Thoughts From The Middle of Nowhere

Just a Dumb Ranchers Wonderings

  • Extortion

    <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/16/build/nation/96-indiancasions.inc">Colorado</a> and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=QNEEZZEROZLPUCRBAE0CFFA?type=domesticNews&storyID=4136751">Pennsalvania</a> are both being blackmailed by Indian tribes just to get casino building rights. A historical fact, whether we like it or not, is that the Indians were conquered, moved aside, bought out, or destroyed as the people of the U.S. expanded across the continent. Now we can get into a…

  • I’m Not Sure

    Well as you know I belive in beef but <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040115/ap_on_fe_st/brain_sandwiches">this is going a little far.</a> Give me a good steak anyday.<br />n<br />n<b>I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused. Elvis Costello </b>

  • Loss

    Can you imagine working hard all your life producing something and then seeing it all destroyed? That is what is happening to <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/15/build/wyoming/25-brucellosis.inc">this rancher in Wyoming.</a> Because animals in his herd have tested positive for Brucellosis the government is condemning his whole herd. Don&acirc;

  • Grammarians

    I was going to write about the <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/14/build/wyoming/20-wolfprotections.inc">wolf not being delisted</a> due to <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/14/build/wyoming/25-wolfprotectionsreax.inc">Wyoming legislatures bone headed decision</a> to classify them as a predator but decided that <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com/citylights/">Ed's</a> rant on grammarians (is this a word) warranted a comment by me. I have stayed out of the fray at City Lights on both…

  • Ag Subsidies

    It appears that the U.S. is going to cave on agricultural subsides to get <a href="http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1073280940217&p=1012571727085">World Trade Organisation talks going again.</a> I personally have never understood all the farm programs out there, nor do I want to, so I don't know how big of concession this really is. The way I understand it the U.S.…

  • Blame Game

    I read an article today that blamed the <acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> for the whole <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> mess the cattle industry is in. Unfortunately the publication I read it in is not available on line so I am unable to link it…

  • Fighting Back

    Those evil ranchers are at it again, at least one in particular. Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) is the chair of the House committee for environmental policy and is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11279-2004Jan12.html">trying to recast the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in one fell swoop.</a> The ESA is in desperate need of reform and if this is the…

  • Military Honors

    <a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040112/od_uk_nm/oukoe_people_clinton_1">I see our Ex Presidente is up for a prestigious military honor.</a> Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. A post which can be traced back to 1226, he would be technically responsible for repelling an invasion of the southeast coast of Britain. I say let the British have him. He needs a new crop…

  • Finger Pointing

    <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/01/12/build/business/30-canada-beef.inc">This article</a> really made me laugh. While I agree with the assessment that U.S. finger pointing at Canada is a little juvenile, the Canadian cattle producers ought to be a little more careful about the claims they make.<br />n<!–more–><br />n<i>Before <acronym title="Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy">BSE</acronym> was found in the Alberta Black Angus in May, cattle…

  • Weapons of Math Instruction

    At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator.<br />n<br />nAt a morning press conference, Attorney general John Ashcroft said he believes the man is…

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