John Ransom:
"Regular readers have been able to follow along as I chronicle the 17,384-employee wrecking crew that is the EPA. This week the racket put the coal industry out of business, helped raise electricty prices for everyone, and did it all for the low, low price of $9,000,000,000 per year.
Underpinning the confidence game is deceptive science that manufactures evidence of climate change/global warming by pointing out people's natural curosity about natural weather events.
A New York Times story that ran in the Environment section on March 28, 2012 is a textbook example of all that is wrong with the supposed “scientific” method liberals are employing to bolster climate change arguments.
It’s not so much that they argue for bad science, but that they argue for no science by postulating only theories that fall within their preconceived notions that every weather event can be tied to global climate change. And if it can’t, by God, it will be when we get through!...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
March 31, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: CBS Political Hotsheet "Olbermann out at Current TV"
Leigh Ann Caldwell:
"(CBS News) Liberal television network Current TV announced Friday it ended its contract with liberal firebrand Keith Olbermann.
In a statement on its blog, Current TV told viewers that Olbermann no longer reflects Current's values.
"Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers.
Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it," Current TV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt wrote in an "open letter" to viewers.
Via Twitter, Olbermann said he is taking his firing to court.
"It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently," Olbermann wrote
Olbermann's departure is sudden. He will not broadcast during his regular scheduled program tonight. Instead, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will replace him with a program called "Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer."
"We are confident that our viewers will be able to count on Gov. Spitzer to deliver critical information on a daily basis," the blog says. "We are moving ahead by honoring Current's values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily -- especially now, during the presidential election campaign."...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"(CBS News) Liberal television network Current TV announced Friday it ended its contract with liberal firebrand Keith Olbermann.
In a statement on its blog, Current TV told viewers that Olbermann no longer reflects Current's values.
"Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers.
Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it," Current TV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt wrote in an "open letter" to viewers.
Via Twitter, Olbermann said he is taking his firing to court.
"It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently," Olbermann wrote
Olbermann's departure is sudden. He will not broadcast during his regular scheduled program tonight. Instead, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will replace him with a program called "Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer."
"We are confident that our viewers will be able to count on Gov. Spitzer to deliver critical information on a daily basis," the blog says. "We are moving ahead by honoring Current's values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily -- especially now, during the presidential election campaign."...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Legal Insurrection "What if you threw a Two Million Man Global March on Jerusalem, and almost no one showed up?"
(See alternate coverage here)
William A. Jacobson:
"The Global March on Jersusalem has been promoted for months as a means by which up to two million people would crash Israel’s borders.
Israel geared up, and issued warnings.
And waited.
And waited.
And all that showed up were a few thousand people at the Gaza border (forced back with one shot and killed). In Lebanon, as expected, the Hezbollah-run protest took place at Beaufort Castle, away from the border. On the West Bank, a few hundred rock throwers attacked security checkpoints, but were driven back with non-lethal methods:
All in all, the hype did not live up to the hype.
But the Israelis are and should remain on guard...."(Read original post? Click title)
William A. Jacobson:
"The Global March on Jersusalem has been promoted for months as a means by which up to two million people would crash Israel’s borders.
Israel geared up, and issued warnings.
And waited.
And waited.
And all that showed up were a few thousand people at the Gaza border (forced back with one shot and killed). In Lebanon, as expected, the Hezbollah-run protest took place at Beaufort Castle, away from the border. On the West Bank, a few hundred rock throwers attacked security checkpoints, but were driven back with non-lethal methods:
Clashes broke out at Qalandia checkpoint, where demonstrators burned tires and threw stones as they advanced towards the Israeli side. Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas and stun grenades and used a wide arsenal of riot-dispersal systems, including the foul-smelling “Skunk” and “Scream,” a system that unleashes a high-frequency blast of sound.There were modest sized protests in neighboring countries, but no March on Jerusalem.
All in all, the hype did not live up to the hype.
But the Israelis are and should remain on guard...."(Read original post? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Customs and Border Protection "Calexico Port Officers Intercept Methamphetamine Load Worth $330,000"
Wonder if Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock and Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo, in their new search for transparency, will do any work at all in tracking where the dope that flows through the streets of Aspen comes from?
We already know it goes into the hands of our kids.
"Calexico, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at the Calexico downtown port of entry arrested a 20-year-old male U.S. citizen after discovering $330,000 worth of methamphetamine hidden in the vehicle he was driving.
During the inspection, a canine team screened the vehicle and the detector dog alerted to the dashboard area. An intensive search of the area led officers to the discovery of 30 wrapped packages of methamphetamine concealed within the vehicle’s dashboard. The weight of the narcotic is 30 pounds.
The driver, a resident of Holtville, California, was turned over to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for further investigation. The violator was later transported to the Imperial County Jail where he currently awaits arraignment.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
We already know it goes into the hands of our kids.
"Calexico, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at the Calexico downtown port of entry arrested a 20-year-old male U.S. citizen after discovering $330,000 worth of methamphetamine hidden in the vehicle he was driving.
The incident occurred this morning, Thursday, March 29, at about 4:00 a.m. when a CBP officer conducting inspections of vehicles and travelers referred the blue 2005 Nissan Sentra for further examination.
During the inspection, a canine team screened the vehicle and the detector dog alerted to the dashboard area. An intensive search of the area led officers to the discovery of 30 wrapped packages of methamphetamine concealed within the vehicle’s dashboard. The weight of the narcotic is 30 pounds.
The driver, a resident of Holtville, California, was turned over to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for further investigation. The violator was later transported to the Imperial County Jail where he currently awaits arraignment.
CBP seized both the vehicle and narcotic.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws."
SandBoxBlogs: Tree of Mamre "“Bohemian Rhapsody”, As Sung By A Drunk, In The Back Of A Police Car (Video)"
After watching this video will you ever degrade a patrol cop for loss of patience with the human equation?
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Summit Daily News "DA candidate Barson faces criminal charges"
Caddie Nath:
"Criminal defense lawyer Todd Barson, the locally favored Democratic candidate for District Attorney, was charged with domestic violence, harassment and one other charge Friday, Breckenridge police confirmed.
Barson, 44, turned himself in to the Summit County Jail Friday morning following a domestic violence incident at his home earlier in the week, according to a statement from the Breckenridge Police Department.
Breckenridge authorities would not give any additional information, as Summit County Judge Mark Thompson put a gag order on the case.
Barson reportedly bowed out of the DA's race this week and lent his support to his competitor for the Democratic nomination, Bruce Brown...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Criminal defense lawyer Todd Barson, the locally favored Democratic candidate for District Attorney, was charged with domestic violence, harassment and one other charge Friday, Breckenridge police confirmed.
Barson, 44, turned himself in to the Summit County Jail Friday morning following a domestic violence incident at his home earlier in the week, according to a statement from the Breckenridge Police Department.
Breckenridge authorities would not give any additional information, as Summit County Judge Mark Thompson put a gag order on the case.
Barson reportedly bowed out of the DA's race this week and lent his support to his competitor for the Democratic nomination, Bruce Brown...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Tough Mudder "Colorado: Sat June 9 & Sun June 10, 2012"
Don't forget!
If you can't cut the tough endurance needed to match the Brits and their 'Tough Mudder', then set the dates aside and book the long weekend over in Vail and Beaver Creek.
Click title.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
If you can't cut the tough endurance needed to match the Brits and their 'Tough Mudder', then set the dates aside and book the long weekend over in Vail and Beaver Creek.
Click title.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "ZG: Outside the scope of Lance and the lure of the Bell chair "
ZG:
"Pitkin County wins ZG’s award for excellence in customer service this week.
Your tax-funded bureaucrats can do more than buy land and reject subdivisions, it turns out. On Wednesday they picked up one man’s fight to improve the allegedly crappy cell phone service at his home near the roundabout.
Dan Levinson, of Maroon Drive, addressed the Pitkin County commissioners Wednesday, detailing a nine-plus-month battle with AT&T. He said last June the company’s service in his ’hood went out ... and he hasn’t been able to get any answers since as to what happened out there.
“The only thing I could think of is to come to you,” he told the county board.
That afternoon, county manager Jon Peacock was on the phone with AT&T asking what was up with the dead zone.
When ZG called AT&T and spoke with a regional spokesman the next day, she already knew all about Mr. Levinson’s Kafkae-sque struggle to get a signal and the county’s top executive’s effort on his behalf.
But, she said, his service might not get better any time soon. There’s no tower down in the area, apparently, and none of their local service infrastructure has changed.
“We understand his frustration and we are doing everything we can to resolve this issue,” she said.
Yeah. Can you hear me now? ...." (Read more? ZG knows. Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Pitkin County wins ZG’s award for excellence in customer service this week.
Your tax-funded bureaucrats can do more than buy land and reject subdivisions, it turns out. On Wednesday they picked up one man’s fight to improve the allegedly crappy cell phone service at his home near the roundabout.
Dan Levinson, of Maroon Drive, addressed the Pitkin County commissioners Wednesday, detailing a nine-plus-month battle with AT&T. He said last June the company’s service in his ’hood went out ... and he hasn’t been able to get any answers since as to what happened out there.
“The only thing I could think of is to come to you,” he told the county board.
That afternoon, county manager Jon Peacock was on the phone with AT&T asking what was up with the dead zone.
When ZG called AT&T and spoke with a regional spokesman the next day, she already knew all about Mr. Levinson’s Kafkae-sque struggle to get a signal and the county’s top executive’s effort on his behalf.
But, she said, his service might not get better any time soon. There’s no tower down in the area, apparently, and none of their local service infrastructure has changed.
“We understand his frustration and we are doing everything we can to resolve this issue,” she said.
Yeah. Can you hear me now? ...." (Read more? ZG knows. Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: The Red Ant "MICK'S ALL-OUT WAR ON "THE RICH""
From: ISSUE #77: FlagrANT Foolishness
"He's gonna be a handful for the next 15 months, that's for sure. Lame duck mayor Mick is doggedly working through his "bucket list" of punitive restrictions to secure his legacy. Yes, as the clock ticks down on the term-limited career politician, he is on the brink of becoming an emotional wreck, desperately pushing massive spending projects and lashing out at those whose politics, fortunes and lifestyles differ from his own. His Nastiness is specifically on the warpath against those who desire private residential property in the downtown core.
At the February 27 council meeting, Mick went off on a typical diatribe, this time convincing no one (except for maybe the sycophants at the council table) that 3rd floor penthouse additions to (questionably) historic buildings DO NOT economically finance the redevelopment of the entire property. Yeah, right. He promised to end such "undesirable behavior" by changing the land use code and removing "the incentive for doing what you don't want done." That is, what HE doesn't want done.
Sadly, it's likely to happen. Local architecture firms are working around the clock on re-development plans for downtown buildings whose owners want to get their plans approved before the likely draconian changes to the land use code occur in early April. Property owners, developers and realtors beware....."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"He's gonna be a handful for the next 15 months, that's for sure. Lame duck mayor Mick is doggedly working through his "bucket list" of punitive restrictions to secure his legacy. Yes, as the clock ticks down on the term-limited career politician, he is on the brink of becoming an emotional wreck, desperately pushing massive spending projects and lashing out at those whose politics, fortunes and lifestyles differ from his own. His Nastiness is specifically on the warpath against those who desire private residential property in the downtown core.
At the February 27 council meeting, Mick went off on a typical diatribe, this time convincing no one (except for maybe the sycophants at the council table) that 3rd floor penthouse additions to (questionably) historic buildings DO NOT economically finance the redevelopment of the entire property. Yeah, right. He promised to end such "undesirable behavior" by changing the land use code and removing "the incentive for doing what you don't want done." That is, what HE doesn't want done.
Sadly, it's likely to happen. Local architecture firms are working around the clock on re-development plans for downtown buildings whose owners want to get their plans approved before the likely draconian changes to the land use code occur in early April. Property owners, developers and realtors beware....."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Homeless coalition set to address APCHA evictions"
While this is really great news, it still shoves the base problems right under the rug again.
1. Most all of our major employers in the area pay poverty level wages. It is nearly impossible for blue collar workers to get by.
2. The biggest shell game (or...scam, corruption, farce, boondoggle, etc. etc...) that there is in our region is deed-restricted housing. Tied up in that mess are similar corrosive problems with local governments, large real estate developments, financial institutions, powerful departments and boards.
It isn't just the folks living in deed-restricted housing that are caught in that web. All free enterprise and a major chunk of public dollars and tax credits are caught up in it as well.
Why is it that our favorite local newspaper isn't tying up all the connecting dots on these stories?
Andrew Travers:
"Members of a regional group devoted to preventing homelessness in the valley has raised concern about recent eviction actions by the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority (APCHA).
The Regional Homeless Coalition, a group of two dozen health and human services workers from Aspen to Parachute, is poised to address how local government may be contributing to homelessness in the Aspen area.
The group is scheduled for a biannual meeting in El Jebel on Monday. They recently added the APCHA issue to their agenda. Housing authority qualifications specialist Julie Kieffer will attend the meeting on behalf of APCHA.
Vince Savage, director of the Aspen Homeless Shelter, asked coalition members last week to act on the issue.
Savage and the board overseeing the local homeless shelter discussed the evictions at a March 21 meeting. His board opted to hand the issue to the regional group, rather than take on the housing authority themselves.
“The [Aspen Homeless Shelter] board is concerned but feels it is more properly addressed by the Homeless Coalition as a concern for preventing homelessness, and the systemic problems that make Aspen less than a friendly community regarding housing issues,” Savage wrote to coalition members...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
1. Most all of our major employers in the area pay poverty level wages. It is nearly impossible for blue collar workers to get by.
2. The biggest shell game (or...scam, corruption, farce, boondoggle, etc. etc...) that there is in our region is deed-restricted housing. Tied up in that mess are similar corrosive problems with local governments, large real estate developments, financial institutions, powerful departments and boards.
It isn't just the folks living in deed-restricted housing that are caught in that web. All free enterprise and a major chunk of public dollars and tax credits are caught up in it as well.
Why is it that our favorite local newspaper isn't tying up all the connecting dots on these stories?
Andrew Travers:
"Members of a regional group devoted to preventing homelessness in the valley has raised concern about recent eviction actions by the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority (APCHA).
The Regional Homeless Coalition, a group of two dozen health and human services workers from Aspen to Parachute, is poised to address how local government may be contributing to homelessness in the Aspen area.
The group is scheduled for a biannual meeting in El Jebel on Monday. They recently added the APCHA issue to their agenda. Housing authority qualifications specialist Julie Kieffer will attend the meeting on behalf of APCHA.
Vince Savage, director of the Aspen Homeless Shelter, asked coalition members last week to act on the issue.
Savage and the board overseeing the local homeless shelter discussed the evictions at a March 21 meeting. His board opted to hand the issue to the regional group, rather than take on the housing authority themselves.
“The [Aspen Homeless Shelter] board is concerned but feels it is more properly addressed by the Homeless Coalition as a concern for preventing homelessness, and the systemic problems that make Aspen less than a friendly community regarding housing issues,” Savage wrote to coalition members...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Canon City Daily Record "Private web info should stay private "
Facebook is not your friend.
Nothing on the internet is safe. Nothing on the internet is confidential or private. You are not safe nor is anything in your life or anyone you care for safe when you are exposed on the internet at either your hand or anyone else associating content to you.
Yet, there is an entire sub-culture out there of internet crime being committed every day that very few law enforcement officers are even aware of, let alone will act upon to serve and protect you.
It is a sub-culture that the folks shout out for help with every day.
One that is responsible for the worst types of crime and the consequences of those crimes. Harassment, stalking, menacing, intimidation and often the literal stripping away of all aspects of life as an individual knows it. The consequences are the destruction of financial security, peace and privacy, relationships that often lead to irretrievable actions such as suicide. Worse, the weapon of the internet is a perpetual firing weapon. 24/7 and never runs out of ammunition.
'SandBox Nanny' wonders what it will take the folks doing in order to get the attention of lawmakers and law enforcement.
Watching the path of SOPA was like watching the old black and white cartoons of cops and robbers chasing each other in circles. While we are good people who greatly appreciate anyone at least trying; it was disheartening to watch the debacle of SOPA run its course when the answer to the problem is so, so simple.
In the past three years of lending her forced on her notoriety first to 'smalltown7' and then creating the offshoot of 'SandBoxBlogs' and 'SandBox Nanny' in Spring 2010; one of the news aggregate topics she chases is internet crime. Most of the feedback she receives from the general public is related to the juggernaut of power that the media holds.
The internet is the most powerful media outlet in history.
Interestingly enough, it was the State of Iowa and an investigative reporter by the name of Kevin Hall off the Iowa Republican who brought us the story of Zach Edwards and Link Strategies. (Be sure to click on all related links within that post link on Edwards)
A story that will be one of the most important baseline foundations of our time for lawmakers when it comes to putting parameters on what is "OK" to do on the internet and what is not.
That seemingly insignificant case, that was near immediate quashed from public view by high power and big money politics, is the first case of a powerful public figure winning his claim that viral link baiting and SEO optimization is criminal in nature when it is used with ill intent and in negative context.
To have the Iowa Sec of State win against one of the individuals who lurk in the bowels of the internet preying with intent on their subjects was groundbreaking. Just like the folks know 'who' does harmful things in their communities; anyone who does business on the internet knows where the worst forms of media exploitation come from in the world of SEO, mass marketing and perception management companies. Sometimes the world of internet business survival is based on spending the time and effort it takes to stay out of the clutches of those who practice marketing with ill-intent.
'SandBox Nanny' wonders what it will take to get lawmakers and cops to listen to all the folks who suffer every day from the real problem of public exposure at the hand of another.
Such a simple criminal element to notice and yet it slips by cops every moment of every day.
That element they need lies in the tools (weapons) that ill-intent individuals have available to use against others.
Lawmakers keep trying to control the internet itself when simply regulating the power itself and not the content is the answer. 'Negative Viral' is a programming technique and is a literal mechanism. Not a 'happens by chance' nebulous and undetectable concept that can be lumped into the category of "bullying". The level of skill an internet perp uses determines how much collateral damage they can achieve. A well-known pro like Zach Edwards and Link Strategies has unstoppable power due to their intellectual property enhancing the tool of viral linking. Talk about Medusa or Pandora!
Maybe it will take more consequences. More horrific consequences such as drug cartels murdering female reporters they find on viral mechanisms like Twitter, vulnerable young adults committing suicide, government officials and politicians literally destroying business owners and citizens lives with the power of the media.
From the tool of a free 'Blogger' blog, and the patience to earn followers and recognition the good old fashioned way with true public content and in the manner that the internet originally intended; we'll keep plugging away with our mission to get the voices of the folks heard.
It shouldn't take more consequences before our lawmakers and law enforcement simply halt the juggernaut of irretrievable consequences, toss off all the cloudy layers of spin and return back to good old fashioned gumshoe police work.
(whisper...whisper...whisper...for every Alvaro Agon...every Sheriff Vallario....every Scott DeGraff.....that find themselves plastered for all time and all over the web....there is 'somebody' picking up the ammunition of words and loading those words into the weapon of viral link baiting and marketing.....and then deliberately and with intent.....pulling the trigger repeatedly at will.....whisper...whisper...whisper....)
"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."
Nothing on the internet is safe. Nothing on the internet is confidential or private. You are not safe nor is anything in your life or anyone you care for safe when you are exposed on the internet at either your hand or anyone else associating content to you.
Yet, there is an entire sub-culture out there of internet crime being committed every day that very few law enforcement officers are even aware of, let alone will act upon to serve and protect you.
It is a sub-culture that the folks shout out for help with every day.
One that is responsible for the worst types of crime and the consequences of those crimes. Harassment, stalking, menacing, intimidation and often the literal stripping away of all aspects of life as an individual knows it. The consequences are the destruction of financial security, peace and privacy, relationships that often lead to irretrievable actions such as suicide. Worse, the weapon of the internet is a perpetual firing weapon. 24/7 and never runs out of ammunition.
'SandBox Nanny' wonders what it will take the folks doing in order to get the attention of lawmakers and law enforcement.
Watching the path of SOPA was like watching the old black and white cartoons of cops and robbers chasing each other in circles. While we are good people who greatly appreciate anyone at least trying; it was disheartening to watch the debacle of SOPA run its course when the answer to the problem is so, so simple.
In the past three years of lending her forced on her notoriety first to 'smalltown7' and then creating the offshoot of 'SandBoxBlogs' and 'SandBox Nanny' in Spring 2010; one of the news aggregate topics she chases is internet crime. Most of the feedback she receives from the general public is related to the juggernaut of power that the media holds.
The internet is the most powerful media outlet in history.
Interestingly enough, it was the State of Iowa and an investigative reporter by the name of Kevin Hall off the Iowa Republican who brought us the story of Zach Edwards and Link Strategies. (Be sure to click on all related links within that post link on Edwards)
A story that will be one of the most important baseline foundations of our time for lawmakers when it comes to putting parameters on what is "OK" to do on the internet and what is not.
That seemingly insignificant case, that was near immediate quashed from public view by high power and big money politics, is the first case of a powerful public figure winning his claim that viral link baiting and SEO optimization is criminal in nature when it is used with ill intent and in negative context.
To have the Iowa Sec of State win against one of the individuals who lurk in the bowels of the internet preying with intent on their subjects was groundbreaking. Just like the folks know 'who' does harmful things in their communities; anyone who does business on the internet knows where the worst forms of media exploitation come from in the world of SEO, mass marketing and perception management companies. Sometimes the world of internet business survival is based on spending the time and effort it takes to stay out of the clutches of those who practice marketing with ill-intent.
'SandBox Nanny' wonders what it will take to get lawmakers and cops to listen to all the folks who suffer every day from the real problem of public exposure at the hand of another.
Such a simple criminal element to notice and yet it slips by cops every moment of every day.
That element they need lies in the tools (weapons) that ill-intent individuals have available to use against others.
Lawmakers keep trying to control the internet itself when simply regulating the power itself and not the content is the answer. 'Negative Viral' is a programming technique and is a literal mechanism. Not a 'happens by chance' nebulous and undetectable concept that can be lumped into the category of "bullying". The level of skill an internet perp uses determines how much collateral damage they can achieve. A well-known pro like Zach Edwards and Link Strategies has unstoppable power due to their intellectual property enhancing the tool of viral linking. Talk about Medusa or Pandora!
Maybe it will take more consequences. More horrific consequences such as drug cartels murdering female reporters they find on viral mechanisms like Twitter, vulnerable young adults committing suicide, government officials and politicians literally destroying business owners and citizens lives with the power of the media.
From the tool of a free 'Blogger' blog, and the patience to earn followers and recognition the good old fashioned way with true public content and in the manner that the internet originally intended; we'll keep plugging away with our mission to get the voices of the folks heard.
It shouldn't take more consequences before our lawmakers and law enforcement simply halt the juggernaut of irretrievable consequences, toss off all the cloudy layers of spin and return back to good old fashioned gumshoe police work.
(whisper...whisper...whisper...for every Alvaro Agon...every Sheriff Vallario....every Scott DeGraff.....that find themselves plastered for all time and all over the web....there is 'somebody' picking up the ammunition of words and loading those words into the weapon of viral link baiting and marketing.....and then deliberately and with intent.....pulling the trigger repeatedly at will.....whisper...whisper...whisper....)
"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."
SandBoxBlogs: Fort Morgan Times "2012 Angels Among Us awards given "
John LaPorte:
"The Fort Morgan Times and the Brush News-Tribune distributed Angels Among Us awards to area residents for the ninth year Thursday in conjunction with the newspapers' annual Reflections special edition.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"The Fort Morgan Times and the Brush News-Tribune distributed Angels Among Us awards to area residents for the ninth year Thursday in conjunction with the newspapers' annual Reflections special edition.
Over the years, the papers have handed out more than a hundred such awards.
The top honoree, receiving the Golden Angel Award as the publisher's choice, was Nadine Brink-Wallen of Brush...." (Read more? Click title)
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Skiing legends to honor Beattie in Aspen'
"ASPEN — Many of the biggest names in skiing history will gather in Aspen this weekend to honor one of their own.
Aspen's Bob Beattie, the creator of World Pro Skiing, co-founder of the World Cup and a ski-racing television personality for more than four decades, will be honored at a gala Friday at the Hotel Jerome Ballroom. On Saturday, teams composed of former pros, children and members of the public will take part in the Bob Beattie Reunion Cup race at Aspen Highlands.
Among the roughly 70 former racers expected to attend are Billy Kidd and fellow World Pro Skiing champions Hugo Nindle, Hank Kashiwa and Andre Arnold plus Olympic medalists Franz Klammer, Tamara McKinney, Christin Cooper, Walter Tresch and Barbara Ferries.
“Beats built the U.S. Ski Team system that made us competitive,” Kidd said. “He was my coach at the University of Colorado and the Olympics. His vision and leadership helped to create the World Cup, World Pro Skiing and NASTAR. And his ABC television commentary helped millions enjoy our favorite sport whether they skied or not.
“Bob Beattie has influenced the sport of skiing more than any other single person.”...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Aspen's Bob Beattie, the creator of World Pro Skiing, co-founder of the World Cup and a ski-racing television personality for more than four decades, will be honored at a gala Friday at the Hotel Jerome Ballroom. On Saturday, teams composed of former pros, children and members of the public will take part in the Bob Beattie Reunion Cup race at Aspen Highlands.
Among the roughly 70 former racers expected to attend are Billy Kidd and fellow World Pro Skiing champions Hugo Nindle, Hank Kashiwa and Andre Arnold plus Olympic medalists Franz Klammer, Tamara McKinney, Christin Cooper, Walter Tresch and Barbara Ferries.
“Beats built the U.S. Ski Team system that made us competitive,” Kidd said. “He was my coach at the University of Colorado and the Olympics. His vision and leadership helped to create the World Cup, World Pro Skiing and NASTAR. And his ABC television commentary helped millions enjoy our favorite sport whether they skied or not.
“Bob Beattie has influenced the sport of skiing more than any other single person.”...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: KJCT News 8 "Lone Ranger Casting Call This Sunday"
"A casting call is going on this Sunday (4/1) for extras for the new Disney movie , “The Lone Ranger.” The movie, starring Johnny Depp, will begin shooting in Colorado and Utah this summer. Extras must be available for work in Late June/July.
Sande Alessi Casting, the Los Angeles-based Casting Directors of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Social Network,” “Glee, ”CSI” and hundreds more amazing projects, will be holding the open casting call for background extras...." (Read more? Find out where to go? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Sande Alessi Casting, the Los Angeles-based Casting Directors of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Social Network,” “Glee, ”CSI” and hundreds more amazing projects, will be holding the open casting call for background extras...." (Read more? Find out where to go? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
March 30, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Hot Air Blog "Chris Matthews: I’m pretty surprised to learn that the mandate might be unconstitutional"
'Allahpundit':
"Via Newsbusters and Ace, who points to Karl’s piece in the Greenroom as a reminder that our very open-minded friends on the left have a little echo-chamber problem of their own. Says Jay Cost:
"The problem for the left is that they do not have a lot of interaction with conservatives, whose intellects are often disparaged, ideas are openly mocked, and intentions regularly questioned. Conservative ideas rarely make it onto the pages of most middle- and high-brow publications of news and opinion the left frequents. So, liberals regularly find themselves surprised when their ideas face pushback.
I think that is exactly what happened with Obamacare. The attitude of President Obama (a former con law lecturer at the University of Chicago, no less!), Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid was very much that they are doing big, important things to help the American people, why wouldn’t that be constitutional? No less an important Democratic leader as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee cited the (nonexistent) “good and welfare clause” to justify the mandate.
Having no intellectual sympathy for the conservative criticism of this view, they rarely encountered it on the news programs they watch, the newspapers they read every day, or the journals they peruse over the weekends. Instead, they encountered a steady drumbeat of fellow liberals echoing Kagan’s attitude: it’s a boatload of money, what the heck is the problem?....." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Via Newsbusters and Ace, who points to Karl’s piece in the Greenroom as a reminder that our very open-minded friends on the left have a little echo-chamber problem of their own. Says Jay Cost:
"The problem for the left is that they do not have a lot of interaction with conservatives, whose intellects are often disparaged, ideas are openly mocked, and intentions regularly questioned. Conservative ideas rarely make it onto the pages of most middle- and high-brow publications of news and opinion the left frequents. So, liberals regularly find themselves surprised when their ideas face pushback.
I think that is exactly what happened with Obamacare. The attitude of President Obama (a former con law lecturer at the University of Chicago, no less!), Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid was very much that they are doing big, important things to help the American people, why wouldn’t that be constitutional? No less an important Democratic leader as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee cited the (nonexistent) “good and welfare clause” to justify the mandate.
Having no intellectual sympathy for the conservative criticism of this view, they rarely encountered it on the news programs they watch, the newspapers they read every day, or the journals they peruse over the weekends. Instead, they encountered a steady drumbeat of fellow liberals echoing Kagan’s attitude: it’s a boatload of money, what the heck is the problem?....." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: The Hill/Healthwatch "Dems fume over Justice Scalia’s comments during healthcare case"
Alexander Bolton:
"Democrats are fuming over Justice Antonin Scalia’s conduct during this week’s Supreme Court deliberations on President Obama’s healthcare law.
While several of the high court’s liberal justices seemed to cheerlead for its defense, Scalia appeared hostile to the law, an attitude that rubbed some Democrats the wrong way.
Scalia mocked the so-called “Cornhusker Kickback” without seeming to know that provision was stripped out of the law two years ago.
Scalia also joked that the task of having to review the complex bill violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
“You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages?” he quipped. “Is this not totally unrealistic, that we are going to go through this enormous bill item by item and decide each one?”...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Democrats are fuming over Justice Antonin Scalia’s conduct during this week’s Supreme Court deliberations on President Obama’s healthcare law.
While several of the high court’s liberal justices seemed to cheerlead for its defense, Scalia appeared hostile to the law, an attitude that rubbed some Democrats the wrong way.
Scalia mocked the so-called “Cornhusker Kickback” without seeming to know that provision was stripped out of the law two years ago.
Scalia also joked that the task of having to review the complex bill violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
“You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages?” he quipped. “Is this not totally unrealistic, that we are going to go through this enormous bill item by item and decide each one?”...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Pueblo Chieftain "House panel scrubs plan to eliminate inactive voter status "
How very disappointing this is. All that money wasted each time we sent out thousands of ballots that will never be returned.
Patrick Malone:
"Statewide in 2009, just 4 percent of the ballots mailed to inactive voters were returned and accepted. An equal percentage were returned undeliverable. Gessler noted that Denver County had a 10 percent rejection rate on ballots cast by inactive voters during that cycle.
“When signatures don’t match, that’s an indication of real problems going on,” Gessler said.
Pueblo County experienced a far lower rejection rate among the ballots cast by inactive voters. Less than 4 percent of the ballots were not accepted (15 out of 390).
And Pueblo County inactive voters participated at a higher rate in the 2011 election (about 11 percent) than any other large county in the state, with a relatively low rejection rate Gessler acknowledged.
He hinted that the secretary of state’s office could take on guidance on how inactive voters should be handled.
“I think most people share the same values — they want accurate voter lists, they want to reduce costs,” Gessler said. “We should work towards trying to find some kind of consensus, another way to do this, rather than shoving it through the Legislature.”...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Patrick Malone:
"Statewide in 2009, just 4 percent of the ballots mailed to inactive voters were returned and accepted. An equal percentage were returned undeliverable. Gessler noted that Denver County had a 10 percent rejection rate on ballots cast by inactive voters during that cycle.
“When signatures don’t match, that’s an indication of real problems going on,” Gessler said.
Pueblo County experienced a far lower rejection rate among the ballots cast by inactive voters. Less than 4 percent of the ballots were not accepted (15 out of 390).
And Pueblo County inactive voters participated at a higher rate in the 2011 election (about 11 percent) than any other large county in the state, with a relatively low rejection rate Gessler acknowledged.
He hinted that the secretary of state’s office could take on guidance on how inactive voters should be handled.
“I think most people share the same values — they want accurate voter lists, they want to reduce costs,” Gessler said. “We should work towards trying to find some kind of consensus, another way to do this, rather than shoving it through the Legislature.”...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: KKCO 11 News "Colorado budget beset by political land mines "
"DENVER (AP) -- Colorado lawmakers reached a breakthrough in a state budget best with questions packed with political land mines.
Budget writers stuck on whether to cut state agencies' payrolls by 2 percent agreed Thursday to reduce the amount to 1 percent and exempt some departments. The departments exempted include prisons, youth corrections, public safety and emergency personnel that work around the clock...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Budget writers stuck on whether to cut state agencies' payrolls by 2 percent agreed Thursday to reduce the amount to 1 percent and exempt some departments. The departments exempted include prisons, youth corrections, public safety and emergency personnel that work around the clock...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Town Hall "Conservative Interpretations"
To save part of Obamacare....isn't that giving our Supreme Court Justices the power to act like Congress and Senate?
Toss the entire thing and have them come back with something that works. Just like any other case that comes before the court.
Jonah Goldberg:
"Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg likes the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act and other ingredients of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka "ObamaCare." Why, she asked toward the end of three days of hearings, shouldn't the court keep the good stuff in ObamaCare and just dump the unconstitutional bits?
The court, she explained, is presented with "a choice between a wrecking operation ... or a salvage job. And the more conservative approach would be salvage rather than throwing out everything."
"Conservative" is a funny word. It can mean lots of different things. It reminds me of that line from G.K. Chesterton about the word "good." "The word 'good' has many meanings," he observed. "For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of 500 yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man."..." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Toss the entire thing and have them come back with something that works. Just like any other case that comes before the court.
Jonah Goldberg:
"Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg likes the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act and other ingredients of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka "ObamaCare." Why, she asked toward the end of three days of hearings, shouldn't the court keep the good stuff in ObamaCare and just dump the unconstitutional bits?
The court, she explained, is presented with "a choice between a wrecking operation ... or a salvage job. And the more conservative approach would be salvage rather than throwing out everything."
"Conservative" is a funny word. It can mean lots of different things. It reminds me of that line from G.K. Chesterton about the word "good." "The word 'good' has many meanings," he observed. "For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of 500 yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man."..." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Citizen Telegram "Top cop to turn in badge after 39 years on the job"
Citizen Telegram:
"Police Chief Daryl Meisner will finish his 39-year law enforcement career in July, when he turns in his badge and retires.
“I've always had good instincts throughout my career, and my instincts tell me it's just the right time,” Meisner, 59, said in his office at the Rifle Police Department building on South 18th Street. “I'm kind of scared and excited, both.”
In recent years, when crimes like arson fires and the shooting deaths of four residents occurred, Meisner said Rifle was no longer a “Mayberry” kind of town. The reference to the idyllic, mythical small town on TV's “The Andy Griffith Show” grew out of Meisner's early career in the 1970s.
“Being out on the streets and walking around, people would say ‘Here comes Rifle's Barney Fife,' ” Meisner said of the show's popular deputy character. “I'd just laugh. I even started carrying a bullet in my pocket,” like the Fife character.
Born in Meeker and raised in Rifle, Meisner began his law enforcement career in December 1973. Former chief Larry Allec asked if he was interested in becoming a reserve officer...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Police Chief Daryl Meisner will finish his 39-year law enforcement career in July, when he turns in his badge and retires.
“I've always had good instincts throughout my career, and my instincts tell me it's just the right time,” Meisner, 59, said in his office at the Rifle Police Department building on South 18th Street. “I'm kind of scared and excited, both.”
In recent years, when crimes like arson fires and the shooting deaths of four residents occurred, Meisner said Rifle was no longer a “Mayberry” kind of town. The reference to the idyllic, mythical small town on TV's “The Andy Griffith Show” grew out of Meisner's early career in the 1970s.
“Being out on the streets and walking around, people would say ‘Here comes Rifle's Barney Fife,' ” Meisner said of the show's popular deputy character. “I'd just laugh. I even started carrying a bullet in my pocket,” like the Fife character.
Born in Meeker and raised in Rifle, Meisner began his law enforcement career in December 1973. Former chief Larry Allec asked if he was interested in becoming a reserve officer...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Colorado Springs Independent/Stranger than Fiction "Curses, foiled again"
Curses, foiled again
"After Michele Grasso, 27, was convicted of drug dealing in 2008, he disappeared and eluded Italian authorities until this February, when he posted photos on his Facebook page of himself at London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum posing with a model of Barack Obama and working as a waiter. Italian police contacted British police, who arrested Grasso and returned him to Italy." (Italy's ANSA news agency)
"Police arrested Eric Lee King, 21, on suspicion of stealing a television in Eagan, Minn., after he tried to conceal it in his pants. An officer spotted King leaving a business walking "straight-legged, shuffling his feet and not bending his knees," while trying to hold up his sagging pants. The officer called to King, who kept walking as if he hadn't heard, so the officer got out of his cruiser and approached King. He noticed a 19-inch flat screen TV shoved down the man's pants, as well as a remote, a power cord and a bottle of brake fluid."
(Minneapolis-St. Paul's KSTP-TV)
Every vote counts
"While going door-to-door campaigning for re-election in Latimer County, Okla., Sheriff Robbie Brooks said he recognized the smell of marijuana when homeowner Jerry Paulk, 65, "walked to the door holding a burning joint, clipped to the end of a set of hemostats." Brooks removed Paulk and two women from the home while deputies obtained a search warrant. They found more marijuana and an indoor marijuana grow room. Brooks said that after his arrest, Paulk thanked him for treating him so well and promised to vote for him."
(Fort Smith's KFSM-TV)
(Read more? Click title)
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Speaking of the last 40 years ..."
Patrick Hasburgh, Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico
"Editor:
If the FBI is investigating the sheriff’s department, and maybe even Aspen’s local government, for its behavior over the last four decades, maybe they could help me out. I lost a bindle, a pair of Rossi 102 Stratos and a girlfriend somewhere in Aspen during the 1970s. I think I left the skis in the rack at The Little Nell and the girlfriend at Andre’s, but only for a minute. Or was it the Paragon? The Pantry? I guess I can’t remember, exactly. But I do recall the girl was pretty as hell and that the Rossis could rip the Face of Bell. And I honestly thought the blow was legal. I mean, it wasn’t even addictive back then. Was it? Is it still?..."
(Read the original letter? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Editor:
If the FBI is investigating the sheriff’s department, and maybe even Aspen’s local government, for its behavior over the last four decades, maybe they could help me out. I lost a bindle, a pair of Rossi 102 Stratos and a girlfriend somewhere in Aspen during the 1970s. I think I left the skis in the rack at The Little Nell and the girlfriend at Andre’s, but only for a minute. Or was it the Paragon? The Pantry? I guess I can’t remember, exactly. But I do recall the girl was pretty as hell and that the Rossis could rip the Face of Bell. And I honestly thought the blow was legal. I mean, it wasn’t even addictive back then. Was it? Is it still?..."
(Read the original letter? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel "Rise in crime keeps Grand Valley law enforcement busy in 2011"
Where is the Sentinel's coverage on the uphill battle our boots on the ground have when it comes to drugs, cartels, trafficking, gangs and all other violent crime?
We have never seen, from one of the most respected newspapers in Colorado, any coverage whatsoever on the politics of crime.
Yes, the politics of crime.
It takes money. Smart laws instead of twisted labyrinths spouting jabberwockey language that cops and agents do not have the time to wade through. It takes our elected prosecutors to stop using our cops and agents as extensions of themselves by expecting them to act like lawyers in the field as they move to press charges. It takes our prosecutors doing their own job instead of backlogging our courts with cases where they are using the court system to find the answers and do the investigating for them.
Who decides on the lawmakers who handle the money and write the laws?
Who decides which prosecutor is going to do the job properly and within the duties and confines of law?
Who shakes the trees everywhere and rattles the sabres when those elected officials fail?
The folks do.
Those folks that cops are the only agency that is here to serve and protect. No other position in our country holds that responsibility. Law enforcement is the last line between the people and the system.
Thank you to City of Grand Junction Police Chief John Camper and all of his officers and support staff.
It was not that long ago that you took an agency that was ashamed of itself and turned it around. Now proud to be a top-notch law enforcement agency that the folks appreciate.
Stay the course. Political ball-dropping and lack of media in your court, or no.
Paul Shockley:
"After dipping in 2010, violent crime and property crime in Grand Junction increased 23 percent in 2011, a five-year high for those categories, according to an annual report by the Grand Junction Police Department.
The agency’s 2011 crime and traffic report noted moderate rises in all categories of property crime — burglary, theft from auto, shoplifting and auto theft — and a 37 percent increase in reports of simple theft.
Police Chief John Camper suggested the spike may reflect “double counting,” such as a robbery investigation which may also be tallied as theft.
“I think that’s some of what you’re seeing,” Camper said. “Theft is part and parcel to numerous other crimes. We’re certainly not seeing a huge increase in the specific number of theft cases our detectives are needing to work.”...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
We have never seen, from one of the most respected newspapers in Colorado, any coverage whatsoever on the politics of crime.
Yes, the politics of crime.
It takes money. Smart laws instead of twisted labyrinths spouting jabberwockey language that cops and agents do not have the time to wade through. It takes our elected prosecutors to stop using our cops and agents as extensions of themselves by expecting them to act like lawyers in the field as they move to press charges. It takes our prosecutors doing their own job instead of backlogging our courts with cases where they are using the court system to find the answers and do the investigating for them.
Who decides on the lawmakers who handle the money and write the laws?
Who decides which prosecutor is going to do the job properly and within the duties and confines of law?
Who shakes the trees everywhere and rattles the sabres when those elected officials fail?
The folks do.
Those folks that cops are the only agency that is here to serve and protect. No other position in our country holds that responsibility. Law enforcement is the last line between the people and the system.
Thank you to City of Grand Junction Police Chief John Camper and all of his officers and support staff.
It was not that long ago that you took an agency that was ashamed of itself and turned it around. Now proud to be a top-notch law enforcement agency that the folks appreciate.
Stay the course. Political ball-dropping and lack of media in your court, or no.
Paul Shockley:
"After dipping in 2010, violent crime and property crime in Grand Junction increased 23 percent in 2011, a five-year high for those categories, according to an annual report by the Grand Junction Police Department.
The agency’s 2011 crime and traffic report noted moderate rises in all categories of property crime — burglary, theft from auto, shoplifting and auto theft — and a 37 percent increase in reports of simple theft.
Police Chief John Camper suggested the spike may reflect “double counting,” such as a robbery investigation which may also be tallied as theft.
“I think that’s some of what you’re seeing,” Camper said. “Theft is part and parcel to numerous other crimes. We’re certainly not seeing a huge increase in the specific number of theft cases our detectives are needing to work.”...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Glenwood Springs Post Independent/Your Letters "Cheney heart cartoon despicable"
Do you ever wonder if Swift Communications, who owns the GSPI, really knows the type of 'news' they engage in on most days?
The display allowed by Twitter last Saturday was unconscionable. Troubling to think we have similar right here at home. Thank you to Sharon Brenner for speaking up.
Sharon Brenner:
"The cartoon the Post Independent printed on March 29 regarding former Vice President Cheney's heart transplant is absolutely despicable, and the paper owes its readers a front page apology. This comes from the same side of the political spectrum that called for more civil discourse after the shooting of Rep. Giffords in Arizona. This is also from the same political orientation that discussed the shooting of Trayvon Williams, but has remained silent about the public issuance of a bounty, without a trial, by the New Black Panthers.
It's the typical liberal double standard: Do as I say or we will get you, and we welcome diversity as long as it is saying the same thing I believe...." (Read original letter? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
The display allowed by Twitter last Saturday was unconscionable. Troubling to think we have similar right here at home. Thank you to Sharon Brenner for speaking up.
Sharon Brenner:
"The cartoon the Post Independent printed on March 29 regarding former Vice President Cheney's heart transplant is absolutely despicable, and the paper owes its readers a front page apology. This comes from the same side of the political spectrum that called for more civil discourse after the shooting of Rep. Giffords in Arizona. This is also from the same political orientation that discussed the shooting of Trayvon Williams, but has remained silent about the public issuance of a bounty, without a trial, by the New Black Panthers.
It's the typical liberal double standard: Do as I say or we will get you, and we welcome diversity as long as it is saying the same thing I believe...." (Read original letter? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Delinquent APCHA affidavits are tough to track down"
Could it possibly be that the issues we are seeing with deed restricted housing are the result of a market that has been gutted with the shell game sham of developers that affordable and employee housing really is?
"Where are the jobs?"
Dorothy Atkins:
"There are about 194 people who own local affordable housing units who have not signed affidavits saying they are still in compliance with the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority’s (APCHA) employee housing guidelines.
The housing authority sends out requalification affidavits every two years that must be signed, notarized and returned to the housing office in order for the owner to be considered in compliance.
The three main qualifications to live in affordable housing are that the individual must work a minimum of 1,500 hours a year in Pitkin County, not own other property in the valley and maintain that the unit is his or her sole residence.
In February of 2011, APCHA sent out approximately 1,500 affidavits and received about 1,119 back by the summer. In July, a second notice was sent to those who didn’t reply and in November, more owners received a third request. By the end of the year there were about 194 people who didn’t return the affidavit, some intentionally, said Julie Kieffer, APCHA qualifications specialist.
There are a handful of residents who called the housing authority and said they were in compliance but refused to sign the affidavit based on moral grounds, Kieffer said.
“They’re saying they’re following the rules but they won’t sign it,” Kieffer said. “They think government is over-stepping...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Where are the jobs?"
Dorothy Atkins:
"There are about 194 people who own local affordable housing units who have not signed affidavits saying they are still in compliance with the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority’s (APCHA) employee housing guidelines.
The housing authority sends out requalification affidavits every two years that must be signed, notarized and returned to the housing office in order for the owner to be considered in compliance.
The three main qualifications to live in affordable housing are that the individual must work a minimum of 1,500 hours a year in Pitkin County, not own other property in the valley and maintain that the unit is his or her sole residence.
In February of 2011, APCHA sent out approximately 1,500 affidavits and received about 1,119 back by the summer. In July, a second notice was sent to those who didn’t reply and in November, more owners received a third request. By the end of the year there were about 194 people who didn’t return the affidavit, some intentionally, said Julie Kieffer, APCHA qualifications specialist.
There are a handful of residents who called the housing authority and said they were in compliance but refused to sign the affidavit based on moral grounds, Kieffer said.
“They’re saying they’re following the rules but they won’t sign it,” Kieffer said. “They think government is over-stepping...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Basalt plant will power 40 homes"
Wow...imagine that. With very little money taken off the backs of the folks, no drama, no lawsuits, no petitions, no special elections and no government power abuses; the Town of Basalt leads their folks to a new era in clean energy.
Kudos to the Town of Basalt for leading by example.
Say YES to Glenn Rappaport for Mayor and keep that balance going.
Scott Condon:
"BASALT — As Aspen engages in civil war over a proposed hydroelectric plant that will tap Maroon and Castle Creeks, Basalt has quietly completed a less controversial micro-hydroelectric plant that will generate power for as many as 40 homes in the town.
The town government teamed with Holy Cross Energy to build a facility that takes advantage of water being piped down from Basalt Mountain to the town's treatment plant to produce power.
“All we did was plumb this in line,” said Bentley Henderson, Basalt's public works director, while showing the new turbine and generator used to produce power.
The system will generate roughly 300,000 kilowatt-hours annually, Henderson said. That will power between 30 and 40 houses and reduce greenhouse-gas production by an estimated 500,000 pounds annually, he said...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Kudos to the Town of Basalt for leading by example.
Say YES to Glenn Rappaport for Mayor and keep that balance going.
Scott Condon:
"BASALT — As Aspen engages in civil war over a proposed hydroelectric plant that will tap Maroon and Castle Creeks, Basalt has quietly completed a less controversial micro-hydroelectric plant that will generate power for as many as 40 homes in the town.
The town government teamed with Holy Cross Energy to build a facility that takes advantage of water being piped down from Basalt Mountain to the town's treatment plant to produce power.
“All we did was plumb this in line,” said Bentley Henderson, Basalt's public works director, while showing the new turbine and generator used to produce power.
The system will generate roughly 300,000 kilowatt-hours annually, Henderson said. That will power between 30 and 40 houses and reduce greenhouse-gas production by an estimated 500,000 pounds annually, he said...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "SourceGas compressor proposal on hold for six months"
(See update to this post here)
How subtle is power abuse? For that matter, how corrosive can it be when it seeps into the lifeblood of a community? A region? How about the ability to take on a life of its own when it has the power of media in its back pocket?
Powerful enough to sway policies? Develop a loyal 'following' of possibly weaker individuals?
Strong enough to last for say...oh, '40 years' or more? Tenacious enough to insist on using the same (or similar) methods over and over again to get what it thinks it wants from others?
'Shame, shame' on 'anyone' who would resort to such tactics as to condemn a revered institution such as CMC. (See related story and public comments here)
SandBox thanks CMC and our Trustees for bringing upstanding leadership, so many wonderful programs and excellent stewardship of public trust to our mountain communities. You are appreciated.
John Colson:
"“They did hear loud and clear, do not do it at this location,” said Marianne Quigley Ackerman. Her father was among the ranchers who donated land for the college...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
How subtle is power abuse? For that matter, how corrosive can it be when it seeps into the lifeblood of a community? A region? How about the ability to take on a life of its own when it has the power of media in its back pocket?
Powerful enough to sway policies? Develop a loyal 'following' of possibly weaker individuals?
Strong enough to last for say...oh, '40 years' or more? Tenacious enough to insist on using the same (or similar) methods over and over again to get what it thinks it wants from others?
'Shame, shame' on 'anyone' who would resort to such tactics as to condemn a revered institution such as CMC. (See related story and public comments here)
SandBox thanks CMC and our Trustees for bringing upstanding leadership, so many wonderful programs and excellent stewardship of public trust to our mountain communities. You are appreciated.
John Colson:
"“They did hear loud and clear, do not do it at this location,” said Marianne Quigley Ackerman. Her father was among the ranchers who donated land for the college...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: KKCO 11 News "Colo. officials seeing Mega Millions riches, too "
$113 million dollars. In one year. That is the amount of money that Coloradans will see poured into one entity by our struggling state government. That entity is Parks and Recreation.
In other states, lottery and gaming proceeds are equally divided amongst K-12 public education, Road and Bridge, Public Safety/Law Enforcement and Human Services.
Imagine a Colorado world where our lawmakers used just a little bit of common sense, gathered up all of our gaming proceeds into one kitty and did same.
win-win. And a no-brainer.
KKCO:
"DENVER (AP) -- Lottery players aren't the only ones in Colorado seeing dollar signs in the record-setting Mega Millions jackpot.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
In other states, lottery and gaming proceeds are equally divided amongst K-12 public education, Road and Bridge, Public Safety/Law Enforcement and Human Services.
Imagine a Colorado world where our lawmakers used just a little bit of common sense, gathered up all of our gaming proceeds into one kitty and did same.
win-win. And a no-brainer.
KKCO:
"DENVER (AP) -- Lottery players aren't the only ones in Colorado seeing dollar signs in the record-setting Mega Millions jackpot.
State budget-writers could also benefit from an unexpected windfall. A lone winner Friday from Colorado would owe the state anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars in taxes a year to a single payment of more than $16 million worth of income taxes...." (Read more? Click title)
SandBoxBlogs: KREX News 5 "Powderhorn Celebrates Successful First Year Under New Ownership"
The little ski resort that could...
Former top guy at Vail Resort, Andy Daly has taken Powderhorn (in just one season) into the upper rankings of ski destinations in Western Colorado. Now aiming for year round access, local families are looking forward to what comes next.
Congrats to Powderhorn Mountain Resort.
Jordan Sherman:
"MESA, Colo.- Powderhorn's first year under new ownership is coming to a close this weekend. After a long winter, that looked bleak for snow for a long time, General Manager Daren Cole said, "We've been extremely happy with the delivery we've been able to put out there to the community."
Powderhorn was purchased by Andy Daly as well as Tom and Ken Gart last summer at auction for $1.4 million. Since then, there have been numerous improvements at the resort, including the construction of a new deck at base lodge, renovations at the Sunset Grill and the addition of a tubing hill.
In addition to the renovations, many people are thrilled with riding conditions. Season pass holder Steve Sweat said, "Being under new management, they've done a really good job grooming this year. The snow depth hasn't been any issue here. The grooming has made up for it tremendously."..."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Former top guy at Vail Resort, Andy Daly has taken Powderhorn (in just one season) into the upper rankings of ski destinations in Western Colorado. Now aiming for year round access, local families are looking forward to what comes next.
Congrats to Powderhorn Mountain Resort.
Jordan Sherman:
"MESA, Colo.- Powderhorn's first year under new ownership is coming to a close this weekend. After a long winter, that looked bleak for snow for a long time, General Manager Daren Cole said, "We've been extremely happy with the delivery we've been able to put out there to the community."
Powderhorn was purchased by Andy Daly as well as Tom and Ken Gart last summer at auction for $1.4 million. Since then, there have been numerous improvements at the resort, including the construction of a new deck at base lodge, renovations at the Sunset Grill and the addition of a tubing hill.
In addition to the renovations, many people are thrilled with riding conditions. Season pass holder Steve Sweat said, "Being under new management, they've done a really good job grooming this year. The snow depth hasn't been any issue here. The grooming has made up for it tremendously."..."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Vail Daily News "Extreme filmmaking brings extreme rewards"
Rosanna Turner:
"You're almost to the top. You're standing on the edge of the ledge, ready to drop. You're ready to do what decades ago people thought was impossible. And you have to film it at the same time. Wait, what? Ever wondered what goes into the making of action, adventure and extreme sports movies? The Vail Film Festival this weekend features three films, “The Art of Flight,” “Inuk,” and “High Ground,” where the story behind making each film is just as captivating as the films themselves...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"You're almost to the top. You're standing on the edge of the ledge, ready to drop. You're ready to do what decades ago people thought was impossible. And you have to film it at the same time. Wait, what? Ever wondered what goes into the making of action, adventure and extreme sports movies? The Vail Film Festival this weekend features three films, “The Art of Flight,” “Inuk,” and “High Ground,” where the story behind making each film is just as captivating as the films themselves...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Summit County Citizens Voice "Biodiversity: Key European butterfly species in decline"
Bob Berwyn:
"SUMMIT COUNTY — European butterfly populations and diversity are rapidly dwindling, as habitat is converted or lost to development. Biologists estimate that about 10 percent of all species are now threatened with extinction, with a European grassland indicator showing that overall abundance of 17 characteristic butterflies has declined by more than 70 percent in just the last 15 years.
Butterflies are sensitive indicators of the environment and populations respond very quickly to habitat change. Management for butterflies will help ensure the survival of a wide range of other insects, which form the bedrock of European biodiversity.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"SUMMIT COUNTY — European butterfly populations and diversity are rapidly dwindling, as habitat is converted or lost to development. Biologists estimate that about 10 percent of all species are now threatened with extinction, with a European grassland indicator showing that overall abundance of 17 characteristic butterflies has declined by more than 70 percent in just the last 15 years.
Butterflies are sensitive indicators of the environment and populations respond very quickly to habitat change. Management for butterflies will help ensure the survival of a wide range of other insects, which form the bedrock of European biodiversity.
After a major collaborative research effort, European scientists say that downward spiral could be slowed significantly with good management of the habitat that’s left. Many agricultural areas have been abandoned are are overgrown with brush, while others are too managed too extensively, the scientists said in a new report published in the form of an “applied Conservation paper in the newly launched open-access journal Nature Conservation...." (Read more? Click title)
SandBoxBlogs: Summit County Citizens Voice "Morning photo: Colorful!"
All credit: Bob Berwyn
Curious about Bob Berwyn? That stealth tracking journalist who has risen to the top ranked status of a local's fav? They say a picture speaks a thousand words...
Curious about Bob Berwyn? That stealth tracking journalist who has risen to the top ranked status of a local's fav? They say a picture speaks a thousand words...
March 29, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Red State "Liberals, conservatives, values and how we perceive each other "
Bill S. Diary:
"Another day, another book I need to buy and hopefully read some day. In the March 21st NYT, Nicholas Kristof reviews a new book: ”The Righteous Mind”. In it, author Jonathan Haidt discusses some original research that investigates some key values held by conservatives and liberals – and how these two groups perceive each other on these values. I have long been interested in why Republicans and Democrats believe as they do, and this type of research on values zeroes in on this question.
A couple of key observations emerge. First, the author points out how both conservatives and liberals adhere to values that are formed around a moral code, but conservatives follow some additional core values that liberals do not...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Another day, another book I need to buy and hopefully read some day. In the March 21st NYT, Nicholas Kristof reviews a new book: ”The Righteous Mind”. In it, author Jonathan Haidt discusses some original research that investigates some key values held by conservatives and liberals – and how these two groups perceive each other on these values. I have long been interested in why Republicans and Democrats believe as they do, and this type of research on values zeroes in on this question.
A couple of key observations emerge. First, the author points out how both conservatives and liberals adhere to values that are formed around a moral code, but conservatives follow some additional core values that liberals do not...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Legal Insurrection "Zero "
William A. Jacobson:
"It’s easy to find unanimous votes in favor of various bills and resolutions in the House of Representatives, but unanimously against?
Let me know if this is truly historic, or just profoundly embarrassing for Obama:
It doesn’t look promising in the Senate, either, which last year unanimously defeated Obama’s budget, 97-0."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"It’s easy to find unanimous votes in favor of various bills and resolutions in the House of Representatives, but unanimously against?
Let me know if this is truly historic, or just profoundly embarrassing for Obama:
President Obama’s budget was defeated 414-0 in the House late Wednesday, in a vote Republicans arranged to try to embarrass him and shelve his plan for the rest of the year.
The vote came as the House worked its way through its own fiscal year 2013 budget proposal, written by Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan. Republicans wrote an amendment that contained Mr. Obama’s budget and offered it on the floor, daring Democrats to back the plan, which calls for major tax increases and yet still adds trillions of dollars to the deficit over the next decade.Not even Nancy Pelosi voted for it.
It doesn’t look promising in the Senate, either, which last year unanimously defeated Obama’s budget, 97-0."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Town Hall "Real American Energy Could Create Real American Jobs'
Joe 'The Plumber' Wurzelbacher:
"President Obama supports job creation, economic growth and revenue generation – except when he doesn’t.
Official announcements from his Labor Department reported that the nation’s February unemployment rate is still 8.3 percent. That’s a decent decline from previous months. But the reality is far worse.
Most of that job growth was in business and professional services, and half was temporary. Millions of Americans are working part-time or multiple low-wage jobs to make ends meet. Overall, 23.5 million are out of work or underemployed.
Factor all that in, and the real unemployment rate is 14.9%, according to University of Maryland economist Peter Morici. Worse, many of the 8.3% jobs are government workers (police officers, fire fighters, teachers and bureaucrats), paid for with “stimulus” and other tax revenues taken or borrowed from hard working private sector companies and employees, and their children and grandchildren.
Making matters still worse, regular gasoline prices have hit $4 in numerous cities – compared to a national average of $1.61 on December 31, 2008, three weeks before President Obama took office.
Thankfully, we could reduce these intolerable numbers dramatically, if President Obama would just stop currying favor with environmental extremists, and start supporting energy policies that benefit all Americans – policies that use real American energy to create real American jobs.
The answer to our job shortage, energy shortage, and soaring gasoline prices is the same. Extract more oil and natural gas from deposits under our land and offshore areas. Bring more oil to the U.S. from Canada via the Keystone XL pipeline...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"President Obama supports job creation, economic growth and revenue generation – except when he doesn’t.
Official announcements from his Labor Department reported that the nation’s February unemployment rate is still 8.3 percent. That’s a decent decline from previous months. But the reality is far worse.
Most of that job growth was in business and professional services, and half was temporary. Millions of Americans are working part-time or multiple low-wage jobs to make ends meet. Overall, 23.5 million are out of work or underemployed.
Factor all that in, and the real unemployment rate is 14.9%, according to University of Maryland economist Peter Morici. Worse, many of the 8.3% jobs are government workers (police officers, fire fighters, teachers and bureaucrats), paid for with “stimulus” and other tax revenues taken or borrowed from hard working private sector companies and employees, and their children and grandchildren.
Making matters still worse, regular gasoline prices have hit $4 in numerous cities – compared to a national average of $1.61 on December 31, 2008, three weeks before President Obama took office.
Thankfully, we could reduce these intolerable numbers dramatically, if President Obama would just stop currying favor with environmental extremists, and start supporting energy policies that benefit all Americans – policies that use real American energy to create real American jobs.
The answer to our job shortage, energy shortage, and soaring gasoline prices is the same. Extract more oil and natural gas from deposits under our land and offshore areas. Bring more oil to the U.S. from Canada via the Keystone XL pipeline...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "FBI offers no info to PitCo on sheriff’s office investigation"
See related stories and public commentary at the following links:
http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/03/sandboxblogs-aspen-daily-news-fbi.html
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/152488
http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/03/sandboxblogs-aspen-times-pitkin-county_28.html
Carolyn Sackariason:
"Pitkin County’s top official on Wednesday got shot down by the FBI in his quest to find out if the federal agency is investigating the local government, as part of a probe into the sheriff’s office.
County manager Jon Peacock, acting on the request of Pitkin County Commissioner Michael Owsley, attempted to confirm whether the government is the target of an investigation......
......Peacock said he wasn’t surprised by the FBI’s response, but in a small town such as Aspen, different dynamics are at play and the community, including its elected officials, want transparency.
If in fact the county government is part of the FBI’s investigation, Peacock said he and the organization plan to cooperate.
“Our position is that if there are any questions, we’re there,” he said. “We need to be transparent. ... There’s nothing to hide here.
“Right now there’s nothing to cooperate on.”......
........“I don’t think there’s anything there,” Peacock said. “Joe and I have a good working relationship.”
DiSalvo also on Wednesday briefed some employees in the sheriff’s office on what he knows about the investigation, although he has not had any contact with the FBI. He said his staff understood the situation and did not appear concerned.
“Everyone pretty much got it,” he said. ......" (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/03/sandboxblogs-aspen-daily-news-fbi.html
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/152488
http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/03/sandboxblogs-aspen-times-pitkin-county_28.html
Carolyn Sackariason:
"Pitkin County’s top official on Wednesday got shot down by the FBI in his quest to find out if the federal agency is investigating the local government, as part of a probe into the sheriff’s office.
County manager Jon Peacock, acting on the request of Pitkin County Commissioner Michael Owsley, attempted to confirm whether the government is the target of an investigation......
......Peacock said he wasn’t surprised by the FBI’s response, but in a small town such as Aspen, different dynamics are at play and the community, including its elected officials, want transparency.
If in fact the county government is part of the FBI’s investigation, Peacock said he and the organization plan to cooperate.
“Our position is that if there are any questions, we’re there,” he said. “We need to be transparent. ... There’s nothing to hide here.
“Right now there’s nothing to cooperate on.”......
........“I don’t think there’s anything there,” Peacock said. “Joe and I have a good working relationship.”
DiSalvo also on Wednesday briefed some employees in the sheriff’s office on what he knows about the investigation, although he has not had any contact with the FBI. He said his staff understood the situation and did not appear concerned.
“Everyone pretty much got it,” he said. ......" (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Dept of Defense "Face of Defense: Homegrown Hero Receives Purple Heart"
Marine Corps Cpl. James Clark:
"LUMBERTON, N.C., March 29, 2012 – A grove of dark green slacks ending in immaculately shined dress shoes stands at rigid attention. Vibrant dress jackets adorned with a collection of medals and ribbons add a dash of color, like budding apples in an orchard. Each right shoulder bears a patch, modest in color and unassuming, which reads “JROTC.”
The Junior ROTC cadets – students at Lumberton High School here, stood in their campus auditorium. Their eyes rose toward a uniformed figure on stage, but he was not a student, although he once was. He wore the same outfit as the students during that time – until he graduated, and months later, donned the uniform of a United States Marine.
Matt Ellis, a former sergeant in the Marine Corps, received his second Purple Heart in a ceremony at his old high school for injuries he suffered in an improvised explosive device strike during his second deployment in 2009 and 2010, where he served in Marjah, Afghanistan. Ellis graduated from Lumberton High School in 2007.
“I wanted the military experience, and it’s helped me a lot in life,” said Ellis, who attributes much of his drive to enlist to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “I was in my seventh grade science class when it happened, and at that moment I decided I wanted to go into the military. I graduated a year early from high school and joined at 17. I wanted to go to combat, and the Marines were the first to fight.”
Years later, when Ellis first was injured during operations to clear the Taliban-held city of Marjah, he was faced with what some would view as a difficult choice: to return home to receive further treatment for his wounds or return to his unit and tough it out. Ellis chose the latter.
“It’s just something Marines do,” said Ellis. “We had a five-man truck team, and I was the vehicle commander. One man missing can slow down the battle tempo, and it’s just one of those things where you feel you need to be there with your boys. If something happens, you don’t want to feel it was because you got hurt.”
Ellis, who now serves as a deputy sheriff for Hoke County, said he views his military time and now, his civil service time, not as a means to an end, but rather as a gratifying experience in and of itself.
“I wanted to find another way to continue serving,” he said. “I felt that law enforcement would be a good window to transfer over. I felt I could physically do it, and therefore felt it was something I should do.”
William Brown, a former lance corporal who served alongside Ellis during their deployment to Marjah and was with Ellis through both of his injuries, commented on Ellis’ selfless nature.
“[He] provided a great service to his country, and now he’s [home] and he’s still providing service, now to his county,” said Brown, who has been friends with Ellis since they graduated from boot camp in 2007 and were both assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.
“He’s continuing that legacy of honor, courage and commitment,” Brown continued. “I think it speaks for his character. He got blown up twice, yet he still wants to serve others. It shows what kind of person he is, what kind of man he is. People should strive to be like him.”
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"LUMBERTON, N.C., March 29, 2012 – A grove of dark green slacks ending in immaculately shined dress shoes stands at rigid attention. Vibrant dress jackets adorned with a collection of medals and ribbons add a dash of color, like budding apples in an orchard. Each right shoulder bears a patch, modest in color and unassuming, which reads “JROTC.”
The Junior ROTC cadets – students at Lumberton High School here, stood in their campus auditorium. Their eyes rose toward a uniformed figure on stage, but he was not a student, although he once was. He wore the same outfit as the students during that time – until he graduated, and months later, donned the uniform of a United States Marine.
Matt Ellis, a former sergeant in the Marine Corps, received his second Purple Heart in a ceremony at his old high school for injuries he suffered in an improvised explosive device strike during his second deployment in 2009 and 2010, where he served in Marjah, Afghanistan. Ellis graduated from Lumberton High School in 2007.
“I wanted the military experience, and it’s helped me a lot in life,” said Ellis, who attributes much of his drive to enlist to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “I was in my seventh grade science class when it happened, and at that moment I decided I wanted to go into the military. I graduated a year early from high school and joined at 17. I wanted to go to combat, and the Marines were the first to fight.”
Years later, when Ellis first was injured during operations to clear the Taliban-held city of Marjah, he was faced with what some would view as a difficult choice: to return home to receive further treatment for his wounds or return to his unit and tough it out. Ellis chose the latter.
“It’s just something Marines do,” said Ellis. “We had a five-man truck team, and I was the vehicle commander. One man missing can slow down the battle tempo, and it’s just one of those things where you feel you need to be there with your boys. If something happens, you don’t want to feel it was because you got hurt.”
Ellis, who now serves as a deputy sheriff for Hoke County, said he views his military time and now, his civil service time, not as a means to an end, but rather as a gratifying experience in and of itself.
“I wanted to find another way to continue serving,” he said. “I felt that law enforcement would be a good window to transfer over. I felt I could physically do it, and therefore felt it was something I should do.”
William Brown, a former lance corporal who served alongside Ellis during their deployment to Marjah and was with Ellis through both of his injuries, commented on Ellis’ selfless nature.
“[He] provided a great service to his country, and now he’s [home] and he’s still providing service, now to his county,” said Brown, who has been friends with Ellis since they graduated from boot camp in 2007 and were both assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.
“He’s continuing that legacy of honor, courage and commitment,” Brown continued. “I think it speaks for his character. He got blown up twice, yet he still wants to serve others. It shows what kind of person he is, what kind of man he is. People should strive to be like him.”
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel "Bill would alter landscape of Colorado’s drug policy"
Charles Ashby:
"Despite objections from district attorneys and law enforcement officials, a Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday to lower sentences for drug-possession crimes and give drug abusers treatment instead.
The idea behind SB163 is to prevent future crimes by people who become addicted to drugs and to save the state money in having to incarcerate them, its supporters say.
The measure would do that by lowering possession-only drug charges from felonies to misdemeanors, but requiring those convicted of such charges to get treatment for their addiction.
The bill is unusual in that it has supporters from both parties, and it is sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats. A coalition of other supporters range from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Colorado Libertarian Party and the Independence Institute, a Golden-based free-market think tank...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Despite objections from district attorneys and law enforcement officials, a Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday to lower sentences for drug-possession crimes and give drug abusers treatment instead.
The idea behind SB163 is to prevent future crimes by people who become addicted to drugs and to save the state money in having to incarcerate them, its supporters say.
The measure would do that by lowering possession-only drug charges from felonies to misdemeanors, but requiring those convicted of such charges to get treatment for their addiction.
The bill is unusual in that it has supporters from both parties, and it is sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats. A coalition of other supporters range from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Colorado Libertarian Party and the Independence Institute, a Golden-based free-market think tank...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Steamboat Today "Haymaker employees rescue elk from icy pond'
"Rick Marchewka, an irrigation technician, was inspecting the course when he noticed the elk struggling in the pond.
Within minutes, the golf course’s maintenance crew, which has been busy working to get the course ready for summer, responded to the pond along with wildlife managers from the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife.
The group of five to eight people used a rope and a four-inch wide strap to pull the struggling animal from the icy pond. The process had to be repeated a second and third time after the frightened animal ran back onto the ice and fell through the ice a second and third time.
The rescuers were not deterred by the failed rescue efforts. The third time, they pulled the elk farther onto the shore, and the elk retreated into a nearby sand trap where it stood shivering.
The rescuers decided to leave the animal alone and hoped it would retreat to a safer location once they left the area.
Justin Pollock, district wildlife manager for the Division of Parks and Wildlife, said it’s not common for elk to fall through ice. He had high hopes for the animal’s recovery but admitted that a stressful incident can have a devastating impact on elk.
“It happens,” Pollock said. “It’s hard on the animal. She looked pretty good, especially standing, which is a good sign.”
Pollock said the Division of Parks and Wildlife planned to keep an eye out for her during the next few days.
“She was treading water about 8 feet off the side of the bank. … She couldn’t have got out herself, no way,” Haymaker employee and rescuer Dave Morter said. “It’s a good feeling. I hope she makes it, but that can be a pretty traumatic experience for an animal.”...(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Within minutes, the golf course’s maintenance crew, which has been busy working to get the course ready for summer, responded to the pond along with wildlife managers from the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife.
The group of five to eight people used a rope and a four-inch wide strap to pull the struggling animal from the icy pond. The process had to be repeated a second and third time after the frightened animal ran back onto the ice and fell through the ice a second and third time.
The rescuers were not deterred by the failed rescue efforts. The third time, they pulled the elk farther onto the shore, and the elk retreated into a nearby sand trap where it stood shivering.
The rescuers decided to leave the animal alone and hoped it would retreat to a safer location once they left the area.
Justin Pollock, district wildlife manager for the Division of Parks and Wildlife, said it’s not common for elk to fall through ice. He had high hopes for the animal’s recovery but admitted that a stressful incident can have a devastating impact on elk.
“It happens,” Pollock said. “It’s hard on the animal. She looked pretty good, especially standing, which is a good sign.”
Pollock said the Division of Parks and Wildlife planned to keep an eye out for her during the next few days.
“She was treading water about 8 feet off the side of the bank. … She couldn’t have got out herself, no way,” Haymaker employee and rescuer Dave Morter said. “It’s a good feeling. I hope she makes it, but that can be a pretty traumatic experience for an animal.”...(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Vail Daily News "Moreau gets life plus 80 years"
Lauren Glendenning:
"EAGLE — Richard “Rossi” Moreau showed no remorse in the courtroom Wednesday as his victims spoke of the damage he caused. He sat expressionless as District Judge R. Thomas Moorhead chastised him for his lies and then sentenced him to life without parole plus 80 years.
For the first time throughout more than two years of hearings and a two-week trial earlier this month in which he was convicted of first-degree murder plus seven other felonies, Moreau spoke to the court, but his words did nothing to help clear his name or apologize to his victims.
Rather than take the opportunity to show remorse, Moreau, who was dressed in an orange Eagle County jail jumpsuit and was shackled at the ankles, chose to say that it wouldn't do any good...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"EAGLE — Richard “Rossi” Moreau showed no remorse in the courtroom Wednesday as his victims spoke of the damage he caused. He sat expressionless as District Judge R. Thomas Moorhead chastised him for his lies and then sentenced him to life without parole plus 80 years.
For the first time throughout more than two years of hearings and a two-week trial earlier this month in which he was convicted of first-degree murder plus seven other felonies, Moreau spoke to the court, but his words did nothing to help clear his name or apologize to his victims.
Rather than take the opportunity to show remorse, Moreau, who was dressed in an orange Eagle County jail jumpsuit and was shackled at the ankles, chose to say that it wouldn't do any good...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Pueblo Chieftain "New claims cast Trayvon Martin as the aggressor"
Before reading this update on the Trayvon Martin story, stop in up on the Aspen Times and take a dip into the poisoned hate rhetoric of Andy Stone.
Unfortunately, it looks like we are not going to be as fortunate as we are with John Colson and his very similar vitriol up on the Times today. Colson's now linked to a 'read full e-content link'. (whisper...whisper...they must be trying to match the bang-up success of their new commenting system of forced linking to FB...whisper...whisper...you know...the new system that nobody will touch....whisper...whisper...) Oh, for the sake of being as fortunate with Andy Stone and his average output of spewed venom. Alas, no such luck.
Curt Anderson and Mike Schneider:
"SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — A slain Florida teenager and the neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed him exchanged words before the teen punched him in the nose and began banging the man's head on the ground, according to the watch captain's account of the confrontation that led to the shooting....."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Unfortunately, it looks like we are not going to be as fortunate as we are with John Colson and his very similar vitriol up on the Times today. Colson's now linked to a 'read full e-content link'. (whisper...whisper...they must be trying to match the bang-up success of their new commenting system of forced linking to FB...whisper...whisper...you know...the new system that nobody will touch....whisper...whisper...) Oh, for the sake of being as fortunate with Andy Stone and his average output of spewed venom. Alas, no such luck.
Curt Anderson and Mike Schneider:
"SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — A slain Florida teenager and the neighborhood watch captain who shot and killed him exchanged words before the teen punched him in the nose and began banging the man's head on the ground, according to the watch captain's account of the confrontation that led to the shooting....."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Construction numbers down from last year"
Curtis Wackerle:
"Building permit activity in Aspen is down from last year at this time, but up from the recession’s low point in 2010.
The total value of all building, mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits submitted to the city through March 19 is $26.5 million, according to a city report. That’s 76 percent lower than last year’s total through March 19 of $86.2 million.
Last year’s numbers, however, were bolstered by two major projects that had submitted building permits by this time: the Aspen Valley Hospital expansion and the St. Regis remodel.
This year’s numbers are still 330 percent higher than 2010’s figure through mid-March of $7.8 million. In 2009, construction permitting to date was at $30 million.
“We’re hanging in there with the numbers,” said Stephen Kanipe, Aspen’s chief building official. “We are not withering.”
Kanipe added that the workload in the building department has justified making a part-time plans examiner full time.
The numbers are still below pre-recession levels, when the department was backed up and admittedly was taking too long to process many large permits. In 2008 through mid-March, $89.1 million in construction permits had been submitted, while 2007’s total was $118.3 million...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Building permit activity in Aspen is down from last year at this time, but up from the recession’s low point in 2010.
The total value of all building, mechanical, plumbing and electrical permits submitted to the city through March 19 is $26.5 million, according to a city report. That’s 76 percent lower than last year’s total through March 19 of $86.2 million.
Last year’s numbers, however, were bolstered by two major projects that had submitted building permits by this time: the Aspen Valley Hospital expansion and the St. Regis remodel.
This year’s numbers are still 330 percent higher than 2010’s figure through mid-March of $7.8 million. In 2009, construction permitting to date was at $30 million.
“We’re hanging in there with the numbers,” said Stephen Kanipe, Aspen’s chief building official. “We are not withering.”
Kanipe added that the workload in the building department has justified making a part-time plans examiner full time.
The numbers are still below pre-recession levels, when the department was backed up and admittedly was taking too long to process many large permits. In 2008 through mid-March, $89.1 million in construction permits had been submitted, while 2007’s total was $118.3 million...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "Carbondale deed-restriction changes on hold"
Why do the folks fuss so much over so-called 'affordable housing', 'employee housing' and other deed restricted development?
You would think they would be happy, grateful for the ability to rent or purchase a home.
Think again.
In a certain number, deed restricted homes make sense. But, in order to make such a system work there has to be jobs that go along with them. When big chunks of these so-called employee housing units are bought up by an employer like the Aspen Ski Corp and then the creative uses of J-1 and H2B Visas are used by that same employer to pump in temporary immigrant workers; there is nothing of worth for the local and legal citizen.
On another note, think of how much power there is for a developer in being able to literally hold hostage the real estate market by working in sync with politicians to control moratoriums on building and deed restricted developments. If it was the Federal Reserve or Wall Street (or even the hallowed halls of Congress) we would be shouting out those dark words: "Insider Trading!!!!"
Think about that much power and control over the lives of the folks.
Will BoneDale Trustees continue the sham, the farce of 'deed restricted' building?
Hmmmm....maybe that depends on who they elect to office shortly. If you are for common sense, then for sure forget about voting for Bill Lamont (you remember him...the old Judy Haptonstall crony and recent loud voice for pro-VCR).
John Colson:
"CARBONDALE, Colorado — The town's trustees are worried that changes proposed for the rules at one affordable housing complex, Keator Grove, might spell disaster for other such projects or for the town's overall affordable housing guidelines.
So the board of trustees will sit down at a work session in May to review the relevant town codes and other documents, before turning back to the Keator Grove situation.
“I need more time to make sure there's no unintended consequences,” said Trustee Frosty Merriott at the board meeting on Tuesday.
At that meeting, the trustees reviewed the latest request from the Aspen Skiing Co. and individual owners of homes in Keator Grove, seeking changes to the deed restrictions governing resale of certain homes and townhomes in the project.
The Skiing Co. owns 16 of the 52 units in the complex, and has formed a sort of partnership with individual homeowners. Together, they are hoping to eliminate price caps for resale of some units.
The price caps limit the yearly appreciation in the prices of homes, as a way of keeping the units affordable. But when prices plummet due to the economy, the caps are seen as a threat to the owners' equity.
Homes that three years ago sold for $450,000, for example, might today sell for half that amount, according to Skiing Co. attorney Dave Myler and Keator Grove homeowners...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
You would think they would be happy, grateful for the ability to rent or purchase a home.
Think again.
In a certain number, deed restricted homes make sense. But, in order to make such a system work there has to be jobs that go along with them. When big chunks of these so-called employee housing units are bought up by an employer like the Aspen Ski Corp and then the creative uses of J-1 and H2B Visas are used by that same employer to pump in temporary immigrant workers; there is nothing of worth for the local and legal citizen.
On another note, think of how much power there is for a developer in being able to literally hold hostage the real estate market by working in sync with politicians to control moratoriums on building and deed restricted developments. If it was the Federal Reserve or Wall Street (or even the hallowed halls of Congress) we would be shouting out those dark words: "Insider Trading!!!!"
Think about that much power and control over the lives of the folks.
Will BoneDale Trustees continue the sham, the farce of 'deed restricted' building?
Hmmmm....maybe that depends on who they elect to office shortly. If you are for common sense, then for sure forget about voting for Bill Lamont (you remember him...the old Judy Haptonstall crony and recent loud voice for pro-VCR).
John Colson:
"CARBONDALE, Colorado — The town's trustees are worried that changes proposed for the rules at one affordable housing complex, Keator Grove, might spell disaster for other such projects or for the town's overall affordable housing guidelines.
So the board of trustees will sit down at a work session in May to review the relevant town codes and other documents, before turning back to the Keator Grove situation.
“I need more time to make sure there's no unintended consequences,” said Trustee Frosty Merriott at the board meeting on Tuesday.
At that meeting, the trustees reviewed the latest request from the Aspen Skiing Co. and individual owners of homes in Keator Grove, seeking changes to the deed restrictions governing resale of certain homes and townhomes in the project.
The Skiing Co. owns 16 of the 52 units in the complex, and has formed a sort of partnership with individual homeowners. Together, they are hoping to eliminate price caps for resale of some units.
The price caps limit the yearly appreciation in the prices of homes, as a way of keeping the units affordable. But when prices plummet due to the economy, the caps are seen as a threat to the owners' equity.
Homes that three years ago sold for $450,000, for example, might today sell for half that amount, according to Skiing Co. attorney Dave Myler and Keator Grove homeowners...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Midvalley real estate sales surge"
The big question is who is doing the buying. It sure isn't the folks because they're still feeling deep financial pain in this valley. See related story and public commentary here.
Scott Condon:
"BASALT — The good news in the midvalley real estate market is the incredible amount of sales that already have occurred in 2012. The bad news is that the furious pace has been spurred by foreclosures and short sales, according to real estate agents.
“The midvalley is just on fire right now. It's almost a feeding frenzy,” said Ted Borchelt, a real estate agent in Basalt with Aspen Snowmass Sotheby's International Realty.
The residential market for property priced under $350,000 is incredibly active. There were 25 sales completed in 2012 through mid-March in that price range in the Basalt and Carbondale area, according to research by Borchelt and Garret Brandt, another real estate agent in Borchelt's office. That compares with 11 closings during the same period in 2011 and just three in 2010.
In addition, there are 46 residences prices under $350,000 under contract, according to Brandt's research. That compares with eight in 2011 and four in 2010.
Activity is also ahead of pace in the $350,001-to-$550,000 price range. Fourteen properties have sold this year through mid-March compared with 11 in the same period in both 2011 and 2010.
The midvalley has been a buyer's market since the recession struck in late 2008. Given how severely the recession hit and how far prices fell, it will take time for a recovery to occur, Borchelt said. He is cautiously optimistic that could change this summer if current trends continue..."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Scott Condon:
"BASALT — The good news in the midvalley real estate market is the incredible amount of sales that already have occurred in 2012. The bad news is that the furious pace has been spurred by foreclosures and short sales, according to real estate agents.
“The midvalley is just on fire right now. It's almost a feeding frenzy,” said Ted Borchelt, a real estate agent in Basalt with Aspen Snowmass Sotheby's International Realty.
The residential market for property priced under $350,000 is incredibly active. There were 25 sales completed in 2012 through mid-March in that price range in the Basalt and Carbondale area, according to research by Borchelt and Garret Brandt, another real estate agent in Borchelt's office. That compares with 11 closings during the same period in 2011 and just three in 2010.
In addition, there are 46 residences prices under $350,000 under contract, according to Brandt's research. That compares with eight in 2011 and four in 2010.
Activity is also ahead of pace in the $350,001-to-$550,000 price range. Fourteen properties have sold this year through mid-March compared with 11 in the same period in both 2011 and 2010.
The midvalley has been a buyer's market since the recession struck in late 2008. Given how severely the recession hit and how far prices fell, it will take time for a recovery to occur, Borchelt said. He is cautiously optimistic that could change this summer if current trends continue..."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandboxBlogs: Steamboat Today "Shell shares oil exploration plans at meeting in Hayden"
Is there some kind of pattern to the news that SandBox aggregates daily?
Yes, there is.
Is there some kind of method of posting..some kind of organization to how that news is posted each day?
Yes, there is.
Every region, every community has its own pulse, its own rhythm and vibe. Human beings gravitate to where they feel the most comfortable and set up their homes, lives and general sense of personal wellness.
Yet, they all must interact with each other on local, state, regional, national and world levels.
Is there a community over in Saudi Arabia that is worried about the effects of fracking where the health of their family is concerned? Is there a city or town in the USA that has similar concerns that their sworn duty officials are not there when the folks need them?
Yes, there is.
Is it all some giant conspiracy to quash the little guy and glorify the " 1% " ?
Not a chance.
One of the concepts of SandBoxBlogs is to show the patterns that exist in our part of the world. When 'SandBox Nanny' (and sometimes guest moderators...you didn't know that, did you now...see...you should never assume anything...) posts each day, she usually starts off with human interest then goes to a round robin of environment, municipal and county governments, development/tourism/revenue, crime/justice/courts and then wraps it up with state, national and world politics and news.
Yes, there is a pattern that is very, very interesting to follow when you stop in on SandBox Commentators.
In this story, imagine a world over in Hayden where big oil and gas (and) a class act type of casino thrived. Now, if just pushing up the Yampa airport to be able to accommodate jumbo planes was enough to get the Crown Family and Aspen Ski Corp to reach out to Steamboat Springs for a partnership package earlier this past season; imagine how anxious the Skico is going to get over that news of major prosperity just a few miles down the road from Steamboat Springs.
And when Aspen is anxious...we're all anxious.
Scott Franz:
"Steamboat Springs — On Tuesday night, Shell Oil’s Matt Holman shared in Hayden his company’s exploration plans for Northwest Colorado.
With the help of hors d’oeuvres, 11 employees and a large map of Routt and Moffat counties, Holman, Shell’s exploration project manager for the area, spent much of the evening telling more than 150 people at the Haven Community Center exactly how, when and where his company plans to drill this year for the sweet crude oil nestled in the Niobrara Shale formation.
“It’s really all about being transparent,” Holman said about his company’s open house while throngs of people spoke with his exploration team that included transportation, logistics, environmental and regulatory managers and landmen. “If I have business in front of the community, like at a county commissioners’ meeting, that’s a bad time to do community engagement like this because at that point, everything is formal.
There’s a process, and we’re all bound to do what we’ve come there to do. But if I can talk to the landowners beforehand, and I can tell the commissioners that they support me, I become a good neighbor. That’s really what I want to be.” ...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Yes, there is.
Is there some kind of method of posting..some kind of organization to how that news is posted each day?
Yes, there is.
Every region, every community has its own pulse, its own rhythm and vibe. Human beings gravitate to where they feel the most comfortable and set up their homes, lives and general sense of personal wellness.
Yet, they all must interact with each other on local, state, regional, national and world levels.
Is there a community over in Saudi Arabia that is worried about the effects of fracking where the health of their family is concerned? Is there a city or town in the USA that has similar concerns that their sworn duty officials are not there when the folks need them?
Yes, there is.
Is it all some giant conspiracy to quash the little guy and glorify the " 1% " ?
Not a chance.
One of the concepts of SandBoxBlogs is to show the patterns that exist in our part of the world. When 'SandBox Nanny' (and sometimes guest moderators...you didn't know that, did you now...see...you should never assume anything...) posts each day, she usually starts off with human interest then goes to a round robin of environment, municipal and county governments, development/tourism/revenue, crime/justice/courts and then wraps it up with state, national and world politics and news.
Yes, there is a pattern that is very, very interesting to follow when you stop in on SandBox Commentators.
In this story, imagine a world over in Hayden where big oil and gas (and) a class act type of casino thrived. Now, if just pushing up the Yampa airport to be able to accommodate jumbo planes was enough to get the Crown Family and Aspen Ski Corp to reach out to Steamboat Springs for a partnership package earlier this past season; imagine how anxious the Skico is going to get over that news of major prosperity just a few miles down the road from Steamboat Springs.
And when Aspen is anxious...we're all anxious.
Scott Franz:
"Steamboat Springs — On Tuesday night, Shell Oil’s Matt Holman shared in Hayden his company’s exploration plans for Northwest Colorado.
With the help of hors d’oeuvres, 11 employees and a large map of Routt and Moffat counties, Holman, Shell’s exploration project manager for the area, spent much of the evening telling more than 150 people at the Haven Community Center exactly how, when and where his company plans to drill this year for the sweet crude oil nestled in the Niobrara Shale formation.
“It’s really all about being transparent,” Holman said about his company’s open house while throngs of people spoke with his exploration team that included transportation, logistics, environmental and regulatory managers and landmen. “If I have business in front of the community, like at a county commissioners’ meeting, that’s a bad time to do community engagement like this because at that point, everything is formal.
There’s a process, and we’re all bound to do what we’ve come there to do. But if I can talk to the landowners beforehand, and I can tell the commissioners that they support me, I become a good neighbor. That’s really what I want to be.” ...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
March 28, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Hot Air Blog "Obama polls: Vulnerable, strong, or battered?"
Ed Morrissey:
"A slew of polls hit the wires today, most of which make no sense when compared with each other, and most of which don’t have the necessary sample data to analyze properly. That doesn’t mean we should ignore them, but let’s consider them as a group rather than individually.
First up, and probably the best of the bunch, are a series of Quinnipiac polls in three swing states that show Barack Obama leading — but still vulnerable...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"A slew of polls hit the wires today, most of which make no sense when compared with each other, and most of which don’t have the necessary sample data to analyze properly. That doesn’t mean we should ignore them, but let’s consider them as a group rather than individually.
First up, and probably the best of the bunch, are a series of Quinnipiac polls in three swing states that show Barack Obama leading — but still vulnerable...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Newsmax "Scalia Upbraids Obamacare Defender: 'We're Not Stupid'"
"Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who made the Obama administration’s case for the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the healthcare law Tuesday, was upbraided by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia after he flubbed an exchange with Justice Elena Kagan.
Scalin interrupted Verrilli, tersely telling him, “We’re not stupid.”
At the time, Kagan, a former solicitor general whom President Barack Obama appointed to the high court, was agreeing that young people should be required by the federal government to buy health insurance because eventually, others will subsidize their healthcare in the future.
But Scalia shot back, arguing that young people will make the decision to buy health insurance eventually and do not need the federal government forcing them to engage in commerce...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Scalin interrupted Verrilli, tersely telling him, “We’re not stupid.”
At the time, Kagan, a former solicitor general whom President Barack Obama appointed to the high court, was agreeing that young people should be required by the federal government to buy health insurance because eventually, others will subsidize their healthcare in the future.
But Scalia shot back, arguing that young people will make the decision to buy health insurance eventually and do not need the federal government forcing them to engage in commerce...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Town Hall "The War on Wisconsin"
Michelle Malkin:
"Now is the time for all good tea partiers to come to the aid of Wisconsin. Fiscally conservative leaders in the Badger State are under coordinated siege from Big Labor, the White House, the liberal media and the judiciary. The yearlong campaign of union thuggery, family harassment and intimidation of Republican donors and businesses is about to escalate even further. This is the price the Right pays for doing the right thing.
The most visible target is Gov. Scott Walker, who faces recall on June 5 over his tough package of state budget and public employee union reforms. Three state GOP legislators -- Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Sen. Van Wanggaard and Sen. Terry Moulton -- also face recall. A fourth target, staunch union reformer and Second Amendment advocate Sen. Pam Galloway, announced she was stepping down last week -- leaving the legislature deadlocked and Democratic strategists salivating...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Now is the time for all good tea partiers to come to the aid of Wisconsin. Fiscally conservative leaders in the Badger State are under coordinated siege from Big Labor, the White House, the liberal media and the judiciary. The yearlong campaign of union thuggery, family harassment and intimidation of Republican donors and businesses is about to escalate even further. This is the price the Right pays for doing the right thing.
The most visible target is Gov. Scott Walker, who faces recall on June 5 over his tough package of state budget and public employee union reforms. Three state GOP legislators -- Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Sen. Van Wanggaard and Sen. Terry Moulton -- also face recall. A fourth target, staunch union reformer and Second Amendment advocate Sen. Pam Galloway, announced she was stepping down last week -- leaving the legislature deadlocked and Democratic strategists salivating...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: The Hill/Blog Briefing Room "McCain: Citizens United will bring 'major scandals'"
This....coming from the senator who is supporting Mitt Romney, one of the worst (and largest) Super-PACS in history.....
Daniel Strauss:
"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) predicted there would be "major scandals" as a result of the rise of super-PACs thanks to the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court.
"What the Supreme Court did is a combination of arrogance, naivete and stupidity the likes of which I have never seen," McCain said Tuesday at an event hosted by Reuters.
"I promise you, there will be huge scandals because there's too much money washing around, too much of it we don't know who's behind it and too much corruption associated with that kind of money," McCain continued. "There will be major scandals." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Daniel Strauss:
"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) predicted there would be "major scandals" as a result of the rise of super-PACs thanks to the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court.
"What the Supreme Court did is a combination of arrogance, naivete and stupidity the likes of which I have never seen," McCain said Tuesday at an event hosted by Reuters.
"I promise you, there will be huge scandals because there's too much money washing around, too much of it we don't know who's behind it and too much corruption associated with that kind of money," McCain continued. "There will be major scandals." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Roll Call "Independent Could Make History in California"
Kyle Trygstad:
"There is a chance no Democrat will appear on the November ballot in an otherwise top pickup opportunity in California, a state crucial to the party’s hopes of winning the House majority.
Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks’ unconventional third-party bid for Congress would be groundbreaking under California’s new election laws, and she has a realistic shot at becoming the first Independent elected to the House since 2004.
Under the state’s new top-two primary format, her decision to run without a major-party label threw yet another curveball into the race for the new Ventura-based 26th district, a high priority for both national parties...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"There is a chance no Democrat will appear on the November ballot in an otherwise top pickup opportunity in California, a state crucial to the party’s hopes of winning the House majority.
Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks’ unconventional third-party bid for Congress would be groundbreaking under California’s new election laws, and she has a realistic shot at becoming the first Independent elected to the House since 2004.
Under the state’s new top-two primary format, her decision to run without a major-party label threw yet another curveball into the race for the new Ventura-based 26th district, a high priority for both national parties...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Town Hall "Where's Obama's Outrage Over Murder of "My" Son? "
John Ransom:
"...Where has the president’s selective outrage been for the last eight years? Where is the Justice Department on this murder? How did the most powerful man in Illinois react? He appointed the uncle of the suspect as his chief of staff.
I used to live in a country where no one's son was supposed to get killed. But I suppose some groups get more equality than others, especially if you are connected.
In wake of the president’s inflammatory remarks, the New Black Panther Party offered some more healing words backed by m-o-n-e-y.
“New Black Panther leader Mikhail Muhammad announced the reward during a protest in Sanford Saturday,” says the Herald. “And when asked whether he was inciting violence, Muhammad replied defiantly: ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’”
Wow, you can feel the Us-Against-Them surge really working, huh?
What healing!
Or better yet: What healing?
I guess with all this healing going on, no one wants to talk about jobs anymore.
(Wink)....."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"...Where has the president’s selective outrage been for the last eight years? Where is the Justice Department on this murder? How did the most powerful man in Illinois react? He appointed the uncle of the suspect as his chief of staff.
I used to live in a country where no one's son was supposed to get killed. But I suppose some groups get more equality than others, especially if you are connected.
In wake of the president’s inflammatory remarks, the New Black Panther Party offered some more healing words backed by m-o-n-e-y.
“Members of the New Black Panther Party are offering a $10,000 reward for the ‘capture’ of George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who shot Trayvon Martin,” writes the Boston Herald
“The militant group offered the bounty on Saturday,” adds the Houston Chronicle, “and called on black men to mobilize and capture George Zimmerman, a Neighborhood Watch member who killed Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., in February.”
“New Black Panther leader Mikhail Muhammad announced the reward during a protest in Sanford Saturday,” says the Herald. “And when asked whether he was inciting violence, Muhammad replied defiantly: ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’”
Wow, you can feel the Us-Against-Them surge really working, huh?
What healing!
Or better yet: What healing?
I guess with all this healing going on, no one wants to talk about jobs anymore.
(Wink)....."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Denver Post "Colorado wildfire: Elite search and rescue team looking for woman missing in fire "
Kieran Nicholson:
"A team of 32 search and rescue experts, with six scent dogs, will be looking today for the woman who is reported missing in the Lower North Fork Fire.
The Urban Search and Rescue Crew, made up of members from Colorado, are at the fire area and ready to search for the woman, said Jacki Kelley, a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"A team of 32 search and rescue experts, with six scent dogs, will be looking today for the woman who is reported missing in the Lower North Fork Fire.
The Urban Search and Rescue Crew, made up of members from Colorado, are at the fire area and ready to search for the woman, said Jacki Kelley, a Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: US Dept of Defense "Link Grows Between Terrorism, Organized Crime, Officials Say"
Karen Parrish:
"WASHINGTON, March 28, 2012 – The two missions of fighting terrorism and combating global organized crime are increasingly linked, senior Defense Department officials told Congress yesterday.
Michael A. Sheehan, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict; Garry Reid, deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism; and William F. Wechsler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee.
The hearing focused on the Pentagon’s role in implementing the national strategies for counterterrorism and combating transnational organized crime under the 2013 defense budget request.
“Terrorism, drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crime are increasingly intertwined,” Sheehan noted, adding that his office -- which is responsible for overall supervision of special operations forces -- is uniquely positioned to provide policy guidance and program oversight to the department’s efforts in both missions..." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"WASHINGTON, March 28, 2012 – The two missions of fighting terrorism and combating global organized crime are increasingly linked, senior Defense Department officials told Congress yesterday.
Michael A. Sheehan, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict; Garry Reid, deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism; and William F. Wechsler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee.
The hearing focused on the Pentagon’s role in implementing the national strategies for counterterrorism and combating transnational organized crime under the 2013 defense budget request.
“Terrorism, drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crime are increasingly intertwined,” Sheehan noted, adding that his office -- which is responsible for overall supervision of special operations forces -- is uniquely positioned to provide policy guidance and program oversight to the department’s efforts in both missions..." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Pitkin County: Is there an FBI probe?"
(See related story in today's Aspen Daily News here and previous story and public commentary here)
(whisper...whisper....whisper...doth one protest too much?....whisper...whisper...are there different laws, rules and regs from the feds and local cops for pitkin and aspen?.....whisper...whisper...gosh, wonder if the feds have to report to the big money back strokers just to do their jobs...whisper...whisper...huh?...did the folks vote for special laws that now say that our law enforcement no longer stands as the last line between the folks and power?....whisper...whisper...hmmm.....wonder what the polls say about Owsley's chances at re-elect this year and the folks chance at getting some power to the people on that commissioner board....whisper...whisper....)
Aspen Times:
(whisper...whisper....whisper...doth one protest too much?....whisper...whisper...are there different laws, rules and regs from the feds and local cops for pitkin and aspen?.....whisper...whisper...gosh, wonder if the feds have to report to the big money back strokers just to do their jobs...whisper...whisper...huh?...did the folks vote for special laws that now say that our law enforcement no longer stands as the last line between the folks and power?....whisper...whisper...hmmm.....wonder what the polls say about Owsley's chances at re-elect this year and the folks chance at getting some power to the people on that commissioner board....whisper...whisper....)
Aspen Times:
"ASPEN — Jon Peacock, Pitkin County manager, was directed Tuesday to ask if the county Sheriff's Office is the target of an FBI investigation.
County Commissioner Michael Owsley suggested the county make the inquiry of the federal agency after the Aspen Daily News reported that individuals have been questioned about drug activity or an abuse of power within the department.
“I think Pitkin County should know whether Pitkin County is being investigated by the FBI,” Owsley said. “The Sheriff's Office is part of Pitkin County, so therefore Pitkin County is being investigated.”
Other commissioners concurred.
“That is certainly a request we can make,” Peacock said....."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
County Commissioner Michael Owsley suggested the county make the inquiry of the federal agency after the Aspen Daily News reported that individuals have been questioned about drug activity or an abuse of power within the department.
“I think Pitkin County should know whether Pitkin County is being investigated by the FBI,” Owsley said. “The Sheriff's Office is part of Pitkin County, so therefore Pitkin County is being investigated.”
Other commissioners concurred.
“That is certainly a request we can make,” Peacock said....."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
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