June 9, 2012

SandBoxBlogs: Red State "Top Colorado Democrat Currently Registered to Vote in Both D.C. and Colorado "

Aaron Gardner Diary:
"Though modern physicists are yet to figure out a way for one person to be in two places at the same time, the top spokesman for Colorado Democrats has figured out a way to vote in two places at once. Matt Inzeo, the communications director for the Colorado Democratic Party, holds active voter registrations in both Colorado and Washington, D.C., according to a voter fraud investigation by Media Trackers Colorado......" (Read more?  Click title)

SandBoxBlogs: Red State "The Overplayed Hand of an Amateur "

Erick Erickson:
"Someone pointed this out to me in email the other day. I believe it was either Neil Stevens or Dan McLaughlin. The point has been made by others as well.

Barack Obama and his campaign have overplayed their hand in one crucial aspect. They spent years getting their friends in the media to believe and sell them as the most experienced campaign team in the world. Look at the 2008 Primary. The Obama campaign would have you believe they beat Paul Begala and James Carville of Team Clinton. They may have beaten Team Hillary Clinton, but they did not beat Begala-Carville. You’d never know that from all the hype.

The reality is actually far different.

In 2000, Barack Obama tried to pick off Rep. Bobby Rush. He went down in flames in that Democratic Primary.

In 2004, Barack Obama beat Jack Ryan, but only did so after Ryan dropped out. Associates close to Obama were able to dribble out the sordid details of Ryan’s divorce and perversions. Alan Keyes stepped in to fully make a joke of the Illinois Republican Party.

2008, Barack Obama ran against John McCain, a man who suspended his campaign right at the height of election season to do something no one seemed to understand who seemed to covet the Republican nomination for vindication much more than he coveted actually winning the White House. The seat Obama had won in 2006 flipped back to Republican hands.

Between his election and now, Barack Obama had the House and Senate, did nothing to improve the economy, caved in to Republican demands, grandstanded at the Olympics meeting only to see Chicago lose out, campaigned for Democrats in Virgina, Massachusetts, New Jersey and elsewhere only to have them lose, and has routinely overplayed his hand in office.
T
hat is, in fact, Barack Obama’s true pattern behind the hype and myth. He overplays his hand and has his spin machine convince the Washingto Press Corps that it was all intentional and his campaign team are geniuses....."  (Read more?  Click title)

SandBoxBlogs: Newsmax "Allen West: Obama 'Desperate' After Jobs Numbers"

Paul Scicchitano and Kathleen Walter:
"Florida Congressman Allen West believes that Friday’s dismal jobs report will back President Barack Obama into a corner and make him a “desperate person” with the election now five months away.

“When you’re a desperate person — much the same as a cat being cornered – you’re going to come out and really fight even stronger,” predicted West in an exclusive interview with Newsmax shortly after the Labor Department reported that employers had created only 69,000 jobs in May — the fewest in a year — while the unemployment rate ticked up. Together, the news fueled fears that the economy is heading in the wrong direction under Obama's stewardship.

“I think that the president’s policies are failing the American people,” explained West. “We have now hit 40 consecutive months of unemployment in the United States of America at or above 8 percent.”...."
(Read more?  Watch the video?  Click title)

SandBoxBlogs: KKCO 11 News "New Law Prohibits Sale and Possession of Bath Salts "

Christy Dimond:
"Yesterday, Governor Hickenlooper signed a bill making it illegal to use, sell and possess cathinones, which are the family of chemicals in bath salts.

"Yesterday was a big victory for families, for law enforcement and really the state at large," says Jim Schrant, Resident Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Bath salts have a dangerous, sometimes deadly effect on those who try it.

"Just like that, an overdose, a suicide attempt. This is really like playing with a time bomb," Schrant says.

This time bomb may be particularly hard to catch. It's sold as an assortment of things including stain remover, plant food and crystals. One thing that all forms have in common is who they're marketing to.
"This stuff is being produced in China, Mexico and India for the sole purpose of being sold to young people here in the US," he says.

"I think that that's completely wrong of local businesses to market products that aren't good for you towards kids when they're more liable to buy them," says Grand Junction Resident Christopher Little.

Schrant says the packaging is colorful with words like "excite" and "wow." Under the new law, any businesses caught selling anything with these ingredients will face a hefty penalty.

"In our view it's just like drug trafficking and will be treated legally just like drug trafficking even if it's just a convenient store or head shop," he says.

They're looking to stop the manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of bath salts. But this law doesn't solve the problem when science gets a step ahead of the law.

"They're trying new chemical compounds that aren't illegal to try to replicate the effects of bath salts," Schrant says.

That's why, he says, it needs to be a community effort.

"It needs to be a partnership with the community and law enforcement. We're going to do what we can to keep this out of the kids' hands but we really need awareness and education by the parents, teachers, kids and their friends to realize this is really a problem," Schrant says...."
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SandBoxBlogs: Glenwood Springs Post Independent/Your Letters "Gas association questions CMC's compressor position"

What and how Marianne Ackerman, associates and others launched as the 'Great CMC Compressor Station Scandal' was  outrageous behavior.  Below the belt, uncalled for and an embarrassment to us all.

It was disappointing and disheartening to watch our CMC Trustees cave to that kind of display and pressure.  Especially to know read in recent articles that they are 'revisiting' what is nothing more than simply a new approach for the same end result.  We have far greater needs at CMC to spend limited funds on than attorneys and wasted time.

In the absence of our Garfield County Commissioners doing anything,  how very good it is to see an authoritative and highly respected power in WSCOGA stand up and raise their voices.  Calling a spade a spade.

David Ludlam, Executive Director West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association:
"The West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association, in a recent letter to the Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees, expressed its confusion and frustration over the board's decision to vacate a contractual agreement with SourceGas to add a natural gas compressor station desperately needed to continue delivering home heating fuels to residents and businesses between Rifle and Avon.

The letter, available on our organization's website (www.wscoga.org), highlighted a special ongoing partnership between the energy industry and CMC's funding. According to Garfield County Assessor records, CMC receives up to $13 million annually from the oil and gas industry based on assessment of local oil and gas production. This is in addition to millions of direct philanthropic and curriculum contributions made to CMC by oil and gas companies.

Building and expanding energy infrastructure in America is challenging, in part because public constituencies are resolute in not wanting to be inconvenienced with infrastructure required for energy delivery and a modern standards of living. With this challenge in mind, WSCOGA communicated its frustration to the CMC trustees over their decision to vacate an established contract with SourceGas, which had made a significant financial investment including the full prepayment of the 20-year lease with CMC.

Local businesses and homeowners have the most to lose with this decision. In our view, the real losers are commercial customers, such as the Aspen Skiing Co., as well as upper Roaring Fork Valley homeowners, who will be inconvenienced if natural gas supply is disrupted during the coldest months of the year.

We also find it inconsistent for a public institution such as CMC, which is a major SourceGas customer and consumer of natural gas heating fuel, to be philosophically opposed to hosting commonplace infrastructure required to delivering the very fuel necessary for living year-round in the mountains of the Roaring Fork Valley.

Finally, what is the message the CMC trustees have sent to students about the sanctity of contracts and the importance of the collaborative process by failing to honor its commitments and engage with SourceGas on this matter?...."  (Read more?  Click title)

To read related stories and listen to the flow of public commentary, click following links:
http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/03/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_9386.html


http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/03/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_30.html


http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/04/sandboxblogs-kdnk-garco-commissioners.html


http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/04/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_20.html


http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/05/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_5619.html


http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/05/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_15.html


http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/06/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_82.html

SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Garfield Legacy Project hosts open houses on open space proposal"

'mandy' says:  "It's not a question whether or not Garfield Legacy listened to public comments.  This is about base philosophy.  Garfield county is a big chunk of Colorado land that believes in and has majority voters residing in it that hold no truck with land that just sits.  We do not need more open space that's 'protected'.  We need our lands to work and produce and meet the high standard of common sense preservation and environmentalism.  This idea of Noone's had merit if it really was about using tax dollars to purchase and develop environmental tourism draws.  Now, it's turned into nothing more than a money/tax grab to pull off 'protected' land grabs.  They'll spend a lot of money on advertising, hold open houses and do the usual (if the looks of who is attached to this group is a barometer) back room politics through the back door.  Garfield will not listen, attendance will not be what they are thinking.  JUST SAY NO.  And that's a shame.  This is not the way to go about talking to Garco folks.  Move completely away from the associations they're tying themselves to and get out in the county one on one."

Aspen Daily News:
"The group, Garfield Legacy Project (GLP), is gauging community support for a new sales tax, which would require a public vote, to support an open space program.

Beginning Monday, GLP is holding four community open houses to inform the public about the Greenprint for Conservation and Economic Opportunity and offer an additional chance for input. The Greenprint began last fall with a survey and community workshops that identified a set of land conservation goals, which were to preserve agriculture and wildlife habitat, protect water quality, enhance trails and recreational opportunities, and create open space buffers between communities. 

Mary Noone, co-chair of GLP, said the Greenprint is designed to gauge community priorities for open space: “Ultimately, we hope to see the community create a funded open lands program, but it has to reflect Garfield County’s unique needs and values, so that’s the idea behind the Greenprint — to figure out what the Garfield County community thinks is most important.”...."
(Read more?  Click title)

To read related stories and listen to the flow of public commentary click the following links:
http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/04/sandboxblogs-aspen-daily-news-garfield.html

http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/05/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_16.html

http://sandboxcommentators.blogspot.com/2012/06/sandboxblogs-glenwood-springs-post_08.html