Colorado Conservative

I'm Calling For A Summit!!!

I propose a Summit!!!! If it's O.K. for Kerry, it's O.K. for me. I propose a Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash Summit on November 3rd. Even if I have to have it at my place.

Lack of Posting

LSAT Test is this weekend. I'm doing a lot of cramming. Probably won't blog too much unless something big comes up. Be back later....maybe.

Another Problem

You wanna see the problem with alcohol and college in a nutshell? Check out this "CU proposes 'deferred rush' Chancellor: 'Things need to change' in Greek system" , this "Liquor licenses fuel trouble on Hill", this "Sudden death", and this "Beer-licious" in today's Boulder Daily Camera.

I'm thinking if we're gonna be down on people drinking, it's probably not a great idea to also do an article on how great beer is...IN THE SAME PAPER!!!!!

A Problem

From the Washington Times...

A top al Qaeda lieutenant has met with leaders of a violent Salvadoran criminal gang with roots in Mexico and the United States — including a stronghold in the Washington area — in an effort by the terrorist network to seek help infiltrating the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement authorities said. Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a key al Qaeda cell leader for whom the U.S. government has offered a $5 million reward, was spotted in July in Honduras meeting with leaders of El Salvador's notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang, which immigration officials said has smuggled hundreds of Central and South Americans — mostly gang members — into the United States. Although they are actively involved in alien, drug and weapons smuggling, Mara Salvatrucha members in America also have been tied to numerous killings, robberies, burglaries, carjackings, extortions, rapes and aggravated assaults — including at least seven killings in Virginia and a machete attack on a 16-year-old in Alexandria that severely mutilated his hands.

Can we start profiling these gangs? Please?

Not Rape, But Still Bad

From NBC 4 Los Angeles and All Access...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Quinton Robinson won't be going to prison for a statutory rape conviction just yet. First, he has to marry his victim. The 38-year-old Syracuse man accepted a plea bargain rather than go to trial on a rape charge for having sex with his underage girlfriend.

Robinson said when he moved in with the 16-year-old girl and her mother in 2002, he thought the girl was older. Last November, the teen gave birth to their baby.

After his arrest, the girlfriend didn't want to cooperate with his prosecution.

Monday, a judge agreed to postpone sentencing until after Oct. 9. That's when Robinson plans to marry his girlfriend, who's now 19.

When I first heard about this story I thought that this guy was getting a raw deal. Sometimes two teens fall in love even if one is under age.

...Then I saw this guy's age.

I still think this shouldn't be rape, BUT IT'S STILL WRONG!!!! What happened to late thirty-year-olds marrying, well, PEOPLE OVER 20?!!

Not rape, but not sorry guy's going to prison.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me

From All Access and KESQ Palm Springs..

OAKLAND, Calif. The Oakland Police Department has halted its use of D-U-I checkpoints after the city's Hispanic leaders complained that the roadblocks were ensnaring too many illegal immigrants.

D-U-I checkpoints allow police officers to demand drivers' licenses and proof of insurance. City leaders agree the roadblocks are an effective way to get drunken drivers off the streets.

But Hispanic community leaders and City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente complained that the checkpoints were making life miserable for illegal immigrants who aren't licensed to drive but otherwise obey the law.

So this City Councilman would rather have drunks on the road than to snare the odd non-drinking law breaker. This is so stupid, but then again, it IS the Bay Area.

Memo to self, don't go to Oakland......well that seems like good advice all the time, not just now.

Tabloids Do Job That Mainstream Won't

From All Access and Sky News...

Police said officers made the arrest on Friday and were "acting on information received from the News of the World".

Today, the newspaper said they had uncovered a plot to buy radioactive material for a dirty bomb.

They claimed they sent in an undercover reporter posing as a Muslim extremist following a tip-off that a Saudi sympathetic to "the Muslim cause" was willing to pay £300,000 for a kilo of powerful, radioactive red Mercury.

The chemical is said to have been developed by Russian scientists for "briefcase nuclear bombs", although scientists are divided over whether any actually exists.

According to the News of the World, meetings were held with gang members hoping to supply the radioactive material to their Middle Eastern buyer.

The NoW journalist was allegedly told the chemical would be used either "here in the UK or the USA".

Let me ask a small question. Why can "News of the World" do this and not, say, "60 Minutes"? It seems to me this is exactly the type of hard hitting investigative journalism that would excel in today's news business. I can't believe that I'll be going to the tabloids to get my news from now on, but at least they're trying.

Another Stupid Law Proposal

From the Denver Post...

Alarmed by the recent rash of fatal traffic accidents involving teenagers, Colorado legislators plan to introduce a bill next year that would prevent newly licensed teen drivers from having young passengers in their cars.

The measure also would bar minors from driving from midnight to 5 a.m. until they have had a license for at least a year.

At Thursday's meeting of the Transportation Legislation Review Committee, lawmakers agreed to promote a measure in the 2005 legislative session that would prevent a minor driver from having any passenger under 21 in the car for the first six months the minor holds a driver's license.

What a misguided law this would be. Why are we putting more restrictions on certain people after we have licensed them. Imagine licensing a doctor, and then telling them they can only perform certain types of procedures for the first six months. Imagine telling child-care workers they can only watch a certain age of kid for the first year. Imagine telling a barber, he can only cut certain types of hair for the first six months. It sounds stupid because it is. It's the same with driving.

A license is a certificate that tells everyone that a certain person has passed all the qualifications in order to do a certain thing. Like driving. Once someone is licensed, the state is telling them they have licence to perform the said action in full. What these lawmakers want to tell teens is that yes, we think you should be able to drive, but we don't think you should have the pivilages of driving. This is wrong-headed.

The problem isn't that too many teens in a car cause accidents, it's that we've licensed too many drivers that can't drive. We are giving out licenses like candy. If someone is not a capable driver, why are we giving them a license that says they are? What lawmakers should be doing is making sure people are qualified to drive before they get their licence. In England, someone must take lengthy written and driving tests, and pass them with 100% accuracy, or they aren't licensed. We need that here. We would be better served making sure drivers are prepared to drive before they are licensed than trying to regulate them after the fact. Common Sense, people.

Remember too, that in Colorado most of the high profile accidents have been caused by people who would not have been affected by the law. This would not have been prevented by the proposed law. Those CDOT workers killed June 4th of this year, would not have been saved. Just today Jennifer Fiskum was released from prison after killing a man while driving. She would not have been affected by this law.

We need to make sure ALL drivers are better drivers, not just teens. We need to make sure drivers are prepared to drive before getting a license. Teens should not be punished because lawmakers didn't do enough to prepare them for driving before handing them a licence. The law to ban teens from driving with teens is a wrong-headed law and should not be passed. These lawmakers can and should do better.

A Ten Year Anniversary

Of this......

On Sept. 24, 1994 — 10 years ago today — arguably the most amazing play in the history of college football ended when Colorado's Michael Westbrook landed with the ball in the end zone at Michigan Stadium. It began on the Buffs' 36-yard line, where Kordell Stewart took the snap. It then went back 10 yards to the 26-yard line, where Stewart was dancing to make time and from where he threw the ball. The ball traveled, most say in slow-motion, to the 1-yard line, where Blake Anderson tipped it. Westbrook caught the ball over Ty Law, setting off a raucous celebration in a silent building.

I still get chills everytime I watch it. Go Buffs!!

Passing The Buck

From KCBS and All Access...

Nearly two-thirds of parents in a new survey want the government to place tighter controls on sex and violence on television, researchers said Thursday.

Federal law bars radio and non-cable television stations from airing references to sexual and excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

But that anti-indecency standard is only enforced when a complaint is filed with federal regulators, triggering a review and possible fines by the Federal Communications Commission. And the law doesn't address violence.

Sixty-three percent of parents surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation said they favor new regulations to limit the amount of sex and violence in TV shows during the early evening hours when children are more likely to be watching.

The survey also found that more than half of all parents, 52 percent, said they would like to see federal regulators apply content standards to cable stations. Forty-three percent opposed the idea.

Ummm, isn't that the parents job? When I'm around kids, I don't watch "The Sopranos" or "Sex in the City". Parents can't do the same thing? You had 'em, how 'bout being responsible for 'em.