Fugitive Ahwatukee cow has the law on her side

Atakulov said that after the heifer was released into a corral in June, it struggled with ranch hands, broke down a fence and ran off toward the South Mountain preserve. It has been running ever since, becoming the talk of bemused Ahwatukee Foothills residents and a source of irritation for their Phoenix City Council representative. "It just jumped over the fence," Atakulov said, gesturing toward South Mountain. "I don't know how it is surviving out there." Apparently, the young female cow is surviving pretty well. Since late June, the shiny black bovine with large horns has been spotted munching grass and sipping from fountains in Ahwatukee Foothills, lounging under trees in South Mountain Park and drinking from a stream near a small south Phoenix resort. And, as the heifer slips in and out of Ahwatukee Foothills to nibble lawns, it also is eluding capture by slipping between the lines of state and city authority. Even if she tramples anyone's prized bushes or hits a motor vehicle, the law is on her side. Arizona's Open Range Law, crafted to protect the state's cattle industry, makes it illegal for anyone to simply go out and capture or otherwise harm a cow...more

Song Of The Day #375

It's Swingin' Monday and Ranch Radio has been told the Crayola Cowboy is a fan of Artie Shaw. Since this is for Mr. Etcheverry, we'll give you a double dose of Artie Shaw from 1936. First up is his swingin' version of It Ain't Right, followed by some softer swing on My Blue Heaven. The tunes are available on Chronological Classics #0855 and #0866. You can also catch the Crayola Cowboy on facebook by going here.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

The husband sitter

by Julie Carter

Word recently came that the Husband Sitter had left town and Ineta was back in the spotlight as the fulltime recipient of her spouses attention. The demands were wearing her patience thin.

"What's a husband sitter?" you ask.

What would normally seem to be an awkward situation when Ineta's ex-husband and her current husband, Daryl, re-instituted their long-standing friendship. In reality, it was a convenient brotherhood on many levels.

Ineta's definition of a husband sitter is: Constant companion to validate every comment, complaint, and action of the husband. Who better to do that than an ex-spouse of the current wife?

Daryl and the Husband Sitter were team ropers. Daryl had a flourishing but time-consuming business to run, so he needed help to keep his considerable collection of rope horses ridden and tuned as well as seeking a steady practice partner.

Putting the Husband Sitter on the payroll to do that job made perfect sense, as least to Daryl, and certainly to the Sitter, who preferred that to any structured, "real" job. You recall that I mentioned that he's a team roper.

Only someone with Ineta's sense of humor could look at the situation, laugh at it and actually enjoy the fact that Daryl had a friend to go play with, leaving her some freedom to do other things.

After all, as she pointed out, the Husband Sitters job description including being available at all times to keep the husband company.

The Husband Sitter was in charge of all the "honey-do chores" the husband couldn't or wouldn't do and no errand was too menial for him to accomplish.

He tuned and trained the rope horses; saw to it that they were fed, vetted, shod and ready to haul.

He frequently chauffeured Daryl's rig and horses to ropings that were days and statelines away, meeting Daryl at a nearby airport when his private plane landed.
Other times, he was steady company for Daryl on all the long road trips.

Evening television was a bonding sport for Daryl and his Sitter. They liked to watch the same cop shows, Westerns and hours of RFD TV. Like two kids at a matinee movie, they'd sit and laugh or discuss the programs as they aired.

The Sitter also provided for a ready and willing breakfast, lunch and dinner partner. He was available to be a constant drinking companion and conversations about the "old days" could be repeated frequently without a note of "I've already heard that."

In deference to a testosterone related malady that causes exaggeration and expansion of the feats related in the "old stories," the Sitters job required that he never doubted the facts as presented. He also knew there would be only one storyteller and it wasn't him.

The benefits for Daryl were many. He had a built-in "Wife Complaint Department."
Since the Husband Sitter was on the payroll, he automatically always agreed and usually limited his comments to, "I know what you mean."

When the drinking partnership was in play, the Sitter could be known, to Daryl's delight, to add a few observations of his own.

Details of the broken partnership are sketchy, but Daryl seems to be content not to have to complain about his former Sitter, which sounded much like his complaints about his wife. A pattern may be emerging.

Much to Ineta's relief, already a new Husband Sitter is in place and this time, one that has not shared any "family" history.

The concept of a Husband Sitter isn't really as unusual as it may sound. Tell the story a few times and you'll almost always get a return story of equal or better value.

Human nature is entertaining when we step back and let ourselves look at ourselves.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net . For those interested, Walmart will soon offer a "husband sitter" section located next to household goods.

A pardon for the notorious Billy the Kid?

Billy the Kid is dead and probably doesn't care, but a pardon for the cold-blooded killer may be in the offing.

Gov. Bill Richardson, called a "Billy the Kid buff," is looking at an old promise by another governor, and not the Kid's reputation, in deciding whether to issue a posthumous pardon, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

No matter that Billy the Kid has been in the ground since 1881. That hasn't dimmed interest in the cattle-rustling outlaw. Tourists, especially from Europe, are fascinated with Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty, but also known as William H. Bonney and Henry Antrim. He died at the hands of Sheriff Pat Garrett when he was only 21.

New Mexico's tourism website even has a travel guide to Billy the Kid territory.

"His nickname carries a lyrical quality that still gallops across the high plains of our imagination," according to the text next to the only known photograph of Bonney.

"If he does anything, [Richardson] will review the promise made by Lew Wallace to Billy the Kid," Alarie Ray-Garcia, Richardson's communications director, said Thursday, a day after the governor met with descendants of Garrett.

The Garrett family and others oppose the pardon. Besides arguing that Billy the Kid was an incorrigible killer, they want to make sure Pat Garrett is absolved of wrongdoing related to the killing and a Bonney jail escape.

Jarvis Patrick Garrett, 51, two other grandchildren and two great-grandchildren of Pat Garrett met for an hour with Richardson.

"People had forgotten that Pat Garrett was one of the first individuals to bring law and order to Lincoln County," Jarvis Garrett said.

This latest chapter in the story of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid has more twists than a lariat.

Popular history has Bonney gunning down 21 men, but many historians say the number was closer to nine. According to other legends, Bonney did not die at Garrett's hands and is not buried in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. He went to Texas and became known as "Brushy Bill" Roberts, they say.

Poppycock, the Garretts argue.

They asked Richardson to sign a petition signed by 100 people that reads, "Whereas we the undersigned accept and agree the traditional history of Sheriff Pat F. Garrett and Billy the Kid (William Bonney), and believe that Billy the Kid died at Pat F. Garrett's hand. Therefore we oppose a postphumous (sic) pardon for Billy the Kid as Brushy Bill Roberts."

Garrett killed Bonney on July 14, 1881, in Fort Sumner weeks after Bonney escaped from a jail. The sheriff, legend has it, was hiding in the dark and shot Bonney when he entered a room.

Garrett himself was gunned down in 1908 at age 57.

Richardson "agrees with the heart of the petition," but is asking his legal department to look at it, Ray-Garcia said.

But the petition doesn't affect the Lew Wallace matter.

Mark Lee Gardner, author of "To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West," called for a pardon in an op-ed piece last month for the Los Angeles Times.

According to Gardner and other historians, Billy the Kid wrote to Wallace, then the New Mexico territory's governor, asking him to honor a deal. Wallace had promised to grant Bonney amnesty for his role in shooting Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady and other "misdeeds" if he agreed to testify before a grand jury investigating another murder. The pardon didn't happen. The Garretts argue Bonney decided to flee house arrest, making the pardon moot.

"Still, regardless of Billy's crimes, the motives of Richardson or the hollowness of posthumous justice, it all comes back to Wallace's promise. A deal is a deal, and 129 years doesn't change that. Billy is owed a pardon," Gardner wrote.

Bill Garrett, 72, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, said he opposes the pardon. His grandfather was Pat Garrett's brother.

"I am very passionate about this," Garrett said. "He [Bonney] was a killer."

Garrett, who was not at Wednesday's meeting but has written to Richardson, said Wallace did not exonerate Bonney.

"I think he might be better off doing something else," Bill Garrett, a retired bailiff, said of Richardson.

Richardson has been interested in Billy the Kid officially since 2003. "He thought it would be interesting to review this promise by Lew Wallace," said Ray-Garcia.

A sheriff, a deputy and others got involved and moved to have the bodies of Bonney and his mother exhumed for DNA testing to prove they are buried at the Fort Sumner Cemetery. But a judge ruled against the efforts.

Richardson wasn't interested in that aspect and the group's interest in whether Bonney became "Brushy Bill" Roberts, Ray-Garcia said. Ray-Garcia disputed contentions that the sheriff was following orders from Richardson.

According to a letter the Garretts wrote to the governor, Richardson declared support in 2003 for reopening the investigation of Bonney's death.

The investigation cited probable cause for allegations that Garrett killed an innocent victim instead of Bonney and that person is buried in the outlaw's grave, the Garretts said. There also were allegations the sheriff was an accomplice of Bonney in the murder of two deputies in April 1881 and the rustler's subsequent escape.

"This is an abomination as well as an inexcusable defamation of a great man," the letter said of the claims.

Ray-Garcia said Richardson, who leaves office in five months, had nothing to do with the probable cause claims. "The governor told them [the Garretts] that Sheriff Garrett was an honorable man."

She also denied state money went toward the investigation.

Former Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan was among those involved in the investigation. He opposes the pardon, saying Billy the Kid "was nothing but a glorified cop killer," but said there are many questions about the circumstances of his death and Garrett's conduct.

He said he raised the probable cause questions so that an investigation would glean what really happened with Garrett and Bonney.

"Nobody wants to know the truth," Sullivan said Thursday.

Jarvis Garrett and others in the family said they will continue their campaign to clear Garrett, who they said enjoyed a little gambling.

They are hoping Richardson won't issue a pardon.

"If Billy the Kid was living amongst us now, would you issue a pardon for someone who made his living as a thief and, more egregiously, who killed four law enforcement officers and numerous others?" the Garrett family wrote Richardson.

Author Gardner said there is a reason for an abiding interest in Bonney and curiosity about whether he actually died in the dark and did not escape.

"If you have a folk hero die, you want him to go out with a blaze of glory."

CNN

The ruling elite called

I just got off the horn with the Ruling Elite. We had an emergency conference call and to tell you the truth, they ain't happy. You little people are not responding the way you are supposed to...These damn bloggers, with their facts and critical thinking, are throwing a wrench into the gears. Obama and his crack team are working round the clock to lock down the internet, but it will take time...The worshippers of Keynes, that rule the country, are pissed off at you. Don't you realize that government spending of your money, borrowed from the Chinese, with the bill passed to your grandchildren, was supposed to reinvigorate your animal spirits...Here is the message from the ruling elite to you ignorant masses: Debt got us into this mess and it sure as hell is going to get us out...more

You better read this to find out how you're screwing up.

There is also a 10 point plan for you to get back in the good graces of the ruling elite.

Song Of The Day #374

The Gospel song on Ranch Radio this Sunday morning is John, John, John by Anita & Helen Carter.

National Insecurity

There’s a country that earlier generations might not recognize in which the national government’s criminal investigative agency can execute its own warrants without court approval; present them to private companies and demand information about people who are not necessarily suspected of criminal wrongdoing; and — if that were not enough — forbid those companies from telling anyone — not even the target of the investigation. The country I have in mind is not a Latin American banana republic or a Middle Eastern dictatorship. It’s the United States of America. The warrant-like orders requiring no judge’s signature are called national security letters. In the last nine years the FBI, Defense Department, and CIA have issued well over a hundred thousand national security letters. The FBI has exceeded even the broad powers granted by Congress, and that overreach continued for years after it came to the attention of bureau lawyers. Nevertheless, it doesn’t go far enough for President Obama, who campaigned against Bush administration civil-liberties violations like warrantless wiretapping. Obama wants Congress to expand the scope of national security letters even more...more

Appeals court limits use of GPS to track suspects

A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Friday that police cannot use a Global Positioning System device to track a person's movements for an extended time without a warrant, clearing the way for the Supreme Court to decide the privacy impact of the new surveillance technology in products from cellphones to vehicle-navigation systems. The decision, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, created a split with federal circuit courts in New York and California that have upheld warrantless GPS-tracking of a vehicle by law enforcement. Feeding the national debate, a half-dozen state courts have issued conflicting rulings, while police across the country embrace GPS tools in hunting drug dealers, sexual predators and violent criminals. In striking down the drug conviction of Antoine Jones, former co-owner of a District nightclub called Levels, the D.C. court said the FBI and District police overstepped their authority by tracking his movements round-the-clock for four weeks, placing a GPS monitoring device on his Jeep after an initial warrant expired. U.S. Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, writing for a unanimous and ideologically diverse panel that included judges David S. Tatel and Thomas B. Griffith, said such surveillance technology represents a leap forward in potential government intrusion that violates constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. "A single trip to a gynecologist's office tells little about a woman, but that trip followed a few weeks later by a visit to a baby supply store tells a different story," Ginsburg wrote. He added, "A person who knows all of another's travels can deduce whether he is a weekly churchgoer, a heavy drinker, a regular at the gym, an unfaithful husband, an outpatient receiving medical treatment, an associate of particular individuals or political groups -- and not just one such fact about a person, but all such facts."...more

New York Lawsuit Seeks Injunction Against Restrictive Gun Licensing Law

Fresh off gun rights activists’ major victory in Chicago, The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has joined a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which demands a permanent injunction against a state law that requires applicants for gun permits to demonstrate “good cause.” "American citizens should not have to demonstrate good cause in order to exercise a constitutionally-protected civil right," said SAF executive vice president Alan Gottlieb. "Our civil rights, including the right to keep and bear arms, should not be subject to the whims of a local government or its employees,” he added. “Our lawsuit is a reminder to state and local bureaucrats that we have a Bill of Rights in this country, not a ‘Bill of Needs’,” he stressed...more

Mexico confirms car had explosive device aboard; 9 headless bodies found

Investigators said Friday there was an explosive device aboard a car that blew up outside police headquarters in the border state of Tamaulipas, the second car-bomb attack against law enforcement in less than a month. Authorities are still working to determine what explosives were used, who planted the bomb and how it was detonated, according to a state police spokesman who was not authorized to be quoted by name. No one was hurt by Thursday's blast in a parking lot outside a police station near Ciudad Victoria, the state capital, but two police vehicles were damaged. On July 15, a car bomb killed a policeman, a doctor and a kidnap victim used as a decoy in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas. A drug gang has been blamed for that attack. Also Friday, authorities in the western state of Sinaloa announced the discovery of nine bodies in a clandestine grave believed to be linked to drug gangs. The bodies were found in a pit in the coastal city of Mazatlan, said Martin Gastelum, a spokesman for the Sinaloa state prosecutors' office. An anonymous tip led police to the site. Four of the bodies were missing their heads, and the victims appear to have been killed anywhere from a month to a year ago...more

BLM document reveals big change in federal land management

KSL 5 News has obtained a document that outlines a huge change in how the federal government wants to manage federal land in Utah, and one Utah congressman says it makes him furious. Congressman Rob Bishop's office also recently received the document. Bishop said he's angry because it would put virtually all land management power in the hands of the White House. A portion of the document was leaked back in February and led to speculation about a federal land grab in Utah. It talked about the creation of a 12 new national monuments. Now, an outside source provided KSL with the entire document, and it does suggest a dramatically new philosophy for managing federal land. The Bureau of Land Management's document is stamped with "Internal Draft. Not for release." Titled "Treasured Landscapes," it lays out what some consider a sweeping and detailed plan for the next 25 years. It took Bishop months to get the document, which lays out the context for the snippets released a few months ago. "They have clearly been dragging their feet, and they don't want to let us know what they're trying to do," Bishop says. He is especially concerned about portions of the document that recommend using the Antiquities Act "should the legislative process not prove fruitful." The act gives the president power to designate a national monument with no public or legislative input...more

"Of the 264 million acres under BLM management, some 130- to 140-million acres are worthy of consideration as treasured lands. These areas [are] roughly equivalent in size to Colorado and Wyoming combined." -BLM's Treasured Lanscapes paper

50% plus of BLM holdings are treasured lands? That's a howler of the first order.

Wildlife advocates hail Rocky Mountain wolf ruling

Wildlife advocates say a ruling to restore Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves throughout the Northern Rocky Mountains buys time to create a better plan than the one the judge rejected, one that ensures their numbers don't dwindle again. Meanwhile, state wildlife officials in Montana and Idaho were reviewing Thursday's ruling that blocked them from carrying out their wolf management plans and their preparations for wolf hunts this fall. State officials said they were considering their options, including an appeal. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy's ruling knocked down a U.S. Fish and Wildlife decision last year that kept federal protections in place in Wyoming, where state law is considered hostile to the animals' survival, but turned over to Montana and Idaho wolf management responsibilities within their borders. Molloy said in his ruling that the entire Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population either must be listed as an endangered species or removed from the list, but the protections for the same population can't be different for each state. Separating the protections may solve a tricky political issue, but it does not comply with the Endangered Species Act, Molloy ruled...more

No human advocates were quoted.

El Paso Corp. catches hell over deal with enviros

A settlement between environmental groups and El Paso Corp. over the Ruby Pipeline Project has caused "worry, concern and anger," the president of El Paso Western Pipeline Group told Elko County Commissioners Wednesday. About 30 people attended the commission meeting and heard about two-and-a-half hours of discussion about the Ruby Pipeline Project and, particularly, El Paso Corp.'s agreement with Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Association. El Paso Corp. didn't expect "the firestorm that has erupted over this deal," said Jim Cleary, president of El Paso Western Pipeline Group. "You guys went into bed with the worst there is," Commissioner John Ellison told El Paso Corp. representatives, referring to the company's $20 million agreement finalized last month with the two groups. "Negotiating with Western Watersheds Project damages your reputation," Commission Chairman Charlie Myers told company representatives. Myers said representatives from El Paso Corp. thought it would be easier to fight individual counties than Western Watersheds Project. "Well, I am the president of Ruby Pipeline and that statement is not true at all," Cleary said. Commissioner Warren Russell said the majority of commissioners probably wouldn't support the project today. Jeff Williams, a member of Elko County's Natural Resources Management Advisory Commission, said a neighbor "who offends another makes a proper restitution." Williams said Elko County has shown a great amount of "western hospitality" to El Paso Corp., but should have also taught them "country ethics." "I want the gas line to go through, but wouldn't want to put up with someone who is a friend one day and stabs you in the back the next day," he said. Elko County Planner Randy Brown said his staff was directed to help El Paso Corp. 28 months ago when the project was proposed. They have spent many hours helping the corporation acquire easements since then. "We feel very slapped in the face," he said about the agreement...more

El Paso, Public Lands Council work on deal

El Paso Corp. and the Public Lands Council are hammering out an agreement that could help resolve the energy company's conflict with the ranching industry and counties along the Ruby Pipeline route. "It's a very positive first step," Public Lands Council President Skye Krebs of Ione, Ore., said Thursday. "It's a real substantial step forward." He said the details were still being worked out, after a meeting Thursday in Salt Lake City. National Cattlemen's Beef Association Federal Lands Committee representatives and other industry representatives also attended the meeting, Krebs said. The conflict is over El Paso Corp.'s $20 million agreement with Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Association that establishes two conservation funds. The organizations stated one of their goals would be the purchase and retirement of grazing permits. Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, chairman of the Legislative Committee on Public Lands and the Nevada representative and past chairman of the Public Lands Council, said Thursday he had heard only a little about the proposed agreement. "I understand it is in the millions (of dollars)," said Rhoads, who added he expected the Public Lands Council to set up a conference call soon to talk about the proposal...more

Will wait to see the language in the agreement. Hope the cowboys aren't being bought off just like the enviros.

Lawmakers seek broad probe into Forest Service response to Station fire

California's two U.S. senators and several local House members Thursday called on Congress' investigative arm to launch a sweeping probe into the Forest Service's response to last summer's disastrous Station fire. In asking for the investigation by the Government Accountability Office, which typically grants such requests, the lawmakers recommended a broad examination of the Forest Service's decisions and tactics. Those include the use of aircraft early in the fight and the question of whether everything possible was done to protect homes that burned in Big Tujunga Canyon. The legislators also cited the disclosure this week that telephone dispatch recordings made during the fire were withheld from a Forest Service review team and the public. The Times requested the recordings last year and again this year, but Forest Service officials said they did not exist. The late discovery of the recordings "casts a dark cloud over the findings of the review panel and immediately warrants an independent review of the Station fire response," the lawmakers said in a letter to the GAO. "Our purpose for this review is to ensure that all actions in the response to the fire were taken swiftly, properly and competently."...more

Judge allows roundup of wild horses in California

A federal judge is allowing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to round up more than 2,000 wild horses in California's far northeastern corner, where the animals graze on high desert plains. An animal-rights group had sought a temporary restraining order to postpone the roundup, which is scheduled for next week. It plans to appeal Thursday's ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England Jr. in Sacramento. Wild horses roam 10 Western states. The BLM says the roundups are necessary because overpopulation, combined with drought, has withered rangeland. There are approximately 4,000 wild horses in California, according to Deniz Bolbol, spokeswoman for In Defense of Animals, who says roundup of the Twin Peaks herd would cut the state's population in half...more

UN panel: New taxes needed for a climate fund

Carbon taxes, add-ons to international air fares and a levy on cross-border money movements are among ways being considered by a panel of the world's leading economists to raise a staggering $100 billion a year to fight climate change. British economist Nicholas Stern told international climate negotiators Thursday that government regulation and public money also will be needed to create incentives for private investment in industries that emit fewer greenhouse gases. In short, a new industrial revolution is needed to move the world away from fossil fuels to low carbon growth, he said. "It will be extremely exciting, dynamic and productive," said Stern, one of 18 experts in public finance on an advisory panel appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon...more

Wyoming Considers Grand Teton Sale To Spur Feds

The governor of Wyoming is threatening to sell off state-owned land in Grand Teton National Park to private developers. He wants to pressure the federal government to come up with a good deal for the land. The land inside the park consists of two parcels of roughly a square-mile each. They're known as state school trust lands — they're supposed to generate funds for public schools, and are supposed to be "managed for maximum profit." The problem is that the land is worth over $100 million, but the state is currently only getting about $3,000 a year from grazing leases to a cattle rancher. For more than a decade the state has tried to negotiate with the feds to trade the pristine park land for property of equal value, such as land that could be developed for coal. But Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal says the federal government has not come up with a fair deal. So he decided to send a message...more

War Vs. Big Oil Goes Beyond Drilling Ban

The White House, along with certain members of Congress, has declared war on Big Oil. This animosity is evidenced not only by the current ban on offshore drilling, which may well force the industry to relocate to other parts of the world, it is also reflected in the myriad of proposals to hike the industry's taxes and use the additional revenues to pursue the administration's green agenda. President Obama's 2011 budget would do away with $4 billion in accelerated depreciation, depletion allowances and other long-established incentives for oil and gas drilling. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., has introduced a bill that would remove another $20 billion of industry "tax breaks." According to the American Petroleum Institute, over the next decade tax hikes on the industry could exceed $80 billion. Without question, hiking the tax burden on America's oil and gas companies will mean less, not more, domestic energy production. And though the "enemy" is Big Oil, according to the Independent Petroleum Association these tax increases will fall disproportionately on small drilling companies and could potentially reduce domestic oil and gas production by 20% to 40%. In exchange for at best a small reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, thousands of jobs will be destroyed, billions of potential investment dollars will flow overseas, imports of fossil fuels will increase, energy prices will rise, and many states and localities that derive revenue from oil and natural gas production will witness further declines in their tax receipts...more

Governor Richardson Proclaims First Annual “Roadless Recreation Week”

Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) joins other governors and conservation groups from across the country to support America’s first annual Roadless Recreation Week, August 7-15, which will host more than 50 recreation activities in national forest roadless areas in New Mexico and in 12 other states. The weeklong celebration highlights the importance of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, issued to protect nearly 60 million acres of pristine national forests across the country, and encourages the public to go “all out” to enjoy the outdoor opportunities these areas provide. Governor Richardson issued a proclamation today to “recognize the recreational, environmental and economic values” roadless areas provide and calls the national roadless rule “one of the most popular federal policies ever developed.”...more

Song Of The Day #373

Ranch Radio will close out it's Songs About Food Week with How Many Biscuits Can You Eat, a radio transcription by LuLu Belle & Scotty.

A widow's plea

The first time I see Sue Krentz she's riding on a quad bike, a tool as indispensible to the modern rancher as a fleet-footed pony was to the cowboys who used to work the cattle in this part of southern Arizona. Sue is short, compact, burnt by wind and sun, and looks as tough as they come. You have to be to run a huge ranch with around 600 head of cattle ranging over thousands of acres. But this seemingly indomitable woman has become a lost spirit, bravely just about holding herself together. She tells me: "My life has been broken and a piece is missing, Rob was the love of my life. We'd been married 33 years." Rob Krentz was murdered on 28 March. Sue tells me: "I am not bitter, I am frustrated." Then, correcting herself, says: "I am bitter. Yes I am. The violence is increasing and the individuals are becoming more aggressive and more desperate in some cases." She repeatedly makes the point that her family and Rob's family and they themselves have helped many illegal immigrants over the year, whether by giving them water, or jobs, or helping them get paperwork to stay in the US. "We have owned this ranch for 103 years we have probably helped a million people. Why this one? Why now? I just don't understand. This has ruined my safe haven, this has violated my family, this has changed my life forever. It's not fair." Her cousin, standing beside her during the interview for moral support adds that he is 60 years old and he had not locked the front door until he was 40. The level of crime has been getting worse for 20 years and it's rising still. Sue says the government must do more. "Article four section four of the constiution says it is the duty of the government to protect us from invasion, foreign and domestic. All we are asking is to be safe and free and on our own land, on our own property. "We have the right to demand that."...more

U.S. Warns Terrorists May Enter the Country From Mexico as Drug War Rages

Mexico’s drug-related violence is straining local law enforcement in the northern part of the country, making it easier for terrorists to enter the U.S. through the border, the U.S. State Department said. Mexican drug cartels are stepping up attacks on police and the army in the northern swath of the country, as well as marijuana-growing regions, the State Department said today in a report on its website. That’s overwhelming security forces and creating potential vulnerabilities that international terrorists may exploit, the report said. The State Department hasn’t found evidence of links between drug cartels and international terrorists, and there’s no proof that terrorists are operating in the country or have crossed into the U.S. via Mexico. “The violence attributed to organized crime groups on the border continued to strain Mexico’s law enforcement capacities,” the report said...more

People from Countries Tied to Terrorism Stopped in the El Paso Sector

Thousands of illegal immigrants are caught every year in the Borderland, but they're not all from Mexico. News Channel 9 has learned just how many of these illegal are coming from states that sponsor terrorism. It was a new level of violence seen in Juarez just about three weeks ago, car bombs. The sophistication of the attacks raised the question, where are the new weapons and tactics come from? After all, these types of attacks are usually seen in countries struggling with terrorism. So we investigated, and we found out since October more than 800 people, other than Mexicans, have been caught by El Paso Border Patrol. The list goes back about a year and some of the countries are surprising considering their ties to terrorism. Take a look.

Saudi Arabia 1
Pakistan 1
Libya 1
Iraq 2
Iran 2
Cuba 4

For the complete article and a video report go to KTSM-TV.

The Five Most Crime-Ridden U.S. Judicial Districts Are All on the Mexican Border

When measured by the number of criminal defendants charged with federal crimes by U.S. attorneys, the top five U.S. judicial districts for fiscal 2009 were all on the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, these five judicial districts are the only five on the U.S.-Mexico border—covering its entire expanse from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. There are 94 federal judicial districts covering the area of all 50 states, plus Guam, the North Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. In the Southern District of Texas, which covers a stretch of border from Brownsville past Laredo, the U.S. attorney’s office filed criminal charges against 8,801 defendants in fiscal 2009. That gave that district the nation’s No. 1 ranking for most criminal defendants charged in 2009, according to data published in Table 1 of the United States Attorneys’ Annual Statistical Report for Fiscal Year 2009. The United States Attorneys’ Annual Statistical Report for Fiscal Year 2009, compiled and released by President Barack Obama’s Justice Department, is just more evidence that our government is not doing its job of defending our nation’s border with Mexico. According to the Justice Department’s own numbers, federal crime is dramatically disproportionate along that border compared to the rest of the United States...more

Body armour, helmets advised for Northern Mexico reporters

Mexico's journalist association has adopted a new " security protocol" for Chihuahua state, including recommended measures such as body armour and helmets, in the wake of attacks on media workers by drug cartels. The measures recommended by the State Human Rights Commission for reporters in the US border region is included in a new guide handbook, which details other safety advice such as waiting for security forces to arrive at a crime scene first, and to devise escape routes by car for when situations deteriorate. At least nine journalists have been killed or gone missing this year, and more than 30 have died since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on organized crime three-and-a-half years ago, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)...more

Car bomb rocks government offices in Tamaulipas, Mexico

A car bomb rocked the headquarters of the Tamaulipas State Public Safety complex in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, the agency said Thursday. No one was hurt; two police cars were damaged, it said in a news release. Authorities said the explosion, which occurred at 5:20 p.m., appeared to have emanated from inside a white compact car in a parking lot behind the building, near the offices of the Rural Police. Agents with the Mexican federal police are investigating the blast, which was felt inside the building. Thursday's incident marks at least the third recent incident involving explosives near the Mexico-U.S. border. Last month, a car bomb killed four people in Juarez, where police and rescuers had responded to assist an injured person dressed in a police uniform. Last Friday, an explosion rocked the parking lot of a TV station in Nuevo Laredo on the night that Televisa TV network faded its signal to black for almost an hour to call attention to the escalating violence in Mexico. CNN

Mexico drug cartels use gory videos to spread fear

Powerful drug cartels are increasingly using gruesome videos of executions and interrogations to intimidate their rivals, police and an already terrified public in Mexico's vicious drug war. The drug gangs, battling for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the United States, have long attached handwritten notes to victims they dump in public as a way to scare rival gangs and pesky state officials. But they are now airing more and more of their dirty work and threats on blogs or Web sites like YouTube, and bullying Mexican media into putting their gory tapes on television for wider play. The format of the tapes is often the same: captives, many bloodied from beatings, are tied up, blindfolded and posed in front of a draped sheet in an anonymous setting. Surrounded by heavily armed captors in ski-masks and guided by questioning from an off-camera voice, the captives are forced to confess allegiances to cartels or corrupt officials. Many are then murdered on-camera...more

The Violent New Face of Border Smuggling

Border Patrol Agent Jose Morales has patrolled the same stretch of no-man’s-land in his unmarked SUV between Tijuana, Mexico and San Ysidro, Calif., hundreds of times. But the world seemed to stop around 9 a.m. one morning last month when a dispatcher broke through the radio chatter with a solemn announcement, “Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, you will never be forgotten.” That morning―July 23―was the anniversary of the first on-duty death of a Border Patrol agent by gunfire in 12 years. Rosas was gunned down in a remote area some 60 miles east of San Diego by Christian Daniel Castro-Alvarez, then a 16-year-old Mexican citizen who was working with others to lure the 30-year-old father of two out of his patrol vehicle to rob him. Alvarez who pleaded guilty to the agent’s murder, was sentenced in San Diego Federal Court this May as an adult to 40 years in prison. His accomplices remain at large. Chillingly, Rosas is not likely to be the last fatal victim. As the debate over securing U.S. borders heats up once again following Arizona’s controversial immigration law, one key element has been overlooked. Over the past four years there has been a significant increase in assaults against agents, primarily in the southwest sectors. Officials are concerned enough to call for a re-examination of Border Patrol tactics, in the wake of the escalating violence along the U.S.-Mexican border...more

Mexican cardinals endorse idea of debating legalization of drugs

Two Mexican cardinals have endorsed a proposal by President Felipe Calderon to open a debate on the merits of drug legalization in a country beset with violence attributed to narcotics-trafficking cartels. Cardinals Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City and Juan Sandoval Iniguez of Guadalajara did not express support for drug legalization but called for the issue to be studied and for Mexico to learn from the experiences of other countries. Calderon made his proposal to debate legalizing drugs Aug. 3. He later clarified he did not favor legalization, but he was open to the debate. Mexico decriminalized the possession of small quantities of drugs in 2009 in an effort to focus enforcement activities on detaining drug dealers instead of drug users. Some political observers interpreted Calderon floating the legalization idea as a potential backup plan for dealing with an ever-growing wave of organized crime violence that has claimed 28,000 lives since he took office in December 2006...more

Activists, Lawmakers Push to end Drilling Moratorium

The Obama Administration is tinkering with pulling the plug on its temporarily moratorium on deepwater drilling in light of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But for some in Congress and energy advocacy groups, that might not be soon enough. "I believe the Obama Administration is choking the American economy," said former-Rep. John Peterson (R-PA), who used to represent one of the richest oil patches in the Keystone State. "If we don't produce (oil), OPEC will." Peterson joined Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) at a Capitol Hill rally held by the American Energy Alliance (AEA). AEA argues that the six-month moratorium could cost the country $2.7 billion in lost commerce and puts thousands of jobs at risk. "If that oil exploration does not occur in the Gulf of Mexico, those companies will move to other parts of the world that are far-less rigorous (when it comes to environmental protection)," Cornyn said...more

Drilling czar sees possibility of lifting ban early

The nation's top drilling regulator Tuesday raised the possibility that the Obama administration could lift its deep-water exploration ban before it expires in November — if the industry boosts its ability to clean up and contain oil spills. "I think it's everybody's hope that we will feel comfortable enough that the moratorium can be lifted significantly in advance of Nov. 30," said Michael Bromwich, the newly tapped director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement - formerly the Minerals Management Service. Bromwich is embarking today on an eight-city listening tour with public meetings designed to shed light on drilling and workplace safety, spill containment and disaster response technology...more

BLM: 34 horses dead in roundup in northeast Nevada

Federal officials confirmed Wednesday that 34 wild horses died or were euthanized during a roundup of animals from parched rangeland in Nevada, sparking fresh criticism from horse protection advocates pressing the Obama administration to suspend such operations. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said 1,224 wild horses were collected in pens during the Tuscarora wild horse gather that concluded Monday outside the Rock Creek Herd Management Area, or HMA, in northeastern Nevada's Elko County. In addition to the 34 horses that died, two more were put down after they were found injured by a contractor herding more than two dozen wild horses away from a steep cliff, Worley said Wednesday. The BLM characterizes its ongoing horse and burro roundups as emergency operations made necessary by drought and overpopulation on public and private lands. For a week in mid-July, the agency hauled 46,000 gallons of water to dehydrated herds in a neighboring HMA...more

BLM announces extension for horse, burro plan

Today the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it is extending the public comment period on its Wild Horse and Burro Program Strategy Development Document to September 3, 2010. The extension will provide members of the public with an interest in the management of America’s wild horses and burros an additional 30 days to comment on the document, which outlines possible management actions under consideration by the BLM to implement Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s Wild Horse and Burro Initiative. The bureau will also accept comments submitted via e-mail. The BLM’s Strategy Development Document was initially released to the public for a 60-day review and comment period on June 3. The extension announced today will increase the public's opportunity to provide input for the BLM as it prepares a long-term strategy for the management of America’s wild horses and burros. The BLM’s strategy will be presented in a detailed report to Congress...more

McKEEN v. U.S. FOREST SERVICE

HUGH B. McKEEN, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE, an Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture; TOM VILSACK, in his official capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture; TOM TIDWELL, in his official capacity as Chief of the Forest Service; CORBIN L. NEWMAN, in his official capacity as Regional Forester for the Southwest Region, State of New Mexico; RICHARD E. MARKLEY, in his official capacity as Forest Supervisor of the Gila National Forest, State of New Mexico; PAT MORRISON, in her official capacity as the Glenwood District Ranger in the Gila National Forest, Defendants-Appellees.[ 1 ]

No. 08-2290.
United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
August 2, 2010.

Submitted on the briefs:

Karen Budd-Falen, and Kathryn Brack Morrow, Budd-Falen Law Offices, LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General, Aaron P. Avila, Andrew A. Smith, and Susan L. Pacholski, Attorneys, United States Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Washington, D.C., for Defendants-Appellees.

Before BRISCOE, Chief Judge, HAWKINS[ 2 ], and O'BRIEN, Circuit Judges.

BRISCOE, Chief Judge.

For more than forty years, the United States Forest Service (hereinafter "Forest Service") has granted Plaintiff Hugh B. McKeen and his family a series of term livestock grazing permits to graze cattle and/or horses on the Cedar Breaks Allotment in the Glenwood Ranger District of the Gila National Forest in Catron County, New Mexico. Recently, McKeen sought to have several Forest Service actions which affected these permits set aside pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq. The district court denied each of McKeen's requests for relief and McKeen filed this timely appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and AFFIRM in part and VACATE in part. With respect to those claims which we vacate, we REMAND to the district court with instructions to DISMISS as moot.[ 3 ]...

Go here to read the decision.

Elite Science Panel Wades Into Calif. Water War

Scientists tasked with unraveling one of the nation's most vexing environmental puzzles started their first field trip to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta at a fish processing facility here near one of the estuary's major water-pumping stations. Assembled by the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists -- 15 experts in estuarine ecology, hydrology, fisheries science and water resources engineering -- were gathering information for a series of reports that could influence management of the West Coast's largest estuary for decades to come. The stakes for the two-year study are high. All around the delta, demand for water is growing -- water for endangered fish, for farms and for 25 million people. Political pressure from California's senior U.S. senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, and others finally forced the White House to order the review this spring. So the National Research Council panel has parachuted into a decades-long environmental battle being fought over a 700-mile-long maze of shipping canals, rivers, levees and aqueducts. The scientists are moving at a rapid clip to satisfy political pressure on all sides as they try to get a clear picture of the science behind two federal recovery plans for endangered chinook salmon and delta smelt and a number of proposals aimed at solving regional water problems...more

A tale of three counties

What are the odds that San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties would be simultaneously rewriting their grading ordinances? Coincidence? Hardly. A move is afoot to wrest as much control of land away from landowners as possible, mainly farmers and ranchers, since they own most of the undeveloped land. The insult to injury is that urbanites gobbled up the best farm land for their own urban lifestyle, and now they are trying to impede the ability of farmers and ranchers to head for the hills. In view of the fact that property taxes are the major source of revenue for local discretionary spending, all of these policy regimens spell disaster for local government, in that they will serve to impede intensification of land use, including the conversion of rangeland to row crops. In essence, they will prohibit, by regulatory fiat, the ability to invest and make improvements of any kind on the rural lands of the tri-county area. This will serve to flatline future revenue growth for the economy as a whole. Ventura County is so bold as to actually create overlay maps of most all the rural lands in the county, and label the lands wildlife corridors and wildlife habitat...more

Beefalo or buffalo? The purebred push for bison

July was National Bison Month — but not at the Denver Zoo, which set four of the burly brown beasts free earlier this year. No, in January the zoo sent its four critters — one bull and three cows — to the Last Gulch Ranch in southeastern Colorado, where they are living with forty other bison owned by conservationist rancher Robert Alsobrook. But the zoo still owns the bison and plans to build a herd of purebred animals on the ranch so it can study how they interact with the environment compared to bison that have been interbred with cattle, says Rich Reading, conservation biology director at the zoo. Although there are more than half a million bison in the United States, only a small portion of them are genetically pure — including the four zoo animals, the two herds owned by the City of Denver, and the famous animals at Yellowstone National Park. "Bison are a keystone species," Reading says, meaning that their habits, particularly their grazing patterns, can affect living things all around them, including plants, birds and small reptiles and amphibians. And purebred bison graze differently than beefalos...more

Mexican bandits hold ‘river pilots’ for ransom

Two “river pilots” on patrol over the international border on Aug. 10, 1919 mistook the Rio Conchos River for the Rio Grande and took a wrong turn deep into the Mexican interior. A chronic burr under the Lone Star saddle since San Jacinto, Mexican bandits once again were making life miserable on the border, especially in the Big Bend. Utilizing the latest technology in the war against this old menace, the Border Patrol took to the skies in June 1919. From an airfield at Marfa, four biplanes flew daily surveillance over the shallow waterway separating Texas and Mexico. Eagle-eyed “river pilots” scanned the barren landscape for any sign of the elusive outlaws. While on routine patrol on Aug. 10, Lt. H.G. Peterson and Lt. Paul Davis became so confused they followed the Rio Conchos west into Mexico instead of setting a northerly course by the Rio Grande. When the engine of their two-seater suddenly sputtered, the two were forced to make an emergency landing 80 miles inside Mexican territory...more

Song Of The Day #373

Good Bunch of Biscuits by Jim & Jesse and the Virgina Boys keeps us going on food week at Ranch Radio.

Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images

For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they're viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded." Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse. This follows an earlier disclosure (PDF) by the TSA that it requires all airport body scanners it purchases to be able to store and transmit images for "testing, training, and evaluation purposes." The agency says, however, that those capabilities are not normally activated when the devices are installed at airports...more

House Bill 305 - A ban on the transportation of all horses in double deck trucks

PRCA Livestock Welfare News "Take Action"
August 3, 2010

House Bill 305 - A ban on the transportation of all horses in double deck trucks

This bill passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee after being brought to markup in committee with 2 ½ days notice with no hearing on the matter. Rep. Boswell of IA expressed concern about the effect on the rodeo industry and offered an amendment. In the end, he agreed to withdraw the amendment at the urging of Chairman Oberstar of MN and the bill passed with unanimous consent after the Chairman agreed to discuss the issues before the bill goes to the floor. This happened with one day left in the session before the August Recess.

ACTION NEEDED
Since this bill has passed committee, it could go to the House Floor at any time after the August recess on September 13, 2010. All rodeo supporters should:

1. Fax or email a letter of opposition to your Representative in Congress. There is not a Senate Bill at this time but include a copy of your letter to both of your Senators to let them know there is opposition.
a. Due to security measures, it takes a long time for a letter to be delivered, so faxing or emailing material reaches your representatives and senators sooner. If you do not want to write, you may call the representative's office and register your opposition.
b. To find your Congressional Representative, go to www.house.gov; click on Write Your Representative or Find Your Representative upper left; and enter your zip code. The link to his/her webpage will provide contact information.
c. You may also include all or part of a report published by the PRCA titled, "Transporting Rodeo Horses in Modified Double Deck Trailers", which can be found here.
2. Try and set up a face to face meeting with your Congressional Representative while he/she is at home on August recess to discuss this issue.
3. Monitor the political races in your area and ask candidates about their positions on agriculture, rodeo, and animal use.

BACKGROUND
Representative Kirk (IL), with Co Sponsors Rep. Cohen (TN) and Rep. Whitfield (KY) introduced a bill (H.R. 305) to ban hauling horses in double deck trailers on January 8, 2009.
Congressman Kirk said he was prompted to introduce this legislation by an accident in Wadsworth, Illinois in October, 2007 involving the overturning of a double deck cattle trailer carrying 59 Belgian draft horses. Eight horses died at the scene and ten were later euthanized. Currently, several states including New York and Pennsylvania have laws prohibiting the transport of horses in double deck trailers, additionally federal regulation prohibit hauling horse to slaughter plants in double deck trailers.

THE BILL
The bill, titled the 'Horse Transportation Safety Act of 2009', was referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and passed out of that committee on July 29, 2010.
Partial text of the bill:
`(a) Prohibition- No person may transport, or cause to be transported, a horse from a place in a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States through or to a place in another State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States in a motor vehicle containing two or more levels stacked on top of one another.
`(b) Civil Penalty- A person that knowingly violates this section is liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of at least $100 but not more than $500 for each violation. A separate violation occurs under this section for each horse that is transported, or caused to be transported, in violation of this section. On learning of a violation, the Attorney General shall bring a civil action to collect the penalty in the district court of the United States for the judicial district in which the violation occurred or the defendant resides or does business. Complete information on the bill, click here.

REASONS TO OPPOSE H.R. 305
• As the bill is drafted, horses would be prohibited from transport in any double deck trailer--even in those which are modified to provide safe and comfortable conditions of adequate head room and non-slip floors and ramps.

• Modified double deck trailers are routinely used and have been successfully used for many years to safely transport valuable rodeo livestock, including horses. Eliminating double deck trailers and purchasing replacement trailers and trucks to pull them unfairly entails unnecessary expense.

• Unlike some transport of horses where the animals may be unfamiliar with each other and inexperienced in being hauled, rodeo horses are part of a familiar herd that are accustomed to this kind of transport, and they are well adapted to it.

SAMPLE LETTER

Use the opening paragraphs and following to create a personalized fax or email. Add your personal experience with hauling horses in double deck trailers or seeing horses at rodeos that have been safely transported in these trailers.

Honorable ____________
Washington, DC

RE: Opposition to HR 305

Dear Representative _______________:

As a supporter of the sport of rodeo I am writing to express my concerns about H.R. 305, the Horse Transportation Safety Act, and urge you to oppose this bill.

This bill was rushed through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee without even three days notice. There has not been a hearing to adequately debate the consequences.

This bill would ban the use of double deck trailers to transport horses. I am opposed to it because ....PERSONALIZE THIS PORTION FROM THE TALKING POINTS ABOVE OR YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Include your role as a committee members, contestant, stock contractor, etc and what you have seen personally and combine with one or more of the reasons above.

To view a video of a stock contractor explaining and touring a double deck horse trailer go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRagrwxwXT0

Thank you for your consideration of my personal experience regarding the sport of rodeo and the horses involved that are routinely and safely transported in specially modified double deck trailers. Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,
Include your full name, address, phone and email address.


Thank you for your interest and support in livestock welfare issues and the PRCA. Do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Cindy Schonholtz
PRCA Director of Industry Outreach
719-440-7255
animalwelfare@prorodeo.com

U.S. finds most oil from Gulf spill poses little risk

The U.S. government is expected to announce that three-quarters of the oil from the BP Plc spill in the Gulf of Mexico has already evaporated, dispersed, or been captured or eliminated, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. A government report, due to be unveiled on Wednesday morning was also expected to say that what is left of the oil is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk, the newspaper said. The report found that about 26 percent of the oil released in the world's worst accidental marine oil spill was still in the water or onshore in a form that possibly could cause new problems. But most is light sheen at the surface or dispersed below the surface and federal scientists believe that it is breaking down rapidly, The New York Times reported. The report, by federal scientists with outside help, is the result of an effort to determine the total volume of oil released and to figure out where it went, the newspaper said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was the lead agency on the report, the newspaper said...more

President Obama, in his address to the nation on June 15 of this year said, "this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced." Not that he would hype the situation to raise taxes and shut down offshore oil production.

In that same address he authorized the deployment of "17,000 National Guard members along the coast" to protect us from oil. Three weeks earlier he had authorized only 1,200 National Guardsmen to protect us from the Mexican drug cartels, illegal human trafficking and associated violence.

Apparently the environment of Alabama is more important than the people of Arizona.

Endangered Mexican gray wolf may get new help

The endangered Mexican gray wolf gained ground Tuesday in its struggle to survive when federal wildlife officials decided the animal may warrant greater protection than other, less-imperiled gray wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it will review the status of the Mexican wolf - native to Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico - and determine whether it should be classified as a separate subspecies of the wider-ranging gray wolf native to other parts of North America. The difference is significant under the Endangered Species Act. The government would be required to create a recovery plan specifically for the Mexican wolf and set measurable goals for the species' recovery that would extend protection beyond what wolves elsewhere receive. No such plan is in place, even as the wolves' numbers dwindle. "This is clearly a step forward for the Mexican wolf," said Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife program director for the advocacy group WildEarth Guardians. "The wolves face real, significant threats and they need heightened protection." The wildlife service announced its review of the wolf's status as part of a settlement with WildEarth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Rewilding Institute, three conservation groups that petitioned the agency to reclassify the Mexican wolf...more

Simpson kills buyout for grazing permits

A potential federal grazing permit buyout program was killed by amendment last Thursday as Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, defended national public lands grazing during a subcommittee markup. The stricken language, which was attached to the Interior and Environment Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2011, would have created a national pilot program to allow buyers to purchase and retire grazing permits from willing sellers. Simpson has previously been engaged with the public grazing issue through his work on the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act, or CIEDRA. CIEDRA proposes to designate some 330,000 acres of land in central Idaho as federal wilderness. However, CIEDRA specifically provides for voluntary donation and retirement of grazing permits, which some see as contradictory to Simpson's latest move. Simpson also added language to the appropriations bill that would enable the BLM to continue working through what Watts called a "backlog" of grazing permits that are up for renewal. This backlog is created by old grazing permits, which come up for renewal every 10 years, and the several hundred new applications the bureau receives every year. The language has been in the Interior appropriation's bill for each of the last 12 years, but was omitted this year until Simpson reintroduced it...more

Box Elder fights for grazing rights

Box Elder County Commissioners remain firm in their opposition to a contract between El Paso Corp. and regional environmental groups that puts local ranchers in danger of losing grazing rights on federal land. Commissioners recently learned that El Paso Corp. will pay $20 million over 10 years into a trust fund set up for the purpose of habitat rehabilitation. In exchange, the environmental group Western Watershed Project has agreed to drop its opposition to construction of the Ruby Pipeline, set to begin any day. Box Elder is one of nine counties to be crossed by the Ruby Pipeline, a 675-mile line of 42-inch pipe to transport natural gas from Wyoming to Oregon. Each of the nine counties has agreed to form a coalition of counties which will form and pass a resolution to protect ranchers' rights. To date, several drafts of a resolution have been created, but none are ready for ratification. Commissioners have said they wish to wait until after an Aug. 12 coalition meeting in order to draft a resolution that shows unity between the counties...more

Alberta ranchers worry as cattle boneyards become magnets for grizzlies

Bears have killed his livestock and preyed on sick calves. They tear open silage bags and break into grain bins. But the real fear for Tony Bruder, a third-generation Twin Butte cattle rancher, is that one day it will be a human at the ugly end of a bear's attention. He's been chased by a bear while on horseback, and had grizzlies stroll by while he works under farm equipment. He's watched his children head out the back door to catch the school bus, and a bear wander through moments later. During the last number of years, Bruder says, human-bear conflicts have increased dramatically. He and other ranchers are placing part of the blame squarely on the shoulders of an unusual culprit -- bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The link is not an obvious one. But ranchers say regulations imposed by the federal government since a case of the disease was found in an Alberta cow in 2003 have changed how they dispose of cattle that die on the ranch, creating in the process a huge attractant for bears. There was a time before BSE when the rendering company would pick up a dead cow that has died of such things as old age or illness for free. It was a good deal in two ways: the rancher could get rid of a carcass at no cost, and the renderer could make some money off the dead stock. But with significant restrictions now placed on how dead cattle are rendered, those days are long gone...more

Africanized Bee Swarm Kills Two Horses in California

A California rancher recommends horse owners examine their barns for Africanized honeybee hives after two horses stabled on her Menifee property died subsequent to sustaining hundreds of stings. The two Tennessee Walking horses were stabled in a barn containing undiscovered Africanized bee hives at Wagon Wheel Ranch. On July 21 a ranch hand discovered the animals swarmed by the bees, said ranch owner Christa Caudle Schaffer. A veterinarian called to the scene treated the animals with epinephrine (a hormone that stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to increase heart rate and dilate air passages) and dexamethasone (a steroid anti-inflammatory, immune suppressant drug). Both horses later died of anaphylactic shock, Schaffer said. Chris Huth, DVM, said anaphylactic shock occurs when horses, humans and other mammals experience a severe reaction to an allergen such as bee venom. The condition causes hives, sweating, difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat, drop in blood pressure, and fluid accumulation. Severe cases can cause death in horses. "Bee sting reactions in horses are generally mild," Huth said, "but if you've got 100 or 1,000 bees stinging a horse, it’s likely to go into anaphylactic shock and die."...more

The Story of an Infamous Montana Rancher in Bolivia Painted as One of Cowboys, Indians

When Time Magazine wrote the story of Ron Larsen, a cattleman in the crosshairs of Bolivian land reform, Jean Friedman-Rudovsky in Le Paz started with a cowboy tale. “In his native Montana, Ronald Larsen’s current legal straits might be the stuff of an old-fashioned Western movie: A cattle rancher who believes the government and its allies are unfairly trying to seize his land, and picks up a rifle to signal his displeasure. But in contemporary Bolivia, where Larsen makes his home, his recent clash with the authorities is but another instance of rising tension over land-ownership between, on the one hand, left-wing President Evo Morales and his supporters among Bolivia’s indigenous population, and on the other, political opponents backed by the country’s wealthy eastern elite. But the romance for this particular cattleman is over, punctuated this week by a court decision that upholds the Bolivian government’s plan to seize Larsen’s land under charges he treated his indigenous employees like indentured servants...more

Big cow numbers being slaughtered

Yesterday’s mention of beef cow slaughter brought to mind a conundrum with which I have grappled for the past few weeks — Why are we slaughtering so many beef cows? While feed prices are indeed higher than they once were, beef cow slaughter 15% to as much as 30% higher than one year earlier on a weekly basis and 12% higher year-to-date usually occurs in the face of an absolute economic disaster. Specifically, it usually happens when cattle prices have fallen off the face of the earth or when rains have been few and far between, leaving pastures in major cow-calf areas looking like parched pool tables. But neither are the case this year. Range and pasture conditions are remarkably good for this time of year. Only 11% of pastures nationwide were rated poor or very poor last week. Dr. Ron Plain of the University of Missouri provided a very plausible explanation — which had escaped me thus far. It centers on the structure of the beef cow-calf sector. This business is still heavily influenced by 600,000 small herds, generally owned by part-time farmer/ranchers, that still control nearly 30% of all cows. Many of these herds are, no doubt, only marginally profitable. Some probably require subsidization from off-farm income. With money tight due to the recession, “Sell the cows” may be the best way to generate some cash and/or stop the subsidies. High cow prices would trump low costs and plentiful grass and there are enough cows in small herds (roughly 10 million!) to push slaughter higher for a good while...more

How The Roswell Crash Happened

Many rightly wonder why an ET vehicle with the ability to traverse light years through the cosmos would arrive all the way to Earth - only to crash in New Mexico. How is it that an interplanetary people with such advanced aerial technology could come to such grief on the July-baked desert floor? Why did the Roswell craft fall in the first place? A review and analysis of the 1947 incident reveals a unique "confluence of events" that may well have led to the crash: It is said that Mac Brazel had reported hearing a loud explosion during a severe lightning and thunder storm the night before he had discovered the crash debris on the Foster Ranch that he had managed. RAAF Intel Agent Major Jesse Marcel reported that the scattered debris had appeared to him to have "exploded" in mid-air before hitting the ground. Weather records do in fact confirm that there were thunderstorms in late June and early July of 1947 (including on July 2 and July 4) in the Foster Ranch area where some of the crash debris was found. And - as with many areas of the country - in the summertime (particularly in the evenings) such isolated but severe storms can "pop up" without notice in an instant, only to pass as quickly - and often without even being officially recorded. The action of severe storms on aircraft is still a subject of intense study...more

Song Of The Day #372

Ranch Radio continues with songs about food.

Today's selection is Homegrown Tomatoes by Guy Clark.

This version is on his 30 track, 2 CD collection Craftsman.

Bomb Found on U.S.-Mexico Border Bridge (Juarez)

One of the four international bridges linking this northern Mexican city and El Paso, Texas, was closed for nearly two hours Tuesday after a bomb was found and detonated on the Mexican side of the border, a police spokesman told Efe. The bomb was spotted just after 8:00 a.m. on the Lerdo Bridge, which was immediately closed to traffic. Several of the main avenues in Ciudad Juarez leading to the bridge were also closed, causing massive traffic jams in Mexico’s murder capital. Army troops, Federal Police officers, municipal police and transit police went to the bridge to secure the area and direct traffic. Mexican authorities, working with the U.S. Border Patrol, detonated the bomb. The flow of traffic across the border resumed two hours after the controlled detonation, but officials have not said what type of explosive was used. This was the latest in a series of bombings in northern Mexico. Assailants suspected of having links to an organized crime group threw a bomb Saturday at one of the bridges connecting Nuevo Laredo, a city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, with Laredo, Texas...more

FBI ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER: Corruption, Drugs, Gangs, and More

The U.S. border with Mexico extends nearly 2,000 miles, from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas. At too many points along the way, criminals ply their trade with surprising ease and devastating results. Drug cartels transporting kilos of cocaine and marijuana, gangs who think nothing of kidnapping and murder, traffickers smuggling human cargo, corrupt public officials lining their pockets by looking the other way—any one of these offenses represents a challenge to law enforcement. Taken together, they constitute a threat not only to the safety of our border communities, but to the security of the entire country...more

Grizzly Tests Reveal Little About Deadly Attack

Mystery still surrounds a deadly grizzly attack, eventhough wildlife officials have excamined the body of the aggressive sow. Experts say tests on the euthanized bear are providing few answers. The female grizzly ripped open several tents, killed one camper and injured two others at a campground near Cooke City. Fish Wildlife and Parks found the bear still had her winter coat and weighed 225 pounds, whereas others her age average 300 to 400 pounds. Ron Aasheim/Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks: "It weighed about 225 pounds. Ten plus years old that is light for a bear that age." Still, wildlife experts say there is plenty of food in the area and other bears there are not malnourished. So, they say her weight was probably not the reason she attacked. Other tests are turning up few answers. Ron Aasheim/Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks: "We didn't find any injuries or obvious signs of illness, tumors that sort of thing." Some test results are still coming in, but experts are not expecting anything out of the ordinary...more

An end not as nigh as we were told

It's the "worst environmental disaster America has ever faced," as President Obama describes it. Lesser mortals call it a "catastrophe" and "calamity." Some call the Gulf oil leak "doomsday for the Gulf of Mexico." But now dawns the recognition, as nearly always happens in the wake of disasters, calamities, catastrophes, etc., that maybe the politicians and the mainstream media have been guilty of a little contagious hyperbole. Exaggeration has been the order of the day. But maybe the end has not been so nigh as we were confidently told it was. Some unexpected media voices are (gulp) saying so. Jacqueline Michel, a geological chemist who is coordinating the federal assessment of damages to the shores of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, says the impact of the oil spill has been "much, much less" than anticipated in the first days after the well blew out. Her survey teams have found only about 350 acres of oily marshland — sad and disheartening, but only a fraction of the 15,000 acres of Louisiana wetlands that slip into the sea each year. Wildlife-recovery workers have so far found only three dead oil-soaked mammals along the coast that they can attribute to the spill. The harsh restrictions on fishing the Gulf for shrimp, imposed with hysterical fanfare when we were told the universe as we know it would soon vanish, are being lifted...more

Groups protest 64 of 76 leases at Wyo. BLM auction

Environmental groups are protesting all but a dozen of the 76 latest oil and gas leases that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to auction off in Wyoming. The protests won't hold up Tuesday's quarterly auction in Cheyenne, but they will require the BLM to further scrutinize each lease sold, causing longer waits for oil and gas companies to receive the leases they buy. The soonest the BLM will be able to issue the leases sold this week is early next year, after the BLM works through an existing backlog going back as far as two years, said BLM spokeswoman Beverly Gorny. Environmentalists oppose the leases of federal mineral rights on several grounds. Among other concerns, they say BLM didn't sufficiently consider how oil and gas drilling in certain areas might affect sage grouse...more