Gun owners score in Colorado

Smoke THAT, you anti-gun statists.

Colorado state senators recalled over gun control support

TWO anti-gun Democrat State Senators, including the President of the Senate, were just knocked off in a recall election brought about by gun owners angry over their leading the charge to pass Colorado's asinine new gun laws. Both Senators John Morse and Angela Giron lost their seats, effective immediately, despite anti-gun toadies from all over the country parachuting in to go door-to-door for them and Michael Bloomberg of New York giving them three million dollars. They lost their seats in Democrat-leaning districts to boot, and this morning, you can believe that gun-hating legislators all across the country are looking at this result and asking themselves if it's worth their seats to stand up and identify with the anti-gun cause.

Nice job, Colorado grass-roots gun owners. You socked it to them good.

Coloradan gun owners fighting to recall anti-gunners that the Libertarians elected.

Gun owners angry over the betrayal of Colorado State Senator John Morse turned in twice the number of signatures needed to force a recall election after he led the fight to pass Colorado's draconian new gun control legislation that took effect this spring. Now the battle's on, and Morse will be forced to defend his seat. A loss for Morse will send a message to other gun-banners in the legislature who come from districts with large numbers of shooters. However this fight will be long and expensive, and both sides are clamoring from money from all across the country.

I have to point out that this never needed to happen in the first place.

Morse only won by some 400 votes in 2010, with 1300 other votes going to a not-going-to-win Libertarian; in effect, those votes were never even cast in the actual race.

2010 election results:
John Morse (D) 13,866
Owen Hill (R) 13,526
Douglas W. Randall (L) 1,320

Had 1320 people used their heads and cast votes that made sense, Morse would never have been there to screw gun owners in 2012.

Likewise, Another State Senator, Evie Hudak, only won her race in November because the Libertarians gave 6.7% of the vote to some guy who wasn't even competitive, allowing Hudak to top the Republican in the race by one percentage point.
"November 6, 2012 General election candidates:

Democratic Party Evie Hudak: 35,664
Republican Party Lang Sias: 35,080
Libertarian Party Lloyd A. Sweeny: 5,104

(Thanks, Libertarians!)

Sadly, a similar effort to recall Hudak appears to have failed, so she's there to stay, courtesy of her anti-gun Democrat base and the Libertarian Party.

Votes have consequences, people. Voting is important. And when you cast a ballot in a close two-person race and throw it away on some third person who has absolutely no chance just because you want to make some sort of "statement", you basically refuse to vote. It's as if you just decided not to stand up and stop the bad guy.

So Colorado got saddled with bad laws because too many people decided not to bother opposing the anti-gunners, and now the rest of the state has to pay for that apathy/arrogance/stupidity. I wish the Colorado gun owners well with their recall against Morse, but I have to point out for the record that it didn't have to come to this in the first place. Even half of those 1,320 silly Libertarians could have prevented this two years beforehand, but they chose not to.

What do Coloradans do now that their gun laws have passed?

Since the Colorado Democrats passed a draconian and totally unnecessary ban on many types of firearms and high-capacity magazines, causing many shooting-related companies to move out of that state, taking their jobs and tax dollar with them, you might be wondering what Coloradans do in their free time now.

Well if you are Taylor Powers, a 21 year old "communications major" at University of Colorado in Boulder, you just get stoned on mushrooms, hike in the woods, strip naked and fight with 35 rescuers.

I have to admit, that would probably never occurred to me. I'd have probably just gone out quietly to shoot my stockpiled guns and ammo in some remote location and not made a big deal of it. Of course Taylor and her pals don't really sound like gun folks, what with all of the poor judgement and illegal behavior and such. Still, I guess that's what Colorado wants instead of us shooters.

I have to note though that thirty-five rescuers showed up? I suspect that if I was lost in the woods and called for help, even clothed I'd probably be lucky to have Ranger Smith and his dog show up in a day or so. but put out a call for "Naked girl on the trail" and "Shaazam!" Everyone shows up including the garbage man.

And I know--you're like me and you want pics, so here:



Yeah, I might have had to tag aong and lend a hand as well.

But now the big question for Taylor has to be a simple one: How is Taylor going to get any potential employer to take her seriously when she graduates from the expensive school that daddy paid big bucks to send her to? Absent a slot on a reality show, I'm seeing a lot of paper hats and french fries in her future.

Democrat Congresswoman explains how a magazine ban works.

“I will tell you these are ammunition, they’re bullets, so the people who have those now they’re going to shoot them, so if you ban them in the future, the number of these high capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available.”

Diana DeGette, D--(CO)

As lead sponsor in House on gun legislation, Rep. Diana DeGette appears to not understand how they work

And that, folks, is what happens when stupid voters elect stupid representatives to Congress. Those representatives craft and fight for laws that are stupid because they have no clue about the subject matter or real effects of what they are trying to do.

In this case, Rep. DeGette confuses hi-capacity magazines with the ammunition itself and claims that if we just ban new magazines, the old ones will disappear once they are used. And Denver voters have elected or re-elected this rocket scientist 4 times. Makes you really wonder about the brain trust in that city, doesn't it? But then we always see this sort of thing happen when an area's population gets to be so dependent on government benefits that all they care about is the "D" in front of the candidates' names come election day.

Excuse me now while I go weep for my country just a little.

"Democrat of the Year" convicted of stealing from wheelchair-bound blind woman.

Sometimes, the stories just write themselves.

Jeffco ‘Democrat Of The Year’ Convicted Of Felony Theft

The woman named “Democrat of The Year” this year by the Jefferson County Democratic Party has been convicted of felony theft by a Jefferson County jury for stealing from a developmentally disabled 71-year-old woman.

On Thursday, a jury convicted 66-year-old Estelle Carson of felony identify theft and felony theft from an at risk adult for stealing checks from the woman and using them to pay her own cable, cell phone and internet bills.

The victim is partially blind, developmentally disabled, has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. She is on a fixed income of $596 per month according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.
...

And the most despicable part? After this came to light, but before it was adjudicated in couret, the victim's family went to the Democrat Party leadership and begged them not to give Estelle Carson this award, citing her confession given to police. But Chris Kennedy, chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic party, just smiled and said that a confession didn't equate to a conviction, and besides, she'd done so much to help register Dem voters.

Now the family is trying to get the award rescinded.

I say leave it. Carson's being publicly identified as the best corrupt person in a corrupt political party suits me just fine.

Zoey Ripple, 2012's Obamagirl

For those of you who don't follow the news from the People's Republic of Boulder in Colorado, Zoey Ripple pled guilty to first-degree criminal trespass charges today, not quite six months after she wandered into the home of a sleeping couple while in a drunken state, confronting them at 3:30AM as they awoke to find her in their bedroom.

Zoey was probably unaware of the fact that the female homeowner was a psychiatrist who was being stalked by a dangerous mental patient, another crazy female who Zoey may well have resembled, especially there in the dark in the victims' bedroom. The stalker threat was one reason why this couple kept a loaded pistol in their bedroom, and when Zoey refused to leave or even stop walking towards them after several warnings, they shot her dumb, drunk ass.

Fortunately, Colorado has a "Make My Day" law which shields law-abiding citizens from prosecution or civil litigation in cases where they act in good faith to defend themselves. This at least means that Zoey cannot run to a cheap awyer and try to further victimize these people by demanding that they pay her money after she pretty much forced them to shoot her.

Today, little Zoey, who had just graduated from some undoubtedly useless course of study at University of Colorado a couple of weeks prior, pled guilty and was handed a sweet-heart deal: an 18-month deferred sentence that means that if she stays out of trouble for the next year and a half, even this felony will be removed from her record.

Now let's look at a few things here that make me think that this plea offering was inappropriate: Zoey, at just 21 years of age, had a BAC of 0.2, which is two and a half times the normal legal limit for driving (0.08). This is also her third arrest, with a prior for shoplifting (also eventually dismissed due to a deferred sentencing agreement) and another unspecified alcohol-related offense. Clearly daddy's little snowflake just isn't getting it. Finally, we see Zoey emerging from the courtroom today not remorseful or apologetic, but now claiming that it wasn't her fault at all because someone else "could have given her a date-rape drug" that might have left her unable to comprehend what she was doing on the night that she walked into the house of two total strangers. Of course she didn't want to go with this at trial but rather stood up in court and formally admitted that she'd done what she was accused of (required for a plea to be accepted) and then with the risk of jail time gone, she ran right out into the hallway, got in front of the cameras, and basically took her plea back by making the claim that it was all probably someone else's fault.

And of course the lawyer that daddy rented, Colette Cribari, stood right there beside her and complained about the way that this makes Zoey look.
"She's been portrayed as this dumb drunk who wandered into someone's house," she said. "This is not who Zoey Ripple is."

Uh, yeah...that's exactly who and what she is; she's a dumb, binge-drinking, responsibility-avoiding spoiled girl who turned an innocent couple's life upside down and who still refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for her actions or the harm that she caused.

Predictably for Boulder, the judge bought it and refused to give her any jail time or even community service.

And as for precious little Zoey (who the hell names a kid "Zoey" anyway?), She hopes to travel to Peru, when she is allowed, to continue working with a program that helps professional development for women.

"I've learned so much from this incident," she said. "I hope this can continue to be a lesson for other people."

Somehow, I'm not thinking that she learned a damned thing. And I'm willing to bet that we read about her in the papers again before too much longer. Kids like her never get it. But sadly, many of them vote, and as she seems to have Obama's ethics to a fault, I have no doubt as to who she'll be voting for in November.

Injured dog saved from mountaintop. Custody battle now looms.

I saw this story out of Colorado yesterday. It's one that's gone world-wide now.

A pair of hikers climbed a mountain in that state on August 11th, at at the top, 13,000 feet up, they found a female German Shepherd dog who was all by herself. The dog's feet and elbows were all torn open though, and the dog could not walk down. The dog was too much for these two to carry, so they dressed her wounds, left her some water since there was none up there for her otherwise, then went back down the mountain and tried to find someone--anyone--who would help rescue the dog.

The local mountain rescue services don't go up the mountains for dogs. Just people.

Persevering, the couple publicized the plight on a website for hikers and mountain climbers and soon a 8-person team of volunteers assembled and they hiked up, recovered the dog, and carried her all the way back down in a modified backpack just before a storm swept the mountain range. The dog almost certainly would not have survived the storm.

Well they took the dog to a vet, and other than starvation and dehydration and the damage to her limbs caused by the bare, sharp rock on the mountain, the dog was ok. The two that originally found her made plans to adopt her and give her a good home. All was well with a happy ending.

Enter the villain, a cad named Anthony Ortolani. He was the one who abandoned this dog, named Missy, on the mountain on August 5th, six days before the couple found her and 8 days before she was eventually rescued by the volunteer team. He stated that he'd been hiking there with Missy and a "younger hiker" and that Missy had torn her feet on the rock and lost her ability to walk on them. Fearing an approaching storm (and it snows up there year round), he made the decision to leave her behind and walk down to save himself and the other person. He left her without food or water and apparently made no effort to go back for her later, making the excuses that he thought she'd died in the storm and that he had to go out of state for his job. And now he wanted Missy back.

Naturally this spurred outrage from pretty much everyone. The couple that found her wanted to keep her, as did some of the rescuers. The vet was still holding the dog as her treatment wasn't complete. Then the local Sheriff's office got involved due to the circumstances behind the abandonment of this dog. And they just filed charges
against Ortolani for animal cruelty. Missy will now remain in the custody of Animal Control until a judge can decide who will get her.

Now as a dog owner and a hiker, I've tried to be objective about this. However I just cannot get my head around a set of circumstances that would cause me to leave any of my dogs behind and make no further effort to return for them. If that meant sheltering in place with my dog or calling for my own rescue from the scene (and please take my dog here, too...), I'd do that before leaving my pal. At the worst, if forced to leave, I'd arrange for shelter for my buddy and return as quickly as I could. If all else failed, there'd be a quick, humane gunshot administered, undoubtedly followed by a lifetime of grief and personal recrimination for having caused the problem by bringing the dog into such a situation. But under no circumstances could I just say goodbye to Murphy or any of my past dogs and walk away, leaving them lying there in pain to stare after me as I got smaller in the distance, never to return. Yeah, "it's just a dog", but to me, the dog becomes family when it becomes part of the pack. Me and Murphy may be a pack of two, but it's a forever thing and when I took him (and each of other others before him), it was with the understanding that I'd take care of my canine companion for life. Abandoning him on a mountaintop, injured and alone, then shrugging and pretending that he'd died as an excuse not to return for him...not an option.

I hope that this scumbag never gets Missy back, and that she finds a good home with one of the people who actually did make the effort to save her when her "pack leader" abandoned her. Hell, I'd take her here before seeing her go back to that toad. Murphy's been telling me that he wants a pet of his own and a dog like that deserves a whole lot better that a guy who would consign her to death in the elements.

Maybe I'm the crazy one here for thinking that, but every time I look at Murphy as he lies beside me here, I know that it's true. How about you other dog owners out there? Could any of you walk off and leave your buddies behind like that and make no effort to return for them?

Stupid criminal shoots accomplice while trying to free him

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and thieves...

A juvenile attempting to steal a bottle of "booze" from a Colorado Springs liquor store was accidentally shot in the foot by his partner in crime.

The incident happened about 9:30 p.m. Thursday at 2935 Delta Drive, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department crime blotter.

As the booze-swiping juvenile tried to leave the store, the business owner locked the front door, preventing the robber's flight. A "male" waiting in the parking lot saw his partner's plight and fired a gunshot through the glass door, apparently to shatter it and free the would-be robber. But the plan misfired when the shot hit the juvenile in the foot. That boy was treated at a hospital.

I don't care who you are...that's funny!

Well that didn't end the way that you planned now, did it?

The infamous Dougherty Gang from Florida was arrested in Colorado today after a chase and shoot-out with police there. Busted were 29 year old stripper Lee Grace Dougherty and her two brothers, Dylan and Ryan, all of whom have criminal records. (Ryan has 14 felony convictions despite only being 21 years old. His sister has 5 and was also wanted for a hit-and-run, per news reports.) After shooting at a police officer in Florida and robbing a bank in Georgia, they fled in a stolen car to Colorado, where there were spotted buying camping gear at REI, a store that apparently doesn't include "stop snitching" as part of it's employee code of conduct. The police soon picked up their trail and when spotted, they tried to outrun the police in, of all things, a Subaru Impreza. Well that didn't go well. According to the state patrol, a trooper working overtime and overseeing a construction project near Walsenburg heard what was happening over police scanners and put stop sticks on the road. The vehicle crashed about 9:30 am. when it attempted to avoid the stop sticks.

After the crash Lee Grace Dougherty and one of her brothers tried to get away from the vehicle. Lee Grace had a handgun and was loading the chamber when she was shot in the leg by a Walsenburg police officer. Her brother was arrested. The other brother, authorities have not identified which one, then ran into Walsenburg. He did not go into any businesses and was soon arrested.

To be fair, they were warned. Pasco County (Fla.)Sheriff Chris Nocco called for them to surrender but also put them on notice that if it was a fight they wanted, they'd likely get one. "We want to reiterate to the Dougherty family, we want you to turn yourselves in, we want a peaceful resolution, but at the same time we understand if they want to battle with us, we have the resources and we will win," Nocco said. And as predicted, they tried, but they were no match for the trained, professional police officers that they went up against. Training and teamwork will always trump incestual hillbilly bravado and a couple of guns.

Kudos to the police officers who took these three down, and this should stand as a warning not just to potential hillbilly copycats but to all of those brave Walter Mitty types who seem to infest most gun-related internet forums to greater or lesser degrees--the ones who say that "when the time comes", they'll take on the police or military and win.

Frankly, when I start reading that crap and see that no other posters or administrators are objecting to it, I take that forum off of my "favorites" list because I don't associate with criminals or idiots. And anyone who thinks that they're going to fight a whole team of police officers or soldiers all by themselves is clearly idiotic, as this and almost every other police shoot-out shows. While police officers are regrettably killed by scumbags occasionally, in the end, by virtue of training, numbers and dedication, the police always win. And that's as it should be, whether they are taking buck-toothed banjo-pickers like the Doughertys off the streets or stepping on some armed drug dealer's or wanna-be militia warrior's head. You can talk smack on the internet all day long, but if you try to play the serious bad guy in real life, the good guys in blue are likely going to open up a can of whoop-ass on you and justifiably beat you like a rented mule.
And that works for me.

Now we'll see how long that it takes for the anti-gun whack jobs to use this case to call for the total disarmament of the rest of us. Anyone wanna start a pool?

In other news, it's nice to see that at least some British police are starting to take the right approach to the rampaging bands of looters and thieves. Good job, mates!

Mom orders fake alcohol drinks for her kids, calls police when they actually contain alcohol

In today's "News of the Stupid", we have Pamela Bruenning of Longmont, Colorado. Pamela decided to take her three kids ages 8,6 and 1 to Chili's bar and Grill the other day. (And we all know that every adult who goes to Chili's really wants to dine in a room full of kids, right?)

Well Pamela, being a trendy sort of mom, orders "virgin daquiris" for her kids, because it's so much cooler to buy fake adult beverages for them than it is to give them milk of fruit juice or even soda pop. Well surprise, surprise, but the drinks were accidentally made with alcohol like real daquiris. The result: the children took sips, announced that they "tasted bad", and refused to drink any more. Mommy Dearest took a sip, recognized the rum taste immediately, and complained to the manager who apologized, brought over new drinks, and comped the entire meal for everyone.

This should have been the end of it, but the next thing you know, she's calling the police and the media, doing interviews, and hinting at a lawsuit even though the police dismissed it as being a simple mistake, unworthy of criminal charges.

Police used a breath-analysis test on the kids to determine their blood alcohol level, but the readings were negative, police reported. Bruenning said her children successfully completed field sobriety tests.

OK, aside from the question that poses, (how do you get little kids to perform SFTS?)it seems that Pamela is seeing dollar signs now, so she's doing her best to whip up the outrage of anyone who will side with her and no doubt hoping that no one will remember that she's the one who insisted that her pre-teens all get fake alcoholic drinks in the first place at a place that has plenty of other beverages for kids, including regular fruit smoothies (daquiris without alcohol or daquiri mix).


As a side note, Pamela has a profile on Etsy where she twice talks about drinking alcohol in the one paragraph that she uses to introduce herself to the world:

Sometimes I picture myself as an old man in a cigar room with an Old Fashioned, communicating with a general slur and sway. Transparency fascinates me, especially when it's tinted, like pool water. I love fine papers and book binding. I buy way too many pens, & think calligraphy has a certain, "je ne se qua". A good beer, or an even better wine, and a sky full of stars is the best inspiration for anything.

Pamela, it sounds like you're the one with the alcohol problem. Back away from the cameras and consider looking for an AA program instead of a sleazy lawyer.

Why I carry guns when I hike and camp #2

I've posted on this before (here), and this new story out of Boulder, Colorado gives me reason to post on it again.

Boulder County sheriff's deputies are continuing to investigate a report of a kidnapping near Nederland's Rainbow Lakes, and although new witnesses have come forward, officials have not made an arrest as of Monday morning.

Deputies responded to a report of a kidnapping around 6 p.m. Saturday near the 38000 block of Peak-to-Peak Highway, said sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough.
The victims, a 44-year-old man from Berthoud and a 32-year-old woman from Fort Collins, parked their vehicle on Peak-to-Peak highway and began hiking west, Brough said.

While hiking, they were confronted by a white man, who was about 40 years old and armed with a rifle. He was wearing a green army shirt, camouflaged shorts, a floppy army cap, black boots and a black bandanna covering part of his face. He fired a shot from his rifle and tied the couple to trees in the area, Brough said.

The man was able to free himself and ran south to a populated area, where he called police. The woman was released and returned to the vehicle uninjured. The man suffered bruising to his wrists from the restraints and a cut on his leg from falling while escaping from the area, Brough said.

SWAT teams from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office and the Longmont Police Department conducted a search of the area that lasted late into Saturday evening.

Deputies interviewed witnesses on Sunday, but no arrest was made.

And yes, without knowing more, I'm pretty disgusted with this guy who, upon freeing himself, ran off and left the woman who was with him to face whatever all by herself. Where I come from, men fight if they have to to protect those that they care about. But this guy is apparently one of those liberal girly-man types who so infest Colorado these days and I'm sure this his first priority was to get back to his Obama-stickered Volvo just as fast as he could, partner notwithstanding. I hate to brand him a coward without knowing more, but it's kind of hard not to based upon the facts above.

Now when I was out in Boulder for school some years back, I was living in a camper and I usually bedded down in that area at night. I also hiked it extensively during the non-school hours of the week-days. Knowing that area, my guess is that they came close to stumbling on some pot-head's illegal marijuana farm and encountered one of the growers. Everyone with a brain knows how important marijuana is to the wanna-be hippies and sheltered college kids in Boulder and Nederland, and you have to be a fool to traipse around that area unarmed.

When I was there, I was never a fool. I always hiked with a pistol and a German Shepherd, and often with a long gun attached to my pack frame as well if I was going to be ranging away from populated areas. I never go afield without a sidearm at least, usually one of my .357 Magnum revolvers. Any back-country backpacking trip is going to see a fighting rifle on my pack, be it an M1 carbine .357 Magnum or .30-30 lever gun, a Mini-14 or light AR-15, or even a plastic-stocked 1903 Springfield. Heck, I don't even do short hikes locally without a .38 J-frame or a .380 in my pocket. That's just common sense, because you never know who you're going to run into when you're alone in secluded areas and there are bad people out there who prefer such places to engage potential victims. It happens more than most people know. But I know because I've run into that type before, and more than once. I've been unarmed and had to let things play out with them in charge, and I've been armed and able to deter things with a show of strength alone. Human predators size up their would-be prey just like their animal kingdom counterparts do, and even an old one-legged fat guy can be a tough nut to crack if he's got firepower handy and the will to use it, both of which I always have.
In the back-country, 911 response is usually a long ways away, and that's if you can even get a cell signal to call them. So if you're going to be safe, it's on you to take the steps necessary to ensure that you can handle whatever--or whoever--comes along.

FOR SAFE HIKING AND CAMPING, I ALWAYS CHOOSE ONE FROM BOX A AND SOMETIMES ONE FROM BOX B.

BOX A.


BOX B.

Murphy can carry the extra ammo.

Memories of Colorado

Some of my favorite memories of my time attending an ultra-liberal Graduate program in Boulder, Colorado for a summer many years back involve my interactions with the faculty there.

From the professor who swore that she'd call the police the first time that I failed to show up for class on Monday because she knew that I was spending my week-ends exploring old mines by myself, to the dean who got me hooked on Steinbeck, I sometimes think that I gained more from personal interaction with these folks than I did from the actual subject matter, most all of which I've forgotten by now.

A professor whom I had first thing in the morning will always be remembered fondly, not so much from what he taught me about the subject, but what he taught me about punctuality.

My daily routine during those days went something like this:
--Wake up in the morning. (Remember--I'm sleeping in a camper somewhere up around Nederland.)
--Police campsite and clean out camper. Any trash was used for target practice, then bagged and hauled to the trash or recycling bins at school.
--Get breakfast at a little Mexican diner. Flirt with waitresses without success.
--Go to school gym. Work out, then shower and shave.
--Go to class building. Hit computer center in basement first to check e-mail. Stay too long.
--Walk into class just about five minutes late and take seat.

Well one day, my professor had had enough. As I breezed in late again, he stopped his lecture, sighed loudly, and exclaimed: "Late again, Mr. Murphy's Law? How hard could it be for you to get to class on time just once? My God, man, you live in the parking lot!"
Well I was on time from that day forward. And I can still hear the roar of laughter from the rest of the students in that very full lecture hall. Point taken, lesson learned.

And then there was that dean again, who showed me that sometimes those around us see far more than we give them credit for. After my last final exam, I was walking back out to my camper and getting ready to roll on out of Boulder for the last time when I encountered him as he was walking in. He stopped, shook my hand, and said: Well Mr. Murphy's Law, it's been interesting having you here and I can say that things will be a bit different now that you're leaving."
"How's that?" I asked.
"Well, you know. I've enjoyed our discussions of Steinbeck and your travels, and I'll miss those. Your dog's been kind of a fixture around here, too. And speaking for the school, we'll miss all of the shot-up dog food cans in the recycling bins every morning."

This school had a strict policy barring guns from campus. Possessing one gun was grounds for expulsion; I'd had three of them locked up in my camper all summer.

"Whoa! Why would you think that I had anything to do with that?"

The dean just smiled. "Mr. Murphy's Law, I didn't get to be the dean of this school by being stupid. Have a safe trip." Then he shook my hand again and walked away. I just stood there for a moment pondering that. And then I burst out laughing. It had been one hell of a summer.

Travels With Charley a probable fraud...(sigh)

According to writer/researcher Bill Steigerwald, John Steinbeck, one of my favorite authors, apparently took considerable liberties with his supposedly autobiographical book, Travels With Charley.

In fact, he calls it a fraud.

This saddens me, in particular because it was the first Steinbeck book I ever read, and it made me want to read the rest once I discovered and came to admire his unique style.

I was actually introduced to the book--and to John Steinbeck--when I was a traveling graduate student, taking summer courses at an ultra-liberal school in Boulder, Colorado.

That summer I was living in my camper, a former ambulance which, because I lacked the time and money to repaint it, still bore the orange-and-white paint scheme and blue stars of life on it's sides and back. It had been upgraded with a bed, a TV, a cooler and a few other creature comforts but still resembled an operational emergency vehicle closely enough to keep me from getting pulled over several times as I journeyed around the country in it with my first German Shepherd, Oliver. It even got me flagged to a couple of accident scenes, and as I was also a licensed paramedic at that time, I always stopped to help out. In one instance this almost got me in a fair bit of trouble as I was assisting at the scene of a roll-over crash with minor injuries.

I was the first one there, and I got things stabilized until the Fire Department and their real ambulance arrived on scene--one which coincidentally bore a pretty close resemblance to mine, except for the fact that it actually was an ambulance, of course. Soon that crew was treating the driver of the crashed car and I was talking to a couple of people prior to departing when the first State Trooper arrived on scene. The Trooper saw that the crashed car was empty and rightly figured that the driver that he needed to talk to was already in the ambulance. So, squaring his Smokey-the-Bear hat on his head, he walked over to the first orange and white truck with flashing rear red lights that he saw.

(Yeah, I really should have disconnected those...and I eventually did, partly as a result of what happened next.)

The Trooper opened the rear door and took a step up onto the back bumper to enter the truck...and came face-to-face with one angry German Shepherd who was not at all shy when it came to protesting boundary violations into his house on wheels. I heard the loud "RAR! RAR! RAR! RAR!" and turned to see the Trooper stumble backwards off the step bumper and land on his butt on the road shoulder. Fortunately for him, as he fell back, he'd managed to reflexively slam the door shut, a move which had kept Oliver from pursuing but which did not prevent him from standing up on his hind legs and continuing to bark out of the rear window at the person who'd just invaded his domain.

The Trooper got to his feet and began to brush the dust off of his formerly clean uniform as I rushed up to apologize and quiet Oliver. But this Trooper, he was not amused.

"What the HELL is a DOG doing in an AMBULANCE?!"

"Sorry," I said. "But this isn't an ambulance any more. It's my camper."

"Why the HELL is it still painted like an AMBULANCE?! And why the HELL does it have FLASHING RED LIGHTS ON IT?!"

To say that he was mad would be quite the understatement. And of course the more he yelled at or near me, the more Oliver raged and hit at the inside of the door. I did my best to explain that while I did plan to repaint it, I didn't have time to do it before embarking on this trip. However the laws in the state where it was registered only required that I remove the word "AMBULANCE" from it and take the rotating strobe light off the cab roof, both of which I had done, making it technically legal. Since there was basic first-aid equipment in the vehicle, it could lawfully display the star of life.

The Trooper, still angry, did not want to hear any of this though, and I was only saved by one of the fire department responders intervening and telling him how helpful I'd been prior to their arrival. I didn't stick around to be thanked, however. I got while the getting was still good. And as I drove away, Oliver barked at the Trooper out the window for as long as he could still see him.

But back to Steinbeck...

I learned about him one day when the dean at the school came and found me as I was leaving class one day. He introduced himself and said that he wanted to meet "the modern-day Steinbeck."

I did not know who he was talking about, so I promised that if I ran into this Steinbeck fellow, I'd tell him that the dean was looking for him.

"No, I mean YOU, " the Dean said. "Traveling the country in a truck with a dog... Just like Steinbeck did in Travels With Charley."

I told him that I had never read the book, so he invited me back to his office and loaned me his own copy, telling me that he'd appreciate it greatly if, when I'd read it, I sat down with him and gave him my thoughts on it. He wanted to know how life on the road today compared to life on the road in Steinbeck's day.

So I read the book, and I enjoyed it. Obviously some things have changed. One no longer picks up hitchhikers casually or camps on the land of any old farmer or rancher today, but, as it turns out, Steinbeck probably did not do these things either, at least not as he wrote about them. But he'd captured a few things that I could well relate to, from over-packing insanely at the beginning of a trip, to the fatigue felt towards the end of a trip that makes you just push on for home regardless of where you'd planned to stop when mapping the trip out. Those things were real to me, more so than the description of all of the people that he'd met and talked to, people who seemed real enough to the reader until you considered that the odds of him meeting so many stereotypically-colorful people on one trip were high indeed.

But I did like that book. And I enjoyed talking to the dean repeatedly about my adventures during the summer as I traveled the state on week-ends with Oliver. we climbed mountains, explored old mines, slept in fields, rode on tour boats and trains, and just had a grand time together. And being in Boulder, a quirky place on a slow day, we fit in and were accepted, by the faculty and my peers, if not always by the campus police. In fact we met them our first night there.

Arriving late in the afternoon the day before class was to begin, I'd registered and gotten my university parking permit but I had no idea where to spend the night. Then is dawned on me: I've got a university parking permit. I'm golden! So I pulled my truck in next to the building in which my classes were going to be and settled in for the night. And there I was, a short time later, watching TV, drinking coffee, and flipping through my school books, when suddenly there was a loud banging on the side of the truck. "WHAT THE HELL..?" I yelled as Oliver began to bark furiously.
"POLICE!" a voice outside yelled back. "Come out of there!"

I opened the side door and exited to see five police officers standing there.

Now me being from a big city, I was not used to seeing that many police officers unless something very bad had happened.

"Um...what's going on?" I asked, puzzled but eager to help.

"What are you doing here?" one asked.

"I'm a new student here, and my classes start in the morning," I said, naively thinking that this explanation would be sufficient. I was even friendly to the point of offering them all coffee from the pot that I had on provided that they brought cups, because I did not have five extra coffee cups. But another cop stepped forward and grabbed the extension cord that was running from my truck's power coupling over to an outlet on the side of the building. He yanked it from the socket and my truck's interior instantly went dark. "Hey man..."

Oliver barked at him.

In the next couple of minutes, it was explained to me that I:

1. could not be on campus after hours, parking pass or no,
2. was not authorized to plug into the campus power grid,
3. had to get local dog tags for Oliver.

And just to be sure that I got it, they gave me a list of the campus rules, with each of these items highlighted. They helpfully highlighted a couple of other things that they obviously suspected that I might violate later, too. In fact, about the only one that they did not highlight was the one that said that firearms were prohibited on campus and that the possession of a firearm was grounds for arrest and expulsion from the university, even if the bearer had a permit from Colorado or any other state (which I did). Fortunately, probably because all of the lights were out in the back, they did not see the Smith and Wesson Model 66 that was in plain view on the shelf at the head of my bed, nor did they see the gun locker that I'd installed--the one containing a few more long guns. Silly me, I'd just figured that Colorado, being all mountains and outdoorsy, would be the place for backcountry hiking and shooting. Turned out that it is...almost anywhere other than Denver or liberal Boulder.

But not seeing the handgun sitting there, they just gave me a verbal ass-chewing and a few written warning infraction notices and sent me, my dog and my guns on our way. And I drove off into the darkness to find a new camping spot, only to be rousted again from that spot a few hours later by a county deputy.

This never happened to Steinbeck.

Fortunately, the deputy was more sympathetic than the campus toy cops were and he was kind enough to tell me of some places where I actually could park and camp for the night. And after that night I figured out how the game was played and had no more troubles when it came to hiding my truck and bedding down. I camped in a different spot almost every night over the next two and a half months and never once drew the attentions of The Man. And life was good that summer.

Mitch Cowley needs to be hit with a baseball bat

He really does.

It all began when retiree Gary Yourtz paid $1.1 million for a house in Denver's Belcaro neighborhood and pulled a demolition permit, planning to build his dream house at 825 S. Adams Street. Gary liked the neighborhood, but didn't want the old house, built back in 1958. He planned to raze the old one and build a new one, an act which would have increased his property's value and helped prop up the neighborhood's property values.

But this was all halted abruptly when a drive-by jack-ass by the name of Mitch Cowley decided that he didn't want Yourtz to tear down his own house because Cowley, who doesn't even live in the neighborhood--or in Denver--claimed that he likes to drive by and look at the house. He and Susan Livingston (who at least does live in the neighborhood) filed a $250 application to have Yourtz' house declared a historically-significant building, putting the demolition on hold.

The result? Yourtz had to hire an attorney and pay almost $18,000 in legal fees to fight this fight, only to have Cowley just shrug and withdraw the application on the night before it was supposed to go before the City Council for a determination.

Now Yourtz is still out the money. And Cowley? he and his pal Livingston are free and clear and not liable to repay a penny to Yourtz.

"I was just trying to draw a line in the sand because this has been going on too long," Cowley said. "Just because someone owns something doesn't give them the ultimate right. They are removing homes of substance and replacing them with no substance."

Yes, Mitch. Ownership of property gives people the ultimate right. This specifically includes the right to remove a house that you like and replace it with one that they like. If you felt so strongly about this house, why didn't you buy it when it was on the market?
Seriously, if you'd pulled that crap with me, I'd be taking that $18K out of your ass with a Louisville Slugger.

Now if I was Yourtz I'd probably be working up a comprehensive plan to make both Cowley's and Livingston's lives miserable. It would become my new hobby and I'd devote time to it each and every day. You see, these two are the epitome of the modern Liberal; they are driven by the unshakable belief that they know better than you or I what is best for us and the community around us. And like most Liberals, these two are just going to go through life messing with other people and trying to punish us all for not living the way that they want us to until someone makes them pay a cost for the trouble that they cause.

Fake muslim convict causes a stir in Boulder, Colorado.

Maria Hardman, 19 years old, was sentenced to two days in the Boulder Jail and slated to serve those two days this past week-end. However, upon arriving at the jail, she appeared wearing a hijab, or muslim headscarf, and refused to take it off for the booking photo. She claims to have converted to islam three years ago when she was 16 years old, and is now holding herself out as some sort of victim and also a crusader on behalf of muslims everywhere. In her own video, which she's posted to Youtube, she speaks of how she's reached out to both the ACLU and CAIR, the Washington, DC-based lobbying organization/terrorist front-group, requesting their help. And like so many other privileged and sheltered little Boulderites, she claims that the problem here is a "lack of education" on the part of everyone else around her. She's so worldly at 19, and all of the adults with actual life experience are ignorant, at least in her view.

Well maybe the ACLU and CAIR can help her explain how she can really be a devout muslim when she engages in the activities that she boasted about on her public Facebook page (which she's now taken down and changed). On facebook, this "devout muslim" (and underage teenager) describes her favorite activities as:

"Activities: Running, Traveling, Hiking, Scootering, Reading, Cooking, Skiing, Horseback Riding, Hookahing, Partying and Lovin', Camping, Drinking, and 1 more"

"Interests: Traveling, Partying, Ummm See Above"

The page was also filled with gratuitous, casual profanity and self-authored references to "crazy/awesome nights" and partying. At one point, she even listed her status as: "permadrinkin ;)" with a self-reply of "Supposed to say 'permadrunkin'".

She sure sounds like a devout muslim to me...what do you think?

Oh--and the crime for which she was sentenced to the jail...Operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Predictably, she has a defense to this one as well. She claims that she was given alcohol without her knowledge when, at a party, she sipped a glass of punch from a bowl that she did not know was spiked. Of course her credibility was further demolished by her BAC, which was 0.19, or over twice the legal limit of 0.08. To reach such a limit, she would have had to have consumed the equivalent of at least 10 shots, bottles of beer, or glasses of wine. That's not something that you can get from one cup of punch. But she's playing that down now, too. She laughingly tells everyone in her "feel sorry for me" video that she was sentenced to jail for "a bunch of traffic violations." She can't even be honest about her DWI when it's a matter of public knowledge.

Now the muslim community is trying to decide how to handle this hand grenade. Thanks to little Maria publicizing her little affair, they now have to rush in and defend a female who claims to observe their religion yet drinks, operates motor vehicles, and casually associates with non-family-member males.

Meanwhile, Maria has to go back before the judge to explain her non-cooperation. Here's hoping that the judge increases her sentence and gives her more time in jail just for being a self-absorbed drama queen and twit. In a perfect world, her over-indulgent parents would be forced to join her on the work crew for letting her get so screwed up.

Related news stories:

Denver Post
CBS Denver
London Muslim blog

Elderly American facing charges while illegal alien criminals go free

Outrageous.

In Colorado, we have a case where two illegal aliens with lengthy criminal records tried to victimize Robert Wallace, an 82 year old retiree, stealing his trailer from his own home and according to Mr. Wallace, trying to run him over in the process. Wallace fired two shots at the pair, striking one in the face. Both illegals were subsequently identified after the injured one was dropped off the hospital and they confessed to the attempted theft. But rather than prosecute the pair, or turn them over to ICE for deportation, the Jefferson County Prosecutor's Office not only let them go free again, but it turned around and filed Attempted First Degree Murder charges against Mr. Wallace!

Whole outrageous story here.

Sources say Torres and Cardona are believed to be in the country illegally and both have an arrest record. Cardona's record includes public fighting and numerous traffic offenses like driving without a license or insurance. Torres's record includes agricultural trespassing as well as a 2005 arrest for aggravated motor vehicle theft for which he was given a plea bargain to a lesser crime. Sources say Torres is also under investigation for being part of a major auto theft ring.

Yet it's Wallace, the American citizen victim of the robbery who is out on bond now. Torres and Cardona? They're just back out among us courtesy of a soft-on-crime DA who is clearly trying to pander to the growing pro-illegal voting bloc in Colorado.

What's next? The illegals filing a lawsuit against Mr. Wallace, aided by one of the many pro-illegal groups in Colorado? The Eric Holder Justice Department going after Mr. Wallace?

Seriously, this stuff has to stop and our government officials, from Jefferson County's District Attorney Scott Storey up to Eric Holder and Barack Obama, need to remember that they work to protect and serve US--the law-abiding Americans. They weren't elected to make life easier for criminals from other countries who are in our country in violation of our laws. If they won't do their job and protect us from the criminal invaders, we, the people, need to replace them with representatives who will.

If this offends or outrages you, please let your voice be heard.

The Jefferson County DA can be contacted at:
District Attorney Scott Storey
500 Jefferson County Parkway
Golden, CO 80401
303-271-6800
or via e-mail here.

Remember: Be civil.

A note to stupid criminals--it's usually smart to keep your mouth shut.

Rule #1 when you're running a clandestine dope-growing operation: Don't give interviews to the media bragging about it.

Dope grower Chris Bartkowicz, of Highland Ranch Colorado, apparently never heard this. He actually gave an interview to the local news outlets bragging about how he turned his house into a dope factory with the hope of cashing in on the "medical marijuana" craze.

"I'm definitely hidden in suburbia," he said.

A jungle of electrical wires and water hoses snakes from room to room in the home's basement, all supporting Bartkowicz's nearly $500,000 medical-marijuana operation.

This year, he is hoping for a record profit.

"I'd like to see somewhere in the vicinity of $400,000 " he said, though he admits he could make as little as $100,000 depending on what happens with proposed laws regarding medical marijuana.

Bartkowicz said he has grown for more than a year without his neighbors finding out and without any criminal complications.

"If my neighbors don't know and no one else knows, how would I be a target?" he said. "I want to be invisible."

Bartkowicz must route air from the home through a carbon filter to remove the marijuana odor before pumping it outside. Lights and pumps get expensive too. He showed 9Wants to Know his electric bill for two months. He owed $3,694.92, a small price to pay for what he earns, he said.

"I'm definitely living the dream now," he said.

A drug dealer bragging openly about his defiance of the law. Only in a Blue State...

However Bartkowicz' boasting didn't go unnoticed for long. Today's 9News had a related story, but from a different angle.

HIGHLANDS RANCH - Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a Highlands Ranch home on Friday and arrested a medical marijuana grower who was part of a 9Wants to Know story about suburban medical marijuana growing operations.

After 9NEWS showed a tease for a story about Bartkowicz and his operation Thursday night, DEA agents decided he needed a visit. By Friday afternoon DEA agents were at the house carrying away moving boxes and leaf-size trash bags from his home, all filled with marijuana plants.

They also carried away lights, filters and other equipment that were part of Bartkowicz's growing operation.

In the earlier interview, Bartkowicz claimed his operation was completely legal under a state law that allows the growing and sale of medical marijuana.

The special agent in charge of the DEA in Denver says federal law still makes growing and selling marijuana illegal.

"According to him and according to what he's seen on the news he probably believes he is legal," Jeff Sweetin said late Friday afternoon. "We will continue to enforce federal law that's what we are paid to do until the federal law changes."

Bartkowicz is in custody and will not learn what charges he might face until Tuesday, after the President's Day holiday. The U.S. Attorney's office told 9NEWS Friday if he is charged, he could face a charge of possession with intent to distribute. The U.S. Attorney will review the evidence and the decide on the charges.

Hey, moron...you still living the dream?

They call it "dope" for a reason. And I note for the record that this guy himself claimed to be a "medical marijuana" patient. But then all the dopers and drug addicts in Colorado are making that claim these days, almost all for aches and pains that no doctor can actually see or disprove. The voters passed a law allowing the drug for actual sufferers of chronic pain and the addicts jumped right on it and began gaming it by claiming to all have some sort of pain that can't be treated any other way. Hopefully the Colorado voters are waking up to the fact that they were gulled by a pro-legalization lobby that trotted a few cancer-stricken elderly people out in front of them, claiming that they were the people that needed medical marijuana. Now it's every twenty year old skateboarder and x-box player who is going around with a medical marijuana card, each pretending to be disabled in some way.

It's time to change the law back, Colorado. And people in other states that are considering legalizing marijuana for so-called medical use, please take note of the massive fraud going on in Colorado today and just say no.

A fundamental difference between Conservatives and Liberals

In Colorado (where else?), the Democrats are expressing outrage over comments made by a conservative Republican on the floor of the state house on Monday.

State Representative Spencer Swalm stated the plain truth that people who don’t want to live in poverty, should stop having children out of wedlock. Common sense, right? Well maybe to you and to me, but the state's Democratic party went ape over the mere suggestion that single moms having kids that they cannot afford is a bad thing and leads to a life of poverty. It doesn't matter that the statistics on that issue are clear and uncontestable--Even the US Census Bureau reports that 43 percent of Colorado families living below the poverty level were headed by a married couple vs. Fifty-seven percent of families below that line that were single-parent families. And of all children living in single-parent homes, nearly a third lived in poverty. Only 8.6 percent of children in married couple families lived in poverty.

I mean, come on--it's not even something you can argue. Single-parent families may do quite well, but more of them do poorly than do families with two parents. That's just a fact.

“Don’t have kids out of wedlock,” said Swalm, R-Centennial from the House floor. “If you’re married, if at all possible, try to stay married. Those are ways to lift families out of poverty.”

In an interview afterward, Swalm pointed out that “intact families do better than dysfunctional or broken families”, but said he was not advocating that women stay in abusive marriages.

“Those children are almost guaranteed to be in poverty. You don’t want kids in poverty? Don’t have kids out of wedlock,” Swalm said. “Better yet, get a high school degree. That doesn’t cost a dime.”

Wow. Get and stay married, get a basic diploma, work. Such oppressive concepts. No wonder the Dems are outraged. It goes without saying that messages like this rock their party because impoverished people are a major bloc of their constituency. People who do well and earn money or own property naturally want to keep it so they tend to vote for the Republicans, who at least give lip-service to conservative principles like self-reliance and small government. Conversely, poor people, including people who don't work and who have lots of kids that they cannot afford, expect the government to take care of them, usually by taking the money and/or property from those who have it--typically the ones who stayed in school and worked hard and who didn't start popping out kids in their teen years.

This is why I think that people on welfare should not be allowed to vote. They have elected to become children of the state and children aren't supposed to have a say in how a household is run. If welfare recipients could not vote, many legislators who owe their seats to large numbers of non-working child-breeders in their districts might not be in office today and perhaps the government would more accurately reflect and work on behalf of the average American--the man or woman who gets up every day and puts in 40 hours or more each week to earn their own way.

Mind you, it's not cut-and-dried between the parties. There are a few conservative Democrats out there, and there are some scum-sucking liberal Republicans who like to ride on the Conservative Values float come election time but who still vote to give the store away to people who aren't putting anything in. I really don't care which party takes the lead so long as it's the most conservative one. And that's why come November, I'll be voting for and donating money to candidates who pledge or have demonstrated support for small government, pro-citizen-empowerment conservatism, regardless of their political affiliation. And if the GOP thinks that I'll support another John McCain, they're in for a rude awakening. I want a government that governs me the least and lets me keep what I earn. And I want more people like Spencer Swalm in office, because he seems to get that.

Go, Spencer, go!

More proof that "medical marijuana" is just a scam to let almost anyone get weed

This tale out of Brighton, Colorado has it all...a hundred potheads, a doctor fleeing the police, a Chiropractor and his wife going to jail... So much for the fiction that medical marijuana is only used by a few pitiful people in the end stages of their lives.

A Brighton chiropractor and two other people were arrested Saturday for distributing pot after police say 100 people gathered — and smoked — at a makeshift medical-marijuana dispensary.

The chiropractic office building on South Fourth Avenue in Brighton was set up as an "assembly line to give out marijuana prescriptions" — complete with a doctor and a caregiver, said Sgt. Jim Gearhardt of the North Metro Drug Task Force.

Patients were paying $100 each to get into the building, police said.

When police arrived, the prescribing doctor fled the scene. Officers smelled pot smoke and arrested a chiropractor and his wife, and the caretaker dispensing the pot. Police declined to give the names of those arrested until they finished the investigation.

Brighton has a ban on medical-marijuana dispensaries, Gearhardt said.

Police said they were trying to get a search warrant to determine whether there is any more marijuana in the office building.

"The state law allows distribution of marijuana for medical purposes," said Sgt. Scott Takahashi of the North Metro Task Force. "It appears every single person coming through the door here was getting pot."

Chiropractor Darrin Marchus co-owns the building where the arrests were made. He was seeing his chiropractic patients on Saturday morning when he heard the commotion outside.

"I was doing my normal day, seeing patients," he said. "And there were a bunch of people lining up and police lining up."

He said the chiropractor with whom he shares the building, Jeffrey Gappa, who runs Complete Care of Colorado, told him last week he was having a "meeting" Saturday.

"He said he was going to have a talk of some kind with some people," Marchus said. "He was very secretive about all of it."

Marchus said Gappa mentioned something about medical marijuana, and Marchus told him he didn't want any part of that in their shared office building.

Marchus is worried sick about how the drama will affect his business, Marchus Chiropractic, which he has built over 20 years in Brighton.

State lawmakers are crafting legislation that should provide clarity to the state's burgeoning medical-marijuana industry.

State Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, is working on a measure that would create more stringent rules on the relationship between patients and prescribing doctors.

The bill would require the doctor and patient to have a "bona fide" relationship in which the doctor provides the patient a full examination and follow-up care before a prescription.

Rob Corry, an attorney representing the interests of the medical-marijuana industry, said Saturday's arrests were timely.

"I am sure there is no coincidence whatsoever between the fact this comes to light at the moment the state legislature is thinking about debating this issue," he said.

So the "doctor" needs to be located, charged criminally and stripped of his license to practice. Then this so-called "clinic" needs to be padlocked and/or seized. And every pothead who was identified as having been there needs to be put on a list of those who have abused the medical marijuana system and barred from getting it again unless and until they appear at a hearing and have a real doctor testify before a panel of other legitimate medical experts about the patient's actual need for weed.

And states that are considering legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes need to look at stories like this. They are becoming more and more common, especially when the average "medical marijuana" card-holder is now apt to be some twenty-something skateboarder who claims to have some injury that no one else can see instead of the poor cancer or glaucoma sufferer that we were all told this law was being passed to help.

And if we're going to treat marijuana as a legitimate medicine, let's at least start controlling it like one by establishing purity standards, licensing and regulating growers and dispensing it through actual pharmacies instead of letting any old Cheech or Chong set himself up in the business of selling it. As it stands now, the whole thing is just a joke and I'm all in favor of just going back to the day when weed was illegal and warranted a record and maybe some time in jail. We gave the potheads an inch based on their claims of legitimate use for a select few, and they abused it. So screw 'em; let's just go back to jailing the potheads until they learn to leave the stuff alone.

If we legalize it, we can have even more whacked-out naked drug dealers running around.

Ironic, isn't it? One of the larger and more persistent groups of potheads demanding that we repeal the laws against marijuana and other drugs (laws that they don't obey anyway) is the Colorado college student community (Parents, remember this when your kid says that he or she wants to go to school in Colorado.) and the unwashed hippie crowd that hangs around on it's fringes, so it's interesting that this stunning display of a pothead in action--and not just any pothead but a supplier to other potheads under the "legal for medical purposes" ficton--comes to us from Colorado.

While Greeley and other cities debate medical marijuana, a bizarre case east of Greeley last weekend may fuel arguments about the issue.

The incident took place last Friday near Dearfield on U.S. 34, about 30 miles east of Greeley. According to arrest reports, a naked man hit and damaged vehicles, walked over the top of one car and spit on a state trooper.

The suspect, Dustin Robbins, 27, of Westminster, told sheriff's deputies he grows medical marijuana and sells it to people who have prescriptions for the drug.

The numerous charges to be filed against Robbins include five counts of indecent exposure, assault on a police officer, driving while under the influence of marijuana, two counts of harassment and reckless driving.

The incident began about 5 p.m. Friday, when Robbins was driving west on the highway and a witness reported his car was swerving into the path of oncoming vehicles, then swerving back out of the way.

When Robbins stopped his car and got out, a witness said he was shirtless and his pants were down around his ankles. He pulled his pants completely off, then stood naked in the middle of the highway, cursing at passing cars and hitting some of them with his fists.

This created a traffic jam, according to witnesses. Two Greeley women in their 70s and 80s later told deputies that a naked man ran at their car, jumped on the hood and broke the windows with his fists and feet, then walked over the roof, down over the trunk and ran away. Damage to the car was estimated at $1,200.

When the drivers called police, the first to arrive was a Colorado State Patrol trooper, who arrested Robbins. It was then that Robbins spit in the trooper's face, according to reports. That resulted in the assault charge.

Deputies who searched Robbins' car said they found 4 ounces of marijuana and a notebook containing certificates for medicinal marijuana. The notebook listed Robbins as the “caretaker” for his customers, who had prescriptions for medicinal marijuana. Deputies did not find a license for dispensing medicinal marijuana.

A test of Robbins' blood at the hospital indicated he was under the influence of marijuana. He remains in the Weld County Jail with a bond set at $50,000.

So Dustin the drug dealer wigs out, and shows us several things wrong with the whole "drugs should be legal, dude" argument.

First we have that fact that typical "medical marijuana" users in places where it has been legalized by gullible voters seems to be mainly young males in their twenties who have no significant medical history aside from some questionable "skateboarding injury" that they claim left them with permanent pain that can't be cured with by treatment except smoking lots of marijuana. It's not old people suffering from terminal cancer or anything like the proponents claimed it was to be legalized to treat--no, it's now being prescribed almost exclusively to otherwise able-bodies young people who--surprisingly--all smoked tons of weed before showing up at the offices of one of a number of doctors who are known in the doper community to give out prescriptions for weed to anyone who asks. The ones that I've met or otherwise observed all seem to do just fine in day to day life. They ride bikes or skateboards, drive cars, some even hold down the sort of dead-end jobs that potheads typically work. In short, they rarely exhibit any of that "severe pain" that they claim to be living with every day...unless someone questions their drug use, that is. Even high school students are using it as an excuse to bring dope to school. It's a scam and a fraud and it's obvious to most people these days.

That aside, even if it weren't a fraud and the only ones authorized to buy and smoke this recreational drug legally were people with actual terminal pain-management issues, we'd still be looking at a situation where people who need the drug have to get it from people like Dustin here--people who aren't otherwise trustworthy and who grow and sell an alleged "medicine" with no tests for purity or potency or safety whatsoever. That's like walking into a pharmacy to get heart medicine and buying unmarked pills from the pocket of some drunk in the parking lot instead of having a licensed pharmacist give you the exact dosage of a medicine that has been tested to ensure that it is both safe and effective and consistent from lot to lot. A so-called "medical treatment" that relies on whatever someone like Dustin carries around in baggies in his socks or down his pants can't be credibly claim any shred of legitimacy.

So I think that it's time that we either put an end to this charade of "medical marijuana" once and for all or institute real controls over who can get it and where they can get it from.
In every state that has agreed to legalize it, the doper community has trotted out the same dozen or so "professional patients" who are supposedly suffering from terminal cases of whatever. They get up and tearfully describe their pain and talk about how no real medicine or treatment makes it go away but weed makes them feel better, and when the legislators or voters agree to make it legal to help these pathetic sideshow phonies, suddenly every third burnout under the age of thirty shows up at a doctor's office claiming to have fallen down or been in a car accident and insisting that the doctor give them what is really nothing more than a hall pass allowing them to possess and smoke as much marijuana as they choose, whenever they choose to smoke it. Drug use goes up, and people like Dustin profit.

So let's end the scam and repeal the laws that allow marijuana for medical use. It's nothing more than a dishonest effort to circumvent laws that the potheads have no intention of obeying anyway, so really all they want us to do is exempt them from the penalties that go along with their choice to break the law. That I can't agree with. We live in a great country that we all govern collectively, and it was set up to allow us to make our own laws, and change them or repeal them if we didn't like them. That said, we can obey the laws, or we can change the laws, but if we start allowing people to just ignore the laws, or dishonestly circumvent them, then it undermines the entire foundation that our legal system is based upon.

So in the name of honesty, and to preserve the integrity of our representative democracy, let's get back to banning the drug for everyone until our society agrees to make it legal for everyone.