Forestry trend is putting Oregonians out of work

Another logger is out of work today. Actually, it is Jamie the loader operator, Rex the hook tender, Don the chaser, Jerry the truck driver and a half dozen other men, all with names and families. Last week they were taxpaying citizens; this week they will begin collecting unemployment checks and food stamps. To the greenies, this is good news. Fewer trees will be harvested, and that's what the zealots have wanted all these long decades. They have protested and litigated forest plans and timber sales for every real, theoretical and whimsical reason they could conjure up. Please don't ever complain about the price of toilet paper, lumber or new houses in the future. More sympathetic readers may sadly wag their heads and talk about how those loggers should have seen it coming. The company should have bought new equipment to embrace forest health and bio-energy. Nice theory, except the new equipment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars with no guarantee there will be any work for it. Banks won't loan money to distressed homeowners, let alone to loggers who are viewed with disdain. After 27 years of impeccable credit and financial solvency, the bank suddenly canceled the credit line and bank accounts of this logging company because it was deemed a "bad risk." How's that for stimulation?...more

Hidden Gems Wilderness Unsafe

With the growing threat of catastrophic wildfires, due to the mountain pine beetle infestation, it is unconscionable for the Hidden Gems (HG) Campaign to be proposing wilderness designation for so much of Eagle and Summit counties. The HG Campaign itself acknowledges “extensive impact from the mountain pine beetle in recent years.” Especially “…Summit County, where many communities and neighborhoods lie near or in the forest and near the wilderness proposal areas.” The Wilderness Act of 1964 and documents supporting the proposed Hidden Gems all have a clear intent of “fire control,” but no fire prevention. A wilderness designation would impact the Forest Service and our local fire district's ability to prevent wildfires through programs like fuel mitigation and forest treatments. We have seen valiant efforts by our government officials to reduce wildfire risks; including Governor Ritter's “Colorado Healthy Forests and Vibrant Communities Act” and the USDA announcement in Dec. 2009; “U.S. Forest Service will commit an additional $40 million to address public safety concerns and forest health needs arising from the millions of acres of dead and dying trees from bark beetle infestation in the West.” Our own Senator Gibbs and State Rep. Scanlan just testified in Washington in support of a bill which “would enable the Forest Service to better protect communities and watersheds from catastrophic wildfire in anticipation of the upcoming fire season.” Hidden Gems is directly contrary to these efforts and jeopardizes the safety of our communities...more

Scientist: Money to fight beetles as fire mitigation not productive

Insect infestations are not the major cause of forest fires in Colorado, and allocating federal assistance to combat the critters would be unproductive, one scientist has told a U.S. Senate subcommittee. “The best available science indicates that outbreaks of mountain pine beetle and spruce beetle do not increase the risk of fire in most types of forests," said Dominik Kulakowski, testifying Wednesday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. Udall's bill, in part, seeks to provide increased federal assistance to 12 “affected" Western states, including Colorado, which have large numbers of forest lands containing disease-ridden trees caused by beetle outbreaks and other insect infestations. Kulakowski, a former research scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder and current professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, discounted this notion during his testimony. He said climate, not insects, plays the most important role in forest fires, as wildfires are more likely to occur during droughts. Scientific evidence indicates that fires do not burn more quickly or more severely in dead, disease-ridden forests than in dense, live forests under current climate conditions, Kulakowski said...more

Horse meat in Wyo?

A plan to give the Wyoming Livestock Board an alternative to selling abandoned horses is getting stiff opposition from animal rights advocates. And it is coming even before the new law goes into effect July 1. The plan by members of the United Organization of the Horse is to set up something like a triage operation at the old railroad stockyards in Cheyenne for abandoned or unwanted horses. The horses would be screened and provided rehabilitation, training or slaughter, depending on their condition. The plan is ultimately to market horse meat in the state. Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Gillette, was the prime sponsor of House Bill 122, which was signed into law by Gov. Dave Freudenthal. "The animal rights people have put this on their agenda," Wallis said last week in a telephone interview. She said members of the United Organization of the Horse met April 2 and developed a plan for a "unified equine system." If people have horses they cannot sell or keep, they can donate the horses to the nonprofit United Organization of the Horse and get receipts for tax deductions for the value of the horses, Wallis explained. Brand inspectors and law enforcement officers who find starving horses can turn them over to the organization if they can provide clear titles, she added. If the horses are in reasonably good condition, they would go into a rejuvenation program with special food and care. If they have any potential and are in good shape, they can go into a rescue and training program. Horses unsuitable for slaughter, such as horses with foals, will be held. Horses that are old and past a productive life or are dangerous and untrainable will be slaughtered, but in a humane way, Wallis said...more

Song Of The Day #295

Ranch Radio will bring you some "answer songs" this week. We'll start with two classics by Hank Thompson & Kitty Wells: The Wild Side Of Life & It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.

I remember reading somewhere that this same melody went to #1 on the charts 4 times. The two offered here, The Great Speckled Bird by Roy Acuff and for the life of me I can't remember the fourth this morning. If you know, please email me.

The myth of the harmless wolf

On March 9, 2010, Candice Berner, a 32 year-old special education teacher working in Chignik Lake, Alaska, went jogging at dusk on a road near town and was attacked and killed by wolves. On October 28, 2009, Canadian folk singer Taylor Mitchell was hiking in a Provincial Park in Nova Scotia when she was attacked and killed by two coyotes, which were subsequently identified by park rangers as a wolf-coyote hybrid. In November of 2005, college student Kenton Carnegie was hiking on a road near Points North Landing in northern Saskatchewan when he was attacked and killed by wolves. There was some dispute over whether Carnegie was killed by wolves or a bear, but a provincial inquest found that wolves were responsible. The attacking wolves in these three incidents were not rabid. Some light on wolf-human encounters was shed in 2002 when Alaskan wildlife biologist Mark McNay published a report of a two-year study documenting 80 aggressive encounters between wolves and people in North America in the 20th century. In only 12 of the attacks were the wolves rabid. Since McNay's report came out there have been three fatal attacks by healthy wolves, and an unknown number of non-fatal aggressive encounters and attacks on people and their pets in the U.S. and Canada. So what's up? "In Wolves In Russia," Will Graves reports on a long history of wolf attacks on people in Eurasia, especially Russia, Pakistan, India and Kazakhastan, including thousands of fatal ones. Have Siberian wolves sneaked across the Bering Sea ice in winter and turned our harmless wolves into bad guys? People were killed by wolves in North America before the 20th century. The appearance of people with firearms led to the demise of wolves in the Lower 48 as there was concentrated effort to eradicate Canis lupus. More than two million wolves were killed in the process. Not nearly as many people in Eurasia are armed...more

Senators postpone climate bill unveiling

Monday's unveiling of a compromise Senate climate bill was postponed on Saturday, Democratic Senator John Kerry said, after a dispute arose over unrelated immigration reform legislation. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said earlier on Saturday he would have to pull out of the bipartisan climate change effort because of concerns Democrats would push forward with a debate on immigration reform, rather than the climate change bill, in the Senate. Kerry said he hoped to keep working for passage of a climate bill. He said that after more than six months of detailed meetings with Graham and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman, "we believe that we had reached" an agreement on the details of a bill to reduce smokestack emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases associated with global warming. They were planning to outline those details at a news conference on Monday that would have been attended by some environmental and industry representatives...more

Something is awfully fishy here. Let's be kind and hope Graham finally realized this was a bill to ration energy and raise taxes.

President Barack Obama wields executive clout on green policy

For eight years, environmentalists cried foul as President George W. Bush used his executive power to weaken clean-air and clean-water regulations, open public lands to increased oil and gas drilling and block action to fight climate change. Now, President Barack Obama is exercising that same authority to reverse course, and business groups are the ones yelling. Obama has moved to improve the fuel efficiency of cars, halt new uranium mines near the Grand Canyon, strengthen anti-smog rules, protect endangered species and regulate global-warming emissions from power plants, factories and cars. Environmentalists say that unchecked climate change is a much greater threat to the U.S. economy than regulation because of the potentially devastating coastal flooding, Midwest droughts and other disasters it could cause. And the Obama administration touts its efforts to boost renewable energy
and wean America off foreign oil as a way to create more U.S. jobs. While denouncing what he called Obama's move toward "a regulation nation," conservative energy analyst Myron Ebell acknowledged that the administration is taking some business concerns into account. One thing both sides agree on is that Obama and Bush used presidential power on environmental issues in part because they saw Congress as unwilling or unable to act...more

Earth Day Agriculture and Sustainable Intensification

What’s the most sustainable way to grow the food we eat? The answer environmentalists give is always “local and organic.” But, increasingly, the answer from the scientists who’ve studied the question is the exact opposite. A study from England’s Royal Society issued last October concluded that genuinely sustainable agriculture must embrace the use of science and technology for producing more food on less land. It suggests that a healthy concern for protecting the environment necessitates the greater adoption of sophisticated agricultural technologies, including fertilizers, pesticides, and bioengineered (or GM) crops. Why? Because protecting the environment will require growing vastly more food without bringing new land into agriculture–what the report calls “sustainable intensification.” And, just last week, the US National Academy of Sciences’s National Research Council issued an in-depth study on The Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States, concluding that, “when best management practices are implemented, GE crops have been effective at reducing pest problems with economic and environmental benefits”...more

Los Payasos - Gov't At Work

As the country was sinking into its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years, Security and Exchange Commission employees and contractors cruised porn sites and viewed sexually explicit pictures using government computers, according to an agency report obtained by CNN. "During the past five years, the SEC OIG (Office of Inspector General) substantiated that 33 SEC employees and or contractors violated Commission rules and policies, as well as the government-wide Standards of Ethical Conduct, by viewing pornographic, sexually explicit or sexually suggestive images using government computer resources and official time," said a summary of the investigation by the inspector general's office. More than half of the workers made between $99,000 and $223,000. All the cases took place over the past five years...more

Coyote vs. Greyhound: The Battle Lines Are Drawn

Hunting coyotes with greyhounds goes back generations. President Theodore Roosevelt did so on this land, about 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, in the early 1900s. It remains largely a regional pursuit that is part of the area’s lore, like the cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail. Ranchers and farmers have long viewed coyotes as pests because they kill livestock. Yet hunting coyotes with greyhounds — all members of the Canidae family — is banned in some states, including Washington and Colorado. But Hardzog, a 65-year-old lifelong Oklahoman who wears pressed Wrangler jeans and a rodeo belt buckle the size of a bread plate, called his favorite form of hunting “one of the cleanest sports out there.” Using greyhounds to hunt is natural, Hardzog said. “When you get the dogs running in a dead run after a coyote, now that’s a sport,” Hardzog said before spitting snuff into a tiny gold spittoon. “The coyote is just about the smartest wild animal alive because they always have an escape route. I respect them. They can outsmart you. But greyhounds are smart, too. I think they’re the neatest dog ever made.” Hardzog, who eschews seat belts and scoffs at “too many laws,” was 7 when he first hunted coyotes with his father. Now he has 40 greyhounds and greyhound mixes, some with scarred legs and faces, that he bred on his 318-acre ranch. Sometimes, they gnaw on stillborn calves and clean their teeth on the bones. He said he spent $600 on their monthly upkeep. They have names like Matthew, Luke, Venus and Little Bit. Some are part Irish wolfhound, others part Saluki. All have a strong prey drive and hunt by sight. Only a handful have failed as coyote hunters, Hardzog said...more

Famed Writer, Rancher, and Environmentalist to Speak at Carleton College

Dan O’Brien, famed western writer and Headley Distinguished Visitor-in-Residence in environmental studies, will present a public reading on Tuesday, April 27 at 5 p.m. in Boliou Hall, room 104, on the Carleton College campus. A wildlife biologist, falconer, and rancher for almost 30 years, O’Brien has used his “keen and poetic eye…” to give a bold literary voice to the Great Plains through his numerous works of award-winning fiction and non-fiction. This event is free and open to the public. For twenty years Dan O’Brien struggled to make ends meet on his cattle ranch in South Dakota. But when a neighbor invited him to lend a hand at the annual buffalo roundup, O’Brien was inspired to convert his own ranch, the Broken Heart, to buffalo. Starting with thirteen calves, “short-necked, golden balls of wool,” O’Brien embarked on a journey that returned buffalo to his land for the first time in more than a century and a half. Intent on narrating the story of his ranch’s conversion from beef to buffalo, O’Brien wove the history of the Great Plains, the hardships of ranching, and vivid portraits of the Great Plains together to create Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch (Random House, September 2001). The book was recently purchased by Universal Studios to be commissioned into a screenplay starring actor Edward Norton...more

We got seed grain, boys

When Morey Skaret turned eight, the age at which a lad made the leap from haphazard chores to full-time farmhand, his father made him the hog boss. Morey took his new position seriously, executing his duties with the same care, precision and panache that would one day make him a leader of men, and propel him to the top of many professions. Not only did life on the prairie make men out of boys before their time; it meted out many other tough lessons as well. "My mother had six children, all told," Morey says, combing through an old photo album. His older brother, Johannes, died in 1909. "He was just a child," Morey recalls. "They buried him behind the house. All the homesteaders had private plots." They didn't have a cemetery. There was just a house here; then two miles, another house. And they just buried their dead at the home place. Another of the prairie's more sobering lessons was on the danger of shortcuts. Literally. "A kid came from Crow Hill School," Morey recalls, "and his last name was Zeemer. We followed the fence when the snow was blowing hard, almost a blizzard. But we followed that fence. And then the snow got higher and higher. Pretty soon you can't see the fence ahead of ya. You gotta feel for it. "And this one fellow, Zeemer-I forget his name-he said he's gonna short-cut. He said, 'I don't wanna follow this fence line all the way along here to your house, and then follow your fence line down to my house,' which was another two miles. "So he says, 'I'm gonna short-cut from here, right across the prairie, and catch this fence over here. And then I can catch the other fence that goes to our farm, over here.' "Well, the sad part of it was: he started to short-cut. But boy, in a blizzard, you don't have any sense of direction, and that prairie's flat. There's no trees or anything. And what you usually do is you walk in a circle, when you get to the point where you can't see any marks to go by. "And you walk to the left if you're right-footed. Your right foot is stronger, and it'll gain maybe half a foot on every step you take; you just go in a circle."...more

It's All Trew: Book offers county tales of the Texas Panhandle

A book titled "Presenting the Texas Panhandle" by Lan-Bea Publications in 1979 provides many interesting facts about the Texas Panhandle.

--"The counties of the Texas Panhandle were originally drawn in a "paper survey" by politicians in Austin laying a ruler on a Texas map, starting on the east with the 100th Meridian and drawing lines every thirty miles in every direction."

--The town of Panhandle was first named Panhandle City. Childress was first named Childress City, barely beating out a town named Henry for county seat.

--The census taker for the 1880 census count in today's Collingsworth County rode horseback for nine days trying to find six young cowboys, the only residents for the vast open prairie area.

--During an election in Collingsworth County, only after "the whiskey flowed generously" did the name of Wellington beat out the name of Aberdeen for county seat.

--Dalhart was once named Denrock, Twist and Twist Junction in its earliest days.

--Texline once boasted, "It is the biggest and best and the fastest and hardest and the busiest and wildest and roughest and toughest town in this section of the Panhandle."...more

Song Of The Day #294

Ranch Radio will get your blood pumpin' this Monday morning with a fiddle tune by bluegrass fiddler Barbara Lamb.

The tune is Bumblebee In The Gourdvine and is available on her 13 track CD Tonight I Feel Like Texas.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Gettin' old - not a pretty sight

by Julie Carter

The plan all along is to get old, but it happens to some folks faster than others.

Cowboys pretty much across the board fit into that category.

The life of cowboy is hard on the physical body.

It doesn't seem to hurt their mind much, but one could argue that if they had much of a mind to begin with, they'd have another vocation.

Perhaps a career that offered better hours and monetary rewards.

A life of having horses pound you into the ground, cows run you over and assortment of other wrecks involving gates, pickups and trailers have cowboys feeling serious aches and pains at an early age.

And that's just from the work part of the job.

The horseplay that goes on endlessly is as frequently the culprit for injury and subsequent lifetime handicaps.

The body is just not made to bend the wrong way as many times as cowboying can make that happen.

Looking older than they are and feeling twice as old happens sooner than usual if the vocation involves the word cowboy.

Bowlegs are a visible symptom of a much worse problem.

Those knobby knees in the middle of that bow are a never ending source of pain, agony and frustration.

An old-in-miles but not-in-years cowboy with knees that had seen Olympic-quality abuse wrote this about the situation:

Where ever you go either you walk or ride.
You use your knees with every stride.
Your stride gets short and the trail gets long.
It sure is hell when your knees are gone.
You jump right off but when you land,
Sometimes your mouth gets full of sand.
You can't stand up and it hurts to crawl.
You ain't no good on the ground at all.
You can't run your horse with any ease,
'Cause of the real bad hurtin' in your knees.
But don't you worry about that ol' pard,
The cowboy life was always hard.

With today's technology, more and more cowboys are signing up for the "spare parts" surgery. Usually these guys need the new knees long before the doctors think it's advisable.

The new parts come with life-span that leaves the cowboy needing a second replacement even before he is eligible for social security.

In an effort to avoid that and to buy a little time, they hobble around dragging a leg, thinking everything they see looks like it needs to be set on, and giving the anti-inflammatory drug business a dramatic sales boost.

At the branding corral, they look for a place to sit and rest where they don't have to be tailed back up when it is time to go back to work.

The grunts and moans you hear is just them trying to get their foot in the stirrup and get back on their horse.

No longer is there any shame in using a log, rock or trailer fender to make that easier.

They find it acceptably easier to the let the young buttons do the work even if it takes longer than it should.

With no apology, they discover a new found fondness for shorter horses and slower women.

And those old cowboys that are recreational ropers?

The secret to their quick catch is simply because their shoulders won't hold up past a few quick swings of the loop.

It can be noted that most of the senior roping events start early in the morning. It's paramount that they get their shot at roping for the money before their pills start to wear off.

This getting' old ain't for sissies.

Julie, somewhat long in the tooth herself, can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. Visit my website at www.julie-carter.com

It's The Pitts: Dudes & Desperadoes

Lee Pitts

Greed and stupidity must both travel on the same chromosome.

Greedy people are usually stupid people. That’s why dumbos lined up to get in on the action when Charles Ponzi promised a 50% return on their money in just 90 days. Ponzi patterned his scheme after a guy named William Miller who promised a 10% return. PER WEEK! Then there’s Bernard Madoff. He was able to separate his “friends” from fifty billion of their dollars because he supposedly had a secret formula for making money that no one else knew. I’m just glad I wasn’t one of his friends.

In the past, smooth talking shysters have coaxed greedy idiots into investing in sunken treasure, Florida swampland and even loaves and fishes. Yes, a gun-toting minister in Florida told his parishioners that God had modernized the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and that God had made him a special offer that would allow the minister to double his parishioner’s money faster than you can say “sucker.”

No one would be so stupid to fall for that, you say? Sadly, the believers lost $500 million in trying to corner the loaf and fish market.

Although it pains me to say this, we’ve had our share of crooks in the cattle business too. Some of the great ranching empires in the West owe their existence to a Great-Great grandpappy who had a running iron and the gumption to use it. These “brand artists” gave way to syndicates in the late 1800’s that were put together to fleece Scotsmen. On paper the syndicators showed their investors a huge profit because nearly every cow had twins every year. At least on paper anyway. The crooks were saved when a nasty winter killed so many cattle that the “book count” and the actual head count could never be reconciled.

In more recent times the cattle business has been plagued by check kiters, tax cheats and common cattle crooks. Due to hard economic times, thieves with an aversion to work have made cattle rustling a popular criminal activity once again. Such crooks must be dumber than a dead jelly fish. Anyone who’d risk spending several years in prison for a gooseload of cattle has got to be intellectually challenged. Even if they are free, they are still cows folks! I heard of one case in Texas where one brother stole the cattle and another other brother sold them and they still lost money! Adding insult to injury, their days were soon filled with body-cavity searches and communal showers in a crossbar hotel.

At least the rustlers have to get their hands dirty. Not so, the class of crooks who deal in phantom cattle. You may have heard that the actor Kiefer Sutherland was allegedly bilked for nearly $900,000 by Michael Wayne Carr of Linden, California. Carr supposedly told the television star that he could buy cattle really cheap in Mexico and sell them on this side of the border and make a big killing. All he needed was the seed money to buy the cattle. You can probably figure out what happened next.

A friend of mine knows this Carr character and says he’s so crooked he could sleep in the shade of a post hole auger. My friend told me a story about Carr that I think irrefutably proves that greed and stupidity are genetically linked. Supposedly Carr walked into the office of a wealthy businessman and presented his get-rich-quick spiel. The potential investor started asking a lot of questions so Carr pulls out his cell phone and said he’d get his American buyer on the line to prove the validity of his claims. Carr dialed numbers on his cell phone and was carrying on a conversation in front of the investor, asking the supposed buyer how many cattle he needed, what weight, and what price he’d be willing to pay. Then his cell phone rang!

The moral of the story? Never buy cattle from a crook who’s not smart enough to turn off his cell phone when he’s making a fake phone call.

Song Of The Day #293

Ranch Radio's Gospel tune this Sunday morning is There's One by The Bishops.

The song is available on their 13 track CD Kentucky Bluegrass.

Police ambushed in Juarez; 8 people killed

Two police cars apparently lured into an intersection in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez on Friday were ambushed by gunmen. At least seven officers were killed in the brazen midday attack, along with a 17-year-old passerby. Two other injured officers were hospitalized and under heavy guard, said public security spokesman Enrique Torres, to prevent gunmen from attempting to finish the job. All but one of the dead officers were from the U.S.-trained federal police force. The seventh was a municipal policewoman. A contingent of 5,000 federal police agents took over security of Juarez two weeks ago as part of a plan to phase out the army, which has occupied the city — Mexico's deadliest — for two years. The death toll has skyrocketed over that period. Bullet-pocked police trucks remained on the street for some time after the ambush, surrounded by bodies covered in white sheets. As drug-war violence continued to intensify, sucking in innocents caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, dozens of people were killed across Mexico on Thursday and Friday...more

Gunmen kill 4, wound top security official in Michoacan

Gunmen armed with high-caliber weapons ambushed the top security official in Mexican President Felipe Calderon's home state early Saturday, wounding her and killing at least four other people.Minerva Bautista Gomez, public security minister for Michoacan state, had just left ceremonies in Morelia launching a state fair, which she attended with the governor and other high-ranking officials. Within a mile, her armored SUV and bodyguard escort came under fire from assailants who had blocked the highway with a disabled trailer, trapping the minister and her entourage. In the fierce gun battle that followed, two of Bautista's bodyguards and two motorists were killed. At least 10 people, including Bautista, were wounded. The gunmen escaped...more

This is not a border state...the violence may be moving inland.

Arrests In Killings Of Consulate Worker, 2 Others

In the border city of Ciudad Juarez, authorities said they have made arrests in the killing of an American woman who worked at the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, her husband and another man married to a Mexican consulate worker. Authorities said they have arrested a gang member who allegedly participated as a lookout in the March 13 killings. Chihuahua state authorities said in a statement Thursday that the gang member was arrested along another four men who belong to the Aztecas gang...more

Ciudad Juarez: War Against Los Zetas, Along the Gulf and Into America

One of the hallmark facts about the growth of the Mexican cartels and the corresponding growth of violence in Mexico over the past decades is that where there is more money to earn, there is more money to lose. As their revenues and influence grew, it lead to the cartels becoming both more covetous of turf and more zealous about defending it. The Zetas were born out of this fact. In the late 90s, Osiel Cardenas, then the head of the Gulf cartel, began to recruit members of an elite Mexican army special forces team to become enforcers for his cartel. They were very well trained (some say in the U.S.) and one of their main goals was to combat drug trafficking. In the beginning, about 35 soldiers defected to become the Zetas—and suddenly the Gulf Cartel had its own paramilitary force. They brought professional knowledge of advanced weaponry and battle tactics, and came with a pre-ordained chain of command. Their creation sparked a huge upward trend in violent enforcement in an already violent industry. Soon after the Zetas hit the scene, the Sinaloa cartel followed suit, organizing Los Negros and Los Pelones, similar groups of ex-soldiers, to act as wings of the business devoted to nothing but violence and murder. As time went on, the former leaders of the Zetas began to intertwine themselves more in the business aspects of the cartel. In the past few years, Zetas have taken over leadership positions in both enforcement and trafficking, becoming an inextricable part of the cartel while still remaining a unit unto themselves...more

"Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields," by Charles Bowden

Don't read this book for amusement or relaxation. This beautifully constructed narrative will horrify you while forcing you to expand your thinking about a very timely topic and causing you to fret about the darker side of human nature. Bowden found that although there's no denying the ruthless role played by the drug lords in illicit drugs, some issues are rarely cited. One is how the North American Free Trade Agreement obeyed the law of unintended consequences by diminishing Juarez's economy and leaving thousands unemployed or working for wages even lower than before NAFTA. But there's easy money to be made in drugs. Another aspect seldom reported in the United States (and not in the Mexican press, from fear or as a result of bribery) is the role of the nation's military as well as federal, state and local police units. To one degree or another, they are all corruptly involved in the drug trade. Bowden's depressing summary: "In over half a century of fighting drugs, Mexico has never created a police unit that did not join the traffickers. Or die." He offers another compelling observation: "There are two Mexicos. There is the one reported by the U.S. press, a place where the Mexican president is fighting a valiant war against the evil forces of the drug world and using the incorruptible Mexican army as his warriors. This Mexico has newspapers, courts, and laws and is seen by the U. S. government as a sister republic. It does not exist. "There is a second Mexico, where the war is for drugs, for the enormous money to be made in drugs, where the police and military fight for their share, where the press is restrained by the murder of reporters and feasts on a steady diet of bribes."...more

Sen. Cornyn Says Feds Have Failed, Offers Support For Local Law Enforcement

Local border law enforcement leaders met with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Friday to express the needs of their agencies and the ongoing threat of spillover violence from the border’s drug war. Cornyn said he believes that the federal government has failed at border enforcement and has left local law agencies with the burden. To assist local agencies, Cornyn is introducing legislation that would provide an additional $300 million to agencies within 100 miles of the border. The bill would provide money for additional personnel and technology to help combat border crime. It would also allow the hiring of additional federal district judges to deal with a growing case load. "We know the spill over effect we've heard some about here today. We know it is very real and that people live in fear of their own public safety, and that's unacceptable," Cornyn said after the meeting...more

US training Mexican feds

These four officers are among a group of nine Mexican federal policemen who received close-quarters marksmanship training from Border Patrol instructors Friday morning at the agency's warehouse in Nogales, Ariz. In the afternoon, they were trained on basic building entry. This week the group is set to complete the four-part training that also includes sessions on ATV patrols, finding concealed compartments and emergency first aid. When the nine graduate, there will be 57 Mexican federal police officers who have been trained under an unprecedented partnership that began early this year between the U.S. and Mexico, designed to help both countries combat a common enemy: Mexican drug smugglers. "They're getting into close-quarter combat all the time with the drug smugglers and the cartels, and we're hoping that this will help these guys prevail to win and stay alive," said Pittman, a supervisory Border Patrol agent who has been in Nogales for 15 years. "These guys are getting slaughtered down there." Dozens of police officers have been killed in Mexico, including the assistant police chief in Nogales, Sonora, earlier this year and the commander of the Sonoran state police in 2008. Officials chose Nogales to test the program, funded by the U.S. State Department's Mérida Initiative, because it's the busiest stretch of U.S.-Mexico border, said Border Patrol spokesman David Jimarez. It could be expanded across the border in the future...more

Violence temporarily closes Camargo bridge

Authorities have temporarily shut down the Camargo-Rio Grande City International Bridge following reports of a robbery and shooting on the Mexican side. Witnesses said a group of armed men robbed a tollbooth or tollbooths on the Mexican side of the border and fired their weapons. The Tamaulipas Ministry of Public Safety (SSP) confirmed an incident at the bridge reporting that the customs area had been damaged by a group of civilians. Southbound traffic from the United States into Mexico remained closed on Saturday afternoon. The SSP reported that the bodies of three men were found near Camargo in the Town of Rancherias on Saturday morning. Investigators reported that the three men had been killed by gunfire. The two incidents are the latest in a string of shootouts and mysterious murders along the "frontera chica," or little border which extends from Camargo in the east to Nueva Ciudad Guerrero next to Falcon Lake. Since late February, the area has seen dozens of deaths and disappearances following shootouts between rival drug trafficking organizations as well as between the Mexican soldiers and drug traffikcers...more

Suspected drug runner, worker square off with guns

A U.S. surveyor and a suspected lookout for Mexican drug runners exchanged gunfire near the border Thursday after a short standoff that found them pointing weapons at each other. The surveyor was looking for stone monuments that mark the U.S.-Mexico border near Tres Bellotas Ranch, south of Arivaca, when he heard a noise on a ridge, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Office report. He then came face-to-face with a man wearing what he described as “the old battle-dress uniform of the U.S. Army.” The surveyor, whose name was redacted in the report, pulled his 9mm pistol while the man in camouflage pointed a rifle at him. The standoff lasted just a few seconds as the men looked at each other, then lowered their weapons. The surveyor, who did not speak Spanish, said the other man uses gestures to ask whether there were other people in the area. He said no, and the man said, “adios” and walked away. The man in fatigues walked about 600 feet when the surveyor said he heard two voices then heard six shots in his direction. He “hit the deck,” according to the report, and returned seven shots. He said he was unsure whether the shots from the two men came near him, and no shells or casings were discovered during an investigation. The surveyor left on his ATV and called authorities. The incident occurred in Santa Cruz County, and sheriff’s officials there along with Border Patrol agents took over the investigation. According to the PCSO report, the surveyor apparently “had just stumbled across a group (of drug runners) preparing to cross” and the shots were fired to scare him off. Tres Bellotas Ranch is about 10 miles due south of Arivaca. It’s the same place where a Mexican military helicopter carrying about half a dozen armed men landed on the U.S. side of the border five years ago this month...more

ALLIANCE SUES US FWS AND OTHERS OVER MEXICAN WOLF

Claims violation of NEPA provisions for Endangered Species Act

RESERVE, N.M. Americans for Preservation of the Western Environment, the Gila Livestock Growers Association, the Board of County Commissioners of Catron County, New Mexico and other plaintiffs have jointly sent notification of an intent to file suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of the Interior, and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, for management actions and policies that violate the provisions of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Plan and the Final Rule issued under Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species.

The letter states that instead of following the procedures and process set forth in the Final Rule issued under Section 10(j), the Fish & Wildlife Service, the Department of Interior and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish have embarked on a procedure of developing ad hoc management practices and procedures for dealing with depredations and removals, all of which have been put in place without following appropriate procedures under the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Additionally, the letter states that the agencies' demonstrate intent to continue to violate the express findings in the FEIS and Final Rule.

"The point of this letter is to give the agencies the opportunity to come into compliance," said Ed Wehrheim, Chairman of Americans for Preservation of Western Environment, a citizen-based group claiming overwhelming support throughout New Mexico.

"In a time when we're cutting back on teachers, health care and other vital programs, the Mexican wolf program, which is now costing over $400,000 per wolf, is insane."



# # #

Congressman Seeks to Expand EPA's Control of Water

A Democratic congressman is seeking to strip the word "navigable" from the 1972 Clean Water Act to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to surpass the limits imposed by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling on the kinds of waterways the agency can regulate. That word typically is interpreted to refer to any body of water that is "deep enough and wide enough to afford passage to ships." But Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., who worked on the 1972 legislation as a Capitol Hill staff member, said he is trying to restore the original intent of the law. "I know what it means and it says the purpose of this act is to establish and maintain the chemical, biological and physical integrity of the nation's waters," Oberstar said. Some Republican advocates of land rights are wary, fearing that striking the word "navigable" from the Clean Water Act will bring every lake, pond, creek or mud hole under the EPA's control. "It potentially puts government in charge of all waters, including mud puddles, irrigation ditches," said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. "If you take out 'navigable' in this bill, it could potentially lead to the federal government usurping state laws as it relates to water and regulating, therefore, mud puddles. I just think that's bad policy."...more

This is a good example of one of the many things wrong with D.C. today. You'll note he was a staffer in 1972. He actually first went to work for Congress in 1963 and was elected a congressman in 1974.

That's 47 years of toiling away in oinkdom. Oberstar may have been a quality individual when he started, but you can't feed at the Congressional trough for 47 years without it changing you. Believe me I know and I was only there for 5 years.

If you have the stomach for it, go here to see his 7 minute presentation on the introduction of the bill. You will notice he has to read his statement. Other than a few ad libs about the meeting room and a hearing in Chicago, everything of substance about the proposed bill is read from a statement. A statement written by...a staffer.

And the circle continues.

Expansion foes question Coffman offer on Pinon

Opponents of an Army proposal to expand its Southeastern Colorado training base Wednesday rejected a congressman’s attempt to ban the Army’s use of eminent domain to secure additional land. "Mr. Coffman has been attempting to open a door for expansion all along. It looks to us that this bill is not something we need. We've already got eminent domain off the table," said Lon Robertson, a Kim rancher and president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition. Robertson said Coffman's bill asks that funding be allowed and if that happens it opens the door to expansion. "The best way to keep eminent domain away is to keep the funding away from the expansion. The funding ban that is in place already takes any threat of condemnation off the table, so this is a redundant bill that Mr. Coffman is offering," Robertson said. The rancher said Coffman’s motives were puzzling. "I guess we are scratching our heads more than anything right now. We are wondering why he is offering something that is already there and why is he trying to open the door to something that is not necessary." Robertson said...more

Coffman defends proposal to ban Pinon land seizures

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman on Thursday defended a bill he is sponsoring that would ban the Army’s use of eminent domain to secure additional land around the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The Aurora congressman said the bill was proposed strictly to protect the rights of property owners and nothing else. Coffman challenged claims by members of the Pinon Canyon Expansion opposition coalition that said the measure is a back-door method to remove a ban on funding for the proposed expansion. "This bill does not address that (funding). There is no question in my mind that property rights are a two-way street. "I absolutely don't want ranchers to be forced to sell or lease their property. At the same time, I think that if there is a willing seller out there that they ought to be allowed to do so," Coffman said. Third District U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and former 4th District U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, authored a funding ban for the proposed expansion in 2007. They worked with Salazar's brother, former Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat, to get the ban in place. John Salazar said Thursday that Coffman is no friend to Pinon Canyon and questions his motive for the proposed bill...more

Feds want full market value for Utah land it bought for $1

The town of Mantua, Box Elder County — population 756 — once sold the federal government 31.5 acres of land for $1. Now, the town would like that unused land back for free. But the Obama administration on Wednesday said it wants full market value for that land instead. Harris Sherman, undersecretary of Agriculture, told a Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that the administration opposes a bill by the Utah delegation that seeks to give Mantua the land for free. "Our concern with the bill is it does not provide for fair market value to the Forest Service, which runs counter to well-established, long-standing policies," he testified. He added, "We are clearly willing to work with the town of Mantua to effectuate this conveyance. We want to do so under the terms of the Townsite Act, which requires us to receive fair market value for the conveyance." That, of course, could create obstacles in the Senate for the bill sponsored by Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, both R-Utah. However, the House already passed last year on a 396-1 vote an identical bill introduced there by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah...more

Secretary Sherman, the Forest Service has a "well-established, long-standing" tradition of screwing the public, a tradition which you are perpetuating.

Appeals court upholds water ruling for tribe

A federal appeals court has upheld most of a ruling that ordered a rural Nevada irrigation district to pay back billions of gallons of water that it took from a tribe decades ago. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday directed a federal judge in Reno to go back and determine how much more water the Pyramid Lake Paiutes are entitled to as a result of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District illegally diverting flows for its own farmers and ranchers in northern Nevada's high desert during the 1970s and 1980s. The appellate court rejected most of the district's bid to overturn a 2003 decision that determined the water from Lake Tahoe and other reservoirs should have continued down the Truckee River to help bolster a traditional tribal fishery in serious decline. U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben in Reno was correct when he determined at that time the irrigation district had "willfully failed to comply" with a 1973 agreement that divided up the water, according to the opinion Judge Mary Schroeder issued on behalf of a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. Since then, the district has made "several additional attempts to sidestep accountability" under that agreement, she wrote. A lawyer for the tribe who hailed the ruling as a victory said Wednesday that he is certain it will mean additional water for the tribe and perhaps as much as 75 percent more than McKibben ordered in 2003...more

NM Mining Co. Loses Dispute Over Stonewash Pumice

The 10th Circuit rejected a mining company's challenge of the noncompliance notice it received from the U.S. Forest Service for mining too many rare, large pumice pieces and selling them to industries other than the garment industry, which uses the pumice to stonewash jeans. Copar had leased 23 mining claims in New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest from the Cook family in the 1980s. In 1993, Congress passed a law to create the Jemez National Recreation Area, barring mining on 57,000 acres, including the land mined by Cobar. The Cooks filed, and partially won, a takings claim against the government. The Forest Service conceded that four of the 23 mining claims contained "valuable and marketable" three-quarter-inch pumice, which could be used to stonewash jeans. The remaining claims were deemed null and void, because they contained no valuable mineral deposit. The Forest Service paid $4 million to settle the takings claims, and the Cooks and Copar relinquished the remaining 19 claims, which contained only run-of-the-mill pumice that can't be used for stonewashing. The three-quarter-inch pumice is restricted almost exclusively to the garment industry, which uses it to abrade denim fabric to create a worn or "stonewashed" look...more

Farm Bureau upset with EPA blog promoting vegetarianism

The Farm Bureau is none too happy with the EPA today for publishing a blog post urging Americans to give up meat. The post in question was written by an EPA intern and recounts her decision to stop eating meat. The author, Nicole Reising, cites the "environmental effects of meat production" and urges readers to stop eating meat. "Regulations can be made to help prevent the effects of meat production, but the easiest way to lessen the environmental impacts is to become a vegetarian or vegan," Reising writes. The American Farm Bureau Federation issued a statement today decrying the post as disrepectful to ranchers...more

Speed bumps on the road to a greener, more renewable future

The concept sounded good: Find a way to incentivize the production, harvest and delivery of non-food biomass crops to displace fossil-based feedstocks in the supply chain and move our nation toward energy independence. After all, farmers and ranchers in many parts of the country aren't used producing biomass such as algae, switchgrass, vines, trees, and other wood waste materials for renewable energy production. Alas, a new payment program was born that just might just do the trick: the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). However, BCAP gained ground so quickly that some industry observers and members of Congress thought it had grown out of control like a woody vine on steroids. “If we don't kill it now,” Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) warned USDA Under Secretary Jim Miller during a recent hearing, “it will have its own lobbying group, it has a constituency growing.” Kingston, the Subcommittee's Ranking Republican, expressed concerns that the incentive payments for delivering biomass for bioenergy production, means “paying people to do what they did all along” at least in “papermill country.” He also expressed surprise that USDA is defending BCAP. “The projected 10-year cost of this is $2.6 billion,” Kingston said. “We need to kill it.” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, chimed in, telling Miller the program's cost has soared to “30 times more expensive than the original CBO [Congressional Budget Office] scoring for this program.”...more

I guess the DC Deep Thinkers don't understand the market provides all the incentives that are needed and it doesn't need any help from politicians.

Cattle ranchers are some of the world's real environmentalists

In lieu of Earth Day on Thursday, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about some environmentalists in this area and around the country: America’s cattle ranchers. There has been some speculation out there that livestock production is producing a lot of greenhouse gases, particularly cattle production. A new study, “Clearing the Air” published in March by the University of California-Davis, found that the United Nations’ 2006 report titled, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” had many inaccuracies. The main point is that the original report found that “ … livestock production accounts for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas, GHG, emissions.” But during that same time, other organizations, such as the World Resources Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency found that this number was actually between 5 and 6 percent. The study in March found that “In the United States, 2.8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to livestock production, compared to 26 percent from transportation...more

Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farm, et al. (09-475)

Appealed from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (June 24, 2009)

Oral argument: April 27, 2010

INJUNCTIVE RELIEF, NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT, GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS

In 2005, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (“APHIS”) deregulated RRA, a genetically engineered alfalfa seed developed by Petitioner Monsanto. Respondent Geertson Seed Farm, a grower of conventional alfalfa, alleged that APHIS violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) by not conducting an environmental impact statement (“EIS”) before deregulating RRA. A district court found a NEPA violation and enjoined all future use of RRA until AHPIS completed its EIS. The Ninth Circuit affirmed. Monsanto challenges the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, arguing that the standard the district court employed to grant the injunction erroneously equated the NEPA violation with the likelihood of irreparable harm. Geertson maintains that the standard used was correct and that they demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm should RRA enter widespread use without further agency review. The Supreme Court’s decision will clarify the standard plaintiffs must meet in order to enjoin federal action that violates NEPA...

For the complete analysis, go here.

Idaho mystery: Who's behind cattle shootings, mutilations?

A $3,000 reward is being offered for information about an outbreak of cattle shootings and mutilations in Idaho's Gem County. Brand Inspector Lynn Gibson called it the state's worst shooting-mutilation case in years. "I don't remember anything like it on this scale," he said. "There have been cattle shot here and there, but just one at a time. It's usually just one incident." Cattle mutilations happen periodically in the West. The worst case was in the 1970s, when hundreds of cows were mutilated in 11 Western states, including Idaho. The killings were alternately blamed on aliens, Satanists and other cults. There have been two incidents so far. The first is thought to have occurred about April 12, southwest of Emmett. Three calves were shot with a small caliber rifle. One of them was run over with a pickup truck. A cow was shot and mutilated. "They cut her hind leg and a shoulder off," Gibson said. "They cut out her lungs and skinned off part of her forehead." The second incident is thought to have happened several days later in the same area. A cow was shot in the face. The bullet broke both of her jawbones. "She couldn't eat or drink or take care of her babies," Gibson said. "Her tongue was infected, she was choking and she could hardly get around. She had to be put down."...more

A cavalcade of calves : 50 sets of twins

Chris Johnson has seen double before during spring calving. But never like this. Of the 300 cows that have given birth so far this spring on his family’s ranch, 50 — or roughly 16 percent — have had twins. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. “It’s 50 sets of twins. Fifty cows, 100 calves; all twins, no triplets. I know it’s probably a little hard to believe,” said Johnson, who ranches with his dad, Keith; uncle, Wayne; and brother, Jeremy. “We’ve had twins here before. But nothing like what we’re seeing this year,” Chris Johnson said. “There have been days we’ve gone out and found (newly born) twins. Then, we go back out a few hours later and there’s another set of twins. You start asking yourself, ‘Is this really happening?’” he said. So, why all the twins for the Johnsons? The upturn might be a one-year fluke with no underlying cause, Johnson said. If there is a reason, “it might be genetics. Or it might be the (excellent) weather last fall,” he said. Another possibility is that the cows are eating dried distiller’s grain from the ethanol plant in Casselton, N.D., Johnson said. “Maybe it’s one of those things or a combination. We just don’t know,” he said...more

Rodeo’s not just a sport

Idaho is home to many traditions that play important roles in the West and there are many ways to engage in Western culture. One sport that runs deep in our heritage is rodeo — it serves as a constant reminder of Western heritage and the traditional Western lifestyle. Rodeo origins can be traced back to the 1700s, when Spanish settlers ruled the West. Spanish cowboys, known as vaqueros, herded cattle for profit, which had a large impact on the culture and lifestyles of Western people. As American ranchers moved westward, they would adapt many of the Spanish methods and styles for running their ranches. While on the cattle drive, cowboys had many duties that included roping, riding, horse breaking and branding. Over the course of time, these duties evolved into competitions seen in modern rodeo today. Rodeo is unique because the sport is directly tied to the lifestyle of Western Americans. It’s more than a sport — it’s an opening to the past...more

Song Of The Day #292

Ranch Radio brings you some early Gene Autry who, like so many in the late 20's and early 30's, got his start by mimicking the singing and yodeling of Jimmie Rodgers. Autry did it better than most and here he is performing Birmingham Daddy.

The tune is available on his 23 track CD Gene Autry: Blues Singer, 1929-1931.

You'll note in the photo he strikes a pose very much like Jimmie Rodgers.

Burglary suspect may have info in Krentz killing

There are new details in the search for the person responsible for killing Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz. Cochise County Sheriff's Deputies are looking for Alejandro Chavez-Vasquez in connection with a series of burglaries. Cochise County officials say he may have information about the death of Krentz. Chavez-Vasquez is neither a suspect nor a person of interest in the case at this time. Robert Krentz was found dead last month on his ranch near Douglas. Investigators say the killer was likely a drug cartel scout and ran back into Mexico after shooting Krentz. Anyone with information about Chavez-Vasquez is asked to call the Cochise County Sheriff's Office at 520-432-9500 or 1-800-362-0812. You can also call 9-1-1 or 88-Crime. KOLD

Arizona gov. calls for more border protection

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer again called for more troops along the state's border with Mexico on Thursday, two days before a deadline for her to approve or strike down the nation's toughest legislation on illegal immigration. The Republican governor ordered a reallocation of state National Guard and law enforcement resources and called on the federal government to deploy National Guard troops as hundreds of Hispanics protested the bill at the State Capitol complex. Part of the plan requires approval from the federal government, including funding for an additional 250 National Guard troops to support anti-drug measures on the border. Brewer said the price tag is too high for the cash-strapped state to cover. Brewer's border security plan follows others released by Arizona politicians over the past two weeks in the wake of the death last month of a rancher on his property in southeastern Arizona. Authorities believe he was killed by an illegal border crosser...more

Senate Republicans Move to Bar NEPA Analysis of Climate Change Impacts

Republican senators introduced legislation today that would block White House efforts to require federal agencies to consider climate change in environmental analyses of proposed projects. The bill says the National Environmental Policy Act should not be used to document, predict or mitigate the climate effects of specific federal actions. Under the measure, NEPA reviews could not consider the greenhouse gas emissions of a proposed federal project nor climate change effects as related to the proposal's design, environmental impacts, or mitigation or adaptation measures. The measure comes after the White House in February issued draft guidance (pdf) that will require federal agencies to consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change when carrying out NEPA reviews. The White House Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ, is accepting public comment on the proposal through May 24. The senators say assessing the climate change impacts of individual projects would provide no meaningful information for the public but instead would encourage more bureaucratic delays and litigation "designed to change NEPA into a global warming prevention statute." They claim the guidance could block road construction, delay domestic energy production and hurt job creation, while their bill would ensure federal agencies won't engage in "costly, and ultimately useless" reviews...more

Go here to view the NEPA Certainty Act.

New front in animal rights war

A recent legal dispute between the University of South Dakota and an animal rights group represents a new front to the battle between scientists and animal rights groups: state open records laws. Specifically, activists have turned to state open records laws to obtain information about biomedical research happening at state institutions. "In addition to the federal [Freedom of Information Act], animal rights groups are also using state open records laws," Frankie Trull, president of the National Association for Biomedical Research, told The Scientist. "[Animal rights activists] have done this all over the country." The fear, said Trull, is that activists will distribute information in a way that invites violence or harassment of scientists who conduct animal research. "The question is, 'What are you going to do with the information?'" she asked. "If the intention on receiving the information was pure, there wouldn't be a problem at all. But if the information about you or your research is FOIAed and you get some threatening emails, it's not so good anymore." Although open records laws vary widely from state to state, most allow for the release of information held at state agencies and institutions...more

Song Of The Day #291

This morning Ranch Radio brings you some early Tommy Sands. Yes, take a look, THAT Tommy Sands. The movie and recording star who was married to Nancy Sinatra.

While born in Chicago, he was raised in Louisiana and taught himself to play the guitar at 7, and by 8 he had his first gig performing twice a week on radio station KWKH (the Louisiana Hayride station). At 15 he had a recording contract with RCA. His big break came in 1957 when he got the part of a rock singer on the Kraft Television Theater.

But he got started as a hillbilly singer and we've got two of his earliest recordings for you: A Dime and a Dollar and I Know About Bees. Both are on his 28 track CD Early Hillbilly and Rockabilly Days.

Napolitano cites actions since death of Robert Krentz

According to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Arizona’s former governor, there are 100 additional Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement agencies in the San Bernardino Valley near where Krentz was shot. She also deployed Customs and Border Protection helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles...more

How many of those 100 additional BP agents have been in the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge or any of the designated Wilderness areas along the border? How many of those helicopters have flown over or landed in any of these areas? Have the fixed-wing aircraft been utilized over these areas?

They just don't get it.

Here's my previous post (January) on aircraft and wilderness areas.

Bingaman, Raptors & Wilderness

Oops. We should have told you. That was the admission Friday of Holloman Air Force Base officials following Thursday's night window-rattling, wall-shaking sonic booms in the Las Cruces area. The aerial exercise involved "a number of" F-22 Raptors, according to Holloman officials. "We had hoped to provide everyone with as much advanced notice as possible," Holloman spokesman Arlen Ponder said. "However, we realize our information didn't make it as far as we had hoped." In the future "... as much advanced notice as possible" will be given. That would be a good idea, Las Cruces police said. "Central Dispatch said they easily received more than 200 calls," Thursday night, police spokesman Dan Trujillo said...According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a sonic boom "is a sound resembling an explosion produced when a shock wave formed at the nose of an aircraft traveling at supersonic speed reaches the ground -- called also sonic bang." Bang, indeed. "I almost jumped out of my chair when I heard the first one," said Julie Delgado, a Las Cruces homemaker. "I didn't know what it was, and it sounded so close. I went outside to see if I could find out what was happening and all of my neighbors were out there, too, asking the same thing. It scared us pretty good." Trujillo said reports of as many as three sonic booms came from all areas of the city and as far away as Radium Springs, about 20 miles north of Las Cruces...The aircraft will conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground training in airspace designated by the FAA...

So now you know why Jeff Bingaman has the following language in his wilderness bill:

(e) Military Overflights- Nothing in this section restricts or precludes--
(1) low-level overflights of military aircraft over the wilderness areas designated by subsection (a), including military overflights that can be seen or heard within the wilderness areas;
(2) flight testing and evaluation; or
(3) the designation or creation of new units of special use airspace, or the establishment of military flight training routes, over the wilderness areas.

In other words, according to Senator Bingaman, it's ok to have low-flying military aircraft and sonic booms in wilderness areas that cause people to "jump out of their chair" and results in "more than 200 calls" to the police.

But campers, don't you dare drive your vehicle or camper into the wilderness. And hunters, don't you dare drive your vehicle in to scout for or remove game. Border patrol, forget about using vehicles or mechanical equipment to track or intercept illegal immigrants or drug traffickers. After all, those things would ruin someone's wilderness experience.

Low-flying military aircraft and "sound resembling an explosion" are ok, everyone else either walk in or stay out.

That's a Bingaman wilderness area.

Arizona Sheriff Says Cops Are Being Killed by Illegal Aliens; Joins Call for U.S. Troops at Border

Law enforcement officials from the Arizona counties hardest hit by illegal immigration say they want U.S. troops to help secure the border, to prevent the deaths of more officers at the hands of criminals who enter the country illegally. “We’ve had numerous officers that have been killed by illegal immigrants in Arizona,” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Monday at a Capitol Hill news conference. “And that shouldn’t happen one time.” Babeu said the violence in Arizona has reached “epidemic proportions” and must be stopped. “In just one patrol area, we’ve had 64 pursuits -- failure to yield for an officer -- in one month,” Babeu said. “That’s out of control.” The recent murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, who was shot to death last month on his own property, apparently by an illegal alien, also has fueled public outrage...more

Why ranchers fear for their safety, and what lawmakers want

Tuesday, Arizona Cattle Growers Association members and ranchers from across the state painted a picture of crime gone wild on the lands they depend on for their livelihood. In memory of slain rancher Robert Krentz, they named their proposal ROB (Restore Our Border). Association spokesperson Patrick Bray said Wednesday the meeting with the Senate Appropriations Committee went well and the speakers who told their experiences were well-received. State Sen. Russell Pearce was one who listened to the stories of families afraid to go out after dark, of cattle found slaughtered and partially eaten, of beloved pets and ranch dogs shot, of thousands of dollars in destroyed fences; and numerous home burglaries and invasions. “I was personally taken aback by the stories of our ranchers who live in fear every day of their lives. All across this state the stories are similar,” Pearce said in an interview. “People just didn’t know how bad it was.”...more

Wilderness On The Border? (9 Articles On Mexican Border Violence)

Border Patrol Prevented From Securing U.S. Under the current administration of President Barack Obama, national security and public safety are taking a backseat to so-called environmental preservation, a policy that led to the recent murder of an Arizona rancher. The U.S. Interior Department prohibits routine patrols and operations conducted by Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border on roads labeled “land managed.” The Mexican national entered the U.S. through the 2,300-acre San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge and subsequently escaped through it after gunning down rancher Robert Krentz a few weeks ago, according to the report. For years, Border Patrol agents have been prohibited by the U.S. Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service from actively patrolling such areas because it threatens natural resources, according to GOP members of the Natural Resources Committee Republicans. House National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee Ranking Member Rob Bishop (R-UT) announced that Republican Committee staff have confirmed with both Border Patrol and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the criminal who killed Arizona Rancher Robert Krentz both entered and exited the U.S. through federal land on the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge...

Justice Department Reports 60 Percent Increase in Number of Drug-Smuggling Tunnels at U.S.-Mexican Border The number of tunnels being used to smuggle illegal drugs across the Southwestern border grew by more than half from 2008 to 2009, according to a March 25 report from the National Drug Intelligence Center. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents stationed along U.S.-Mexico border discovered 26 illegal tunnels – a 60 percent increase over the 16 tunnels that authorities discovered in 2008. Most of the subterranean routes were discovered in Arizona, with 20 found in the “Tucson Sector” – a 262-mile long section of the border from the New Mexico state line to Yuma County, Ariz., the NDIC reported in its 2010 annual drug assessment...

Is Hemet the first skirmish? Our neighbors in Hemet have made the national news again following the burning of a trailer at a Police Department firing range. This comes after three attacks on the Hemet/San Jacinto Gang Task Force and the torching of city code-enforcement trucks in March, days after a threat to burn a police car. As of this writing it has not been determined if the latest incident is linked to the other four. One thing for sure, attacking cops is a trademark of Mexican gangs. Back in November, Adrian Rios, 17, was shot, allegedly by Jose Manuel Campos, 18, at Campo's home in Hemet. It is further alleged that Campos butchered Rios and burned his body in the backyard with the help of his 17-year-old sweetie. Kinda sounds Mexican gangish. If he did it, perhaps he was taking a page from the thugs operating in Mexico. Or perhaps there is a link to a Mexican gang operating here and the attacks are a warning. Remember, Campos and his girlfriend fled to Mexico whereupon Hemet police, federal marshals, a fugitive task force and Mexican federal police began hunting them down. It has been stated that they had help evading authorities. Slightly more than a month later the attacks began on the Hemet police. Coincidence or not, when you look at what's going on ---- an Arizona rancher murdered on his border property by an illegal immigrant, a Texas sheriff urging citizens to arm themselves in preparation for war, and reports that the drug cartels are using vehicles disguised as Border Patrol cars ---- it is clear the war is here...

Gunmen abduct 6 from Mexican hotels near Texas More than 20 gunmen burst into a Holiday Inn and another hotel in the northern city of Monterrey on Wednesday and abducted at least six people, a prosecutor said. Nuevo León state Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza said that 20 to 30 gunmen abducted four guests and a receptionist from the Holiday Inn, then went to the nearby Hotel Mision, where they abducted a receptionist, he said. Local media reported that the gunmen hijacked several trucks and used them to block streets near the hotels during the raid...

Senators call for scrapping 'virtual fence' Two senators said Tuesday it's time to consider ending a contract for a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, contending it doesn't stop illegal immigration. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., even suggested an old-fashioned, real fence may work better than the electronic one designed by Boeing Co. "We're counting on you to give us a direct assessment and take action to either terminate the contract or take from it what may work," Lieberman told Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin. Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said at a hearing on border security: "The best answer to this continuing crisis and continued flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. is to go back to the old-style fences, double- and triple-tiered, and layered." The virtual fence is a network of cameras, ground sensors and radars designed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on a computer monitor, zoom in with cameras to see people crossing, and decide whether to send Border Patrol agents to the scene...

Virtual Fence Integration 'a Complete Failure,' Bersin Says During a Senate hearing on border security Tuesday, the new commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declared that the goal of constructing a fully integrated virtual fence as originally envisioned by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not possible at present. CBP chief Alan Bersin told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that building the complete system for the Secure Border Initiative-Network (SBInet), as originally envisioned, was not possible in the near future. "What has not worked is the total integration of technology from each of the areas along the border into an overall system that would permit a central monitoring and control--that technology integration at the very broadest level has been the complete failure the committee described," Bersin stated. However, in its first 23-mile block along the Arizona border with Mexico, SBInet has provided some capabilities that fulfill the goal of using a combination of video and radar to detect incursions into the United States from Mexico, Bersin added. As such, an option being considered by the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in her review of the system is to use pieces of the system but not in the fully integrated fashion originally imagined...

Public invited to testify at border violence hearing State lawmakers are inviting area residents to attend and testify at a special hearing in McAllen to address recent drug violence south of the border. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, April 29th at the McAllen Convention Center. Texas State Rep. Veronica Gonzales (D-McAllen) told Action 4 News that local, state and federal law enforcement officials are expected to testify. But Gonzales said the public is welcome to come listen and add their own testimony. Drug cartel violence has left dozens dead on the Mexican side of the border since February. Mexican authorities blame a bitter fight between former allies the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas. Gonzales is chair of the House Border & Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, which is co-sponsoring the hearing. She said the violence in Mexico is making daily headlines and Texas state lawmakers will meet again in January 2011 but want to gather information to address the issue appropriately...

Ariz. Sens. McCain, Kyl call for Guard on border After the shooting death of a rancher, Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain once again called Monday for National Guard troops to be deployed along Arizona's border with Mexico. The request for 3,000 troops was part of a 10-point plan that also includes hiring 3,000 more Customs and Border Protection agents for Arizona, building new fences along the border and increasing aerial surveillance. The Arizona senators, both Republicans, said in a conference call with reporters that they would introduce federal legislation to implement their plan. Gov. Jan Brewer requested a year ago that President Barack Obama deploy National Guard troops along the border. The senators supported her request at the time, but the Obama administration has not acted. The latest proposal followed the death last month of rancher Rob Krentz on his land north of Douglas. Authorities believe he was fatally shot by an illegal immigrant possibly connected to a drug smuggling cartel. "While we have the nation's attention, it's important that we strike now and we get these suggestions implemented now, because I really feel the window of opportunity will close very quickly," said Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, whose office is investigating the killing...

Border panel: Money now Members of the Congressional Border Caucus are asking the Appropriations Committee for more than $500 million in federal money to combat narcotics and organized crime along the U.S.-Mexico border. The members sent a letter to U.S House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Friday in which they requested that the Appropriations Committee include the funding as it drafts the fiscal year 2010 emergency supplemental spending measure. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, a Border Caucus member and contributor to the letter, said he is optimistic that the Border Caucus will get the funding it has requested from the Appropriations Committee and actually has "two shots" at the money...

Is the current budget being spent in a way that provides for the most effective and efficient border security program? Are existing personnel appropriately deployed and given the equipment they need to carry out their mission? Have current impediments to effective enforcement, such as land-use designations, been addressed and resolved?

Forget it. These political "leaders" are running for cover. Throw money at it and hope it sticks until November.

Notice this is an "emergency" appropriation. That means they don't have to take the money away from some existing program. Just pile it on an already huge deficit.

Is this a serious look at addressing our border security problems? Certainly not. These "leaders" view it as just another opportunity to bring federal $$ to their district.

This tactic has politically worked in the past. We'll find out in less than 7 months if it continues to work.

White House Will Not Say Where It Gets Its Meat

First Lady Michelle Obama is on a laudable food crusade in America -- promoting the healthful benefits of fresh, local and sustainably grown nutrition, including produce raised in the world's most famous vegetable garden: that photogenic patch of organic land on the White House South Lawn. But her office does not want you to know what the Obamas had for dinner last night. Soon after the inauguration, The New York Times gushed that "the White House gets fresh fruits and vegetables from farms in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey," and that Michelle Obama had served organic wine at her first big White House meal, a governors' dinner in February, 2009. And she planted that garden heard 'round the world. Suggested by Alice Waters, the plot consists of raised beds of rich soil amended with official White House compost, crab meal, lime and local sand, instead of commercial fertilizer, and ladybugs and praying mantises in lieu of pesticides. There are even two beehives that produce organic honey for the Obamas, their staff and guests. And so, when I wrote to the White House to inquire about the meat, dairy and eggs that are served up on site -- and how much of it is produced in industrial-style concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs, or factory farms) -- I thought they would be pleased to share the information...more

So why won't they say? Is it because a huge chunk passes through a CAFO, or is it because they don't eat meat at all?

As for the "official White House compost", it's served up to the public on a daily basis.