Tag: natural resources

Show 5-24 Ken Ivory Attacked by Far Left Group

Show 5-24 Ken Ivory Attacked by Far Left Group

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Show 5-24 | Air Dates: June 13 & 14, 2015

The battle for control over federal public lands intensifies as Rep. Ken Ivory is attacked by a Far Left group and accused of fraud. Why is the battle so important?  Jobs. If you don’t live inside of a major city, you know that those in rural areas create wealth and jobs by getting their hands dirty. Blue collar, good paying, and living-wage jobs through honest, hard work.

Logging, mining, farming, ranching, all create additional jobs beyond loggers, miners, farmers, and ranchers. For instance, the logging industry would be meaningless if not for millwrights, saw operators, electricians, welders, engineers, and many others. We’ve previously had on guests from Center for America, which has pointed out there is a coming shortage of exactly these kinds of jobs — skilled workers.

American Jobs for America’s Heroes

American Jobs for American HeroesOur first guest, Brigadier General, Marianne Watson, of Center for America is spearheading their campaign “American Jobs for America’s Heroes.” Drawing on her background as Director of Manpower and Personnel at the National Guard, she is leading the effort to connect small business owners with National Guardsmen and veterans. This is a tremendous opportunity for small-business owners to hire America’s skilled service men and women. If you need a job filled, they have a job-posting site that will not only list your job but they will also act as your HR Department to match the right service personnel for it.

Ken Ivory Attacked by Far Left Group

Via Ken Ivory - map showing extent of federal public lands
Lands held by the federal government. Note the difference between east and west of the Rockies

Here on I Spy Radio, we don’t like it when our friends come under attack. We especially don’t like it when the attackers are well-funded, hypocritical leftist organizations. Such is the case with Campaign for Accountability, which filed allegations against Ken Ivory and his nonprofit organization, American Lands Council. Campaign for Accountability alleges fraud on three fronts: that Ken Ivory knows the effort to turn ownership of federal lands to the states is a “fool’s errand;” that, knowing this, he defrauded counties who paid for membership in his organization; and that American Lands Council exists primarily to enrich Ken and his wife.

What’s interesting is that most of those “reporters” in the press who covered this, didn’t bother asking, “Just who is this group accusing Ken Ivory? Are their accusations even valid?” So we did.

On their “about us” page, Campaign for Accountability says, “Millions of Americans’ lives are negatively impacted by decisions made behind the doors of corporate boardrooms, government offices, and shadowy nonprofit groups.”

You’d think an organization that calls itself “Campaign for Accountability” might want to, you know, be accountable and transparent. Especially when they accuse Rep. Ken Ivory of using his nonprofit to “primarily” enrich himself and his wife. So how much does the Executive Director for Campaign for Accountability get paid? Or the rest of their staff? What percent of their revenue goes to salaries — “enriching themselves” to use their terminology.

We asked. They refused to answer.

We also asked who their major donors were, so they wouldn’t be perceived as a “shadowy nonprofit group.” Again, they refused to answer. So much for accountability. And they accuse Ken Ivory of fraud?

Ken Ivory’s Responses

Tune in to hear Ken not only defend himself against the accusations of fraud but respond to what we found out about Campaign for Accountability. He is joined by Montana State Senator, Jennifer Fielder, who was part of the commission Montana assembled to examine the management of public lands.

Links Mentioned

  • Center for America’s website
  • Are you a small-business owner? Need staffing but don’t have an HR Department but want to find skilled workers? Find out more about American Jobs for America’s Heroes
  • Ken’s organization, American Land’s Council. You can see what’s happening in your state in the effort to take control of federal public lands.
  • Campaign for Accountability’s website. You can download a copy of their accusations of fraud here.
  • An investigation into Campaign for Accountability suggests a tie to George Soros (I Spy has not been able to confirm ties between CFA and Soros)
  • Campaign for Accountability appears to be a spinoff of a Far-Left “nonprofit” funded by George Soros. While CFA is only a few months old and hasn’t filed tax forms yet (for nonprofits, these are known as “990s”). However, CREW has. Check out CREW’s tax filings for 2011, 2012, and 2013.
  • Feel free to compare these to Ken Ivory’s American Lands Council’s 990s for 2012 and 2013.

 

Show 5-19 Urban vs Rural

Show 5-19 Urban vs Rural

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Air Dates: May 9 & 10, 2015

When it comes to land use and natural resources, it seems to be an unending battle for control between two combatants: urban vs rural. Often, this means that the Urbans (city dwellers) want or need the sanctimonious psychological safety of believing they’ve “protected” or “saved” the environment, which means blocking rural people (country dwellers) from accessing, using, harvesting or otherwise touching natural resources. In other words, they want the benefits of what the rural areas produces (food, wood, water, etc.) without actually harvesting any of it.

This is like wanting beef without touching cows.

Even worse, after blocking rural people from engaging in economic activities that they—the city dwellers—haven’t “sanction” they—the city dwellers—raise taxes and inflict other economic hardships.

If this sounds all too familiar, you probably live in a rural area. If you’ve never ever heard of this, you undoubtedly live in a city.

We talk with William Tucker about the “Detroit-ification” of rural areas and the incomparable harm city dwellers are inflicting on people who’ve chosen to living the country and provide city dwellers with all the benefits of life that the city dwellers just won’t get their hands dirty to do. And we talk with Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) about the perfect example of cities destroying rural areas—California.

Links Mentioned

Related Links

Battle for Public Lands

Battle for Public Lands

To download the show, right-click the mic, and then “Save Link As…” or use the handy player below
To download the show, right-click the mic, and then “Save Link As…” or use the handy player below

Air Dates: Jan 10 & 11, 2015

The federal government holds title to 640 million of acres of land, mostly west of the Mississippi. In some states, this is more than 60% of all land within their borders. The battle as to who should own that land, whether the feds or states, has been going on since before the 1900s. Why does this matter? They represent trillions of dollars of economic activity.

This week on I Spy Radio, we talk with Rep. Ken Ivory (UT) about the continuing battle to force the federal government to honor their promise to transfer land to the states in which it belongs. We start by getting some clarification and history on exactly who legally owns the land: the feds or the states? We also discuss on-going battles in states like Utah—which threw down the gauntlet, demanding their land by Dec. 31, 2014—and Wyoming, which had 1 million acres unilaterally seized by Obama’s EPA. Find out what counties can do, why Canada is already transferring control of its land to its territories, and what strategies and tactics the new Republican-controlled Congress is likely to pursue.

Links mentioned

Related Links

Show 5-07 | Best of: Pebble Mine

Show 5-07 | Best of: Pebble Mine

Air Dates: Feb 14 & 15, 2015

It’s Valentine’s Day and nothing says “love” like a ring. A gold ring with a shiny pebble in it. But you can’t say “love” without getting all of that from a mine somewhere. So for you romantics, we’re running a best-of I Spy on the Pebble Mine and their fight against the EPA.

 

Show 5-16 | Oregon Public Lands

Show 5-16 | Oregon Public Lands

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Air Dates: April 18 & 19, 2015

This week, we’re investigating the latest scheme to “save” the timber industry by doing everything possible, short of actually cutting any trees. It never ceases to amaze that the so-called “smart people” in the room, our elected officials like Sen. Ron Wyden, want to do everything except the obvious.

In related news, Sen. Ron Wyden announced a plan to “save retail” by making it illegal to sell anything.

But with all this talk about forcing the feds to give control of state lands to the states, we’re hearing concerns from listeners who want to know more about what, exactly, this would look like. What about miners’ rights who hold federal mining claims? What about the wilderness areas — how do we develop areas without losing our natural heritage?

With guests Nick Smith of Healthy Forests and Rep. Ken Ivory (UT) of the American Lands Council.

Links mentioned

Rally ‘Round the Flag Event

When: Saturday, June 20, 2015, 10am – 4pm
Where: Fairgrounds, Cottage Grove, Oregon
Cost: Free!

Here in Oregon, we have a strong heritage of using our natural resources wisely. But well-intended yet weak-minded “environmentalists” believe they are “protecting” the environment by not touching it–or allowing anyone else to harvest them. Worse, our lands are being controlled by people out east who’ve never set foot on them and have no idea about how to manage them; people who’ve been persuaded by the well-funded environmental lobby that we should never touch these lands.

Oregon Citizen’s Lobby invites you to join them for a fantastic day of speakers, networking, and fun! And a chance to learn more about the effort to transfer control of the federal lands to the people who know best how to manage them: Oregonians.

The event will feature prominent leaders in this effort, booths, networking opportunities, and a panel discussion to answer your questions.

Featured Guests:

  • Rep. Ken Ivory (UT) of the American Lands Council
  • Noah Wall, FreedomWorks Grassroots Director
  • Jeff Kropf, Oregon Capital Watch
  • Mark Anderson, host of I Spy Radio
  • David Hunnicutt, Oregonians in Action
  • Dennis Linthicum, former Klamath County Commissioner