SandBox Comments: Goose Radio "Farewell!"

Who's the King?

Goose Nissley.

We agree.

Long live the King.

Boy, we're sure sorry to see the Goose move on.  It's been great.

Right back at ya, Mr. Nissley.

"On October 27th, 2008 GooseRadio swept onto the fruited plain of the intenets. One day later, we posted our first podcast (featuring an Italian opera based on Al Gore’s environmental musings). The site was an endeavor not only to inform and occasionally (hopefully) entertain friends who would stop by (something many other sites have done well) – but further, to provide you with a general sense of well being.

For just a touch over three years we trod a path at times insightful, humorous, and even heart warming via a stellar group of contributors. Blog entries ranged from the presidential horse race to the Minnesota Twins and to a life of faith. The GooseRadio Podcast offered spirited musings featuring friends like Obama Guy, an angry journalist and noted important personages.

There were laughs, there were moments that left you saying… what just happened. It’s truly been real!

Alas – it’s time to say our farewells. Like an aging ball player, we wanted to go out on top.

Thanks a ton for reading, listening and sticking with us through thick, thin, and any additional inconveniences we may have presented you. Here’s hoping you enjoyed yourself just a tiny bit along the way.

I’ll still be blogging a bit on culture and politics with even an occasional podcast over at http://goosenissley.tumblr.com if you’d like to stop by and relive the glory days when you get a hankering.

Until next we meet — may the Lord richly bless you… and may he multiply your descendants like the sands upon the seashore!

Thank you, friends."

SandBox Comments: National Review/Steve King "Amnesty or New Idea?"

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SandBox Comments: Intellectual Conservative "Mexico’s Feds Dismantle Local Police Force"

Here's another really big upside to electing Texas Governor Rick Perry and turning him lose with Sheriff Joe Arpaio to secure the borders.

That will not only mean illegal foreign nationals can no longer sneak across into the USA, it also means that Mexico's government must finally deal with their own problems.

We have never seen a President of Mexico who has ever taken control and accountability for their own country into their hands.

To secure the border, seal it up tight and let Mexico implode so that it's forced to clean itself up is the best idea to hit the stump.  Ever.

Get our military out of Mexico and bring them home.

"The problem with corruption within Mexican coupled with the political corruption within Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department — including harebrained schemes like the Fast & Furious debacle — makes it less likely that the 'war on drugs' will end successfully," said former narcotics detective Glenn Knudsen.

A major police department in Mexico has been completely dismantled by federal police and military forces as part of an anti-corruption plan to help in winning Mexico's de facto war on drugs. 

More than 900 officers in the State of Veracruz are losing their jobs, while members of the Mexican

Navy are taking over the city's law enforcement function, according to a report from a DEA source.

Police lay-offs come three months after 35 bodies were found dumped on a main road in the municipality, which includes part of Veracruz.

Navy troops backed by federal police officers took control of local police buildings and are patrolling the streets.

Veracruz State Governor Javier Duarte said the decision to disband the force was part of a national program to reform the police, according to the DEA source.

"The problem with corruption within Mexican coupled with the political corruption within Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department — including harebrained schemes like the Fast & Furious debacle — make it less likely that the 'war on drugs' will end successfully," said former narcotics detective Glenn Knudsen...." 

(Jim Kouri)

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SandBox Comments: Eagle County Times "From the Street – 2012"

'by Rumors, Innuendos and Abject Speculation':

"Your Cordillera neighborhood dues are going up.

The Cordillera membership voted last week to (self-inflict) an increase of $1,000.00/yr to the ($2,000/yr) dues they already pay.  The reason?  The ongoing cost to defend the lawsuit filed against Cordillera by the Wilhelm Family Partnership.

Allegations received by ECT folks suggest that the membership didn’t have a real problem with the additional $1,000.00 because so few of these same folks (allegedly) are NOT going to pay their Cordillera Golf Course annual dues (due in January 2012) because of (what was promised and not delivered) by the WFP last year.

Promised what last year?  (Words/emails to the effect – if you pay your annual dues on time and in full) the WFP will open all 4 Cordillera Golf Courses this (2011) Golf Season.

And not Delivered in 2011?  All the Cordillera Golf Courses didn’t open last year.

How the WFP intends to cover the annual Golf Course operations cost this year (2012) if very few Golf Course members pay their dues this year is unknown at this writing.

You’ll recall the Cordillera (counter-claim) lawsuit against the WFP (et al) was given class action status by District Court Judge – Fred Gannett last year (Click Here)...."

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SandBox Comments: Colorado Springs Gazette "Rookie prosecutors cut teeth on DUI, misdemeanor cases"

A very interesting look at statistics out of El Paso County from jury commissioner Dennis McKinney.

As of this morning, no DA race for the 4th Judicial District is noted on Colorado Sec. of State 'TRACER'.

"..The 376 trials is a record but represents just a fraction of the tens of thousands of cases filed in the District Attorney’s Office in Teller and El Paso counties each year, according to statistics available on the Colorado Judicial Branch website.

Most filings end in plea agreements.

But clearly the jump in cases going to trial is proof that May was serious about a tough stand on certain types of cases.

As part of May’s revamped training, new recruits must complete 15 county court trials, a switch from an earlier policy that saw some attorneys advance to District Court after only one or two, the district attorney said.

At the same time, May set a goal to increase the number of trials in county court from about 150 a year to about 200 a year.

Felony trials also rose on May’s watch, according to figures he supplied showing the office hit a record in 2010 with about 165 felony trials and nearly matched it this year, with about 150 trials.

“Those are the two highest totals in the history of this office,” he said.

McKinney and May keep separate tallies of court trials.

The District Attorney’s Office still is compiling figures for the year and hasn’t completed a break down of its prosecutions, May said.

Of the trials in District Court this year, 11 were for first-degree murder, tying the number of first-degree murder trials last year, McKinney said.

The figures show that 26,000 people reported for jury duty this year.  Of those, about 12 percent ended up serving on a jury...."

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/prosecutors-131026-rookie-wanted.html#ixzz1iKGLU6at

SandBox Comments: Denver 9 News "Slain federal agent was getting dad's cancer meds"

"NEW YORK (AP) - An off-duty federal law enforcement agent who died while confronting a pharmacy robber was picking up his elderly father's cancer medication, a New York congressman said Sunday.

Veteran agent John Capano had chased down the suspect inside the store and was trying to subdue him on the ground when he died, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. The robber, who was also shot to death, was identified Sunday by police as 43-year-old James McGoey of Hampton Bays.

"John was with him on the ground wrestling," said King, who has spoken with local authorities and Capano's family. "Next thing you know, shots are fired."

McGoey went into Charlie's Family Pharmacy in Seaford, a small shorefront Long Island town, at about 2 p.m. on New Year's Eve, police said. He announced a holdup and was given what he came for: painkillers and money.

Capano, a trained explosives expert who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, confronted McGoey as he tried to leave the store. Meanwhile, an off-duty NYPD officer and a retired Nassau County police officer who happened to be at a deli next door were alerted that someone was trying to rob the pharmacy, King said.

"This is a horrible confluence of events," King said. "They both hear this guy saying there's a robbery going on. They get their guns, they go next door."

It's not clear who shot either man. Capano, 51, died of a gunshot wound at a hospital. He was a 23-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who taught U.S. military and local forces in Afghanistan and Iraq how to investigate blasts, said Rory O'Connor, assistant special agent in charge in the ATF's New York office...."

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SandBox Comments: Eagle County Times "County Commissioner’s – 2011 Christmas Gift to Eagle County Taxpayers!"

Coming off their annual vacay at the 'speed of thought', the Eagle County Times blogging crew is rev'd up for the New Year!

Pick up your copy of:  "Open Space for Dummies"  today!

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SandBox Comments: Eagle County Times "Red Sandstone Elementary – The solution is obvious!"

Just as sure as sooner  or later, Coloradans can count on it snowing in the winter, the ECT guys take a week off at the end of the year.

They do that just because it gives them the energy boost to roar back come the New Year and take everything they see in front of them in stride.

Still waiting for Superman?

2012 and the next four years will mark apocalyptic proportion, positive changes to the way we fund our public education in America.

Stay tuned to the Eagle County Times crew of bloggers for all the local and regional updates.

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SandBox Comments: Canon City Daily Record "'Over The River' No. 1 story of the year"

"On Nov. 7, "Over The River" reached its most significant milestone since the temporary work of art's vision was conceived on canvas in artist Christo's New York studio in 1992.
 
After a three-year comprehensive analysis, the Bureau of Land Management announced its Record of Decision this fall, giving federal approval to Christo and the late Jeanne-Claude's original vision to suspend 5.9 miles (3,200,000 square feet) of fabric panels along a 42-mile stretch of the Arkansas River.
Christo, 76, said OTR is the first ever art project to require an Environmental Impact Statement, which normally is reserved for major infrastructures such as bridges, highways, dams and airports.
 
"This is a historic event, that for the first time in the history of art and the history of the federal government of the United States, a work of art has an Environmental Impact Statement," Christo said during a luncheon with Friends of Over The River and civic and business leaders at the Fremont Center for the Arts earlier this month.
 
From 1992 to 1994, the artists and their team traveled 14,000 miles in the Rocky Mountains in search of a site for the project. After prospecting 89 rivers in seven states, six possible locations were found. The Arkansas River was selected in 1996.

The project since has been a hot topic in several community meetings and public hearings in Fremont and Chaffee counties. It required a nearly three-year, 1,686 page comprehensive analysis by the BLM, which ultimately identified all potential impacts and more than 100 measures to mitigate traffic, safety, wildlife and other concerns...."
(CARIE CANTERBURY )

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "2011: Year in photos, October – December'

(All credit:  Bob Berywn)