Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Judge Allows Colorado Mustang Gather
A federal court judge has denied wild horse advocates' motion for an injunction to prevent a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) mustang gather in Colorado. The BLM began gathering wild horses that had moved outside of the Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area, southwest of Meeker, on Oct. 11. BLM public affairs specialist David Boyd said the gather was necessary to maintain a healthy wild horse herd that is in balance with other resources and land uses. In a suit filed in federal court on Oct. 7, Habitat for Horses (a Texas-based equine welfare agency), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Cloud Foundation, Toni Moore, and Dr. Don Moore asked the court to stop the BLM from removing any of the horses pending a complete judicial review of the BLM’s conduct. On Oct. 21, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Pauley, III, of the Eastern District of New York, declined to grant the injunction on multiple grounds including that the BLM is obligated to manage public lands "not solely to maintain the vitality of wild horse populations."...more
BLM backs Richardson's wild-horse sanctuary
The head of the federal Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro Program supports a plan for a proposed mustang sanctuary in New Mexico near Cerrillos and said it could serve as a model for other states. Don Glenn, chief of the BLM's Division of Wild Horses and Burros, said the agency solicited ideas for more sustainably handling an ever-growing number of wild horses that need homes. "One idea was to seek out partners and places to put sanctuaries," Glenn said. "We are interested in a partnership with the state if they buy this land." A few weeks ago, the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, which oversees the State Parks Division, announced plans to purchase the 12,000-plus-acre Ortiz Mountain Ranch, also known as the Ball Ranch. The property is south of Madrid. The $2.9 million for the purchase would come from Gov. Bill Richardson's discretionary portion of New Mexico's federal stimulus funds. The purchase would expand Cerrillos Hills State Park tenfold, although the ranch is not contiguous with the existing park. A portion of the ranch would be set aside for a wild horse sanctuary, according to Jim Noel, Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Cabinet secretary...more
The Roan Plateau goes to court
Negotiations have fizzled between an energy company that wants to drill on a treasured plateau in western Colorado and the environmental groups that sued to stop it. That means a federal judge will decide whether to halt energy exploration on the wildlife-rich Roan Plateau. When the Bureau of Land Management sold parcels there amid furious complaints from environmental groups in summer 2008, it netted $118 million -- the biggest energy sale in the lower 48 in BLM history. Federal Magistrate Judge Kristen Mix had ordered the negotiations before the case proceeded, but late last week the two sides reported they were deadlocked...more
National monument land swap draws protest
Hikers, bikers and horseback riders are protesting a planned 7,269-acre land swap between the federal government and a Palm Springs Indian tribe, saying the trade gives up an irreplaceable public gem and threatens access to popular trails within the Santa Rosa San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. Under the plan, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would exchange 9 square miles in the northern part of the monument for 2.3 square miles belonging to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The tribe would gain 5,799 acres of mostly inaccessible land, except for two key sections with trails, including part of the nationally ranked Skyline Trail, better known as Cactus-to-Clouds, a challenging hike from the Palm Springs Desert Museum to Mount San Jacinto Peak. Tribal members say the land, which contains ancient art and village sites, belonged to their ancestors and should have been part of their holdings all along. Though the tribe says it won't make changes, members of the Desert Trails Coalition are campaigning to block the exchange. They say it could result in restrictions on 11.6 miles of trails, including Thielman, Garstin, Araby and Wild Horse, that cross land the tribe will acquire...more
2 agencies crack down on smugglers
For the past seven weeks, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Bureau of Land Management rangers quietly carried out an anti-smuggling campaign in two national monuments that had become infested with drug runners and illegal immigrants. In an interview Monday, directors of the two agencies said they've added manpower, erected barriers and torn down smuggler-lookout posts in an effort to secure the notorious Vekol Valley near Casa Grande. im Kenna, Arizona director for the BLM, and Victor Manjarrez Jr., chief of the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said the two agencies established unprecedented cooperation in an effort to combat border-related crime in the Sonoran Desert National Monument south of Interstate 8 and the Ironwood Forest National Monument west of Tucson. They said the campaign, including saturation patrols and nighttime operations, was prompted by a series of violent events near Casa Grande during the past year. In one incident, a deputy was wounded in a shootout with smugglers; in another, two Mexican nationals were killed by suspected bandits...more
Drought-stricken Canadian ranchers forced to slaughter breeding cattle
The beef cattle herd in B.C. has been in steep decline over the past five years and ranchers are selling off breeding stock for slaughter, mainly due to persistent drought in the province's Interior and the North, according to the B.C. Cattlemen's Association. "The herd dropped by seven per cent between July 2009 and July 2010 ... and I would bet it has dropped another seven per cent since July," said B.C. Cattlemen's Association general manager Kevin Boon. "A lot of guys have been losing money since BSE [mad cow disease] and are selling in bigger numbers or their whole herd," Boon said. "We are getting down to about half what we had from our peak time." The association worries a shortage of breeding stock could leave the industry years from recovery once conditions improve...more
Song Of The Day #421
This morning Ranch Radio presents Eddy Arnold singing his big hit Bouquet of Roses.
Arnold's recordings are widely available, as you can see by going here.
Eddy Arnold - Bouquet Of Roses.mp3
Arnold's recordings are widely available, as you can see by going here.
Eddy Arnold - Bouquet Of Roses.mp3
Monday, October 25, 2010
A Gift to the Drug Cartels: Will New Mexico Become the Next Arizona?
Opposition to S. 1689, Senator Bingaman's wilderness bill, has gone national. One study and one commentary were released last week to a national audience. The Center for Immigration Studies issued A Gift to the Drug Cartels: Will New Mexico Become the Next Arizona? and a nationally ranked blog posted the lengthy report New Mexico Wilderness Bill – Another Disastrous Federal Land Grab.
Here is the CIS press release:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new Center for Immigration Studies Memorandum explores how seemingly innocuous legislation before the Senate could turn 25 miles of southeast New Mexico's Dona Ana County into a staging ground for drug cartels and illegal alien smugglers.
S. 1689, the "Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act," changes the currently designated "public use" of certain Department of Interior lands to a "wilderness" designation. The end result would be to severely curtail the Border Patrol's ability to operate due to the stringent nature of wilderness laws. New Mexico could suffer the same results as Arizona, as documented by the Center in its mini-documentary series (http://cis.org/HiddenCamerasSeries) showing the waste, destruction, and unsafe circumstances that borderlands suffer when wilderness laws (and poor federal government policy) create a law enforcement vacuum.
The new Center for Immigration Studies Memorandum, "A Gift to the Drug Cartels: Will New Mexico Become the Next Arizona?" (http://cis.org/new-mexico-cartel-gift), authored by Janice Kephart, Director of National Security Policy at the Center and producer of the "Hidden Cameras" mini-documentary series, leaves no doubt that bill's goal is to support legitimate environmental conservation. However, through an in-depth examination of current law and policy, Kephart concludes that the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act would leave the Border Patrol with little ability, and little incentive, to do its job. The measure would effectively hand drug cartels 25 more borderland miles for operations; an alternative would be to assure conservation with adequate law enforcement in the area, thus keeping the cartels under control while protecting our public safety and national security.
The measure, co-sponsored by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, and Tom Udall (D-NM), was passed out of Chairman Bingaman's committee in July 2010 and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.
The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent non-partisan research institution that examines the impact of immigration on the United States and neither endorses nor opposes legislation.
The CIS study has received wide media coverage, such as:
Will New Mexico Become the Next Arizona? newsmax.com
Expert says change to federal land designation in New Mexico ‘a gift to the drug cartels’ U.S. Report
It's even reached New York City, as witness this letter published at Congress.org:
Subject:
S. 1689, the "Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act,"
To:
Sen. Charles Schumer
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
October 21, 2010
Senator Gilibrand / Senator Schumer,
Please vote against "S. 1689, the "Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act," .
The measure would effectively hand drug cartels 25 more borderland miles for operations.
We already have large sections of our border with Mexico posted with signs that says "It's dangerous to travel in the area", we don't need additional areas of our country under FOREIGN CONTROL!
New York , NY
Gateway Pundit has been rated as one of the Top 100 blogs in the U.S. by Carnegie Mellon University and he has posted New Mexico Wilderness Bill – Another Disastrous Federal Land Grab. I'm pleased to report a fellow Las Crucen, Rachel Pulaski, played an important part in this national exposure.
Here are some excerpts:
The New Mexico Wilderness Bill, if enacted, will be disastrous for New Mexico and disastrous for America...
What does Federal Wilderness Designation mean? When land is designated as Federal Wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act, there are numerous prohibitions, such as:
* no permanent road within any Wilderness area
* no temporary road
* no use of motorized vehicles
* no motorized equipment of motorboats
* no landing of aircraft
* no form of mechanical transport
* no structure or installation
Of course these restrictions would not concern people that have no regard for U.S. laws. People like the drug cartels, drug smugglers, illegal aliens, human traffickers, etc. The DOI has submitted a 2002 report titled “Threat Assessment of Public Lands” that outlines the dangers that we face on a daily basis from illegal incursions on these lands. The report contains grim statistics. Video here...
Bingaman's bill is finally receiving the national attention and critique it deserves.
Here is the CIS press release:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new Center for Immigration Studies Memorandum explores how seemingly innocuous legislation before the Senate could turn 25 miles of southeast New Mexico's Dona Ana County into a staging ground for drug cartels and illegal alien smugglers.
S. 1689, the "Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act," changes the currently designated "public use" of certain Department of Interior lands to a "wilderness" designation. The end result would be to severely curtail the Border Patrol's ability to operate due to the stringent nature of wilderness laws. New Mexico could suffer the same results as Arizona, as documented by the Center in its mini-documentary series (http://cis.org/HiddenCamerasSeries) showing the waste, destruction, and unsafe circumstances that borderlands suffer when wilderness laws (and poor federal government policy) create a law enforcement vacuum.
The new Center for Immigration Studies Memorandum, "A Gift to the Drug Cartels: Will New Mexico Become the Next Arizona?" (http://cis.org/new-mexico-cartel-gift), authored by Janice Kephart, Director of National Security Policy at the Center and producer of the "Hidden Cameras" mini-documentary series, leaves no doubt that bill's goal is to support legitimate environmental conservation. However, through an in-depth examination of current law and policy, Kephart concludes that the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act would leave the Border Patrol with little ability, and little incentive, to do its job. The measure would effectively hand drug cartels 25 more borderland miles for operations; an alternative would be to assure conservation with adequate law enforcement in the area, thus keeping the cartels under control while protecting our public safety and national security.
The measure, co-sponsored by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, and Tom Udall (D-NM), was passed out of Chairman Bingaman's committee in July 2010 and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.
The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent non-partisan research institution that examines the impact of immigration on the United States and neither endorses nor opposes legislation.
The CIS study has received wide media coverage, such as:
Will New Mexico Become the Next Arizona? newsmax.com
Expert says change to federal land designation in New Mexico ‘a gift to the drug cartels’ U.S. Report
It's even reached New York City, as witness this letter published at Congress.org:
Subject:
S. 1689, the "Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act,"
To:
Sen. Charles Schumer
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand
October 21, 2010
Senator Gilibrand / Senator Schumer,
Please vote against "S. 1689, the "Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act," .
The measure would effectively hand drug cartels 25 more borderland miles for operations.
We already have large sections of our border with Mexico posted with signs that says "It's dangerous to travel in the area", we don't need additional areas of our country under FOREIGN CONTROL!
New York , NY
Gateway Pundit has been rated as one of the Top 100 blogs in the U.S. by Carnegie Mellon University and he has posted New Mexico Wilderness Bill – Another Disastrous Federal Land Grab. I'm pleased to report a fellow Las Crucen, Rachel Pulaski, played an important part in this national exposure.
Here are some excerpts:
The New Mexico Wilderness Bill, if enacted, will be disastrous for New Mexico and disastrous for America...
What does Federal Wilderness Designation mean? When land is designated as Federal Wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act, there are numerous prohibitions, such as:
* no permanent road within any Wilderness area
* no temporary road
* no use of motorized vehicles
* no motorized equipment of motorboats
* no landing of aircraft
* no form of mechanical transport
* no structure or installation
Of course these restrictions would not concern people that have no regard for U.S. laws. People like the drug cartels, drug smugglers, illegal aliens, human traffickers, etc. The DOI has submitted a 2002 report titled “Threat Assessment of Public Lands” that outlines the dangers that we face on a daily basis from illegal incursions on these lands. The report contains grim statistics. Video here...
Bingaman's bill is finally receiving the national attention and critique it deserves.
Mexico: 14 dead in massacre at Ciudad Juarez party
Gunmen stormed two neighboring homes and massacred 13 young people at a birthday party in the latest large-scale attack in this violent border city, even as a new government strategy seeks to restore order with social programs and massive police deployments. Attackers in two vehicles pulled up to the houses in a lower-middle-class Ciudad Juarez neighborhood late Friday and opened fire on about four dozen partygoers gathered for a 15-year-old boy's birthday party. The dead identified so far were 13 to 32 years old, including six women and girls, Chihuahua state Attorney General Carlos Salas told reporters at a news conference at the crime scene. The majority of the victims were high school students, a survivor said. Relatives of the victims gathered outside prosecutors' office, some weeping laments, some shouting demands for justice. All asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. "Why, my God, why," shouted the mother of Daniel Figueroa, 16, after she identified her son's body. "I want to be dead, with my daughter," the mother of a 19-year-old woman killed in the attack told a reporter. "This cannot go on. We want justice, even though nothing can bring her back." Salas said a total of 20 people were wounded, including a 9-year-old boy...more
Mexico’s ‘war next door’ linked directly to U.S. - Cartels established in 270 American cities
The Mexican trafficking organizations have also crossed deeply into the United States, peddling tons of marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine to American drug users, who reward the cartels with an estimated 19 to 39 billion dollars a year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Federal authorities say Mexican traffickers are now entrenched in at least 270 American cities, running sophisticated and disciplined networks that not only bring the drugs in, but also ship truckloads of cash back to Mexico. A distinguishing feature of the Mexican drug war is the unspeakable violence played out daily on the streets and posted in graphic detail by newspapers and media websites. Large-scale gun battles, mass executions, corpses strewn in public, beheadings, torture and grenade attacks have become commonplace. As of this writing, at least a dozen Mexican mayors have been killed in 2010 alone. A gubernatorial candidate was shot dead on a highway. After a Mexican marine was killed during a raid against a drug kingpin, gunmen massacred the young man's family after his funeral. "I think they make al-Qaida look tame in terms of what they do. I can't explain how someone loses their humanity and resorts to these things," said Anthony Coulson, a recently retired DEA supervisor. Coulson ran the DEA's Tucson District Office, overseeing 255 miles of border between the U.S. and Mexico. He argued that the violence, and the amounts of illicit drugs flowing from Mexico into the United States, has never been higher and that the traffickers have never been more powerful or in control of more territory than they are now...more
Mexico's narco-war claims victims North of the Border
Although some media outlets have portrayed the murder of an American citizen by a Mexican cartel organization as an unusual event, it is really quite common. In fact, 79 American citizens officially were reported murdered in Mexico in 2009, according to U.S. State Department figures, and the State Department notes that there were probably other cases that went unreported. For 2010, the State Department reports 48 American citizens have been murdered in Mexico through June 10. Research has uncovered at least another six reported deaths since June 10 (including David Hartley), so unofficially the number of American citizens reported murdered in Mexico is approximately 54 for the year to date. While many of the Americans murdered in Mexico are undoubtedly involved in some way with the drug trade, others have no apparent link. Two of the American citizens murdered in Mexico in 2010 were Lesley Enriquez, an employee of the U.S. consulate in Juarez, and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, a detention officer at the El Paso County Jail. Still, with more than 9,100 murders from cartel violence to date this year in Mexico, the 54 American murder victims comprise only a small percentage of the overall body count. Because of this, some of our contacts in the Mexican government are having a hard time understanding why the Hartley murder has elicited such an intense media reaction in the United States, which in turn resulted in diplomatic pressure on Mexican authorities from the U.S. government. At the same time Mexico is being pressured by the U.S. government about the death of one American citizen, it is also are trying to come to grips with the fact that the lead Mexican investigator in the case was kidnapped and beheaded. This turn of events provides a fairly good illustration of the security environment in Mexico today...more
Wife of Man Missing on Border Lake Wants Obama to Take On Mexican Cartels
Tiffany Hartley, the wife of David Hartley who was allegedly shot and killed by Mexican pirates on a border lake with Texas, is telling President Obama that it's time to take on drug cartels. "He should wake up and look what's going on in our backyards," she told the Denver Post. Hartley says her husband's death should be a focal point as to why the U.S. should take on these drug cartels. "David is not the only American who has been killed, but this situation may be a turning point," she told the paper...more
Citing Species Act, Judge Spares Prairie Dogs
A Kansas rancher’s long battle against the poisoning of this state’s biggest prairie dog colony is being hailed as a significant victory for wildlife conservation. Numbering about 25,000 prairie dogs in far western Kansas, the colony is a prime source of food for one of the most endangered mammals in the world, the black-footed ferret. Larry Haverfield, the 74-year-old rancher on whose land the colony thrives, went to court to stop commissioners in Logan County from exterminating the prairie dogs without his permission, despite a 1901 state law that allows them to do so. Last month, the judge hearing the case here sided with Mr. Haverfield and Gordon Barnhardt, who also owns some of the land. “It’s important because it says the Endangered Species Act trumps a 100-year-old state law that forces the extermination of prairie dogs,” said the men’s lawyer, Randy Rathbun...more
‘Algae’ and ‘Grasses’ May Be Used to Reach Mandated Biofuels Goals for 2022, Says Obama Administration
The Energy and Farm Bills, two examples of the DC Deep Thinkers saying they know more than you what fuel you should buy for your family or business.
The Energy bill was 827 pages...so the issue must be very complex.
I have a less complex solution. Use your gas-powered vehicle to get down to the voting booth and retire these DC Deep Thinkers. Let them "think" on their own dime.
Trew: Is this really progress?
Once upon a time, here in the Panhandle, groceries and other supplies were available only at Tascosa, Mobeetie, New Clarendon and Dodge City. This is a long way from our modern Quick Stops and Super Stores. Imagine making out your grocery list for enough staples to last six months or more at a time. Or, list the items needed on your chuck wagon to feed eight hungry, hard-working men on a cattle drive lasting for several months. Of course the fare was simple, mostly flour, salt, baking powder and dried pinto beans. Meat was butchered as needed whether at home on the frontier or on the trail. One of the most important facilities for a frontier home was a dirt-walled root cellar where almost anything could be stored in an effort to preserve food a little longer. When meat-packing companies developed home meat cures, everyone built a large wooden meat box to hold cured hams, shoulders, bacon sides and sausage after the fall hog killing. Another fall practice that worked well was hanging sides of fresh beef, wrapped in old bed sheets, in the windmill towers...more
Song Of The Day #420
date:Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 9:34 AM
subject:music?
For Heavens sake! Get some JB weld and bailing wire and fix that music gizmo. We have to have to some reason to go to your site.
Jimmy
Well, I can see why an Obama supporter like Bason would not go to The Westerner for it's content. At least he still has an appreciation for good music (although that's probably Patti Lu's doing).
It's Swingin' Monday on Ranch Radio and today we present Eric Lewis and Andy Ratliff performing Calicoon Rag. This tune is an example of "soft swing", which we are presenting today since Bason apparently doesn't care for anything that is true blue or hardcore.
You'll find this catchy tune on their 14 track CD Edgar's Blues.
Just click on the Play icon or the title of the song and a media player will pop up. If you don't like the media player following you around the blog, then just click on the arrow on the right side of the player and it will diminish.
Eric Lewis and Andy Ratliff - Calicoon Rag.mp3
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
Cowgirls don't cry
by Julie Carter
Little girls are not all born "cowgirl" tough. They also don't have to be a cowgirl to have the trait.
However, many of those lessons are taught in the dust of a corral or at the end of a day so long that her saddle becomes a torture chamber and the dark has overtaken everything.
Daughters and their daddies have a special relationship that is an unpredictable mixture of tenderness and toughness.
With a soft heart he will give in to her natural wiles that turn him to putty with the sound of her voice and the batting of her eyelashes.
With an iron-tough determination, he will go beyond the bounds of good sense to protect her, even when it means evoking her anger and forcing a daughterly pout directed at his resolve.
With a soft voice reserved only for her, he will tell her that life will let her down and like the falls she has taken from her saddle horse, it'll hurt, but only for a little while.
"Honey," he'll say, "cowgirls don't cry."
In his guidance, he'll tell her, "When you fall off, you get right back on and ride. Don't wait, don't think about. Just do it. And honey, cowgirls don't cry."
Those life lessons will always serve her well.
The taste of dirt in her mouth, the pain of a hard-ground landing and the sting of the tears as she fights them back are physical memories that translate to that "grown-up living" everybody talked about.
True to her training, she never let the world see her heart break; she was determined there would be no evidence of a "fall apart." In the recesses of her mind, those words echoed like down a long canyon, "Honey, cowgirls don't cry."
Life gives no quarter to those in boots and jeans. It batters and buffets, tosses and slams. Whether natural or man-made, the storms in life keep coming.
There have been times in my life when, in spite of that stainless-steel badge of courage I was handed as a very young girl, I cried.
I cried when my first horse, Ranger, died. I was 5 years old, he was 20-something and in a running fit of his last breaths of life, he raced the length of a meadow and then lay down as his heart stopped beating. I lost my first best friend that day.
I cried when my best buddy, our blue-eyed Australian shepherd, Sally, was no longer at my bedroom window every night to be let back into the house after my dad had put her out.
The loss surpassed all the usual teenage heartbreak brought by peers, boys and the drama of growing up.
I cried when my dad sat before me and told me that we were moving from the ranch I'd known as home all my life.
I was 16 and recall the moment still with a sharp pain in my heart and tears waiting to fall, not because of his words, but because it made him cry too.
Until that moment, I'd never seen my dad cry.
Through the years, there have been other occasions for tears. Happy tears and heart break tears.
Sometimes I let them fall, but more often, I did not. "Honey, cowgirls don't cry."
When my dad lay dying at the age of 50, cheated of the life he worked to create, I cried every tear I hadn't cried up until then.
It seemed as if they'd been stored for that moment when the pain of the loss far surpassed the indoctrination of "cowgirls don't cry."
And when it was over, so were the tears of that magnitude. I knew the lesson was not in the "not crying." It was in the determination to get back on and ride again.
I finally understood that he wasn't telling me not to cry, not really. He was telling me to not quit and not stop trying.
What he was really saying was, "Cowgirls never give up."
Julie can be reach for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
Little girls are not all born "cowgirl" tough. They also don't have to be a cowgirl to have the trait.
However, many of those lessons are taught in the dust of a corral or at the end of a day so long that her saddle becomes a torture chamber and the dark has overtaken everything.
Daughters and their daddies have a special relationship that is an unpredictable mixture of tenderness and toughness.
With a soft heart he will give in to her natural wiles that turn him to putty with the sound of her voice and the batting of her eyelashes.
With an iron-tough determination, he will go beyond the bounds of good sense to protect her, even when it means evoking her anger and forcing a daughterly pout directed at his resolve.
With a soft voice reserved only for her, he will tell her that life will let her down and like the falls she has taken from her saddle horse, it'll hurt, but only for a little while.
"Honey," he'll say, "cowgirls don't cry."
In his guidance, he'll tell her, "When you fall off, you get right back on and ride. Don't wait, don't think about. Just do it. And honey, cowgirls don't cry."
Those life lessons will always serve her well.
The taste of dirt in her mouth, the pain of a hard-ground landing and the sting of the tears as she fights them back are physical memories that translate to that "grown-up living" everybody talked about.
True to her training, she never let the world see her heart break; she was determined there would be no evidence of a "fall apart." In the recesses of her mind, those words echoed like down a long canyon, "Honey, cowgirls don't cry."
Life gives no quarter to those in boots and jeans. It batters and buffets, tosses and slams. Whether natural or man-made, the storms in life keep coming.
There have been times in my life when, in spite of that stainless-steel badge of courage I was handed as a very young girl, I cried.
I cried when my first horse, Ranger, died. I was 5 years old, he was 20-something and in a running fit of his last breaths of life, he raced the length of a meadow and then lay down as his heart stopped beating. I lost my first best friend that day.
I cried when my best buddy, our blue-eyed Australian shepherd, Sally, was no longer at my bedroom window every night to be let back into the house after my dad had put her out.
The loss surpassed all the usual teenage heartbreak brought by peers, boys and the drama of growing up.
I cried when my dad sat before me and told me that we were moving from the ranch I'd known as home all my life.
I was 16 and recall the moment still with a sharp pain in my heart and tears waiting to fall, not because of his words, but because it made him cry too.
Until that moment, I'd never seen my dad cry.
Through the years, there have been other occasions for tears. Happy tears and heart break tears.
Sometimes I let them fall, but more often, I did not. "Honey, cowgirls don't cry."
When my dad lay dying at the age of 50, cheated of the life he worked to create, I cried every tear I hadn't cried up until then.
It seemed as if they'd been stored for that moment when the pain of the loss far surpassed the indoctrination of "cowgirls don't cry."
And when it was over, so were the tears of that magnitude. I knew the lesson was not in the "not crying." It was in the determination to get back on and ride again.
I finally understood that he wasn't telling me not to cry, not really. He was telling me to not quit and not stop trying.
What he was really saying was, "Cowgirls never give up."
Julie can be reach for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
It's The Pitts: Dressed Beef
by Lee Pitts
Although I’ve never heard a single song by Lady Gaga I am a huge fan of hers after she wore a dress made out of meat at this year’s MTV’s Video Music Awards.
It wasn’t just Lady Gaga’s weird dress that was made from meat but her shoes and purse too. She even wore what appeared to be a deboned steak as a hat, which I thought was a little bit over the top, but that’s just me. Fashion critics were split on the dress, some calling it “elegant” and “fashion forward” while others saw it as an extension of the trend to show exposed female flesh. Certainly the combo of Gaga and her outfit dressed out and was fleshier than a yield grade four steer. PETA really had a cow over Lady Gaga’s meat dress, which made me like it even more.
If meat dresses catch on, just think, it will give all new meaning to the term “clothes horse.”
Lady Gaga must perspire terribly, either that or she spilled Worcestershire Sauce on her meat dress, or the dogs attacked it, because she wore three outfits on the MTV show. Mind you, I’ve never watched MTV in my life but I did see pictures of Miss Gaga in her meat outfit and I must say, it looked well done. Okay, so that’s a poor choice of words. Let’s just say it was rare.
But not as rare as you’d think.
Lady Gaga had previously worn a bikini made from meat and before that a Canadian artist, and I use the term loosely, named Jana Sterbak, made a meat dress she called a “Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorexic” way back in 1987. I’m told that Sterbak’s outfit is now rotting away in a Paris museum. I suppose it was either that or it was going to be made into fast food burgers, but I can’t even see Frenchmen ordering a Meat Dress Whopper or Big Mac with French flies.
The idea of “carcass as clothing” didn’t reemerge until 2006 when a Chinese artist, Zhang Huan, made a “muscle suit” from meat. Then some contestants in America’s Top Model wore meat in 2008 and any day now I expect to see Cher wearing lingerie on stage made from nothing but a rump roast. And even though I’d love to see Michael Jordan’s Beefy T’s made from ground round I must say that Lady Gaga’s dress didn’t look all that comfortable or practical. It looked like if she attempted to sit down in her juicy outfit she might rip a fat seam, tear a muscle or bruise her beef.
From looking at the photos I’d guess that Lady Gaga’s dress was no “off the rack” outfit. (Or, I guess it was, in one respect). The dress must have weighed 50 pounds and probably doubled Lady Gaga’s annual beef consumption in just one night. And I don’t suppose the dress could ever be used again. I mean, what’s she going to do, hang it in her closet and wear it to church or a nephew’s marriage?
The best part of the meat dress was that it appeared to be made from cheaper cuts of beef. Flank steak seemed to play a major role. As a result I can envision beef becoming a natural fiber just like wool, only it will be ready to wear, or grill. The Beef Board has been looking for ways to increase the value of the parts of the beef carcass that don’t bring as much money and clothing from beef would certainly do that. After Lady Gaga’s display I expect Hollywood actresses to soon be wearing $100,000 Versace gowns made of meat. Just think what that could do for beef prices! We could easily change our slogan to “Beef! It’s What To Wear to Dinner!”
One critic said Lady Gaga’s dress was “immature” but it looked to me to be well aged. In response to critics the singer said, “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones.” I say, Gaga for President... or at least our next beef spokesperson!
PETA says the idea of wearing parts from dead cows will never, ever catch on. But I’m not so sure. After all, people have been wearing leather shoes, belts, pants, purses and jackets for what, thousands of years now?
But it’s probably just a fad.
Although I’ve never heard a single song by Lady Gaga I am a huge fan of hers after she wore a dress made out of meat at this year’s MTV’s Video Music Awards.
It wasn’t just Lady Gaga’s weird dress that was made from meat but her shoes and purse too. She even wore what appeared to be a deboned steak as a hat, which I thought was a little bit over the top, but that’s just me. Fashion critics were split on the dress, some calling it “elegant” and “fashion forward” while others saw it as an extension of the trend to show exposed female flesh. Certainly the combo of Gaga and her outfit dressed out and was fleshier than a yield grade four steer. PETA really had a cow over Lady Gaga’s meat dress, which made me like it even more.
If meat dresses catch on, just think, it will give all new meaning to the term “clothes horse.”
Lady Gaga must perspire terribly, either that or she spilled Worcestershire Sauce on her meat dress, or the dogs attacked it, because she wore three outfits on the MTV show. Mind you, I’ve never watched MTV in my life but I did see pictures of Miss Gaga in her meat outfit and I must say, it looked well done. Okay, so that’s a poor choice of words. Let’s just say it was rare.
But not as rare as you’d think.
Lady Gaga had previously worn a bikini made from meat and before that a Canadian artist, and I use the term loosely, named Jana Sterbak, made a meat dress she called a “Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorexic” way back in 1987. I’m told that Sterbak’s outfit is now rotting away in a Paris museum. I suppose it was either that or it was going to be made into fast food burgers, but I can’t even see Frenchmen ordering a Meat Dress Whopper or Big Mac with French flies.
The idea of “carcass as clothing” didn’t reemerge until 2006 when a Chinese artist, Zhang Huan, made a “muscle suit” from meat. Then some contestants in America’s Top Model wore meat in 2008 and any day now I expect to see Cher wearing lingerie on stage made from nothing but a rump roast. And even though I’d love to see Michael Jordan’s Beefy T’s made from ground round I must say that Lady Gaga’s dress didn’t look all that comfortable or practical. It looked like if she attempted to sit down in her juicy outfit she might rip a fat seam, tear a muscle or bruise her beef.
From looking at the photos I’d guess that Lady Gaga’s dress was no “off the rack” outfit. (Or, I guess it was, in one respect). The dress must have weighed 50 pounds and probably doubled Lady Gaga’s annual beef consumption in just one night. And I don’t suppose the dress could ever be used again. I mean, what’s she going to do, hang it in her closet and wear it to church or a nephew’s marriage?
The best part of the meat dress was that it appeared to be made from cheaper cuts of beef. Flank steak seemed to play a major role. As a result I can envision beef becoming a natural fiber just like wool, only it will be ready to wear, or grill. The Beef Board has been looking for ways to increase the value of the parts of the beef carcass that don’t bring as much money and clothing from beef would certainly do that. After Lady Gaga’s display I expect Hollywood actresses to soon be wearing $100,000 Versace gowns made of meat. Just think what that could do for beef prices! We could easily change our slogan to “Beef! It’s What To Wear to Dinner!”
One critic said Lady Gaga’s dress was “immature” but it looked to me to be well aged. In response to critics the singer said, “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones.” I say, Gaga for President... or at least our next beef spokesperson!
PETA says the idea of wearing parts from dead cows will never, ever catch on. But I’m not so sure. After all, people have been wearing leather shoes, belts, pants, purses and jackets for what, thousands of years now?
But it’s probably just a fad.
PETA vs. CEI
PETA vs. CEI: A Surprisingly Amiable Exchange of Ideas
by Michelle Minton
Yesterday, the DCist reported that PETA planned a protest outside of the Capital Grille, a meat-centric restaurant here in the nation’s capital.
The point, according to the organization’s press release, is to convince folks that “meat is not green” by showing that the meat and dairy industries contribute to global warming because cows release methane gas into the atmosphere thereby compounding greenhouse gases.
Despite recently released reports that suggest cow-methane production is much less than previously estimated, and that not only cows, but also other animals, marshlands, and anything decomposing produces methane gases, the PETA folks decide to target meat-eaters. Why?
The reason PETA chose meat-eaters as their target is because they are an animal protection group-not a world protection group. The mission of their organization is to prevent animal killing, abuse, and exploitation. They simply latched onto the global warming angle as way to promote their agenda.
CEI staged a counter rally nearby and we were prepared for a shouting match, but to PETA’s credit, they were pretty accepting of our presence. Of course, they may have been a little shy to get in any altercation considering they only had three people and we had about seven folks. We had signs expressing the deliciousness of meat while they had a person dressed as a cow and pamphlets appealing to individuals to consider giving up meat.
While their arguments made it pretty clear that PETA is more concerned with animals than the welfare of humanity, their appeals to the individual to voluntarily change their behavior on an individual level are acceptable and fine way to try and “change the world” and as far as we could tell they weren’t petitioning governments to get involved and prevent the production of meat or consumption of energy as other environmentalists groups do.
Our counter rally, which was more of a pro-meat/pro-humanity rally, seemed to receive a much more enthusiastic reception from passers-by as we handed out Enjoy Capitalism stickers and free sticks of beef jerky.
In the end people love meat and the industrialized production and shipping of meat has substantially improved the quality of life and nutrition for people around the world. Sorry cows.
THE WESTERNER officially designates Michelle Minton as an "Honorary Cowgirl".
Here is the CEI video of the event, Go Meat!:
Medical Journal Bias on Guns
Medical journals have increasingly strayed into politics at the expense of scientific accuracy. For example, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has over the last few months published a number of extremely biased and poorly done studies on gun control, says economist John R. Lott, Jr.
One article makes the case for extending background checks to the private transfers of guns, arguing that "perhaps the principal reason for the well-documented failure of the Brady Act to lower rates of firearm-related homicide is that its requirements do not apply to private-party gun sales." But the authors make this argument without providing any evidence that these or any other background checks reduce crime.
* The only "evidence" that "screening works" comes from their claim that, in 2008, 1.5 percent of those having a Brady background check were denied from purchasing a gun.
* However, virtually all these cases represent so-called "false-positives."
* In 2006 and 2007 (the latest data years available), a tiny fraction -- just 2 percent of those 1.5 percent -- involved possible unlawful possession; just 0.2 percent of the 1.5 percent were viewed as prosecutable.
Gun shows are not an important source of guns for criminals, says Lott.
* Justice Department surveys of criminals indicate that fewer than 1 percent of such guns are obtained at a gun show.
* Instead, the vast majority of crime guns come from illegal purchases off the street, something exceedingly difficult to control.
A second piece describes the effects on crime from the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller Supreme Court decision in the following way: "Dire predictions have not yet been realized." This suggests that there is inevitable misfortune yet to come, but in fact D.C.'s murder rate fell by 23 percent in 2009 and continued falling sharply in 2010, several times faster than the drop in murder in the rest of the nation.
Source: John R. Lott, Jr., "Medical Journal Bias on Guns," National Review Online, October 18, 2010.
For text:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/250157/medical-journal-bias-guns-john-r-lott-jr
NCPA
One article makes the case for extending background checks to the private transfers of guns, arguing that "perhaps the principal reason for the well-documented failure of the Brady Act to lower rates of firearm-related homicide is that its requirements do not apply to private-party gun sales." But the authors make this argument without providing any evidence that these or any other background checks reduce crime.
* The only "evidence" that "screening works" comes from their claim that, in 2008, 1.5 percent of those having a Brady background check were denied from purchasing a gun.
* However, virtually all these cases represent so-called "false-positives."
* In 2006 and 2007 (the latest data years available), a tiny fraction -- just 2 percent of those 1.5 percent -- involved possible unlawful possession; just 0.2 percent of the 1.5 percent were viewed as prosecutable.
Gun shows are not an important source of guns for criminals, says Lott.
* Justice Department surveys of criminals indicate that fewer than 1 percent of such guns are obtained at a gun show.
* Instead, the vast majority of crime guns come from illegal purchases off the street, something exceedingly difficult to control.
A second piece describes the effects on crime from the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller Supreme Court decision in the following way: "Dire predictions have not yet been realized." This suggests that there is inevitable misfortune yet to come, but in fact D.C.'s murder rate fell by 23 percent in 2009 and continued falling sharply in 2010, several times faster than the drop in murder in the rest of the nation.
Source: John R. Lott, Jr., "Medical Journal Bias on Guns," National Review Online, October 18, 2010.
For text:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/250157/medical-journal-bias-guns-john-r-lott-jr
NCPA
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