Response Mother's Day Post

Received via email in response to Song Of The Day #038 (Mother's Day):


Thanks, Frank. You succeeded in helping me get the tears flowing. My mother, Coralee Holland, died May 16, 1984, three days after mother’s day. Her memory has haunted me all week, and Mother’s Day is especially hard for me. God took that memory from me when Janet and Frank married on May 16, 1998, or I could not have made it through the day.

Of course, all children think their mother was the best, but my Mama was truly one of a kind. She married at 17, and my oldest brother was born 11 months later. Besides the seven children that she gave birth to, she also raised four of my father’s nieces and nephews. She was a widow at age 54, and all she knew was the farm. She canned anything that didn’t get out of her way, and she worked shoulder to shoulder with my dad in the fields. The one thing that she absolutely did not like to do was clean house. I was always embarrassed that someone would come over and find the mess, so on Saturdays, I would clean all day. When Dad died, in order to pay off the doctors and hospitals, she had to clean other people’s houses at 50 cents an hour. She did pay the bills, finished raising my little sister, and bought two houses before she finally retired.

Mama always made do, and she was never ashamed of the faded cotton dress and the one pair of shoes that she had to wash the mud off of, and polish every Saturday night for Sunday church. She stood 4’11” (compared to my dad’s 6’6” frame), but what she lacked in height, she made it up with heart. She could put out a feast at the drop of the hat, and her table always welcomed anyone who wanted a meal.

I don’t think I will ever stop missing her. Be sure to let your Mom know just how important she is, because someday she will be gone. I never stopped telling my Mama how much I loved her, so my pain is not caused by guilt.

Again, thanks!

Joyce Holland Harmon

New Alliance Unites Horse Owners

For Immediate Release


New Alliance Unites Horse Owners

United Organizations of the Horse unveils new website, www.UnitedOrgsOfTheHorse.com, and rallies all facets of the equine community around its goals of advocacy, education and assistance.

In response to the growing number of public policy challenges facing American horses, their owners, and horse-related organizations, a diverse group of horsemen and –women today unveiled a new umbrella group: United Organizations of the Horse.

“We need a voice that is capable of coherently and articulately communicating to a misinformed and emotionally manipulated American public,” said Sue Wallis, a Wyoming state legislator and United Organizations of the Horse founder.

The United Organizations of the Horse seeks to unify all like-minded equine associations and individuals in support of its mission--to promote the humane care and management of horses, and the continued viability of the equine community in the United States of America.

The group is organizing around three pillars:

* The United Horsemen’s Front, already established as a non-profit 501(c)3. This pillar educates the public about the unwanted horse issue and seeks humane, realistic solutions. A new initiative will establish a nationwide rapid-response network of horse owners and others who can mobilize trailers, hay, feed, veterinary care and additional support for law enforcement or other groups rescuing horses in crisis.

* The United Horsemen’s Alliance, a trade group serving as a national voice for horse owners’ concerns at the federal level. The Alliance is open to horse owners, equine professionals, breed registries, recreational groups, businesses and others who share the United Organizations of the Horse’s core principles. This arm will also ensure that equine groups at the local, state and regional levels have the resources they need to influence and address issues.

* The United Horsemen’s Political & Legal Action Fund, a future political action committee and legal defense fund, providing an effective, adequately-financed voice at the local, state and federal legislative levels. It will also provide expert assistance for members facing court proceedings, and an avenue for initiating legal action.

The United Organizations of the Horse is founded on the core beliefs that the humane care and management of horses is paramount; policy decisions should be based on sound science and guidelines developed by equine professionals; and policy should safeguard horse owners’ private property rights and options to the greatest extent possible.

The United Organizations of the Horse leadership team includes current and former legislators at both the federal and state level; agricultural public policy experts; horse trainers; print and broadcast journalists; farmers and ranchers; representatives from tribal, breed and horsemen’s associations; and celebrities from the world of country music and cowboy poetry.

Visit www.UnitedOrgsOfTheHorse.com and its news/communications site, www.EquuiVox.org, to learn more about the group and a unique opportunity to actively participate in this new and powerful alliance. The United Organizations of the Horse has scheduled its first annual Leadership Summit on June 14, 2009 in Washington, D.C., inviting anyone who adheres to its core principles to attend.

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Song Of The Day #039

Our Gospel song today is "Atomic Power" sung by Red Foley and released in 1946.

Governor Threatens to Sell California Landmarks

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to make deep education cuts and auction off some of state's most iconic properties -- from the San Quentin state prison to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum -- in order to close current and future budget shortfalls. The plan, which was announced Thursday in Sacramento as part of a revised state budget, faces political and regulatory hurdles. However, it underscores the drastic lengths the cash-strapped state is willing to consider to fix its ongoing fiscal crisis. Other properties on the governor's list include a landmark concert hall called the Cow Palace in Daly City, Calif., and fairgrounds in Sacramento and near San Diego. It's unclear how much the proposal could actually raise...WSJ

Army calls for retreat on Piñon expansion

The Army has given up attempts to acquire land for expanding the Piñon Canyon training site in the next year, shifting the money that had been allocated for the purpose to other uses, according to congressional and Army sources. Originally, Army budget makers had planned to allocate $17 million in fiscal 2010 for land acquisition associated with Piñon Canyon, a line item consistent with public statements made by Army officials as recently as this month that the controversial expansion is still a priority. But faced with a push-back from Congress and a so-far unsuccessful strategy focused on leasing land, that money was re allocated to military construction at Fort Polk, La., in the budget's final version, those sources said. The Army still has wiggle room in the way it can spend funds for military construction, but experts say the move is a clear signal that the Army is backing off any effort to buy land to expand the facility, at least in the near term...Denver Post

Salazar Appoints Robert Stanton to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today appointed former National Park Service Director Robert G. Stanton as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management, and Budget. Concluding a long career with the National Park Service, Stanton served as the agency’s director from 1997 to 2001. As director, he oversaw major planning and resource preservation programs at the White House, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Gettysburg, and other national parks and inaugurated and oversaw the National Resource Challenge, a plan to revise and expand the agency’s natural resource programs. Since 2001, he has served as an executive professor at Texas A&M University and a visiting professor at both Howard University and Yale University. He also has provided consulting services to the National Resources Council of America on increasing cultural diversity in conservation organizations and programs...Press Release

N. Fork plight in U.N. spotlight

Sen. Max Baucus last week said he would push to have the North Fork of the Flathead designated as a World Heritage Site in Danger, a dubious distinction as Glacier National Park turns 100 next year. The North Fork will see the international limelight in June, when Will Hammerquist, the Glacier representative of the National Park Conservation Association and Ryland Nelson, of the Canadian environmental organization Wildsight, will testify in front of a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage panel. Several groups on both sides of the border petitioned UNESCO last year to have the North Fork listed, including the Flathead Basin Commission and the Flathead Coalition. Both groups have members with broad interests, but all agree the North Fork should be protected...Hungry Horse News

Environmental alarms raised over consumer electronics

Charge your iPod, kill a polar bear? The choice might not be quite that stark, but an energy watchdog is alarmed about the threat to the environment from the soaring electricity needs of gadgets like MP3 players, mobile phones and flat screen TVs. In a report Wednesday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates new electronic gadgets will triple their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours, the equivalent of today's home electricity consumption of the United States and Japan combined. The world would have to build around 200 new nuclear power plants just to power all the TVs, iPods, PCs and other home electronics expected to be plugged in by 2030, when the global electric bill to power them will rise to $200 billion a year, the IEA said. Consumer electronics is "the fastest growing area and it's the area with the least amount of policies in place" to control energy efficiency, said Paul Waide, a senior policy analyst at the IEA...AP

Environmental group serves notice to sue federal agencies over Nevada plan

The Center for Biological Diversity today served notice on two federal agencies that it intends to challenge a government plan for managing a wide swath of public lands in east-central Nevada. The notice puts the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on notice that the center plans to sue over the Ely Resource Management Plan that covers about 11.5 million acres of public lands in White Pine, Lincoln and part of Nye counties, said Amy Atwood with the Center for Biological Diversity. The plan covers ongoing activities such as off-road vehicles, grazing, mining and power plants, Atwood said. "The Ely Resource Management Plan commits to ecological disaster," said Atwood, senior attorney and public lands energy director at the center. "It perpetuates off-road vehicle use in desert tortoise critical habitat and does nothing to promote conservation and recovery of the many rare species in the planning area. And the power plants authorized by the plan would be totally inconsistent with the need to phase out coal immediately."...Las Vegas Sun

Climate change, water shortages conspire to create 21st century Dust Bowl

Dust storms accelerated by a warming climate have covered the Rocky Mountains with dirt whose heat-trapping properties have caused snowpacks to melt weeks earlier than normal, worrying officials in Colorado about drastic water shortages by late summer. Snowpacks from the San Juan Mountains to the Front Range have either completely melted or will be gone within the next two weeks, said Tom Painter, director of the Snow Optics Laboratory at the University of Utah and a leading expert on snowmelt. The rapid melting is linked to a spate of intense dust storms that kick up dirt and sand that in turn are deposited on snow-topped mountains. The dust darkens the snow, allowing the surface to absorb more heat from the sun. This warms the snow -- and the air above it -- significantly, studies show. The problem has been particularly acute in the semiarid Colorado Plateau region encompassing parts of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. An unprecedented 12 large dust storms have occurred so far this year in the region, and at least two more are projected in the coming months, officials say. "Already we have more than doubled the amount of dust we've typically observed during the last six years," Painter said...NYTimes

Rising Calls to Regulate California Groundwater

For the third year in a row, Mark Watte plans to rely on the aquifer beneath his family farm for three-quarters of the water he needs to keep his cotton, corn and alfalfa growing, his young pistachio trees healthy and his 900 dairy cows cool. That is 50 percent more than he used to take, because the water that once flowed to the farm from snow in the Sierra Nevada has been reduced by a long dry spell and diversions to benefit endangered fish. Since 2006 the surface of the aquifer, in the Kaweah subbasin of the San Joaquin basin, has dropped 50 feet as farmers pumped deeper, Mr. Watte says. Some of his pumps no longer reach far enough to bring any water to the surface. If he lived in almost any other state in the arid Southwest, Mr. Watte could be required to report his withdrawals of groundwater or even reduce them. But to California’s farmers and developers, that is anathema. “I don’t want the government to come in and dictate to us, ‘This is all the water you can use on your own land,’ ” said Mr. Watte, 57. “We would resist that to our dying day.” Although California has been a pathbreaker in some environmental arenas, like embracing renewable energy and recycling, groundwater rights remain sacrosanct. But the state government is facing growing pressure to embrace regulation...NYTimes

Gray wolf: The predator pursued

John Hart squatted in a muddy pasture and examined the carcass in front of him. The wounds on the eviscerated calf, and the tracks all around it, left no mystery about what had happened. Soon Hart would set up traps to capture and shoot the killer: one or more gray wolves roaming the area. Though wolves have enjoyed federal protection from trapping and hunting since 1974, Hart and other federal wildlife agents killed 143 gray wolves last year alone. They have special permission to do so under the Endangered Species Act, as a controversial concession to farmers whose livestock occasionally fall prey to a protected predator. The population of gray wolves, now estimated at 3,000 in Minnesota, has grown so much that federal officials removed the animals from the endangered list on May 4. That puts management of the wolves in states' hands, and Minnesota law allows landowners to shoot wolves in the act of stalking or attacking livestock, guard animals or pets...Star-Tribune

Senate measure would allow loaded guns in national parks

Visitors would be able to carry loaded guns in national parks and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public lands under a provision approved overwhelmingly by the Senate on Tuesday. But final passage of the amendment, which was attached to legislation rewriting some credit card laws to favor consumers, isn't guaranteed. Though it was passed by a 67 to 29 vote, with 27 Democrats, 39 Republicans and one independent voting aye, it could still be stripped from the final bill, which the Senate will continue to consider Wednesday. One Republican, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, joined 28 Democrats in voting no. The measure was pushed by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who argued it "makes no sense to treat (gun owners) like a criminal if they pass through a national park while in possession of a firearm." He was trying to override a March ruling by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that overturned a rule implemented by the Bush administration in its final days. In January, a few days before President George W. Bush left office, people were allowed to carry loaded guns into parks and wildlife refuges if they had a permit for a concealed weapon and the state permitted weapons in parks...McClatchy

Lamar Alexander does whatever the Parkies tell him to do.

2 horses slaughtered for meat, police say

Slaughtered for their meat. That's what police say happened to two horses recently found slain at a Miramar ranch, an incident that has the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals worried that a disturbing trend has crossed the county line. The owner of the ranch in the 4600 block of Flamingo Road, mechanic Humberto Ramos, called police May 6 to report the deaths of the animals. He found them near a gate, lying in pools of blood with their legs severed, less than 50 yards from the road. Their haunches, rump and parts of their abdomen were missing. "My Lord," he said. "Who would do something like this?" Ramos hopes rewards offered by various animal rights groups will help authorities track down whoever killed the 3-year-old and 7-year-old horses of the Paso Fino breed...Sun Sentinel

Dodge’s defining years brought by cattle trade

The burgeoning cattle industry in Dodge City built many businesses and created many wealthy men. The "cattle barons" quickly realized the possibilities of the industry and capitalized on the opportunity. German immigrant John Mueller arrived in Dodge City in 1875 and opened a boot shop on Front Street. He carefully invested his earnings, investing in a saloon and three ranches. By 1879 he was ready to build a new house. He hired a German stonemason and a German woodworker, and 18 months later his mansion was completed. Sitting on a high hill overlooking the booming town and the prairie, the home, now known as the Mueller-Schmidt House Museum, had an impressive exterior and was filled with high-quality furniture. The kitchen was in the basement. On the ground floor were a parlor and the Mueller's bedroom, later converted into a formal dining room. Upstairs were two additional bedrooms. Today the home is Dodge City's oldest dwelling and contains many original artifacts related to the family, including some original furnishings...Dodge City Daily Globe

Note To Readers

I guess I'm proof lightening does strike twice in the same place. Over a week ago my desktop pc fried, causing me to use an old laptop. The laptop quit me Monday morning about 5am. Right now I'm using a borrowed computer, my new computer is supposed to arrive Friday and should be available for my use Saturday evening. We shall see.

GOP Senators Block Interior Nominee's Confirmation

On a vote largely along party lines, Senate Republicans yesterday blocked President Obama's nominee for deputy interior secretary amid a fight over the agency's new rules on oil and gas drilling. The administration appointee was the first to be turned back on a floor vote. The nomination of David J. Hayes, a natural resources lawyer with experience in federal lands issues, fell just short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and move to a final vote. This was the second time this year that the GOP held together on a major action to block the president's agenda or his nominees on a filibuster vote. Hayes received 57 votes, but he has more support than that. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) switched his vote to nay in a parliamentary move that allows him to bring up the nomination again under fast-track rules should the administration reach an accord with Republicans. In addition, three Democrats who would support Hayes were absent: Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.), John F. Kerry (Mass.) and Barbara A. Mikulski (Md.). Republicans acknowledged beforehand that the vote was not a rejection of Hayes, who served for two years as deputy interior secretary in the Clinton administration; Republicans instead were making a statement of opposition to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's cancellation this year of leases for oil and gas drilling in Utah...WPost

Democrats to Relax House Emissions Bill

House Democrats said last night that they would scale back some of the most aggressive provisions of a bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions, a compromise designed to win the votes of fellow Democrats whose states rely on coal or heavy industry. Such a deal would give a crucial boost to a measure that is a key priority for both President Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill. It had run aground amid concerns that it would cost too much, or weigh too heavily on states in the Midwest and West. That first draft called for a 20 percent reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Under the new agreement, the goal would be a 17 percent reduction. Also, the bill originally called for all states to get 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Under the new version, the standard would be lowered to 15 percent by 2020, plus a requirement to reduce energy use by 5 percent by then through improved energy efficiency, Hill staffers said. The changes also clarified some details of how the government will parcel out pollution credits. Some environmental groups had called for all such credits to be auctioned off, with the money funneled to energy-efficiency projects or back to taxpayers. But last night's compromise said that some of the credits would be given out free -- and that 35 percent of those would be given to local electricity-distribution companies...WPost

White House Memo Challenges EPA Finding on Warming

An Environmental Protection Agency proposal that could lead to regulating the gases blamed for global warming will prove costly for factories, small businesses and other institutions, according to a White House document. The nine-page memo is a compilation of opinions made by a dozen federal agencies and departments during an internal review before the EPA issued a finding in April that greenhouse gases pose dangers to public health and welfare. The document, labeled ''Deliberative-Attorney Client Privilege,'' says that if the EPA proceeds with the regulation of heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide, factories, small businesses and institutions would be subject to costly regulation. ''Making the decision to regulate carbon dioxide ... is likely to have serious economic consequences for regulated entities throughout the U.S. economy, including small businesses and small communities,'' the document says...AP

Biggest Solar Deal Signed

Pacific Gas & Electric, a California utility, announced Wednesday that it had agreed to purchase 1,310 megawatts of solar thermal power — enough to power 530,000 homes. BrightSource Energy will provide the technology — which consists of mirrors that use the sunlight to heat water and spin turbines — and plans to build facilities in California, Arizona and Nevada. It is a lot of juice — though it’s worth noting, as Mr. Woolard himself does, that today’s announcement is really just an expansion of an existing 900-megawatt deal that BrightSource signed with PG&E last year, which was then touted as the largest in the world. BrightSource also struck a 1,300 megawatt deal with Southern California Edison, another California utility, in February — which, to be sure, was described as the “world’s largest” at the time...NYTimes