Song Of The Day #190

Today's tune on Ranch Radio is My Tennessee Baby, recorded in 1949 by Ernest Tubb.

The song is available on his 5 disc box wet Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello.

10 Reasons to be Thankful that Cap and Trade Hasn’t Passed

This year we have much for which to be thankful: family, friends, and the Obama-Reid-Pelosi National Energy Tax (Cap and Trade) has not yet become law to name a few. We would like to remind you of 10 reasons you should be thinkful for that this year:

1. We don’t have to pay over $100 billion in additional taxes.
2. We don’t have to pay an additional $3.6 trillion in gas taxes.
3. We won’t lose 1.1 million jobs between 2012 and 2030 and 2.5 million each year after that.
4. We haven’t made new industries that are dependent on government handouts for their survival.
5. We don’t have a new bureaucracy in place to allocate and sell carbon credits that will increase corruption and favoritism in Washington, DC.
6. Our energy costs will not go up by $1500 per year for a family of four.
7. We won’t have our national debt increase by 26 percent by 2030. An increase of $116,600 for a family of four.
8. We won’t have protectionist tariffs to create trade wars and cause increased prices and shortages on the goods we need.
9. We won’t have a reduction in GDP of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2030.
10. We won’t have a 58% increase in gas prices.

Source: ATR

Possible sinkhole threatens New Mexico town

Cookie and Ella Fletcher decided to call Thanksgiving off. This year, there seemed little to be thankful for. Not far from the Fletchers' mobile home in this small southeastern New Mexico city lies a giant underground cavity that geologists say is a time bomb waiting to implode. At any moment, they say, the cavity could collapse into a yawning sinkhole, taking with it a chunk of highway, a church, several businesses and the El Dorado Estates trailer park the Fletchers call home. The cavity is the result of three decades of salt mining, a process in which oil service companies inject water into a salt layer 450 feet underground, allow the water to dissolve the salt, and then suck up the brine. Oil companies use the brine to help extract oil from the earth. Over the years, more than 6 million cubic feet of brine was removed from the Carlsbad well and sold for use in the oil fields that blanket the surrounding desert. State officials singled out the Carlsbad well as a danger and ordered it closed after two similar wells north of town collapsed last year, leaving craters about 400 feet across and 100 feet deep. Those sinkholes caused little damage because they occurred in rural areas -- in fact, sinkholes are not unheard of in oil country. But the Carlsbad brine well is smack underneath the busiest intersection in this town of 26,000, and it is only footsteps from a major irrigation channel and railroad tracks...read more

Climate change data dumped

SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based. It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years. The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation. The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building. The admission follows the leaking of a thousand private emails sent and received by Professor Phil Jones, the CRU’s director. In them he discusses thwarting climate sceptics seeking access to such data...read more

Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation

A week after my colleague James Delingpole , on his Telegraph blog, coined the term "Climategate" to describe the scandal revealed by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, Google was showing that the word now appears across the internet more than nine million times. But in all these acres of electronic coverage, one hugely relevant point about these thousands of documents has largely been missed. The reason why even the Guardian's George Monbiot has expressed total shock and dismay at the picture revealed by the documents is that their authors are not just any old bunch of academics. Their importance cannot be overestimated, What we are looking at here is the small group of scientists who have for years been more influential in driving the worldwide alarm over global warming than any others, not least through the role they play at the heart of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Professor Philip Jones, the CRU's director, is in charge of the two key sets of data used by the IPCC to draw up its reports. Through its link to the Hadley Centre, part of the UK Met Office, which selects most of the IPCC's key scientific contributors, his global temperature record is the most important of the four sets of temperature data on which the IPCC and governments rely – not least for their predictions that the world will warm to catastrophic levels unless trillions of dollars are spent to avert it...read more

Climategate: University of East Anglia U-turn in climate change row

A grandfather with a training in electrical engineering dating back more than 40 years emerged from the leaked emails as a leading climate sceptic trying to bring down the scientific establishment on global warming. David Holland, who describes himself as a David taking on the Goliath that is the prevailing scientific consensus, is seeking prosecutions against some of Britain's most eminent academics for allegedly holding back information in breach of disclosure laws. Mr Holland, of Northampton, complained to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) last week after the leaked emails included several Freedom of Information requests he had submitted to the CRU, and scientists' private responses to them. Within hours, a senior complaints officer in the ICO wrote back by email: "I have started to examine the issues that you have raised in your letter and I am currently liaising with colleagues in our Enforcement and Data Protection teams as to what steps to take next."...read more

The Day Global Warming Stood Still

It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers. The climate show-and-tell in Copenhagen next month will be nothing more than a meaningless carbon-emitting jaunt, unable to decide just whom to blame or how to divvy up the profitable spoils of climate change hysteria. October 2009 will go down as the 3rd coolest October on record for the United States, according to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Records go back to 1880. The mainstream press is finally coming to the conclusion that the entire climate debate about global warming is about to collapse so they had better get out of that game and come clean with what is happening with the sun and what that means for planet earth and all the people on it. The global warming gig has played itself out and has only gone on as long as it has because climate change was a weapon for more mass taxation...read more

Hide The Decline - Climategate Video

Aerial-gunning foes ask Obama to ban practice

A wildlife advocacy group has asked President Barack Obama to end aerial gunning of coyotes and other predators, citing an incident in Idaho where a shotgun-wielding parachutist fired on a wolf as an example of how the practice is rife with abuses. New Mexico-based WildEarth Guardians Friday asked Obama to issue an executive order. The group's 39-page petition also urged the president to banish spring-loaded sodium cyanide devices and other predator poisoning methods from federal public land, on grounds they're dangerous and indiscriminate...read more

No reason to designate Rock Creek as wilderness

...They are right, however their contention that the area is threatened by illegal ATV use and only a Wilderness designation can save it from that fate is incorrect and misleading. The Wilderness designation will not increase enforcement over what is in place today, either in dollars or people. On the contrary, such a designation would exclude a large and growing segment of the public that enjoys the pleasures of mountain biking. It is not allowed in a Wilderness area. This popular activity currently contributes economically and culturally to Johnson County as well as to the larger American public. They do not deserve to be excluded from responsibly enjoying Rock Creek. A Wilderness designation would negatively impact livestock grazing. I understand that "grazing would be grandfathered in," so permit holders have nothing to worry about with these new restrictions. In reality, that has not been the case in past experiences for Wyoming ranchers. This becomes a "comfort phrase" to mislead people. When the shouting minority takes over, the path of least resistance leads to no grazing. "Grandfathered in" is a phrase that has a warm, fuzzy and misleading connotation. First, its subliminal message is that ranching is part of the past of the American West, something to be tolerated until it dies a quiet death. This should never happen...read more

Tracking smugglers along the Mexican border

Under a scorching sun in the harsh desert along Highway 9 in southern New Mexico, Border Patrol agents Rito Jara and Juan Treviso are quickly on the move, scouring the hard ground, trying to pick up footprints from suspected drug smugglers or immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico. The agents discovered the footprints next to a cattle fence while on routine patrol early in the morning about three miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border. Finding more prints across the highway, they determined that two men passed by here around midnight, eight hours earlier. It appeared they were walking north across the barren scrubland toward either the town of Deming, New Mexico, or U.S. Highway 10, where they could be picked up and spirited away. Joining the search, Border Patrol Field Operations Supervisor Juan Acosta said it was possible the men had already reached the Cedar Mountain Range, many miles ahead, and were now hunkered down to avoid daylight search parties and the searing heat. One potential hideout, Acosta suggested, was a notorious mountain pass known locally as Doper's Gap, because of all the Mexican traffickers who have already passed though there carrying burlap knapsacks filled with illegal drugs bound for U.S. street corners...read more

Bizarre mutilations of cattle lead to 'alien visitor' theory

Colorado has been the source of stories of animal mutilations before, although most of the cases have been found to be the result of animal predation. Home to big skies and mountains, Colorado has been long favoured for cattle ranching, although with Colorado's tourism economy growing, there have been clashes. Established in 1851 and nestled in the mountains, San Luis is a quaint and picturesque village that is home to 661 people. The news of the calf mutilations on a pasture rented by Manual Sanchez has stirred up the village, where talk of alien visitors is growing. Sanchez had reported finding, over a three week period, four of his calves killed -- and strangely mutilated. The calves were found eviscerated and the skin was peeled back. One calf was also missing some of its tongue. There were no footprints, no animal tracks, no traces of vehicles in the pasture, and the part that has puzzled police -- no blood. Sargent James Chavez, the Public Information Officer for the Costilla County Sheriff's Office, told The Pueblo Chieftain "... a deputy and an undersheriff went to the pasture to investigate one of the killings. Chavez said the investigation revealed no indications of a predator attack and the lack of blood at the site made it highly unlikely that a person butchered it. "I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," he said." The mutilations have drawn a noted UFO chaser, Chuck Zukowski, who investigated the bizarre killings. Zukowski has posted excellent, although disturbing photographs of the calf he investigated, along with detailed information...read more

Battle rages in Colorado over sheepherder's guard dogs that attacked a cyclist

The herd, 1,300 strong, has been coming for 30 years to graze in this valley on the backside of the Continental Divide. But as Colorado has become an adventure sports destination, the once-empty valley has filled with hikers, campers and mountain bikers like Legro, and she was about to tragically embody the collision of the old West with the new. Legro, 33, screamed because she knew what came with the herd -- guard dogs. Shortly after she rolled down a hill and came upon the sheep, a dog leaped at her, locked its jaws on her hip and yanked her off her bike. A second dog pounced as she fell. The two enormous canines, powerful enough to fend off bears, tore at her until her cries drew two campers who drove them off. The emergency-room doctor lost count of how many stitches she required. To Legro and her husband, Steve, there was one person responsible -- Sam Robinson. One of a dwindling number of sheepherders in Colorado's mountains, Robinson, 54, turned to guard dogs a decade ago, after the state banned the use of traps to prevent mountain lions, coyotes and bears from destroying herds. "We don't have any other option," Robinson said. The Legros see things differently. In their years of hiking, biking and skiing the magnificent open spaces near Vail, they have fled from ranchers' dogs several times. "I cannot bring my dog up to the forest and let it run wild and attack people," said Steve Legro, 37. "Neither should anyone else." They wanted Robinson charged with a crime...read more

Monsanto's dominance draws antitrust inquiry

For plants designed in a lab a little more than a decade ago, they've come a long way: Today, the vast majority of the nation's two primary crops grow from seeds genetically altered according to Monsanto company patents. Ninety-three percent of soybeans. Eighty percent of corn. The seeds represent "probably the most revolutionary event in grain crops over the last 30 years," said Geno Lowe, a Salisbury, Md., soybean farmer. But for farmers such as Lowe, prices of the Monsanto-patented seeds have steadily increased, roughly doubling during the past decade, to about $50 for a 50-pound bag of soybean seed, according to seed dealers. The revolution, and Monsanto's dominant role in the nation's agriculture, has not unfolded without complaint. Farmers have decried the price increases, and competitors say the company has ruthlessly stifled competition. Now Monsanto -- like IBM and Google -- has drawn scrutiny from U.S. antitrust investigators, who under the Obama administration have looked more skeptically at the actions of dominant firms. Of all the new scrutiny by Justice, the Monsanto investigation might have the highest stakes, dealing as it does with the food supply and one of the nation's largest agricultural firms. It could also force the Obama administration, already under fire for the government's expanded role in the economy, to explain how it distinguishes between normal rough-and-tumble competition and abusive monopolistic business practices...read more

Cow tracking-- Would Canada's model work here?

- As the United States grapples with developing a national system to track diseased cattle, some here have been watching the Canadian model. Like Australia, the program requires cattle ranchers to participate and relies on ear tags to register cattle. But unlike Australia, the Canadian system doesn't actually track a cow's every move from birth to death. "Whatever we move to, we have to be sure it doesn't impede commerce," said John Masswohl, director of Government & International Relations for the Calgary-based Canadian Cattlemen's Association, which represents about 90,000 beef producers. "We aren't convinced the technology exists to read every tag every time. ... It's not all 'Star Trek' just yet." Canada started its mandatory livestock identification program in 2002. The database is owned and controlled by the industry -- the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency -- rather than the government. Ear tags are registered to the people who buy them. Owners are required by law to tag their cattle the first time they're moved off the farm they're born on. When the animals are slaughtered or exported, that, too, is recorded in the database. What isn't recorded in the database is every instance of ownership changing hands, Masswohl said...read more

Longhorn Cattle Are Prized By The Inch

Texas longhorns — the cattle, not the college football team — have made a stunning comeback. In 1964, there were believed to be fewer than 1,500 genuine longhorns in existence. Today, there are more than 330,000 in private herds scattered across the country. The animals have grown popular among weekend ranchers who want a symbol of Western heritage but don't want the work involved with regular cattle. Every year, longhorn breeders come to the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, to answer the question: Whose horns are longer? At this year's horn competition, held last month, the stock pens are full of handsome creatures with widespread horns, their hides brown, white, red, orange and brindled. Under bright lights, cowboys pull them into chutes and hold a string along the length of their horns to get the measure. "We sell 'em by the inch, not the pound," says Donny Taylor, a heavy-equipment operator for Union Pacific Railroad who raises longhorns on the side. He says buyers like them because they're easier to keep. "Longhorns are cheaper to feed than regular cattle. They'll browse like a deer — they'll eat anything in the woods," Taylor says. "You want to keep your fence row clear? You want to clear property? Don't buy a goat. Buy a longhorn. They'll clean 'em up for you. The good Lord built 'em that way."...read more

Capturing cowboy mystique

It started with cocktail party chatter in suburban St. Louis. But this wasn't ordinary city slicker gossip. These were stories of cowboys and cattlemen, ropers and riders, drinkers and brawlers, ranch wives and war brides, odd neighbors and crazy bulls. The tales hooked Craig Savoye, a college professor and author of unpublished novels and screenplays always on the lookout for a new book project. For a guy from the suburbs, the stories were magical. One thought kept running through Savoye's mind: “You've got to be kidding me!'' So Savoye traveled to Nebraska to hear firsthand the stories and yarns of the Sand Hills and the people who lived in the heart of the state's cowboy country. His first stop was a master storyteller, the late Wayne Jenkins, a Callaway rancher and father of the cocktail party yarn spinner whose stories originally inspired Savoye. Savoye returned again and again in search of Nebraska nuggets. Sometimes people didn't pan out. Sometimes he uncovered gems. Now nine years and dozens of interviews later, he has published a book featuring 23 stories and character sketches, “Nebraska Stories: Tales of Cowboys, Ranchers, and Assorted Characters.''...read more

It's All Trew: Bits, pieces on odds, ends

# It seems the word "cranky" did not arrive on the scene until automobiles were invented. When a balky motor was hard to start, requiring extra cranking, it was called cranky, among other epithets. I'm not sure how the word applies to women. # A "buck moon" occurs in July when the new antlers on a buck deer begin to emerge from the velvet casing provided by nature to protect the new growth of antlers. # The "dog days of summer" has nothing to do with dogs on Earth. The term comes from the fact that, from July 3 to August, the sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius the Dog Star. # "Dinky Donkeys," or miniature Sardinian donkeys, were brought to the U.S. in the 1920s by New York stockbroker Robert Green. They now number into the thousands, making great pets, due to their mild disposition. Miniature equines, or little horses, date to Renaissance times, arriving in the U.S. in 1888 as a small Shetland horse named Tum Tum. # Look into almost any farmer or rancher's closet and you will find Carhartt overalls or coveralls. The durable work clothes date to the 1880s, when Hamilton Carhart traveled from rail station to rail station selling his work wear to railroad workers. Now selling globally, and with an T added to the name, the company with 4,200 employees remains a family-owned enterprise...read more

Song Of The Day #189

Ranch Radio will get your blood flowin' this Monday am with a bluegrass version of the theme song from the TV show Green Acres. My version is from the 15 track CD Countryfied TV Tunes.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

When 'cowboy' was a noble tradition

Julie Carter

They could strike a match on the backside of their jeans and light a cigarette they just rolled while holding the reins in one hand and the cigarette paper in the other.

They laughed easily, worked relentlessly and found peace in doing an honest day's work.

It was an era when the cowboy was defined by the work that he did. You found him on dusty plains trailing thousands of cattle to the stockyards at the railhead. He worked for a $100 a month, worked until the work was done or until he drifted on to move another herd.

Many were men but just as many were boys. It was the 1930s and it was more the norm than not for a boy of 12 or 13 to be working a man's job for a man's wages. His momma would watch him ride away as he left to meet up with a cattle drive, not knowing if she'd ever see him again.

Most never went more than 6-8 years to school. Ranches were vast, covering hundreds of square miles. Getting to the school was a problem and finding work was not.

They ate their meals cooked from the supplies in a chuck box that followed along, not always in a wagon but sometimes in a jeep or pickup.

They rolled up in cowboy tarp bedrolls at night and were glad for the chance to be still for a few hours. A fire crackled and cast off sparks into a black night. A coyote howled in the distance and the cattle rustled just enough to ensure their intention of bedding down.

That cowboy didn't see movies or read books to find out what he was supposed to be like.

He broke his own horses and shod the same.

He wore his boots and his hat because they had a functional purpose. Usually there was a crooked crease in the hat and a careless look to him overall.

These same boys became young men, picked up rifles and shipped off to war. They were in foreign countries and on remote islands where they fought an enemy they'd never seen and knew little about. They were shot at and they shot back. Some were wounded, some never came home.

But, those that did, found their way back to the wide open country. They strapped on their spurs, saddled up a bronc and went back to the business of punching cows.

They took brides and rewarded them with ranch-camp living that offered no more than a shack and a cook stove but came complete with kerosene lighting and no plumbing.

In most parts of ranch country, not much changed until the railroads gave way to highways and trucking forced a complete shift in the rail industry and with it, the way cattle were shipped to markets.

They were the last generation of full-time horseback cowboys, working cattle in much the same way their grandfathers before them had. Horses were hardened and tough and the men the same.

As renowned Western author Elmer Kelton so eloquently put it, "What the real cowboy is, and has always been, is a common man in an uncommon profession, giving more than he receives, living by a code of conduct his detractors will never understand."

I pray we hang on to the best of what those men were.

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