Song Of The Day #251

Ranch Radio's featuring 12 year old Ryan Holladay yesterday got us to thinking about child prodigies. Any such discussion would have to include Brenda Lee. She had been singing professionally since 5, and after her father passed away became her family's primary source of income at 10, and recorded her first song for Decca Records at 11. Discovered by Red Foley, here's how he remembered her first performance on his Ozark Jubilee singing Jambalaya:

I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. One foot started patting rhythm as though she was stomping out a prairie fire but not another muscle in that little body even as much as twitched. And when she did that trick of breaking her voice, it jarred me out of my trance enough to realize I'd forgotten to get off the stage. There I stood, after 26 years of supposedly learning how to conduct myself in front of an audience, with my mouth open two miles wide and a glassy stare in my eyes.

Her next big hit came when at age 13 and was the Christmas tune Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, which sold 5 million copies.

The tunes, recorded in 1956 and 1958, are available on her two disc set Anthology (1956-1980)

Congress Should Limit President's Authority on Monuments -- U.S. Chamber

Congress should act to limit the president's authority to create new national monuments, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said this week. The Antiquities Act of 1906 currently gives the president authority to declare new national monuments without congressional approval in order to protect threatened cultural and natural resources. But past presidents have repeatedly abused that authority to make sweeping designations that are much larger than those originally intended by the act, the chamber said in a letter Monday to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. "The Act was designed to protect small areas of land and specific items of archaeological, scientific, or historic importance," the chamber wrote. "In fact, it instructs the President to confine any designations 'to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.'" A confidential document (pdf) leaked last week revealed that the Interior Department had compiled a list of 14 potential sites for new or expanded national monuments the administration could create through the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act already contains provisions limiting presidential authority in Wyoming and Alaska, and those requirements should be made national, the chamber said. Utah representatives, still upset over President Clinton's 1996 decision to create the 1.7-million-acre Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, introduced legislation that would put similar restrictions in place in their state...read more

Western Lawmakers Ask Salazar for All Doc's On Nat'l Monument Designations‏

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04); National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee Ranking Member Rob Bishop (UT-01); and 14 Members of Congress sent a letter today to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar requesting further information related to an internal DOI document that revealed the Administration is considering designating numerous new National Monuments that would lock up at least 13 million acres of land. Secretary Salazar has publicly said that there is “no secret agenda” and wants to have a “public dialogue.” In the letter, the Members request the following additional information from Secretary Salazar: 1. All pages of the “Internal Draft” document of which we obtained only pages numbered 15 to 21. 2. With regard to the “brainstorming,” a copy of any documents distributed at or in preparation for the meetings, a list of all participants or invitees, any notes taken at the meeting (s), and any memoranda, work product or follow up documents from the meeting(s). All records, electronic or otherwise, of meetings or discussions with private groups, individuals or other persons or entities that are not employees of the Department of the Interior where potential National Monument designations were discussed. All notes, agendas, memoranda or documents from those meetings. 3. All documents related to the Secretary’s initiative to compile a list of potential National Monument designations since July 1, 2009, including, but not limited to, maps. 4. Any communication with any person or entity outside of the Department of the Interior related to the Secretary’s initiative since July 1, 2009...read more

Senate rejects bid to block Obama on national monuments

The first round of a new fight over White House power to unilaterally impose new protections on large tracts of western lands went to the Obama administration. The Senate on Thursday rejected, 38-58, Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-S.C.) bid to block White House authority to designate national monuments in western states. DeMint wanted to attach the amendment to legislation approved yesterday aimed at bolstering tourism in the U.S...read more

COMMENT:

See how they voted here.

You will note 4 Republicans voted with Obama:

Alexander (R-TN)
Collins (R-ME)
Gregg (R-NH)
Snowe (R-ME)

All are from the NE except for Alexander, who as Governor, lobbyist and now Senator has always been a tool of the enviros, especially on land acquisition and park issues.

The only Senators who actually displayed fortitude on the vote were two Democrats (Baucus D-MT and Nelson D-NE) and who knows where they would have been had their votes been needed.

Let's also remember that under George W. Bush the R's controlled the White House and both houses of Congress for six years. Did they use this opportunity to restrict the President's authority under the Antiquities Act? Nope.

Besides, George W. Bush created five national monuments totalling over 334,000 square miles (220 million acres). Only one small one though was in the Continental USA.

Since the act passed in 1906, only three President's have not used it, all R's: Nixon, Reagan and Bush the first.

The R's won't restrict executive authority when an R is President and the D's won't do it when a D is President. So it never gets restricted.

Both parties are to blame and The West will suffer because of it.

Song Of The Day #250

Ranch Radio will celebrate it's 250th program with some modern bluegrass by Ryan Holladay.

Why Holladay? Because he was 12 years old when he recorded these songs. We feature two instrumentals, Boston Boy and Shadow Ridge, but the kid can also sing, especially singing harmony with Mark Holladay.

The tunes are available on his 12 track CD New Kid In Town.

And oh, by the way, Ryan plays mandolin & banjo on both tracks, and also takes the guitar break on both.

Now let's see, what was I doing when 12?

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Good neighbors

by Julie Carter

As ranching neighbors go, Neal was an exceptionally good one.

He would let his neighbors fix the water gaps or the fence lines between them, never interfering or offering advice on the projects.

His neighborliness extended to letting his neighbors come get their bulls if they happened to get to his side of the fence and he always offered to let them stay just long enough to get his cows bred up.

One time a rogue bear tore up a good bit of the common fence line be-tween he and a neighbor. Neal told his neighbor it would be OK for him to come hunt the bear as soon as he, the neighbor, got the fences fixed. It's the least he could offer in the way of gratefulness.

Neal never caused any problems when his cows would find a way over to the neighbor's pasture. Frequently he would let them stay awhile, even after he'd been notified of their location. It was his way of not causing any problems.

One time he had a set of fairly waspy longhorn-cross heifers. One of them found her way to a neighbor's herd and made it her job to lead off those cattle at a dead run when the cowboy tried to ride through them.

That got old fast and so the cowboy called Neal and asked if he'd consider putting "heifer retrieval" on his to-do list. Neal told him to put the heifer in the water lot, call him and he'd come with a trailer to get her.

The wild and crazy heifer was not at all impressed by a horse or a cowboy. If she spotted one, she'd take off like a bottle rocket and any cattle in the vicinity would scatter like quail. Heifers like that need to be grateful that not all cowboys are still wearing guns.

One day the cowboy arrived to find the longhorn entertaining herself by licking off her new calf. She was enough distracted that the cowboy got the water lot gate shut on her.

She was immediately on the hook but wouldn't jump the fence and leave the calf.

Neal got his phone call with the suggestion that he really needed to come get that pair so the other cattle could get to water.

Way down in the afternoon he appeared with a trailer. He mentioned how happy he was that his heifer had fared so well on the good grass and was proud that she was such a good mother. The cowboy was proud to see her leave.

Another neighbor ran a few sheep. Sometimes he even ran sheep that had lambs. One year everybody around him had all their lambs worked, sheep sheared, everything counted and back to summer grass. Fred still didn't have his first lamb.

Neighbors being neighbors, their community discussion centered on his bucks. They all were worried that perhaps Fred had a problem with bucks that shot blanks.

In the discussion, it finally occurred to Fred that he had forgotten to put the bucks out with the ewes that year. No more mystery.

Neighboring brings out the best in ranchers. One such rancher down Tucumcari way was known to be one of the tighter humans around. His ranch was fairly irregular in shape, garnering him quite a few neighbors with common fence lines.

One time he got a wedding invitation from one of those neighbors. He was just going to simply wish the guy well, but his wife insisted they had to give him something for a wedding present.

Troy offered that he would just give him that water gap between them. Use or lose.

For comment, write to Julie at jcarter@tularosa.net

Song Of The Day #249

Ranch Radio's Gospel tune this Sunday morning is When The Good Lord Cares by the Brown's Ferry Four. Go here for what I previously wrote about this historic group, made up of Grandpa Jones, The Delmore Brothers and Merle Travis, and the availability of their music.

Wilderness On The Border? 2

Here's some more articles on the violence along our southern border associated human and drug trafficking.

Nothing like yesterday's Al Qaeda eyes bio attack from Mexico, but indicative of the efforts to control travel routes. Travel routes that are helped, not hindered by wilderness. No motorized vehicles or mechanized equipment is allowed in wilderness areas, crippling the operation of our Border Patrol.

So again I ask: Why would any elected official propose to designate hundreds of square miles of wilderness along our border with Mexico? "It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that terrorist organizations would utilize the border to enter the U.S." says a DEA official and yet Senators Bingaman and Udall propose to create a play pen for them on our border? Why, when other designations would protect the resource without excluding federal and state law enforcement?

The other posts yesterday were:

270 Somalis Illegaly Enter Across Mexican Border

Mexican Police Capture 18 Tons of Stolen Explosives Headed To U.S. Border

The Battle Against Mexico's Drug Lords Could Threaten America

Thousands of Mexicans Come to El Paso Fleeing Violence in Mexico

For background see my previous posts here, here, here and here

In the articles today is one on recent events in Juarez. For those not familiar with the area, it lays less than 50 miles south of where I sit writing this, just across the river from El Paso, Texas and not far from the proposed wilderness.

U.S. Issues New Travel Alert for Mexico The U.S government issued a new Travel Alert for Mexico because of the recent increase in violence there and particularly recommended to travelers that they avoid the states of Michoacan, Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua, which are the ones that are in the most turmoil. Behind the increase in violence in Mexico is the violent conflict that has been unleashed among the drug cartels for control of trafficking routes along the border with the United States, in addition to pressure on the cartels by the security forces. The multisided conflict has claimed more than 17,000 lives in a little more than three years...

Seven Die in Shootout Between Rival Gunmen in Northern Mexico Seven people died Monday in a shootout between rival groups of gunmen in Magdalena, a city in the Mexican border state of Sonora, state police said. Police seized six AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun and seven vehicles damaged in the shootout. Sonora is a battleground between the Sinaloa drug cartel, which has controlled the state since the 1980s, and the Gulf cartel, which is trying to grab smuggling routes into the United States, Mexican media reported (Sonora borders NM & Az)...

Six Die in Shootout Between Army and Gunmen in Northern Mexico Four suspected gunmen and two soldiers died in a shootout on a stretch of the Mexico City-Piedras Negras federal highway in northern Mexico, the Nuevo Leon state Public Safety Secretariat said. Nuevo Leon, which is on the border with the United States, is one of the Mexican states most affected by drug-related violence...

Four Gunmen Die in Clash with Mexican Troops Four gunmen died in a battle with Mexican soldiers near a city just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, the defense department said. Assailants traveling in three vehicles opened fire Thursday on a contingent of soldiers headed toward Matamoros on Highway 99 in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, the department said. The troops returned fire, killing four of the attackers, and seized one of the vehicles, a stolen SUV found to contain four rifles and 730 rounds of ammunition. Some 30 people have died in Tamaulipas since last Sunday amid a wave of attacks attributed to a feud between the Gulf drug cartel and former allies “Los Zetas,” a band of Mexican special forces deserters turned killers-for-hire. The mayhem prompted the temporary closure of the U.S. Consulate in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, which lies across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas...

Juarez: Ex-police officer arrested in birthday party massacre Mexican authorities on Saturday arrested a third man in connection with the massacre at a house party last month in Juárez that left 15 people dead. Chihuahua Joint Operation officials said former municipal police officer Aldo Favio Hernández Lozano, 36, allegedly worked as a hit man for the Juárez cartel, also known as La Linea.In another development, Mexican Federal Police on Friday arrested Tiburcio Ramírez Arrellanes, who is believed to be related to and work closely with Crispín Borunda, an alleged leader of the Juárez cartel. Borunda is wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in El Paso on charges of continuing criminal enterprise and conspiracy, according to the agency's records...

Wilderness On The Border?

Why would any reasonable person want to create a haven for human and drug traffickers along our border with Mexico?

For background see my previous posts here, here, here and here

See the articles linked to below and rest assured I will continue to post on this issue.

Al Qaeda eyes bio attack from Mexico

U.S. counterterrorism officials have authenticated a video by an al Qaeda recruiter threatening to smuggle a biological weapon into the United States via tunnels under the Mexico border, the latest sign of the terrorist group's determination to stage another mass-casualty attack on the U.S. homeland. The video aired earlier this year as a recruitment tool makes clear that al Qaeda is looking to exploit weaknesses in U.S. border security and also is willing to ally itself with white militia groups or other anti-government entities interested in carrying out an attack inside the United States, according to counterterrorism officials interviewed by The Washington Times. "Four pounds of anthrax -- in a suitcase this big -- carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there," the recruiter said. "What a horrifying idea; 9/11 will be small change in comparison. Am I right? There is no need for airplanes, conspiracies, timings and so on. One person, with the courage to carry 4 pounds of anthrax, will go to the White House lawn, and will spread this 'confetti' all over them, and then we'll do these cries of joy. It will turn into a real celebration." Drug Enforcement Administration and Defense Department officials have been paying close attention to links between various terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah, and drug cartels in South America, Central America and Mexico. "It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that terrorist organizations would utilize the border to enter the U.S.," said a DEA official who also asked not to be named because of his involvement in ongoing intelligence operations. The Times first reported in March that Hezbollah -- an Iran-backed group based in Lebanon -- is using routes that Mexican drug lords control to smuggle contraband and people into the United States to finance operations...read more

Go to the link provided to view the 9 minute video.

270 Somalis Illegaly Enter Across Mexican Border

Authorities are searching for 270 Somalis believed to have entered the U.S. illegally with the help of a Virginia man who admitted contacts with an Islamic terrorist group. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent said his agency had yet to locate any of the suspected illegal immigrants. According to an affidavit filed in Alexandria's federal court, Anthony Joseph Tracy told authorities that he came in contact with the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, which announced an alliance with al Qaeda earlier this year. ICE Agent Thomas Eyre testified during a hearing that authorities are "concerned" about the 35-year-old's dealings with the group. According to an affidavit filed in Alexandria's federal court, Anthony Joseph Tracy told authorities that he came in contact with the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, which announced an alliance with al Qaeda earlier this year. ICE Agent Thomas Eyre testified during a hearing that authorities are "concerned" about the 35-year-old's dealings with the group. The Somalis are believed to have entered the United States through the border with Mexico after making a circuitous trip from Kenya to Dubai to Moscow to Cuba to South America to Mexico and then the U.S., Eyre testified...read more

Al-Shabab joins forces with al-Qaeda

Somali insurgent group al-Shabab has confirmed they have joined forces with al-Qaeda’s worldwide campaign. The group issued a statement today that also confirms they have made an alliance with a smaller group known as Kamboni. Much of southern and Central Somalia is controlled by Islamist insurgents who seek to overthrow the ruling government and impose a strict form of Sharia law. In the nation’s capitol, Mogadishu, the struggle claimed another eight civilians last night.

Mexican Police Capture 18 Tons of Stolen Explosives Headed To U.S. Border

Federal police found 18 tons of explosives that had been stolen hours earlier in northern Mexico, the federal Public Safety Secretariat said. The industrial-use explosives were stolen by a group of unknown assailants from a tractor-trailer on a highway near the border between the states of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, prompting federal police and army soldiers to launch an operation to relocate the material. The shipment was later recovered on a highway leading to the industrial city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon’s capital. Security forces across that region of the country, which borders the United States, had been put on alert after Friday’s theft...read more

The Battle Against Mexico's Drug Lords Could Threaten America

The media is barely covering the bloody situation in Mexico, but the war against the drug lords there should be of the utmost concern to Americans. As high levels of violence and corruption continue to plague Mexican society, the U.S. needs to brace for a flood of narcotics, arms, and people seeking refuge crossing the border. A quick look at the resume of Teodoro Eduardo Garcia Simental, a top drug lord captured this month responsible for horrendous amounts of barbaric violence in and around Tijuana, shows the brutal nature of the conflict. He and his partners destroyed the bodies of hundreds of their victims by submersing them in tubs of acid, many of whom were kidnapped and held for ransom. The New York Times describes the conflict as follows: "When it comes to gore, Mexico’s drug traffickers seem to compete among themselves for the title of most depraved. One will chop off the heads of victims. Another will string dead rivals from bridges or burn their genitals. Recently, hit men removed the face from a dead man and sewed it onto a soccer ball.” People from countries known to be strongholds for extremist groups are being caught entering Latin America in order to reach the United States. Four Somalis have been found hiding in a tractor trailer in Honduras. In Colombia, 71 illegal aliens from Somalia and Eritrea were intercepted by the authorities in early January. The smuggling business, instability and poor control of America’s southwestern border provides an open opportunity for those wishing to do us harm...read more

Thousands of Mexicans Come to El Paso Fleeing Violence in Mexico

Some 30,000 residents of nearby Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, have settled in El Paso in recent years because of the drug trafficking violence that is blamed for more than 4,000 deaths in the Mexican city in a little more than two years. That influx has generated concern in the El Paso Police Department, City Councilman Beto O’Rourke said in an interview with Efe. “The Police Department released that estimate because they’re seeking authorization to buy 1,100 M4 assault rifles for (their) personnel, claiming that they don’t know who the people are who are establishing themselves in the city coming from Mexico or from whom they are fleeing,” he said. Police say that although there has only been one kidnapping in the El Paso area reported in the past year, that one of a man who then turned up dead in Juarez, there have been attempted abductions that have not been successful. “It’s necessary to be prepared to respond to these incidents with the necessary tools, and the criminals are armed with high-powered rifles,” one officer told Efe on condition of anonymity...read more

NM Attorney General's Senior Counsel Doubles as President of Law Firm Pushing CO2 Emissions Cap

Stuart Bluestone wears two hats. He is Senior Counsel to Attorney General Gary King. He is also president of the board of directors of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, the law firm representing petitioners pressing the Environmental Improvement Board to impose an unprecedented statewide cap on emissions of carbon dioxide and gases they claim are causing global warming. Bluestone has served as a director of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center (NMELC) since 2007. During that time, he has also served as Senior Counsel to Attorney General Gary King. In January 2010 he was named as president of the board of the NMELC. NMELC is a law firm that represents private individuals and organizations in a wide range of environmental matters across the state. It sues private and public entities, participates in appeals, intervenes in lawsuits and administrative proceedings, and seeks to influence and persuade administrative agencies in adjudications and rule-making. It is the legal counsel representing the petitioners who are pressing the EIB to impose a cap on gases they claim are causing global warming. The cap they seek would cut carbon dioxide and other emissions by 25% below 1990 levels, the most drastic such emissions cap in the country. Electric power utilities, representatives of manufacturing, mining and agricultural industries, chambers of commerce and others fear this cap will have a devastating impact on New Mexico’s economy and tax base...read more

Another Member of Environmental Improvement Board with Conflict of Interest

Gay Dillingham is yet another member of the Environmental Improvement Board suffering from a serious conflict of interest in hearing the petition to cap CO2 emissions in New Mexico. Dillingham is a director of an organization that is part of an alliance to promote the very same sort of emissions caps she is being asked to consider as a member of the EIB. Moreover, New Energy Economy, the group which has brought the petition before the EIB, belongs to the same global warming activism alliance as the group which Dillingham helps direct. Dillingham has was appointed to the EIB in 2003 and served as its chair until recently, when Gregory Green, a lobbyist and consultant for environmental groups, assumed the role. We have previously reported on Green’s conflicts of interest in hearing the New Energy Economy petition, including the fact that he has been hired as a lobbyist by an organization, the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, that includes at least two organizations that have joined the petition pending before the EIB. [Two other members of the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy have entered appearances in the case. But as of this posting, we lack confirmation that they have become parties to the proceeding by signing onto the New Energy Economy petititon]. Dillingham is a founder of and serves on the New Mexico Board of Directors of an organization called New Voice of Business. New Voice of Business is a formal ally of 1Sky, a nationwide group advocating emissions caps and other measures it claims are needed to counter man-made global warming...read more

Is Hunting Good for Bad Kids?

Is hunting good for bad kids? Does it teach violence or does it teach empathy and compassion? Would it be a more peaceful world if more kids grew up hunting? These are some of the questions addressed in a recent book entitled From Boys to Men of Heart: Hunting as Rite of Passage. The book’s award-winning author is Randall L. Eaton, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist with an international reputation in wildlife conservation who has been studying hunting for 35 years. While producing “The Sacred Hunt” in the mid-1990s, a documentary that received 11 awards, Eaton interviewed scores of recreational and Native American hunters all of whom used the word “respect” to describe how they feel about animals they hunt. That prompted Eaton to conduct questionnaire surveys on 2,500 mature hunters who described their attitude toward animals they hunt as, “respect, admiration and reverence.” The book interviews Dr. Wade Brackenbury, who for 13 years led groups of delinquent boys into the wilderness for two weeks where they had to survive off what they could forage. Brackenbury is convinced that it was hunting small animals for food that had the greatest transformative influence. Surveys conducted a year later indicated that 85% of the boys had not got into trouble after their survival experience. A best-selling authority on how to raise boys, Michael Gurian, also is interviewed in Eaton’s book. He agrees that hunting does teach males compassion, and that it would be a more peaceful world if more boys hunted...read more

State vet pushes for brucellosis vaccinations

Montana’s state veterinarian is pushing for brucellosis vaccinations for all sexually intact female calves, arguing that the move is necessary to control disease and keep Big Sky cattle marketable. Veterinarian Marty Zaluski told producers gathered at Billings’ Public Auction Yards that mandatory statewide vaccination would bring Montana in line with measures already taken in Wyoming and Idaho. Ranchers in the three states have been harmed by instances of brucellosis in cattle in recent years. The disease is carried by elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone Area and can cause cows to miscarry. The federal government is now crafting a new brucellosis management policy. Ranchers have balked at vaccinating all heifers between the ages of 4 months to a year, arguing the $5 shot isn’t needed for young females raised for food. Members of two of Montana’s largest livestock groups, the Montana Stockgrowers Association and Montana Farm Bureau Federation, have formalized policies officially opposing the vaccination of all sexually intact female calves because they think it’s unnecessary. The Farm Bureau supports vaccinating only breeding heifers and heifers imported to Montana for that reason...read more

Controversial UTEP prof risks much in fight for animal rights

People have judged Steve Best many ways during his 30 years in academia. Some have called him a troublemaker, a radical, and even a domestic and international terrorist because of his vocal and often confrontational stance on animal rights. He said it is his tenured position that has kept him on the payroll as a philosophy professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. But even Best knows he is gambling with his career when he protests against the school's environmental policies with a bullhorn outside UTEP President Diana Natalicio's office, or when he openly supports a movement that undertakes criminal activities to save animals from research laboratories and slaughterhouses. "Hey, if Martin Luther King was not afraid to lose his life, I shouldn't be afraid to lose my job," Best said. Best travels around the country and as far away as South Africa to speak about animal abuse. The United Kingdom in 2005 banned Best from its four countries for his views on the use of violence to defend animal rights...read more

Song Of The Day #248

Sorry about yesterday, I'm having a tough battle with the flu.

Ranch Radio will wrap up Will's week with Goodbye, Liza Jane from 1946 and Stay A Little Longer recorded in 1949.