One step at a time, we are reclaiming our civil rights. This is just a small step though. We need to put unlicensed carry back on the table and also push through a bill to declare Wyoming guns off limits to the federal government. It’s a start though…

An email dispatch from the NRA

Concealed Carry Reform Becomes Law in Wyoming!

On Thursday, March 4, Governor Dave Freudenthal (D) signed Senate File 26 into law. The bill is effective immediately.

Sponsored by State Senator Cale Case (R-25) and State Senator Eli Bebout (R-26), SF 26 will reform Wyoming’s concealed weapons permit laws regarding eligibility, reciprocity, and issuance of permits. This bill will limit the Attorney General’s ability to determine reciprocity by taking away his/her power to determine if that state has similar laws authorizing permits.

Please join us in thanking the sponsors of this bill, Senator Case and Senator Bebout, for all of their hard work and support. Also please contact Governor Freudenthal to thank him for signing such important legislation into law. Contact information for the Governor can be found here.

Senator Cale Case (R-25)

ccase@wyoming.com

Senator Eli Bebout (R-26)

senbebout@wyoming.com

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In the 25+ years since the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) was signed into law by President Nixon it has been used like a shock collar to keep individual States from wandering too far away from the herd. I’s initial purpose was noble, but in the quarter century since its inception the ESA has been corrupted to such an extent that it is completely unrecognizable as a successful, manageable, or even Constitutional piece of legislation. Instead of allowing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with dozens of environmental groups, to continually erode each States individual sovereignty, the States need to stand up to Washington and challenge their authority to impose this failed policy.

The purpose of the ESA is to protect species that are identified as threatened or endangered and the ecosystems that they depend on. There are some examples of success among the plants and animals listed as threatened or endangered in the United States. The most notable is the American Bald Eagle, whose population of just 417 pairs in 1963 increased to an extraordinary 11,040 pairs when is was delisted in 2007. Another is the Ursus arctos horribilis, also known as the good old Grizzly Bear, whose population in the Yellowstone area more than doubled from a measely 271 bears in 1975 to more than 580 in 2005. He was also delisted in 2007. In fact, there have been 19 success stories in the nearly three decades of protection given by the ESA to 1,891 species of plants and animals around the world. Yes, you read that correctly. There have been only 19 species removed from the endangered species list because their populations have recovered. That is a success rate of about 1%. For all of the taxpayer money that has been spent on 589 distinct recovery plans, and for all of the private property owners and businesses that have been bankrupted in the name of habitat protection and restoration, there have been only 19 success stories to come out of the Endangered Species Act. It is one of the most wildly unsuccessful government programs in history.

Species can be added to the list as threatened or endangered in one of two ways under the ESA. First, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), can directly list species through their candidate assessment programs. The second is by petition. Any individual or organization can petition the USFWS or the NOAA to list a species. Both processes are long, drawn out, and nearly impossible to accomplish. Did I say that there were only two ways? I forgot one didn’t I? The ESA only lists two, but our liberal federal courts have created another, and as a result, the new and preferred way to get a species listed is to file a lawsuit. The federal courts are clogged with lawsuits against the federal government, demanding that they list one species or another.

The listing process, however, is not nearly as long and drawn out as the process of delisting, and so far, only 45 species have ever been delisted. Presently, there are only six reasons that a species can be delisted. The first is extinction. Obviously, once an animal is extinct they don’t need federal protection anymore. Thankfully, only two species are known to have gone extinct while they were listed (7 went extinct before they were listed). The second way is when new populations are discovered that increase known population levels to a number that warrants delisting. That has happened five times. The third is taxonomic reclassification, which has happened ten times (I’m not even going to try to explain what that means, because I have no idea). The fourth is because of a listing rule violation, which has happened once and the fifth is by an act of Congress, which has happened once. The last is as a result of recovery, which has happened only 19 times in the history of the ESA (as we discussed earlier).

I have to admit though, that the number 19 is probably not really indicative of the number of species that have actually recovered. Realistically many more species probably should be delisted, but lawsuits have also become the new preferred way of making sure that no species ever gets taken off the list. It doesn’t matter if the species meets the population goals set by the biologists charged with their recovery, and it doesn’t matter if their habitat size expands to reach the goals set by their recovery plans. Either way, the conservation and the environmental groups that feed off the broken legislation file lawsuit upon lawsuit, blocking the delisting of even species that have recovered beyond even the most liberal benchmarks. The constant meddling by the courts in these matters have made the ESA almost completely unmanageable, and utterly useless as a tool protect endangered wildlife.

Ultimately though, the biggest problem with the Endangered Species Act is that it has no Constitutional foundation. The United States Constitution gives the federal government very specific powers, and nowhere among their number is the power to manage wildlife. The power to raise armies and declare war? Check. The power to mint coins and print money? Check. The power to protect interstate commerce? Check. The power to bankrupt a farmer and take the private land that his family has cultivated for six generations in order to create a viable habitat for the Southeastern Dismal Swamp Shrew and force its host state to spend millions of dollars on politically motivated, non-scientifically contrived, court ordered and unattainable recovery plans? Hold the check! Since the Tenth Amendment guarantees to the States any powers not specifically granted to the federal government, the individual States are Constitutionally empowered to manage their own wildlife without interference from Washington!

The reintroduction of wolves into the greater Yellowstone area by the USFWS, and the subsequent lawsuits that have prevented their delisting in Wyoming but allowing their delisting in Idaho and Montana, on completely political instead of scientific reasons, has presented fertile ground for a challenge by the States of this unsuccessful and unmanageable legislation. This is an opportunity for the individual States to reclaim control of their own jurisdictions, and put the out of control U.S. Congressional and Executive Branches back in their places. The Governors and Legislatures of each State should direct their Attorney Generals to immediately file suit against the federal government and to challenge the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act on the grounds that it violates the Tenth Amendment and infringes on the sovereignty of the individual States. This is a battle that should be taken all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

It’s time to take off the leash that the federal government has put on our States, and retake control of our lands, our wildlife, and our rights. The Endangered Species Act, as it currently exists, needs to be made extinct. Individual States, who are much more qualified to manage their own wildlife populations, must retake the command they once held over their own jurisdictions, kick the Washington bureaucrats out of our forests, our swamps,  our deserts, our rivers and our lakes, and send them scurrying back to D.C. where they belong.

Hilarious! Great job Rep. Lummis.

Thanks for the heads up link, Robert.

The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Better Know a District – Wyoming’s At-Large – Cynthia Lummis

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While working the sales counter at one of my stores Tuesday night, I got a surprise, and not the good kind that Santa brings. I was toiling away, ringing up one customer after another, when a guy put a six pack of 7oz Bud Light on the counter. The kid looked young, so I asked him for his I.D. He handed me his Driver’s License and I typed his birthdate into the cash register which promptly buzzed back at me and flashed the message that the kid was underage.

“You’re not old enough!” I said sternly. He smiled and put his hand out to get his license back. “Nope,” I said, and walked over to the phone and started dialing the police.

“We’ll get that back for you,” I heard as I pushed the buttons. I looked from the phone to the person who was standing in line next to the kid, and recognized that he was a police officer I had seen many times before in the store. He was wearing a knit cap pulled down over his forehead, a clever disguise. This was a @#$%& sting. “I’m officer _________ with the police department, we’re doing compliance checks,” he said, grinning, as the kid hurried past him and out the door.

“Uh huh,” I said, as I finished dialing, and listened to the ring tone.

“Really,” he said, pulling out his badge and waving it.

I ignored him as the voice at the other end of the line answered, “Rock Springs Police Department. Can I help you?”

“I was calling to report a minor attempting to purchase alcohol,” I said with a bit of ice in my voice, “but, apparently, they just ran a ‘compliance check’ on me. Thank you, have a good night.” I hung up the phone, walked to the counter, and tossed the kid’s I.D. on to it in front of the officer, saying nothing.

“The good thing is, you have a choice,” he said, still grinning and sure of himself, pulling a couple of restaurant gift cards out of his pocket to show me.

“I don’t want your @(*#&^% coupons. And I don’t appreciate anyone coming in here and asking me to break the law,” I said pretty angrily, starting to raise my voice.

“Well, there’s uh, a lot of people in town that would uh agree with you, but we uh have to do it,” he said, starting to stammer a little bit, and falling back onto the age old excuse that he’s just doing his job.

“I also think your &%(*#$@ program is worthless. It hasn’t done one God Damn thing to reduce the number of minors drinking alcohol!” Now my voice was even louder.

“Well, that’s your opinion,” he said, not as sure of himself, starting to get a little angry, and definitely not grinning anymore.

“Bull$#*!. It’s not a #*$^@&( opinion,” I said, “I’ve seen the statistics, it hasn’t done one $%&^#* thing!” I growled as he quickly turned around and left the store without another word. He didn’t even have me sign his “compliance check” paperwork.

Obviously, the officer did the right thing by leaving before our argument could escalate, and I was probably out of line taking my anger, at being the target of what I believe is entrapment, out on him.

But. then again, maybe I wasn’t.

First of all, I’ve written before how I feel about what I call “stings” and they call “compliance checks”, but this is the first time I’ve ever personally been the target of criminal investigation by anyone, ever, and it flat out pisses me off. I have always had a very good relationship with the members of law enforcement in my community, and have the utmost respect for them. I know most of them by name, including the officer who was in charge of this sting operation, and have always done my best to make their jobs easier when I come into contact with them. Many of them shop in my stores — on duty, when they are filling up their official vehicles with fuel, and off duty, when they are filling up their own.

That’s part of why this program infuriates me so much. Retail clerks and local business owners are sometimes the police department’s best link to the community. We see large numbers of people every day, and we hear things that help the police out with their investigations. It’s not rare for the police to come visit us, asking for information, looking for leads, or hoping to look at our surveillance cameras in order to help out with a case they are working on. Many local crimes have been solved because an officer has sat down in one of my stores and had coffee with my clerks and my customers. Conversation with the public is sometimes law enforcement’s best investigative tool.

This policy, where police officers are assigned to investigate normally law abiding citizens, endangers that previously beneficial relationship. When ordinary people become the target of random criminal investigations, how willing do you think they will be, in the future, to cooperate with the police? Instead of feeling secure every time we see a police officer, should we now be suspicious? Should we be looking over our shoulders, nervously waiting for an undercover police officer, or an undercover informant, to ask us to break the law?

And what’s next? Will they be hanging out in the school yard, asking our kids if they want to buy a little meth? Are they going to wander the halls of the Holiday Inn, asking every patron if they want a buy a fun night with a hooker? Maybe they will be standing outside the pet store, asking each customer if they want to buy an orange-bellied parrot? How far is far enough, and when have the police gone to far?

I’ll tell you. Any time the police, and those working for them, ask ordinary people to break the law, they’ve gone too far. Any time the police make ordinary people the targets of criminal investigations, they are crossing the line and endangering what should be great relationship between law enforcement and the general public. This “compliance check” program has already changed what used to be a friendly relationship between this particular officer and myself. From now on, every time we see each other he will remember me being pissed off and raising my voice at him, and I will remember what it feels like to be treated like a criminal suspect.

The fact is, the police need us, ordinary people, to do their jobs. They need a working relationship with the public in order to keep the public safe. They need our support, and our cooperation.

How willing do you think we will be, though, to cooperate with the police, to help them with their investigations, and to help them make the community safer, when tomorrow… they might be investigating us?

-Wisdom

“To declare that in the administration of criminal law the end justifies the means — to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure conviction of a private criminal — would bring terrible retribution.”  -Justice Louis D. Brandeis, (1856-1941) US Supreme Court Justice

-Authors Note: I think any police officer who is asked to take on an assignment where they have to investigate ordinary people should ask themselves, “Did I join the ranks of law enforcement so I could investigate criminals, or make ordinary people into criminals?” Just saying that “it’s my job” isn’t enough. I’ve heard it from beat cops all the way to the chief of police that they don’t have a choice when it comes to whether or not they run these stings, and I don’t buy it. Wilhelm Keitel was just doing what he was told, too. It’s not an excuse. You always have a choice.

The American voters have cast their ballots, and the decision has been made. Barack Obama is our new President Elect.

First of all, let me be gracious in defeat. I would like to congratulate Senator Obama for attaining the highest office in our nation. Senator Obama ran a superb campaign, and the final vote tallies show just how excellent of a campaign it was. While I definitely did not support his candidacy, I will support him as my President.

Secondly, I want to say, while I will support him as my President, I will be watching him closely over the next four years. While I believe that he should be given the chance to shape policy in the direction which he believes is best for the nation, that policy must stay within the bounds of our Constitution, and I will not tolerate any divergence to the same. I have been an outspoken opponent of what I believe to be Obama’s vision for this nation, but I hope I have been wrong. I have also been very unforgiving about Obama’s past associations, and very suspicious of his economic and political beliefs. I have been very vocal in my suspicion that he is both a Marxist, and a reparationist. There is a chance I have been wrong. There is a chance that he is just another politician, and he may even turn out to be a good President. This is one of those few times that I hope I was wrong in the past. I doubt it, but I am hopeful. Either way, I will be watching.

Thirdly, I have to say, I am proud to be from one the few Red States left in our country. Wyoming voted overwhelmingly Republican, and we sent two great Republican Senators, Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, back to Washington, and picked Cynthia Lummis, a long serving Republican Stateswoman, to replace Barbara Cubin as our sole voice in the House of Representatives. We are one of the few strongholds of conservatism left in the nation, and I wouldn’t think about living anywhere else.

Finally, I have to answer comments that I have heard that the Republican Party is broken, and that we have to remake ourselves in order to come back to the good graces of the voting public. Balderdash. The Republican Party does not have to remake itself, or become more like the Democratic Party, or have a ‘bigger tent’ or become more tolerant, or any of that foolishness. The Republican Party needs to do seven things in order to retake its place as the leaders of our nation.

1. We need to self police and purge our Party of the corruption that seeped into the ranks during our years of power. From the halls of Congress, to the living rooms where local Party officials meet, the people who have used political power to advance personal prosperity, illegally and unethically, need to be stripped from their positions of leadership, and censured or prosecuted as the situations dictate. Sarah Palin set a standard for us in how she hit hard against entrenched corruption in Alaska, and we would do well to heed her example.
2. We need to go back to the basics of what makes our Party great. We need to embrace the foundations of our party’s history, such as constitutional constructionism, federalism, individual responsibility, and conservative fiscal policy. We need cast off this idea that it is our job to include all points of view in our Party, and instead set a steadfast standard that others can look up to and join with as they see and understand the superiority of the Conservative Republican Platform.
3. We need to learn from the success of the Democratic Party and use their methods to teach conservative values from the bottom up. We need to become ‘community organizers’ in our own right, and work hard to make sure that our values are taught in our preschools, in our grade schools, our middle schools, our high schools, and ultimately in our colleges and our universities. We need to create our own educational programs to counter the liberal programs that have become entrenched in the liberal controlled education systems. We need to promote and support conservative community programs and charities, and take advantage of any chance to promote conservative social efforts wherever we see them.
4. We have to find strong, honest, charismatic, conservative leaders to take control of the current Republican Caucus in Congress. We cannot afford to have congressional leaders who cannot relate to the national constituency. The chosen leaders have to be able to articulate our congressional objectives, and communicate their importance to the American people. A Democratic majority can stonewall a Republican minority, but they cannot stand against a resolute American public that demands results. When the inevitable political infighting begins in the now too powerful Democratic Party, a calm, steadfast Republican minority can show America what leadership should look like.
5. We have to recruit, promote, and support good conservative leaders at all levels of local and statewide government. The first, and most important, place we can do this is on school boards nationwide. If we can shift the political balance of our education system, we can begin to take the control of our classrooms out of the hands of the far left.
6. We have to recruit, promote, support good conservative candidates to challenge the Democrats for control of Congress in 2010. The Democrats have two years ahead where they will have control of the White House and both houses of Congress, and we can take advantage of those two years to recruit candidates and build successful campaigns. The political infighting of the Democratic Party is inevitable, and a unified Republican Party can take advantage of that to make huge gains in congressional seats.
7. We have to find a great, young, ambitious, charismatic, conservative leader, who has a bulletproof past, who has a grand vision for our nation, to lead our party to victory in the 2012 Presidential race. I know this is asking a lot, but our Party needs a young Ronald Reagan — male, female, black, white, latino — it doesn’t make a difference. If we put forth anything less, then we will be trying again in 2016.

That’s it. My seven steps to reclaim conservative values in America. Will it happen? I don’t know. If the Republican Party can find the right leadership, then I think it can happen. If they want me to come do it for them in Washington, they can always give me a call. Otherwise, I’ll be here in Wyoming working on it at the local level.

Until then….

-Wisdom

This article was posted all over the net on Dec 11, 2006.

Arctic may lose all ice by summer 2040

Tuesday Dec 12 11:45 AEDT

Global warming could leave the Arctic without ice during the summer as early as 2040, a study by a team of US and Canadian scientists shows.

“The effects of greenhouse warming are starting to rear their ugly head,” said Mark Serreze, a scientist at theNational Snow and Ice Data Centre at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

The research found that the extent of sea ice each September could be reduced so abruptly that, within about 20 years, it may begin retreating four times faster than at any time in the observed record.

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All you have to do is ask one of these idiots how much snow is going to fall next year, or what the average temperature is going to be next year. Hell, ask them how much snow is going to fall, and what the temperature is going to be tomorrow for that matter. THEY CAN’T TELL YOU!!!! How can they even come close to telling us what the weather is going to be like in 20 or 40 years?
This is just another example of junk science where the extrapolation of data is engineered to “prove” the theory that is put forth. These weenies are so intent on keeping their grants that they’re willing to lie to everyone to keep the money flowing.
Wisdom

On October 18, members of the Sweetwater County Fire District #1 fire department spent a part of their morning teaching a fire prevention class to a group of preschoolers. The firefighters, mostly volunteers, came to the preschool in Rock Springs at the request of the preschool teachers, who knew that one of the firefighters’ children was a student at the school. The firefighters have done these kinds of classes hundreds of times, teaching children fire prevention and safety, and encouraging good will between them and the communities they serve. And, as the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention….”

This time, though, there was a catch. A catch that came in the form of a Violation Notice from the Rock Springs Fire Department.

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The area around Jackson, Wyoming is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world. The scenery is second to nowhere, and the fishing is world class. Why then, do I cringe every time I find myself in Jackson proper?

You know, as a kid, I used to spend my summers camping with my grandparents at the Hoback Campground along the Hoback River and at the East Table Creek Campground along the Snake River. Campgrounds that my Grandpa helped build decades ago. We made friends with the people in the neighboring camps, and did things for each other like cut firewood and cook meals. Once a week we would journey into Jackson for groceries, get a quick meal at McDonald’s, and wander through the shops around the square.

Back then, Jackson was just a little town, with a few historic downtown hotels, a couple of tourist trap souvenir shops, one or two outdoor shops, and a lot of bars. And yes, there were ski lodges and dude ranches. There wasn’t, however, a celebrity resident to be found. The cost of living was reasonable, property values were reasonable, and the buildings looked old and rustic because they were old and rustic. Back then, the people who lived in Jackson worked in Jackson, and visa versa. Everyone said hello to everyone else and common courtesy was the rule.

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Ah, the principal. Everyone remembers their principal, right? He (or she) is the head of the educational body. He was the guy whose office was seen only by the most disciplinarily helpless classmates. He had a paddle hanging on the wall in the reception area as a reminder to what would happen if you got out of line, and in the case of one of my classmates, a special paddle with her name on it. Most kids were never on the receiving end of that paddle, but just the knowledge that it was there, ready to be used, kept most of us in line. He also stood in the hallway before and after school greeting every child he saw by name, asking how their day was, how their parents were doing or how their pet dog was doing after tangling with that porcupine last week. Somehow, with some seemingly supernatural sense, the principal knew everything that was going on, at any time, inside and outside of the school.

His words over the intercom were few and far between, but when they were spoken, you knew they were important. I remember that I was in fourth grade when the principal’s voice came over the intercom to announce that President Reagan had been shot. Not a sound was made by student while he spoke, telling us that this was a strong nation, and we would survive whatever came our way. Not a sound was made by a student as the thirty seconds of silence that he asked for passed. It wasn’t that specific news that held our attention, either. It was the man who spoke it. We listened so well, because this was a man we respected, and we knew that if it was important enough for him to speak to us over the intercom about, it was damn well important enough for us to give him our undivided attention as we listened.

The principal was many things. A manager, supervising the teachers in their day to day job of educating, a maintenance man, changing light bulbs and working on boilers, a counselor, always there to lend an ear to a child in need, and a teacher, filling in for teachers who couldn’t be there. He was a politician, balancing the needs of his school with the requirements of the school board, and an arbitrator, keeping the peace between angry parents and harried teachers. He was a man with an important job.

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Without a doubt, teachers are the most visible part of the educational system. Along with being the backbone, they are the face of the educational body. They are the ones that our children see every day. They are the ones that we, as parents, usually have contact with when we have need to have direct dealings with the schools. And they are the ones who often band together in associations that work both with and against government agencies at all levels from the school boards to the White House.

In addition to being visible, teachers probably bear the most responsibility of any part of the education system. They are the people with whom we entrust our children to provide them with a quality education and a safe environment. They are expected not only to be proficient in the subjects they teach, but to also be capable day care providers, first aid givers, child psychologists, coaches and referees. They have to be schedulers, managers, and competent arbitrators. They are answerable to their students, their principals, their superintendents, their school boards, legislators, governors, congressional delegates, the President, and most of all, sometimes hundreds of parents at any one time. That is a lot of responsibility for any person to bear, and it takes a special kind of person to do it well.

If you search your memory, you can probably think of many teachers you’ve dealt with over the years that stick out in your mind as having born all those responsibilities, and more, quite well. You’ll remember many teachers who did all these things and did them with a smile on their faces and their heads always held high. Sadly, though, you’ll probably also remember a few who couldn’t handle it, who couldn’t balance the responsibilities required of their job, and definitely couldn’t handle it with a smile on their face.

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