It's The Pitts: Suture Self

by Lee Pitts

A carpenter friend recently showed me a gruesome scar on his arm that was the result of some surgery he performed on himself with a sewing needle without any form of anesthetic! He said he played doctor and sewed up the nasty cut himself because he had no insurance and felt qualified because he’d once sewn some sails. From the looks of his arm I can only assume the sailboat subsequently capsized or ran aground.

It’s only in the last 100 years that people, like my friend, haven’t had to be their own doctor. If a cowboy in the 1800’s was seriously sick, kicked by a horse, wounded by an Indian or run over by a stampede he was simply out of luck. And out of time.

Early in our nation’s history doctors were as scarce as tuba players in a submarine, and even if one could be found the sawbones performed most operations without any anesthetic. If you don’t count the whiskey, that is. Now days when people go to the doctor for an ingrown toenail it’s hard to imagine that women had their babies at home and the only provision for pain was a stick they could bite down on. You couldn’t have found a log big enough for me to chomp on! And you think you have it bad because you have to read old magazines and wait awhile to see a doctor?

In the days of old there were no urgent care facilities or emergency rooms and if the doctor came at all it wasn’t until you were nearly ready to be cultivated under. In this day of Dr. Oz and Viagra, when there seems to be a pill for every inconvenience and a TV telethon or walkathon for every ailment, it’s hard to imagine that the best the pioneers could do was apply a poultice of fresh cow manure. If they sprained an ankle they wrapped the joint in brown paper, soaked it in vinegar and slept with their head pointed north. Often times the people used the same treatments they used on their livestock. Cowboys got the same cure as the horse they were riding. If you were wormy you took a thimble full of sheep wormer and if you ached all over you applied a little Sloan’s Liniment for Livestock. It contained turpentine and “sassafrassy” and was said to cure bruises, kicks, flatulent colic and bumblefoot. I’ve been tempted to try it once or twice myself.

Just like my buddy who sewed himself up, the pioneers improvised a lot. They were practicing holistic medicine long before anyone ever heard the phrase. In an era when doctors with tiny cameras boldly go where no man has gone before, it’s hard to imagine that people once bled, purged and puked themselves to better health.

The doctors of the nineteenth century seemed to believe that a person could not get well without a sufficient amount of pain being suffered first. And maybe they were right.

You may hate the dentist but at least you have one. If the old-timers had a toothache they jumped up and down so the blood would go to their feet and then pulled a tooth or two with a pair of horse nippers or hog ringers. If a limb needed to be amputated the only anesthetic was to have a fat man sit on the patient. Allergies and cosmetic surgery? Forget it. If you broke a leg you had a lifelong limp; a broken rib and you suffered every time you breathed for the rest of your life. If you had an excess of sagging body parts you lived with them. Hypochondriacs didn’t stand a chance.

Some things never change though. In a letter to his family in 1849 a California miner wrote, “Have now paid all my gold to the Doctors and they leave me worse in health.” See what I mean? Who knows, maybe a lot of lives were saved back when folks didn’t have access to all the over-doctoring that goes on now days.

By the time our leaders in Washington get through messing up our healthcare system, the way things are headed we’ll have to anesthetize our cattle to brand them but you and I won’t be able to get in to see a doctor. We could find ourselves living once again in a society where the rule of thumb will be, “Cowboy, heal thyself.”

Song Of The Day #305

Ranch Radio's Gospel selection today is Mother Thank You For The Bible You Gave by the Louvin Brothers. Then we will travel back to 1940 for some great advice from Governor Jimmie Davis with his Baby Your Mother Like She Babied You.

Happy Mother's Day.

Udall Questions Officials About Increased Border Violence And I Question Udall

U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, today questioned federal officials about ongoing efforts to combat increased border violence by Mexican drug trafficking organizations during a hearing of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. Udall, a member of the Caucus, told senior officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Department of State that he and his constituents are very concerned about violence spilling across the border into New Mexico. In March, Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was fatally shot while working on his land near the Mexican border. While the case remains under investigation, law enforcement tracked a suspect from the murder scene to the border. The local sheriff says there is evidence to suggest that the suspect was a scout for a smuggling organization. "We became very concerned when we saw the murder of a rancher on the Arizona border earlier this year," Udall said during the hearing. "That's caused a level of alarm across the state that was reflected during one of my recent visits to the White Sands Missile Range. While White Sands is a significant distance from the border, I heard from a member of the engineering battalion that will soon deploy to Afghanistan. He asked me if his family was going to be safe because of this activity." During the Caucus hearing, Udall also discussed legislation he supports to establish a grant program within the Department of Justice for law enforcement agencies to address drug-related criminal activity. The legislation, introduced by Bingaman and co-sponsored by Udall, would give award priority to law enforcement agencies located in counties 150 miles of the border...press release

"We became very concerned when we saw the murder of a rancher on the Arizona border earlier this year," Udall said during the hearing.

Senator, many New Mexicans have been concerned for years. Their homes have been invaded, their fences cut, property damaged or destroyed and they have feared for their family's safety. Glad to have you finally on board though.

...legislation he supports to establish a grant program within the Department of Justice for law enforcement agencies to address drug-related criminal activity. The legislation, introduced by Bingaman and co-sponsored by Udall, would give award priority to law enforcement agencies located in counties 150 miles of the border.

Implicit within this legislation is the idea that illegal immigration and drug trafficking are having a negative impact up to 150 miles from the border. That being the case, why do you support legislation creating thousands of acres of wilderness just a few miles from the border and thereby creating a safe haven for such traffickers? It also seems incongruous you would endorse a new grant program for border area law enforcement at the same time you are supporting legislation that would deny them and their federal counterparts the access they need to address the problem. Why assist on the one hand and obstruct on the other?

For years politicians have gotten away with throwing money at a problem and calling it good, even if they were supporting other programs with cross purposes. In this case, the pols are trying to maintain the support of the enviros by introducing wilderness legislation, while at the same time trying to "buy off" local officials with a new grant program. The new grant program will also give them something to point to, to show they really "care" about our safety.

This has worked in the past, but I think the electorate is catching on to your game and they ain't buying it.

None of this is to say Senator Udall doesn't care about our public safety here in southern NM. After all, see his recent press release:
Udall Encourages NM Residents to Not Talk and Text While Driving.

Pelosi: It’s Cheaper to Treat Teens for Drug Use Than Interdict Drugs at Border

While pointing out that it is the responsibility of the federal government to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) said Thursday it is cheaper to treat teens for drug use than it is to interdict drugs being smuggled across the border. CNSNews.com pointed out to the speaker at her weekly press briefing that a recent Justice Department report indicated that one in five U.S. teenagers used drugs last year, and then asked: “Are you committed to sealing the border against the influx of illegal drugs from Mexico and, if so, do you have a target date in mind for getting that done?” “Well if your question is about drugs, I’m for reducing demand in the United States,” said Pelosi. “That is what our responsibility is on this subject. The RAND Corporation a few years ago did a report that said it would be much less expensive for us to, through prevention first and foremost, but through treatment on demand to reduce demand in our country, is the cheapest way to solve this problem. “Incarceration is the next cheapest,” Pelosi continued. “It costs seven times more to incarcerate than to have treatment on demand. It costs 15 times more to interdict at the border. And it costs 25 times more with eradication of the cocoa leaf. This is an issue that it is very important to our country because of what it’s doing to our teenagers. That is the problem, what it is doing to our people.”...more

Twelve killed in Juárez since Friday afternoon

Two young men were shot and killed Friday night inside a vehicle with Texas license plates at a popular crossing in central Juárez. Chihuahua state police found 46 bullet casings at the scene where José Luis Meza Terrazas, 22, and Miguel Ángel Prieto Herrera, 25, were murdered. The attack occurred about 10:15 p.m. at the Tecnológico and Teófilo Borunda avenues near the Camino Real hotel. The men were found inside a green 2003 Ford Expedition. Separate attacks Friday afternoon, night and Saturday morning have killed 12 people in Juárez. An average of eight people are killed every day in the border city considered to be the epicenter of Mexico's drug cartel violence...more

Gunmen kill 1 at wedding in Juarez, kidnap 3, including groom

Police in the border city of Ciudad Juarez say gunmen killed a man outside a church where a wedding had just taken place and kidnapped the groom, his brother and his uncle. Chihuahua state prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval says the assailants showed up as minutes after the religious ceremony had ended Friday evening and killed a man and kidnapped the others as dozens of wedding guests watched. Sandoval says no arrests have been made and a motive for the attack has not been determined...more

Police Chief, 5 Others Slain in Border State

A municipal police chief and five other people died in three violent incidents in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, authorities said Friday. The state’s public information office said the chief of police in the rural community of Barbosa and a person accompanying him were fatally shot Thursday night by unknown assailants. Authorities did not reveal the identities of the victims nor the circumstances surrounding their deaths. In the city of Reynosa, which borders McAllen, Texas, a man with gunshot wounds who had been left outside a hospital died while receiving medical treatment. In Rio Bravo, another border town, a clash between military personnel and gunmen left three civilians dead, Mexico’s defense department said...more

US Extends Travel Warning For Mexico

The U.S. State Department has extended its travel warning for Mexico, advising US citizens about the precautions they must take while traveling or residing in certain regions in northern Mexico because of the increasing drug-related violence in those areas. The State Department, in the warning issued late Thursday, said the Mexican states of Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila were particularly dangerous and advised U.S. citizens "residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution." "US citizens should defer non-essential travel to Ciudad Juarez and to the Guadalupe Bravo area southeast of Ciudad Juarez," the statement said. "US citizens should also defer travel to the northwest quarter of the state of Chihuahua, including the city of Nuevas Casas Grandes and surrounding communities."...more

Texas senators stress need to stop Mexican violence from spreading to U.S.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison pressed for more federal action Wednesday in securing the Mexican border and preventing violence from spilling over into the United States. "We need to change the mindset here in Washington, D.C., that somehow we've done everything we need to do in terms of border security," Cornyn said. The call for help came during a Senate hearing that gave a devastating rundown of the fallout from Mexico's brutal drug war. More than 22,000 drug-related murders in Mexico since 2007. Rising reports of home invasions and cross-border kidnappings. And the growing threat of spillover into Texas and other border states. "We are in an emergency," Hutchison said. "We need manpower. We need help."...more

Border violence affecting trade, congressmen say

Livestock ports in Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo will remain closed indefinitely as a security team seeks safer inspection areas for the U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarians. The U.S. State Department is assessing the quarantine pens located in northern Tamaulipas to determine whether they can be reopened with new security measures or must be relocated to safer spots elsewhere, said Lyndsay Cole, a USDA spokeswoman in Fort Collins, Colo. The pens used by veterinarians to inspect cattle before the livestock are exported to the United States were closed in late March after the USDA employees were confronted and detained by gunmen on a highway in Nuevo Laredo. About 17,000 head of cattle have been diverted to other ports of entry — mainly at Eagle Pass — in the past month while the security concerns at the facilities are addressed. But the closure of the livestock inspection ports is a “concrete example” that border violence is impeding trade between the United States and Mexico, said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who joined other border lawmakers in a meeting this week with high-ranking U.S. and Mexican security officials...more

Jaguar whistle-blower faces charges

The woman who said she planted female jaguar scat at the trap where jaguar Macho B was caught last year said she was told Thursday by federal investigators to prepare to face prosecution for her actions in the case. "They told me to be prepared to be charged for a violation of the Endangered Species Act" and that "now's a good time to get a lawyer," said Janay Brun, 38, of Arivaca. Brun said investigators told her she could be charged with the "take" of an endangered species. That's a legal term meaning killing, harming or harassing an endangered animal or plant. The jaguar is listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Macho B was the last jaguar known to be living in the wild in the United States. Brun sparked a federal criminal investigation when she told the Arizona Daily Star more than a year ago that she had placed the scat at the eventual Macho B trap site at the direction of Emil McCain. McCain was a biologist for the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project, where Brun also worked as a research technician. Until her statement that the jaguar was intentionally lured by the scat, Arizona Game and Fish Department officials had said the capture was accidental, occurring during a state study of black bears and mountain lions, for which McCain was setting snares. At the time of Brun's allegations, McCain vehemently denied them. Macho B was captured in a snare trap and radio-collared by Game and Fish biologists on Feb. 18, 2009, then released back into the wild. On March 2, 2009, after he slowed down dramatically, he was recaptured and euthanized at the Phoenix Zoo after veterinarians determined he had kidney failure...more

BP spill may kill hopes for climate deal

When John Kerry addressed environmental groups about the need to pass his comprehensive energy reform bill this year, he did not mention the disastrous oil spill now threatening the Gulf of Mexico and Florida's west coast. Kerry focused his Wednesday speech on "green" jobs, but he and his bill are in a perilous position when it comes to oil drilling. The legislation is expected to call for an expansion of drilling in coastal waters, a provision needed to lure enough votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats to pass the bill. The bill will also call for steep reductions in carbon emissions and potentially a gas tax, which many Republicans oppose. But the drilling provision inserted to draw support on the right has now caused a collapse in support on the left, as Democrats lined up to denounce any plans to widen drilling...more

Patents: Greenies get the fast track

Today the office still struggles with a major backlog. But inventors of green technology may have a leg up. Under a program that started in December, they can request that their patents be put through an accelerated queue. The purpose of the program is to help them raise money, start up businesses and bring products to the market more rapidly. On Tuesday, Skyline Solar, a solar panel builder in Silicon Valley, was awarded one of the first patents to emerge from the queue. “When a company says a patent is pending, things are uncertain. This gives us certainty,” said Bob MacDonald, the chief executive officer of Skyline. “And it helps get new investors comfortable with the intellectual property,” he added. Skyline filed its patent application in April 2008 and petitioned to move it into the accelerated queue in December. It’s a remarkable speed-up: it had typically taken two to three years for a green technology patent application to be reviewed...more

I guess the subsides weren't enough. Meanwhile, everyone else faces delays and "uncertainty."

I say clear-cut the regulatory jungle for everybody.

U.S. facing 'grievous harm' from chemicals in air, food, water, panel says

An expert panel that advises the president on cancer said Thursday that Americans are facing "grievous harm" from chemicals in the air, food and water that have largely gone unregulated and ignored. The President's Cancer Panel called for a new national strategy that focuses on such threats in the environment and workplaces. Epidemiologists have long maintained that tobacco use, diet and other factors are responsible for most cancers, and that chemicals and pollutants cause only a small portion -- perhaps 5 percent. The presidential panel said that figure has been "grossly underestimated" but it did not provide a new estimate. Federal chemical laws are weak, funding for research and enforcement is inadequate, and regulatory responsibilities are split among too many agencies, the panel found...more

In a surprise development a panel appointed by Obama recommends more and stronger laws, increased appropriations and more centralization of authority.

President’s Cancer Panel’s Alarming Alarmism

The President’s Cancer Panel has caused quite a stir with its release of a report imputing cancer to environmental chemicals. The report practically plagiarizes the work of anti-chemical activist groups, including the Environmental Working Group’s catchphrase that babies are “pre-polluted” with chemicals, and in its frequent homage to the precautionary principle. “This so-called Presidential Cancer Panel, which consists of two physicians, has obviously been politically pressured by the activists running the EPA,” says ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross. “When they mention babies being ‘pre-polluted’ and the alleged dangers of all of these chemicals, they not only sign their name to activist screeds, they neglect to mention that the dose makes the poison, and that finding traces of chemicals at levels of parts-per-billion does not imply a health hazard. And of course they do not address the potential health hazards of banning important chemicals from consumer products.” Despite all of the alarmism, some news sources are bringing balance to the narrative. The L.A. Times quotes our own Dr. Whelan pointing out that, despite what Nicholas Kristof says, “cancer death rates are going down. The so-called environmental trace levels of chemicals play no role whatsoever in the etiology of cancer.” And both the L.A. Times and Reuters Health quote Dr. Michael Thun, emeritus vice president of epidemiology at the American Cancer Society. “We agree that there are many important issues here … but a reader would come away from this report believing that pollutants cause most cancer,” Dr. Thun tells the L.A. Times. The article continues: “In fact, he said, most cancers are caused by tobacco, alcohol, overexposure to ultraviolet light, radiation and sexually transmitted infections. The report ‘presents an unbalanced perspective’ of the relative importance of these various factors, he said.”...more

Calf killed by wolf on private property in Wallowa County

Federal and Oregon state wildlife officials say one or more wolves has killed a calf on private property in the Zumwalt area of northeast Oregon's Wallowa County. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy says a state wildlife employee found the dead calf Wednesday. Agents examined tracks and bite marks to determine what happened. Under Oregon's wolf management plan, nonlethal measures to avoid future problems are the first response to such attacks. Oregon wildlife officials are working with area landowners to consider such measures. Wolves are federally protected as an endangered species in the western two-thirds of Oregon and are also listed as a state endangered species. AP

Organic Farming Shows Limited Benefit to Wildlife

Organic farms may be seen as wildlife friendly, but the benefits to birds, bees and butterflies don't compensate for the lower yields produced, according to new research from the University of Leeds. In the most detailed, like-for-like comparisons of organic and conventional farming to date, researchers from Leeds' Faculty of Biological Science found that the benefits to wildlife and increases in biodiversity from organic farming are much lower than previously thought -- averaging just over 12 percent more than conventional farming. The organic farms in the study produced less than half of the yield of their conventional counterparts, so the research -- published online in Ecology Letters -- raises serious questions about how we can use agricultural land to maximise food production and still protect our wildlife. "Over the next forty years, we're going to have to double food production worldwide to keep pace with population increases," says Professor Tim Benton, who led the project. "Our results show that to produce the same amount of food in the UK using organic rather than conventional means, we'd need to use twice the amount of land for agriculture."...more

Air Force making its case for bomber training

The Air Force will release a report next month outlining the impacts of its plan to train bomber pilots over massive stretches of Montana and neighboring states. Meantime, Ellsworth Air Force Base brass is selectively making its case to critics of the proposed Powder River Training Complex, which would set aside 20.3 million acres of airspace across Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming for military exercises. The training area, stretching roughly 300 miles between Billings and Bismarck, N.D., would be used by B-1B and B-52 pilots occupying the skies for several hours at a time on weekdays and flying within 500 feet off the ground. With miles of ranches and 66 small airports in or around the flight zone, opponents aren’t in short supply. “We were kind of a practice run for the B-52s and others years ago, and it really disturbs cattle a lot,” said Pat Goggins, owner of the Vermillion Ranch, which has properties throughout the area. “It’s a rough deal trying to get good (weight) gain on them.”...more

AQHA, WRCA Create Ranch Rodeo Award

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) has teamed with the Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA) to recognize top horses at WRCA rodeos across the nation. To honor the contributions ranch horses have made to the heritage of the American Quarter Horse, AQHA will sponsor a special recognition award to the top horse at every WRCA-sanctioned rodeo. The special achievement by these top horses will be placed on the horse's permanent AQHA record. The AQHA Top Horse Award will be presented at each sanctioned WRCA rodeo to the best all-around registered American Quarter Horse. The first presentation of this new award was at the Green Country Classic Ranch Rodeo, which took place in Claremore, Okla., in March. Little Tronas Will, owned and exhibited by Jeff Heaton of Alva, Okla., was the inaugural award recipient...more

Pasco ranchers share memories, history

The smell of cooking barbecue was complemented by the sound of fireworks. Or, were those bullets being fired? Those entering the Back Forty Pavilion at Starkey Ranch, quickly realized that the crackling pops they heard involved not pyrotechnics or gunpowder, but handmade whips slung by the hands of 16-year-old Chase Kiefer of Bushnell. The event drew a crowd of more than 200 people, many of them from ranching families around Pasco County. The event, hosted by SCENIC, a nonprofit organization, was attended by families who brought cattle brands from yesteryear, old pictures, plenty of stories and an appetite for barbecue and live country music, which was performed by Kissimmee-based Kenyon Lockry. The cattle brands are part of SCENIC's Living Legacy Project, which works to preserve the area's rich ranching history with photos, video and written stories on the organization's Web site. At a booth under the pavilion, historian and author Jeff Cannon of Hudson displayed several brands from families around the region. His oldest was an 1845 brand used by John S. Taylor, a Civil War veteran who lived in Hernando County. There was an 1883 brand made by Constantine "Bud" Stevenson, a blacksmith killed during a "family feud" with the Whidden family, Cannon said. Cannon explained that ranching was prevalent throughout Pasco during the Civil War, when the area's "Cow Calvary" rounded up beef cattle for Confederate soldiers fighting up north...more