"I know the American people. They have a way of erecting a triumphal arch, and after the Conquering Hero has passed beneath it he may expect to receive a shower of bricks on his back at any moment."
-- Theodore Roosevelt, as quoted by Candice Millard

Neither [Carolyn Sime, wolf program coordinator for Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, nor Jeff Allen, policy adviser for Idaho's Office of Species Conservation] said Wyoming was being rewarded for being stubborn, instead focusing on what their states face with wolves. Wyoming will still be required to maintain its fair share of wolves, both said.

The shift in the federal position regarding Wyoming's wolf plan may herald a new way for states to deal with the federal government, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said last week.

Schweitzer said Wyoming's willingness to dig its heels in over control of wolves -- and convince the federal government to compromise -- might be an important lesson on how Montana should deal with federal agencies over bison management controversies outside Yellowstone.

"That sly old Dave Freudenthal, he stared the feds down," Schweitzer told the Billings Gazette. [emphasis added]

The Wyoming Department of Transportation issued a warning on Monday that snow removal on interstates and state highways will be lacking this winter because the booming energy industry is pulling drivers from the state's snow plow fleet. Forty-five of WYDOT's 391 permanent driver positions statewide are vacant, according to the agency.

The driver shortage is most pronounced in the southwest and northeast, where intense energy development has exacerbated the demand for workers with commercial driver's licenses.

...

WYDOT's pay range for snow plow drivers is $8.36 to $14.90 per hour, depending on experience. That relatively low starting wage is a big part of WYDOT's problem, according to Chris Corlis, director of energy training at the Wyoming Contractors Association.

...

"If your beginning wage is less than $10 per hour, and you require a CDL, you're going to have a problem," Corlis said. "There is just such a huge demand among companies like Halliburton, Schlumberger and all energy transportation and construction."

CHEYENNE -- In July, the Fish and Wildlife Service cited the predator provision in the state wolf management plan as the primary reason for rejecting the document.

Mitch King, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Denver-based Mountain-Prairie Region, said Monday that an expanded trophy game area in Wyoming would make the predator provision palatable to federal biologists.

“Frankly, when they get out of this area on the map, we shoot them anyway,” King said.

The new plan gives the Wyoming Game and Fish Department control over management of wolves outside Yellowstone National Park and requires the state to maintain at least seven packs outside Yellowstone.

...

The proposed management plan would allow the state to reduce the number of wolf packs outside Yellowstone from the current 23, which could mean elimination of as many as 16 packs.

Among the tools that might be employed to aggressively manage the wolf population are hunting, trapping, harvest by Game and Fish and lethal take permits for landowners, Cleveland said.

If the Legislature caps the number of wolf packs at the minimum allowed by law -- seven -- Game and Fish would probably be forced to use aircraft snipers to reduce the numbers initially. Cleveland said he anticipates considerable public outcry if that is the case.

Reduced numbers of wolves will benefit the state's elk herds and issues at elk feedgrounds, Cleveland said.

“Other than that, it's going to be a pure headache for me,” he said.

Rep. Colin Simpson, R-Cody, asked if the Fish and Wildlife Service would be willing to do the initial paring down of wolf packs. King said it likely would not, largely because federal lawsuits and East Coast constituents would make it extremely difficult in political terms.

Hoping to end the standoff over Wyoming's wolf management plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly suggested what it hopes is a compromise solution.

The plan would alter somewhat the boundaries of the wolf management area in northwest Wyoming, while allowing the state to maintain a controversial provision to manage wolves as predators in most of the state.

One particular political appointee at Interior has been associated with several tainted decisions. E-mails found by environmental groups during a lawsuit show that Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald ordered U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists to reverse their findings on two of Colorado's prairie dog species. The service had determined that both the white-tailed prairie dog of northwestern Colorado and the Gunnison's prairie dog of the southwest might need protection, but MacDonald countermanded these decisions.

The Preble's meadow jumping mouse's fate still hangs in the balance. The scientific community agrees that the jumping mouse is unique and needs protection, and the Department of Interior's own science panel reached the same conclusion this summer, but Interior has delayed the final decision on the mouse's status by four months now.

Freudenthal's position on savings is that 40 cents of every dollar in mineral revenue is now going into the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, which is more than enough to build the fund to the Legislature's goal of $4 billion by 2010.

The state still is saving plenty, with $709 million going into the trust fund in the biennium that ends June 20, 2008, he said.

I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please

Standin' at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
Whee-hee, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by

Standin' at the crossroads, risin' sun goin' down
Standin' at the crossroads baby, the risin' sun goin' down
I believe to my soul now, po' Bob is sinkin' down
-- Robert Johnson

"Um.. See Oh?"

"See Oh.. what?"

"See Oh, it's the abreviation."

"We need the full name of the town."

"Colorado is a state."

"It is? Is that in Wyoming?"

"Guns are like lawyers: Better to have one and not need it than need one and not have it."
Kansas state senator Phillip Journey

I too am scandalized by the 50-rounds-fired-in-the-general-direction-of-bridegroom thing, and it would be interesting to get on a radio show to try to explain why I'm scandalized. Somebody tried it last night on drivetime radio with Sean Hannity and completely muffed it.

Something like this: if a PD has 3 or 4 officers who, even in the heat of a chase for an armed suspect, confront a person and discharge 50 rounds among them, hitting an innocent unarmed person with only 17, they are not trained enough to control themselves in a fight with the Real Bad Guy. The caller last night asserted they should not be carrying badges ever again in their lives. I shouted into the windshield, "they shouldn't be carrying GUNS."

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, these officers were not trained to a standard to know their own limitations. They were not trained to the point where they controlled their own emotions, body functions, you name it, such that they could not effectively discern the threat to themselves. They didn't rise to the occasion, they defaulted to their level of training. No wonder they distrust armed citizens.

"Putting their lives on the line for you and me every day" is not reason to presume good faith on their part, it is expectation of a higher standard of care, just like the one expected of me. That they might get a pass merely because they are cops, like the Atlanta cops who shot up the granny, is putting the cart before the horse. If they put their lives on the line for "you and me" every day, that means "you and I" are not supposed to be pumped full of bullets by them unless you or I give them articulable cause that withstands cold scrutiny. By definition, "putting their lives on the line for you and me" means they get shot so "you and I" don't. They are supposed to take the calculated risk, the educated guess, so "you and I" don't have to.

They get the body armor, paid for by "you and me." They get the power of arrest, from "you and me." They get all of that training that qualifies them to carry weapons so "you and I" don't have to (and in NYC, "you and I" will never be allowed to). David Codrea riffs on this angle heavily---"we're the only ones qualified to" [fill in the blank] so you aren't.

You may quote me on this if you wish, especially if you can phrase it better. Disregard my usual signature line.

If my line of argument crosses into the "left-liberal libertarian axis" that Ryan Sager started and Cato continues, then well it should. It's been on my mind lately.

Best to you and your family, including your Frederico (is he still about? hope so).

An elderly blonde lived on a small farm in Canada, just yards away from the North Dakota border. Their land had been the subject of a minor dispute between the United States and Canada for years. The now widowed blonde, lived on the farm with her son and three grandchildren.

One day, her son came into her room holding a letter. "I just got some news, Mom," he said. "The government has come to an agreement with the people in Washington. They've decided that our land is really part of the United States. We have the right to approve or disapprove of the agreement. What do you think?"

"What do I think?" his blonde mother said. "Sign it! Call them right now and tell them we accept! I don't think I could stand another one of those Canadian winters!"

So the key to sanity is to spend money as fast as possible? Whatever you do, don't tell our wife!*

* OK, we're not actually married...

As noted in several of the comments on the Kuhn and Stiner paper, Neandertals did collect small animals, marine resources, and plants at many sites. They did use grinding stones occasionally in Eastern Europe. They did collect grass seeds in the Levant, and nuts in Spain. In other words, Neandertals did have substantial dietary flexibility. This evidence for flexibility is currently best outside northwestern and north-central Europe, at least from faunal and plant remains.

The same argument applies to the changes in social ecology, including the use of needles in the Upper Paleolithic. As Soffer ably demonstrates elsewhere (with Adovasio and colleagues), Upper Paleolithic people used needles because they had fabric. Neandertals didn't. That was a technological innovation that changed human ecology.