America’s Public Lands Managed by Split Personality in 2000s

The Wilderness Society today assessed the past 10 years of public lands management, saying it had a Jekyll-and-Hyde flavor. “This has been a Jekyll-and-Hyde decade for the lands belonging to all Americans,” said Dave Alberswerth, a senior policy advisor for The Wilderness Society. “The decade was bookended by administrations committed to sound stewardship of our natural treasures. But for most of the decade, we had an administration that emphasized the commercial exploitation of our public lands, such as more oil and gas drilling, and tried to undermine the protection of our roadless national forests. Fortunately, a broad coalition of Americans combined to thwart much of what that administration attempted.” Alberswerth added that with the arrival of the Obama administration, many misguided policies have been reversed, and there is renewed commitment to genuine stewardship...read more

Volunteers in Central Valley remove fences to save antelope

The fences crossing the desolate Carrizo Plain are remnants of the hardscrabble homesteaders who arrived a century ago, then abandoned the arid, alkaline land to the elements. Now the barbed-wire legacy of ranching and farming on this inhospitable landscape in California is being blamed for threatening the recovery of antelope that were reintroduced in 1990 after being slaughtered to near extinction. The long stretches of fence spread across the range prevent the pronghorn from fleeing predators and seeking forage, and are a big reason why the herd has the worst survival rate in the West. Pronghorn are North America's fastest runners, but cannot jump the fences. So volunteers have taken on a cowboy's most odious ranch task, hoping to improve the odds of the herd by taking down fences. Suffering bloody scrapes and punctures, they dismantle rusty barriers and modify others to give the antelope of the Carrizo Plain National Monument a fighting chance against coyotes that vastly outnumber them. The pronghorn are part of a debate over the future of the Carrizo Plain, designated a national monument by the federal government nine years ago. A draft management plan for the park indicated some cattle grazing would be allowed to control invasive species, but the EPA and others have countered that cattle can adversely affect native species as well. Those comments are under final review...read more

Animal rights groups blast coyote hunt

A coyote-hunting tournament set for this weekend in Northern Nevada is drawing howls of protest from animal rights activists. WildEarth Guardians, based in Santa Fe, N.M., and Project Coyote, based in Larkspur, Calif., are among groups opposed to the tournament being staged by Fallon-area ranchers. Wendy Keefover-Ring of WildEarth Guardians said coyotes play an important role in the ecosystem. "These kinds of high body-count hunts are completely unethical and go against the spirit of ethical hunting," she said. "They're not going to use the bodies for food or anything else. It's just a waste." Organizer Matt McFarlane said he doesn't understand the fuss, noting similar tournaments have been held to help protect livestock elsewhere across the West for decades. McFarlane said coyotes have killed several calves over the last three weeks at his family's ranch near Fallon, about 60 miles east of Reno. McFarlane expects about 20 to 30 teams to bag up to 60 coyotes at the tournament. "That doesn't put a dent in the coyote problem," he said. AP

Horse Owners & Rural America call for boycott of Carrie Underwood, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow & Others

The members and supporters of the United Organizations of the Horse (UOH) call on every American who supports the rights of horse owners, and the principles upon which this country was founded to protect the ability of Americans to enjoy animals in their lives, to make a living in the time honored professions around animals and animal agriculture, and to raise their children in a wholesome environment that is not constrained or dictated by big, wealthy so-called “nonprofits” and their paid-for-hire celebrities who are becoming a deadly cancer on our society. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and their many minions have been bankrolling an all out assault against the people of the land, and their ability to sustain a valuable culture of responsible, sustainable stewardship of the land, and the animals. Recent reports show that HSUS paid 41 people salaries in excess of $100K each, their leader makes over $250,000 per year, and they spent less than ½ of 1% to actually help a single dog or cat, let alone a horse. Their dollars all go to hire celebrities, produce media events, and buy off politicians. Their primary purpose is to create drama, manipulate the emotions of those who don't live and work with animals every day, and draw even more dollars into their over-bloated accounts. “What hurts the worst,” says Sue Wallis, Wyoming state representative and executive director of the United Organizations of the Horse, “are people like Willie Nelson, who has done so much good for agriculture with his Farm Aid concerts, turning against the folks who make their living from the land, and swallowing whole the ridiculous conclusions of radical groups making wild assertions about the extinction of wild horses...nothing could be further from the truth. He needs to go to the country, see the devastation of overpopulation for himself, and work with the rest of us to find a solution that allows our children and grandchildren the ability to see a sustainable number of horses in the wild forever. The approach that he is advocating only leads to miserable starvation for the horses, destruction of the environment for every living species, and devastation of families and communities.”...read more

Economy forcing many to give up horses

The last known horse slaughterhouse in the United States was shut down in 2007. Some people who couldn't afford to take care of their horses used to take them there. Now, many people are just abandoning the animals and letting them roam free. At the National Western Stock Show in Denver, some horse advocates say without horse slaughterhouses many people have no where to turn. Rhyse Potts travels across the country with her horses. Everywhere she goes, she hears the same story. "I was just having a conversation with my veterinarian and he has had to put so many horses down just this past month, because people can't afford to have them fed," Potts said. Charlie Brown, a horse trainer from Utah, agrees with Potts 100%. She says too many people have been buying horses without realizing how much they actually cost to take care off. "Yeah, there's a lot of them going. People have too many of them. Horses are the expense they're willing to part with," Brown said. Mary Owens of Wyoming has had a few horses dropped off on her ranch by complete strangers. "There were three dead horses they left nearby that were so skinny I can not tell you what happened," she said. "But I can tell you this has never happened in 20 years." All three women say it's happening now because the last horse slaughterhouse was closed in the United States about three years ago. "It really has been horrific," Potts said...read more

Video Report

The Foster Ranch and the BLM

I was recently reviewing some of my old files and came upon some research I had done back in 1999, in reference to the then Foster ranch, where “Mack” Brazel had claimed to have found debris from an unknown craft in July 1947. Historical UFO researcher Wendy Connors and I had conducted several interviews with the local BLM office here in Roswell back in 1999, obtaining information and documents pertaining to the BLM’s more recent involvement at the ranch. I was surprised when recently, (10 years later), I read an article penned by Anthony Bragalia, entitled, “Roswell Crash Revelations from the Foster Ranch”, in which I got the impression that he believed there was some conspiracy or cover-up by the BLM about the ranch. (I need to be clear here, in that I am not a big supporter of the way our government and military handled, and still handles information pertaining to the 1947 Roswell Incident.) However based on the research I did 10 years ago, I have no reason to believe the BLM is hiding or covering up anything about the ranch. In this case, I feel we may have an infrequent admission by a government agency that something did in fact happen on the Foster ranch in 1947...

Frozen iguanas fall from Florida trees

The lizards go into a type of hibernation when the temperature drops below around 9 degrees C, all body functions but the heart switching off and blood flow cut to a minimum. It means they lose their grip on branches and the creatures, which are common in the "sunshine state", plunge out of the trees. The lizards, which can grow up to five feet long, then lie grey and appear dead until the temperature rises again, at which time they usually revive. So-called "kamikaze" iguanas are an urban legend among Floridians but have become a common sight as temperatures have dropped almost to freezing...reads more

Mallard Fillmore

Special Song - Video

Trace Adkins & The West Point Glee Club.

Officials Hid Truth of Immigrant Deaths in Jail

Silence has long shrouded the men and women who die in the nation’s immigration jails. For years, they went uncounted and unnamed in the public record. Even in 2008, when The New York Times obtained and published a federal government list of such deaths, few facts were available about who these people were and how they died. But behind the scenes, it is now clear, the deaths had already generated thousands of pages of government documents, including scathing investigative reports that were kept under wraps, and a trail of confidential memos and BlackBerry messages that show officials working to stymie outside inquiry. The documents, obtained over recent months by The Times and the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act, concern most of the 107 deaths in detention counted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since October 2003, after the agency was created within the Department of Homeland Security. But as the administration moves to increase oversight within the agency, the documents show how officials — some still in key positions — used their role as overseers to cover up evidence of mistreatment, deflect scrutiny by the news media or prepare exculpatory public statements after gathering facts that pointed to substandard care or abuse...read more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Taco the border horse

by Julie Carter


Hola, amigos. Mi llama es Taco. I had another name before, but when I got a new home, I got a new name and a new profession.

I am in training to be an ace speed-demon team roping horse on the heels end of the roping steer.

In order for you to understand who I have become, please allow me to establish my credentials from my previous employment and adventures.

When I was a colt, starting out in my working life, I was known as Chapo Bueno. In the language spoken in Mexico where I lived, that was a quite a compliment. It means "good pony."

I was born of Hidalgo bloodlines, purebred Spanish grandee horses. This is evident in my beautiful light grey coat accented by a black mane and tail. It is even more evident in my kind, intelligent eyes.

At an early age, I was partnered to Jose Maria, the top vaquero on a large cattle ranch.

Jose Maria loved me and taught me patiently the ways of cattle and how to work them. We worked hard, made mucho dinero for the patrón, and I became known as a top mount.

As it was in ranching everywhere at the time, grass became short in Mexico. The patrón asked Jose Maria to do a little night riding, taking wet cattle across the river to Texas to sell.

Of course, Jose took me, his top horse, to help get the cattle from the ranch across the river.

We pushed them hard by moonlight, laid them up by day, and in the seven days it took to get across the river, we had no trouble. In this fashion, we shipped all the cattle belonging to the patrón.

At the end of the cattle drives, the patrón thought that since Jose and I were so good at being border bravos, we should continue our night riding with a little different contraband.

Jose was reluctant to be on the other side of the law, and I was insulted to be asked to carry a packsaddle, but it was work and we needed work.

Our good luck deserted us on our first run with the contraband. La Migra gathered us in at the border.

Jose patted me, told me goodbye, and slipped off into the night.

The other horses and I were taken into possession, the drugs taken to the police station, and then we were taken to auction.

When I was arrested, I was wearing a packsaddle so no one knew of my history as a top cow horse. For this reason, I was sold for a pittance to a kind man who could see only my plight.

This man had a good friend in Texas, and soon after, I was sent to Dan the Team Roper. Fortunately, Dan speaks Spanish and has taught me the basics of English. We are getting along fine.

When I first arrived, I made a few mistakes. One of those was that I ate all the briars along his fence line. He explained that in Texas, it was customary that would feed me hay and grain.

Another time I encountered an armadillo and spooked until Dan explained that it was just a hard-shelled possum.

Dan has been teaching me to be his team roping horse. He is beginning to understand that my cow horse athletic abilities and training are an advantage for us both.

My royal heritage has afforded me the perfect conformation to be outstanding in this new profession.

There are still a few mysteries about this new life that I have yet to understand, like why Dan named me Taco. but for now, I'm happy to have a home. He can call me anything he wants, as he includes the oats.

I am beginning to understand my job and am considering this sport to be great fun. We will win the world someday, and as you follow my career in upcoming year, I wanted you to know my story.

I send Happy New Year greetings to everyone on both sides of the border, but I'm glad to have a home on this side.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@ruidosonews.com.

It's The Pitts: The Mourning After

by Lee Pitts

It has come to my attention that a lot of young farm and ranch men are marrying women from the big city. I think this is because young ranch women are real smart, have been exposed to ranch life on a daily basis, and they want no more of it. While gullible city gals are still in love with the mystique of the cowboy.

If you are a young farmer or rancher looking for a wife I’ve put together 10 rules to follow if you are to have any hope of landing an urban, and urbane, woman.

#1 Unless you want to live your life as a celibate bachelor, or your first wife is just going to be a practice wife, do not, I repeat DO NOT, introduce your future bride to the intricacies of ranch gates until the morning after you tie the knot. Prior to this time let her drive and you get out to open all the tight wire gates and wrestle with the heavy iron ones. Even after you are married expose her to the cold harsh realities of ranch life only in small doses because annulments are legal in most states.

#2 Spend as little time with her as possible prior to being married. You don’t want to spook her. Speaking of which...

#3 If your future bride has never ridden a horse do not do what I did and put her on the wildest colt in the string on your first outing. It’s also a good idea not to ask her to plug holes in fences or help sort wild cattle on your first date.

#4 Women place a lot of emphasis on fashion so prior to being married take her to the farm supply store and let her pick out her own longjohns, Carhartt jacket, heavy wool gloves and lined overalls. If she wants to accessorize with a snazzy pair of steel toed boots throw caution to the wind and let her splurge. Depending on the quality of the merchandise, and the length of your marriage, this should be a one-time expense.

#5 Try to find some pleasant activities associated with ranching and make her an integral part. For example, at branding time have her organize the party, cook all the food, clean up after the crew and make her the host of the late-night post-branding party. This will instill confidence in your future bride so that when you ask her to do a really big job in the future she will have the self-confidence to succeed.

#6 If you want to land the city-gal of your dreams my next point is very important. Since you have very little else to offer your bride, play up the fact that raising your kids in a ranch setting in a 900 square foot, falling down, rat-infested lean-to of a house in the country where they could be bucked off by broncs or bitten by rattlesnakes, will be preferable to raising them in a three bedroom house with a dishwasher, running hot water and inside plumbing in an urban environment where they might be exposed to loud rap music, ripped jeans and tongue studs. This worked for one rancher friend I know and his bride stayed with him for three whole years before she left him for a double wide mobile home and the steady income of a bull rider.

#7 Don’t let her see your financial statement until long after the honeymoon.

#8 Encourage her to cultivate her own circle of friends. Buy her a dog, give her drop calves and loan her the money to buy a milk cow so she will have someone to listen to her stupid opinion and crazy ideas at least twice a day.

#9 To show your respect for her make sure she is comfortable. For every ton of hay she feeds off the back end of the truck during a rain or snowstorm give her a few minutes in the cab with you and the dog to snuggle and get warm before you tell her politely, “Honey, those cows aren’t going to feed themselves, you know?”

#10 Whatever you do, DON’T live together before you are legally bound. Before she receives all the shower gifts and invests her money on wedding invitations the inviting chance for your city gal to run off with the horseshoer, after she sees what ranch life is really like, is simply too great to resist.

Song Of The Day #218

Today's Gospel song is Green Pasture in The Sky performed by Larry Sparks and which is available on his 12 track CD The Rock I Stand On.

Obama Orders Air Marshal Surge by Feb. 1

President Barack Obama has ordered a "surge" of federal air marshals to be in place by Feb.1 in what officials said was a "race against time," with other suicide bombers believed to be in the terrorist pipeline, although there is no specific imminent threat, federal officials told ABC News. Under a preliminary plan, the officials said the already existing federal air marshal force of more than 3,200 personnel would be deployed almost exclusively to overseas flights flown by U.S. carriers. Domestic high-risk flights will be covered by agents from other federal law enforcement agencies who were trained as air marshals in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. "The personnel we trained back then comprised a kind of reserve air marshal force and they are now going to be borrowed on orders from the President to work domestic flights," said a senior law enforcement agent briefed on the plan...read more

Less Than One Percent of ‘Known or Suspected Terrorists’ Were Put on ‘No Fly’ List

As of one month ago, less than one percent of the people the U.S. government has designated as “known or suspected terrorists” had been put on the “No Fly” list that the Department of Homeland Security uses to screen air travelers, according to data provided to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Dec. 9 by Timothy J. Healy, director of the Justice Department’s Terrorist Screening Center. According to Healy, the full “Terrorist Watchlist” included at that moment approximately 400,000 people, while the “No Fly” list included only about 3,400 of those—or 0.85 percent...read more

Stimulus to bring body scanners to airports

The U.S. government is using $25 million in stimulus money to buy and install full body scanners in airports this year, in an effort to ramp up security and create jobs. The Transportation Security Administration is using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to purchase 150 of the full body scanners, according to TSA spokeswoman Sarah Horowitz. These "backscatter" scanners, which use X-rays to provide detailed images of hidden objects in or under a person's clothing, are manufactured by Rapiscan, a subsidiary of Hawthorn, Calif.-based OSI (OSIS). The scanners cost from $150,000 to $180,000 apiece, according to the company. Peter Kant, vice president of global government affairs for Rapiscan, said his company received a $25 million contract from the TSA to produce the 150 backscatter scanners...read more

The Naked Truth About Airport Scanners

Very few of us would be willing to get naked in front of a uniformed agent for the privilege of getting on a plane. But the scanners would have the same effect. How graphic are their images? British authorities barred the use of scanners for travelers under 18 for fear of violating child pornography laws. As it happens, the sacrifice involved in mass use of the full-body scanners, which TSA is already planning, would probably be futile. A Conservative member of the British parliament who previously worked for a company making scanners said that “in all the testing that we undertook, it was unlikely that it would have picked up the current explosive devices being used by al-Qaida”—including those used in the Christmas plot. The more intractable problem is that terrorists are fiendishly capable of adaptation. If the scanners can find plastic explosives hidden in underwear—which is not guaranteed—the evildoers have another option that would foil these gadgets: hiding the bomb in a body cavity. That’s exactly how one suicide bomber tried to assassinate the prince in charge of counterterrorism for Saudi Arabia. The charge went off, and the prince was lucky to survive. Today, full-body scanners. Tomorrow, cavity searches? So here’s the sad reality: If we insist on preserving what little remains of our privacy, we will remain at risk of a terrorist attack. And if we give it up? Ditto...read more

New Scanner Looks for Bombs Inside Body Cavities

The “underpants bomber” has renewed calls for new and more invasive security measures. Already, there’s a push to install scanners that show travelers’ naked bodies through clothing, using either millimeter wave or backscatter X-ray imaging. But even those scanners might not have caught the terrorist who nearly brought down Northwest flight 253. That’s why one company is trumpeting a sensor that can supposedly “detect substances such as explosive materials … hidden inside or outside of the human body.” There has already been one report of a suicide bomber carrying explosives internally. Many sources, including the BBC, carried an early report suggesting that Abdullah Hassan Al Aseeri adopted the new tactic of “carrying explosives in his anal cavity” for an attack in September. The target, a Saudi prince, survived, but Aseeri was reportedly blown in half by the blast. Later reports suggest the explosives were actually sewn into his underwear, but security experts believe there is a real danger of “internally carried” bombs, a technique used for years by drug smugglers. Nesch, a company based in Crown Point, Indiana, may have a solution. It’s called diffraction-enhanced X-ray imaging or DEXI, which employs proprietary diffraction enhanced imaging and multiple image radiography. There is likely to be a ready market for the new technology. Although an X-ray might be seen as more intrusive than an image of the outside of your body, it may be less controversial. In Britain, plans for “naked body” scanners may run into trouble because they break British child pornography laws: Creating “indecent” images of children is illegal...read more

Airport security of the future: Mind-reading systems

A would-be terrorist tries to board a plane, bent on mass murder. As he walks through a security checkpoint, fidgeting and glancing around, a network of high-tech machines analyzes his body language and reads his mind. Screeners pull him aside. Tragedy is averted. As far-fetched as that sounds, systems that aim to get inside an evildoer's head are among the proposals floated by security experts thinking beyond the X-ray machines and metal detectors used on millions of passengers and bags each year. On Thursday, in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt over Detroit, President Barack Obama called on Homeland Security and the Energy Department to develop better screening technology, warning: "In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary." The aim of one company that blends high technology and behavioral psychology is hinted at in its name, WeCU — as in "We See You." The system that Israeli-based WeCU Technologies has devised and is testing in Israel projects images onto airport screens, such as symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or some other image only a would-be terrorist would recognize, company CEO Ehud Givon said. The logic is that people can't help reacting, even if only subtly, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. If you strolled through an airport and saw a picture of your mother, Givon explained, you couldn't help but respond. The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing, he said. The WeCU system would use humans to do some of the observing but would rely mostly on hidden cameras or sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate. Far more sensitive devices under development that can take such measurements from a distance would be incorporated later...read more

US spy agencies face information overload: experts

US intelligence officials, under pressure to better track terrorist threats, are hampered by their own vast bureaucracy and an overwhelming flow of information, analysts say. President Barack Obama "has now discovered that he's inherited an intelligence community in the United States which is bloated, bureaucratic and even with the best of intentions has become so large it finds it very hard to put together the pieces," Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer, told AFP. An angry Obama took the spy agencies to task this week after an attempt to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day was narrowly averted, saying the services overlooked key clues. Although top security and military officials acknowledged failures and vowed to improve, making the 16 agencies with an army of 200,000 employees more efficient and nimble remained a daunting task, Riedel said...read more