Holder at Wounded Knee; EPA releases Silvertip update

Lakota Country Times has some good coverage of Attorney General Eric Holder's visit to Pine Ridge. Jim Kent is a contributor there as well.

I confess bewilderment at the rise of golf among young Native Americans. Country clubs use fungicides and herbicides that can leach into watersheds and kill mycelium of important species.

In other DoJ news from an article by Stephanie Woodard in HuffPo via Indianz.com

On July 20, the Yankton Sioux Tribe passed a resolution requesting that the U.S. Attorney General review a federal-court conviction of four tribal members on childhood-sexual-abuse charges. In a majority opinion for the men’s successful appeal – which the U.S. Attorneys’ Office then got the same court to reverse – Judge Myron H. Bright noted that the alleged victims, who were aged 4 to 7, were interviewed by intimidating teams of as many as four adults, including an FBI agent and a BIA agent who identified themselves as “like a policeman.” According to the judge, the questioners showed the youngsters anatomical drawings of a penis; “helped” them remember abuse; gave them group “therapy,” during which they encouraged the children to talk about sex; and made it clear the kids wouldn’t go home unless they agreed with their questioners about “the truth.”

Posted at Indian Country Today:



EPA has released an overview of cleanup efforts in the aftermath of ExxonMobil's negligence:

EPA continues to oversee the response to the ExxonMobil Silvertip Pipeline Spill on the Yellowstone River. EPA is working with a team of local, regional, and national experts in an Agricultural Impact Subcommittee to develop a fact sheet for agricultural questions that will be made available to the public as soon as it is completed. Sampling data results will be made available as quickly as validated results permit. A decision was made by Unified Command early on to ensure that all the response data associated with this incident be consistent with Montana DEQ methodology and standards. As such, we are using only certified labs in Montana and those businesses have been working diligently to process samples and data packages. When data becomes available it will immediately be posted to the maps section of the EPA website.

Could this rock be a remnant of the collision that split the moon from the Earth?

Bridge building: CE 420; Corps: 2012 flooding could look like 2011

Basin Creek took out Tom and Cathy's walk bridge

A cable (unseen) kept it from going downstream

Tom looking for his ass with just one hand

Our freshly poured footer a week ago

Today, the new bridge: a salvage 43 foot mobile home frame

The track hoe lifting the frame parallel to creek bed

New bridge deck in place; it's almost two feet above 2011 flood level

From the Bismarck Tribune:

“The bottom line is that we need to get water out of the system as soon as possible,” said Brig. Gen. John McMahon, commander of the corps’ Northwestern Division. The corps’ priority is to regain flood storage capacity in its reservoirs, but McMahon said it would not lower reservoirs below their standard spring flood control levels. “We also looked at the probability of this event occurring again in 2012,” said McMahon, who called this year’s runoff a “one in 500-year event.” “As with any plan, it’s just a plan,” McMahon said.

US cannabis policy has failed

The cannabis black market is costing the US billions in law enforcement and justice costs alone. The AP via Cannabis News brings this story from Indiana:

“The public recognizes that our marijuana laws have done more harm than good,” Daniel Abrahamson of the Drug Policy Alliance told the Indiana Legislature’s Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee. “The federal government cannot require states to make marijuana illegal,” he said. In no instance, he said, has a state changed its mind and “re-criminalized” marijuana after decriminalizing personal use. Abrahamson estimated Indiana could raise $44 million a year in sales taxes alone if it regulated and taxed marijuana. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has said he would like to wait and see what the panel finds before taking a position.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services has the unilateral authority to not only remove cannabis from Schedule 1 but legalize it. The world would be a very different place had Tom Daschle stayed for Senate confirmation but there's that.

Which Lee newspaper on ip's beat has the stupidest readers?

Sometimes, i just shake my head; sometimes i pee my pants. See if you can match the readers to their papers:

Rich can pay more taxes (81) Comments
There is no debt crisis (60) Comments
Republicans are the good guys (51) Comments
U.S. Postal Service considers closing 43 Wyoming post offices (33) Comments
Car collectors are targeted (30) Comments
Where are the tough guys? (20) Comments
Wyoming protesters urge debt ceiling compromise (15) Comments
Pass the medicine (14) Comments


Raid could set up first test for new medical marijuana law in Ravalli County (55) Comments
Wolf advocates challenge delisting at Missoula hearing (54) Comments
Police checkpoints: They are an obscenity to freedom (51) Comments
Debt limit: Is Obama a hypocrite or a liar? (45) Comments
Missoula committee to look at 3 options for dog leashes (38) Comments
Amendment delisting gray wolves faces court challenge Tuesday (34) Comments
Barack Obama: Our president is the MAN (33) Comments
Length of sentences continues to be a challenge in DUI fatalities (31) Comments


Democrats use scare tactics
We deserve a balanced budget
Zeeland couple opening mosque in Goodrich meets backlash
Congress should think of others
Tracking the debt in history


Worries about debt rising once again
Johnson blasts "cut, cap, balance" debt proposal; Thune calls it "right solution"
Premier closing a serious blow to Spearfish
Trademark opponents call for boycott of Sturgis merchandise
Legion: Rivalry game worth the wait for Post 22
Group plans initiated measure to hike state sales tax
26 West River post offices eyed for possible closure
O'REILLY: Cheating, lying now the norm


Deficit blame lies with former Bush leadership
Helena cat killer back in jail
Fights in Memorial Park result in arrests
Voters split on raising debt ceiling
‘One-pot’ meth cookers highly toxic
Commission looks at ways to keep roads safe from distracted drivers
Tester likes 'Gang of 6' debt plan
Spending is the problem


Joliet man accused of shooting 55 dogs in serious condition (39) Comments
Gazette opinion: Congress must avert U.S. credit crisis (35) Comments
Dozens of Montana, Wyoming post offices under study for closure (31) Comments
Pet returns home after 3 months on the lam (26) Comments
Wolf law challenged as hunts loom in Idaho, Montana (22) Comments

Tea Party risking the financial stability of Americans
Some folks not too pleased with EK Days
Injury cancels EK finale
Pool bond heading to voters
NCAT’s coffee hut target of suit
Longtime arts foundation director resigns
Butte teachers offered one-year contract
Our readers speak: Rehberg should represent all Americans, not just the rich

Any wonder why the House of Representatives is a Republican outhouse?

In no order: Bismarck Tribune, Missoulian, Billings Gazette, Montana Standard, Casper Trib, Helena IR, Rapid City Journal.

Hey, you Lee superstars: pool your stock and buy your papers.

From Think Progress (h/t Cory):

In response to this unique catastrophe, an artist has set up an installation at the University of Wyoming connecting the burning of coal to a breakdown of the environment. The 36-foot diameter piece, called “Carbon Sink: What Goes Around Comes Around,” is made up of a spiral array of beetle-infested wood covered in coal.

Mary Garrigan has an updated report on Attorney General Eric Holder's visit to Rapid City and Wounded Knee.

Are US top cops in Rapid City to assess smoldering insurgency? Topiary busted (maybe)

Attorney General Eric Holder is in South Dakota to keep the smoldering cold war with aboriginals from a flash point. Mary Garrigan provided readers of the Rapid City Journal with background:

Thirty U.S. attorneys from around the country, including U.S. Attorney Brendan V. Johnson of South Dakota, will be in Rapid City to participate in the joint Native American Issues Subcommittee and the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee meeting.

The Justice Department is hosting listening sessions on reservations throughout the West. From a Washington Post story:

U.S. Department of Justice officials highlighted the efforts they’ve made in Indian Country in a call with reporters Tuesday. They said they’ve traveled to sometimes remote areas to hear from tribal leaders on how they can better collaborate to combat crime. U.S. attorneys in South Dakota, Arizona and New Mexico spoke about how their offices have trained tribal police as federal agents, recruited tribal prosecutors to assist in federal cases, helped improve technology in tribal court systems and are working to make sure that major crimes on reservations don’t go unpunished.

Looks like a town hall grand jury to me.

Wired's Threat Level:

The London Metropolitan Police on Wednesday arrested a 19-year-old Shetland Islands man who they say is “Topiary,” the most visible figure in LulzSec.

Then this from Daily Tech:

In the end it appears Scotland's "Topiary" met a similar fate as "Chippy1337" and "XYZ" -- arrested by authorities who were led down the wrong trail by the clever members of Anonymous and LulzSec.

Apex predators critical to saving global economy

It's the good rich guys against the bad rich guys. Ralph Nader hosted Ted Turner and Peter Lewis at the New York Public Library.

From HuffPo:

Philanthropist and CNN founder Ted Turner has turned his sights to renewable energy -- and he had some fighting words for the wind industry at the kickoff to its annual convention on Monday. "Let's go out and kick their asses. That's what they need, a good ass-kicking," Turner told the group assembled for the American Wind Energy Association's conference.

Montana's governor Brian Schweitzer was also in attendance at the conference:

He used Montana ranch-style anecdotes to describe the imperative for America to increase its energy independence. Schweitzer also compared the growth of domestic energy to the Apollo program to reach the moon and referenced Tom Brokaw's book, the Greatest Generation, on the contribution made by Americans during World War II. "The question is," said Schweitzer, "can we be the Greatest Generation?" To become another such generation, he suggested, the nation must tap its own vast resources to develop clean, affordable American wind power.

Steve Casimiro posted his argument for the need for apex predators in the wild at NewWest:

In Yellowstone National Park, the extirpation of wolves led to a flourishing elk population, which then overgrazed trees. Reductions in numbers of lions and leopards in parts of Africa has led to a rise of olive baboons, increasing contact with humans and the spread of intestinal parasites in humans and baboons. The decimation of sharks in the Chesapeake Bay has led to a proliferation of cow-nosed rays, which have over-consumed oysters. The authors said that to restore healthy ecosystems, land managers must also restore or reintroduce large predators. And just a note to those who would reflexively favor cattle over wolves: Cows are not part of a natural, healthy ecosystem.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

The 20 largest debtor nations.

Sunrise, sunset

Grover Norquist's obesity is the flag of entitlement. The psychology of the perceived right to consume is mitochondrial so the obese use the maintenance of fat stores to enable their behaviors that seek to destroy the security of the 'weak.' The lack of exercise drives compulsive resource hoarding and stokes their religious absolutism.

The militarization of law enforcement is undoing democracy by firing teachers to privatize prisons.The disaffected Left goes to a state capital and dances on the People’s table in the governor’s office. The disaffected Right has guns and kills people.

President Eisenhower gave permission to the military/industrial complex. Ted Kaczynski gave permission to Tim McVeigh. Jared Loughner gave permission to the sovereign movement. Now, the Grover Norquist Republicans of the US are giving permission to the Scott Roeders and the Oslo attackers of South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming to extract and defend.

Two reporters at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader believe they have evidence that the Army Corps of Engineers is engaging in CYA:

Until mid-April, officials were confident they could manage the situation without major flooding. But within a few weeks the situation unraveled, leading to the most serious flooding on the Missouri in decades. Those conclusions come from thousands of pages of internal emails and reports obtained by the Argus Leader and Gannett Washington Bureau under the Freedom of Information Act. The request includes exchanges between Jody Farhat, chief of the water management division for the corps' Omaha District, and other top officials in the corps as they struggled to manage the situation.But there was concern about what lowering Lake Sharpe would mean for downriver Native American tribes. Farhat ordered an assessment. "We don't want to help out one area (Pierre) to the detriment of another, especially the tribes - it's an environmental justice issue. Perhaps with the high releases there won't be any impact, but we have to know that before we can say that."

Fans flock for Fleming film festival

Eric Lochbridge is the Rapid City Journal arts editor:

The festival, created by siblings Dylan and Bonny Fleming, doesn’t necessarily look for polished, scripted movies shot on high-grade equipment. The proliferation of basic digital video-recording devices and editing software in the past 10 years has given many people the ability to experiment with short films, and that paved the way for the 1345 festival. In its third year, the festival is moving from its previous location, Bonny Fleming’s driveway on Kansas City Street, to Art Alley in downtown Rapid City. The move takes the festival away from the address that gave it its name, but with more than 100 people in attendance last year, the Flemings decided it was time to step up to a bigger venue.

Bonny and Dylan are the offspring of grizzled, well-worn but well-meaning perennial blog commenter, Bill Fleming.

Anonymous arrest details following F**k FBI Friday. ip's path to world peace revealed

Drew Wilson at Zeropaid:

The FBI yesterday conducted a major raid across the United States, netting anywhere between 14 and 16 people who are allegedly connected to hacking group Anonymous. The AntiSec movement has been responsible for several hacks including hacks on FBI contractors, police forces, political and judicial websites. For some, the FBI raids were seen as a sign of the FBI finally able to put a lid on the threat of Anonymous in the United States. Or was it?

LulzSec and Anonymous posted this to PasteBin:

That does not mean that everyone behaves like an outlaw. You see, mostpeople do not behave like bandits if they have no reason to. We become banditson the Internet because you have forced our hand. The Anonymous bitchslap ringsthrough your ears like hacktivism movements of the 90s. We're back - and we'renot going anywhere. Expect us.

ICT: Anonymous exposing tar sands effects on First Nations. Montana judge stops megaloads

Indian Country Today tells readers that the sixteen persons arrested throughout the US is a tiny fraction of hacktivists poised to expose the devastation being caused by the Alberta tar sands:

The hacking was timed with protests along scenic Highway 12 in Montana, where Exxon and other conglomerates are driving megaloads through the heart of Nez Perce territory, through Idaho and Montana, carrying refinery equipment to Alberta. “Residents along the route have joined National Forest supervisors, local Indian tribes, and national environmental groups in opposition to Big Oil’s northwestern greed,” said the environmental group Change.org in a petition against the shipping. “Most fear that the new activity will be permanent, creating lasting environmental damage.”

More on the halting of the shipments of ecoterror tools here. Meanwhile, a truck dumped a load of toilet paper into the Lochsa River along the route used by megaloads.

EWG: eating less beef and cheese like taking 7.6 million cars off the road

The Environmental Working Group has released its Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health:

Taking into account every stage of food production, processing, consumption and waste disposal, the guide documents in unprecedented detail how consumers who eat less meat and cheese can significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and health risks linked to their dietary choices. Previous studies have focused mostly on emissions from the food production phase only. The calculations reveal that if everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, over a year, the effect on emissions would be the equivalent of taking 7.6 million cars off the road. Beef generates more than twice the emissions of pork, nearly four times that of chicken, and more than 13 times that of vegetable proteins such as beans, lentils, and tofu. Cheese has the third-highest emissions. Less dense cheese (such as cottage) results in fewer greenhouse gases since it takes less milk to produce it. 90 percent of beef’s emissions, 69 percent of pork’s, 72 percent of salmon’s and 68 percent of tuna’s are generated in the production phase. Just half of chicken’s emissions are generated during production.

Obesity rates are tied to beef and cheese consumption according to the National Institutes of Health:

Considerable differences existed in MC (meat consumption) across sociodemographic groups among US adults. Those who consumed more meat had a much higher daily total energy intake, for example, those in the upper vs bottom quintiles consumed around 700 more kcal day(-1) (P<0.05). Regression models showed consistent positive associations between MC and BMI (body mass index), waist circumference, obesity and central obesity, respectively. Using quintile 1 (low MC) as the reference, the association (odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI)) between total MC quintiles and obesity were 1.03 (0.88; 1.21; 2nd quintile), 1.17 (1.00; 1.38), 1.27 (1.08; 1.51) and 1.27 (1.08; 1.49; upper quintile), respectively; whereas that with central obesity was 1.13 (0.96-1.33), 1.31 (1.10; 1.54), 1.36 (1.17-1.60) and 1.33 (1.13; 1.55), respectively.

Rewild the West.

FBI arrests 14, Anonymous hacks Fed

FBI has arrested 14 in raids. Wired's Threat Level:

More than 10 FBI agents converged on the home of Giordani Jordan in Baldwin (on Long Island), while other agents searched two additional homes in Long Island and Brooklyn, according to Fox News.

AnonOps reports: #Anonymous is attacking The Federal Reserve #FED. AnonNews via Twitter:

Federal Official tells CNN 14 have been arrested nationwide in connection with investigation of the #Anonymous hacking group via @CNNJustin

LulzSec/Anonymous: Uzani, his army with fists closed

Anonymous/LulzSec pnk Murdoch. MSNBC reports:

LulzSec, the group of hackers that said three weeks ago it was disbanding, claimed credit Monday for defacing Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper website, while an allied group, Anonymous, claimed credit for a denial-of-service attack that brought down the website of The Times, another Murdoch paper. The Sunday Times and News International sites also appeared to be down Monday. "Tango down," Anonymous said on its Twitter page about The Times. Meanwhile, late Monday, those who went to the Sun's website were redirected to a website that looked like The Sun with a fake story that said Murdoch's body had been found in his garden. Most thought LulzSec was gone from the scene when it said last month it was stepping back to work with larger hacking group Anonymous in efforts to hack government and corporate websites the group deems corrupt. But in an eerie Twitter posting July 13, LulzSec indicated it was far from done. "The LulzBoat is on holiday across mysterious shores, but we have a lovely surprise for you in the future," the group said.

Darmok and Jalad on the ocean.

Right to work states are US' leading workplace killers: Montana #1

Montana's rate for worker fatalities (10.8/100,000 workers) is more than three times the national average of 3.3/100,000, says an April press release printed in the Montana Standard. Dustin Bleizeffer of WyoFile brings this report in the Billings Gazette:

Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate improved from the worst in the nation — 17 fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2007 — to fourth worst in 2009, according to an AFL-CIO report, passing the “worst” distinction to Montana, Louisiana and North Dakota, where many drilling rigs migrated during the same period. But before Wyoming leaders and employers claim victory over such a poor past performance, safety officials are warning that workplace fatalities could spike again when drilling and construction activity returns to Wyoming. Last week, an iWatch investigative report, “'Model Workplaces’ Not Always Safe,” found that many companies across the nation that are enrolled in state-level Voluntary Protection Programs enjoy the benefit of fewer inspections but still were guilty of serious safety violations — many resulting in the death of workers..

A coal mine in Campbell County, Wyoming is a defendant in a case led by Spence Law Firm (an underwriter of Wyoming Public Radio):

The Spence Law Firm, working in association with the Michaels and Michaels law firm in Gillette, Wyoming, has filed a complaint against Wyoming corporation Western Fuels-Wyoming, Inc., (owner and operator of the Dry Fork Mine) and two of its employees. Negligence claims and other counts are also being brought against the mine employer, which fired Shawn Cunningham the day after he filed for Wyoming workers compensation benefits, in violation of public policy.

From WyoFile:

UnlikeWyoming’s coal mining industry, oil and gas companies work without borders and they do it without a clear set of safety ground-rules or certifications that are transferable from one drilling location to the next. “You can build all the policies you want, but if you don’t hold employees accountable for their actions,” the policies have little effect, said Denny Gladwin of Halliburton Services. “The legislature is very much a part of the Tea Party movement, and that’s good,” said Dallas Scholes of Williams Production RMT, who serves on WOGISA’s legislative committee.

Tim DeChristopher is Bidder 70, the climate activist arrested after taking part in a Bureau of Land Management auction. He appeared on DemocracyNow! in April where he called for young people to participate in a peaceful uprising:

In March, a federal jury convicted environmental activist Tim DeChristopher of two felony counts for disrupting the auction of more than 100,000 acres of federal land for oil and gas drilling. Last weekend he spoke at the Power Shift 2011 conference and urged youth climate activists to make more sacrifices.

Progressive author Chris Hedges appealed to us to get involved in Mr. DeChristopher's case in an article at TruthDig:

Tim DeChristopher is scheduled to be sentenced in a Salt Lake City courtroom by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson on July 26. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a $750,000 fine for fraudulently bidding in December 2008 on parcels of land, including areas around eastern Utah’s national parks, which were being sold off by the Bush administration to the oil and natural gas industry. As Bidder No. 70, he drove up the prices of some of the bids and won more than a dozen other parcels for $1.8 million.

DeChristopher writes in a July 15 article in Grist:

Grist readers probably already know that Massey Energy is one of the worst corporate criminals in the fossil fuel industry. The company's most visible recent outrage was the disaster that killed 29 miners in the Upper Big Branch mine in April of 2010. The governor of West Virginia at the time, Joe Manchin, commissioned an independent investigative panel that found that Massey operates in a "profoundly reckless manner."

Back to the Montana Standard article:

"Our work is never done when it comes to workplace safety - the tragedies in the last year at Massey Energy's Big Branch mine and the BP Gulf Coast oil rig have shown us that," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "But recently worker protections have come under attack by big business groups and Republicans claiming that we can't afford to protect American families. This Workers Memorial Day, we need to get one thing straight: Safety regulations don't kill jobs, but unsafe jobs do kill workers."

Environmental lawyer and activist, Robert Kennedy, Jr. wonders in The Nation why DeChristopher was arrested but that Massey Energy earth hater, Don Blankenship has not been.

Mountaintop removal mining or sage steppe removal mining: what's the difference again?

Anonymous/LulzSec: Uzani, his army with fists open

They are sailing to Tanagra.

Following the AntiSec freedom-fighters, Anonymous, Abhaxas, and Atopiary on Twitter has been a mindblowing trip (OMG, ip is so over her head). A LulzSec hacker was arrested recently after pnking Sony, the FBI, and the US Senate, among others. The other day, Abhaxas accessed the Yellowstone County, Montana website. PC World describes LulzSec's hijinx thusly:

A statement the group has posted says going public with user personal details after a hack attack is better than keeping exploits private. It gives users a chance to change their passwords, the group says. Such public releases are also arguably good for websites too. After the group published 26,000 emails and passwords stolen from porn sites last week, Facebook automatically locked every account linked to the email addresses, stopping the kind of unauthorized access LulzSec discusses. LulzSec says its hack attacks will continue until “we’re brought to justice, which we might well be.” The group denies it's locked in a hacker war wioX similar group Anonymous. This had been suggested after LulzSec targeted the 4Chan website with a denial of service attack following attempts by 4Chan users to expose members of LulzSec.

Ok, so motive is established and now a warrior is offered to the opposing forces: Usani, his army with fists open.

These results warmed the cockles of my heart:

My feelings about the proposed expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline 

Fear and loathing 13 (68%)
Complete embrace 4 (21%)
Resignation 1 (5%)
Ambivalence 1 (5%)
Other 0 (0%)

Blogger is having trouble with the poll widget so it might be a little while before the next one. Thank you for visiting my humble blog.

AnonOps: UN says US violating Manning's human rights to protect oil interests

The anti-civil rights wing of the Republican Party insists that abortion violates a fetus' human rights but ignores the plight of whistle-blower, Bradley Manning. President Obama: how can you let this continue?:



Read Glenn Greenwald's column in Salon here.

Oil is a national security imperative:

A cable obtained by the Web site WikiLeaks said Washington as early as 2009 was ready to consider green-lighting the project. Critics of TransCanada’s plans point to the perceived rise in the number of oil spills and the potential harm from tar sands oil extracted from Alberta, Canada. The planned extension would cross the Yellowstone River in Montana. U.S. lawmakers are questioning officials regarding a July 1 spill from an Exxon Mobile pipeline into the river.

From A Taste of Armageddon:

We’re human beings, with the blood of a million savage years on our hands. But we can stop it. We can admit that we’re killers, but we won’t kill today--James T. Kirk.

Cyber attacks targeting oil grid, earth haters

The Billings Gazette reports that the website of Yellowstone County has been accessed by an as yet unknown patriot in the wake of the Exxon/Mobil eco assault on the last wild river in the United States:

The website will be brought back online in stages when it is safe to do so, a process that is expected to go into next week, county officials said. County staffers are working on finding forensic security personnel to evaluate the problem.

A respondent in the comment section self-identifying as 'erkeengelen' remarked:

SQL Injection - seems to be all the rage. One of the Antisec affiliated groups or just a Eastern European kids who needs some fresh CC#'s for some new sneaks?

Then:

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/94276/abhaxas-hacks-montana-government-website-16-databases-exposed/
I knew it. One of the Anons/Antisec using an SQL exploit.

From Wired's Danger Room:

“The United States is fighting a cyber-war today, and we are losing,” retired admiral and former National Security Agency chief Mike McConnell wrote in the Washington Post last year. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta claimed cyber attacks could be the “next Pearl Harbor we confront.” If there was a nod to the McConnell crowd — who’d like to “reengineer the internet” to make everyone trackable online — it was in the declaration that “DoD will pursue revolutionary technologies that rethink the technological foundations of cyberspace.” But that view is not universally shared in Washington. “There is no cyberwar,” White House cyber czar Howard Schmidt has repeatedly said.

When will Transcanada be hacked?



More to come.

Anonymous hacks Monsanto, oil companies next. Did you know Doob Dahnke?

Patriots calling themselves 'Anonymous' have taken on earth haters Monsanto in another skirmish:

Over the last 2 months we have pushed the exposure of hundreds of pages of articles detailing Monsanto's corrupt, unethical, and downright evil business practices. We've created a nice go-to reference guide on piratepad/anonpad(anonpad.org/opmonsanto, backed up elsewhere), where anyone can read up on and add their own info about MonsantoCo. 

We blasted their web infrastructure to shit for 2 days straight, crippling all 3 of their mail servers as well as taking down their main websites world-wide. We dropped dox on 2500+ employees and associates, including full names, addresses, phone numbers, and exactly where they work. We are also in the process of setting up a wiki, to try and get all collected information in a more centralized and stable environment. Not bad for 2 months, I'd say.

What's next? Not sure... it might have something to do with that open 6666 IRC port on their nexus server though ;) 

Expect Us

Computer site CNET confirms:

"Last month, Monsanto experienced a disruption to our Web sites which appeared to be organized by a cyber-group," Tom Helscher, director of corporate affairs, said in a statement provided to CNET. "In addition, this group also recently published publicly available information on approximately 2,500 individuals involved in the broader global agriculture industry. Contrary to initial media reports, only 10 percent of this publicly available information related to Monsanto's current and former employees. The list also included contact details for media outlets as well as other agricultural companies." Anonymous, separately and as part of its AntiSec campaign with hackers known as "LulzSec," has been involved in recent attacks on Booz Allen Hamilton, as well as attacks on Arizona lawmen, Apple, Sony, the city of Orlando, Florida, and the governments of Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Iran, among many other targets. (A list of recent hacking attacks is here.)

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend"--ancient Arabian proverb.

Canpásapa Wi – Moon When the Chokecherries Are Ripe.

Visiting Montanans: if you know this story, could you share your knowledge of it?

MISSOULA - Richard Alan Dahnke, 45, of Missoula, died Saturday, May 11, 2002, at St. Patrick Hospital.Richard was born June 25, 1956, in Fargo, N.D., to Virginia and the late Fred W. Dahnke of Barnesville, Minn. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, at St. James United Church of Christ, Barnesville. Interment will be in Rosemound Cemetery, Barnesville. He attended Moorhead State University and later the University of Montana. Richard married Linda Kuntz in December 1984. In July 1993 he married Sue Metz. He leaves a son, Hunter Alan Dahnke of Missoula; his mother, Virginia Dahnke of Barnesville; two sisters, Diane Nelson and Janet Witt; and one brother, Frederick E. Dahnke.

Democrats: seize the moment

A movement has emerged among disaffected, college-aged activists frustrated with the lack of leadership on environmental solutions. The flash mob at Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's office demonstrated bold initiative as it confronted the state's executive. Note the diversity of the protestors (though no one over 40ish):



The global hacker, ANONYMOUS, announced it:

JULY 12, 2011

Operation Green Rights presents: Project Tarmeggedon
Free-thinking citizens of the world: 

Anonymous' Operation Green Rights calls your attention to an urgent situation in North America perpetuated by the boundless greed of the usual suspects: Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., Imperial Oil, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and many others. 

This week, activists are gathering along U.S. Highway 12 in Montana to protest the transformation of a serene wilderness into an industrial shipping route, bringing "megaloads" of refinery equipment to the Alberta Tar Sands in Canada. 

Anonymous now joins the struggle against "Big Oil" in the heartland of the US. We stand in solidarity with any citizen willing to protest corporate abuse. Anonymous will not stand by idly and let these environmental atrocities continue. This is not the clean energy of the future that we are being promised. 

We will, over the course of the next few days, use the powers we posses to spread news about this scenario and the corporations involved. We are actively seeking leaks to expose the corruption that we all KNOW is beneath this. Anonymous will support the activists on July 13-14 when they initiate civil disobedience and direct action to confront this dire issue. We urge you to get involved. Montana and Idaho citizens, we ask you to join local protests and attend the Highway 12 rally if you are close enough! If you're not, join us in the IRC listed below for our own good times. 

The continued development of the tar sands is a major step backward in the effort to curb global warming. Anonymous will not suffer this without a fight, and Operation Green Rights will always support the rights of the people to live in an unpolluted world, and aim to help safeguard it for the future. One way or another.

These actions are indicators of a new direction for political planners. Translating these participations into votes can be the bonanza that could propel Democrats into local seats. Let's reach out.



Rather than ripping up the Earth for glass, aluminum, and petroleum to make plastics: what about harvesting beetle-killed pine to manufacture aseptic paper beer containers and for compostable alternatives to the mountains of ubiquitous packaging this country uses?

Human Rights Watch: Bush White House crime evidence overwhelming

Kenneth Roth is the executive director of Human Rights Watch:

The 107-page report, "Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees," presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of Bush and senior administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as "waterboarding," the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured. Human Rights Watch said the criminal investigation should include an examination of the preparation of the Justice Department memos that were used to justify the unlawful treatment of detainees. Human Rights Watch also said that victims of torture should receive fair and adequate compensation as required by the Convention against Torture. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have successfully kept courts from considering the merits of torture allegations in civil lawsuits by making broad use of legal doctrines such as state secrets and official immunity.

Climate changing The West's wildfire seasons

There is still a 20 foot snowdrift on the divide between Basin Creek and the Ten Mile drainage above Rimini when ip was up there on a mycology survey day before yesterday. The Billings Gazette's Brett French says the wet conditions are keeping Montana wildland firefighters at home or being sent to other parts of the Southwest US:

Heavy, wet snow hung on in the high country and soaked larger downed timber. A map of Montana shows most of the state’s 1,000-hour fuels — dead timber 3 to 8 inches in diameter — at normal when compared with the past 30 years of data. The exceptions are portions of the central and northwestern areas of the state, where moisture is below normal, and parts of southeastern Montana, where moisture in 1,000-hour fuels is above normal. According to National Interagency Fire Center data, in 2009 Montana as a whole had 1,731 wildland fires that burned almost 49,000 acres. Last year, the state saw 1,050 starts that burned 56,700 acres. Those figures are about a third of what burned in the state in 2008, when 1,421 wildland fires burned 166,840 acres.

Going to the Sun Highway on the way to Logan Pass in Glacier National Park is experiencing its second-latest opening in its 78-year history. The Missoulian sez:

When Glacier National Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright visited Logan Pass this week, he stood atop the Big Drift, a colossal snow bank on the Continental Divide. Cartwright was perched roughly 30 feet above the asphalt, and said such abundant snow at this time of year is unprecedented.

Wyoming is experiencing similar conditions while Colorado and the other four corner states are seeing more fires as a result of the 'decoupling' caused by changes in global climate.

A chunk of asteroid just flew within 7500 miles of Earth. Why is there no mechanism to give immediate pursuit with a robotic spacecraft? Metals are fetching incredible prices. Compel the Canadians who want to mine rare earth minerals in the Black Hills give a hefty portion of their proceeds to develop the technology to mine off-world.

A South Dakota blogger tipped us off to a protest today in the Montana Capitol. The Billings Gazette reported this:

Gov. Brian Schweitzer met with roughly 70 pipeline protesters who occupied his office Tuesday and demanded he renounce his support for a new pipeline project. Schweitzer told the group he would not cede to their demands. They then started playing the piano and dancing on the big table in the governor's reception room in apparent frustration with the direction of the meeting. A spokesman said the protest was the culmination of an Earth First! rally near the Montana/Idaho border in the Lolo National Forest.

Schweitzer was interviewed today on NPR's All Things Considered.

EPA: tires dumped into Continental Divide reclamation site

A Jefferson County contractor is being investigated after a Basin resident became suspicious of unscheduled dumping at the Luttrell Repository hazardous waste pit in the former Basin Creek Mine on the Continental Divide.

From the Helena Independent Record:

Buster Bullock, who operates Bullock Contracting Inc., said he wasn’t initially aware that it was inappropriate for his employees to throw the large, used tires into the pit at the top of the Continental Divide above the small towns of Basin and Rimini, and he doesn’t know how many were disposed of in that manner. The tire dumping is being investigated by both the state Department of Environmental Quality and the federal EPA. Ed Betka, who lives in Basin, said he believes the pit holds hundreds of tires that were trucked to the site in at least two side-dump rigs. “Saying there’s only 60 tires in there is a sham,” Betka said. “And what else is buried up there? They’ve violated the public trust and are doing things under the dark of night."

It should be noted that Mr. Betka is the business partner of a rival contractor.

Budd: Natives elected Kooiker

Few dispute that Rapid City is divided by race and income. A discussion of its city election took place recently on Bill Janklow's idea of public radio where it was acknowledged that the previous mayor and council failed to adequately address the plight of a number of homeless living in that community.

An analysis of the recent referendum from Joseph Budd appeared in the Native Sun News and was reposted at Indianz.com:

But in all, it would prove to be a close fight, as Hanks would win 12 precincts, out of 25 in the city to speak of. For the Native Americans within Rapid City, voting in specific areas tended to highlight this. The Lakota Homes subdivision, located within the Ward Four, Precinct Three, would have 193 votes for Hanks, while 285 votes would be counted for Kooiker. North Rapid, the section that Kooiker had mentioned regarding gerrymandering issues, would vote for Kooiker as well, with a 198-109 total. Overall, Kooiker’s win highlighted the division in Rapid City, between the well-to-do living in West side and Sheridan Lake Road areas and the middle-lower class living on the East and North Side, but it also highlighted that those traditionally living in North Rapid, are now spreading out to other parts of Rapid City. During Kooiker’s censure, several people were brought forth to defend his freedom of speech, including Robert Doody, Executive Director of American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota.

Budd is a morbidly obese christian who regularly assails the rights of women and LGBT persons in the Rapid Reply section of the Rapid City Journal as an erstwhile poor runner for office. His metrics may be missing an element that is at least as nefarious as racism.

Former mayor Alan Hanks is a Roman Catholic. That sect is deeply rooted in the collective Native unconscious as the psychosexual predators that colluded with the US to abrogate the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The opulent west side Blessed Sacrament Church parking lot looks like a Lexus/Lincoln dealership every Sunday. Sam Kooiker is a white evangelical Protestant with ties to the sovereign movement, the radical anti-government secessionist wing of the Republican Party, that seeks to woo tribal members in other political races.

KW has a revealing read today in the Rapid City Journal:

I pondered the question when I saw Kooiker Monday night during a Fourth of July celebration at the southwest Rapid City home of Qusi and Jamie Al-haj. Qusi is a former Republican Party leader in Pennington County and current West River director for U.S. Sen. John Thune. And when Qusi celebrates, he enjoys a little company. Last week, that included familiar Republicans such as Ken Davis and J.P. Duniphan. It also included the most devout of Democrats, Bill Walsh, who announced loudly that Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were the world's three greatest leaders.

David Montgomery also has a fun piece in today's Journal describing a stunt proposed by aforementioned earth hater, Pennington County Commissioner Ken Davis, to send a bug-killed pine to DC as the White House Christmas Tree. Note ip's barbed rejoinder in the comment section.

South Dakota's Krusti Noem is hosting a thinly disguised Republican group grope masquerading as a pine beetle listening session for supporters and the press in Hill City that will likely result in the mass slaughter of morale inside the BHNF. ip also made a few corrections to her poorly constructed assessment of Black Hills forest health in the Journal.

Oh well.

China dragging US by the nipple ring; oil spill upstaging folk festival

Doug Wiken is correct: Art Oakes is among the ugliest of americans helping fascists in America to win the cap and trade war. China is not only holding US hostage with debt; she has us by the carbon tit, too.

From the Australian Conservative:

In the United States, all moves towards a national cap-and-trade scheme have been abandoned. Seven US states – Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Utah – had committed to a regional emissions trading scheme, but only California now remains officially committed to implementing one next year and the Productivity Commission notes that “it is likely that the permit price and abatement will be close to zero in 2012.” As well, New Jersey and New Hampshire are in the process of abandoning a regional greenhouse gas initiative while the Conservative Party in Canada recently won an outright majority on an explicit policy of rejecting any unilateral carbon tax or ETS.

New Jersey and New Hampshire are among the most polluted places. New Jersey's executive is the country's most obese governor having been fattened by the Koch Brothers.

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, has waffled on carbon trading:

The inaugural Montana Folk Festival is distracting some attention from the ExxonMobil spill on the Yellowstone River.

Dead Man

NPR just played this as interstitial music during Morning Edition. Put this movie in your Netflix queue and see if you recognize your country:

Muslim students reaching out to Crow; Professor Gabel passes

From the Montana State University News Service:

Faisal AlSaad has been in the United States for less than a year, but he was profoundly moved when he saw news clips about the victims of the recent American disasters. "In Saudi Arabia we have the same disaster," said the incoming Montana State University freshman from Saudi Arabia. "It is called masanada and everyone helps. I thought we should help here."Fellow members of the MSU Muslim Student Association became involved and mentioned the project to Phenocia Bauerle of MSU's Diversity Awareness Office. Bauerle, who is a member of the Crow Indian Tribe, linked the MSU students with Aldean Good Luck, outreach coordinator at Little Bighorn College, who headed the donation and distribution of donated items for the tribe. "It was gratifying," said Abdullah "Rocky" Yassin, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering from Chicago who is president of the MSU Muslim Student Association. "We live in a generous place." Yassin, a U.S. Air Force veteran who had experience organizing after disasters, visited local businesses with AlSaad to see if they could leverage the cash donations into as much food as possible.

Professor Gabel was a tireless advocate for Black Hills habitat and took my calls when i was stumped. She told me oyster mushrooms were the best eating and thought my favorite, Hypomyces lactifluorum, are too tough to eat. From her RCJ obit:

Audrey taught biology at Black Hills State University for 18 years and continued her research on the fungi of the state after her retirement. She is the author of many scientific articles and presented papers at both national and regional meetings. She presented her last scientific talk at the April 2011 meeting of the South Dakota Academy of Science. Audrey along with one of her former students, Elaine Ebbert, also authored a photographic guidebook to fungi of the Black Hills.

Haboob hits Phoenix. h/t hipneck:

My Fellow American

From my inbox:

The poll, Which Cabinet position should Ron Paul be asked to occupy in the next Obama term? was apparently was missing the answer, Commerce.

Did the Army Corps know Exxon pipeline vulnerable?

The corps has been tinkering with the upper Yellowstone River as the Billings Gazette's Clair Johnson tells us:

The plan, called the Upper Yellowstone River Special Area Management Plan, directs the Corps to evaluate how a project may affect the entire watershed, flood plain and valley before approving a permit. “The road map is here,” said Todd Tillinger, program manager for Corps’ Montana Regulatory Branch in Helena. “Our goal is to keep it (the river) as intact as we can.” The Corps study began after two consecutive years of record flooding in the late 1990s triggered a rash of bank stabilization permits to prevent further erosion or property damage.

Talli Nauman at Native Sun News told us back in May that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is the Department of Transportation's regulatory body:

“We will hold pipeline operators accountable when they put the public or the environment at risk,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Pipeline operators must be vigilant about following safety regulations to prevent accidents and keep our communities safe without disrupting energy supplies.”

Reuters brings this:

After inspecting the pipeline in July 2009, PHMSA issued a warning letter to Exxon a year later about oil leaking from some of the valves on the pipeline. Exxon resolved all the concerns raised by the agency and no fine was issued.

The Button Valley Bugle has superlative coverage of the Silvertip Pipeline saga:

You would think that a company with record profits of $11 billion in the first quarter of this year and $45 billion in 2008, a company that can afford to pay its CEO $29 million last year, could afford to put a few million into its aging infrastructure. ExxonMobil Corporation has a problem keeping it’s products out of our waterways.

From a post in Switchboard, the blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Anthony Swift says:

An accident that should have been prevented is not really an accident. Tragedies like the Yellowstone River spill can be prevented by strong safety regulations and the proactive action of regulators. Today we are in desperate need of both.

The corps has been very quiet about a breach under its purview. Wouldn't Exxon have had to consult with the corps before restarting the now-burst pipeline and how could they not have known the potential for scouring on a flooding Yellowstone River?

Sustainable building on the rez; Y2Y: hope for habitat

From earthTipi:

The Pine Ridge Reservation needs 6,000 sustainable homes. A few have already been built but many more are needed. In July and August Earth Tipi, with Texas Natural Builders, hope to build the first pallet home with light clay straw. It takes 200 pallets to build a home which costs $10,000.

Indian Country Today:

The home is constructed out of “cob”: a mixture of grass, sand and clay, and straw bale, materials known for their high insulation value.To help pay for supplies, the builder offered apprenticeships on natural home building. The construction of the home was divided into phases, which allowed apprentices to choose what phase they wanted to learn about while offering much needed labor and cash for the project. David Reed of Texas Natural Builders, a licensed contractor with 24 years of experience, said he will utilize wooden pallets and a light stray clay infill and earthen plaster to build the house, complete with a rainwater catchment on the roof. Reed says about 8 billion pallets in the world have gone unused, and this is “massive waste material that has the ability to become a home.” The building workshop begins July 23.

Ruffin Prevost brings news of Harvey Locke and the Yellowstone to Yukon's vision to readers of NewWest:

“You can’t isolate nature from the rest of nature and expect her to survive,” said Harvey Locke, a conservationist and former attorney who founded Yellowstone to Yukon. Management of Yellowstone bison herds has been the source of ongoing controversy in recent years, as the animals wander across the park’s northern boundaries in winter and move toward private lands.

Calvatia booniana or Calbovista subsculpta on ground that had flooded this Spring; likely a cottonwood stump and conifer wood chips buried under it

The American Revolution, continued. Yellowstone spill paper or plastic moment?

The reading of the Declaration of Independence by members of the reporting staff at NPR gets me every time. Past on-air personalities, some now correspondents at the pearly gates, also read for this decades-old feature. The tears stream down my face right up to the line that begins, ” He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare…”

That’s when it hits me right between the eyes.

When those words were being written, thousands of cultures inhabited a continent that seemed to keep growing huge ripe plums just waiting for Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton and the rest to pick and pick and pick and pick. Already, the Chesapeake Bay estuary had been mostly denuded of native vegetation, not to mention of its former human inhabitants. Slaves tilled the fields and built the infrastructure, the ancestors of the Lakota and other Siouan groups that had been forced westward out of North Carolina generations earlier, traded with the Spanish and French while forging their own alliances (and marriages) with other indigenous peoples.

So, we’ve come a long way, init?

While the Declaration of Independence was written as a propaganda drum, the United States Constitution is the finest instrument ever created by the human hand. The Preamble is the body, the Bill of Rights is the neck, the Amendments are the strings. It is a fluid universal execution of human and civil rights.

It’s time for all Americans to enjoy the protection of law by being part of one nation: erase the artificial borders and grant Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness to all the people of North America…Mexico, Central America, Canada, even the Caribbean if they’ll have us.

While the Palestinian homeland looks like holes in the slice of Swiss cheese analogous to the illegal Israeli state, progress toward resolutions of Native trust disputes would have far more political traction after tribes secede from the States in which they reside and then be ratified to form one State sans contiguous borders with two Senators and two House members as there are an estimated 2.5 million indigenous.

ip is not a New World Order guy, does not support the North American Union (god bless you. please, mr. roddenberry) and believes that the US Constitution is a big enough canvas in order to paint a more perfect masterpiece, a big enough score for all to sing. No violence. No more drug wars.

Read Alaska’s constitution some time. The last states ratified are the most egalitarian. Let’s debate it and draft a dream referendum to be delivered by and for the people of Mexico to dissolve their constitution and petition for Statehood.

The most 'patriotic' states.

Montanafesto's discussion of H.R.2306-Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011.

Paper or plastic: broken pipelines and 70 million acres of dead bug trees...what a way to run an empire.