Trapping Mice Illegal?

Well it now appears that the state of California has made it illegal to trap mice in your own home without a trapping license. Now "Scott Paulsen, chief of law enforcement for the Department of Fish and Game, said the law would not be enforced for personal use. " I know that eventually some nut will be in office that will decide to enforce the law for personal use and then watch out homeowner.

Now maybe I am looking at this all wrong, I assumed that some animal rights whakos were behind this but maybe it is the professional pest control services are behind this so they can get more business.

Where you find the laws most numerous, there you will find also the greatest injustice. Arcesilaus

Tattoos

This story reminds me of when I went into the Navy and my grandmother stood in front of me and gave me a lecture about how I had better not come home with a tattoo or I would have to face her. I didn't really plan on getting one but that made sure I wouldn't since I didn't want to have to face her wrath.

In all seriousness though I am always telling my children today that when it comes to piercing and tattoos what may seem cool today might not seem so cool down the road when your life has turned in a different direction. I guess if I was real truthful with them I would also tell them that tattoos can be removed but I don't so that they won't think about it.

What can I do to get my kid to listen...? The answer is brief: talk less. Nancy Samalin

COOL Delayed

Well it appears that the safety of the American public is being sacrificed on the alter of political expediency. The purpose of Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) was to help the American cattle producers sell there product in the U.S. but after the BSE scare in Canada the food safety issue of COOL was shown to be an issue also. I have talked about this before but I will say it again. I do not understand how the meat packers say it is going to cost so much money. In my opinion if there is a will there is a way.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy. Ernest Benn

The Crush

The day after Thanksgiving seems to be the start of Christmas shopping for many people. All the retail stores seem to run sales and open early to take advantage of the shopping season. Personally I cannot imagine going to town and shopping on this day. The crush of people that they report happens on this day would drive me crazy. Working out in the open and by myself much of the time it does not take many people to drive me crazy. What is really funny is that when I was in the Navy I was in the submarine service and serving on submarines did not bother me at all. Now the idea of being in that little tube and being in that small crowded place makes me claustrophobic. I guess times change and people change.

Shopping's absolutely impossible nowadays. You can't get near the counter, and when you do, they haven't got it and you pay twice as much for it. Arthur Wimperis (1874-1953)

Unintended Consequences

The BSE (mad cow disease) scare in Canada this last year has not only devastated the commercial cattle industry in Canada but it is also going to cause problems for the Canadian rodeo stock contractors too. The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) is going to be getting underway in Las Vegas next week and the stock contractors are getting the short end of the stick. This story talks about how the ban on Canadian cattle coming into the U.S. will mean that no bulls from Canada will be at the NFR this year.

The ban is meant to keep Canadian cattle from entering our food supply since the government wants to keep BSE from entering the U.S. Now I am all for maintaining the safety of our meat supply in the U.S. but it sure seems to me that there should be some way of letting these athletes into the U.S. to do their jobs since they would not be entering the U.S. to be slaughtered for meat but as part of a rodeo. Well I guess that is a typical bureaucracy for you, they can't see the forest for the trees.

Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy. Charles Peters

Thanksgiving

Today on this day of Thanksgiving in the United States I wanted to share what I am thankful for.

As with the first Thanksgiving I am thankful for the bountiful harvest the land has bestowed upon me. I work hard at being a good steward of the land and it has rewarded me in turn.

I am thankful for my wife and children. They stand beside me in my troubles and celebrate with me in the good times. Without them I would not be whom I am today and my life would seem very empty as it was before the blessing of their presence in my life was bestowed upon me.

I am thankful for the rest of my family and the blessings it gives me. My mother, father, sister, brother, aunts, uncles, and all the others in my extended family. These people in the past and even today support and guide me with their advice and most support me with there love too. You know there is an old saying that you can choose your friends but you are stuck with your relatives. As with all families this is true for me too, but even those who I would rather not admit to being related to have helped me in making me who I am.

I am thankful for my friends. I will admit I don't trust people very easily and because of that do not have many friends, but those that I have I would trust with my life. These people yield valuable advice by there words and deeds that I can use as a compass in my life.

I am thankful for the intelligence and understanding to realize that even the things that have happened in the past year that are painful and bad can be accepted and folded into my soul to make me a better person. These bad things, whether they be an act of nature or a quirk of fate, have caused me to look deep in my soul and search and find the strength to lift my spirit, and those around me, to step forward and say to the world "You Will Not Defeat Me, I Am Strong Enough To Handle This."

Last but not least I am thankful for natural beauty that surrounds me on this earth. Whether it's the beauty of a newborn baby or the beauty of a perfect sunset I am thankful to the Lord that he has blessed me with the soul to see his beauty and marvel at it. These beautiful things are not always easy to see through the clouds of our everyday lives but what better thing is there than to look for them and marvel at them.

These are some of the things I am thankful for. I hope anyone reading this can relate to some of these things and add there own. I also wish you the best on this day and every day and that many thanks will fill your life with joy. You have but to open your heart to see them.

I awoke this morning with a devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. Shall I not call God the Beautiful, who daily showeth himself to me in his gifts? Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Weather Modification

We have been experiencing quite a few years of drought now and I am getting very tired of the dry weather but I am not very sure schemes like this are going to do any good. I have never been very sure that cloud seeding is effective. In this case though, if it is, it will maybe deprive us in Montana of moisture that we need. That is the main reason I do not like it because to my way of thinking it deprives down wind areas of moisture. Maybe some enterprising lawyer will sue them (LOL).

Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation. Kin Hubbard (1868 - 1930)

Winter has Arrived

I have been busy the past few days getting the cattle where I want them for winter. The recent snow storm only put about 4 inches on the ground but I decided it was time to get the cows in out of the pine needles, since they can cause a cow to abort her calf, and start feeding them some protein. I got all the little bunches moved around and opened the gates to let the cows in and they are coming in at a fast and furious rate.

Everything is now getting cake for their protein supplement and winter feeding has begun. I will probably start feeding the calves and yearlings hay the week after thanksgiving so that they are getting plenty of nutrition since they are still growing. I am just curios if this snow is going to melt off or is it here for the winter. The National Weather Service predicted a high temp today of 39 degrees and the highest it got here was 24. It doesn’t melt much snow at that temperature. O well that’s the breaks.

See, Winter comes, to rule the varied year,
Sullen, and sad, with all his rising train;
Vapours, and clouds, and storms. Be these my theme,
These, that exalt the soul to solemn thought,
And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms!
Congenial horrors, hail!

James Thomson (1700–1748)

New Disease

Well we have a new disease we have to deal with now, as if our country doesn’t have enough problems, and it is named affluenza. This newly diagnosed illness, discussed in this article, affects the well to do in our society and is characterized by "a dysfunctional relationship with wealth, or the pursuit of it."

I guess since I don’t have this problem I don’t understand it, I personally think it is fairly humorous, and I’m afraid I don’t have much sympathy for them. It sounds to me like they could use a good dose of The Serenity Prayer:

GOD, grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
Courage to change the
things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.

The only problem I see with this new disease is some twisted individual will decide to get it classified as a disability and then, affluenza will be protected by the Americans with Disability Act and they will be able to draw SSI. I guess if this would happen the joke would be on me.

Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
Eddie Cantor (1892 - 1964)

Montanans Future

Arnie Sherman has an excellent piece on thinking about Montana's future. Arnie makes the point that an election year is coming up and states:

We Montanans need to ask hard questions to those who aspire to serve our state and carry out its constitutional charge of providing for the heath and well being of all Montanans.

What exactly will you do to create not just more jobs but better jobs?

How will you keep our best and brightest from leaving our state?

When will we launch our ultra high-speed digital communications network?

How much new money will you commit to education, kindergarten through college?

What tax incentives will you provide to businesses so they can train or retrain their workers?

How much new investment capital will you make available to Montana businesses to help them grow and compete?

Something to think about. The future for us and our children.

Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured. Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)

Shades of 9/11

I am so used to hearing, and seeing, our government wasting money that I am not sure it really needs commenting on. By pretending it is not there though does not make it go away so maybe it does need a comment.

This article talks about how immediately after 9/11 congress approved emergency funding to help communities gear up for protection from terrorism but now it turns out, in the finest tradition of waste, the money “remains unspent or is funding projects with questionable connections to homeland security.”

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, lawmakers doled out the money quickly, with few restrictions and vague guidelines. Left to interpret needs on their own -- and with little regional coordination -- cash-strapped local and state officials plugged budget holes, spent millions on pet projects and steered contracts to political allies.

Now I will admit that they say some of the funds remain unspent but to me that just means they have yet to find a way to waste them. One of the many ways this money was spent is:

Another District agency directed $100,000 to the mayor's politically popular summer jobs program, documents show. Forty low-income young adults were trained in first aid and other emergency skills, then paid to rap and dance about emergency preparedness as part of outreach efforts.

I guess these things are what happen when you hand out money to the needy. They waste the money in hopes of getting re-elected.

It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money. P.J. (Patrick Jake) O’Rourke

Wolves Around the World

There has been a lot of resentment from ranchers and some hunters around the area about the re-introduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Here is an interesting story about the increasing numbers of wolves in Spain.

They are having the same controversy we are here about it. Farmers whose animals are being killed by them are upset about them. The article states "official data shows 1,000 cattle were either killed, injured or disappeared in 59 attacks in 2001". Now if you figure that out it is almost 17 cows hurt or killed per wolf attack.

Then people in the U.S. wonder why us ranchers are so scared of the wolf and what they are going to do to our herds. We do our best to take care of and keep our cattle from harm but running cattle on the open range precludes penning the cattle up every night to protect them like Spanish farmers are doing.

I also note for all you wolf lovers out there that the article states "The most recent recorded fatal attack on a human was in 1974, when a wolf killed two children in Galicia." Now I keep hearing from wolf lovers that there is no recorded incident of a wolf killing a human. I guess to them children are not human.

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

Terrorists

Michelle Malkin has a good opinion piece that is worth reading about the Eco-Terrorists in our society and how they endanger us all. Good read if your worried about the terrorist among us.

Terrorists often claim to be fighting wars, and to be doing no more than is necessary in war. This is nonsense. His feelings towards the individual are abolished by his loathing of the group, and it is this—rather than his cowardice, cruelty, or intemporate hate—that constitutes his true moral corruption.
Roger Scruton (b. 1944)

Intelligence

I saw this headline, “Congress Approves Intelligence Bill “, and for a second I got very excited that finally our Congress was doing something right and was mandating that there be some intelligence shown in our hallowed halls of the Capital.

Of course I realized right away what this story was about. It is a simple funding bill financing the CIA, NSA, parts of the FBI, State, and Defense Departments. What I found interesting though was a provision in this “funding bill” that would expand on the powers of the “Patriot Act” and allow the FBI to searches, without a warrant of more businesses they suspect might be helping terrorist. I guess the laugh is on me. I thought we had a right against unreasonable searches and seizures as granted under the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. I guess that is a thing of the past.

Having intelligence is not as important as knowing when to use it, just as having a hoe is not as important as knowing when to plant. ATTRIBUTION: Chinese proverb.

Billy the Kid

To me this illustrates government at its finest(worst). The New Mexico Governor has announced that they are going to reopen the case of Billy the Kid and have even got him representation of a lawyer. Now I do not know much about the pressing issues in the New Mexico but I am sure the Governor has much more important things to do with his time than to run an investigation and decide wether he needs to pardon Billy the Kid. I would like to know why our elected government officials decide that these kinds of useless things need time wasted on them. Personally I put the whole Billy the Kid thing in the category of “who gives a s**t.”

There is no nonsense so errant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast majority by adequate governmental action. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

Drunken Firefighters?

I don’t know how widespread the problems in this article reach but it doesn’t sound like a good deal to me. I know that nowadays police, military, and many other jobs don’t allow people to drink while they are on duty so maybe firefighters need to modernize and adopt this practice voluntarily before the government does it for them. If they don’t they might tarnish there hero image they have presently in our culture.

Alcohol doesn’t console, it doesn’t fill up anyone’s psychological gaps, all it replaces is the lack of God. It doesn’t comfort man. On the contrary, it encourages him in his folly
Marguerite Duras (b. 1914)

Blind Criminals

Sometimes I really have to wonder about the intelligence of people as shown by this story. But by the same token being a criminal isn't the smartest career move in the world to make unless you are a politician, whom some people consider to be a criminal by definition.

Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions. Agatha Christie (1891-1976)

Running Scared

According to this story the President of the United States "GEORGE Bush was last night branded chicken for scrapping his speech to Parliament because he feared being heckled by anti-war MPs." He fears he will be heckled like he was recently in Australia while giving a speech to its MPs. The way I feel is that you would not be afraid of being heckled if he was proud of his actions and wanted to stand up for them. The President AND His advisors need to get a backbone.

Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger. Francis Quarles (1592 - 1644)

Important Announcement

Here is some vital information I am sure you really need. Today is World Toilet Day. Yes believe it or not, somebody has designated today World Toilet Day. I just thought this information was vital so you could plan your celabration on this vital day.

Please don t squeeze the Charmin.® Mr. Whipple

Guilt

I find it amazing that something as big and impersonal as a cow can make a person feel guilty but mine have managed it. I took the main bunch of cows “out in the hills” after I weaned the calves and worked them. There was, and still is, plenty of grass out there to last them for quite awhile. But they have decided that they need something better to eat and are walking the fence trying to come home to where I feed them in the winter.

Now I understand that the grass does not have the nutrients in it at this time of year that it does when it is still green but I have looked them over very closely and they are doing okay for now so I am going to wait for a couple of more weeks to start supplementing them. I could be feeding them supplemental protein like I am the calves and yearlings but is it necessary to walk the fence and make me feel guilty.

Well I guess they are just letting me know there opinion but I am going to be mean and make them stay out there a couple of more weeks before I get them in to start supplementing them so I can try to keep my costs in line. One last time I will say it though. Is it necessary to walk the fence and make me feel guilty.

The very presence of guilt, let alone its tenacity, implies imbalance: Something, we suspect, is getting more of our energy than warrants, at the expense of something else, we suspect, that deserves more of our energy than we’re giving. Melinda M. Marshall

Conservatives Pitch a Fit

I sometimes wonder what “conservative groups” are thinking. Here is a story about how they do not like the recent decision that removed Mr. Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice position when he would not remove the ten commandments monument he had placed in the rotunda of the state courthouse. They are also upset about the removal of the ten commandments themselves and want to stop this from happening elsewhere.

To keep this from happening again their answer is to limit the power of the federal judiciary. The Constitution that we live under is based on the three branches of government, executive, congressional, and judicial, being able to act and counter balance the decisions of the other branches (checks and balances). Since most “conservative groups” paint themselves as true Americans I do not understand why they want to ignore the Constitution in this matter. The way I understand it you cannot have simple laws to limit the power of the judiciary it would take a Constitutional Amendment to do this.

I personally deplore "judicial activism" but in this case the justices relied on many years of precedent on the 1st amendment, which states Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion and is interpreted as “separation of church and state”, to make their decision. There are many times I disagree with judicial decisions but instead of attacking the constitution to fight them people need to work within the frame of our laws and customs to make their changes.

If it were not for injustice, men would not know justice.
Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC)

Montana Football News Goes National

Front page news in the Washington Post is a story out of Montana. Do not let the title fool you that it is only about football, it is also about the decline of the small eastern Montana towns. The Washigton Post needs to consult a map though. They have the story listed in the Minnesota state news section. I guess this just shows you that anybody left in Eastern Montana is in "the Middle of Nowhere"

Things do not change; we change. Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

Economic Upturn

Here is an interesting take on the "upturn in the economy" by columnist Paul Craig Roberts. He points out that in the recent unemployment report "All of the new jobs are in services. None of the new service jobs are capable of producing export earnings to bring balance to our massive trade deficit."

I agree wholeheartedly with what he is saying. Service jobs do not "create" any new money they only recycle the money already out there. Resource based industries, like mining, forestry, and agriculture, create money in an economy. Further industrial and manufacturing capacity add value to the Resource industries. Our continued loses in Resource based industries and manufacturing capabilities are only going to hurt us in the long run.

The only place I disagree with Mr. Roberts is that he places all the blame for this problem on President Bush. People have been complaining about the loss of manufacturing capacity for it seems like 40 years and that encompasses many different administrations. I know the man in charge is always the one ultimately responsible for what happens but it seems to me like whether it is Republicans or Democrats the problem stays the same and never changes.

Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
John Kenneth Galbraith

Blogs Boring

Jennifer Howard started out liking blogs but now says "I'm feeling betrayed -- and a little bored. " The more blogs she reads the more she feels "burned out on cronyism and negativity." I guess we need to be more upbeat and exciting in our blogging to satisfy her.

Critics generally come to be critics not by reason of their fitness for this, but of their unfitness for anything else. Samuel Butler (1835–1902)

High Priced Ranch Land

There was an interesting article in the Gazette yesterday about how prime ranch land is selling for such high prices that a average Joe cannot afford to buy it just to raise cattle. This has been talk in ranch country for quite a while now. Year after year we see rich men and women come along and buy ranches up for outrageous prices that you could never make work just by running cattle. Not only does this raise our property taxes, but also raises the valuation of our ranches so that when we do pass away our children have to sell the place to pay the taxes.

This whole situation is a two edged sword for us ranchers. It prices us out of purchasing more land to run cattle but if we need to sell land it makes it very valuable. That I can see there is no answer to the problem since if I wanted to sell my place I would want to receive the highest price I could for it.

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. Barry LePatner

A Hug is Valuable

Here is a story with a happy ending. Imagine, a business man who gives a piece of property back to an old widow and says that it "was a no-brainer, a moral issue, not a legal one. The property should be returned to her." Then he says. "I got a hug from a little old lady. That was worth more than anyone could imagine." Taking the moral high road over the legal one and taking payment in good feelings. Maybe there is hope for this world after all.

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare. Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Beef Prices at Record High

I wrote recently about the high cattle prices I sold some cattle for and now I find two articles, one local and one national, about the same subject. They both point to the recent increase in cattle prices are due to a combination of factors in the industry. These factors being:

1. Long term increases in the demand for beef in the U.S. due to the protein rich Atkins and South Beach diets which more and more people are following.

2. Closing of the border from Canada for cattle due to the discovery of 1 cow with BSE (Mad Cow Disease).

3. Decreases in the U.S. herd size due to prolonged drought and previous years poor prices.

While the increase in prices are good for me and the cattle industry as a whole, I am extremely concerned that these same prices on the consumer end of the market are going to severely impact beefs market share against its traditional rivals chicken and pork.

Bad news for the consumer is that it will take many years, due to a number of factors, for beef production to ramp up and bring prices back down for them. Even with the Canadian border opening up, which is going to happen in a couple of more months, the extra cattle from there are not going to significantly reduce prices since the small percentage of cattle from there are a very small percentage of the total U.S. slaughter numbers.

Well I guess this just shows a person that the laws of supply and demand still work. Fewer cattle, higher prices. Wish I had better news for you consumer, but it is good news for me.

In business everyone is out to grab, to fight, to win. Either you are the under or the over dog. It is up to you to be on top. Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)

Names Have Meaning

The latest campaign against hostile forces in Iraqi has been dubbed "Operation Iron Hammer". This name was obviously chosen to make the American people feel that the military is taking firm control of the situation in Iraqi. This is understandable since the administration feels that tough steps need to be taken about the guerrillas that have been attacking coalition forces, but with a name like this I feel that we are only going to be alienating the common Iraqi citizen and turn them against us. We have to remember that we managed to alienate the common citizen in Vietnam and look what happened to us in the long run there. To help us in the long run in Iraqi we need to win the trust of the people, not fill them with fear and make them want us to leave. There is an old saying, you can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.

History ... is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
But what experience and history teach is this—that peoples and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

TV Network

Former Vice President Al Gore announced quite awhile ago that he planned on starting a liberal TV network to combat the conservative voice in the media. Well according to this article now he says "The "quasi-hypnotic influence" of television in America has fostered a complacent nation". He also states "Our democracy is suffering in an age when the dominant medium is not accessible to the average person...Instead it pushes toward a lowest common denominator." If this is the way he feels why is he starting a TV network?
Doesn't he know it will only pander to the "lowest common denominator." I sure wish he could make up his mind. Either the TV is a medium to spread your message or it is not. You can't have it both ways.

As an aside I do agree that television does push towards the lowest common denominator in our society and I also agree that the Internet seems to be where the debates and thought in our society is moving to as is talked about in the article.

Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. Ann Landers

Montanans Don't Deserve Scholarships?

When I first saw this article it did not sound too bad. But I couldn't believe it after I read a little more. I was under the impression our Montana university system was here to educate Montana children. Well I guess it appears not.

These new scholarships are such that the number awarded will be limited to residents of Montana but there is no limit on the out-of-state scholarships. To top it off the limited number to Montana students are half the amount as given to the unlimited out-of-state students.

At least these scholarships are not coming out of the massive 12.25% tuition increase this year it is just out of private contributions. Isn't that good news. I just think the University system should worry about Montana kids more than people from out-of-state.

Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forbes

Hunters

I always dread hunting season around here with all the hunters roaming around, leaving gates open, shooting livestock, stealing anything that isn't tied down and otherwise creating havoc on a ranch. So far I have been lucky and besides leaving tracks all over because of the light mud here it has been fairly calm. Well today was a waste of a day. Some inconsiderate hunter decided to leave a bunch of my gates open. So I had to go around closing gates and gathering my cattle back up that were in the wrong pastures. People wonder why landowners won't allow them to hunt. Well this is the reason. It is easier to say no hunting than to try to separate the good from the bad.

The cold, inconsiderate of persons, tingles your blood, benumbs your feet, freezes a man like an apple. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

Protest Suppressed?

Our President and his security forces now want an allied foreign country, Britain, to suppress its residents rights to gather in legitimate protest. I understand that the British people are not governed by our laws and Constitution, which by the way includes a "right of the people peaceably to assemble" (Amendment I to the Constitution), but it seems to me like if the President really wants to be the leader of the Free World he should allow people in other countries the "right of the people peaceably to assemble" as our laws are supposed to. I guess he is ashamed of his policies that led these people to want to protest.

We must dare to think "unthinkable" thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. We must learn to welcome and not to fear the voices of dissent. James W. Fulbright

Spam is a Problem
Well not only is spam annoying to us now experts say its economic concequences are greater than that of hackers. Whether or not it costs me money or not I am sick and tired of all the annoying emails. What I would like to find is someone who will admit they answer one of them. They would not keep sending them if they did not work but you can never find someone who admits to responding to one of them. I guess this is one of the great mysterys of the univerese.

Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless.
Sinclair Lewis (1885 - 1951)

Expanding Democracy

Well here's a good one for you. The U.S. government is frustrated with its hand picked Iraqi's Governing Council. It seems "they have spent more time on their own political or economic interests than in planning for Iraq's political future" and "they just don't make decisions when they need to". So lets see there politicians spend too much money, use public office for their own personal gain, fail to adequately communicate with their people. It looks to me like we have accomplished our goal of establishing a American style democracy in Iraqi. Hurray for us.

Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.
Clement Richard Atlee, British prime minister (1945-1951)

Funny Money

I thought the whole idea of spending all that money by our government for the new $20 was to make it safer from counterfeiters. Well go here and find out it is not working very out very well. I haven't even seen one of these new bills yet and it is already being counterfeited.

Our truth of nowadays is not what is, but what others can be convinced of; just as we call “money” not only that which is legal, but also any counterfeit that will pass. Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

Police State

I know many people out there will not agree with me but this just sounds like a police state on its way to future atrocities. There are ways of checking for drugs without waving guns in children's faces and telling them to lay on the floor while you search for drugs. So that the police can intimidate them is sure not the reason I send my kid to school. I send them there for an education. I guess the education now includes training in how to be arrested and intimidated by the police.

There are only two choices: A police state in which all dissent is suppressed or rigidly controlled; or a society where law is responsive to human needs. If society is to be responsive to human needs, a vast restructuring of our laws is essential. William Orville Douglas (1898–1980)

Liberation

Altered States, Mind Contracting
False Hope, Soul Dying
Spirit Failing, Numbness Expanding
Problems Forgotten, Vitality Ending

Son's Watching, Understanding Given
Hands Reaching, Spirit Forgiving
Love's Offered, Soul Helping
Ear Hearing, Heart Surrender

Approach Forgivness, Pain Ahead
Responsibility Taken, Amends Made
Redemption Offered, Love's Given
Eyes Opened, Sadness Ends

Father's Hope, Son Reaveled
Salvation Offered, Sins Removed
Eternal Life, Promise Given
Free Will, Soul Shriven

Clarity Reavealed, Mind Expanding
Hope Eternal, Soul Rejoicing
Spirit Abounding, Existence Felt
Reality Faced, Life Begining

Sarpy Sam

Jessica Lynch

I know this subject has been talked about ad nauseum but I have to throw my two cents worth in. Everyone seems to be acting surprised that Jessica Lynch was raped while held captives by the Iraqis. This is what you get when women are near the front lines of a military conflict. War is ugly and brutal and our fairer sex has no reason to be near it. You had Iraqi men, full of adrenaline and testosterone, in this situation whose country was being invaded and they wanted to retaliate and did.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in equality of the sexes, but I was also raised to believe in protecting the fairer sex from exactly this kind of situation. Even Jessica Lynch is upset with the military and the media over there making her out to be a hero. Our military is no place to experiment with social engineering. It is to protect our country and to project our foreign policies throughout the world (whether you believe it should be used for the latter or not). For a more succinctly worded way of saying all of this go here.

As long as there is rape ... there is not going to be any peace or justice or equality or freedom. You are not going to become what you want to become or who you want to become. You are not going to live in the world you want to live in. Andrea Dworkin

Ash Fields

Here's a story about how farmers have been affected by the California fires. I was lucky during our big fire this summer and only lost about 2000 acres of grass. The effort, agony and despair that I felt while fighting the fire and saving as much grass as I could is hard for me too describe. So much of a farmer/ranchers soul/life gets tied up in trying to save, and losing crops or grass or livestock that it feels like a member of your family is dying to them. I really have sympathy for them and can understand the agony they are going through and even though there are many times government assistance programs after a disaster like this, it just can't make you whole from what you lost. Please join me in praying for all those that have lost lives and/or property in all the fires here and elsewhere this year.

I don't need to go to Las Vegas, I gamble every year as a farmer. Monty Winkler (third-generation California farmer)

Metrosexuals?

Well I have heard of heterosexual (which I understand), and homosexual (I know what it is but don't understand it) but metrosexuals? The article explains it but it brings to my mind something not very pretty. I guess Howard Dean feels that he needs to out himself on this issue. If the Democratic candidates make this a campaign issue it must be pretty important to them.

What do I know about sex? I'm a married man.
Tom Clancy

Market Highlights

I had a semi truckload of cattle at the auction market yesterday. Just some old cows, odds and ends calves that didn't go with the rest when I shipped and the dry yearlings I mentioned in a previous post. Everything sold extremely well but I could not believe the amount the yearling heifers brought. They averaged 975 lbs. and brought 97.75 cwt. That is an unbelievable amount of money for this type of critter. Makes me tempted to sell all of my coming 2 year olds if I can get that kind of money. It is almost guaranteed that in another year I will not get this kind of money for drys. But that would hurt my herd in the long run. Always need to be looking at the future in this game. This cattle market is a pretty funny animal.

Be careful that victories do not carry the seed of future defeats.
Ralph W. Sockman

Bull Riding

I know I said I don't follow sports much but one that I do is PBR (Professional Bull Riding). They are having there World Finals in Las Vegas starting today and lasting through Sunday. I personally am rooting for Wiley Peterson to win the Million dollar prize but I don't think he can overtake Chris Shivers. All the action can be caught live on the OLN Network. Enough for the promo and on to the bull riding.

To be a bull rider takes a man with a whole lot of guts and not many brains. Chris Shivers

Toothpicks?

One of the mysteries of the universe has been solved. Did Early Humans Use Toothpicks? Why this is a question that has plaqued me for years. I will sure sleep better at night knowing the answer to this.

It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.
Alec Bourne

Bliss Legislation Disapproved

Well the voters of Denver are fairly intelligent after all.

The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence.
Robert J. Shiller, Irrational Exuberance

Replacement Heifers


Well despite the snow and cold weather I got the replacement heifers worked today. The vet was here to Bangs vaccinate them and we wormed them and gave them a vaccination that covers quite a few respiratory ailments and some venereal like diseases. Normally I would also put a year brand on them but with the snow they were to wet to do that. It always seems like it has to be a cold, wet day when I work cows. What luck I have.

The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.
Bret Harte (1836 - 1902)

Who's The Child Here

I sometimes wonder about American people as evidenced by this article. Just because somebody failed to give his child Halloween candy he decided to become a one man wrecking crew on her home. This is something i would expect a child to do, not a grown adult. I will give him credit though since he did give the woman his name and address before he started so that he could be held responsible for his actions.

The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.
Harlan Ellison (1934 - )

Seeds of Hatred

This whole wave of Anti-Semitism that is sweeping the globe is enough to make me sick (Oldest hatred makes a comeback). I agree with President Bush for condemning Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad for his recent remarks about Jews. I just wish I knew how to combat this insidious spread of racism, especially on the European continent. These feelings of anti-semitism have led once in an attempt at genocide, where will it go this time?

Make no mistake — seeds of hatred are being sown and a day of bitter harvest will come. Philip Gailey

Bliss to be Legislated

Well Denver voters are going to vote on an initiative that is designed to reduce stress in the city. Well how legislation can reduce stress and tension is beyond me. Some of the suggestions put forward by the author of the bill on how to accomplish these things are:

1. yogic flying: "Outwardly, it looks like a bunch of people hopping around on a foam mat, but inwardly, they are building up a surge of brain wave coherence, and that can have dramatic effects on an entire community."

2. playing sitar music or "soothing primordial sounds" in a public building can decrease stress "even if there is nobody there to hear it."

And I thought all the loonies were on the West Coast.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

Disappointment

Today we pregnancy checked the coming 2-year old heifers as part of getting the cattle ready for the winter. Out of 111 head we checked, 16 of them were dry (without calves in them). This works out to about 15% drys. This is an absolutely horrible number of drys to have. We have been as poor as 10% before but usually the numbers are even better than that. There are many things I could blame, rightly or wrongly, for these results but instead of laying blame I will try to figure out how I can improve them. I will just give thanks that it was no worse than it was.

Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy—the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation. Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)

Wolves on the Loose

Many Ranchers in Montana and the surrounding states have been championing this for years (The case for wolves – in Central Park). I for one have to agree. Let the residents of the fair states east of the Mississippi experience the wolves too.

It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
William Ralph Inge (1860 - 1954)

Honesty and Integrity Prevail

At times I, like many other people, worry about how our younger generation is growing up and the values that they appear to lack. Well today I run across a story that makes me feel better about the younger generation today (High school QB says record pass tainted).
Here is a young man with the integrity and honesty to request that his passing record in football be removed from the official records of the football association since his coach, and the opposing coach, conspired to let him complete his final pass to make the record.
The media, in doing its job, tends to always tell us about the bad children and overlook those that do the right, moral, and decent thing in life. Many times I have heard older people disparage the younger generation and its lack of morals and character. I personally know many honest, hard-working young people and it is not fair to say this about them. We all need to remember that just because all we hear about is the bad kids does not mean all kids are bad.

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? Cicero(106 BC - 43 BC)