Life in the West Amid Covid and Controversy -- Oct. 5, 2020

News In The West

Fall on Blue Mountain:  Photo Courtesy Blanding City

~~November Election: Think Before You Vote  

by Janet Wilcox       

With just a few months until the elections, it behooves all of us to dig a little deeper for facts, as we determine for whom to vote in all levels of government. It’s a time to evaluate our core values, philosophies and freedoms, then then seek candidates we can trust to promote and protect those eternal truths. The future of the United States could turn sour for all if “extreme” socialists are elected who do not believe in these values.  Please research and query every candidate before you vote.  Rather than criticizing how candidates deliver their messages or believing other superficial data, we should evaluate their political philosophy and past actions.  

      Those who live in less populated states should be also be concerned about protecting the Electoral College which ensures that each state is equally represented in Congress; otherwise we are controlled by the East and West Coast extremes.  All of us should also vote for those who will curtail excess Federal spending, instead of looking at more ways to spiral the debt ever more into the abyss. (This includes not voting for those who support using our hard earned Social Security Insurance to pay for foolish whims.) The National debt is now over $26.7 TRILLION!  Consider who the foreign countries are who may bail the USA out of that fiscal quagmire!  Citizens who value peace, security, and individual rights must elect those who will support our military, law enforcement, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.  Don’t take your right to vote lightly; the future of all Americans depends on far-sighted and judicious voters.  

~~Stiles: Fast Forward to 2045 -- What Election 2020 Triggered

--From 2045…REMEMBERING THE 2020 ELECTION …by Jim Stiles • September 30, 2020 

“I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.”  –Michael Palin NOTE: This story is not intended to be prophecy, projection, or prediction; nor is it offered as a warning or a celebration of “things to come.” It’s merely idle speculation on my part, based on trends I see happening in America, for better or worse. And 34 days from now, give or take a month or two to count the mail in ballots, we’ll all know if at least part of this tall tale was accurate, or total bullfeathers. And now, on to the Future, as I look back at the distant past…J.Stiles

~~The Long Walk to Socialism: 

This video shares the unfiltered stories of the harsh struggles of the Navajo Nation. These raw experiences reveal the individuals, families, and communities torn thin by socialistic government programs and waste.

~~Indigenous People and Land Grant Universities.  High Country News Investigates

~~Governor Herbert:  An Anti -Masker at Heart?  

~~Excerpt from Billionaire Wilderness :  By Justin Farrell 

"Billionaire Wilderness offers an unprecedented look inside the world of the ultra-wealthy, focused on their increasingly significant relationship to the natural world. More specifically, it shows how the ultra-wealthy use nature to resolve key predicaments in their lives. Along the way, it reveals the surprising ways in which nature and wealth intersect in America, and the swelling impact of these relationships on the nation’s social and environmental landscapes."  Canyon Zephyr

~~The Slovenly Wilderness: The Least Consequential Election …by Stacy Young

"As regular readers of this column know, it is a deep and abiding frustration of mine that serious consideration of the material conditions of modern America is consistently avoided in favor of lazy identitarian demagoguery. This criticism applies not just to our political industry, but also to the news media, the arts, corporate marketing, and the way we “choose” to spend our own individual attention on social media, and it is an imbalance that not only distracts us from the root causes of things but divides us along relatively superficial categorical lines. . ."

~~Census Count Still Not Complete on the Navajo Reservation 

by Kate Groetzinger

~~ Phil Lyman, State Legislature, Call's Out Court Corruption   Recorded Interview

         (The Bad News is that this case has drug on forever!)

~~ Meet Supreme Court Nominee  Amy C. Barrett

~~ High Speed Internet Coming to San Juan County Reservation Schools  by Kate Groetzinger

~~ Western Senators Push Bill to Control Wild Fire Risk 

~~ Reflections of the past: Trials and Travails of Park Ranger John Wetherill at Navajo National Monument by Harvey Leake/ The Canyon Zephyr

~~ Operation Firewood Blesses Navajo Reservation

~~  Wildfires: Creating a Defensible Space Around Your Home

Utah has had a record 1,300+ wildfires this year, over 1,000 of which have been human-caused. When recreating outdoors this fall, pay attention to federal, state, and local guidelines and warnings, always completely put out your campfires, and leave our lands better than you found them. If you live close to at-risk landscapes, take a few minutes and learn what you can do to protect your home.

~~ Political Polarization Taking Over Lives  Pollution of our dysfunctional political dialogue

~~ BLM Director Nominee Under Attack by Green Machine

~~What Does Kamala Harris Stand For? And What Should We Fear?

~~ Chad Booth's County Seat Funding in Jeopardy  Zac Podmore article 

                             Sunset Over Bears Ears -- Photo by David Homedew

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Nov. 21, 2017 ~~

Something to be Thankful for   The Purpose of the Constitution

What Does The Constitution Contain?  Read and Listen

County Redistricting Hearings this week:

One person’s Response on Divisive Lawsuit

Good News Bears

n  GOP backs Zinke’s plans for Restructuring of DOI

n  Zinke defends resizing of Utah Monuments

n  Senator Hatch’s Staff Predicts Monument Reduction

n  Utahan Named as Director of Legislative Affairs for DOI

n  The Petroglyph, Keeping the West Informed

n  Zinke Celebrates Native Cultures

n  Western States Evaluated on Public Lands Policies

n  New BLM Deputy Director Selected from Chris Stewart’s Office

Bad News Bears  
       

n  Big Federal Government and Environmental Policies Cause Wildfires

n  Can tourism be a boon? (read comments as well)

n  Green Groups Believe in Mobocracy

n  Native American Policy Expert Warns of Voting Irregularities on Reservation

n  Redistricting causes problems in areas with dual governments

n  Cardboard Chronicals on Bears Ears  video

Other issues of interest to San Juan County

v The Force Behind Government Overreach is Sustainable Development

v Friends of Cedar Mesa Raising Money for Education Center in Bluff

v The Legality of Decisions  on Reservations Affecting Property Taxes

v SUWA sued?  What the Crap?

v Indictments forth coming, Hillary Clinton?

http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Oct. 22, 2017~~

 vBe sure to Vote:  Nov. 7, Tuesday, or mail in your Ballot

vvForest Service meeting this week:  San Juan County Commissioner meeting Tuesday Oct 24th at the Monticello community/senior center. The local Forest Service Agency presentation at 9:45 am, with a Q & A session. If you care about cattle grazing, road obliteration; if you are against the USFS creating a large wilderness area in the forest; or are concerned about limiting access to ATV's, and perhaps firewood gathering, hunting, and all other recreational opportunities in the Manti La Sal Forest, you ought to go to the meeting. It starts at 9:00, Forest Service scheduled at 9:45. But come early in case they are ahead of schedule.

v Satire of the week:

v Roast Marshmallows, Not Forests  “We cannot preserve a beautiful forest forever like a photograph, because it is still growing, and eventually dying. Today’s overgrown national forests produce at least twice as much new growth as managers remove every year, so the situation continues to get worse while Congress fiddles. Our generation has thus squandered the great legacy of the conservation movement, our national forests.”

Good News Bears

n  Rob Bishop Seeks to Reform Antiquities Act

n  Are the Days of Sue and Settle Over? EPA overregulation effects

n  Western leaders assert state control over energy permitting in new bill

n  EPA chief issues new directive to end abusive ‘sue and settle’ deals

n  Native American Energy Act Promises to Ease Poverty

n  Wyoming Attorney May be Next BLM Director

n  Western Congressional Caucus Pushes for Antiquities Act Reform

n  Definitely time for Antiquities Act Reform  Op-ed by Matt Anderson

n   Grazing not to blame for bull trout decline  14 yr. Old law suit dismissed

  Bad News Bears         

n  SUWA’s Band of Badgers Confront State Leaders Regarding Public Land

n  When Good Intentions Lead to Bad Results in the Environment

n  Unequal Access to Justice Impedes Fairness and Costs Billions

n  Utah Wildfires Reignites Debate Over Constitutional State Control of Lands    

“According to a tally from that year, there were more than 20 federal agencies or departments that EACH had MORE personnel than Congress.  The Department of Agriculture alone had nearly six times more employees (95,223 vs. 16,432). Utah State Rep. Ken Ivory (R), co-chair of the Commission on Federalism, describes America’s current state as a bike with lopsided tires – one overinflated, the other completely flat. To him, it’s not so much about who is holding the handlebars. America simply can’t move forward until the air pressure is more equitably distributed.

So in February, members of Utah’s Commission on Federalism, with Trumpian winds at their back, drew up a list of more than five pages of powers they’d like to bring back to the state. Among them: Mitigate catastrophic fire risk on national forests and rangelands.”

n  Minnesota Enviros Anti-mining Agenda Causes Rift in Labor Party

n  Credibility of Bears Ears “Running” Expert Questioned

~~~~~

http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016

~~ Bear Essentials ~ Oct. 8, 2017~~

Quote of the week: “It is often said we now live in two Americas. Nowhere is that description truer then when it comes to land owned by the federal government. In the United States east of the Rockies, the federal government owns just 4 percent of all land. But west of the Rockies, the federal government owns more than half of all land including almost two thirds of all land in Utah. When an unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy owns and manages more than half the land in your state, that is a recipe for disaster.”               Senator Mike Lee

v DOI moving in the right direction on National Monuments:

“Creating too large national monuments — results in agencies lacking the necessary resources to adequately manage sites. The federal government currently has a backlog of $18.62 billion in maintenance projects. A better approach is to right-size monuments and allow for limited economic activity in areas where there won’t be damage.” 

v National Monuments Discussed by Heritage Foundation Washington DC (10-4)  Includes: Senator Mike Lee, Congressman Rob Bishop, Matt Anderson, Ryan Benally, New England fisherman, and Maine sportsman. The Antiquities Act was also discussed.  This was very informative.  Listen and Learn..

v Endangered Species Act:   

 “In the nearly fifty years since it was signed into law, the ESA has done more to impede economic activity, obstruct local conservation efforts, and give federal bureaucrats regulatory control over private property, than it has done to protect endangered species."    Senator Mike Lee

v Antiquities Act is Robbing Rural Communities of Their Land

v KUER Looks a Bears Ears Stories   Local interviews with Judy Fahys

v Brief History of Recapture Canyon  A video series compiled by Monte Wells

v Consider Donating to Free Range Report (Majorie is a non-NGO funded, patriot who deserves our support and thanks.  No one has helped San Juan County more.)

                         

Good News Bears

n  Secretary Zinke given High Marks for Return to Conservation Ethics

~Mr. Zinke has ordered all his agencies to put a priority on active management against wildfires. “We are spending $2 billion a year fighting fires, money that could be going to far better conservation efforts,” he says, visibly annoyed. ~Such mismanagement is what drives Western frustration, which threatens to become a new Sagebrush Rebellion. “Some of the anger is that our grand bargains have been broken, and those bargains said that you had wilderness, but you also have grazing; you could also hunt and fish,” Mr. Zinke says. Now Westerners “watch these catastrophic fires, and they’ve lost any faith that the federal government is capable of being a good steward.”

n  Trump Oks Emergency Funding for Wildfires and Urges Forest Service Reforms

n  DOI Blasts BLM Dan Love as Example of what is not Appropriate 

“We will hold people accountable when we are informed that they have failed in their duties and obligations,” Bernhardt

n  Yes, Presidents can Revoke National Monuments

“There is a reason we allow presidents to undo the actions of their predecessors. A president who could unilaterally set policy forever would have far too much power and be free of political checks and balances.  President Barack Obama designated most of his record-setting monuments during the twilight of his second term, long after the threat of electoral defeat had passed. Free of political checks, he ran wild with this power.”

n  Navajo Nation Should Not Sue Over Bears Ears  by Ryan Benally

n  “No Use” Public Lands Should Change to “Many Uses”

“Federal lands included in Bears Ears and other national monuments need management by local people on the ground , not by judges in black robes. A starting point would be to require approval by state congressional delegations of any national monument designated in their state. Let state wildlife managers have more say in whether grizzlies are removed from the endangered species list. Entrust Indian tribes with management of their antiquities as they already are with Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  Most of Bears Ears is under the purview of the Bureau of Land Management. It is time to return to the BLM motto: “Land of many uses”—not land of no uses.” 

n  Standing in Another Man’s Shoes   by Jim Stiles, Canyon Zephyr editor

n  BLM Reverses Obama Era Mineral Leasing ban in the West [This is huge!]

n  Should Trump Dump Pernicious EPA Regulations Affecting Farmers?

n  Sage Grouse need Ranchers for Survival

n  Forest Service Reform on Tap/ Helping Prevent Forest Fires

n  Western Caucus Calls for Bipartisan Forestry Management Reform

n  Book about the Bundy Family Written by Utah Author, Lyman Hafen

n  New Bill would Engage Local Stake-holders in Coal Mine Reclamation

 

Bad News Bears         

n  Antiquities Act Weakens Rural Communities by Locking up Land

n  National Review accuses Zinke of Failing to Free up Fed. Lands

n  Access Fund: Alarmist Voice Concerns about Bears Ears

n  Burdensome regulations counteractive to Conservation

n  Environmentalists Sue to Give Colorado River Human Rights

n  Zinke is for shrinking monuments, except in Montana?  Go figure?

n  Greens take on the Working Class

n  Westwise Claims Zinke’s Report is Riddled with Lies

~~~~~

http://beyondthebears.blogspot.com/

                                     Documenting Bears Ears “No Monument” efforts since July 2016