taxpayer. What should Congress do? Some Members want to permanently "fix" the death tax by reducing the top rate to 35 percent, which some pro-death tax policymakers suggest is a rate wealthy taxpayers could "afford." However, this would be the wrong move for Congress to make. Instead, policymakers should do what their voters want them to do, as revealed in poll after poll: They should repeal this tax and kill it, once and forever. Americans of all walks of life sense the deep injustice of federal death taxes and the fundamental immorality of bedrock public policies that tell people one thing and do another. Policymakers say, on the one hand, that that if you work hard, save your money, and generally do the right things in your daily life, you will succeed in the U.S. economy. On the other hand, however, these same policymakers support the federal death tax, which has the power to nearly confiscate these hard won economic gains once success is attained...read more