Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

Just a little information on what the Legislature is up to from the Gazette. I don't have time to do much else right now.

We have a push to allow more licenses to sell drinks at places that serve food. Not much opposition is seen for this for a change.

A law to allow an expansion of medical marijuana in Montana was tabled. Letting people have drugs other than booze and cigarettes is not high on the Legislatures wish list.

The Republicans property tax plan debuts. The Republicans claim it is more fair than the Governors and it will cost $150 million. The Democrats claim it is going to cost $378 million and gives money back to the rich who don't need it. Let the games begin.

Then we have the Democrats opposing and the Republicans supporting tuition reduction in Montana colleges. A little backwards from what we normally see but the Democrats say there are other measures to be discussed for reducing college costs before they can kill support this measure. We will see what happens. Will we see any actions to reduce college costs with the Legislature at such loggerheads? I don't know.

Should counties be given the option of banning fireworks in the county like the cities all ready can? This bill brings that before the Legislators attention. I do have a question though, what would happen if a city wanted to allow fireworks sales in a county that doesn't allow fireworks sale? Who trumps who here? I'm sure in the long run we will find out.

Just some quick hits and thoughts, off to take care of the cows.

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. Friedrich Nietzsche

Beautiful early morning colors seen the other day. They are so intriguing. Taken 1/29/2006.

Wildlife agency plans to delist gray wolves

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday said it plans on delisting gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains by the end of the year, but it's unclear whether wolves in Wyoming will be included.

The agency also said Monday that it is removing some 4,000 wolves in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin from the endangered-species list. That decision will be effective in about a month.

"This is a major success story for conservation achieved under the Endangered Species Act," Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the Interior, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a telephone conference with reporters.

I am so glad to see this. We have seen that the wolves breed like flies so I don't think the populations are in danger any more. The State of Montana has shown that it is more than capable of handling its wildlife population without the Federal Government sticking its nose in. Lets do it that way. I'm hoping that the state will be more responsive and act quicker to trouble wolves than the Feds were. No proof that this will be the case, but I can hope.

Let me be clear here. I do not like wolves running around killing critters willy nilly. It goes against my basic instinct of taking care of the animals around me. I will also admit that the economic consequences of wolves to ranchers is real and of concern. Eventually wolves will reach this area and I will have to deal with it. I would never advocate the three S solution to wolf management, Shoot, Shovel and Shut up but don't ask me what I would do if a wolf was around here. You might not like the answer.

I answer, If men did understand them before they were done, they would endeavor to let the fulfilling of them; and when the signification is fulfilled, then to see how plainly it was described in the scripture doth exceedingly confirm the faith thereof, and make it better to be understood. William Tyndale

The Hired Hand gave me notice today. He said his previous employer made him an offer it would be crazy for him to refuse. It couldn't come at a worse time with the heifers just getting ready to calve. I'll struggle through somehow though.

When you're being crazy, the sky is the limit. Louise Fletcher

Walking the two-year old heifers home to calve them. They should be starting by the 10th of February but there is always a few early ones so I brought them home now. It also lets them get used to the conditions around the houses, a lot more civilization than they are used to, before they start calving. Taken 1/29/2007.

GOP senator takes aim at party switchers

A Republican state senator wants to let voters recall public officials who switch parties, a bill that follows a defection that cost the GOP power in the state Senate.

Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, said his bill is not directed at former Republican Sen. Sam Kitzenberg of Glasgow. But the Republicans have not forgotten the party switch.

"His defection from Republican to the Democrats brought this issue to light," McGee said.

BULLSHIT!!!!!!! This is simply an issue of sour grapes and needs to be consigned to the shit can. The voters can vote the SOB out next time around if they are upset that he switched parties. That's how are system works. Don't screw with it.

Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing. Bernard Baruch

Coach could lose job over alcohol rule

The Plenty Coups High School athletic director and boys basketball coach faces suspension today in a dispute with the superintendent over the dismissal from the team of a player who drank alcohol.

Larry Lee Falls Down, a Billings West High graduate hired for the coaching and director's job last August, said Monday he's sticking to his decision not to reinstate the player. He will take his suspension as basketball coach to the school board through the grievance process, he said.

While recognizing the superintendent's right to overrule his decision, Falls Down said he made a commitment when he took the job to help the players set and achieve goals and to maintain standards for the program. He's not changing his mind, he said.

Good for the Coach. Stick to your guns. I hate the mixed message that sometimes gets sent to athletes that the rules only apply to them when they are losing. When they are winning they can do anything they want and get away with it. That is exactly what we are seeing here. The Coach says no to a player because he used alcohol, illegal for youths under 21, and the Superintendent wants to overrule the Coach. Why? I assume because the team is winning.

Maintaining standards and living by the rules is important throughout life and this Coach should be hailed for his stand to stick by the rules through thick and thin. The student needs to learn there are consequences for your actions and you take them like a man, learn from them, and go on. The Coach is showing exactly this by sticking to his guns and not bowing to the pressure from the Superintendent. Hopefully the students learn a lesson from this.

My life is my message. Mohandas Gandhi

Hamburger Helper

Every rancher has cattle who get old or injured. And for most ranchers, their emotional attachment to the animals forces a financial decision

If the rancher takes the animal to the sales ring, on its way to the packing plant, it could fall and be injured. If it's injured to the point of being a "downer," it can't be sold.

The other choice is to sell the cow to a butcher, pay a processing charges of around $300 in return for $1-a-pound hamburger.

I found this story very interesting. This organization takes cull cows, donates them to the Billings food bank, and the rancher gets a $500 tax write off. This looks like a really good deal to me. I occasionally take up an animal that would work good for this program and it looks like a win-win situation for all.

Without food, man can live at most but a few weeks; without it, all other components of social justice are meaningless. Norman Borlaug

Cows soaking up the morning sun after a cold night. Taken 1/22/2006.

My Darling Wife always claims the place is held together with baling twine. At times I think she might be right.Taken 1/25/2006.

Todays Gazette had a few pieces on CBM that I found interesting and share with you.

First there is a news piece out of Wyoming about how the state is considering regulating the water discharged from the wells and how the industry is howling it will kill them. In the industries opinion they should be able to contaminate the environment with this water and it is all good because they provide jobs and income to the state and there should be no regulation. There has to be a middle ground here somewhere. The industry can clean up its act a little bit and still make money. They won't make as much profit having to invest a little bit back to protect the environment, but they can still make money. If they want it can be a win/win situation for them, if you don't consider that they are removing the water from the ground forever which is where my concern falls.

Then there is the two guest opinions in the Gazette about coal bed methane in Montana and the recent law suit about it. The Chairman of the NPRC, Mark Fix, explains the problems with pulling all the water out of the ground and selling it and how that affects water rights in not only Montana, but throughout the West.

Western water law was developed to clarify who had a right to use water, and how much. Just as important, water law prevents wasting water by requiring that water rights only be granted when the water is put to a beneficial use.

But today, the "beneficial use" doctrine is under attack here in Montana, and this attack threatens to create a dangerous precedent that could stand Western water law on its head.

Coalbed methane drilling removes huge volumes of water in the process of extracting the methane gas. That extracted water contains enough sodium products to create serious impacts to soil.

Although much of this groundwater has too much sodium to use it for irrigation, local people rely on it for livestock watering. Dewatering aquifers through large-scale drilling will create long-term lowering of water tables.

Then there is the response from the company who is pumping the water out of the ground. The gist of their response is that by selling the water they are putting it to "beneficial use" and so all is well and good in the state of Montana.

I'm all for businesses getting the job done but the removal of such a vital resource as water from this dry corner of the state just scares me. Pumping water out of the ground in one area doesn't just take the water from just under the land that you are pumping from. It lowers the water table over a very large area, how large I am uncertain, and affects people and their water rights in areas well away from the area where the water is being pumped out from. Ground water is a large shared commodity that affects us all and needlessly dumping it out affects us all.

The waste of life occasioned by trying to do too many things at once is appalling. Orison Swett Marden

Time has this really funny habit. It keeps ticking on no matter what. You go on with your daily life and routines and all of a sudden you look up and notice that the month is about over, time has marched on and you almost didn't notice.

Marching forward on,
Slick ice cleaned by winter winds
Grab that whipping end.

This happened to me this month. With the daily feeding of the cows and the routine of therapy appointments, doctor's appointments and other routines it almost slipped away. Its time to bring the heifers home to calve and it almost got past me. I realizes the end of the month was coming about Wednesday and I have been getting the few things done here to bring them home.

I was considering bringing them home Monday but I am not sure that is going to happen now, I might have to wait until Wednesday to do it. Today while feeding I broke both front springs out from under one of the pickups. Yes, I said both front springs, one on each side. How I managed that is beyond me, but it happened. I am probably going to have to spend Monday trying to get the parts to fix the problem.

It will be good to bring the heifers home. I am not looking forward to night calving and the lack of sleep that entails but to see some calves running around will be fun. Time almost got away from me though. I wouldn't have forgotten about bringing the heifers home but that dastardly beast, time sure slipped up quick on me. It tried but failed as it always will.

Being and time determine each other reciprocally, but in such a manner that neither can the former - Being - be addressed as something temporal nor can the latter - time - be addressed as a being. Martin Heidegger

Ethanol Makes Gasoline Costlier, Dirtier

In his State of the Union address, President Bush spoke a lot about energy independence and alternative energy sources such as ethanol. According to the president, ethanol is the magical elixir that will solve virtually every economic, environmental, and foreign policy problem on the horizon. In reality, it's enormously expensive and wasteful.

Untruths and misconceptions about ethanol include:

Ethanol will lead to energy independence. If all the corn produced in America last year were dedicated to ethanol production (14.3 percent of it was), U.S. gasoline consumption would drop by 12 percent. For corn ethanol to completely displace gasoline consumption in this country, we would need to appropriate all U.S. cropland, turn it completely over to corn-ethanol production, and then find 20 percent more land for cultivation on top of that.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration believes that the practical limit for domestic ethanol production is about 700,000 barrels per day, a figure they don't think is realistic until 2030. That translates to about 6 percent of the U.S. transportation fuels market in 2030.

There is quite a few more interesting tidbits about ethanol in the article if you are interested. I'm not opposed to ethanol and I never have been, I just don't believe it's the answer to our oil problems. Therefore I tend to highlight the negative. Call it my failing but I think these contrarian things about ethanol need brought to light, it affects us all.

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. Henry David Thoreau

Sunlight filtering through the snow covered branches. Taken 1/12/2007.

U.S. home to set world price record at $155 mln

'Beware the affluenza virus'


The confluence of these two stories struck me as interesting. An Article about rampant consumerism being harmful and a home being planned that is going to cost $155 million. If there is anything that embodies rampant consumerism it has to be this house.

Why would you need a house that is worth that kind of money? Does it somehow make you happier to have such an extravagant dwelling or is it just a way to stick it at the lowly peasants who can't afford such? What kind of score do you get for owning such an extravagant home or do you get any points? Does such a pricey house drive up home prices in Montana for us peasants? Is such conspicuous consumption in keeping with a Montana lifestyle or is the Yellowstone Club, a gated community where the house is to be built, a country of its own and has no relation to Montana and it's lifestyle?

I can't for the life of me figure out what one person would need with a house that costs such a large amount of money. I can't see how it would make you happy and healthy. The article on rampant consumerism really brings it into focus if you think about it.

Bigger houses, more cars, larger televisions, younger faces - these goals are frenetically pursued by middle-class workaholics afflicted by "affluenza".

"Studies in lots of different nations show that if you place high value on those things, you are more likely to suffer depression, anxiety, addictions and personality disorders," he said.

Don't get me wrong here, a $155 million dollar home is not being marketed to the middle class, but the drives that lead to it are the same. I've thought about how I can expand my ranch or change my production for more profits on my ranch more than once. Get bigger, go to grass fed beef and market it myself, do a dude ranch concept, or other things. The drive, to bring more money and profit into the business. What stops me? Every time I think about something different like that I can't help thinking how these things would take away from the more important things in my life. My family. The drive for money is all fine and dandy, but family and personal relationships are just as important, if not more important, and need fostered to. You can try to buy love but it doesn't work out real well. To invest in personal relationships takes time, not money, so any pursuit for money costs you investment in time to your family. That's a sad fact.

Speaking of peasants, this just goes to show you how Montana is being sold off to the rich and famous and those of us natives that are left are expected to be peasants to them. It is a trend that has been going on for a while and is only getting worse. A better business economy in the state would help this trend some, not enough so that the common worker could buy a $155 million dollar home, by helping to provide higher wage jobs in the state so the residents wouldn't be seen as peasants. I'm not sure our Legislature wants this though. By continuing to call businesses the problem in the state the selling off of our state continues.

It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life. Christopher Lasch