Sage Brush Rebellion II

Well, it looks like they're at it agian. The hillbilly crowd is getting upset by what they feel is excessive federal government interference. It seems like they easily forget or don't realize two simple facts, the first being that they already have more then enough places and space to do their things. And two, the Civil war gave the federal government the right to control the land and dictate to the states.

Now before you all get upset, I have no problem with those who ride on designated trails and areas. I enjoy an occasional ATV ride, in fact rode one a couple times over the weekend on a Ranch. I don't own one nor do I plan to own one but my father and father-n-law have one.

Also, I just read an article, can't remember where, I'll have to put some time into finding it. Basically it stated that this "new sagebrush rebellion" is doomed to fail before it even started. More people live in urban areas and actually care about and want to preserve the environment.

I would like to thank Edward Abbey for explaining how I feel.

"Machines[off-road vehicles] are domineering, exclusive, destructive and costly; it is they and their operators who would deny the enjoyment of the back country to the rest of us. About 98% of the land surface of the contiguous USA already belongs to heavy metal and heavy equipment. Let us save the 2% - that saving remnant."

"The slobs who go roaring over the landscape in these over-sized over-priced over-advertised mechanical mastodons are people too lazy to walk, too ignorant to saddle a horse, too cheap and clumsy to paddle a canoe. Like cattle or sheep, they travel in herds, scared to death of going anywhere alone, and they leave their sign and spoor all over the back country: Coors beer cans, Styrofoam cups, plastic spoons, balls of Kleenex, wads of toilet paper, spent cartridge shells, crushed gopher snakes, smashed sagebrush, broken trees, dead chipmunks, wounded deer, eroded trails, bullet-riddled petroglyphs, spray-painted signatures, vandalized Indian ruins, fouled-up waterholes, polluted springs and smoldering campfires piled with incombustible tinfoil, filter tips, broken bottles."

HB330

Utah School Seismic Hazard Inventory -- Wiley, L.

I did not put together this slide show on the Chinese earthquake that occurred last year, it was passed along in an email. It is very likely that Utah could and will receive an earthquake much like the one the that hit Sichuan, China.

My reason for posting this slide show is to hope that after you view the slides you will call your Representatives and encourage them to vote for HB330. It did pass committee, by one vote and is in the house, which is already farther then it went last year.

The bill puts together a committee that will inventory all the schools in the state and determine a seismic threshold, the threshold will be determined by the committee. The inventory will eventually lead to a list of schools that are likely to receive major damage with a possibility of failure due to an earthquake.

We need to know what the earthquake risk is to our children while they are at school so that we know what needs to be done to eliminate that risk. Schools can be seismically retrofitted to reduce the risk of failure, some already have been. We need to know what shape are schools are in and which ones need attention first before we can begin to fix the problems. Ignoring the problem will not keep our children safe in the event of an earthquake. We do not want our children to be buried in ruble or the Nation and the World wondering why we sat by and did nothing to protect our children from a disaster we know is very likely to happen.

Hopefully we are able to protect our children before a large earthquake hits Utah.

Slide 16 shows the school. I'm sure if you google for it there are more pictures that show the devastation.

"We're the Legislature"

"We're the Legislature, the ones who are supposed to have the control. It's time to stand up and be counted." Rep. Mike Noel

This is the greatest line ever! This explains so so much of what goes on up on the hill. They are suppose to have the control? Who does he think he is? God? The President? He's a Representative for a small county in a small state. He just happens to represent some of the most precious land in the country. Which is really too bad and sucks for those of us who care about what we leave behind for our children and grand children.

He dares to call Tim DeChristopher a terrorist? Those are strong words and not far from slander. Next thing you know the enviros are going to be calling Noel the terrorist and then someone will start calling Utahns terrorist and then we allow the real terrorist to win. In all seriousness, if we're going to throw around the word "terrorist" I would think environmental terrorist are the ones who destroy the environment (drilling, building roads to nowhere), not the ones who are trying to preserve it for the very reasons that attract millions of people to visit Utah every year. We start drilling everywhere, building roads everywhere, degrading the environment, Noel will get his money now but our children will miss what made Utah and it's landscape a beautiful place that they will only know from books and pictures.

Noel and other's like him like to use the "rural" card. "We have no other way of making money" "We need this for our economy". If they are that worried, and have that hard of time living where they do, do like my grandparents, MOVE! We would all love to live out in the country, in the rural beautiful places but what would we do for a living? My dad spent the first years of his life living in a town with fewer then at the time 100 people. My grandparents moved for work and to be closer to hospitals. My wifes mom left a small town of fewer then 50 people in Idaho for work. Those who stay in small communities do so because they love it and they know and have accepted the consequences.

At times I am honestly jealous of those who stick it out in the small towns and kinda wish I was like them but then I think of my children and the many more opportunities they will have living in a bigger city. We all make our choices for various reason but we make them knowing the consequences.

Sorry for the long rant but this really got under my skin. Just because he is one of the few people who lives there does not give him the power to decide what to do with OUR LAND!! I think he often forgets or just does not believe that the state and federal land belongs to ALL of us and WE ALL have a say. I think it's time for us to stand up and let him know who is really has control!

The PEOPLE!

HB278

RS2477 is a Revised Statute that was passed in 1866 to help settle the Western Frontier. It is a short law, and it's entire text is one sentence: "the right-of-way for the construction of highways across public lands not otherwise reserved for public purposes is hereby granted." At the time of it's passing it made sense. It allowed local control of roads over federal lands or lands not claimed.

Using this out of date Statue counties in Utah are trying to claim as many roads as possible. Some of their claims are with merit and are actual roads, but the majority are not. The counties wish to control federal land and this is their way to continue the sage brush rebellion. Not having roads does not limit oil and mineral extraction, they plow new roads all the time, with agreements and following the law.

As they claim these roads they have to prove to the federal government that these roads existed prior to 1976 when RS2477 was repealed but all roads prior were grandfathered in. Claiming some of these roads is costing the counties a bit of money and they are tired of paying the bill alone. Under HB278, the counties want to use money they receive for road maintenance on B and C class roads to fight the feds in claiming cow trails as roads.

I'm not sure why the tax payers of the Utah should pay for some rouge counties to plow roads where ever they want or think they remember a road? If they're allocated money to maintain roads they own, I think that they should use that money to maintain the roads they have. If they want to increase their stock of roads, let them come up with the cash to prove it was an actually road prior to 1976. When we are cutting funding for schools we shouldn't be paying to fight arbitrary road fights.

They can still claim the road, they would just have to follow the new laws and guidance to build a road across Federal land. But as we have seen in the past, they are above the law.

Should Everyone Vote?

Here is a Commentary that got me thinking about whether everyone should really get out and vote. I have always been one to tell everybody that they should vote, no matter who they are voting for, they need to vote. But really? Do we want people who have no idea, or very little idea what any of the candidates are about or what they stand for or what the issues even are to just show up and vote? It's not an office march madness poll where those who know nothing about college hoops are the ones that win. This is an election where the winner of the election decides on public policy for the next two to six years. It's a little more serious then march madness.

I think we should emphasis more on telling people to become informed and be informed all year. I would have to agree with commentary that maybe not everyone should vote.

Before the last Debate; Electoral College Map

Again McCain seemed like a grumpy old man. He looked very nervous for the first half of the debate and he was cranky through out the whole thing. McCain cannot stand on his issues and has to talk about why Obama wouldn't be a good president. McCain needed to talk more about what he is GOING to do, not that "he knows how" to fix everything. Stop telling me you know how and tell me how your going to do it.

All this talk about Joe the Plumber, I bet just about every news channel has a Joe the Plumber to interview either tonight or tomorrow. Talking about plumbers the Union endorses Obama.

Before the Debate; Electoral College Map

This is from a CNN poll posted Tuesday morning the day of the debate. We'll see if there are any changes in the next poll.




What I watched of the debate, McCain hobbled around and sounded bitter and angry. What do I know? I'm biased and saw what I wanted to see, just the same as many of the blogs and news story's I have read tonight.

Michael Palin for Vice President

Sara Palin - Hilliary Clinton Address

The republicans have found a way to transform Dick Cheney into a younger women to keep him running the government.

Small Town Values

via videosift.com

What are small town values? The Daily Show questioned a dozen or so republican delegates at the RNC and no one could answer it. My favorite answer was "going fishing". Of course no homosexuals live in small towns and thats why men marring women only is a small town value. Being gay only happens in the big cities.

Republicans are great at the rhetoric because as you can see they get the sheeple to chant some thing they can't even explain. They don't know what it is but it's important and it's what they believe in. What? Only people from small towns have values? I know people from small towns, from really small towns and their values are no different then any one else. What I see as small town values, the "good 'ol boy" network is a definite small town value. Meth is a small town value.

Another favorite was "values from the '50s". Thats great, so we want to go back to racial segregation and keeping women in the kitchen? Those are the values I think of when someone mentions "values from the '50s".

Please could someone explain what small town values are and why only those who live in small towns have them?