Riding Herd Saying things that need to be said. July 15, 2022 • www.aaalivestock.com
Volume 64 • No. 7
by LEE PITTS
Lessons Making A Mockery of America Of The
NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING
“This is the source of much of the confusion we now face,” says Cliff. “We may think, as citizens living within the United States, we are fully protected by the Constitution and its guarantees when we appear before a federal district judge, but we are not. “We may think we are living within an admitted State of the Union whereby the State acts as the underlying sovereign over all of the lands and waters which exist within our state’s borders, but in the Court’s mind, such is not the case. “We may think we can protect certain of our rights by citing state law when we appear before a federal judge, but we cannot.” “Fortunately, however,” continues Cliff, “these rulings do not constitute all of the law that has been rendered by the court regarding the management and control of our public lands. The Court has issued other decisions as well that run contrary to those we have mentioned. Clearly the issue as to whether or not our federal government can lawfully control our nation’s public lands which lay within admitted States of the Union or not, is not settled law – not yet anyway. “It has long been recognized that the BLM and Forest Service derive their authority from Article IV of the Constitution. Herein lies the problem. The most serious question that is now before us relates to the fact that the Supreme Court has said, not once, not twice, but multiple times that when Congress acts in pursuant to Article IV, its powers are plenary and without limitations.” “Persons made subject to Article IV Jurisdiction are deprived of the right of substantive
due-process, the right of local self-government, and the right to be tried by one’s peers in the vicinage of one’s residence. Not only that, but the courts have said, when Congress legislates pursuant to its Article IV powers, conflicting state law and policy must yield.
guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not less than two years and a fine that could be as high as ten thousand dollars.
How Can It Be? According to Cliff, what we need to be asking is, “Are we to
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment. “This makes everything we are supposed to believe in as Americans a mockery. We are not a free people living within a sovereign state, but instead, are treated as citizens of a territory made subject to tyrants. “It is for this reason that so many of us have continually gotten the feeling that we are not being treated fairly or lawfully when we are forced to deal with the Forest Service, the BLM, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.” Rubbing salt in the wound, anyone who obeys state law that runs contrary to federal law is
believe that the Constitution allows the federal government the authority to exercise a species of jurisdiction within admitted states which has been declared to be plenary and without limitations - which deprives citizens of their Constitutionally protected rights, when we all know that the primary purpose for writing the Constitution was for the protection of individual rights? Or should we believe otherwise? “How can it be said that the federal government can claim ownership of up to 90% of the
Cowboyin’ For The Feds LEE PITTS
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or several months now I haven’t been able to get the photo out of my head of a dogied calf wandering around in the desert just waiting for starvation or predator to eat it alive. It was dogied because its mother had been shot by aerial snipers hired by the United States Forest Service (USFS). If you haven’t read the article written by publisher Caren Cowan in the March Digest, I strongly urge you to do so, although it is definitely NOT pleasant reading. I feel quite confident that it will turn you stomach and make you fighting mad, as it did me. According to Caren, “On February 10 and 11 Wildlife Services gunned down 65 head of cattle in the Gila Wilderness. They did it with a sniper in a helicopter. The cost was $40,000. The USFS paid for it. The Center for Biological Diversity applauded it.” According to Caren, “The sniper shot 29 bulls, 32 cows and four calves.” How on earth, I wondered, was something like this allowed to happen? And why? It seems that over time cattle have strayed from active and vacant USFS allotments and nearby private lands into the Gila Wilderness in the Gila National Forest because the Forest Service has let fences fall down and working facilities crumble. A rancher by the name of Nelson Shirley also noticed the empty allotments and where others saw nothing but destruction, he saw opportunity. To this day Shirley still runs his Spur
lands within an admitted State of the Union, when it was so clearly stated by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention that their greatest fear was that should the federal government ever acquire vast amounts of land within organized states of the Union, that it might awe the states into undo obedience and destroy their independence? “How can it be said that the federal government can exercise a species of Jurisdiction within an admitted State of the Union, which allows the federal government to act both as a state government and the federal government, when the Supreme Court of the United States itself has declared that such a denial of a citizen’s right to be protected by the divisions of powers doctrine might be pronounced the very definition of tyranny? “How can it be said that the federal government can exercise a species of jurisdiction, which has been declared to be plenary and without limitations, within territory that was acquired pursuant to the Treaty for the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, and by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, one hundred and fifty years after a state, which was carved out of said
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Lake Cattle Company in Southern Kansas but he wanted to expand his operation. When he looked at land prices in eastern Kansas and Southwestern Missouri no matter how sharp he got his pencil he couldn’t pencil a profit and so he began to look around for more profitable pastures. In 2008-2009 Shirley thought he found the place to expand in the Gila Wilderness. So he moved his family there and began his life as a public lands rancher. There were other reasons the area appealed to Shirley. He wanted horseback ranches where you didn’t have to open a gate every half mile and he readily admits he had romantic notions about life in the wild, wild West. And Shirley has no regrets and absolutely loves the life he’s living, although he also readily admits the predator animals like bears, wolves and the Forest Service, while making life far more interesting, also make it much more difficult. “These big country outfits are not easy ranches to run,” he admits. The opportunity to expand existed in the Gila Wilderness because many ranchers had just given up, loaded up the cattle they could gather, sold them and found other forms of employment. To “clean” those allotments of cattle the Forest Service signed contracts with outside contractors to gather the cattle. One of the problems was that many of these cattle actually belonged to ranchers who had not yet thrown in the towel. Maybe these cattle were “slicks” that had missed being branded and others were branded cattle whose brands were not easily readable because they’d been haired over. Over time as the Forest Service has let corrals deteriorate and elk destroy fenccontinued on page 3
Cowdog
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’ve been interested in cowdogs ever since we imported our Kelpie from Australia nearly 50 years ago. And I was privileged to be the announcer for the big Red Bluff cowdog sale for 20 years and during that time I discovered that people can learn a lot about life from cowdogs. For example... There’s no better feeling in the world than cruising down the road in a pickup with the wind in your hair headed off to a new adventure. If you’re truly in love go for it or you’ll always wonder... “What if?” If you’re always ready to go you never have to worry about being late. Offspring learn more by making their own mistakes than if they’re always tethered to their parents. Sometimes you gotta take matters into your own paws because the boss is not gonna be around to tell you every move to make. Study your prey and develop a bold plan of attack. And always have a “Plan B.” You’ll never get all the credit or all the blame you deserve. Always be faithful and loyal to whoever brought you to the party. Don’t make a lot of excess noise, it will only attract enemy reinforcements. When you’re hot and bothered after working all day there’s no greater feeling than jumping into a cool body of water, even if it’s a water trough. No one likes a hot dog. Guard your pickup with your life and don’t be shy about letting others know when they’ve invaded your territory. You’ll get your revenge someday even if it’s just a hamburger from a cancer-eyed cow. You’re worthless if all you do is lay around all day waiting to be petted and fawned over. Eat and sleep when you can because you’ll never know when you can’t. Playing Frisbee or chasing tennis balls is for losers and a complete waste of time, not to mention slobbery. Carnivores were meant to eat meat. Plant burgers will give you gas. Chasing after cars is a los-
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