Posted on 11/26/2001 2:50:15 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Sometimes I think the whole business of news coverage is just a shell game. You have to keep your eye on things or you'll get fooled every time.
It's happening again. Last week I wrote about the outrageous, murderous and racist land grab going on in Zimbabwe, but at least that story is occasionally reported.
There is, however, a land grab going on under our noses that the media ignores. It's happening in this country and the government is doing it. The direct victims are ranchers and farmers. The indirect victims are the rest of us.
This has nothing to do with the skin color of the "grabee," but that doesn't change the fact that the government is the grabber.
The latest is the auction of cattle to satisfy a government grazing fine. The cattle were confiscated and sold at a loss while the rancher remains responsible for the entire fine.
News coverage, when it exists, shows only the conflict over the cattle and that the auction facility was threatened as was the young rancher who bought the cattle. What's not reported is that this is part of a government environmental land grab.
There's a concerted effort to end cattle grazing on federal land. Little by little, the environmentalists are getting what they want.
They use billions of tax-exempt dollars, donated by foundations and good-hearted citizens, to subvert environmental laws and finance lawsuits to force politically appointed judges to deliver the goods.
Never mind that lily-livered politicians, always on election watch, allow this rape of property rights.
Never mind that these issues are never put to a vote of the people.
Never mind that ranchers who graze their cattle on federal land have legitimate leases to do so.
Never mind that there is no scientific proof that grazing damages the land or threatens wildlife.
Never mind that the media ignore the truth of the story!
Who cares about ranchers and cattle? Well, you should. If those ranchers are forced out of business, the American consumer will become more dependent on foreign sources for beef. You can write off another American business.
Not only beef, by the way, the same squeeze is also on sheep ranchers and imports are already overwhelming that economy.
If you have any questions about the safety of imported foods – think cattle infected with mad-cow disease, hoof-and-mouth disease or anthrax – consider how much fun it will be when all our meat is from foreign sources, none of it labeled. By the way, a Senate committee just voted down a move to label meat with country of origin. They don't want you to know!
Forcing a family off its land because of an alleged concern about prairie grass or the effect on the habitat of a desert tortoise is no different than pushing him out because of his color. His land has been stolen; his life and business destroyed; his family dislocated; and his (our) government is doing it! What does that say about us?
It's not only ranchers. Remember the Klamath farmer crisis when the government cut off water ostensibly to protect fish? The ultimate goal has nothing to do with fish. It has everything to do with getting people off the land so it can be returned to the "natural" state, meaning no people or domestic animals.
Remember the Nevada "shovel brigade" when ranchers reopened a dirt road closed by the government to protect fish? Remember the demonstration by farmers at the Darby River in Ohio as a result of the government taking over prime, private farmland?
Then there's the battle going on right now near Barstow, Calif., with the seven remaining ranchers fighting for their lives against an environmentalist lawsuit protecting the desert tortoise. The same type of lawsuit forces area military exercises to stop when one of the critters is seen.
As for the rest of us being indirect victims of our government land grab, look at what's happened to land rights over the last eight years. The Clinton administration, by executive order, put millions of acres of land under government control with limits on its use. Little by little, across the country, and usually as a result of green lawsuits, more and more land is off limits to human use, whether for backpacking, camping or jet-skiing or even hiking.
Just last week in California, a federal judge ordered that pack trips in wilderness areas in the Sierra be drastically reduced as a result of a lawsuit alleging that horses and mules damage trails. Beaches are closed to "protect" sea birds, and millions of acres face building restrictions because of the red-legged frog.
The sad fact is that the media ignore the truth because they are sympathetic to green issues. If the environmentalists say it's good, the media follow in lockstep.
This is a 21st century range war, and at this point, the good guys are losing.
Ping for reference.
Regards
Interesting, I can walk in to any big supermarket in Santiago, Chile and choose from Brazilian, USA, Argentinean, or Chilean beef products, all clearly marked. Makes no sense why this is so difficult in our country??
If any of you do not subscribe, I highly recommed RANGE...it is dedicated to issues that treaten the West, its people, lifestyles, lands and wildlife. CJ Hadley, publisher/editor has put together a superb magazine.
Website: www.rangemagazine.com
NEW ACTIVITY at A CANAL HEADGATES
11/26/01-Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Or.
By TODD KEPPLE The A Canal headgates, shown here (IF AuntB could do pictures!) this morning covered with snow, will be replaced under a plan being drawn up by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Work begins on new headgates and fish screen
The protesters are long gone (some of 'em ran away to Canada!), but activity continues at the A Canal headgates this fall, where workers are beginning a series of projects that will eventually lead up to replacement of the entire canal headworks. Initial work includes construction of a new fence around the headgates and installation of a security system that will include motion detectors and lighting.(Wah....let's p!$$ away some more taxpayer money!)
But dirt is also being moved as crews collect soil samples in preparation for construction of new headgates that will be fitted with screens to keep endangered suckers from entering the canal.(HOW many of us tried to tell the world that there were no screens??NO ONE cared, least of all the enviro's!)
Most of the construction work will be done between the 2002 and 2003 irrigation seasons, said Jim Bryant, chief of land and water operations for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Basin Area Office. Before construction can begin, however, extensive soil tests must be done, including retrieval of a sample of dirt from beneath the canal, Bryant said.(watch 'em dig up a dinosaur and make it a park!)
The A Canal, constructed in 1906, runs nine miles from the south end of Upper Klamath Lake, through a tunnel beneath Oregon Avenue and past Klamath Union High School, through the south suburbs and toward the Henley area.
It serves (until LAST year!) as the primary source of irrigation water for about 180,000 acres of farmland stretching as far as Newell.
Last summer, protests over the denial of water to irrigators were focused at the A Canal headgates, which eventually were guarded by armed federal officers. They remain under the watch of a private security firm that is under contract through December.(A million here, a million there....good thing we don't have a WAR to pay for!)
Before the existing headgates can be torn out, they must be photographed to meet documentation requirements of the State Historic Preservation Office, Bryant said. “Those headgates are getting really old, and to attach fish screens to them with the complexity and size that is being contemplated probably wouldn’t work,” he said.
Screening the headgates to prevent fish from being drawn into the canal system is proving to be an engineering challenge, Bryant noted. Water moves at the rate of up to 900 cubic feet per second into the canal, and at a speed that is too fast for endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers to swim against.
The screens will have to be designed in such a way as to allow water to pass without pinning suckers against the screen. Bryant said the biggest obstacle for engineers is deciding what to do with suckers once they are blocked from entering the canal.
Allowing them to swim toward Link River might be easiest, but the fish would likely end up in Lake Ewauna, where water conditions are often lethal to fish.
An alternative might be to use fish-friendly pumps to move the fish above Putnam Point, but suckers might be carried along the current right back into the fish screens.
The Bureau of Reclamation has openly questioned the efficacy of installing fish screens on the A Canal, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, responsible for protecting endangered suckers, has firmly demanded that the canal be screened.(WHEN is this administration going to FIRE some of these useless people?)
Congress has authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to spend $5 million in designing the fish screens, but total construction costs could be far greater, Bryant said.(COULD be....bet on it.)
Heavy snow that fell over the weekend may hinder fence construction and soil sampling, but Bryant said he won’t complain. (KF was beautiful- wish you could see it in the winter)
“My guess it will hamper operations both at Clear Lake Dam and, of course, the A Canal headworks,” he said. “But right now I’m just happy about the snow.”
The weekend’s storms brought the Klamath Basin’s snowpack close to normal for this time of year, although Bryant noted that winter is only beginning, and heavy precipitation is needed through the coming months. (What excuse do you think they'll use without a drought?)
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