http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3648068
The above link has an email address for the National Forest Service.
You need to write them today with your opinion on selling 300,000 acres of our national forest to lumber companies for a cut-rate price. The Bush Administration wants to seal the deal tomorrow.
Don't let Dubya make a killing on your childrens heritage.
cd-editor
The Bush Administration has decided to sell 300,000 acres of our National Forest to pay down the national debt.
They must think we came to town on a watermelon wagon.
The selling price is 800 million dollars. That sounds like a lot of money.
Guess what - it is about half what prime timber land is bringing per acre.
If you think the 800 milion will effect the 9 trillion dollars we owe and if you think this is a good deal for the American public, you probably did come to town on a watermelon wagon.
This 800 million won't even cover the tax break for the rich.
Not only that, the rich timber men will be making a fortune off our trees. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 million dollars.
I wonder what Dubya's cut will be?
It's time to write your congressman and tell him to stop this theft of our heritage.
cd-editor
You are less likely to be killed by Osama bin Laden than by a deer.
With the exploding deer population there has been an epidemic of auto-deer deaths.
More than 150 Americans were killed by car-deer accidents this past year.
It's time to dig the old 30-30 out of the corner of the closet and thin out this walking demolition critter.
Also it would help my garden survive the four-footed onslaught.
To make it positive, a deer roast cooked with black-eyed peas is so good.
cd-editor
It appears that VP Cheney bagged a lawyer while hunting in Texas this past weekend.
He didn't break the law for shootin' the lawyer, but he did for not havin a lawyer stamp on his license. I understand that he mailed a check for $7 and all is well with the Texas Game and Fish folks.
Dang, lawyers ain't worth much in Texas, are they?
Actually shottin' lawyers is great sport in Texas. It has been going on since old Robert Potter was shot on Caddo Lake in 1837 or ther abouts. His brother-in-law claimed he look like a mallard. I am not sure that was before or after being shot.
There is a possibility that this is not the first time Dick has shot someone while professing to be bird hunting.
Following is a true story - believe it or not,
In 1969, I was bird hunting with my old setter, Beau, out in an area by the Longview airport. We had jumped a covey of about 15 birds and I had knocked down three. Beau retrieved those birds and then went looking for singles. After the covey rise, the birds flew about 100 yards to the edge of a highline right-a-way and scattered among the trees at the edge.
Beau went in that direction and pointed a single in a clump of sage grass. I shot that bird. As we got to the highline, I saw a fellow about 100 yards down the highline and he was coming in our direction. A few minutes later Beau found another single and was on point, as I neared the highline. I walked around a large brair patch so that I would have the man on the highline right-a-way behind me, so that I would not be shooting in his direction.
The bird got up and went directly in front of me and the dog. I raised my gun and let the bird get a little distance before I was to shoot. About that time I heard a shot and felt bird shot hit me in the back, neck and head. The dog yelped and thought that I had shot him. I knew immediately that the idiot behind me had shot at that bird over my shoulder. I must say, I got a might angry. I turned and aimed my gun right at his face, but didn't pull the trigger. It scares me to think about it because I sure came close to shooting that man.
As I think back, he kinda looked like a Dick Cheney with hair.
The guy knew he was in trouble and was hollering "Don't shoot, I'm sorry".
I yelled for him to "get out of here before I shoot you" and he turned and went the way he have come in a hurry.
I was lucky that I had on a thick canvas hunting coat, trousers, and hat. The only pellets that penetrated the skin was three in my neck. The dog had a couple of blood spots, but none in the skin. I guess it was because he was about 10 yards in front of me.
A couple of other things, I would like to know is : was the guy that shot me Dick Cheney?
And was Cheney hunting last weekend with a residence hunting license or a more expensive non-residence license? I think his official residence is Wyoming and that would require a non-residence license. I am also thinking that non-residence require a more expensive lawyer tag than do Texas residents.
Coming to think about it, I might have saved the world a lot of grief if I had shot that guy 39 years ago.
cd-editor
Vince Young maybe the best offensive football player to pick up a football.
I have been watching football for 60 years and I can't think of anyone that was so dominate on offense.
Reggie Bush may be great , but he is not the greatest.
Young is in a class of one.
cd-editor
About a month ago, while at the farm, I saw a young four point white-tail buck that looked nearly black. At first I thought it was because he was in a shadow, but when he stepped into the sunlight the black color remained.
I then came to the conclusion that the gun club that borders our North fence had introduced some exotic breed of deer.
In this month's Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, there is an article describing the black version of the white-tail.
It states that the melanistic version is rare, but that Texas has the greatest number of that coloration.
I will keep minerals out this year and let's see if he will become a trophy worthy of being hung on Lynn Griffith's wall.
cd-editor
It appears all you need is a brown nose.
If you want to be a supreme court justice, just repeat after Harriet Meirs, "President Bush is the most brilliant man I have ever known".
That woman must have spent her entire life in Cut and Shoot, Texas.
If you want to be Fema director I suggest you say, " President Bush is the greatest man ever to graduate from Yale University."
If you want to be sent to Tirkit in an unarmored humvee, repeat after me, "Where is my body armor, Mr. President"?
If you want to go home from Tirkit, repeat after Captain Pratt on the news conference this morning, " Mr. President, everything is going swell in Iraq and the Iraqi's love us."
cd-editor
BDI
Weather Report by Bloomburg Democrat International
The first four drops of rain from Rita hit the ground in the Bloomburg Metroplex at 6.54 am this morning.
The ground recoiled from the shock of no rain for two months.
Come on Rita, we need the rain.
cd - editor
Scientists Present Rare Woodpecker Audio - Yahoo! News
Dad, I think you might find this interesting. I know you've been telling me for almost 20 years that you think the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was still hiding out in some swamps around East Texas. Seems like some scientists in California are agreeing with you. Well, close to East Texas anyway. Pretty interesting.
The sawtooth oak is a native of Asia that was introduced to the United States in 1862.
It is now widely planted as a beautiful shade tree with few natural pest.
It's fast growth rate and tolerance to a wide range of soils adds to it popularity.
It prefers full sun and acidic soil that is well drained and is drought tolerant.
The tree is a favorite of wildlife because it produces acrons in only 2-5 years and ripens early in the fall.
I saw my first sawtooth oak in a yard across the street from Judy Turner. It was a young tree and what caught my attention was the abundance of acrons on such a small tree.
One year old seedings are available from the Texas Forest Service for 44 cents each.
I asked a forest service biologists why they were introducing non-indigenous trees into Texas and he replied that the tree is now naturalized and a boom to wildlife and would not be a threat to existing flora.
cd-editor
If you haven't tried the new Blue Bell Cantaloupe N' Cream, you are living in a state of abject poverty.
This is somewhere beyond good.
I had a big bowl garnished with fresh cantaloupe from the garden, laced with fresh blueberries and a light covering of whipped cream this morning for breakfast.
I am sure heaven can't be any better.
Those of you that live in an area without Blue Bell need to move.
cd-editor
The white bass are beginning their spring run up the Sulphur River.
I caught four this morning in about 30 minutes in the 3 1/2# range.
I suspect, if the weather holds, it will be easy to catch your limit of 25 in no time.
Crappie are beginning to move into shallow water pre-spawn.
There have been some good stringer's coming out of Mercer Bayou in the 2 1/2 to 3 pound range.
HoustonChronicle.com - Study says worms on fishhook feel no pain
I want to say that I know this is true, OK?
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has issued a warning that the speckled trout, on the upper Texas coast, is not safe to eat.
The fish have been contaminated with PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyls) which cause cancer, reproductive, immune problems and liver damage.
Another failure of the EPA to protect the citizens of the United States. Isn't it amazing that the Bush Administration has moved the head of the EPA to cabinet status by making him the Secretary of Health and Human Resources.
Mike Leavitt was a failure protecting the enviroment in Utah, then Bush made him head of the EPA and he was a failure protecting the enviroment of the United States and I suspect he will not protect our healths in this current position.
Have you noticed that the President only wants weak people serving in areas of social service. Typical conservative non-concern for people while protecting business.
You may not be aware that the City of Houston has started it's own air testing for toxins, because the U.S. government has in all reality failed to monitor the air in the most contaminated city in America.
Four more years and we may all need a liver transplant.
cd-editor
If you are not fimiliar with the name Baxter Black, he is a cowboy poet that has sage advice monthly in the Weatern Horseman.
He is worth the price of the subscription.
On the side, he is also a veterinarian.
He wrote a lovelorn column this month of which I must share one letter.
Dear Tripe-Eating Baxter,
My cowboy has been out on the range and I haven't seen him for six weeks. Any ideas for what I might wear for our first night back together?
Signed, Stars in her Eyes
Dear Stars,
Barbecue sauce