Livestock “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL MAY 15, 2014 • www. aaalivestock . com
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Digest Volume 56 • No. 5
Out of Control Lawyers, bankers, S and hoot owls sleep by Lee Pitts
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
o, Cliven Bundy wasn’t exactly the best spokesperson for public lands ranchers, but that doesn’t change the fact that the BLM assumed roles that day they had no right to assume. There is no legislation that allows the BLM to stop vehicles in order to search people and their vehicles without a warrant or due process. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act makes it clear that the BLM first has to go through the local county sheriff for law enforcement activities. And who gave the BLM the right to designate a “First Amendment Area” where people could feel free to express their opinions? Isn’t the entire U.S. of A. supposed to be a “First Amendment Area”? Bundy’s controversial statements about slavery don’t erase the fact that the BLM sent more than 200 federal agents to round up Cliven Bundy’s cattle, trained guns on his family, surrounded his home with snipers and helicopters, and arrested his son for taking pictures. By some estimates the BLM spent three times what Bundy owes the feds on the raid that quickly could have deescalated into another Waco or Ruby Ridge. After all, no one likes to have a gun trained on them. But no one should have been surprised or
with one eye open. shocked by this event. It’s what federal bureaucrats do these days. Just like the IRS going after conservative groups, the many tentacles of the federal government are ever creeping out of control. You may think that the following examples of bad behavior have nothing to do with the beef business but trust me, they do. Ruminate on these undemocratic and un-American activities and you will see there is a method to the government’s
madness. n Last summer an EPA swat team known officially as the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force stormed several small mines in Chicken, Alaska, trying to find violators of the Clean Water Act. According to the Cole Report, an investigation into the federal raid demanded by Alaskan politicians, there was no need for criminal investigation of eight area mines in the first place, as Alaska State Troopers, the
BLM, and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation told the EPA not to do it because there was no evidence the miners were breaking any laws. “The EPA task force was an unnecessary escalation of enforcement in an area where compliance issues are usually handled by an inspector with a clipboard and some water-testing equipment,” read the Cole Report. During these raids members of the EPA swat team carried firearms, wore body armor and jackets that said “Police” on them. In the aftermath of the raid federal officials interfered with, and did not cooperate with the investigation into EPA’s illegal activities. They also, according to the investigation, gave “inaccurate and misleading” information to the media. The EPA hid 400 pages of documents pertaining to its continued on page two
How Fair is the Endangered Species Act to the American Land Owner? BY LOCKE ANN MCIVOR, FORT DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL, SUL ROSS STATE UNIVERSITY
he fight between endangered species and property rights is such a wide topic that if I covered all of it, it would take years and it would not be this seven-page report but a huge book of the effects it has on everything. So I have narrowed it down to just a small glimpse at the fight between private property and endangered species. The real debate is what is more important, the lives of human beings, or the lives of a plant and or an animal. The Business Dictionary definition of private property is, “Tangible and intangible things owned by individuals or firms over which their owners have exclusive and absolute legal rights, such as land, buildings, money, copyrights, patents, etc. Private property can be transferred only with its owner’s consent and by due process such as sale or gift” (Par1). It states in this definition that private property can only be transferred if it is with the owner’s consent. That means, in actuality, that what the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is doing is wrong and border line illegal. Are you wondering if the Endangered Species Act has ever saved any animal from extinction? Well, after doing some continuous research, I have found that since 1973, when the act was put in place, no
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species has ever been taken off the endangered list; although some have been downgraded to the threatened list. What it means to be threatened is that the species in the future could possibly become endangered. When the species is deemed threatened, it still has the same treatment as a species that is on the endangered list, so even though it is not endangered, it is still treated that way. The Endangered species Act of 1973 has done some good in saving animals, but what are the consequences of this act? People are being put out of jobs due to the ESA. The ESA has the power to take a person’s land if they deem that there is an endangered species living on the property. Does it seem right to you that people’s livelihoods are being taken away from them just because they think some little insect is living on their property? Is it ok for these animals that are being reintroduced in places to kill livestock and eat crops while the land owners receive either none or very little compensation? The Endangered Species Act split up responsibilities of animals, plants, and marine life into three different departments. The Department of the Interior is setup to take care of internal affairs; and one category of internal affairs is endangered continued on page four
by LEE PITTS
Changes
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his is CCNN, the Climate Change News Network. And now with the evening news here is anchorwoman Misty Rain.” “For our lead story this evening we’ll be going to two American cities in transition to illustrate the murderous potential of climate change. First we’ll go to our reporter, Thermal Gusts, who is in Tucson, Arizona.” “The streets of this southwestern city are quiet and empty tonight as its citizens ponder a fearful fate. Today it was 75 degrees in Tucson, three degrees hotter than yesterday. You don’t have to be a math wizard to see that at this rate if the temperature goes up three degrees every day in just 30 days the temperature will be 165 degrees, which is hot even for Tucson. Talk about your weapons of math destruction! This will be the end of civilization as we know it and residents here are hunkered down, making sure their air conditioners work and that they don’t. Now to my colleague, Chilly “The Iceman” Shivers who is also braving the elements tonight.” “You’re exactly right Thermal, the situation is just as dire here in Rochester, New York, where it was 66 degrees today, 4 degrees cooler than yesterday. If this trend continues in a month from now people will be burning their furniture for heat, begging cows to belch and pass more greenhouse gas, and trading in their Prius cars for Ford F350’s. Polar bears will prowl the city’s mean streets, you’ll be able to walk on ice to Greenland from the Big Apple, and snowbirds to Florida will have to defrost any oranges they pick before eating them. Speaking of Florida . . . we interrupt this broadcast with a breaking story. “WARNING! In view of the changing weather anyone traveling to the Florida Keys should carry snow chains and long underwear.” “Now we resume our regularly scheduled broadcast where “Changeup” Charley Chow has all the changing news in sports.” continued on page six
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