New West Network

My Page: Christian Probasco

Jim Stiles, editor of Moab, Utah’s Canyon Country Zephyr, has a long, well-researched article in the latest issue about “How the Mega-Rich are Co-opting Environmentalism and Turning IT into a Big Business too.” Among those who come under scrutiny: David Bonderman, venture capitalist, contributor to various environmental groups, board member of the Grand Canyon Trust, the Wilderness Society and the World Wildlife Fund and committed enemy of the environment itself, through his other holdings, such as European discount airline Ryanair.

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interview

Terry L. Anderson is one of the most original and controversial thinkers in the West. Executive director of the Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman and cochairman of the Hoover Institute’s Property Rights, Freedom and Prosperity Task Force, Anderson is also one of the pioneers of “free-market environmentalism.” He coauthored a book by that name with Donald Leal in 1992 (Palgrave Macmillan), and has also authored or coauthored over thirty other papers and books, including The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier (Stanford University Press), and the CATO Institute study, "How and Why to Private Federal Lands." [more]

On May 16th, Circuit Court judge Tena Campbell ruled that Kane County did not have the right to erect 39 trail markers on roads running through the Escalante National Monument and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area that had previously been closed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Campbell’s ruling was partially based on another District Court ruling in 2001; Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) v. BLM, in which it was noted:

“The established rule (is) that land grants are construed favorably to the Government, that nothing passes except what is conveyed in clear language, and that if there are doubts, they are resolved for the Government, not against it.” [more]

The handling of the raid of the Yearning for Zion Ranch polygamous compound in Eldorado, Texas, and the subsequent detainment of the entire community continues to draw strong reactions here in Utah. Connor Boyack, a website designer in Lehi, Utah circulated a petition calling for the release from custody or foster care of all Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) women and children gathered up in the raid, and an apology from the State of Texas. The petition received 2000 signatures before he forwarded it to Texas Governor Rick Perry, along with a letter noting, [more]

a new political movement?

Now it can be said without fear of flaming retribution (or can it?): Doctor Ron Paul doesn’t have a chance of winning the Republican nomination. Paul himself has said his national campaign is “winding down." But Congressman Paul did pull in big “money bomb” contributions from grass-roots supporters that none of the other candidates could match. And he racked up poll numbers that Ralph Nader could only dream of. He might even have made a few people aware of just how far this country has strayed from its constitution. [more]

second amendment

This came in just as I was posting the last story. I asked N.W. Clayton, communications director of Utah's gun rights group Gun Owners of Utah (GoUtah!) to comment on the recent Supreme Court hearings concerning the Heller Case in Washington, D.C. GoUtah! bills itself as "Utah’s Uncompromising, Independent Gun Rights Network." It's motto is, "No Compromise! No Retreat! No Surrender! Not Now! Not Ever!" Obviously a group which takes the "shall not be infringed" end of the Second Amendment seriously. Seeing as I believe the Second Amendment guarantees me the right--excuse me, spells out my obligation--to purchase and keep antitank weapons (as if I had that kind of money), I find myself in agreement with GoUtah! As far as their statement goes, I got much more than I bargained for. Here it is in its entirety:

In chapter 11 of Abbey's Road [1979, Penguin Books, New York], Edward Abbey writes: "The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military. The hired servants of our rulers. Only the government - and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws." [more]

guns, guns, guns

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. -Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

If you believe that you have a God-given or natural right to own a handgun, you may be able to point to at least one good thing that President Bush has done for you in the last seven years: nominating Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice seemed very skeptical about arguments for Washington D.C.’s handgun ban as challenged in D.C. vs Heller during last Tuesday’s hearing, asking Walter Dellinger, who represents the city, "What is reasonable about a total ban on possession?" [more]

But let’s get one thing clear: Wendell Cox, a St. Louis-based public policy consultant, editor of Demographia and The Public Purpose websites, vice president of “Cooperation for urban mobility in the Developing World” (CODATU[!]), fellow at the Heritage Foundation, senior fellow at the Heartland Institute and senior fellow for urban policy at the Independence Institute (all conservative and/or libertarian organizations) does not consider himself an antiplanner, though some on the other side of the aisle (such as the Sierra Club) might. As he puts it:

“I am not an anti-planner. I am an advocate of the type of planning that created the automobile oriented suburb (responsive planning) and in so doing expanded the middle class in the United States, Western Europe and Japan to an unprecedented extent. There is a role for planning, but not prescriptive (smart growth) planning.”
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My contribution to the upcoming “Designing the New West” seminar, sponsored by the incomparable New West Network is to review and analyze University of Colorado Department of Geography Associate Professor William R. Travis’ new book, New Geographies of the American West in the context of my own experiences. Being of an anti-authoritarian—bent, as I suspect a greater percentage of Westerners are, I was dubious about the planning genre, but I tried to approach the work with an open mind. I thought, this author, Travis, might be trying to reach out and make a connection with myself and other folks who are skeptical of central planning and “smart” growth, and not just preach to the choir.
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West Jordan State Senator Chris Buttars has been all over the local and national news for a supposedly racial remark he recently made in the senate and a controversial bill he introduced restricting public access to the disciplinary records of Salt Lake City police officers. [more]