White House hiring contractor to collect e-mail, comments from social networks

The White House is hiring a contractor to harvest information about Americans from its pages on social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. The National Legal and Policy Center, or NLPC, revealed the White House New Media team is seeking to hire a technology vendor to collect data such as comments, tag lines, e-mail, audio and video from any place where the White House "maintains a presence" – for a period of up to eight years. "The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP (Executive Office of the President) on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA (Presidential Records Act) maintains a presence," the posting states. According to the 51-page solicitation of bids posted Aug. 21, the purpose of the mining and archiving project is to "comply with the Presidential Records Act," though the listing does not specify how the information will be used. It states that the government is currently collecting data from social networks both programmatically and by use of daily screenshots. Contractors must agree to keep information disclosed by the EOP in the "strictest confidence" and restrict access "to those employees who must have the information to perform the work provided herein on a 'need-to-know' basis."...WND

Wolves Shot, Boycotts Called, Fur Flies

Game officials and wolf hunt fans often say the same thing when it comes to the wolf hunt in Idaho and the upcoming one in Montana. Don’t worry, they say. Wolves are fast, nocturnal and darn hard to draw a bead on. The question of just how tough they are to shoot even came up in federal court, where U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Monday heard a plea by environmental groups for an injunction to stop the wolf hunt seasons. “Isn’t there evidence ... that with fair-chase hunting, not many wolves will be killed?” Molloy asked. Yes, that’s right, as Steven Strack, attorney for the Idaho Fish and Game Commission, explained during the hearing. “There are nine million acres of wilderness areas in Idaho,” Strack said. It’s hard to even spot a wolf without using a helicopter, traps, baits or motor vehicles like ATVs (which are not legally allowed in the hunts), he noted. The news from Idaho this week seemed to, well, blow a hole in that theory. On the very first day of the first wolf hunt ever in the Lower 48, two Idaho men shot and bagged wolves. Robert Millage of Kamiah told longtime outdoor writer Rocky Barker of the Idaho Statesman that he was surrounded by a pack of wolves before dawn. He used a hand call that “sounded like a wounded coyote,” and when an 80-pound female came running, he shot her, Barker reports. (To see the story in full, click here.) “The whole area is lousy with them,” Millage told Barker. Archery hunter Jay Mize of Emmet, Idaho saw a wolf spooking his horse at a lake near Stanley, Idaho. “He walked back into his tent, put his rifle together and shot the wolf,” Barker’s story continues. Those and other tales are going viral this week as the sporting world—and beyond—waits to hear whether Judge Molloy will issue the injunction sought by the coalition of 13 environmental groups trying to halt the hunts...NewWest

Video - Actress Ashley Judd Opposes Wolf Hunts

Wolf Lovers Rip Into Lewiston Hunter

Robert Millage’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing Wednesday and his e-mail in-box was choked with messages. Most of the people contacting Millage are not happy with him, and they are not shy about letting him know. He’s been called a wolf murderer and every dirty name in the book. I have a thick skin and a good sense of humor. What am I going to do, yell back at them?” he said. “I obeyed the law and did what (Idaho Department of) Fish and Game wanted us to do. I can sleep well.” On Tuesday, Millage, of Kamiah, became one of the first hunters in Idaho to legally kill a wolf. He was featured in several news stories that quickly went around the globe via the World Wide Web. Before long, some people opposed to wolf hunting posted Millage’s contact information on Web sites like Craigslist and Facebook. He received about 50 phone calls and hundreds of e-mails...SpokesmanReview

Oregon tried to deter wolves for months

Federal hunters prepared to resume hunting Friday for two wolves responsible for killing more than two-dozen head of livestock at eastern Oregon ranches. Federal hunters will resume the hunt today for wolves responsible for killing more than two dozen head of livestock at eastern Oregon ranches. Coupled with controversial wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana, Oregon's decision to kill the two wolves, a male and a female, has produced an uproar among conservation, ranching and farming groups. Meanwhile, state reports show the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife tried a series of nonlethal tactics after wolves killed 24 lambs and a calf at two Keating Valley ranches in April. The efforts succeeded for several months, but new attacks in late August, on three more lambs and a goat, resulted in the state issuing permits to kill the wolves. Capturing and relocating the wolves is not an option under Oregon's wolf management plan because they've repeatedly attacked livestock, said Michelle Dennehy, spokeswoman for the department...TheOregonian

Paperwork blamed for misdirected Canadian cattle

A Pacific Northwest beef processor says a paperwork error resulted in a herd of 402 cattle imported from Canada being incorrectly shipped to a Washington ranch without being tested for disease. According to Agri Beef Co., documentation related to 198 spayed heifers and 204 steers incorrectly stated the destination to be the Agri Beef-owned El Oro feedlot in Moses Lake, Wash., rather than the ranch near Northport, Wash., where they currently are. State regulations don't require the testing of cattle headed directly for a feedlot. Agri Beef Executive Vice President Rick Stott told the Capital Press the Boise, Idaho-based company is working with the Washington State Department of Agriculture to resolve the issue. The cattle should have been tested for bovine tuberculosis and were not, Stott said. They have been isolated by the rancher who has the cattle. He will bring them to a quarantined feedlot area for testing, escorted by representatives of the WSDA. "All of those cattle are electronically, individually ID'd," Stott said. "The fact we have individual electronic identification tags provides the highest level of integrity that every one of those animals will be accounted for and tested." Brucellosis testing is not required for spayed heifers, according to an Agri Beef press release. In the meantime, a U.S. cattle producer organization has asked the USDA to investigate the processor, alleging anticompetitive practices. R-CALF USA Chief Executive Officer Bill Bullard sent a memo to the USDA Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration. In it, he claimed Agri Beef's cattle commingled with domestic cattle owned by U.S. ranchers who lawfully grazed their cattle...CapitalPress

Governor vetoes card check for farmworkers

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a union-backed bill that would have required farmers to negotiate with a labor union if a majority of their employees signed membership agreements. It marks the fourth time the governor has rejected requiring farm owners to abide by what are known as card-check provisions. The bill he vetoed Wednesday, SB789 by State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, was similar to federal legislation for nonfarm employees that is the subject of an intense battle between business and labor forces in Congress. Unions now must win a secret-ballot election to represent private-sector employees. Both the federal and state measures would allow unions to gain the same status by signing up more than half an employer's workforce...SFChronicle

New Whiskey Row bar top conjures up plenty of history

The bar top at Matt's Saloon on Whiskey Row may be new, but it's branded with a whole lot of history. Dozens of longtime ranchers and their families showed up Tuesday for the unveiling of the bar top that showcases their cattle brands and family names. Saloon owners Matt Brassard and Marco Espitia raised a shot glass with Matt Butitta, who gave the two young men a chance to run a saloon eight years ago just like Butitta got the chance as a young man in 1962. Then all the ranching families surged toward the bar to find their brands. "I haven't seen that many cowboys in that bar for I don't know how long," Espitia said. "I know it's just a bar top, but it's more than that," Brassard said. "Their kids and grandkids will be able to come in someday and say, 'Hey, that's my granddad's brand.'" The sight of so many of their old friends got the ranchers to reminiscing about some of their early days on Whiskey Row and out on the range...DailyCourier

WhereverTV Develops The Cowboys Network Widget With Retro Films.HD

WhereverTV today announced development of The Cowboys Network widget by Retro Films.HD for the Yahoo! Widget Engine. The Cowboys Network widget will be on display at Samsung's Internet@TV booth area in Hall 20 at IFA 2009 being held in Berlin September 4-9, 2009. Soon consumers with Internet-connected televisions powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine will be able to access more than 1,000 digitally re-mastered Cowboy Western films featuring John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Slim Pickens, Rex Allen, Sr. and many other legends of their time via The Cowboys Network Widget. TV Widgets enable popular Internet services and online media to reach viewers with applications specifically tailored to meet the needs of the television watcher. During the 1930's, 40's and 50's approximately 400 "Singing Cowboy" films and 1,000 "B" Westerns were made. Those films represent not only a very special time in American history but helped set values for generations to come. The Cowboys Network is dedicated to bringing this special slice of Americana to Cowboy and Western fans world-wide through its Yahoo! TV Widget...PressRelease

Song Of The Day #125

Jim & Jesse McReynolds were two brothers from Coeburn, Virginia. Jim sang and played guitar, Jesse sang and played mandolin in a unique "crosspicking" method he invented. They signed their first recording contract in 1952 with Capitol Records.

Today's selection is their 1952 recording Are You Missing Me and it's available on the 20 track CD Jim & Jesse 1952-1955

'Green Jobs' Adviser's Past Could Stir Trouble for White House at Critical Time

President Obama's "green jobs" adviser could become a mounting liability for the Obama administration, as the latest revelation about Van Jones shows his apparent belief that the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks may have been an inside job. Jones joined the "9/11 truther" movement by signing a statement in 2004 calling for then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and others to launch an investigation into evidence that suggests "people within the current administration may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war." The statement asked a series of critical questions hinting at Bush administration involvement in the attacks and called for "deeper inquiry." It was also signed by former Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans. But on Thursday, Jones tried to distance himself from the position, saying "In recent days some in the news media have reported on past statements I made before I joined the administration – some of which were made years ago. If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize. As for the petition [9/11 statement] that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."...FoxNews

Feds didn't clear brush in wildfire area

Federal authorities failed to follow through on plans earlier this year to burn away highly flammable brush in a forest on the edge of Los Angeles to avoid the very kind of wildfire now raging there, The Associated Press has learned. Months before the huge blaze erupted, the U.S. Forest Service obtained permits to burn away the undergrowth and brush on more than 1,700 acres of the Angeles National Forest. But just 193 acres had been cleared by the time the fire broke out, Forest Service resource officer Steve Bear said. Could more have been done to clear tinder-dry hillsides and canyons? "We don't necessarily disagree with that," Bear said. "We weren't able to complete what we wanted to do." Some critics suggested that protests from environmentalists over prescribed burns contributed to the disaster, which came after the brush was allowed to build up for as much as 40 years. "This brush was ready to explode," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district overlaps the forest. "The environmentalists have gone to the extreme to prevent controlled burns, and as a result we have this catastrophe today."...AP

As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms

The Prius hybrid automobile is popular for its fuel efficiency, but its electric motor and battery guzzle rare earth metals, a little-known class of elements found in a wide range of gadgets and consumer goods. That makes Toyota's market-leading gasoline-electric hybrid car and other similar vehicles vulnerable to a supply crunch predicted by experts as China, the world's dominant rare earths producer, limits exports while global demand swells. Worldwide demand for rare earths, covering 15 entries on the periodic table of elements, is expected to exceed supply by some 40,000 tonnes annually in several years unless major new production sources are developed. One promising U.S. source is a rare earths mine slated to reopen in California by 2012. Among the rare earths that would be most affected in a shortage is neodymium, the key component of an alloy used to make the high-power, lightweight magnets for electric motors of hybrid cars, such as the Prius, Honda Insight and Ford Focus, as well as in generators for wind turbines...Reuters

Also see China Tightens Grip on Rare Minerals.

Will Support for Cap-and-Trade Energy Tax Melt Away?

People aren’t willing to pay much to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to fight global warming, according to a Washington Post-ABC News Poll. 52 percent said they would support a law that “significantly lowered greenhouse gas emissions” — but only if it cost them less than $10 a month. Only 39 percent said they would support such a law if it cost them $25 a month — which is vastly less than it would actually cost. In the name of cutting greenhouse gases, the House passed a cap-and-trade carbon tax scheme backed by the Obama Administration in June. But the bill won’t significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions even in the U.S. One reason is that the bill was larded up with corporate welfare. 85 percent of its carbon allowances were given away to special interests free of charge, thanks to lobbying that turned the bill into an orgy of corporate welfare. The bill also contains environmentally-harmful provisions, such as massive ethanol subsidies, which will result in “damage to water supplies, soil health and air quality.” Ethanol subsidies have resulted in forests being destroyed in the Third World, and caused famines that have killed countless people in places like Haiti. Worse, the cap-and-trade tax will cost much, much more than $25 a month — with politically connected businesses like GE profiting at the expense of the taxpayer, as the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney has chronicled in story after story. Carney calls the bill a “hidden bailout” for GE and other well-connected businesses...OpenMarket

Three Wolves Killed Since Season Opened Tuesday

Few hunters turned out for the first day of Idaho's first wolf hunt Tuesday. Yet Wednesday morning, word started spreading that Robert Millage, of Kamiah, snagged the first wolf kill for the state. By his fellow hunters, Millage is congratulated. However, he says he has received some hate calls and messages. Idaho Fish and Game's tracking website showed three wolves were harvested, two in the Lolo zone and the third in the Sawtooth area. Elk herds in these two areas are considered to be impacted the most by wolves. Two more zones are scheduled to open Sept. 15. The rest, including the zones covering Eastern Idaho, will begin Oct. 1. Idaho set a quota of 220 wolves this season as part of its plan for managing the population, now estimated at more than 800...LocalNews8

Global forest destruction seen overestimated

The amount of carbon emissions caused by world forest destruction is likely far less than the 20 percent figure being widely used before global climate talks in December, said the head of the Brazilian institute that measures Amazon deforestation. Gilberto Camara, the director of Brazil's respected National Institute for Space Research, said the 20 percent tally was based on poor science but that rich countries had no interest in questioning it because the number put more pressure on developing countries to stem greenhouse gases. A lower estimate for carbon emissions from deforestation would have an impact on the Copenhagen talks, where preserving forests is a top item on the agenda. Given that the Amazon accounts for about a quarter of deforestation globally, a figure of about 10 percent for total emissions caused by forest destruction is likely to be more accurate, Camara said. The 20 percent figure used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was based on calculations from sampling of forests by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), he said. The FAO method came up with an average annual figure of 31,000 sq km (12,000 sq miles) deforested in the Amazon from 2000-2005. But Brazil's method of using satellite images to measure deforestation "pixel by pixel" was far more accurate and showed a figure of 21,500 sq km for the period, Camara said. For 2005-2009, the FAO estimate was double the correct figure, Camara said. "The FAO grossly overestimated deforestation in Brazil and there are papers that show that such overestimation is also true for many other countries, including of course Indonesia."...Reuters

Vast shift in bird species expected from warming

Birds of a feather will no longer flock together, and some California species will face extinction as a result of global warming, according to a study released Tuesday by PRBO Conservation Science. The study, which predicts how birds in California will adapt to changing climatic conditions, says there will be a dramatic change in the pecking order of the avian world over the next 60 years. In one fell swoop, the changes in bird habitats and behavior between now and 2070 will equal the evolutionary and adaptive shifts that normally occur over tens of thousands of years, according to researchers with PRBO, also known as the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. "What we found is that not only will species shift and communities change, but the composition of communities in certain places will not resemble anything we see today," said Diana Stralberg, a landscape ecologist and the lead author of the report, "Reshuffling of Species With Climate Disruption: A No-Analog Future for California Birds?" "Species will exist in different and unusual combinations," she said. "Food and prey might not be available, and there may be unanticipated interactions with other species, including predators."...SFChronicle

View the report here.

Vet dies of rare virus from horse

QUEENSLAND vet Alister Rodgers lost his battle with the lethal Hendra virus overnight, dying after two weeks in a coma. Dr Rodgers, of the Rockhampton Veterinary Clinic, was infected with the virus when he treated a sick filly - thought at the time to be suffering from snakebite - at the J4S stud in central Queensland on July 28. Despite an experimental treatment with anti-viral drugs, he fell into a coma three weeks later. The Australian Veterinary Association today paid tribute to Dr Rodgers. “We extend the sympathy of veterinarians around the country to Alister's family, friends and workmates,” AVA president Mark Lawrie said. “Unfortunately this problem is not going to go away. “We hope that answers can be found so that we never have to mourn the loss of another colleague to Hendra.”...The Australian.

BP Finds Giant Oil Field Deep in Gulf of Mexico

BP announced on Wednesday the discovery of what it characterized as a giant oil field several miles under the Gulf of Mexico, but it may take years to assess how much crude can actually be recovered. The discovery should have no immediate effect on world oil or gasoline prices because it could take three years or more to begin extracting oil. Because the oil is so deep underwater and difficult to extract, the price of oil will need to be above $70 a barrel to make drilling profitable, energy analysts said. Nevertheless, the discovery was another indication that the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico are probably the most promising area in United States-controlled territory to bolster domestic oil production. The rise in gulf production in recent years, in large part because of BP’s deep-water giant Thunder Horse field, has stabilized domestic production after almost two decades of yearly declines. “This is big,” said Chris Ruppel, a senior energy analyst at Execution L.L.C., a London investment bank. “It says we’re seeing that improved technology is unlocking resources that were before either undiscovered or too costly to exploit because of economics.” The discovery, called the Tiber well, is about 250 miles southeast of Houston at a depth of more than 35,000 feet — greater than the height of Mount Everest — and well below the gulf floor...NYTimes

EPA proposes illegal rule

Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a draft proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that would exempt small emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) from Clean Air Act (CAA) pre-construction permitting requirement, Greenwire reports. The proposed rule, as described in Greenwire, is blatantly illegal. It is a tacit admission that the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA set the stage for an economic disaster. It is additional evidence that Mass v. EPA was wrongly decided. It confirms CEI’s warning that the Court’s ruling imperils a core constitutional principle — the separation of powers. In Mass. v. EPA, the Supreme Court, by a narrow 5-4 majority, decided that CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) are “air pollutants” within the meaning of CAA, and gave EPA three options: (1) issue a finding that GHG-related “air pollution” “may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare,” (2) issue a finding of no endangerment, or (3) provide a “reasonable explanation” why the agency cannot or will not exercise its discretion to make such a determination. The Court further held that if EPA makes a finding of endangerment, then it has a duty, under CAA Sec. 202, to develop and adopt GHG emission standards for new motor vehicles. EPA picked option (1), and last month, it sent OMB a draft proposed rule to establish GHG emission standards for new motor vehicles...OpenMarket