Colorado Conservative

Friday the 13th

Well today is Friday the 13th, and I, for one, am just a tad superstitious. So everyone...as they said on "Hill Street Blues"..."be careful out there".

Not the Way to Legal Gay Marriage

from Fox News...

The California Supreme Court (search) ruled unanimously Thursday that San Francisco's mayor overstepped his authority by issuing same-sex marriage licenses this spring. The court also voided all the marriages of gay and lesbian couples sanctioned by the city.

The court said the city violated the law when it issued the certificates and peustice Ronald George noted that Thursday's ruling doesn't address "the substantive legal rights of same sex couples. In actuality, the legal issue before us implicates the interest of all individuals in ensuring that public officials execute their official duties in a manner that respects the limits of the authorities granted to them as officeholders."

The California Supreme court saw this as clearly as I did, thank goodness. Look, I'm for gay marriage, but I DON'T support public officials breaking the law. Newsum was doing just that. Newsum is lucky that he hasn't been arrested, and he certainly could have been.

Not a very sauvy move from the Mayor of San Francisco.

Bike Versus Car

in the Duluth News Tribune

They are there every week on Minnesota Trunk Highway 23 south of Duluth -- Lance Armstrong devotees that glide and climb, two or three abreast, on their sleek and tres cher road bicycles.

For perhaps a second, one might forget the rolling hills of the St. Louis River Valley isn't the French countryside.

The bicycle enthusiasts, though, say a 4-year-old edict by the Minnesota Department of Transportation to install rumble strips on newly rebuilt highway shoulders is disrupting their ritual rides.

Despite repeated complaints from a few dozen Twin Ports riders, the safety measure -- which alerts drivers, with vibration and noise, when they're about to veer off the road -- has become the norm for all highway construction or reconstruction, MnDOT officials say. The strips effectively keep motorists on the road and bicyclists out of their path, they say.

I tried to bve outraged on behalf of the cyclists, but the rumble strips actually protect THEM as well. I think the DoT could have given them a little more space, but it's not like they have nothing. Pace out four feet and ask yourself if the bicyclists are being unreasonable. I say yes.

Hole-y Cow

CNN tells us about a heck of a hole...

Cave explorers discovered a pit inside a mountain range in central Croatia believed to have the world's deepest subterranean vertical drop, at nearly 1,700 feet, a scientific institute reported Monday.

The cave, in Croatia's mountainous Velebit region, has a steady, weaving descent of 203 feet before it takes a direct vertical plunge of 1,693 feet through the ground, said Ana Sutlovic Baksic, a researcher at the Velebit Speleological Society.

The cave's widest stretch is about 100 feet.

"We have even bigger caves in Croatia, but according to available data, this cave has the world's deepest vertical drop," Sutlovic Baksic said.

This place sounds like "the pits".....They say the place is "hole-y"...I bet you'll "dig" it...just don't tell them they're going down "the tubes".

Art Trumps Justice

As seen in the Houston Chronicle...

Advocates for an inmate who killed a young convenience store clerk 19 years ago and has since blossomed as an artist and model prisoner on death row asked state officials Wednesday to spare him from a scheduled Aug. 26 execution. Attorneys for James Allridge, supported by four former members of his jury, asked the Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry to commute his sentence to life in prison on the basis that he has been rehabilitated.

He killed a young man during a robbery...I wonder if that guy had any traits that would have been good for society? Sorry, I don't feel remorse for killers. I feel remorse for their victims.

Light Posting

The links are calling...and so is my golfing partner. They say you shouldn't ignore signs like that...so I'm not. Be back later. For all you Denver bloggers, here's a fun thing to do tonight. Go to Jazz at Jack's down on 15th and Platter River (Right by Shakerspeares and My Brothers Bar)...Go see Collect the Whole Set do Improv...Veryyyy Funnyyyyyyy!!!!!

I've Got A Better Idea

from WFTV via Drudge.....This happened in Vernon Vermont.

It's not often that police get pulled over by a drunk driver. It happened recently to Police Chief Ian McCollin, who was in his car when he spotted a driver looking befuddled at an intersection.

Thinking the man might be lost, McCollin stopped on the side of the road. The man pulled alongside of him, rolled down his window and announced he was looking for an officer to arrest him because he was drunk.

As much as I respect the driver for turning himself in, it might have been better if he...oh, I don't know....HADN'T HAVE BEEN DRUNK DRIVING TO START WITH!!!! I mean the guy had a suspended licence, and was four times the legal limit. Those are two good reasons NOT to get behind the wheel.

When Activists Attack

From the Rocky Mountain News...I don't blame PETA for this, but I do blame activists who thought it was a "good" idea to release these hurt birds.

When I got in here, all the cages were broken, and the birds were flying around," Strimple said. "Some hit the walls and died."

Seventeen birds died, and 28 flew away, said Laura Mayfield, a rehabilitator who works at the center.

The intruders also stole $400 in cash and checks, as well as three binoculars valued at a total of $920.

"They didn't break into the home to help the animals," said Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. "These people broke into this place to cause animal harm."

It would be very strange for an animal activist group to try to release animals that are in recovery, Boyles said.

The center put a "Keep the Circus" sign in the front yard, which may be a reason for the incident, Strimple said, but added that it's only speculation at this point.

I applaude PETA for condemning this. The problem is that PETA has hitched their wagons to people like this in the past. These folks think this stuff is O.K. PETA needs to do more to tell people like these that this kind of stuff IS NOT O.K.

Ummm...Yuck

From Chicago Tribune and All Access...

At the outset of a Chicago River boat tour Sunday, Capt. Sonja Lund deadpanned that passengers should not look up with their mouths open when passing under the city's grated bridges, lest they get a true "taste of Chicago."

About 15 minutes later, passengers got more than that. They got a deluge when the boat was doused with a foul "liquid substance" that appeared to drop from one or two charter buses as the boat passed under the Kinzie Street bridge, passengers and tour officials said.

Witnesses said they had just begun the Chicago Architecture Foundation's 1 p.m. tour when they passed under the bridge and a cascade of a "brownish-yellow" substance rained on them. About two-thirds of the passengers seated on the upper deck of Chicago's Little Lady were soaked. Passengers said they looked up to see at least one, possibly two charter buses rumbling above.

A volunteer tour guide at the boat's helm reassured passengers that they had been splashed with water. But the foul smell prompted suspicion.

There was "stunned silence initially. Then sort of this horrible realization as they began to smell themselves as to what happened," said Steedman Bass, 35, of Boston, who was a passenger on the boat but was not sprayed. "It was horrific."

I'm not usually one to be for all sorts of new laws, BUT...it seems to me that making it illegal to dump waste from buses into rivers in Chicago might be a good idea.

Tetnus shots for everyone!!!!!

No "Monkeying" Around

From CNN and All Access

When Koko the gorilla used the American Sign Language gesture for pain and pointed to her mouth, 12 specialists, including three dentists, sprang into action.

The result? Her first full medical examination in about 20 years, an extracted tooth and a clean bill of health.

About a month ago, Koko, a 300-plus-pound ape who became famous for mastering more than 1,000 signs, began telling her handlers at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside she was in pain. They quickly constructed a pain chart, offering Koko a scale from one to 10.

When Koko started pointing to nine or 10 too often, a dental appointment was made. And because anesthesia would be involved, her handlers used the opportunity to give Koko a head-to-toe exam.

It's pretty cool when a gorilla can get herself a dental appointment.