Bush weakens public health
Politics
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
John Daniel: A good animal, too
Ourselves When the throaty calls of sandhill cranesecho across the valley, when the rimrock flaresincandescent red, and the junipersare flames of green on the shortgrass hills, in that moment of last clear lightwhen the world seems ready to speak its name,meet me in the field alongside the pond.Without careers for once, without things to do, […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Dodged bullets
How the Bush administration shot — and missed — on some Western issues
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Up in smoke
Obama administration will inherit a beleaguered Forest Service
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Sticks and stones
As the mother of biracial children who chooses to live in the “redder” places, I have a simple solution that has worked — learn to not be offended by racial remarks and jokes (HCN, 12/8/08). If met without anger, bigotry has a way of melting under patient persistence. At least most change their outlook, and […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Bowling for westerners
Where did the paranoia come from among some hunters and “gun rights advocates” that their right to own guns is seriously threatened (HCN, 10/27/08)? The NRA and its sympathizers make gun ownership an issue of such centrality that they spend millions of dollars on a wild campaign to ensure that any attempt to enable a […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Hal’s red herring
Hal Herring’s “Why we all need the Democrats to abandon gun control” deserves our derision (HCN, 10/27/08). Herring may share some values with most Democratic voters, but proselytizing for gun addicts of the Palinesque variety is not one of them. I learned as a boy on a western Montana ranch that the thoughtful and competent […]
Posted inDecember 22, 2008: What a mess
Midnight cowboying
As the Bush administration prepares to step out the back door of history, it’s following a time-honored tradition — shoving through hundreds of last-minute rule changes. Outgoing President Clinton slammed out 26,000 pages of new rules, many of them meant to protect land or public health. But President Bush’s “midnight regulations” are mostly gifts to […]
Posted inGoat
A new consensus on public forest management?
Since it was pioneered by the likes of Daniel Kemmis (Community and the Politics of Place, 1990) “collaboration” on western natural resource issues has been a regular feature of western rural life. From the high profile Quincy Library Group to efforts that focus without publicity on a single small watershed or grazing allotment, collaborative approaches […]
Posted inGoat
Sellin’, drillin’, bribin’
Transparency International’s 2008 bribery index was released recently. Among other things, the index measures how likely companies in each sector are to bribe public officials. The winners this year: As for the state capture category, or “the frequency that sectors attempt to exert influence on government legislation, laws and decision-making through private payments to public […]
Posted inArticles
Audio: A BLM insider speaks
Rodger Schmitt talks about why he resigned his position as national recreation director.
Posted inGoat
Enviros shun autoworkers
A scene I’d like to see: The CEOs of the Sierra Club and other Big Green groups standing up in Congress and calling for financial help for the autoworkers in GM, Ford and Chrysler. Haven’t seen it, though. And that’s a problem in itself. The silence from environmentalists is one reason why they often struggle […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Don’t call it journalism
The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle in Cheyenne featured the headline “Which is scarier?” on its front page a few days before the presidential election, followed by a subhead that echoed some of the nastier campaign literature making the rounds of the region: It asked readers to choose between “a black president or a bleak economy.”
Posted inWotr
Stream access wins decisively in Montana
The long slog is over. The Montana Supreme Court has finally settled a dispute over who controls access to a side channel of the Bitterroot River known as the Mitchell Slough. The verdict: The public does; Mitchell Slough is a natural waterway, and that means access is guaranteed for the people of Montana. You may […]
Posted inWotr
It’s time for a ceasefire on guns
Gun owners represent at least 4 million of the nation’s most dedicated voters, and in election after election, they affect the outcome. Sometimes they elect politicians who are corrupt or unabashed lackeys of corporate interests — people whose only appeal to gun owners is that they promise to leave the Second Amendment alone. Now, however, […]
Posted inDecember 8, 2008: Out in the cold
For the birds
Name Scott RashidAge 45Day Job Chef at Eagle Rock High School in Estes Park, Colo. Time spent doing bird stuff “How many hours are in a week?” First date with his wife Going up to Rocky Mountain National Park’s tundra to look for ptarmigans.Other hobbies Aikido ESTES PARK, COLORADO Scott Rashid stands in front of […]
Posted inWotr
A chance to do it right in the West
The 2008 election took the West another big step down the path of political realignment that has been underway since the turn of the century. By 2000, the Rocky Mountain West had become essentially a one-party region. All eight of its governors were Republicans, as were 13 of its 16 senators. In the 2000 election, […]
Posted inWotr
The persistence of bigotry, Western-style
Q: What’s Barack Obama’s new Chinese name?A: Coon Soon Die. Work on it a little bit. You’ll get it. I got it while I was eating eggs over-medium, hashbrowns and bacon at a restaurant in Hotchkiss, a town of less than 2,000 people in western Colorado. The waitress who was pouring coffee asked who we […]
Posted inWotr
We’re in this together
There is a house in Rawlins, Wyo., that won’t sell. It’s a bargain, too, at $135,000. In fact, there are 43 houses in Rawlins selling for under $150,000. This is a booming energy town with a housing shortage. People in Rawlins have money. Wyoming has, in fact, the fastest growing median household income of any […]
Posted inGoat
Obama and public lands
Even though the West was a key battleground in the 2008 presidential election, our issues — public lands, water, endangered species, etc. — didn’t get a lot of attention from either candidate. And for the past three months, the economy has dominated the news. But our issues do appear in this interesting piece by Les […]