Thursday, May 23, 2013
Rants & Raves
Friday, May 7, 2010
Rants & Raves / Medical Marijuana / Marijuana Reefer madness, on video
Posted by Bryce Crawford on Fri, May 7, 2010 at 9:33 AM
In February, a Columbia, Missouri SWAT team kicked down the door of 25-year-old Jonathan Whitworth under the suspicion that the resident was "harboring a large amount of marijuana" and arrested him in front of his wife and 7-year-old. After shooting and killing the family's pit bull during entry, the police shot and wounded their corgi, says a Columbia Daily Tribune story.
The story is old. What's new is a video showing the home entry, including the sounds of the animals being shot multiple times, and Whitworth's wife comforting their 7-year-old as the SWAT team continues throughout the house. For their trouble, what did the police find?
Police discovered a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of marijuana.
Though not an MMJ issue, it's still hard to understand how even just the possession of marijuana is worth such force.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
State Gov / Rants & Raves / Medical Marijuana / Marijuana Where we help The Denver Post with medical marijuana
Posted by Bryce Crawford on Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 1:06 PM
It's a crazy time in Denver these days: Tim "Jesus" Tebow is the talk of the town — a walking, talking, new-pro-style throwing feuilleton; the Arizona Diamondbacks are at Coors Field looking to derail the real savior in Denver — Ubaldo Jimenez — starting at 6:40 p.m.; and the Nuggets are just hoping that, selfish or otherwise, the team pulls it together at home.
With all that going on, it's understandable that The Denver Post might get a few things confused when it comes to the issues surrounding House Bill 1284, and as a friend and neighbor, we're here to help.
The medical marijuana constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2000 was never intended to create the widespread marijuana dispensary system we have today.
Indy: The medical marijuana constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2000 was never intended to create the widespread marijuana dispensary system we have today. Note the text of Amendment 20: "Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, no person, including a patient or primary care-giver, shall be entitled to the protection of this section for his or her acquisition, possession, manufacture, production, use, sale, distribution, dispensing, or transportation of marijuana for any use other than medical use." I would argue that it's hard to specify protection for dispensing under medical use only, if nothing was ever to be dispensed. Additionally, though it lacks specific wording to the effect of "Thou shalt overpower Starbucks with medicinal suppliers," the meaning is no less for it.
The ill-conceived bill got a little better, however, when lawmakers recently restored provisions that allow cities and counties to outlaw dispensaries in their communities.
Indy: The ill-conceived bill got a lot more suppressive when this section was added back; it allows for city councils, county commissions, etc. to ban dispensaries without any kind of municipal vote.
House Bill 1284 creates a medical marijuana licensing authority that will grant licenses for the cultivation, distribution and sale of medical marijuana, which still is illegal under federal law.
Indy: A true — and useless — point, especially considering the repeated federal emphasis on not prosecuting medical marijuana users medicating within their state's laws.
That prohibition could be enacted by voters, or by a city council or county commission. This is an important escape hatch for those who don't want the current medical marijuana farce in their communities.
Indy: A 30-foot-wide door labeled "Abuse of Power" just begging for somebody to walk through. What could be more American?
It's good that lawmakers found a way to push back against well-financed medical marijuana lobbyists to restore some protections for those who have suddenly found themselves surrounded by dispensaries.
Indy: We're surrounded and I'm on fire! Help me Jesus! Help me Jewish God! Help me Allah! Help me Tom Cruise! It's citizens dispensing legal medication — resulting in mellow feelings of peace, and pain relief — to equally legal qualified citizens as far as the eye can see! Just imagine if there was another legal substance that resulted in worse statistics all around than the current green-eyed boogie monster who's name we dare not speak aloud!
Lawmakers should resist. We're disappointed that state legislators seem poised to legitimize dispensaries, but if they're going to do so, they need to keep a tight rein on the situation.
Indy: It's disappointing that the Post would reinterpret history to its editorial liking, while advocating for the dismissal of popular vote.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Rants & Raves Just flush 'em
Posted by Pam Zubeck on Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 11:22 AM
We just got one of those pesky e-mails that makes the rounds, disrupting your day, sometimes bringing a chuckle.
It says an ex-NASA engineer has come up with the near perfect solution for airport security. This idea could quell all the hullabaloo over full-body scanners by simply building a super strong security booth that you step into — not to be x-rayed but to detonate any explosive device you may have on you. Case closed.
The solution is near perfect in that it doesn't say how this booth would be cleaned for the next terrorist wannabe. Here's our idea. Install equipment that would self-clean the booth with a flushing device.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Rants & Raves Free lube? We LOVE tax day!
Posted by Kirk Woundy on Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 5:11 PM
OK, since no one else around here has offered to write this one ...
You could spend your Tax Day tomorrow with thousands of anti-government crazies packing into Washington, D.C. to spew vitriol. But you'll probably come away with more to show for your time if you just "log on to life" and visit Fascinations' FunLove site.
- fascinations.net
- Taxpayers, Fascinations salutes you.
Turns out at least one player in the sex-toy world wants to re-brand April 15 as "Tax Relief Day," where everyone can celebrate with 25 percent product discounts, gifts of free lube, and free shipping. (Or, if you'd rather not wait for your stuff, you can visit one of Colorado's five stores.)
Hell, even the most ardent tea partier should appreciate a line of products that bears the name "the Liberator."
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Rants & Raves World officially ended: Scrabble changed
Posted by J. Adrian Stanley on Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 3:00 PM
- You gotta fight for your right to Scrabble.
My husband scared the crap out of me this morning when he started shrieking from the kitchen.
He had just heard the news on the radio ... Scrabble was dead.
At least in the United Kingdom.
OK, deep breath. A new Scrabble is being released in the U.K. that will allow players to use — gasp! — proper nouns.
The possibilities with the letter "Z" alone are astonishing: Zappa, Zippo, Zimbabwe ...
Any idiot could win this game. Where is the sense of tradition? Whatever happened to valuing a challenge? What will happen now that any airhead can beat a nerd at Scrabble?
I feel violated. Over in Florida, all my Scrabbleholic in-laws feel violated.
Now is a time to comfort each other. To tell ourselves that it is just the Brits who will suffer this outrage. That this abomination will be kept over the Atlantic Ocean where it belongs ... we hope.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Rants & Raves Queer question for the Census?
Posted by J. Adrian Stanley on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 11:04 AM
- We're queer. We're here. Write it down.
That's the message from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Task Force wants the Census to include a question about sexual orientation.
"The data collected impacts issues critical to every American — like our health care, our economic stability, and even our safety," a Task Force Web site on the issue, queerthecensus.org, notes. "And when LGBT people aren't counted, then we also don't count when it comes to services, resources ... you name it."
In protest of what they view as a slight, the Task Force is handing out "Queer the Census stickers" and asking that supporters stick them on the back of their census survey envelopes. The stickers ask participants to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or a "straight ally."
While the Census has no question about sexual orientation, it does ask whether cohabiters are married or in a relationship — and LGBT couples can identify in this area.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
State Gov / Rants & Raves Amazon makes its case for special treatment
Posted by Anthony Lane on Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 2:30 PM
Avoiding sales tax by shopping at online retailers such as amazon.com has always been a guilty pleasure for me: Yes, it's nice to save a couple bucks, but it has always felt unfair, both to the brick-and-mortar stores that must collect sales tax and to the government that we ask to fund things like higher education and public schools.
Well, a strange effort by lawmakers to close that loophole (Amazon and other retailers would not be required to collect the tax, but they would need to advise shoppers they owe it) has ignited a firestorm, with Amazon apparently planning to punish the state by canceling its relationships with Colorado affiliates who get money for sending traffic to the online site. (The Denver Post's story on the debate is here.)
It seems like a puzzling corporate strategy in tough economic times like these for Amazon to stand on principle saying it should continue being legally able to undercut local retailers while depriving the state of revenue.
Boycott, anyone? State Senate Majority Leader John Morse of Colorado Springs makes the case for shopping elsewhere in the clip below.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
City Gov / Rants & Raves Who tickets the ticketers? (Part 2)
Posted by Kirk Woundy on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 4:15 PM
Less than two weeks after we first enjoyed seeing city Parking Enforcement flout its own laws ... we get treated to it again, right outside our offices.
- Kirk Woundy
- As the meter blinks, Parking Enforcement winks.
- Kirk Woundy
- Hey, at least they parked between the lines.
So ... is there some kind of legal loophole we're not aware of? One officer who's, ahem, gone rogue? Or is this just meant to be some government-led, lighthearted celebration of irony? We called city police (who oversee Parking Enforcement) to find out hours ago, but haven't yet gotten a response.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Rants & Raves $30,000 ascent?
Posted by Matthew Schniper on Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 9:35 AM
I received an e-mail from a friend of a friend last week, inviting me to check out his local blog, 5 Million Kids.
The blog was launched to help its author, Jamie Berry, a supportive services coordinator at Silver Key Senior Services, and his wife Misty, to raise enough money to adopt "one or two of the 5 million orphans in Ethiopia."
I've been checking out posts, and found some genuinely funny material, mostly based around training for the Pikes Peak Ascent in August.
Berry posts on ways to help him raise money, such as by purchasing fair trade and organic coffee from this online coffee shop.
Here's wishing him and his future children the best of luck.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Eco News / Politics / Rants & Raves A hostile climate
Posted by Anthony Lane on Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 12:27 PM
Almost any time there's an unseasonable cold snap or major blizzard somewhere in the United States, I wait for the inevitable outcry from climate change skeptics. Hah! How could the earth be getting warmer when three feet of snow just fell in _____.
Well, with two blizzards dumping well over 3 feet in Washington D.C., Baltimore and other Eastern cities, and Dallas getting several inches of snow, the script has followed a familiar pattern. Cue Fox News:
This is a Fox News alert. The snow keeps falling. You aren't looking at Washington or Chicago or Minnesota. Want to take a guess? That's Dallas, Texas — DFW Airport canceling hundreds of flights today, Dallas getting more than three inches of snow.It's been a rough week for Al Gore and global warming alarmists everywhere, Washington dealing with the snowiest winter ever.
That's part of the segue into an interview with Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who got some press for building an igloo in D.C. with his family and calling it "Al Gore's House." Inhofe is a noted climate change skeptic, and you get the feeling that he took equal joy from the recent storms as any sixth-grader.
Even Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, who's running as a Democrat to be governor of Colorado, has cited the recent weather as he soft-pedals on climate change. As the Denver Daily News reports:
Speaking via telephone from snowy Washington, D.C., where the Democratic gubernatorial candidate had missed his flight back to Denver because of blizzard-like conditions, Hickenlooper responded to questions from conservative mining industry executives at the National Western Mining Conference & Exhibition, which wrapped up Friday in Denver...“So, my thinking with climate change is I can’t tell you, I don’t think anyone can tell you for sure if the climate is changing that fast, and certainly, in a snow storm like this, you have to look at it with a little bit of skepticism.”
Whoa. The problem, shared by some who clamor for action on climate change, is that you can't take individual weather events as evidence of climate change, one way or another. And big storms like we've just seen might actually be a symptom of a warming world where there's more energy available to get weather systems cranking. (The L.A. Times has little Q-and-A on the dispute.)
Wouldn't it be nice if everyone could keep this in perspective, and keep the politics out of the climate change issue?
Friday, February 12, 2010
City Gov / Rants & Raves Who tickets the ticketers?
Posted by Pam Zubeck on Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 3:45 PM
Colorado Springs parking enforcement has been on the prowl in our part of town lately, but its own vehicles are perpetually overparked. Like this one ...
... parked on Nevada Avenue today. They don't bother to put money in the meter like everybody else, because, after all, they're not going to ticket themselves.
After a while, a parking enforcement worker ambled back to this car.
"Looks like you're overparked," we joked.
Not so much as a smile.
So then we tried, "Lucky you didn't get a ticket." Still no reaction. Too busy slapping cars with parking violations, I guess. Gotta save that city budget somehow.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Rants & Raves Killer clean?
Posted by Matthew Schniper on Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 5:38 PM
I've signed up for a good amount of newsletters from various organizations such as the Organic Consumers Association, Treehugger and Mother Jones, to name a few.
They're great for linking to eco-conscious stories and spotlighting environmental issues.
One list recently provided by the OCA that I've found useful featured a rundown of "organic" health and beauty products that aren't actually as green as they appear. Check out a list here.
Sucks to find brands I've bought like Jason, Avalon Organics and Kiss My Face on the bad list. But good to know Dr. Bronner's (a backpacker's best friend) is still rockin' it pure.
