Showing posts with label human rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label human rights. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Obama vs. Arizona
It's a sorry thing when the federal government sues a state - taxpayers lose no matter who wins. You can bet that this lawsuit will cost millions. Feds are pretty free with taxpayer money in these times of economic crisis.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
AZ immigration law
Copyright © 2010 C. R. Edmunds
www.onestillfree.com
AZ signs the toughest immigration law ever and people – not from AZ mostly – protest. This is so typical of the way things work in the US these days. People think “democracy” means we all have to be the same and that The Many have the right to determine how an individual lives (nods to Mr. Spock).
Democracy just ain’t so. We have a constitution that sets rules that are just as much about protecting individuals from government (that means The Many) as anything. Not that anyone in government pays attention to the Constitution any more.
Anyway, this AZ immigration thing is a good example of how democracy has gone sour. The people who protest strong state laws for immigration or other issues (Mexican wolf, anyone?) generally have no idea of what the local conditions are that prompt local laws.
We may all be equal under the law, but life doesn’t work that way. In AZ the problems that legal citizens experience because of illegals are monumental and little like what any of those who protest can imagine.
Here’s a description from a friend of mine who lives in what has become the middle of an invasion zone:
So what I want to know is, those folks who protest AZ’s stronger immigration laws: Why is it more important to protect an illegal than a citizen? And also – can you really sleep peacefully at night?
www.onestillfree.com
AZ signs the toughest immigration law ever and people – not from AZ mostly – protest. This is so typical of the way things work in the US these days. People think “democracy” means we all have to be the same and that The Many have the right to determine how an individual lives (nods to Mr. Spock).
Democracy just ain’t so. We have a constitution that sets rules that are just as much about protecting individuals from government (that means The Many) as anything. Not that anyone in government pays attention to the Constitution any more.
Anyway, this AZ immigration thing is a good example of how democracy has gone sour. The people who protest strong state laws for immigration or other issues (Mexican wolf, anyone?) generally have no idea of what the local conditions are that prompt local laws.
We may all be equal under the law, but life doesn’t work that way. In AZ the problems that legal citizens experience because of illegals are monumental and little like what any of those who protest can imagine.
Here’s a description from a friend of mine who lives in what has become the middle of an invasion zone:
“We are about 40 minutes away from the Kranz family [Kranz and his dog were murdered by illegals] as the crow flies but longer to drive. I know the family through horse deals. We have been hearing lately about how all the unattended vacation and local homes are being broken into, how the locals are putting bars on all the windows and doors and they have been telling us that the illegal problems have escalated hugely in just the last year. People beaten and tied up and robbed, etc...Folks are moving out if they can afford to. What used to be remote and beautiful and quiet is not so tranquil now. People are afraid to leave, and afraid to stay! We are looking to move, too, and we’re looking far away from here.
“Sure Kranz murder is in the news now, but no one really cares. We have had this type of activity here for years, and more you do not know about, and no one north seems to give a shit. The Minute Men were fantastic, but like other good things citizen-organized they were vilified and put down by the press. We had two years of feeling like someone cared and was out there to help us, and they did. Their leader was a good friend of mine from Tombstone and he caught hundreds of illegals just on my roads alone.
“Housewives and mothers are beaten and robbed at bus stops for their cars, kids are in great danger, we have lost half a dozen women and children to the drug trade out of Tombstone (meth) and I mean these people just disappear, period, never seen again. But because they are poor or disadvantaged they are forgotten. A good friend of mine who is a business owner in Sierra Vista had a daughter my age that was living in Sunsites, she was seen buying dog food at the feed store and completely disappeared right afterwards, never made it home, her car was found in Klondyke of all places, with her purse and money in it and no clue as to where she went. Heartbreaking.”
“A Marine taught me that we do not get to choose when and where we are attacked, but to survive we must be ready. I am always, ALWAYS armed with a .45. I live with my guns. I never go out to the shop the barn the greenhouse the garden, out to the fence line, to check my gates without my guns and a cell phone. There is no relaxing.
“Last year I was driving home from Bisbee at 12:00 noon towards the San Pedro and slowed down for a 90 degree curve and three guys dressed in solid black jumped out of the bushes and tried to stop me by standing in the road. They had black hair and very coppery colored skin. I just gunned it and aimed for the closest one and they jumped out of the way. I was told by a rancher friend that they were FEDERALES from Mexico. This was five miles from the border line. Was I mad, hell yes! This is NOT AMERICA, it is MEXICO now. Safety is an illusion perpetuated by the government. These criminals are running amok doing what they please.
“I am definitely moving as soon as we can. But many cannot. Like us they have spent years paying off their ranches and now they are stuck here. Illegals leave mountains of trash, burn our forests, scare people out of the woods all the time here, have caused horrible traffic accidents killing innocent people every year speeding north, and it still goes on. Yet the current president kissed Mexico's ass last time they met. It's ridiculous!”
So what I want to know is, those folks who protest AZ’s stronger immigration laws: Why is it more important to protect an illegal than a citizen? And also – can you really sleep peacefully at night?
Friday, April 23, 2010
Mexican wolf lawsuit notice
AMERICANS FOR PRESERVATION OF WESTERN ENVIRONMENT
PO BOX 566
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chairman
Contact: Ed Wehrheim, Chairman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone 575.533.6687
Email: apwe01@gmail.com
ALLIANCE THREATENS TO SUE 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.”
# # #
PO BOX 566
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chairman
Contact: Ed Wehrheim, Chairman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone 575.533.6687
Email: apwe01@gmail.com
ALLIANCE THREATENS TO SUE 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.”
# # #
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Rocky Mtn Elk Foundation Turns Up Heat on Pro-Wolf Groups
Pro-wolf groups were admittedly “surprised and disappointed” when the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation publicly challenged their mischaracterizations of the real impacts of wolves in the northern Rockies and are feeling even more heat today. Their recent call for a truce has been met with a scathing letter from RMEF President and CEO David Allen, who says Defenders of Wildlife, Western Wildlife Conservancy and others are party to what may become “one of the worst wildlife management disasters since the destruction of bison herds in the 19th Century.”
Allen said, “These animal rights groups seem to think that every individual wolf is worth filing another lawsuit to protect, but the decimation of local elk herds is unimportant. What is truly ironic is these folks claim protection of the Canadian gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act. However these wolves are not endangered. There are thousands of them throughout North America. The ESA is being manipulated far beyond its intended purpose.” One can find the text of both letters here:
Letter from Defenders of Wildlife to RMEF
Letter from RMEF to Defenders of Wildlife
Factual examples cited in Allen’s recent letter:
“Pro-wolf groups like to cite statewide elk numbers because it glosses over the ongoing annihilation of local elk herds,” said Allen. “They like to say that elk and wolves evolved together and would coexist now if man would just leave them alone, which completely ignores the fact that this is no longer the Old West and millions of us live here now. Habitat is shrinking at a rapid pace and the wildlife that lives here must be carefully managed. Man must manage wildlife and we have done so very successfully for over a century. We’re long past the day when wolf populations can be left unchecked. Right now this is simply a wolf amnesty program and the results are becoming alarming.”
“Managing wildlife in the courts, as opposed to science and the proven expertise of state conservation agencies, is a recipe for continued disaster,” stated Allen “These groups do not want states to manage the wolves as they manage other wildlife including predators. Why? It is curious that Defenders of Wildlife and others now boast about the statewide elk management numbers, which are managed by the states; but they do not trust those same states to manage wolves. Again, one should ask why?”
In late February, Allen sent letters to legislators and newspapers across the West calling out Defenders of Wildlife, Western Wildlife Conservancy and others for misleading the public through disingenuous use of current data on wolves and elk. In late March, group representatives accused RMEF of polarizing sportsmen on the wolf issue, and, ironically, to ask for collaboration rather than conflict.
In his letter Allen challenged Defenders of Wildlife and the others to meet face to face. “ I invite you to come to my office and let’s personally resolve this issue for the sake of those responsible hunters and those responsible non-hunters. Enough of the legal maneuvering and posturing, let’s resolve this now,” Allen said in his letter.
“We will collaborate with those who believe in sound wildlife management, not promoting one species over others for what we believe are hidden agendas. There is no one proposing annihilation of the wolves, yet Defenders and others like to act as if such a threat exists. It helps their fundraising efforts but does little to solve the issue. Constantly moving the goal line and ignoring the future consequences are just two reasons we do not collaborate with such groups,” Allen added.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is located at 5705 Grant Creek Rd, Missoula, MT 59808.
Allen said, “These animal rights groups seem to think that every individual wolf is worth filing another lawsuit to protect, but the decimation of local elk herds is unimportant. What is truly ironic is these folks claim protection of the Canadian gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act. However these wolves are not endangered. There are thousands of them throughout North America. The ESA is being manipulated far beyond its intended purpose.” One can find the text of both letters here:
Letter from Defenders of Wildlife to RMEF
Letter from RMEF to Defenders of Wildlife
Factual examples cited in Allen’s recent letter:
- The Northern Yellowstone elk herd trend count has dropped from some 19,000 elk in 1995 before the introduction of the Canadian Gray wolf to just over 6,000 elk in 2008. At the same time the wolf numbers in this same area are on a steady increase.
- Yellowstone’s Madison Firehole elk herd trend count has fallen from 700 to 108.
- The Gallatin Canyon elk herd trend count between Bozeman and Big Sky, Mont., has declined from 1,048 to 338.
- Wolf numbers in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have far exceeded the original goals of 30 breeding pairs and 300 total wolves. Population estimates now exceed 1,700 wolves. And yet and others want to push the total up to 2,000 to 5,000 wolves.
- Studies show that wolves kill up to 23 elk per wolf from November through April alone or up to 40,000 elk in just six months. A smaller but still significant number are killed from May through October; with total annual elk kills by wolves just for food potentially greater than 50,000 at the present level of wolf population. This accounts for only the elk needed for food, not surplus killing, which are elk killed by wolves and not eaten, which also occurs. The majority of all these kills are not elk that are sick or old.
- Elk calf survival rates where wolves (and bears) are present are extremely low in specific herds, resulting in a survival rate of 10 percent or less—too low to sustain the herd over the long-term. RMEF points out this is a major issue as elk numbers going into the future, where wolves are concentrated, will suffer even greater losses and replacement becomes out of balance.
“Pro-wolf groups like to cite statewide elk numbers because it glosses over the ongoing annihilation of local elk herds,” said Allen. “They like to say that elk and wolves evolved together and would coexist now if man would just leave them alone, which completely ignores the fact that this is no longer the Old West and millions of us live here now. Habitat is shrinking at a rapid pace and the wildlife that lives here must be carefully managed. Man must manage wildlife and we have done so very successfully for over a century. We’re long past the day when wolf populations can be left unchecked. Right now this is simply a wolf amnesty program and the results are becoming alarming.”
“Managing wildlife in the courts, as opposed to science and the proven expertise of state conservation agencies, is a recipe for continued disaster,” stated Allen “These groups do not want states to manage the wolves as they manage other wildlife including predators. Why? It is curious that Defenders of Wildlife and others now boast about the statewide elk management numbers, which are managed by the states; but they do not trust those same states to manage wolves. Again, one should ask why?”
In late February, Allen sent letters to legislators and newspapers across the West calling out Defenders of Wildlife, Western Wildlife Conservancy and others for misleading the public through disingenuous use of current data on wolves and elk. In late March, group representatives accused RMEF of polarizing sportsmen on the wolf issue, and, ironically, to ask for collaboration rather than conflict.
In his letter Allen challenged Defenders of Wildlife and the others to meet face to face. “ I invite you to come to my office and let’s personally resolve this issue for the sake of those responsible hunters and those responsible non-hunters. Enough of the legal maneuvering and posturing, let’s resolve this now,” Allen said in his letter.
“We will collaborate with those who believe in sound wildlife management, not promoting one species over others for what we believe are hidden agendas. There is no one proposing annihilation of the wolves, yet Defenders and others like to act as if such a threat exists. It helps their fundraising efforts but does little to solve the issue. Constantly moving the goal line and ignoring the future consequences are just two reasons we do not collaborate with such groups,” Allen added.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is located at 5705 Grant Creek Rd, Missoula, MT 59808.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Facts vs Advocacy
Check out the article at Western Institute for Study of the Environment for some facts on a recent editorial in an AZ newspaper on the Mexican wolf, as opposed to the rabid advocacy of the pro-wolf folks.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
2nd Annual Cowboy Dinner and Dance
2nd annual Cowboy Dinner/Dance Feb 20, Cliff NM http://catroncounty.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Obama Lies About Pandemic?
Obama says 1000 have died from H1N1 flu but CDC data shows no such thing – the CDC hasn’t been testing for H1N1 deaths since last July, probably because the majority of specimens tested are not only not H1N1, but not even flu!
Massive PR campaign by Obama to what end? To justify the massive spending on vaccines (to support Big Pharma) or to set up one more control of the population through fear?
I’m betting both.
Evaluate for yourself: http://articles.mercola.com/swine-flu-article/20091027.htm If you've been told you have H1N1 after August 1, since there's been no actual testing for it, your doctor *cannot know* but is only assuming the diagnosis.
Listen to the audio at the Mercola website - they read actual quotes from CDC!
Massive PR campaign by Obama to what end? To justify the massive spending on vaccines (to support Big Pharma) or to set up one more control of the population through fear?
I’m betting both.
Evaluate for yourself: http://articles.mercola.com/swine-flu-article/20091027.htm If you've been told you have H1N1 after August 1, since there's been no actual testing for it, your doctor *cannot know* but is only assuming the diagnosis.
Listen to the audio at the Mercola website - they read actual quotes from CDC!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
APWE CHALLENGES MEXICAN WOLF PETITION
AMERICANS FOR PRESERVATION OF WESTERN ENVIRONMENT, INC.
PO BOX 612
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chair
Contact: Ed Wehrheim FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone 575.533.6687
Email: info@amprowest.org
APWE CHALLENGES MEXICAN WOLF PETITION
Group Asks Is Mexican Wolf Really Worth The Cost
RESERVE, N.M. On August 11, 2009, the Tucson-based environmental litigation group, Center For Biological Diversity (CBD), filed a petition with Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
“The petition calls for taking the Mexican wolf off of its current experimental, non-essential” status and putting it on fully endangered status,” said Ed Wehrheim, Chair of Americans for Preservation of Western Environment (APWE), a citizen-based New Mexico non-profit corporation. APWE was formed in 2008 in response to the outrage of New Mexico and Arizona residents and business owners over the callous disregard for the welfare and safety of human beings by the Mexican Wolf Program.
“CBD also wants a critical habitat designation for the wolves,” Wehrheim said. “This means expansion of the existing designated Mexican wolf area, closure of our trails and roads, denying human access, and hunting and grazing restrictions. In other words, our public lands will be closed to the public. ”
The 22 page petition (with additional 10 pages of citations) claims that the Mexican wolf’s historic range is not precisely known, and that wolves can live anywhere that hosts an adequate prey base of ungulates, yet also claims that these wolves occur in an unusual and unique ecological setting.
“The only unusual and unique setting for the Mexican wolves is that this is a low human population area, so CBD figures that the people don’t matter,” Wehrheim said. “Americans for Preservation of Western Environment intends to set CBD straight on that issue.”
APWE’s first annual meeting is being held in Reserve, NM on Saturday, October 10, 2009, at 10 a.m. at the Reserve Community Center. APWE’s board will present an accounting of its work on behalf of the people who live in the Mexican wolf recovery area over the past year, and talk about plans for future actions. Everyone is welcome to attend.
“It’s not as if humans weren’t here, as if humans don’t matter,” Wehrheim said. “We’re citizens, we have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, just like anyone else. We don’t intend to be run over by environmental litigation groups like CBD.”
"After ten years, more than $400,000 per wolf and untold damage to our communities, they’re trying to blame their own failure with the Mexican wolf program on us, the people who live here in the program area," Wehrheim said.
# # #
PO BOX 612
RESERVE NM 87830
Ed Wehrheim, Chair
Contact: Ed Wehrheim FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone 575.533.6687
Email: info@amprowest.org
APWE CHALLENGES MEXICAN WOLF PETITION
Group Asks Is Mexican Wolf Really Worth The Cost
RESERVE, N.M. On August 11, 2009, the Tucson-based environmental litigation group, Center For Biological Diversity (CBD), filed a petition with Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
“The petition calls for taking the Mexican wolf off of its current experimental, non-essential” status and putting it on fully endangered status,” said Ed Wehrheim, Chair of Americans for Preservation of Western Environment (APWE), a citizen-based New Mexico non-profit corporation. APWE was formed in 2008 in response to the outrage of New Mexico and Arizona residents and business owners over the callous disregard for the welfare and safety of human beings by the Mexican Wolf Program.
“CBD also wants a critical habitat designation for the wolves,” Wehrheim said. “This means expansion of the existing designated Mexican wolf area, closure of our trails and roads, denying human access, and hunting and grazing restrictions. In other words, our public lands will be closed to the public. ”
The 22 page petition (with additional 10 pages of citations) claims that the Mexican wolf’s historic range is not precisely known, and that wolves can live anywhere that hosts an adequate prey base of ungulates, yet also claims that these wolves occur in an unusual and unique ecological setting.
“The only unusual and unique setting for the Mexican wolves is that this is a low human population area, so CBD figures that the people don’t matter,” Wehrheim said. “Americans for Preservation of Western Environment intends to set CBD straight on that issue.”
APWE’s first annual meeting is being held in Reserve, NM on Saturday, October 10, 2009, at 10 a.m. at the Reserve Community Center. APWE’s board will present an accounting of its work on behalf of the people who live in the Mexican wolf recovery area over the past year, and talk about plans for future actions. Everyone is welcome to attend.
“It’s not as if humans weren’t here, as if humans don’t matter,” Wehrheim said. “We’re citizens, we have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, just like anyone else. We don’t intend to be run over by environmental litigation groups like CBD.”
"After ten years, more than $400,000 per wolf and untold damage to our communities, they’re trying to blame their own failure with the Mexican wolf program on us, the people who live here in the program area," Wehrheim said.
# # #
Thursday, October 1, 2009
What's Truth Got To Do With It?
Defenders of Wildlife is using pity for three legged wolves to raise funds. They say in a "news" release: "Will you help us protect the Middle Fork wolves? Your tax-deductible donation today will help us."
Pay attention here folks! DoW is saying your deduction will help THEM, not the wolves. Those three legged wolves of the Middle Fork pack (that are not too lame to stop killing cattle)? One lost her leg because Fish & Wildlife Service amputated it after an elk kicked the wolf. The other probably was a FWS trapping, too. In fact, FWS has damaged a number of wolves in traps - and I bet you thought they used "have-a-hearts" when they trapped those wolves. Nope. Jaw traps. Your government in action.
Don't forget: The wolf program traps wolves routinely for all kinds of reasons - they just won't let the poor critters alone. They trap to vaccinate them, to change the batteries on their collars, and they trap them when they want to catch up the pups to raise them in captivity.
DoW would have you think that wolves need protecting from mean ranchers who hurt and trap them. But really, wolves need protection from the wolf program more than anything else.
And the public needs protecting from organizations like DoW, that take your money by appealing to your heartstrings. Not to be confused with presenting the facts.
Pay attention here folks! DoW is saying your deduction will help THEM, not the wolves. Those three legged wolves of the Middle Fork pack (that are not too lame to stop killing cattle)? One lost her leg because Fish & Wildlife Service amputated it after an elk kicked the wolf. The other probably was a FWS trapping, too. In fact, FWS has damaged a number of wolves in traps - and I bet you thought they used "have-a-hearts" when they trapped those wolves. Nope. Jaw traps. Your government in action.
Don't forget: The wolf program traps wolves routinely for all kinds of reasons - they just won't let the poor critters alone. They trap to vaccinate them, to change the batteries on their collars, and they trap them when they want to catch up the pups to raise them in captivity.
DoW would have you think that wolves need protecting from mean ranchers who hurt and trap them. But really, wolves need protection from the wolf program more than anything else.
And the public needs protecting from organizations like DoW, that take your money by appealing to your heartstrings. Not to be confused with presenting the facts.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Here's something to think about
"The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money."
-- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 – 1859)
Gee - isn't this what we're seeing right now?
-- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 – 1859)
Gee - isn't this what we're seeing right now?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Who’s The Terrorist?
copyright (c) 2009 CR Edmunds
www.onestillfree.com
Also published in Glenwood Gazette Sept. 2009 (Gale Moore, pub., Silver City NM)
The other day I got thinking about terrorism. So much of our lives these days are dictated by the fight against terrorism. We’ve all come to accept the invasive tactics of the US Government everywhere around us in the name of security. We even have a branch of government, Homeland Security, that has in a short time secreted its tentacles into everything in order to keep us safe from terrorists. We have to accept wands and pat-downs and X-rays of our person and our belongings in airports and public buildings, we have travel restrictions and passports to visit neighboring friendly ally countries, phone taps, email taps, credit checks, security cameras on street corners, photo-traffic citations on and on, all in the name of public safety.
Of course, doesn’t this all assume terrorism is something external to the US, that it comes from bad guys from other countries who want to render the US helpless?
I got thinking about how a bunch of bad guys that were really organized and very well financed could most effectively pull the US or any country down. (I want to point out to Homeland Security that I read a lot of fiction and much of what I’m writing here is already in print don’t come busting my doors down while telling me free speech doesn’t count because of the Patriot Act). Anyway, it has become clear to me that, logically, terrorism really would be just a first step. A kind of softening up a country for the real blows that will bring it down. The KO, if you will.
What would weaken a country more than flying planes into landmark buildings? Homeland Security and/or the media would have us believe that it would be nuking a big city. But really, would that take down the US? Were a resilient bunch of citizens I think that wiping out LA (for instance) would just make us all really, really mad once we got over being really, really sad (think of how sad and mad - wed be at losing our Famous Faces in such an attack).
No, I think what would really work to weaken a country would be to literally weaken its people. And it seems to me that the traditional ways of weakening a people would be just as effective now as they have been throughout history: Starvation and disease and isolation.
Here’s the thing: People who eat well are healthy and they don’t get sick as easily. So, if you think about it, wouldn’t the smartest thing be, if you were terrorists and wanted to take down the US, to destroy the food supply, thereby make people dependent on bad food so they’ll get sick more easily?
My thinking goes like this: The US agricultural base is being destroyed by factory farming and by more and more restrictions on small farming (NAIS, anyone?). Our forests, the biomass from the thinning of which could probably replace the use of petroleum for transportation fuel in 10 years, are being burned up because of more and more restrictions on hazardous fuels reduction projects and a push to expand wilderness and create roadless areas on public lands.
Where are our environmental groups in this picture? Are they supporting local production of healthy foods, which is so much less destructive to Mother Earth than factory farming? No, they work hard to destroy small farmers and ranchers. Are they supporting forest restoration that would result in reduced carbon pollution of our atmosphere by reduction of forest fires? No, they work hard to suppress the cutting of any trees at all. Are they supporting use of biomass to create an alternative to petroleum based transportation fuels? No, they fight efforts to develop sustainable, renewable energy.
What do environmental groups do to make our planet a healthier place, where humans and all species can thrive?
Well, actually, when you add up what they are doing, the answer to that question is: Nothing. In fact, when you look at the big picture of environmental efforts by the Big Name Environmental Groups (whose board members are mostly attorneys, not scientists), what that picture really looks like is a series of well-coordinated actions that are aimed to weaken the citizens of this country through starvation, disease and isolation.
Its so plausible: Destroy the family farms and ranches in the name of endangered species. Further destroy local production of healthy foods in the name of pure water. Destroy the possibility of alternative energy sources by attacking wind farms and use of biomass from forests. Destroy the forests themselves by not allowing restoration work, thereby encouraging massive wildfires only one of which can in a few days or weeks dump as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as one big city does in a year. (Ironically, the supposedly endangered species' habitats are destroyed as well by wildfire). And when things go down the tubes on our planet because of the success of the above actions, blame it on small farmers and ranchers and you and me, average Joe and Jane US citizen, and file even more lawsuits in the name of environmentalism, because, don’t you know, they’ve got to save the planet.
And then… TKO?
www.onestillfree.com
Also published in Glenwood Gazette Sept. 2009 (Gale Moore, pub., Silver City NM)
The other day I got thinking about terrorism. So much of our lives these days are dictated by the fight against terrorism. We’ve all come to accept the invasive tactics of the US Government everywhere around us in the name of security. We even have a branch of government, Homeland Security, that has in a short time secreted its tentacles into everything in order to keep us safe from terrorists. We have to accept wands and pat-downs and X-rays of our person and our belongings in airports and public buildings, we have travel restrictions and passports to visit neighboring friendly ally countries, phone taps, email taps, credit checks, security cameras on street corners, photo-traffic citations on and on, all in the name of public safety.
Of course, doesn’t this all assume terrorism is something external to the US, that it comes from bad guys from other countries who want to render the US helpless?
I got thinking about how a bunch of bad guys that were really organized and very well financed could most effectively pull the US or any country down. (I want to point out to Homeland Security that I read a lot of fiction and much of what I’m writing here is already in print don’t come busting my doors down while telling me free speech doesn’t count because of the Patriot Act). Anyway, it has become clear to me that, logically, terrorism really would be just a first step. A kind of softening up a country for the real blows that will bring it down. The KO, if you will.
What would weaken a country more than flying planes into landmark buildings? Homeland Security and/or the media would have us believe that it would be nuking a big city. But really, would that take down the US? Were a resilient bunch of citizens I think that wiping out LA (for instance) would just make us all really, really mad once we got over being really, really sad (think of how sad and mad - wed be at losing our Famous Faces in such an attack).
No, I think what would really work to weaken a country would be to literally weaken its people. And it seems to me that the traditional ways of weakening a people would be just as effective now as they have been throughout history: Starvation and disease and isolation.
Here’s the thing: People who eat well are healthy and they don’t get sick as easily. So, if you think about it, wouldn’t the smartest thing be, if you were terrorists and wanted to take down the US, to destroy the food supply, thereby make people dependent on bad food so they’ll get sick more easily?
My thinking goes like this: The US agricultural base is being destroyed by factory farming and by more and more restrictions on small farming (NAIS, anyone?). Our forests, the biomass from the thinning of which could probably replace the use of petroleum for transportation fuel in 10 years, are being burned up because of more and more restrictions on hazardous fuels reduction projects and a push to expand wilderness and create roadless areas on public lands.
Where are our environmental groups in this picture? Are they supporting local production of healthy foods, which is so much less destructive to Mother Earth than factory farming? No, they work hard to destroy small farmers and ranchers. Are they supporting forest restoration that would result in reduced carbon pollution of our atmosphere by reduction of forest fires? No, they work hard to suppress the cutting of any trees at all. Are they supporting use of biomass to create an alternative to petroleum based transportation fuels? No, they fight efforts to develop sustainable, renewable energy.
What do environmental groups do to make our planet a healthier place, where humans and all species can thrive?
Well, actually, when you add up what they are doing, the answer to that question is: Nothing. In fact, when you look at the big picture of environmental efforts by the Big Name Environmental Groups (whose board members are mostly attorneys, not scientists), what that picture really looks like is a series of well-coordinated actions that are aimed to weaken the citizens of this country through starvation, disease and isolation.
Its so plausible: Destroy the family farms and ranches in the name of endangered species. Further destroy local production of healthy foods in the name of pure water. Destroy the possibility of alternative energy sources by attacking wind farms and use of biomass from forests. Destroy the forests themselves by not allowing restoration work, thereby encouraging massive wildfires only one of which can in a few days or weeks dump as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as one big city does in a year. (Ironically, the supposedly endangered species' habitats are destroyed as well by wildfire). And when things go down the tubes on our planet because of the success of the above actions, blame it on small farmers and ranchers and you and me, average Joe and Jane US citizen, and file even more lawsuits in the name of environmentalism, because, don’t you know, they’ve got to save the planet.
And then… TKO?
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Lawsuits Are Not Environmentalism
The truth about Center for Biological Diversity
Copyright © 2009 CR Edmunds
When the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) asks for donations, most people likely think they’re contributing to projects that will improve the environment. But it just ain’t so. CBD has become a money-making litigation machine. They aren’t out there with shovels and seeds, working on the environment, they’re paying lawyers, sneaking onto private property to spy on conditions and – if they don’t find the conditions sufficiently bad to claim the property owner is ruining the environment- they’re publishing phony photos of "environmental devastation". No actual environmental work going on that CBD is doing - just about everything they do these days is rather to support litigation.
Yeah, it may seem like CBD’s litigation is for the good of endangered plants and animals, but when you start looking at the results of what they do you start noticing the real cost to humans and environment alike. This is because CBD activities, particularly litigation, are not environment-driven, but rather CBD agenda-driven. They’re not shy about their plans to evict private property owners from their own land, to create Gardens of Eden in their Sky Islands. No matter that some of the species in the areas being touted as endangered aren’t endangered (or never even lived in the place – look at the weird Mexican wolf situation). No matter that so much of the litigation results in grinding the US Constitution into the dirt. When they win note that someone else always has to bear the burden of environmentalism – never CBD. No, CBD lawyers and CBD personnel are all living nice, safe, well-funded lives, while the rest of us pay and pay and pay – either by losing property, losing our rights, or by being scammed for the donations CBD says it needs to “protect the environment”. All that money, effort, suffering by property owners – and none of it for actual environmental work, just lawsuits. Paperwork, that’s all it is – but it’s not solving problems, it’s causing more.
Humans are a legitimate species on this planet, too – a fact that CBD and other radical, terrorist environmental groups ignore. None of their projects, their agendas or their litigation truly take into account the human right to live and thrive on this planet.
God created the Garden of Eden to have people in it. It was Satan who caused people to have to leave that Garden. Kinda makes you think about CBD, doesn’t it?
---
Here’s a list of articles about recent litigation by CBD. I might add to it over time – I can only look at this information for so long before it makes me sick. Not that the critters involved don’t need protecting, but CBD is doing nothing for them, only filing lawsuits. Lawsuits are not environmentalism!
Loggerhead turtles lawsuit with Oceana Inc. and Turtle Island Restoration Environmental Law360 - http://environmental.law360.com/
Two ocean species of turtles lawsuit with Oceana and the Turtle Island Restoration Network Twilight Earth - http://www.twilightearth.com/
Ocean acidification impacts lawsuit Switchboard, from NRDC - http://switchboard.nrdc.org/
Desert Lizard lawsuit http://www.yumasun.com/news/lizard-50356-habitat-yuma.html
Global warming impacts lawsuit against six (6) federal agencies. Global warming is a THEORY, people! http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/global-warming-01-15-2009.html
Coal-Fired Power Plants lawsuit www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/05/13-4
Improper jaguar killing lawsuit www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/jaguar-05-12-2009.html
Stop beach driving lawsuit www.rzrforums.net/public-lands-advocacy/11153-center-biological-diversity-lawsuit-oceano-dunes.html
Desert tortoise lawsuit with the Sierra Club, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility www.globalclimatelaw.com/tags/center-for-biological-diversit/
Force the DOI consider listing the American pika as threatened or endangered lawsuit http://greenoptions.com/tag/center-for-biological-diversity
Snowy Plover http://bit.ly/pJWb1
California red-legged frogs and San Francisco garter snakes; notice of intent to sue. http://www.ewire.com/display.cfm/Wire_ID/5035
Nevada water project lawsuit. http://www.lvrj.com/news/39421007.html
Protect wildlife and roadless areas in CA, with 6 other environmental groups. http://tinyurl.com/nodgau
Block thinning of trees in AZ lawsuit (note that because the thinning was stopped, the result was one of the largest forest fires in the US) http://www.forphoto.com/issues_info/local/thinning_lawsuit.php
North Fork Eel River lawsuit http://www.wildcalifornia.org/pressreleases/number-20
Raptor habitat (as compensation for wind turbine kills) lawsuit https://www.earthislandprojects.org/news/new_news.cfm?newsID=649
Bighorns lawsuit http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090325/NEWS01/903250314/1144/news01
Ely NV travel management appeal http://tinyurl.com/ccwdop
Freshwater turtle harvest lawsuit http://tinyurl.com/naorbl
Not enough land designated “critical habitat” lawsuit http://tinyurl.com/n4th92
Enough! I can’t stand to look at more of these.
Copyright © 2009 CR Edmunds
When the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) asks for donations, most people likely think they’re contributing to projects that will improve the environment. But it just ain’t so. CBD has become a money-making litigation machine. They aren’t out there with shovels and seeds, working on the environment, they’re paying lawyers, sneaking onto private property to spy on conditions and – if they don’t find the conditions sufficiently bad to claim the property owner is ruining the environment- they’re publishing phony photos of "environmental devastation". No actual environmental work going on that CBD is doing - just about everything they do these days is rather to support litigation.
Yeah, it may seem like CBD’s litigation is for the good of endangered plants and animals, but when you start looking at the results of what they do you start noticing the real cost to humans and environment alike. This is because CBD activities, particularly litigation, are not environment-driven, but rather CBD agenda-driven. They’re not shy about their plans to evict private property owners from their own land, to create Gardens of Eden in their Sky Islands. No matter that some of the species in the areas being touted as endangered aren’t endangered (or never even lived in the place – look at the weird Mexican wolf situation). No matter that so much of the litigation results in grinding the US Constitution into the dirt. When they win note that someone else always has to bear the burden of environmentalism – never CBD. No, CBD lawyers and CBD personnel are all living nice, safe, well-funded lives, while the rest of us pay and pay and pay – either by losing property, losing our rights, or by being scammed for the donations CBD says it needs to “protect the environment”. All that money, effort, suffering by property owners – and none of it for actual environmental work, just lawsuits. Paperwork, that’s all it is – but it’s not solving problems, it’s causing more.
Humans are a legitimate species on this planet, too – a fact that CBD and other radical, terrorist environmental groups ignore. None of their projects, their agendas or their litigation truly take into account the human right to live and thrive on this planet.
God created the Garden of Eden to have people in it. It was Satan who caused people to have to leave that Garden. Kinda makes you think about CBD, doesn’t it?
---
Here’s a list of articles about recent litigation by CBD. I might add to it over time – I can only look at this information for so long before it makes me sick. Not that the critters involved don’t need protecting, but CBD is doing nothing for them, only filing lawsuits. Lawsuits are not environmentalism!
Loggerhead turtles lawsuit with Oceana Inc. and Turtle Island Restoration Environmental Law360 - http://environmental.law360.com/
Two ocean species of turtles lawsuit with Oceana and the Turtle Island Restoration Network Twilight Earth - http://www.twilightearth.com/
Ocean acidification impacts lawsuit Switchboard, from NRDC - http://switchboard.nrdc.org/
Desert Lizard lawsuit http://www.yumasun.com/news/lizard-50356-habitat-yuma.html
Global warming impacts lawsuit against six (6) federal agencies. Global warming is a THEORY, people! http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/global-warming-01-15-2009.html
Coal-Fired Power Plants lawsuit www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/05/13-4
Improper jaguar killing lawsuit www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/jaguar-05-12-2009.html
Stop beach driving lawsuit www.rzrforums.net/public-lands-advocacy/11153-center-biological-diversity-lawsuit-oceano-dunes.html
Desert tortoise lawsuit with the Sierra Club, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility www.globalclimatelaw.com/tags/center-for-biological-diversit/
Force the DOI consider listing the American pika as threatened or endangered lawsuit http://greenoptions.com/tag/center-for-biological-diversity
Snowy Plover http://bit.ly/pJWb1
California red-legged frogs and San Francisco garter snakes; notice of intent to sue. http://www.ewire.com/display.cfm/Wire_ID/5035
Nevada water project lawsuit. http://www.lvrj.com/news/39421007.html
Protect wildlife and roadless areas in CA, with 6 other environmental groups. http://tinyurl.com/nodgau
Block thinning of trees in AZ lawsuit (note that because the thinning was stopped, the result was one of the largest forest fires in the US) http://www.forphoto.com/issues_info/local/thinning_lawsuit.php
North Fork Eel River lawsuit http://www.wildcalifornia.org/pressreleases/number-20
Raptor habitat (as compensation for wind turbine kills) lawsuit https://www.earthislandprojects.org/news/new_news.cfm?newsID=649
Bighorns lawsuit http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090325/NEWS01/903250314/1144/news01
Ely NV travel management appeal http://tinyurl.com/ccwdop
Freshwater turtle harvest lawsuit http://tinyurl.com/naorbl
Not enough land designated “critical habitat” lawsuit http://tinyurl.com/n4th92
Enough! I can’t stand to look at more of these.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Defenders of Wildlife... or irresponsible animal dumpers?
News release from Defenders of Wildlife today says: "Raised in South Salem, New York’s Wolf Conservation Center, she [a female Mexican wolf] was released with excitement into her native habitat in Arizona late last year."
Doesn't it occur to anyone at DoW how unfair it is to wolves to raise them among humans, in captivity where they never learn to hunt, in a very different (humid) climate and then release them to act "wild"?
If anyone did that to a dog, it would be a crime that could be prosecuted. What is different between the Mexican Wolf Program and any other irresponsible animal dumper?
Doesn't it occur to anyone at DoW how unfair it is to wolves to raise them among humans, in captivity where they never learn to hunt, in a very different (humid) climate and then release them to act "wild"?
If anyone did that to a dog, it would be a crime that could be prosecuted. What is different between the Mexican Wolf Program and any other irresponsible animal dumper?
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Vulcan Logic and The Good Of The Many
Copyright © 2009 CREdmunds
Mr. Spock, with his pointy ears and his dispassionate logic, said that "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one" at the end of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. A noble thought indeed, but putting it into practice necessitates having a clear idea of what the “good of the many” actually is.
In the USA, the good of the many is based on the rights of the individual. That is, the “many” is a collection of individuals, the rights of each collectively protected by the Constitution.
Currently in this noble country of ours, we have a situation that threatens our Constitution and our American way of life, and it is based on a warping of the notion of the “the many” to mean a homogenous group of like-thinking people. This new point of view is promoted by special interest groups - in my opinion the most dangerous threat we have to this country today.
What are special interest groups? They would be the well-funded, powerful groups that want each of us to think and act like they want us to - like zombies instead of independently thinking individuals - so that their decision makers (you know, CEOs and such) can afford to live in the lifestyles they have become accustomed to. (Check out my article Global Warming Zombies from November, 2008.) These groups don’t care what damage they do to the rest of the country - or the world - to achieve their ends.
How can you identify a special interest group? Let me count the ways.
First, special interest groups are just that - their interests are unique, and narrow-based interests rather than the interests of the many. Their point of view does not represent the truth for all (and in my opinion may not represent the truth in any shape or form).
Second, special interest groups use fear tactics to achieve their goals. While they say they are working for the betterment of all - which should be enough motivation for people if that was really true - they use the whip of predictions of disastrous results if they aren't supported or don't succeed in their work.
Third, special interest groups put a lot of money into spreading their own version of the truth and dire predictions of disaster. Since most people will not act unless they are personally involved, generally the public just believes the propaganda they read and hear, and pretty soon it's "universal truth". Then the special interest groups get to do whatever they want.
Fourth, special interest groups will file lawsuits at the drop of a hat - even if they don't plan on following through. Since most people avoid lawyers and courts, people figure that if a group is willing to sue, they must be right.
Fifth, special interest groups also seek to implement legislation, usually legislation that involves other people losing their personal and property rights.
Sixth, special interest groups generally don't do any actual on-the-ground work themselves in the field they are supposedly improving.
Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, special interest groups put out that they are working for the betterment of all, but almost always their "truth" requires that other people give up something or change in a fundamental way. In the movie, Mr. Spock was telling Kirk why it was right that he, Spock, should sacrifice himself “for the good of the many”. Special interest groups don’t give up anything for their cause. The sacrifices always come from others.
Isn’t it time that we all used Vulcan logic to look more closely at what special interest groups are doing to - not for - the people of this country, and to our Constitution? Isn’t it time that we all started defending our rights as individuals, a fight that would truly protect the good of the many? I’m pretty sure if we don’t, to paraphrase Spock in Amok Time, that we, the people, may discover that the freedom we are having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as the freedom we are wanting.
Mr. Spock, with his pointy ears and his dispassionate logic, said that "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one" at the end of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. A noble thought indeed, but putting it into practice necessitates having a clear idea of what the “good of the many” actually is.
In the USA, the good of the many is based on the rights of the individual. That is, the “many” is a collection of individuals, the rights of each collectively protected by the Constitution.
Currently in this noble country of ours, we have a situation that threatens our Constitution and our American way of life, and it is based on a warping of the notion of the “the many” to mean a homogenous group of like-thinking people. This new point of view is promoted by special interest groups - in my opinion the most dangerous threat we have to this country today.
What are special interest groups? They would be the well-funded, powerful groups that want each of us to think and act like they want us to - like zombies instead of independently thinking individuals - so that their decision makers (you know, CEOs and such) can afford to live in the lifestyles they have become accustomed to. (Check out my article Global Warming Zombies from November, 2008.) These groups don’t care what damage they do to the rest of the country - or the world - to achieve their ends.
How can you identify a special interest group? Let me count the ways.
First, special interest groups are just that - their interests are unique, and narrow-based interests rather than the interests of the many. Their point of view does not represent the truth for all (and in my opinion may not represent the truth in any shape or form).
Second, special interest groups use fear tactics to achieve their goals. While they say they are working for the betterment of all - which should be enough motivation for people if that was really true - they use the whip of predictions of disastrous results if they aren't supported or don't succeed in their work.
Third, special interest groups put a lot of money into spreading their own version of the truth and dire predictions of disaster. Since most people will not act unless they are personally involved, generally the public just believes the propaganda they read and hear, and pretty soon it's "universal truth". Then the special interest groups get to do whatever they want.
Fourth, special interest groups will file lawsuits at the drop of a hat - even if they don't plan on following through. Since most people avoid lawyers and courts, people figure that if a group is willing to sue, they must be right.
Fifth, special interest groups also seek to implement legislation, usually legislation that involves other people losing their personal and property rights.
Sixth, special interest groups generally don't do any actual on-the-ground work themselves in the field they are supposedly improving.
Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, special interest groups put out that they are working for the betterment of all, but almost always their "truth" requires that other people give up something or change in a fundamental way. In the movie, Mr. Spock was telling Kirk why it was right that he, Spock, should sacrifice himself “for the good of the many”. Special interest groups don’t give up anything for their cause. The sacrifices always come from others.
Isn’t it time that we all used Vulcan logic to look more closely at what special interest groups are doing to - not for - the people of this country, and to our Constitution? Isn’t it time that we all started defending our rights as individuals, a fight that would truly protect the good of the many? I’m pretty sure if we don’t, to paraphrase Spock in Amok Time, that we, the people, may discover that the freedom we are having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as the freedom we are wanting.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wolf News Release: WildEarth Guardians lawsuit setback
Contact: Ron Shortes, Catron County Attorney
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone 575.533.6265
Email: shortes2@gilanet.com
April 17, 2009
WILDEARTH GUARDIANS SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST CATRON COUNTY DENIED
Environmentalist attempt to deny County the right to protect its own citizens stalled
RESERVE, N.M. Catron County, New Mexico has learned that a WildEarth Guardians’ lawsuit, which attempts to deny the County the right to protect its own citizens from imminent harm, has been stalled. A US District Court Judge in Santa Fe recently denied a bid by the environmental group for a summary judgment against the County.
WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe, NM based environmental group formed through the merger of Forest Guardians, Sinapu, and the Sagebrush Sea Campaign, filed a suit against Catron County last year. The group claimed that a 2007 County ordinance, providing for protection measures for Catron County Citizens in the event of problems with wolves, violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In October of 2008, Judge Martha Vazquez issued a ruling stating that WildEarth Guardians’ claims were moot, as the County had amended the ordinance. Nevertheless, WildEarth Guardians continued to press the lawsuit, claiming that the Catron County Commission allegedly violated the ESA by setting traps for a pair of wolves. However, the Court has now denied a request for summary judgment against the County on this issue.
“It is the responsibility of government to protect its citizens,” said a Catron County spokesman. “We have a problem here with wolves and have had one since the beginning of the program. The incidents have escalated to the point where our people - particularly our children - are at risk.”
Catron County has submitted numerous requests to the Mexican wolf program to include realistic consideration for human safety - something that is currently lacking in the ESA’s 10j Rule regarding reintroduction of Mexican wolves.
“The Mexican wolf program people are well aware of our concerns for the safety of our children,” the County spokesman said. “All WildEarth Guardians is concerned about is wolves - they apparently don’t care if a child is at risk.”
“Our citizens rely on local government to protect them,” the spokesman said. “They demand that of us, and by law we are authorized to protect our citizens. We cannot, legally or morally, allow the threat from habituated wolves to reach the point where our children and families are in imminent danger. That is clear.”
# # #
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone 575.533.6265
Email: shortes2@gilanet.com
April 17, 2009
WILDEARTH GUARDIANS SUMMARY JUDGMENT AGAINST CATRON COUNTY DENIED
Environmentalist attempt to deny County the right to protect its own citizens stalled
RESERVE, N.M. Catron County, New Mexico has learned that a WildEarth Guardians’ lawsuit, which attempts to deny the County the right to protect its own citizens from imminent harm, has been stalled. A US District Court Judge in Santa Fe recently denied a bid by the environmental group for a summary judgment against the County.
WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe, NM based environmental group formed through the merger of Forest Guardians, Sinapu, and the Sagebrush Sea Campaign, filed a suit against Catron County last year. The group claimed that a 2007 County ordinance, providing for protection measures for Catron County Citizens in the event of problems with wolves, violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In October of 2008, Judge Martha Vazquez issued a ruling stating that WildEarth Guardians’ claims were moot, as the County had amended the ordinance. Nevertheless, WildEarth Guardians continued to press the lawsuit, claiming that the Catron County Commission allegedly violated the ESA by setting traps for a pair of wolves. However, the Court has now denied a request for summary judgment against the County on this issue.
“It is the responsibility of government to protect its citizens,” said a Catron County spokesman. “We have a problem here with wolves and have had one since the beginning of the program. The incidents have escalated to the point where our people - particularly our children - are at risk.”
Catron County has submitted numerous requests to the Mexican wolf program to include realistic consideration for human safety - something that is currently lacking in the ESA’s 10j Rule regarding reintroduction of Mexican wolves.
“The Mexican wolf program people are well aware of our concerns for the safety of our children,” the County spokesman said. “All WildEarth Guardians is concerned about is wolves - they apparently don’t care if a child is at risk.”
“Our citizens rely on local government to protect them,” the spokesman said. “They demand that of us, and by law we are authorized to protect our citizens. We cannot, legally or morally, allow the threat from habituated wolves to reach the point where our children and families are in imminent danger. That is clear.”
# # #
Monday, April 13, 2009
How is the Mexican wolf program like waterboarding?
Food for thought
Copyright © 2009 C.R.Edmunds
It is a crime for a human to stalk another human, not because of actual physical harm that has occurred but because it causes psychological damage (trauma) and could lead to physical harm.
Psychological abuse can be justifiable cause for divorce or removal of a child from a home even though no physical abuse has occurred.
Waterboarding, deprevation and humiliation are used as forms of torture even though no physical damage occurs.
According to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, non-physical torture appears to cause as much mental distress and traumatic stress as physical torture. (See Science Daily article).
Yet environmental groups and the Mexican wolf program do not consider psychological damage (what looks very much like PTSD) that is documented in the families of Catron County residents to be cause for removal of Mexican wolves that stalk children and families in the program area.
What is wrong with this picture?
Copyright © 2009 C.R.Edmunds
It is a crime for a human to stalk another human, not because of actual physical harm that has occurred but because it causes psychological damage (trauma) and could lead to physical harm.
Psychological abuse can be justifiable cause for divorce or removal of a child from a home even though no physical abuse has occurred.
Waterboarding, deprevation and humiliation are used as forms of torture even though no physical damage occurs.
According to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, non-physical torture appears to cause as much mental distress and traumatic stress as physical torture. (See Science Daily article).
Yet environmental groups and the Mexican wolf program do not consider psychological damage (what looks very much like PTSD) that is documented in the families of Catron County residents to be cause for removal of Mexican wolves that stalk children and families in the program area.
What is wrong with this picture?
How is the Mexican wolf program like waterboarding?
Food for thought
Copyright © 2009 C.R.Edmunds
It is a crime for a human to stalk another human, not because of actual physical harm that has occurred but because it causes psychological damage (trauma) and could lead to physical harm.
Psychological abuse can be justifiable cause for divorce or removal of a child from a home even though no physical abuse has occurred.
Waterboarding, deprevation and humiliation are used as forms of torture even though no physical damage occurs.
According to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, non-physical torture appears to cause as much mental distress and traumatic stress as physical torture. (See Science Daily article).
Yet environmental groups and the Mexican wolf program do not consider psychological damage (what looks very much like PTSD) that is documented in the families of Catron County residents to be cause for removal of Mexican wolves that stalk children and families in the program area.
What is wrong with this picture?
Copyright © 2009 C.R.Edmunds
It is a crime for a human to stalk another human, not because of actual physical harm that has occurred but because it causes psychological damage (trauma) and could lead to physical harm.
Psychological abuse can be justifiable cause for divorce or removal of a child from a home even though no physical abuse has occurred.
Waterboarding, deprevation and humiliation are used as forms of torture even though no physical damage occurs.
According to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, non-physical torture appears to cause as much mental distress and traumatic stress as physical torture. (See Science Daily article).
Yet environmental groups and the Mexican wolf program do not consider psychological damage (what looks very much like PTSD) that is documented in the families of Catron County residents to be cause for removal of Mexican wolves that stalk children and families in the program area.
What is wrong with this picture?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Global Warming Zombies
Sometime when we all weren’t paying attention, a lot of the folks in this country became zombies. It’s frightening, but true. We are surrounded by people whose minds have been stolen, their powers of observation and judgment replaced. But it isn’t voodoo, folks - what we have here is 1984, just a few years late.
Uh oh - I may have to explain about that 1984 reference for those who are maybe younger than me or who maybe haven’t quite the same reading experience as I’ve had. 1984 is the title of a book written by George Orwell that takes place the year 1984, and is about a civil servant whose work consists of falsifying records and political literature. His job is one small part of the government mechanism for maintaining control of the population. 1984 is where the term “Big Brother” came from.
1984’s mind control comes about through propaganda (spin doctoring in today’s terminology - the twisting of language so that words do not describe truth but sound like the truth), regulation of society through legislation of behavior to undermine the rights of the individual. Invasive surveillance is used to insure compliance.
With just a few substitutions, that could be a description of what’s going on in the United States today.
But back to zombies. A zombie is a creature displaying all the apparent signs of consciousness, but without actual consciousness of its own. Traditionally, zombies are corpses brought back to life, but the term is also used to describe a person whose thought processes are controlled by someone else - traditionally, that would be your evil voodoo guy, or, like in 1984, Big Brother.
How do I know that so many friends and neighbors, from the grocery store clerk to our legislators and everyone in between have become zombies? It’s simple. How many of you believe in global warming - raise your hands. OK, everyone - look around. See all those raised hands? Those will be your zombies. Those will be the people that spew out the Big Brother environmental drivel in spite of what they see and feel for themselves, like how darned cold it was last month. These are people who ignore data like last month’s reports across the world of unseasonable snow and plummeting temperatures and record snowfalls. Here in the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month of October, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.
Global warming? Have these people stepped outside lately? Would they consider keeping their own records and paying more attention to them than to talking heads on TV? The highest temperature recorded in Phoenix - 122° - was recorded 18 years ago, not last year. In fact, the hottest recorded temperature on earth was way back in 1922 (136° in Mali). In January 2008, the Boston Globe reported that the winter 2007 was one the coldest ever recorded in South America, with snow in Buenos Aires for the first time in 89 years and hundreds of people dying of cold in Peru. Snow in South Africa! Record breaking cold in Australia! And the Globe even said “For nearly a decade now, there has been no global warming”.
Enquiring minds want to know: How do you cure a zombie? How do you get people to think with their own minds, not parrot sound bytes? If Big Brother takes over the country and the planet, what will the people do who invested in shorts and tank tops when they really need mukluks and parkas? And if the zombies all freeze to death, what will Big Brother’s next step be to control the rest of us?
Uh oh - I may have to explain about that 1984 reference for those who are maybe younger than me or who maybe haven’t quite the same reading experience as I’ve had. 1984 is the title of a book written by George Orwell that takes place the year 1984, and is about a civil servant whose work consists of falsifying records and political literature. His job is one small part of the government mechanism for maintaining control of the population. 1984 is where the term “Big Brother” came from.
1984’s mind control comes about through propaganda (spin doctoring in today’s terminology - the twisting of language so that words do not describe truth but sound like the truth), regulation of society through legislation of behavior to undermine the rights of the individual. Invasive surveillance is used to insure compliance.
With just a few substitutions, that could be a description of what’s going on in the United States today.
But back to zombies. A zombie is a creature displaying all the apparent signs of consciousness, but without actual consciousness of its own. Traditionally, zombies are corpses brought back to life, but the term is also used to describe a person whose thought processes are controlled by someone else - traditionally, that would be your evil voodoo guy, or, like in 1984, Big Brother.
How do I know that so many friends and neighbors, from the grocery store clerk to our legislators and everyone in between have become zombies? It’s simple. How many of you believe in global warming - raise your hands. OK, everyone - look around. See all those raised hands? Those will be your zombies. Those will be the people that spew out the Big Brother environmental drivel in spite of what they see and feel for themselves, like how darned cold it was last month. These are people who ignore data like last month’s reports across the world of unseasonable snow and plummeting temperatures and record snowfalls. Here in the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month of October, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.
Global warming? Have these people stepped outside lately? Would they consider keeping their own records and paying more attention to them than to talking heads on TV? The highest temperature recorded in Phoenix - 122° - was recorded 18 years ago, not last year. In fact, the hottest recorded temperature on earth was way back in 1922 (136° in Mali). In January 2008, the Boston Globe reported that the winter 2007 was one the coldest ever recorded in South America, with snow in Buenos Aires for the first time in 89 years and hundreds of people dying of cold in Peru. Snow in South Africa! Record breaking cold in Australia! And the Globe even said “For nearly a decade now, there has been no global warming”.
Enquiring minds want to know: How do you cure a zombie? How do you get people to think with their own minds, not parrot sound bytes? If Big Brother takes over the country and the planet, what will the people do who invested in shorts and tank tops when they really need mukluks and parkas? And if the zombies all freeze to death, what will Big Brother’s next step be to control the rest of us?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Whining - the New National Pastime
I have a confession to make. I’m not a Greenie. Nowadays that makes me the bad guy, because Green has become the new banner and badge of being part of the politically correct crowd.
I’ve been giving some thought lately to the fact that we have a society run by youngsters (this is because as I age, I find so many in office to be younger than I am), yet we have a population the median age of which is growing older and older.
Used to be that people respected age - being an “elder” meant having wisdom that younger people valued. Over the years that has changed; our older folks have not been considered founts of wisdom or valued parts of family and society for a long time. Rather, older folks are stuffed into retirement homes and assisted living facilities soon as they have no money left to support the younger generations that can’t (or won’t) get jobs to support themselves.
Aha, you say - the reason no one pays attention to elder wisdom is because older folks’ minds wander off the topic - but not so! Bear with me a bit longer.
The reason older folks are founts of wisdom, even though some of us are dumber than doorposts, is that we have experienced more. This is so simple concept as to be profound. No matter how smart you are, how educated you are, how technologically facile you are, if you’re young, you cannot have experienced as much as someone who has lived longer. It’s a matter of sheer numbers, quantity of time. You can never really know what can be known at 50, 60 or 70 or older until you’ve lived 50, 60 or 70 or more years. You can never apply the experience of time until you’ve experienced the time. And you cannot possibly begin to comprehend what we old folks know as we view life from the perspective of just having lived longer.
“Bail me out, save me!” is what I’m seeing everywhere nowadays. I see lots of this whining going on, and see few solutions offered that encompass the big picture. I see this as a result of inexperience (i.e., young folks’ reaction) because we’re all here on the same planet and ultimately there is no one to bail us out or save us other than ourselves. That’s something it just takes time to learn.
Let me pick on the Greens as an example. Go to any petition website these days and it’ll be Green. What is a petition? It’s a bunch of names of people who’d rather whine about a problem than roll up their sleeves and do something directly. That’s whining, in my opinion, I don’t care how noble the label.
Or look at proposed (and, more scary, passed) legislation that “fixes” things by imposing more rules and regulations in our lives, legislation which takes away personal responsibility and substitutes government responsibility. Being bailed out ends up with giving up our rights and making us dependant - like children.
Whining happens because the people who are doing it don’t have any real answers. They feel the pressure, the pain of the situation, but they don’t know how to effectively make it go away. Like children, they don’t know how to fix things properly because they just don’t have the tools, the experience and perspective to see the whole picture. In other words, they don’t go to their founts of wisdom for answers: to the old folks, their elders.
We older folks pretty much don’t qualify as real Greenies because we’re not young enough to have tunnel vision any more, we can’t see things as black and white so easily. Life has taught us painful lesson by painful lesson how unrealistic that is. We older folks - at least those of us who have moved beyond the flower power years - have been around long enough to know first hand that everything is connected to everything, and that disenfranchising anyone or disallowing anything isn’t going to solve any problems. Tunnel vision isn’t wrong, it’s just so very limited as to throw everything out of kilter when acted on.
The innocent ignorance of tunnel vision is not going to go away, so it’s up to us old folks to fix things - if only we ourselves would pay attention to our own elders. Answers for today’s problems won’t be Green, won’t even necessarily be in what we know ourselves here at this time today. The big answers for the questions facing humanity and for the planet are going to be found in the wisdom of the ages, of our own elders. I don’t think they will be Green.
I’ve been giving some thought lately to the fact that we have a society run by youngsters (this is because as I age, I find so many in office to be younger than I am), yet we have a population the median age of which is growing older and older.
Used to be that people respected age - being an “elder” meant having wisdom that younger people valued. Over the years that has changed; our older folks have not been considered founts of wisdom or valued parts of family and society for a long time. Rather, older folks are stuffed into retirement homes and assisted living facilities soon as they have no money left to support the younger generations that can’t (or won’t) get jobs to support themselves.
Aha, you say - the reason no one pays attention to elder wisdom is because older folks’ minds wander off the topic - but not so! Bear with me a bit longer.
The reason older folks are founts of wisdom, even though some of us are dumber than doorposts, is that we have experienced more. This is so simple concept as to be profound. No matter how smart you are, how educated you are, how technologically facile you are, if you’re young, you cannot have experienced as much as someone who has lived longer. It’s a matter of sheer numbers, quantity of time. You can never really know what can be known at 50, 60 or 70 or older until you’ve lived 50, 60 or 70 or more years. You can never apply the experience of time until you’ve experienced the time. And you cannot possibly begin to comprehend what we old folks know as we view life from the perspective of just having lived longer.
“Bail me out, save me!” is what I’m seeing everywhere nowadays. I see lots of this whining going on, and see few solutions offered that encompass the big picture. I see this as a result of inexperience (i.e., young folks’ reaction) because we’re all here on the same planet and ultimately there is no one to bail us out or save us other than ourselves. That’s something it just takes time to learn.
Let me pick on the Greens as an example. Go to any petition website these days and it’ll be Green. What is a petition? It’s a bunch of names of people who’d rather whine about a problem than roll up their sleeves and do something directly. That’s whining, in my opinion, I don’t care how noble the label.
Or look at proposed (and, more scary, passed) legislation that “fixes” things by imposing more rules and regulations in our lives, legislation which takes away personal responsibility and substitutes government responsibility. Being bailed out ends up with giving up our rights and making us dependant - like children.
Whining happens because the people who are doing it don’t have any real answers. They feel the pressure, the pain of the situation, but they don’t know how to effectively make it go away. Like children, they don’t know how to fix things properly because they just don’t have the tools, the experience and perspective to see the whole picture. In other words, they don’t go to their founts of wisdom for answers: to the old folks, their elders.
We older folks pretty much don’t qualify as real Greenies because we’re not young enough to have tunnel vision any more, we can’t see things as black and white so easily. Life has taught us painful lesson by painful lesson how unrealistic that is. We older folks - at least those of us who have moved beyond the flower power years - have been around long enough to know first hand that everything is connected to everything, and that disenfranchising anyone or disallowing anything isn’t going to solve any problems. Tunnel vision isn’t wrong, it’s just so very limited as to throw everything out of kilter when acted on.
The innocent ignorance of tunnel vision is not going to go away, so it’s up to us old folks to fix things - if only we ourselves would pay attention to our own elders. Answers for today’s problems won’t be Green, won’t even necessarily be in what we know ourselves here at this time today. The big answers for the questions facing humanity and for the planet are going to be found in the wisdom of the ages, of our own elders. I don’t think they will be Green.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
What's the real crisis?
Today's NY Times Headlines:
As Oil Giants Lose Influence, Supply Drops
By JAD MOUAWAD
It is harder than ever for the major Western oil companies to find new prospects, even though they are awash in profits and eager to expand.
Excuse me? Awash in profits? Am I the only person who is outraged by this?
Yes, we need to come up with energy sources, and I for one want to see it come from renewable resources. That's something that should have been started in earnest 40 years ago when we had another "fuel crisis", but NOOOOO - the US government did not support alternatives to fossil fuels (petroleum) - and from what I heard, research in to fuel alternatives was pretty much squashed.
So here we are again with another crisis - actually, we have two: one energy and one economic.
The economic crisis is looking pretty artificial to me. There may be some sort of slowing of oil production, but the economic problems we are experience are actually caused by opportunistic taking of profits from raised prices based on... fear.
The US government supports this fear by supporting everyone in the oil food chain making massive profits on the the backs of us poor schmucks down here in the real world. And worse, the US government itself is making more and more tax dollars on the price gouging at the oil pump - for every jump in price at the pumps, there is an associated jump in the tax on each gallon.
No one in the chain except we peons at the bottom has any incentive whatsoever to fix anything.
This has all been nicely engineered, don't you think? First weaken the voting population by eroding individual freedom using the fear factor (been to an airport lately?). Then the sucker punch of the "fuel crisis". Throw in some toxic food scares and some global warming threats to keep us all soft. Use environmental litigation to stop any possibility of fixing any of this, even while dangling the hope of alternative (cheap) energy that will never come because there is no incentive to fix anything when everyone but the peons are making so much money. You see where this is going?
It's going to just get worse.
None of this was inevitable. All of this could have been prevented. You want some improvement? Just say NO to politics and start doing what needs to be doing yourself. Find out who's researching alternative energy and support them. Use that technology. Become a locavore (eat locally grown foods). Don't buy into mass media advertising.
And for heaven's sake, pay attention to the real crisis: the gullibility of we peons. The real crisis will end when we stop listening to what people say and start paying attention to what people do.
As Oil Giants Lose Influence, Supply Drops
By JAD MOUAWAD
It is harder than ever for the major Western oil companies to find new prospects, even though they are awash in profits and eager to expand.
Excuse me? Awash in profits? Am I the only person who is outraged by this?
Yes, we need to come up with energy sources, and I for one want to see it come from renewable resources. That's something that should have been started in earnest 40 years ago when we had another "fuel crisis", but NOOOOO - the US government did not support alternatives to fossil fuels (petroleum) - and from what I heard, research in to fuel alternatives was pretty much squashed.
So here we are again with another crisis - actually, we have two: one energy and one economic.
The economic crisis is looking pretty artificial to me. There may be some sort of slowing of oil production, but the economic problems we are experience are actually caused by opportunistic taking of profits from raised prices based on... fear.
The US government supports this fear by supporting everyone in the oil food chain making massive profits on the the backs of us poor schmucks down here in the real world. And worse, the US government itself is making more and more tax dollars on the price gouging at the oil pump - for every jump in price at the pumps, there is an associated jump in the tax on each gallon.
No one in the chain except we peons at the bottom has any incentive whatsoever to fix anything.
This has all been nicely engineered, don't you think? First weaken the voting population by eroding individual freedom using the fear factor (been to an airport lately?). Then the sucker punch of the "fuel crisis". Throw in some toxic food scares and some global warming threats to keep us all soft. Use environmental litigation to stop any possibility of fixing any of this, even while dangling the hope of alternative (cheap) energy that will never come because there is no incentive to fix anything when everyone but the peons are making so much money. You see where this is going?
It's going to just get worse.
None of this was inevitable. All of this could have been prevented. You want some improvement? Just say NO to politics and start doing what needs to be doing yourself. Find out who's researching alternative energy and support them. Use that technology. Become a locavore (eat locally grown foods). Don't buy into mass media advertising.
And for heaven's sake, pay attention to the real crisis: the gullibility of we peons. The real crisis will end when we stop listening to what people say and start paying attention to what people do.
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