Anyhow, the first story was on NPR Morning Edition on September 5, 2008 about Robert Morrow, the country coroner, dentist, and volunteer fireman.

The second story which was on the NPR Morning Edition on November 3, 2008 were various viewpoints about how people there were voting, and included interviews of a couple of friends of mine. Cool stuff!

Be sure to check out the photo galleries in both stories– great photos!

I used to feel intimidated by people like this; now I see them as walking insecurity beacons, slaves to the perceived judgment of others, trapped within a self- perpetuating circle of crushing status anxiety.

Well said.

How do I dare say this to you moronic war supporters who are “Supporting our Troops” and waving the flag and all that happy horse shit? I’ll tell you why. I’m a Marine and I served my tour in Iraq. My husband, also a Marine, served several. I left the service six months ago because I got pregnant while he was home on leave and three days ago I get a visit from two men in uniform who hand me a letter and tell me my husband died in that fucking festering sand-pit. He should have been home a month ago but they extended his tour and now he’s coming home in a box.

You fuckers and that god-damn lying sack of shit they call a president are the reason my husband will never see his baby and my kid will never meet his dad.

Wow.

It didn’t quite go as planned as there was a problem during the second stage, however given that it took the Atlas program 12 tries for a successful launch into space, SpaceX seems to be well on their way.

More coverage and video of the launch:

• Space Flight Now
• SpaceX Updates
• Launch Video
• Kwaj Rockets

Denver’s selection brings the high-profile political gathering to the Pepsi Center in August 2008 — exactly 100 years after the city hosted its first and only national party convention. About 35,000 delegates and journalists are expected for what business leaders hope will mean a more than $160 million boon for the city.

“There is no question that the West is important to the future of the Democratic Party,” Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said in a release. “The recent Democratic gains in the West exemplify the principle that when we show up and ask for people’s votes and talk about what we stand for, we can win in any part of the country. Additionally, we have a number of strong Democratic leaders in the West who will be a part of showcasing the vision of Democratic leadership for America as we introduce the next Democratic President in the Rocky Mountains.”

It seems like this place is starting to get a little bit trendy or something… I am pretty excited about it though.

I remember having an ice storm in Colorado sometime around 1984 (I was 5 or 6) which was not early this bad, but I haven’t experienced a storm like that since then. We had cattle at the time and my dad and I had to go out and knock all of the ice off of the electric fences to keep them from getting out as well as busted holes in iced over water tanks so that the cattle would have something to drink. Consequently that was the first time I remember driving– I had to steer my dad’s Bronco while he knocked the ice off with a shovel on the electric fence. Man, has life changed since then…

We sent a variety of unpackaged items to U.S. destinations, appropriately stamped for weight and size, as well as a few items packaged as noted. We sent items that loosely fit into the following general categories: valuable, sentimental, unwieldy, pointless, potentially suspicious, and disgusting. We discovered that although some items were never delivered, most of the objects of even highly unusual form did get delivered, as long as the items had a definitely ample value of stamps attached. The Postal Service appears to be amazingly tolerant of the foibles of its public and seems occasionally willing to relax specific postal regulations.

Please invest the time to read the article from top to bottom rather than skimming– it’s amazing.

I was really quite amazed by half of the stuff that made it there, but at the same time most mail people I’ve met (including FedEx, UPS, etc) seemed to be pleasant, hard working people.

I also have a brother-in-law in Kansas who works for the local power company as a journeyman, and last I knew he hadn’t been home in 7 straight days. Nebraska and Kansas seemed to receive the brunt of the ice storms, while Baca County seemed to be hit the hardest by the snow.

It warmed up very nicely in Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Wednesday, so you may think that the danger is behind us for the storm battered southeastern plains.

But analysts are saying that ranchers can lose $2 billion in cattle in this storm. And that’s just the cattle industry.

Factor in collapsed buildings, people trapped in remote homes, businesses shut because they can’t get deliveries and customers can’t reach them, and a terrible disaster is looming.

Volunteers on snowmobiles, eight national guard helicopters, and even two F-16 spotter jets were involved in Wednesday’s frantic effort to save the cattle, who’ve been without food and water for a week now.

Another storm is expected to hit on Friday. The prediction is for minimal snowfall. However, wind could cause a ground blizzard, once again covering the roads that have already been plowed.

Nearly 3,000 people are still without power near Lamar and Walsh because of downed power lines caused by the storm.

However, things are looking up. Both Govenor Owens and US Senator Ken Salazar are asking that Bush declare the area a disaster area to start getting Federal assistance, and the National Guard has made it’s way down to the SE corner to help get crucial supplies in. A friend of mine that I grew-up with is in the National Guard and was actually headed back down to that area from Denver to go help with the work going on down there.

A lot of volunteers have made their way down there, including snowmobile clubs and various people trained for this sort of disaster. They’ve also got equipment from everywhere from Pueblo to the Denver International Airport helping to clear snow, and food shipments are starting to make their way there as well. All that I can really say is a big thank you to all of those who are helping out. If I felt there was something I could do other than get in the way and I wouldn’t get stuck myself, I’d head down to lend a hand.

Some updated media coverage:

• Crisis looms in snowed-in southeast Colorado – Currently the headline story for the Rocky Mountain News. Be sure to check out the slide show too.
• Race to find, feed cattle swirls across Colo. ranches
• Baca County digging out – Several good photos of Springfield CO, which is about 18 miles from my hometown of Walsh CO and is the county seat of Baca County.
• Groups scour southeastern Colorado for trapped cattle
• Situation on southeastern plains dire – Streaming video with this one.
• Ranchers Racing to Feed Livestock – More streaming video coverage here.
• Grocery Stores and Cattle Both Lacking Food