SandBox Comments: LA Times "Election laws tightening in GOP-run states"

"Barack Obama may have won this crucial state three years ago on the Sunday before election day when "souls to the polls" drives brought a surge of blacks and Latinos to cast ballots after church.

Florida had opened the polls two weeks early, and even so, long lines across the state prompted the governor to issue an emergency order extending the hours for early voting. Propelled by waves of new voters including college students, Obama eked out a win with 51%.

It will be different next year, a result of changes in the voting laws adopted by the Republican-controlled Legislature...."

(David G. Savage)

 

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SandBox Comments: Stars and Stripes "In the Afghan city of Herat, the young are restless as war grinds on"

"HERAT, Afghanistan — Near the heart of this traffic-clogged western city stands a fortress almost as long as three football fields, with battlements that rise 10 stories above the swarming streets.

The Citadel of Herat traces to the Timurid dynasty of the 15th century. The Sunni Muslim tribe declared Herat the capital of its vast Persian Empire, and the brick stronghold was the crown jewel for ensuing regimes that seized the city.

In the 1970s, the Afghan government converted the imposing structure into a museum. The Taliban were less civic-minded, bolting artillery guns on the parapets and torturing political prisoners in the dirt courtyards.

With the help of $1.2 million in U.S. aid, the ravages of time and the Taliban have been repaired. Earlier this month, Afghan and U.S. officials presided over a ceremony celebrating the citadel’s restoration.

On a recent afternoon, Omid Mojaddidy, 30, a Herat native, ascended the steep, curling stairs inside a corner tower, stepping from shadows into sunlight when he reached the top.

The country’s third-largest city spread out below him, an urban labyrinth of some 400,000 people. The majority live in mud-brick homes as primitive as the dwellings of the Timurids.

He blew out a long breath. The climb hadn’t tired him. He was suffering from history fatigue.

“Enough with the past,” said Mojaddidy, who has resided in the city his entire life except to attend college in neighboring Iran. “Tear down the citadel, get rid of the old buildings....”
(Martin Kuz )

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Learn the facts"

" When the appeals court recently ruled that voted anonymous ballots are indeed public records, instead of enabling and engaging public comment and expert opinion on whether or not to appeal the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court, City Council held a secret meeting.

In this meeting they “directed” Aspen’s city attorneys, who both have massive conflicts of interest, to potentially spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to fight the ruling,  — after all, it was Marilyn Marks who brought the original suit.

Meanwhile, Aspen’s bi-partisan Election Commission will be democratically engaging the public on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 4 p.m. in council chambers to discuss the ruling and the issues at stake for Aspen should the city (read: Mick) pursue a legal battle with statewide implications on election integrity.

Mick and his councilmen seem to prefer sending the not-so-subtle message that “City Hall knows how you vote.”

Marilyn, on the other hand, along with Colorado’s election activists and most citizens say, “No one, especially the government, should know how anyone votes.”

Be there. Learn the facts. Join the discussion."

Elizabeth Milias
Aspen

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Push poll by the Times?"

"Interesting poll question today. Are you interested in Marilyn Marks' “crusade?” Would the results be different if the question were presented as, for example, “Are you interested in City Hall's refusal to comply with a unanimous opinion of the Colorado Court of Appeals?” Or, “Are you interested in the activities of a local citizen who relentlessly holds to account public officials who might be ignoring their public duties?”

Just curious.
(Maurice Emmer, Aspen)

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent/Your Letters "Chamber shouldn't take up CMC gallery space"

A special thank you to Cynthia Thomas of Glenwood Springs for having the courage to speak up on this Chamber related issue.

Taking the most prime location left in downtown and turning it from a viable gallery and retail space into a spot for the Chamber of Commerce to house themselves has more than just those in the shadows riled up.

There has been talk for years of getting the Visitors Center away from the upper Grand Ave. location of the chamber and housing that information in kiosks downtown. 

Spread it out a bit and put the whole thing in locations that aren't going to charge us $70,000 a year, are maintained by volunteers and the businesses who advertise in them and all in high visible locale where people can actually find our Visitors Center. 

There has never been any real talk of bringing the chamber downtown.  With the overall lukewarm relationship the chamber has always had with downtown merchants, the idea is not a hot one all of a sudden.

If the idea does fly, then the chamber needs to not take up viable retail space and instead lodge themselves somewhere that suits what they are.  A business environment.  Not a sales environment.

Again, a thank you to Cynthia for not only speaking up but doing so honestly and bluntly enough so that her voice gets heard above the corporate stranglehold:

"This letter is in regard to the Post Independent article of Oct. 20 about the chamber negotiating to move into the new CMC building.

I am all for our chamber having a presence downtown, but not at the expense of the CMC Gallery. There was to be a gallery in the new building, a rather nice one, but in these days of “corporate greed rules,” CMC has decided to rent that space to the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association.

Where would the gallery go? Maybe in the library in 2013 or 2014? If they build it and there is room.

There is a perfectly good space that CMC is vacating where the present gallery would make a wonderful chamber kiosk. The space is very visible downtown, right on the corner of Ninth and Grand where all of the tourists could see the chamber literature through that huge glass window.

Why sell that building and then take space away from the gallery to squeeze another business in, and then try to figure out where to put the gallery? It just doesn't make sense.

What is it that they are not telling us? Are they really planning to make this permanent? Why else would they rent the space out that they have already earmarked for the gallery?..."
(Cynthia Thomas)

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "Domestic gas better than foreign imports"

"While development shouldn't happen everywhere, understand that there are a lot of us who depend on clean water, clean air and good jobs. Not all of us received millions of taxpayer dollars for conservation easements on our big ranches (such as one certain ranch on Thompson Creek in Pitkin County), not all of us are executives at SkiCo or work for nonprofits, and not all of us have the time to tell our side of the story that the gas industry is saving our families. We're too busy getting up early making a living and paying taxes and doing our best.

And guess what? Sen. Udall receives money from a local gas industry too (Oxbow), and from SkiCo executives (Auden Schendler), and over $20,000 from just one environmental PAC, so does that mean that “umpire” has been bought off too?

Hypocrisy goes both ways. But also when I see so much hatred against the gas industry from upvalley folks, recognize there are a lot of us who are your neighbors, friends, buddies on the ski lift, parents at the kid's plays, who are making a living with the gas industry.

Can it be done better? Sure, but don't villainize the industry and the quiet neighbors who leave early in the morning, and get home late in the evening, just happy to have a job.
(Robert Strong, New Castle)

(Read the rest of this terrific letter?  Click title.  Comment to start discussion)

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel "State looks to open up fracking"

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SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "New emissions study planned"

A special thank you goes out this morning to investigative reporter John Colson.  For reminding us of Garfield County Commissioners high commitment and dedication to air quality in GarCo.

Over on the Glenwood Springs Post Independent.


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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Summit Daily News "Summit County telemarker's world-record skiing streak continues another year"

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SandBox Comments: KKCO News 11 "Colo. Attorney General reviews controversial dispensary letter "

"DENVER, Colo. (AP) - Attorney General John Suthers found the letter by Dan Hartman, director of the State Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, didn't violate a ban on public officials' using public resources to take sides in elections, Suthers spokesman Mike Saccone said Friday.

But Suthers did determine the letter was "unethical," Saccone said...."

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SandBox Comments: KREX 5 "Father and Son Found With 49 Pounds of Pot"

"Mesa County - A father and son face a number of charges after an officer discovered 49 pounds of marijuana in their vehicle. 32-year-old Dionel Gutierrez and his father, 57-year-old Oscar Gutierrez, were arrested on I-70 near Mack when a Drug Task Force deputy noticed their SUV drifting on to the shoulder repeatedly...."
(Christina Marrazza)

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SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "Silt trying to get $1.8M to upgrade town water system"

Does SandBox Nanny 'have it in' for John Colson?

Absolutely not.

Does John Colson deliberately poke, prod, antagonize and otherwise borderline abuse  his power as a local investigative reporter?

Absolutely. 

Has he done so for years?

Pretty much.

John Colson is often seen by locals as a 'radical liberal'.  A 'moonbat'.  A 'left loon'.  All proudly carried by John  titles in his weekly column  "Hit and Run", up on The Aspen Times.

The question SandBox Nanny has for Colson today on this article, is related to how obvious it is that he's struggling with having to put out 'clean' and 'no yellow ink' reports.

Yesterday the hit on the Town of Silt was angst at the lack of childcare for the Silt anti-gas group.

Today, Colson seems to imply that the Town of Silt should go round up money it does not have, and do a capital improvement on the water system because of a couple of fairly unsubstantiated water quality issues over the past two years.

 If Nanny recalls correctly, the issues had something to do with illegal sewage dumping by a local company.

Here's the question for John Colson:

Is there anything the general public can do, to help you ease into some kind of comfort level with your new role of community oriented reporting?

We'll be glad to help.

just sayin.

SandBox Nanny sends out another big thank you to Silt Mayor Dave Moore and his administration.

For holding the line on not spending more than what comes in.

For still managing, within the first balanced budget in many a year; to keep Silt not only thriving but growing.

For being creative in finding this terrific grant money that will take the burden off the backs of the folks out here paying taxes.

Keep up the great work.

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Times/Letter to the Editor "Does city have a secret?"

"After the City Council has repeatedly refused to allow an agenda item and public comment on the decision, the Election Commission scheduled a public dialogue for 4 p.m. on Nov. 1 in the City Council chambers. All City Council members and the public have been encouraged to attend by Election Commissioner Ward Hauenstein...."
(Marilyn Marks)

Provocative wording?    Yes.

Makes her point well and you're listening to her?  You betcha.

Liked by most readers?  Doesn't matter.

Worthy cause?  Debatable.  Most think very worthy.

Deserves to be ridiculed, defamed, slandered, shunned and abused with verbal assaults?  No.

Political activist making great strides in catalyzing entrenched issues within local, state and national  politics?  Yes and doing a terrific job worthy of high praise.

Needs to be personally liked or socially acceptable to the majority in order to do  that terrific job?
Nope.  But should  be.

Any of the above can be said about Marilyn Marks.

What's important in this post is the information on the Nov. 1, 2011 community input meeting.

Because if you have something to say about Marilyn Marks?

Please go say it there or cease and desist the public onslaught of defamation or slander against her.

just sayin.

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SandBox Comments: Colorado Springs Independent "Stranger than fiction"

Curses, foiled again

"Stephen Frankie Daniel, 21, was caught robbing a gas station convenience store in Snellville, Ga., by police Lt. B.W. Brown, who happened to be waiting in line behind him. "The manager was laughing at the time he was putting the money in the bag because he was looking at me over the guy who was robbing him," Brown said, noting that Daniel apparently didn't notice Brown's uniform or the plainly marked Snellville Police Department pick-up truck parked outside the store.

(Atlanta Journal Constitution)

"Michael Wayne Aurillo, 27, stole a charity collection jar containing $35.78 from the counter of a convenience store in Williston, Fla., only to be arrested before he could make off with the loot because off-duty Marion County sheriff's Sgt. William Dietrich was standing behind him. (The Gainesville Sun)"

Drinking-class hero

"A 21-year-old man walked into what he believed to be a casino and asked for some blackjack chips. It was actually the University of Nebraska-Lincoln police station. Sgt. John Backer said the desk clerk turned the man away, but he returned a few minutes later. This time, officers administered a Breathalyzer test. The unidentified man blew .273 — more than four times the legal limit — and was placed in protective custody. (Hasting's KHAS-TV)"

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SandBox Comments: Commentary Magazine "The Case for Optimism"

"There is a growing propensity to place the blame for the disastrous fiscal and economic condition of the United States on the supposedly damaged spiritual condition of the American people. President Obama himself, inclined these days to blame the nation’s economic woes on his predecessor and on millionaires and billionaires, stepped on his own storyline recently when he told a Florida TV reporter that the American people had “gotten a little soft.” By saying this, he was echoing the view that something had gone wrong inside the body politic over the past decade or longer. The American people wanted benefits they didn’t want to pay for; they borrowed money they didn’t have; they refused to make tough choices. “The richest society the world has ever seen has grown rich by devising better and better ways to give people what they want,” Michael Lewis, the most influential financial journalist in America, writes in his new book Boomerang. “The boom in trading activity in individual stock portfolios; the spread of legalized gambling; the rise of drug and alcohol addiction—it is all of a piece.”

This secular-Calvinist argument..."
(John Podhoretz)

SandBox Comments: Commentary Magazine "The Case for Pessimism "

"In September 2009, Barack Obama and Muammar Qaddafi both addressed the United Nations. It is a pitiful reflection upon the Republic in twilight that, when it comes to the transnational mush drooled by the leader of the free world or the conspiracist ramblings of a pseudo-Bedouin terrorist drag queen presiding over a one-man psycho-cult basket case, it’s more or less a toss-up as to which of them was the more unreal.

Qaddafi spoke for 90 minutes, and in the midst of his torrent of words, his translator actually broke down and cried out, “I can’t take it anymore.” The colonel gravely informed the world body that the swine flu was a virus that had been created in a government laboratory, and he called for a UN inquiry into the Kennedy assassination on the grounds that Jack Ruby was an Israeli who killed Lee Harvey Oswald to stop the truth coming out about Kennedy being killed to prevent an investigation into the Zionist nuclear facility at Dimona.

On the other hand:..."
(Mark Steyn)

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"Truth goes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed.  Then it is violently opposed.  Finally, it is seen as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Power Line "Undercover Syria"

This is one of the most though-provoking reports on life in the Middle East we think we've ever seen.

A must watch.

"According to Wikipedia, Unreported World is a foreign affairs program produced by Quicksilver Media Productions and broadcast by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. It holds itself out as traveling to dangerous locations all over the world in an attempt to uncover stories ignored by the world media. I’ve got a few candidates for them right here in the Twin Cities.

In “Undercover Syria,” broadcast on October 14, reporter Ramita Navai spends two weeks living undercover in some of the most dangerous parts of Syria with members of the opposition movement determined to overthrow the Assad regime. This 24-minute report provides a riveting view inside unfolding events in Syria...."
(Scott Johnson)


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"Truth goes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed.  Then it is violently opposed.  Finally, it is seen as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Glenwood Springs Post Independent "Antero plans increased drilling activity south of Silt"

Cheap shots at Silt Mayor Dave Moore.  Even by John Colson's standards, these insinuations by Colson are cheap shots.

Seems that Colson is wanting strokes for 'alerting' the Town of Silt administration that deadline was on for submitting comments, etc. on Antero's expansion of drilling on Silt Mesa.

So, let SandBox give you those strokes, John.

We send out a sincere, big thank you to investigative reporter John Colson, over on The Glenwood Springs Post Independent for coming to the aid of all the  anti-gas drilling Silt residents who forgot to check on the status of their comment submission to regulators.

We're pretty sure Silt Mayor Dave Moore is thick-skinned enough to be holding up under Colson's  criticism. 

Drill baby, drill.

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"Truth goes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed.  Then it is violently opposed.  Finally, it is seen as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Craig Daily Press "Shell focused on exploratory operations near Craig"

"A Shell Oil Company rig that had been delayed in operations and was sitting at the corner of Ranney and First streets is now onsite and drilling, a company spokeswoman said Thursday...."
(Joe Moylan)

SandBox Comments: Aspen Journalism "Developer Related not faring well in Base Village lawsuits"

"SNOWMASS VILLAGE — The developers of the stalled Base Village project at the base of the Snowmass Ski Area have been quick to blame the Great Recession for the project’s current state.

But as a series of lawsuits between the developers and its lenders and investors show, there were a number of decisions made along the way that, in hindsight, can be seen as contributing factors..."
(Brent Gardner-Smith)


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"Truth goes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed.  Then it is violently opposed.  Finally, it is seen as self-evident."