In April, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations announced that the U.S. will conduct a formal review of its position on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), an historic document over two decades in the making. UNDRIP was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in September 2007, with 143 […]
Politics
Posted inAugust 20, 2010: A Hell of an Anniversary
How green is Judge Molloy?
Latest wolf ruling triggers more complaints of judicial activism
Posted inRange
Conservation groups reject deal for Child Nutrition Program
The Capital Press – a western agricultural weekly – is reporting that “conservation groups” are part of a coalition of agricultural and other organizations opposing cutting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) in order to fund the Obama Administration’s drive to expand child nutrition programs – including the innovative farm-to-school program. […]
Posted inGoat
Telemocracy #3
You thought he had receded into the bowels of history, relegated to the proverbial footnotes of our politics. Indeed, Dan, of “potatoe” fame, has passed into the relative obscurity of Phoenix sprawlurbia – and yet, the Quayle name lives on … Behold, the second iteration, Ben Quayle. Quayle 2.0 is honoring the spirit of his father’s […]
Posted inRange
New Mexico gets most back from Washington
Since this is an election year, it’s time to ponder politics. Let’s ignore policy and platforms for the moment, and look at money. Which state’s congressional delegation is best at delivering the dollars? The champion team is in the West. According to statistics compiled by the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., New Mexico’s representatives and […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
If the bears don’t get you, the bicyclists will
COLORADOA specter is haunting the streets of Denver, warns businessman Dan Maes, a Tea Party denizen who hopes to become the next governor of Colorado. The threat is “very well disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes promised supporters. And what exactly is it that threatens our freedom? In a word, bicycles — the riding […]
Posted inAugust 16, 2010: Young, All-American, Illegal
Caveman of Southeast Alaska
From deep beneath the Tongass, Steve Lewis calls for conservation
Posted inAugust 16, 2010: Young, All-American, Illegal
Young, All-American, Illegal
Undocumented kids thrive in the U.S. — until they turn 18 and the law cracks down.
Posted inArticles
Unwelcome home
Chih Tsung Kao has called Boulder, Colo., home since age four. But the Taiwan native has never had legal status in the U.S. Now 24, Chih, a college graduate, has no feasible path to citizenship. “(I)t’s pretty trying to run into brick walls all the time,” Chih says. “I can’t do anything. I can’t contribute […]
Posted inGoat
Telemocracy # 2
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” –Hunter S. Thompson, in Rolling Stone, 1974 Who knew that the home of a gigantic desert lake that is mercilessly full of salt could get even weirder? Utahn politics have begotten some truly magnificent works of campaign art this cycle – let’s get right to it.
Posted inAugust 16, 2010: Young, All-American, Illegal
Crude combat
Enviros seek leverage to curb Canadian tar sands development
Posted inRange
Another way to see immigration
A friend pointed me to an interesting article about immigration from Mexico, especially into the American Southwest. In essence, it argues that this is not some internal U.S. law-enforcement issue that can be resolved by intensive policing, like Arizona’s controversial recent effort. Instead, our Southwest is typical of borderlands throughout the world, and the current […]
Posted inRange
Who’s burning the forest?
High Country News’ recent feature on arson (The Fiery Touch, August 2nd edition) provides a fascinating look into changing attitudes toward citizens who light wildfires without official permission. Wildfire arsonists have gone from something like hero status to criminal status … at least in urbanized areas. But what interested me more was senior editor Ray […]
Posted inGoat
New law empowers tribal justice systems
In late July, President Obama, an adopted member of the Crow Tribe of southern Montana, signed the Tribal Law and Order Act. The measure, introduced by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) in 2008, aims to smooth out the “jurisdictional maze” of law enforcement on reservations in order to empower tribal communities to better confront crime. Many […]
Posted inRange
Colorado’s bizarre primary
About 20 years ago, the Colorado General Assembly moved the state’s primary election from September to August. Cynics figured there was a reason, something like this: Coloradans are on vacation in August, or at least getting outdoors at every opportunity, so they’re not paying attention to politics the way they would in September. An August […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
The wrong head rolled
I am a friend and colleague of Elizabeth (“Liz”) Birnbaum, who recently managed the Minerals Management Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. She left her position several weeks into the BP spill in the Gulf. The reporting on her sometimes claims or implies that she lacks sufficient commitment to environmental protection or safety. […]
Posted inGoat
Telemocracy #1
Greetings, earthlings, and other denizens of the West. This is the first installment of what will be an ongoing High Country News roundup of Western campaign commercials. I have scoured the interwebs, and picked out a few that are particularly great in their own special ways. In today’s episode, “If you can’t say something nice, put it […]
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
The drift dweller
Colorado scientists track the ubiquitous mountain snow mold
Posted inAugust 2, 2010: The Fiery Touch
In Utah, the more things change, the more they stay the same
No one can accurately predict the future, whether it’s the effects of climate change or the flow of the Colorado River. But it’s always interesting to speculate. Here in San Juan County, Utah, it appeared there might be some progress in the decades-old debate over which public lands should be protected as wilderness. Republican Sen. […]