Pneumonia outbreak threatens bighorn sheep in California, Nevada

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A pneumonia outbreak is threatening hundreds of bighorn sheep inCalifornia's Mojave National Preserve, and wildlife officials said Monday they see no promising options for saving the state's biggest herd or protecting a nearby population in Nevada.

The disease is believed to have killed 20 bighorn sheep during the past month in the 1.6-million-acre (650,000-hectare) desert preserve, which lies 50 miles southwest of Las Vegas, National Park Service spokeswoman Linda Slater said.

"I suspect that many more are infected," Slater said, adding that the entire herd, numbering as many as 300 animals, is in danger. "The biologists seem to be very pessimistic."

Potential options under consideration include shooting some or all of the remaining members of the herd in a bid to prevent further spread of the disease, or continuing to monitor the situation and essentially let nature run its course, wildlife officials said.

"There really are no good options," Slater said.

Episodic waves of disease have thinned bighorn herds for years. Fewer than 100,000 sheep are believed to roam the rugged mountain slopes of the West today, compared with an estimated 1.2 million head that inhabited the region at one time.

A series of nine separate outbreaks across five western states, including Nevada, in the winter of 2009-2010 claimed roughly 1,000 bighorn sheep, prized as game animals for the prominent curled horns of the adult males, or rams.

The current outbreak is the most severe ever to hit the desert species of bighorn sheep in California, home to 5,200 head in roughly 60 herds across the state, said Steve Torres, a supervisor for the California Fish and Wildlife Department's investigations lab.

It was also the first to hit the Mojave National Preserve since it was established in 1994.

The infected bighorn herd, one of five groups in the Mojave preserve, is a "foundation" herd and one of California's healthiest, used to re-establish the species in other parts of the state, officials said. It also is the state's largest.

Tests have confirmed that at least five of the animals on Old Dad Mountain died from a strain of pneumonia carried by domestic sheep and goats that is usually fatal when transmitted to bighorn sheep, which have no natural defenses to the disease.

Nevada wildlife officials worry the disease could spread to their state's nearest herd, just 45 miles to the northeast, especially now that rutting season is beginning and males are known to wander as far as 100 miles from home.

But Nevada officials are hoping that an extreme hot spell in the forecast will tend to keep young rams close to their familiar water sources.

California's wildlife investigator Torres said another big jump in infections within the herd could come with the start of mating season next month.

(Additional reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Snowden is tempting risk for Ecuadoran leader

Journalists stand next to Ecuador's Ambassador's car while waiting for the arrival of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who recently leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at Sheremetyevo airport, just outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor, Snowdon is wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs, but was allowed to leave Hong Kong for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)

FILE - In this Åug. 1, 2012 file photo, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, right, holds the hands of Christine Assange, the mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, during their meeting in Quito, Ecuador. Correa has embraced his role as a thorn in the side of Washington before, railing against imperialism in speeches and giving Julian Assange refuge in his embassy in London. But nothing he has done to infuriate the United States likely would rankle as much as granting the asylum being sought by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. WikiLeaks said Sunday, June 23, 2013 that Snowden formally requested asylum from Ecuador and the South American country's foreign minister confirmed receiving the request. The woman at center is a translator. (AP Photo/Martin Jaramillo, File)

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's president and foreign minister declared Monday that national sovereignty and universal principles of human rights would govern their decision on granting asylum toEdward Snowden, powerful hints that the former National Security Agency contractor is welcome here despite potential repercussions from Washington.

Snowden's whereabouts remained a mystery and his application for Ecuadoran asylum was formally just under consideration. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, nonetheless, made little effort to disguise his government's position. He told reporters in Hanoi that the choice Ecuador faced in hosting Snowden was "betraying the citizens of the world or betraying certain powerful elites in a specific country."

President Rafael Correa said on Twitter that "we will take the decision that we feel most suitable, with absolute sovereignty."

Analysts said welcoming Snowden would sharply escalate Correa's policy of tweaking the United States while maintaining strong economic ties that have maintained healthy growth rates and fueled the president's wide popularity, over 60 percent in recent polls. It would be a tempting but potentially dangerous play, they said, for a leader who appears to delight in slamming U.S. foreign policy but depends on Washington for nearly half Ecuador's foreign trade.

Correa has given WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange refuge from Swedish sexual assault charges in Ecuador's embassy in London for a year, garnering international headlines and few consequences.

Welcoming Snowden, a man who has acknowledged leaking secret U.S. information, may be a different matter. Analysts said it could jeopardize tariff-free access to U.S. markets for Ecuadoran fruit, seafood and flowers. U.S. trade, which also includes oil, accounts for half of Ecuador's exports and about 400,000 jobs in the nation of 14.6 million.

The U.S. Andean Trade Preference Act requires imminent congressional renewal and hosting Snowden "doesn't help Ecuador's efforts to extend it," said Ramiro Crespo, director of the Quito-based financial analysis firm Analytica Securities. "The United States is an important market for us, and treating a big client this way isn't appropriate from a commercial point of view."

At the same time, high oil prices, a growing mining industry and rising ties with China may give Correa a sense of protection from U.S. repercussions. And at home, many of the Ecuadorans who re-elected Correa in February with 57 percent of the vote see flouting the U.S. as a welcome expression of independence, particularly when it comes in the form of granting asylum.

"This person who's being pursued by the CIA, our policy is loving people like that, protecting them, perhaps giving them the rights that their own countries don't give them. I think this is a worthy effort by us," said office worker Juan Francisco Sambrano.

Patino, the foreign minister, described Snowden as "a man attempting to bring light and transparency to facts that affect everyone's fundamental liberties, whom we can now see being pursued by those who should be explaining themselves to the governments and citizens of the world about the allegations made by Mr. Snowden."

But others saw hypocrisy in a possible offer of asylum by a government that has aggressively pursued critics in the press for perceived slights and recently passed a media law that some call an assault on freedom of speech.

In 2011 Correa pursued civil charges against two reporters who reported that his brother had illegally obtained government contracts, a case that ended with a $2 million judgment against them, though Correa later voided it. Ecuadoran and international media groups nonetheless labeled the case as part of an increasingly hostile government stance toward the local press.

"If Assange and Snowden were Ecuadoran, they would definitely be in jail," one of the reporters sued by Correa, Juan Carlos Calderon, told The Associated Press.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries, Assange said. A trip to Ecuador from Moscow could take him through Cuba and Venezuela, both in the midst of quiet thaws in long-chilly ties with the United States, and taking in Snowden would likely damage those efforts.

Last week, Cuba and the United States held talks on restarting direct mail service, and announced that a separate sit-down to discuss immigration issues will be held in Washington on July 17.

Officials from both countries also report far greater cooperation in behind-the-scenes dealings, including during a brief incident involving a Florida couple who sought asylum in Cuba after allegedly kidnapping their own children. Cuba worked with U.S. officials to quickly send the couple back.

Venezuela this month agreed to high-level negotiations on restoring ambassadorial relations and improving more than a decade of sour ties. That announcement came after a meeting in Guatemala between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua.

The United States remains the No. 1 buyer of Venezuela's oil.

___

Orsi reported from Caracas, Venezuela. David Barraza in Quito, Ecuador contributed to this report.

___

Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mweissenstein

Why the case liberals love to hate is not the problem they think it is

Last week, Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Jon Tester (D-Mt.) proposed a constitutional amendment — no, that was not a typo, they actually want to amend the United States Constitution — to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United. Since the Supreme Court passed Citizens United in 2010 — allowing unrestricted political contributions from corporations, unions, and other organizations — liberals have howled about a supposed landslide of corporate cash into U.S. elections. But that simply hasn't happened.

To scrap Citizens United, the two senators hope to grant Congress (i.e. themselves) what amounts to unchecked power to determine how people may use their own money to fund politics. The idea is not entirely new. Udall has been proposing the amendment annually since the court handed down its decision, and the president has suggested amending the Constitution to overturn Citizens United.

SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: June 24, 2013

Thankfully, the amendment has a zero percent chance of ever finding its way into our founding document. But the proposal reveals the depth of the liberal fascination with what I will describe as theCitizens United myth. For all the fear inspired by this myth, virtually every single piece of evidence that has come forth since the Supreme Court handed down its decision has suggested that liberal fears of Citizens United are a product of irrational fear rather than sound reasoning. Nevertheless, theCitizens United myth persists.

Politico's Byron Tau recently detailed the results of a survey of 151 PAC staffers from corporate and trade associations regarding the way they like to spend their money. As Tau noted, "[d]espite the fears of progressive activists in the post-Citizens United era, a new study finds that corporations are still very hesitant to embrace super PACs."

SEE ALSO: Mad Men season finale recap: 'In Care Of'

This should not stun anyone. Writing at FrumForum over three years ago, I more or less predicted that this would be the case, mostly because corporations, especially public corporations, have customers and shareholders from all different walks of life to worry about. The last thing they are interested in is being seen as a political symbol since politics is a 50-50 game and companies prefer to please all comers. An excerpt from what I wrote three years ago:

Does anyone really think that the CEO of a Fortune 500 is going to be stupid enough to fund campaign advertisements? Think about it logically. It's hard to imagine a more "Red" corporation than Wal-Mart. But consider the following facts: Each week, about 100 million Americans head to Wal-Mart to shop. A poll in 2004 found that 76% of voters that shop at Wal-Mart once a week voted for Bush. That's an astonishing margin. But that still means that 24% of Wal-Mart shoppers voted for someone else (23% said they voted for Kerry). If you do the math, if 100 million customers make it to Wal-Mart next week, 23 million might be liberals. If Wal-Mart runs an advertisement supporting a candidate or makes campaign contributions to a candidate, it runs the risk that the New York Times finds out about it, puts a story on the front page, and as a result, 23 million of their customers may take their business elsewhere. Not only that, if they contribute, and then lose, they have pissed off the other party unnecessarily. Tell me, what good does that do? [FrumForum]

SEE ALSO: The last word: He said he was leaving. She ignored him.

That finding was more or less echoed by Matt Bai in his excellent New York Times Magazine cover story exploring the real impact of Citizens United on our elections. As Bai put it, "if you're trying to understand what's really going on with politics and money, the accepted narrative around Citizens United is, at best, overly simplistic. And in some respects, it's just plain wrong."

Money plays an outsized role in politics, and that is a problem. But overturning Citizens United will not solve those problems. Let's re-focus on arriving at solutions that actually address our problems.

SEE ALSO: The insecure internet

View this article on TheWeek.com Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

Obama walks tightrope on gay rights in Africa

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2010 file photo, shopkeeper Ousmane Diallo displays a photo of his son Madieye Diallo, a gay activist whose body was disinterred and desecrated hours after burial, in Thies, Senegal. The U.S. embassy in Abidjan made history in June 2013 by hosting a gay pride reception attended by about two dozen openly gay Ivorians. Despite the groundbreaking nature of the event, reporters were barred from attending, and the only mention of it was a short blurb on the embassy website posted the following week. The discreet handling of the event encapsulates the Obama administration's cautious promotion of gay rights in Africa, an issue that is likely to come up during his visit beginning June 26, 2013 to three African nations, two of which punish homosexuality with jail time. (AP Photo/Ricci Shryock, File)

FILE In this March 28, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, after a meeting with, from left, Senegal President Macky Sall; Malawi President Joyce Banda; Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma; and Cape Verde Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves. The U.S. embassy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast made history in June 2013 by hosting a gay pride reception attended by about two dozen openly gay Ivorians. Despite the groundbreaking nature of the event, reporters were barred from attending, and the only mention of it was a short blurb on the embassy website posted the following week. The discreet handling of the event encapsulates the Obama administration's cautious promotion of gay rights in Africa, an issue that is likely to come up during his visit, beginning June 26, 2013 to three African nations, two of which punish homosexuality with jail time. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — A young man wearing rainbow suspenders entered the heavily-guarded residence of the United States ambassador to Ivory Coast. So did a transgender woman in a ruffled, purple gown, as well as seven men wearing matching baby blue pants and neckties.

The U.S. embassy here made history earlier this month by hosting a gay pride reception attended by about two dozen openly gay Ivorians. Despite the groundbreaking nature of the event, reporters were barred from attending, and the only mention of it was a short blurb on the embassy website posted the following week.

The handling of the event encapsulates the U.S. administration's cautious promotion of gay rights in Africa, an issue that is likely to come up during President Barack Obama's visit this week to three African nations — South Africa, Senegal and Tanzania — the last two of which punish homosexuality with jail time. The U.S. has made it a priority to promote gay rights overseas, but officials pick and choose when they talk about it, often citing concerns about igniting a backlash that could endanger local activists.

At the reception, Ambassador Philip Carter thanked the guests for their courage in the face of persecution and vowed that the U.S. would continue to advocate on their behalf, according to three Ivorians invited to the event as well as two U.S. diplomats. During the event, the talk turned to howObama — a widely admired figure across Africa — would promote gay rights on his second visit to the continent since taking office.

"I asked the ambassador whether Obama would discuss the issue when he goes to Senegal," said Claver Toure, who attended the private reception and is executive director of the gay and lesbian group, Alternative Cote d'Ivoire. "It will be very important for him to talk about us with African leaders, and also in his speeches. It will give us strength to let us know that we are not alone."

By signing a December 2011 memorandum instructing federal agencies to promote the human rightsof gay people overseas, Obama publicly inserted himself into Africa's bitter debate about whether homosexuals have legitimate rights. Since then American diplomats have forcefully pressed for gay rights behind closed doors, especially in countries that criminalize homosexuality, say experts and advocates. Officials have also expanded outreach to local organizations promoting gay and lesbian rights, improved monitoring of anti-gay abuses and established an emergency fund for activists facing violence or harassment.

But the public positioning has been discreet, with the U.S. government clearly wary of any backlash that could put local activists at risk.

"Given that African societies tend to be very conservative, it's a difficult issue," Carter, the U.S. ambassador in Ivory Coast, told The Associated Press. "The question for us is, how do we advocate effectively and advance the human rights agenda for the LGBT community, or any other community that is in a difficult position? And sometimes the headlong assault isn't the way to do it."

A total of 38 African countries criminalize homosexuality, according to Amnesty International. In four of those — Mauritania, northern Nigeria, southern Somalia and Sudan — the punishment is death. These laws appear to have broad support. A June 4 Pew Research Center survey found at least nine of 10 respondents in Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria believe homosexuality should not be accepted by society.

Obama's decision to champion a hugely unpopular cause — both with the December 2011 memorandum and his public endorsement of gay marriage last year — has prompted soul-searching among some of his African fans.

"When Obama is talking about democracy, it means that we all have the same right —the right to do what we want," Naty Noel, a communications consultant in Abidjan. "So maybe we can accept them."

But while some campaigners say Obama is uniquely positioned to change minds on gay rights in Africa, there is concern that strong public statements from the president would merely be giving ammunition to a hostile opposition that has long dismissed the push for gay rights as an example of Western powers imposing their values on Africa.

"That would actually be playing into the hands of the opponents if he's seen as an advocate for something they want to believe is foreign, which of course it's not," said Chloe Schwenke, a former Obama appointee at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Diadji Diouf is all too familiar with arguments that homosexuality has no place in Africa.

The 32-year-old was rounded up during a meeting of HIV activists in 2008 and charged with violating a law prohibiting any "improper or unnatural act with a person of the same sex." He received an eight-year sentence but was released after four months following an international outcry.

Despite the risk that a full-throated endorsement of gay rights by Obama during his visit could trigger a strong negative reaction, Diouf said he still wants the president to take up the controversial issue.

"We already have arrests. We already have attacks," he said. "If he doesn't talk about it, we'll be disappointed."

New Age Society - Religion

Gods Of The U.N. More United Nations Control Explanation

Leon Pittard Explains

Click to listen >>> The God of the United Nations

Once you click link, then click link on site and listen to 1 hour radio show