Song Of The Day #294

Ranch Radio will get your blood pumpin' this Monday morning with a fiddle tune by bluegrass fiddler Barbara Lamb.

The tune is Bumblebee In The Gourdvine and is available on her 13 track CD Tonight I Feel Like Texas.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Gettin' old - not a pretty sight

by Julie Carter

The plan all along is to get old, but it happens to some folks faster than others.

Cowboys pretty much across the board fit into that category.

The life of cowboy is hard on the physical body.

It doesn't seem to hurt their mind much, but one could argue that if they had much of a mind to begin with, they'd have another vocation.

Perhaps a career that offered better hours and monetary rewards.

A life of having horses pound you into the ground, cows run you over and assortment of other wrecks involving gates, pickups and trailers have cowboys feeling serious aches and pains at an early age.

And that's just from the work part of the job.

The horseplay that goes on endlessly is as frequently the culprit for injury and subsequent lifetime handicaps.

The body is just not made to bend the wrong way as many times as cowboying can make that happen.

Looking older than they are and feeling twice as old happens sooner than usual if the vocation involves the word cowboy.

Bowlegs are a visible symptom of a much worse problem.

Those knobby knees in the middle of that bow are a never ending source of pain, agony and frustration.

An old-in-miles but not-in-years cowboy with knees that had seen Olympic-quality abuse wrote this about the situation:

Where ever you go either you walk or ride.
You use your knees with every stride.
Your stride gets short and the trail gets long.
It sure is hell when your knees are gone.
You jump right off but when you land,
Sometimes your mouth gets full of sand.
You can't stand up and it hurts to crawl.
You ain't no good on the ground at all.
You can't run your horse with any ease,
'Cause of the real bad hurtin' in your knees.
But don't you worry about that ol' pard,
The cowboy life was always hard.

With today's technology, more and more cowboys are signing up for the "spare parts" surgery. Usually these guys need the new knees long before the doctors think it's advisable.

The new parts come with life-span that leaves the cowboy needing a second replacement even before he is eligible for social security.

In an effort to avoid that and to buy a little time, they hobble around dragging a leg, thinking everything they see looks like it needs to be set on, and giving the anti-inflammatory drug business a dramatic sales boost.

At the branding corral, they look for a place to sit and rest where they don't have to be tailed back up when it is time to go back to work.

The grunts and moans you hear is just them trying to get their foot in the stirrup and get back on their horse.

No longer is there any shame in using a log, rock or trailer fender to make that easier.

They find it acceptably easier to the let the young buttons do the work even if it takes longer than it should.

With no apology, they discover a new found fondness for shorter horses and slower women.

And those old cowboys that are recreational ropers?

The secret to their quick catch is simply because their shoulders won't hold up past a few quick swings of the loop.

It can be noted that most of the senior roping events start early in the morning. It's paramount that they get their shot at roping for the money before their pills start to wear off.

This getting' old ain't for sissies.

Julie, somewhat long in the tooth herself, can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. Visit my website at www.julie-carter.com

It's The Pitts: Dudes & Desperadoes

Lee Pitts

Greed and stupidity must both travel on the same chromosome.

Greedy people are usually stupid people. That’s why dumbos lined up to get in on the action when Charles Ponzi promised a 50% return on their money in just 90 days. Ponzi patterned his scheme after a guy named William Miller who promised a 10% return. PER WEEK! Then there’s Bernard Madoff. He was able to separate his “friends” from fifty billion of their dollars because he supposedly had a secret formula for making money that no one else knew. I’m just glad I wasn’t one of his friends.

In the past, smooth talking shysters have coaxed greedy idiots into investing in sunken treasure, Florida swampland and even loaves and fishes. Yes, a gun-toting minister in Florida told his parishioners that God had modernized the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and that God had made him a special offer that would allow the minister to double his parishioner’s money faster than you can say “sucker.”

No one would be so stupid to fall for that, you say? Sadly, the believers lost $500 million in trying to corner the loaf and fish market.

Although it pains me to say this, we’ve had our share of crooks in the cattle business too. Some of the great ranching empires in the West owe their existence to a Great-Great grandpappy who had a running iron and the gumption to use it. These “brand artists” gave way to syndicates in the late 1800’s that were put together to fleece Scotsmen. On paper the syndicators showed their investors a huge profit because nearly every cow had twins every year. At least on paper anyway. The crooks were saved when a nasty winter killed so many cattle that the “book count” and the actual head count could never be reconciled.

In more recent times the cattle business has been plagued by check kiters, tax cheats and common cattle crooks. Due to hard economic times, thieves with an aversion to work have made cattle rustling a popular criminal activity once again. Such crooks must be dumber than a dead jelly fish. Anyone who’d risk spending several years in prison for a gooseload of cattle has got to be intellectually challenged. Even if they are free, they are still cows folks! I heard of one case in Texas where one brother stole the cattle and another other brother sold them and they still lost money! Adding insult to injury, their days were soon filled with body-cavity searches and communal showers in a crossbar hotel.

At least the rustlers have to get their hands dirty. Not so, the class of crooks who deal in phantom cattle. You may have heard that the actor Kiefer Sutherland was allegedly bilked for nearly $900,000 by Michael Wayne Carr of Linden, California. Carr supposedly told the television star that he could buy cattle really cheap in Mexico and sell them on this side of the border and make a big killing. All he needed was the seed money to buy the cattle. You can probably figure out what happened next.

A friend of mine knows this Carr character and says he’s so crooked he could sleep in the shade of a post hole auger. My friend told me a story about Carr that I think irrefutably proves that greed and stupidity are genetically linked. Supposedly Carr walked into the office of a wealthy businessman and presented his get-rich-quick spiel. The potential investor started asking a lot of questions so Carr pulls out his cell phone and said he’d get his American buyer on the line to prove the validity of his claims. Carr dialed numbers on his cell phone and was carrying on a conversation in front of the investor, asking the supposed buyer how many cattle he needed, what weight, and what price he’d be willing to pay. Then his cell phone rang!

The moral of the story? Never buy cattle from a crook who’s not smart enough to turn off his cell phone when he’s making a fake phone call.

Song Of The Day #293

Ranch Radio's Gospel tune this Sunday morning is There's One by The Bishops.

The song is available on their 13 track CD Kentucky Bluegrass.

Police ambushed in Juarez; 8 people killed

Two police cars apparently lured into an intersection in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez on Friday were ambushed by gunmen. At least seven officers were killed in the brazen midday attack, along with a 17-year-old passerby. Two other injured officers were hospitalized and under heavy guard, said public security spokesman Enrique Torres, to prevent gunmen from attempting to finish the job. All but one of the dead officers were from the U.S.-trained federal police force. The seventh was a municipal policewoman. A contingent of 5,000 federal police agents took over security of Juarez two weeks ago as part of a plan to phase out the army, which has occupied the city — Mexico's deadliest — for two years. The death toll has skyrocketed over that period. Bullet-pocked police trucks remained on the street for some time after the ambush, surrounded by bodies covered in white sheets. As drug-war violence continued to intensify, sucking in innocents caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, dozens of people were killed across Mexico on Thursday and Friday...more

Gunmen kill 4, wound top security official in Michoacan

Gunmen armed with high-caliber weapons ambushed the top security official in Mexican President Felipe Calderon's home state early Saturday, wounding her and killing at least four other people.Minerva Bautista Gomez, public security minister for Michoacan state, had just left ceremonies in Morelia launching a state fair, which she attended with the governor and other high-ranking officials. Within a mile, her armored SUV and bodyguard escort came under fire from assailants who had blocked the highway with a disabled trailer, trapping the minister and her entourage. In the fierce gun battle that followed, two of Bautista's bodyguards and two motorists were killed. At least 10 people, including Bautista, were wounded. The gunmen escaped...more

This is not a border state...the violence may be moving inland.

Arrests In Killings Of Consulate Worker, 2 Others

In the border city of Ciudad Juarez, authorities said they have made arrests in the killing of an American woman who worked at the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, her husband and another man married to a Mexican consulate worker. Authorities said they have arrested a gang member who allegedly participated as a lookout in the March 13 killings. Chihuahua state authorities said in a statement Thursday that the gang member was arrested along another four men who belong to the Aztecas gang...more

Ciudad Juarez: War Against Los Zetas, Along the Gulf and Into America

One of the hallmark facts about the growth of the Mexican cartels and the corresponding growth of violence in Mexico over the past decades is that where there is more money to earn, there is more money to lose. As their revenues and influence grew, it lead to the cartels becoming both more covetous of turf and more zealous about defending it. The Zetas were born out of this fact. In the late 90s, Osiel Cardenas, then the head of the Gulf cartel, began to recruit members of an elite Mexican army special forces team to become enforcers for his cartel. They were very well trained (some say in the U.S.) and one of their main goals was to combat drug trafficking. In the beginning, about 35 soldiers defected to become the Zetas—and suddenly the Gulf Cartel had its own paramilitary force. They brought professional knowledge of advanced weaponry and battle tactics, and came with a pre-ordained chain of command. Their creation sparked a huge upward trend in violent enforcement in an already violent industry. Soon after the Zetas hit the scene, the Sinaloa cartel followed suit, organizing Los Negros and Los Pelones, similar groups of ex-soldiers, to act as wings of the business devoted to nothing but violence and murder. As time went on, the former leaders of the Zetas began to intertwine themselves more in the business aspects of the cartel. In the past few years, Zetas have taken over leadership positions in both enforcement and trafficking, becoming an inextricable part of the cartel while still remaining a unit unto themselves...more

"Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields," by Charles Bowden

Don't read this book for amusement or relaxation. This beautifully constructed narrative will horrify you while forcing you to expand your thinking about a very timely topic and causing you to fret about the darker side of human nature. Bowden found that although there's no denying the ruthless role played by the drug lords in illicit drugs, some issues are rarely cited. One is how the North American Free Trade Agreement obeyed the law of unintended consequences by diminishing Juarez's economy and leaving thousands unemployed or working for wages even lower than before NAFTA. But there's easy money to be made in drugs. Another aspect seldom reported in the United States (and not in the Mexican press, from fear or as a result of bribery) is the role of the nation's military as well as federal, state and local police units. To one degree or another, they are all corruptly involved in the drug trade. Bowden's depressing summary: "In over half a century of fighting drugs, Mexico has never created a police unit that did not join the traffickers. Or die." He offers another compelling observation: "There are two Mexicos. There is the one reported by the U.S. press, a place where the Mexican president is fighting a valiant war against the evil forces of the drug world and using the incorruptible Mexican army as his warriors. This Mexico has newspapers, courts, and laws and is seen by the U. S. government as a sister republic. It does not exist. "There is a second Mexico, where the war is for drugs, for the enormous money to be made in drugs, where the police and military fight for their share, where the press is restrained by the murder of reporters and feasts on a steady diet of bribes."...more

Sen. Cornyn Says Feds Have Failed, Offers Support For Local Law Enforcement

Local border law enforcement leaders met with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Friday to express the needs of their agencies and the ongoing threat of spillover violence from the border’s drug war. Cornyn said he believes that the federal government has failed at border enforcement and has left local law agencies with the burden. To assist local agencies, Cornyn is introducing legislation that would provide an additional $300 million to agencies within 100 miles of the border. The bill would provide money for additional personnel and technology to help combat border crime. It would also allow the hiring of additional federal district judges to deal with a growing case load. "We know the spill over effect we've heard some about here today. We know it is very real and that people live in fear of their own public safety, and that's unacceptable," Cornyn said after the meeting...more

US training Mexican feds

These four officers are among a group of nine Mexican federal policemen who received close-quarters marksmanship training from Border Patrol instructors Friday morning at the agency's warehouse in Nogales, Ariz. In the afternoon, they were trained on basic building entry. This week the group is set to complete the four-part training that also includes sessions on ATV patrols, finding concealed compartments and emergency first aid. When the nine graduate, there will be 57 Mexican federal police officers who have been trained under an unprecedented partnership that began early this year between the U.S. and Mexico, designed to help both countries combat a common enemy: Mexican drug smugglers. "They're getting into close-quarter combat all the time with the drug smugglers and the cartels, and we're hoping that this will help these guys prevail to win and stay alive," said Pittman, a supervisory Border Patrol agent who has been in Nogales for 15 years. "These guys are getting slaughtered down there." Dozens of police officers have been killed in Mexico, including the assistant police chief in Nogales, Sonora, earlier this year and the commander of the Sonoran state police in 2008. Officials chose Nogales to test the program, funded by the U.S. State Department's Mérida Initiative, because it's the busiest stretch of U.S.-Mexico border, said Border Patrol spokesman David Jimarez. It could be expanded across the border in the future...more

Violence temporarily closes Camargo bridge

Authorities have temporarily shut down the Camargo-Rio Grande City International Bridge following reports of a robbery and shooting on the Mexican side. Witnesses said a group of armed men robbed a tollbooth or tollbooths on the Mexican side of the border and fired their weapons. The Tamaulipas Ministry of Public Safety (SSP) confirmed an incident at the bridge reporting that the customs area had been damaged by a group of civilians. Southbound traffic from the United States into Mexico remained closed on Saturday afternoon. The SSP reported that the bodies of three men were found near Camargo in the Town of Rancherias on Saturday morning. Investigators reported that the three men had been killed by gunfire. The two incidents are the latest in a string of shootouts and mysterious murders along the "frontera chica," or little border which extends from Camargo in the east to Nueva Ciudad Guerrero next to Falcon Lake. Since late February, the area has seen dozens of deaths and disappearances following shootouts between rival drug trafficking organizations as well as between the Mexican soldiers and drug traffikcers...more

Suspected drug runner, worker square off with guns

A U.S. surveyor and a suspected lookout for Mexican drug runners exchanged gunfire near the border Thursday after a short standoff that found them pointing weapons at each other. The surveyor was looking for stone monuments that mark the U.S.-Mexico border near Tres Bellotas Ranch, south of Arivaca, when he heard a noise on a ridge, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Office report. He then came face-to-face with a man wearing what he described as “the old battle-dress uniform of the U.S. Army.” The surveyor, whose name was redacted in the report, pulled his 9mm pistol while the man in camouflage pointed a rifle at him. The standoff lasted just a few seconds as the men looked at each other, then lowered their weapons. The surveyor, who did not speak Spanish, said the other man uses gestures to ask whether there were other people in the area. He said no, and the man said, “adios” and walked away. The man in fatigues walked about 600 feet when the surveyor said he heard two voices then heard six shots in his direction. He “hit the deck,” according to the report, and returned seven shots. He said he was unsure whether the shots from the two men came near him, and no shells or casings were discovered during an investigation. The surveyor left on his ATV and called authorities. The incident occurred in Santa Cruz County, and sheriff’s officials there along with Border Patrol agents took over the investigation. According to the PCSO report, the surveyor apparently “had just stumbled across a group (of drug runners) preparing to cross” and the shots were fired to scare him off. Tres Bellotas Ranch is about 10 miles due south of Arivaca. It’s the same place where a Mexican military helicopter carrying about half a dozen armed men landed on the U.S. side of the border five years ago this month...more

ALLIANCE SUES US FWS AND OTHERS OVER MEXICAN WOLF

Claims violation of NEPA provisions for Endangered Species Act

RESERVE, N.M. Americans for Preservation of the Western Environment, the Gila Livestock Growers Association, the Board of County Commissioners of Catron County, New Mexico and other plaintiffs have jointly sent notification of an intent to file suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of the Interior, and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, for management actions and policies that violate the provisions of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Plan and the Final Rule issued under Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species.

The letter states that instead of following the procedures and process set forth in the Final Rule issued under Section 10(j), the Fish & Wildlife Service, the Department of Interior and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish have embarked on a procedure of developing ad hoc management practices and procedures for dealing with depredations and removals, all of which have been put in place without following appropriate procedures under the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Additionally, the letter states that the agencies' demonstrate intent to continue to violate the express findings in the FEIS and Final Rule.

"The point of this letter is to give the agencies the opportunity to come into compliance," said Ed Wehrheim, Chairman of Americans for Preservation of Western Environment, a citizen-based group claiming overwhelming support throughout New Mexico.

"In a time when we're cutting back on teachers, health care and other vital programs, the Mexican wolf program, which is now costing over $400,000 per wolf, is insane."



# # #

Congressman Seeks to Expand EPA's Control of Water

A Democratic congressman is seeking to strip the word "navigable" from the 1972 Clean Water Act to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to surpass the limits imposed by a 2001 Supreme Court ruling on the kinds of waterways the agency can regulate. That word typically is interpreted to refer to any body of water that is "deep enough and wide enough to afford passage to ships." But Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., who worked on the 1972 legislation as a Capitol Hill staff member, said he is trying to restore the original intent of the law. "I know what it means and it says the purpose of this act is to establish and maintain the chemical, biological and physical integrity of the nation's waters," Oberstar said. Some Republican advocates of land rights are wary, fearing that striking the word "navigable" from the Clean Water Act will bring every lake, pond, creek or mud hole under the EPA's control. "It potentially puts government in charge of all waters, including mud puddles, irrigation ditches," said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. "If you take out 'navigable' in this bill, it could potentially lead to the federal government usurping state laws as it relates to water and regulating, therefore, mud puddles. I just think that's bad policy."...more

This is a good example of one of the many things wrong with D.C. today. You'll note he was a staffer in 1972. He actually first went to work for Congress in 1963 and was elected a congressman in 1974.

That's 47 years of toiling away in oinkdom. Oberstar may have been a quality individual when he started, but you can't feed at the Congressional trough for 47 years without it changing you. Believe me I know and I was only there for 5 years.

If you have the stomach for it, go here to see his 7 minute presentation on the introduction of the bill. You will notice he has to read his statement. Other than a few ad libs about the meeting room and a hearing in Chicago, everything of substance about the proposed bill is read from a statement. A statement written by...a staffer.

And the circle continues.

Expansion foes question Coffman offer on Pinon

Opponents of an Army proposal to expand its Southeastern Colorado training base Wednesday rejected a congressman’s attempt to ban the Army’s use of eminent domain to secure additional land. "Mr. Coffman has been attempting to open a door for expansion all along. It looks to us that this bill is not something we need. We've already got eminent domain off the table," said Lon Robertson, a Kim rancher and president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition. Robertson said Coffman's bill asks that funding be allowed and if that happens it opens the door to expansion. "The best way to keep eminent domain away is to keep the funding away from the expansion. The funding ban that is in place already takes any threat of condemnation off the table, so this is a redundant bill that Mr. Coffman is offering," Robertson said. The rancher said Coffman’s motives were puzzling. "I guess we are scratching our heads more than anything right now. We are wondering why he is offering something that is already there and why is he trying to open the door to something that is not necessary." Robertson said...more

Coffman defends proposal to ban Pinon land seizures

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman on Thursday defended a bill he is sponsoring that would ban the Army’s use of eminent domain to secure additional land around the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The Aurora congressman said the bill was proposed strictly to protect the rights of property owners and nothing else. Coffman challenged claims by members of the Pinon Canyon Expansion opposition coalition that said the measure is a back-door method to remove a ban on funding for the proposed expansion. "This bill does not address that (funding). There is no question in my mind that property rights are a two-way street. "I absolutely don't want ranchers to be forced to sell or lease their property. At the same time, I think that if there is a willing seller out there that they ought to be allowed to do so," Coffman said. Third District U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, and former 4th District U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, authored a funding ban for the proposed expansion in 2007. They worked with Salazar's brother, former Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat, to get the ban in place. John Salazar said Thursday that Coffman is no friend to Pinon Canyon and questions his motive for the proposed bill...more

Feds want full market value for Utah land it bought for $1

The town of Mantua, Box Elder County — population 756 — once sold the federal government 31.5 acres of land for $1. Now, the town would like that unused land back for free. But the Obama administration on Wednesday said it wants full market value for that land instead. Harris Sherman, undersecretary of Agriculture, told a Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that the administration opposes a bill by the Utah delegation that seeks to give Mantua the land for free. "Our concern with the bill is it does not provide for fair market value to the Forest Service, which runs counter to well-established, long-standing policies," he testified. He added, "We are clearly willing to work with the town of Mantua to effectuate this conveyance. We want to do so under the terms of the Townsite Act, which requires us to receive fair market value for the conveyance." That, of course, could create obstacles in the Senate for the bill sponsored by Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, both R-Utah. However, the House already passed last year on a 396-1 vote an identical bill introduced there by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah...more

Secretary Sherman, the Forest Service has a "well-established, long-standing" tradition of screwing the public, a tradition which you are perpetuating.

Appeals court upholds water ruling for tribe

A federal appeals court has upheld most of a ruling that ordered a rural Nevada irrigation district to pay back billions of gallons of water that it took from a tribe decades ago. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday directed a federal judge in Reno to go back and determine how much more water the Pyramid Lake Paiutes are entitled to as a result of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District illegally diverting flows for its own farmers and ranchers in northern Nevada's high desert during the 1970s and 1980s. The appellate court rejected most of the district's bid to overturn a 2003 decision that determined the water from Lake Tahoe and other reservoirs should have continued down the Truckee River to help bolster a traditional tribal fishery in serious decline. U.S. District Court Judge Howard McKibben in Reno was correct when he determined at that time the irrigation district had "willfully failed to comply" with a 1973 agreement that divided up the water, according to the opinion Judge Mary Schroeder issued on behalf of a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. Since then, the district has made "several additional attempts to sidestep accountability" under that agreement, she wrote. A lawyer for the tribe who hailed the ruling as a victory said Wednesday that he is certain it will mean additional water for the tribe and perhaps as much as 75 percent more than McKibben ordered in 2003...more

NM Mining Co. Loses Dispute Over Stonewash Pumice

The 10th Circuit rejected a mining company's challenge of the noncompliance notice it received from the U.S. Forest Service for mining too many rare, large pumice pieces and selling them to industries other than the garment industry, which uses the pumice to stonewash jeans. Copar had leased 23 mining claims in New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest from the Cook family in the 1980s. In 1993, Congress passed a law to create the Jemez National Recreation Area, barring mining on 57,000 acres, including the land mined by Cobar. The Cooks filed, and partially won, a takings claim against the government. The Forest Service conceded that four of the 23 mining claims contained "valuable and marketable" three-quarter-inch pumice, which could be used to stonewash jeans. The remaining claims were deemed null and void, because they contained no valuable mineral deposit. The Forest Service paid $4 million to settle the takings claims, and the Cooks and Copar relinquished the remaining 19 claims, which contained only run-of-the-mill pumice that can't be used for stonewashing. The three-quarter-inch pumice is restricted almost exclusively to the garment industry, which uses it to abrade denim fabric to create a worn or "stonewashed" look...more