Scandals, wildfires, Syria and the looming implementation of the Affordable Health Act continue to dominate the news. The economy has been pushed to the back burner. Big mistake for America.

If you think things are rosy, think again. Despite all the “things are back to normal” news being aired so scandals can be focused on, the economy is beginning to sag again. The trouble will coalesce in…the housing market, the trigger for the recession.

This time the villain won’t be delinquent homeowners or derivatives but rising interest rates.

Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury Notes hit 2.27% Tuesday, the highest level in more than a year. This was in response to a global sell-off in bonds tied to the Bank of Japan’s failure to expand its stimulus package and support the market. This wasn’t expected.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is dropping like an Apollo capsule without a parachute despite active and massive intervention by the Bank of Japan. Markets reacted here on unease as to whether next week’s FOMC meeting of the Fed will prove to be just as impotent in its stimulus (bond buying) as BOJ was.

What is more disturbing for the economic waters here in the U.S. is the surge in housing has been accomplished on the back of lower interest rates and continued support through income tax deductions.

Peter Tchir of TF Market Advisors, a New York-based research, asset management and consulting firm, took particular interest in the rising rates as mortgage rates mirror the 10-year Treasury rate. America has already seen more than half a point rise in mortgage rates to 4.1% since May 1.

Americans will continue to be told to take advantage of such low rates because, measured against history, this is still extremely low. But compared to the economic picture as a whole, the risk of taking on a home mortgage is overwhelming the benefits of getting the lower rate.

The risk comes from the fact this “recovery” has not produced jobs equal to the ones lost in the recession. Much of the job growth, as the Rant has detailed, is in lower-paying, service-oriented jobs or in temporary positions. As has been stated here, the Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to distort the truth about the recovery by counting new part-time and temporary jobs as equal to disappeared full-time jobs.

The BLS must adjust its method of counting and count a job as a job only when it surpasses the ‘living standard’ test. If a person cannot support a family (food, energy, clothing, housing and transportation) on those earnings then that doesn’t meet the test and should not be described as a ’job’.

To top the bad news in the bond sell-off, most of the withheld money is going into “risk-free” government securities. The investors who rush into this area on basing their investment on the “reliably positive U.S. GDP growth.”

Failure to account for inflation’s effect is the driving the alleged GDP growth when in reality the U.S. is declining as a recent Philadelphia Federal Reserve Mid-Atlantic Manufacturing Report showed. In the first quarter of 2013 the report showed factory output capability in the U.S. declined by 22% in one year. But the report lightly touched on this aspect while gleefully reporting factory capacity usage was up 6.7% in a year-over year analysis.

If GDP was actually growing the capacity usage should have surged more than 22% since we had lost that much output capacity. But that is bad news and thus to be avoided.

One more point as to a failing, not growing economy. The newest jobs report showed the weekly first time unemployment claims had hit a low point of 334,000. If you look at the latest employment report you find 175,000 jobs were created last month.

To get a true picture you must multiply the first-time claims by 4 (bringing the new low report to a whopping 1.336 million first time claims in the previous month). Somebody please explain how 175,000 in new jobs can be matched against 1.336 million new unemployment filers and still be considered “growth”.

And then there is one more piece of news about housing. Mortgage applications are dropping rapidly. This means the demand in the market is waning again.

But when you have scandals to sidestep while trying to get Americans to see the value in arming Al-Qaeda rebels in Syria while trying to avoid paying for your ‘affordable’ portion of Obamacare, it is understandable why our elected officials in Washington have more pressing needs than focusing on the economy.

But if the economy tanks again because of a new crisis in housing, where does that leave Main Street?

The very definition of Washington is the inept beating the incompetent. And the beat goes on.

“I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”–Thomas Jefferson

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By Matt Barber 

More often than not, when someone says, “I hate to say I told you so,” they love to say they told you so. Prepare to have a bucket of gloat dumped on your head.

Still, there are those rare occasions when people both say it and mean it. A few possible examples come to mind: Aboard the Titanic. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Standing before the pearly gates (after your stupid bomb squad partner goes ahead and cuts the blue wire). And right now.

Liberals, we conservatives hate to say we told you so.

But we told you so.

In the wake of CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s earthshaking revelation that the Obama NSA has been spying on tens of millions of Americans – conservatives, liberals and moderates alike – by illegally searching and seizing telephone calls and other private data, I tweeted the following: “So can liberals and conservatives all come together now and agree that Obama is a Marxist tyrant?”

Ian Murphy, a liberal freelance writer with Salon.com, AlterNet.org and similar such “progressive” publications, tweeted back: “He’s not a Marxist.”

“We’ll split the difference,” I replied.

The implication behind Murphy’s brief comment is both clear and profound. While he, a proud leftist, inexplicably remains in denial of Obama’s patently evident Neo-Marxist socio-political worldview, he has, nonetheless – and along with a fast-growing number of his “progressive” counterparts – finally come to acknowledge that Barack Hussein Obama, 44th president of these Divided States of America, is, indeed, a grade-A tyrant.

In recent months, as this administration has been rocked by self-inflicted scandal after self-inflicted scandal, a vibrant, three-dimensional picture of Mr. Obama has begun to emerge. So obvious and outrageous are his abuses of power that many of his sycophantic holdouts are finally taking a second, less-jaundiced look at their Dear Leader.

For example, after it was learned that the Obama IRS was intentionally targeting conservative, Christian and Jewish organizations and individuals for harassment and political intimidation, Jon Stewart, liberal comedian and host of “The Daily Show,” did a scathing spot in which he told the president, “You’ve vindicated conspiracy theorists.”

More recently, in response to the IRS and NSA scandals, “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno joked of “Snoop Obama”: “We wanted a president that listens to all Americans,” he said. “Now we have one.”

Both the liberal New York Times and hard-left filmmaker Michael Moore have similarly opined that the Obama administration has “lost all credibility,” while left-leaning Politico observed that, “Nothing brings the left and the right together quite like government snooping.”

This is the tip of the iceberg. Liberals are running from Obama like Occupy Wall Streeters from Irish Spring. Each of these scandals (Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS-gate, spying on the media, NSA spying on the American people, et al.) are, ostensibly, grievous enough, when taken alone, to rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

When taken together, however, they are manifestly impeachable.

Unfortunately, I doubt Congress has the courage to do it. It would take a bipartisan, consensus effort. We’re still not there yet. Even so, we’ve come a long way. No reasonable person, liberal or conservative, can, in good faith, still deny that Barack Obama is the most lawless president in American history.

Oh what a difference a couple centuries make. While Benjamin Franklin famously warned, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,” President Obama – with his hand caught in your information cookie jar – now assures us that Franklin had it all wrong: “[O]ne of the things that we’re going to have to discuss and debate is how are we striking this balance between the need to keep the American people safe and our concerns about privacy,” he said, “because there are some tradeoffs involved.”

Yikes.

“The president is conducting an all-out assault on the constitutionally protected rights of American citizens,” responded Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, one of the fastest-growing civil rights legal organizations in America.

“Electronic data collection on this massive scale clearly violates the Fourth Amendment. It is tantamount to having a government official sneak into your home or business and copy all of your papers, records and personal effects. The fact the government may not immediately use copied material except when it needs it is irrelevant. The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit searches and seizures without probable cause only if the government uses the information,” he said.

“We cannot justify such massive collection of American citizens’ data by any government agency under the guise of preventing crime or even terrorism. This government overreach is an indictment on both political parties, as both have been involved in authorizing these unconstitutional acts. Our government leaders and bureaucrats have forgotten the price of liberty and are too willing to give up liberty for a little security,” concluded Staver.

This isn’t a left or right issue. This is about freedom. This is about the rule of law. Barack Obama has exposed himself as an enemy of the Constitution, an enemy of the American people – all of the American people – whether liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.

Liberals, let’s agree to disagree where we disagree. Likewise, let’s agree to agree where we agree.

Let’s come together and do something about America’s Barack Obama problem.

Matt Barber (@jmattbarber on Twitter) is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action

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Health department monitoring of mosquitoes began in early June through a network of mosquito traps set by Colorado Mosquito Control.  The Culex mosquito, known to spread West Nile virus, is tested to determine the risk of disease to humans.  Some municipalities in Weld County have mosquito control programs.  These programs reduce the number of mosquitoes but don’t eliminate all mosquitoes.  It’s important for everyone to take measures to prevent mosquito bites.  Recommendations for preventing mosquito bites and breeding include:

• Apply an effective mosquito repellent to exposed skin and clothing to help avoid mosquito bites.
• Wear light colors and loose fitting fabrics because mosquitoes seem to be attracted to darker colors and can bite through tighter fitting clothing.
• Drain any standing water that provides breeding places for mosquitoes.  Use a Mosquito Dunk (larvacide) if you have standing water that you cannot drain.

West Nile virus is carried by birds and transmitted by mosquitoes that bite the infected birds. Infected mosquitoes transmit the virus to humans, horses, and birds. West Nile virus symptoms may appear in 3–14 days after infection. Initial symptoms include fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, muscle aches and weakness and rash. Symptoms of severe illness include high fever, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, muscle weakness, vision loss, paralysis and even death. If someone develops symptoms, they should contact their health care provider immediately.

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The Federal Reserve is about to open meetings today. That explains the stock surge yesterday. Wall Street is paralyzed and needs Ben Bernanke’s unconditional support.

But a warning label came from one of the Street’s unabashed fans, Jim Cramer of Mad Money. Cramer is convinced the market will be trying to anticipate how Bernanke will react to the various data points he has based his policies on. The move on the Street suggests the data is bad enough Bernanke will continue his support by printing more money.

Cramer’s reason for following the Fed’s meeting is quite simple, “The Fed delivered a monster wake-up call when recent commentary implied it could scale back its massive bond buying program sooner rather than later. That spurred the $3 trillion sell-off we just struggled through.”

Cramer strill thinks the Fed’s support is good, I think it is bad because it has skewed the value of the market from the price of the market. And the support cannot go on forever, leaving the question as to what will happen to the market when either the Fed is forced to raise rates and/or end the QE program.

Today the Fed gave its state of manufacturing report. The report was not overwhelming in showing strength if inflation is fully adjusted from the news. In fact, taking out all inflation leaves one with the impression the market needs a major pullback because value just isn’t there. Cramer agreed but for another reason. “It suggests the actual economy cannot support rising interest rates. That’s what was so unreal about the latest run-up in rates, it hasn’t been justified by the data.”

But the over-ripe basket of fruit is starting to smell–even if the phenomenal rise in stock price continues. This balloon is all about hot air and nothing suggests there is anything left in the Main Street tank to forestall the crash.

But that is where the world’s central bankers–like old BS come in. They keep printing money to support the financial centers but that is leading to greater risk-taking by the people who cannot afford it–those without the printing press.

So Cramer continues to anticipate the end of the two-day meeting and the wreap-up report with bated breath.

Not me. I know Bernanke’s thinking, he’ll continue to do anything in his power to support nWall Street and Washington politics at the expense of the rest of the country.

Then, when it is his turn to determine the wreckage he has caused, he’ll come up with some insane number like 1.7% as the ‘official’ inflation rate.

The man cannot help himself, he is playing a role where he has to be all-knowing but he is running our of juggling room. He also has pressure on from government circles to force inflation so the numbers will look better.

Expect QE3 to continue.

“I have sworn on the altar of  God eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”–Thomas Jefferson

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But to what end is all this secretly collected information being used? Protecting Americans; as it is being reported for the administration by the elitist press. If that were the case, why were these “security analysts” unable to understand the unmistakable words of radicalism of the Fort Hood terrorist? (I apologize, workplace violence perpetrator) Perhaps because they were too overworked antagonizing conservatives who used such key words of violence as “patriot” or “Tea Party” or heaven forbid that key word for all violence everywhere, “liberty,” on their tax returns.

So where are we heading from here with regards to accepting that Big Brother is trustworthy? Listen up Ohio State grads.

The senate will soon be proposing an immigration reform bill. This bill, as it is outlined by the reports of the “gang of eight” is not about reforming immigration law so much as it is an expansion of big brother’s power to watch us more closely. It is, of course, an amnesty bill for millions of criminals who came into the country illegally, have operated outside our laws by working “off the books,” forged or stolen identifications to gain benefits of law-abiding citizens and legal immigrants, and “know” that so long as they are loyal to the democrats in power, those greedy republicans won’t be able to take away their “rights” to Obamacare and the dozens of other welfare benefits the “reform” bill will entitle them to receive.

But we who pay for all of this are protected if we just allow the government some extra powers to do background checks on these millions of illegals. Like the excellent background work done on the Boston Marathon bombers – even after the Russians reported the guys as dangerous!

National I.D. hidden in “Immigration Reform” bill.

The review of the proposed immigration reform bill by Campaign for Liberty calls the proposal little more than a scheme to ram a massive national identification into law. The statists’ NATIONAL ID card would be required for all U.S. workers regardless of place of birth, making it illegal for anyone to hold a job in the United States who doesn’t obtain the ID card. But it gets worse. Citizens are treated exactly the same as non-citizens, thus opening the way for non-citizens to vote. After all, they pay taxes! But the most disturbing and anti-freedom part of the IRB is the biometric database, which would allow federal bureaucrats to track our every move.

Higher taxes are needed to pay the $6.3trillion dollar cost of amnestied workers. Immediately these millions of new residents will be eligible for Obamacare. No one has yet to guess how much that will cost. Then in only a few years these millions of new ‘decriminalized’ residents will become eligible for nearly 60 other so-called means tested welfare programs. Even without any fraud – surely these people will be so grateful they won’t try to defraud any of these welfare programs – the additional costs will be staggering.

To pay for all these new residents’ needs, the government must have more money. Since even Obama and the established federal leaders in Washington understand they can’t increase taxes on the rich without decreasing government’s net income, the proposal currently being welcomed is  the National Internet Tax Mandate. In short, this is a way to raise taxes on all Americans by implementing state sales taxes on all goods purchased online. Thus the liberals in those states who have chased away business with excessive sales tax rates, will be able to wring additional taxes from those trying to save a little money by doing business in neighboring states.

Tax collectors in one state would now be free to pursue retailers across state lines, so if customers in New York make purchases from an online retailer in Texas, that retailer must collect New York’s exorbitant sales taxes and send them to New York’s tax collection agencies. The paperwork in keeping track of hundreds of sales tax rates will raise cost for businesses everywhere and the governments trying to investigate and enforce compliance will most assuredly spend many more dollars than they collect. Case in point, the “illegal” cigarette traffic between New York City and New Jersey is staggering. It might be easier to try to tax drug smugglers in south Florida.

But rest easy New Mexico and Utah and Wyoming and Kansas and … Colorado’s recreational marijuana law won’t have any negative affects on your law enforcement costs. ‘Slick Hat’ Hickenlooper has got your back. Besides, you guys are already banking all those big bucks from cross-border gun sales.

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Faith Bible Baptist Church in Greeley will begin teaching a series of lessons on civil unions in light of the bible.

Pastor Matt Walters will be conducting the bible study on Sunday evenings at 6 pm. The church is located at 320 35^th Ave. in Greeley.

In announcing the series, Walters explains that with the legislature recently passing a civil union law, it is important for Christians to know exactly what the bible says about such relationships.

“We live in a day and age where many Christians and even some denominations have felt they need to change to accommodate the times on this issue,” Walters said. “God’s eternal truths do not change just because society says something is now fashionable. Christians need to lovingly stand firm for the truths in God’s word.”

The church is not afraid to take a stand on social issues. Recently the church encouraged its members to sign petitions for the Brady Amendment, which would expand the definition of “person” and “child in Colorado’s wrongful death laws and criminal statutes to include an unborn child.

The amendment is sponsored by Heather Surovik, whose son Brady was killed by a drunk driver last year. Despite Brady being full-term and capable of surviving outside of his mother’s womb, the driver faced no consequences for killing Brady.

The church also is a strong supporter of the Pregnancy Resource Center in Greeley and each year participates in the organization’s “Baby Bottle campaign,” where members take home a baby bottle on Mother’s Day and return it filled with change on Father’s Day.

By teaching about civil unions it might seem as if homosexuals are unwelcome at the church, however, Walters said that is the farthest thing from the truth.

“At Faith Bible Baptist Church everyone is welcome no matter who they are. We love and are friendly to anyone who wants to visit us,” he explained. “In fact, we have had several ‘gay’ visitors who have come both singularly and as couples. In each case our people did not treat them any differently than any other visitors.”

Walters said he feels that where many churches and Christian leaders go wrong is by gravitating to one of two extremes. They either feel  they cannot take a stand against a lifestyle that the bible condemns in a misguided effort to show that they love people or they take such a strong stand against the homosexual lifestyle that it almost becomes their ‘pet sin’ to preach against.

“The key thing is to remain balanced and consistent in your stand. For instance, I have no doubt we have church members who have engaged in adultery but that doesn’t mean I am going to stop teaching that the bible says ‘thou shalt not commit adultery.’ The same goes for any other sin such as stealing and lying.”

“The homosexual lifestyle is no different. When these couples told me they were ‘gay’ I told them we would welcome them and we love everybody, but that doesn’t mean we are going to approve of a lifestyle the bible says is wrong.”

Walters says he finds it noteworthy that unlike the “gay” movement, thieves and liars are not lobbying politicians to pass laws defending their lifestyle.

“The bible lists many things that are sins besides homosexuality. Lying, stealing, swearing and a host of other things are also sins. Yet no one talks about not teaching kids that stealing and lying is wrong.”

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Emergency responders were requested to a rural residence near the intersections of WCR 41 and WCR 8 on Wednesday evening. An 8 year old boy was found by his parents pinned under a pile of wood that he had been playing on. Upon arrival at the scene, Weld County Sheriff’s Deputies and other rescue personnel rendered life saving measures to the 8 year old boy who had suffered severe head/neck injuries.

The boy was transported by medical helicopter for his injuries and the investigation for the cause of the incident is ongoing.

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    The Beatles 1967 hit, “Getting Better” was one of the last songs created from scratch by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and was included on the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”  Its production on March 23^rd, 1967, had been delayed two days when Lennon mistakenly ingested LSD instead of an intended upper – something he typically did to get the recording work completed.  Provenance of the song goes back to 1964 when session drummer, Jimmy Nicol, subbed for an ailing Ringo Starr on tour and when asked about his extreme case of nerves would reply that he was “getting better’.  He made that response so often that it became a joke phrase amongst members of the biggest band in the world.

The song’s lyrics include the line, “I have to admit it’s getting better,” and relative to the Subaru Forester, I do.  In the spring of 2011, I tested the then-current Forester, so therefore had a point of reference for analyzing this 2014 model.  And I’ll have to admit that this new Ice silver metallic Forester was impressive.  It had an M.S.R.P. of $33,220, somewhat north of thirty thousand dollars just like the Subaru  I drove two years ago.  This 2014 Forester had a base of $29,995 with option packag 30 for $2,400 and freight charges of $825.  The package included keyless entry, pushbutton starter, pre-collision braking system, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and HID headlamps.  Standard on the Touring Forester was dual-zone climate control, GPS navigation, satellite radio, Harman & Kardon 440 watt stereo, Bluetooth technology, 10-way power driver bucket, heated front seats, power windows/locks/mirrors/tailgate, power moonroof, tilt/telescope, and black leather upholstery.

Subaru sedans and SUV’s all have “boxer,” horizontally opposed engines, and this one was a four cylinder, 2.5 liter model with 170 horsepower and 174 lb. ft. of torque.  The all-wheel drive power train got its motion through a CVT transmission – another superb one like last week’s test car had.  Fuel economy ratings for the Subaru are 24 and 32, with my observance at 27.5.  Zero to sixty acceleration of this vehicle is reportedly 7.5 seconds with a top speed of 120 mph.  Handling and guidance of the Forester was an improvement over the 2011 model.

Styling of the 2014 Forester was slightly updated and aerodynamics are improved as is cargo space inside the five passenger vehicle.  Wheels are 17” five-spoke alloys fitted with Michelin 225/60R17 all season radials.  Weight comes in at 3,433 lbs., length is 180.9”, width is 70.7”, and the height is 68.2”.

I enjoyed testing the new 2014 Forester and feel the company has managed to improve a top seller (80,000 units per year).  Regarding the 2011/2012 model, it’s a good thing that Subaru didn’t “let it be.”

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In an exclusive interview with the Northern Colorado Gazette, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck explains how his recent bout with cancer and what he terms a miracle in being cured of the disease.

I think it helped my wife, my children and I to become spiritually stronger, Buck said. “One of the things it did is give us an opportunity to put things in perspective help us to appreciate every day that you live and everything that goes on around you instead of living life in such a rush.”

In March, despite felling healthy, Buck noticed some lumps that were on his neck. Following a visit to the doctor and testing, he was told the lumps were the result of stage 4 lymphoma. At the time he received the diagnosis his wife, Perry, was down in Denver where she was serving as a freshman legislator for House District 49.

“The diagnosis came as a surprise, or at least the onset of the disease did. I have to admit it was a low point in our lives, especially when doctors are predicting only a 40 to 60 percent survival rate,” Buck explained. “The timing was especially challenging with Perry being gone several days a week and her being a freshman legislator.”

However, while some may think the diagnosis could not have come at a worse time, Buck said he believes God’s hand was at work in the timing of this trial.

“My daughter, Kaitlin, had just graduated early from Clemson University and she was at home in January, struggling with why she was at home working as opposed to being out on her own when I was received the diagnosis.”

“It was like God had sent us a message that with Perry being gone several days a week and my daughter being home this gave us an opportunity to get closer. To us it was clearly God’s plan to have her there, and again that sort of hit all of us between the eyes as to what good fortune it was was to have her around.”

While many think of a District Attorney as being one who spends his day dealing with unsavory characters, Buck said the cancer enabled him to reaffirm the goodness of people in society.

“As a prosecutor, I’m often surrounded by the bad parts of our culture and it was just incredible to see how many good people called and e-mailed me, talked about praying for me and sent cards. It was just an incredible experience and reaffirmed my belief in the goodness of people.”

Buck, who attends the Greeley Wesleyan Church, said another source of strength during this time was the encouragement he received from his pastor and fellow church members.

“The church has been great during this time. Pastor Steve is a great spiritual leader who was with me during the chemo treatments,” Buck said. “I attended church services and tried to participate in activities as often as I could, but it was difficult because of health issues from the chemotherapy.  It was just great to have people come up and hugging me and telling me they were praying for me.”

After being diagnosed in mid-March, Buck began a series of chemotherapy treatments on a 21 day cycle. Following the end of his third cycle, testing revealed that there was trace of cancer in his system. Buck said while he is grateful for modern medicine, he realizes his quick recovery is a miracle from the Lord.

“At the end of my third 21 day cycle I had this test and was told there was no detectable cancer in my system.”

“While I believe God has blessed me with great doctors and nurses, it is certainly unusual to go from stage 4 lymphoma to cancer free this quickly. I would call it a miracle, but I’m sure they would simply call it modern medicine.”

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Amid an unusual spotlight on IRS conduct, a Colorado businessman contends his  case is one the government particularly wants to keep hidden, because it could  cause the whole federal agency to self-destruct.

Jeff Maehr, a Pagosa Springs chiropractor who has engaged in a number of business  ventures, including PureHealthSystems.com, admits he has refused to file federal  income tax returns since 2002, but he says the IRS is afraid to press criminal  charges against him.

“They don’t want this to go to court, because there is so much information  there that would blow them out of the water if this became public knowledge,”  Maehr claimed.

“They are scared to death to bring this in front of a jury and give it a  public hearing,” he said. “Instead, they know the IRS goes through  administrative processes and ignorant judges and courts who all play this little  game.”

Maehr insists he is not a “tax protester.”

“It’s not that I’m unwilling to pay my taxes. In fact, I acknowledge the  principle of taxes is constitutional,” Maehr said. “However, I only want to pay  the taxes that I owe.”

Read the full story:

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“We’ll go through these signatures with a fine-toothed comb,” Morse told the TV station KDVR. “and we’ll file some protests with the Secretary of State’s office because we know a lot of these signatures were gathered based on misinformation and lies.”

A politician claiming only the opposition lies; what a surprise.

It seems intimidation is the new democratic party policy. Rule by fear of the rulers. John Morse is just the Colorado extension of the fundamental changes brought to the United States by the current Party regime.

A famous definition of majority rule states that democracy is two coyotes and a rabbit voting on what to have for dinner. John Morse, and to a larger degree, the leaders of the current Colorado state government, demonstrated very clearly that they will be having rabbit for dinner. One hundred thirty eight bills were on the menu for these jackals in the final hours of the most recent legislative session.  And why not? They are only following the example of their leaders in Washington.

A Rasmussen poll revealed that 42% of voters think the top law enforcement in America, Attorney General Eric Holder, should resign. A much larger majority don’t approve of the Justice Department’s tactics used to investigate news reporters. And the largest majority do not believe the President was not involved in directing the IRS (and possibly other federal agencies) to intimidate opposition voters. These results bring up a question not included in the survey and illustrate a simmering problem to be dealt with in the future. The question is; why do so many voters continue to accept the inaction of Congress in prosecuting the top law enforcement official in the country for his numerous crimes?

The answer seems to be the growing acceptance by voters that politicians are dishonest and crimes of various degrees are now accepted as “normal” for officials. The simmering problem younger Americans will have to eventually deal with is that as more and more serious crimes are allowed as acceptable by top officials, less and less respect for the rule of law is festering among more and more people in every segment of our society. Even more troubling is the expanding idea by politicians like John Morse that when they are in power, they have the right to rule by intimidation and pass whatever laws they want – to insure they remain in power and force the “rabbits” down into holes where they can’t cause any problems. The Constitution be damned!

The logic is as old as government: power corrupts – absolute power corrupts absolutely. Buying support with “social welfare” programs using taxpayer money has taken many years. The power to appoint political judges with agendas to write liberal/progressive laws from the bench that could not otherwise be enacted under the Constitution of our representative form of government has now completed the degradation of the great experiment that was America.

A stark illustration of these points is found in a recent federal appeals court ruling upholding the actions of the Obama administration in refusing to comply with a lower court’s ruling ordering the release of documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The lower court had ruled that since the administration had allowed some non-government Americans with no security clearances – specifically the movie makers of the propaganda film about the Bin Laden killing – access to the photos and documents in question, then all Americans should be given equal access. Holder’s justice department refused to comply with the court ruling and eventually the more politically indebted appeals court ruled in favor of the administration. No scholar of law has yet submitted any argument that the ruling by the appeals court was anything but political. Even the court’s opinion papers stated the ruling was most assuredly outside the intent of the Freedom of Information Act. Corruption of the law itself for political control of the government?

Clearly the least transparent administration in history has accumulated more secret power than any other developed nation in the free world. The legislative branch of our federal government has been completely neutered in every aspect of their duties from budget control to checks and balances on administration appointments. Yet with Americans being murdered without trial, a news reporter being imprisoned for doing his job and American officials overseas being sacrificed for political gain, the recent Daily Presidential Tracking Poll still shows Obama has the approval of more than 50% of those surveyed. Are people simply afraid to admit they don’t approve of the Party in power?

It is getting more and more dangerous for a writer for a small news outlet like the Northern Colorado Gazette to be critical of those in power.  In Colorado, where politicians like John Morse are openly ready to examine  critics “with a fine toothed comb,” that rabbit hole is beginning to look more and more attractive.

Don’t be surprised when outspoken opposition to the democrats in power begins to dwindle. Remember, even Saddam Hussein was always able to garner some 98% of the “votes” in Iraq’s elections once his political enemies were identified and condemned.

Now, let’s all endorse more national identification in order to receive more benefits.

By the way, “medical” marijuana, “gun controls,” instant voter registration without proof of identity, amnesty and taxpayer subsidies for “undocumented workers,” almost immediately followed by recreational marijuana, what’s next for Colorado under the Hickenlooper/Morse form of democracy?

Prediction: in order for “the Party” to keep control, John Morse will be told to resign so “the Party” can appoint his replacement and the voices of the recall will be silenced!

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A local law-enforcement official, who is one of the candidates in the running to replace Weld County Sheriff John Cooke says he believes the department is more concerned with raising revenue from writing traffic tickets than protecting the citizens of Weld County from dangerous fugitives.

Keith Olson, the Chief Investigator for the Weld County District Attorney’s office is one of four Republican candidates to throw their hat in the ring for the nomination. Cooke is barred by term limits from running again in 2014 when his current term expires.

Olson has a long career with law-enforcement, having spent 28 years with the Greeley Police Department before moving over the District Attorney’s office in 2009 where he currently serves as chief investigator. He has also served as a Weld sheriff’s deputy for three years.

Cooke has garnered national attention with his strong stand for the Second Amendment rights of the citizens who elected him. He has gone on record as promising to defend the rights of Weld County residents by refusing to enforce a series of gun control laws passed by the Democratic controlled legislature.

Olson has said he stands behind Cooke’s decision against the gun control laws, and agrees that they are unenforceable.

“With these new gun control laws the legislators set up a bunch of windmills around Weld County and expect us to be a bunch of Don Quixote chasing them and that’s not going to happen,” Olson said. “I do agree with Sheriff Cooke that he has a duty to refuse to enforce laws are unconstitutional.”

He said he also supports the idea of an armed citizenry as well as the lawsuit Cooke has filed against the state over the gun control laws.

“I’ve recommended that soldiers stationed out here at the Greeley airport should get their concealed carry permits,” he explained. “I tell them to carry firearms, the more armed citizens in a movie theater, in a mall or at a parade the safer I feel for my family. I’ve been a strong advocate for arming the citizenry and strengthening our rights to carry concealed or open carry for that matter.”

However, if voters think that if elected sheriff, Olson would keep the department a carbon copy of Cooke’s administration they are sorely mistaken.

Olson has said he believes Cooke is making some serious decisions that are dangerous to the citizens in Weld County by his allocation of resources.

“We have a huge number of fugitives that have been found to have committed crimes and the judge has issued an arrest warrant, however these people are not even being pursued,” Olson said. “We have 12,000 fugitives in Weld County and we don’t even have a fugitive unit pursuing them on a full-time basis. By contrast, the county has over $1 million budgeted for a traffic unit that staffs 10 officers.”

“In my mind these criminals are continuing to victimize the citizens of Weld County.”

He went on to say there is a large number of sex offenders in our communities that are being allowed to roam free while the Sheriff’s office are writing tickets to help generate revenue for the county.

“In the budget report of 2012 the sheriff’s department stated there are 79 individuals wanted for sexual assault on children who are currently on the list of fugitives in the county,” Olson said. “To me that is abhorrent and I get very passionate knowing that people who victimize children are not being pursued and that disturbs me. Especially when we consider we have people running radar while those predators are among our community and are not being pursued. ”

“The traffic unit raises annual revenue of between$ 200- 400,000 annually, so in my mind when we’re standing up a traffic unit we are taking into consideration the amount of revenue that’s going to be generated.”

Cooke has said he takes issue with Olson’s suggestion that the county is not interested in pursuing fugitives. He notes that many of the outstanding warrants are actually issued by Greeley for relatively minor offenses.

“When he talks about those 12,000 warrants, he is tossing in all of the Greeley municipal warrants as well,” Cooke said. “This includes warrants such as dog at large and people who haven’t paid their speeding tickets. This accounts for about 3,000 warrants. He wants to spend County money to track down municipal offenders. That is a total waste of County money and not good management.”

Cooke also claimed the sheriff’s office is taking serious steps to arrest dangerous criminals in the county.

““I went to the County commissioners last year and said we needed full-time people to work in a fugitive unit. Last year we got it approved for this year’s budget. We currently have one full time person in the unit and another who is nearly full time.”

He explained that the county also has individuals working in a fugitive unit as part of a collaborative effort with the US Marshalls. The officers are reimbursed by the Marshalls office and are able to go into other counties to help arrest fugitives wanted in the county.

“This task force made the highest number of arrests on all of our warrants in several counties including Denver and Arapahoe County. Even though they weren’t officially working full-time for the county as they are being reimbursed by the US marshals office, they are putting in full-time hours and make a lot of arrests.”

Cooke also took umbrage at the suggestion the department was more interested in writing tickets than saving lives and putting criminals behind bars.

“If he thinks were only doing this for money he obviously is not looking at the budget,” Cooke said. “We are far below our revenue projections on traffic tickets. If we were interested in revenue I would send all my officers out on Hwy 85 or I-25 and they could write tickets from the beginning of their shift to the end.

He said one of the reason for having 10 officers as part of a traffic unit compared to two on a fugitive unit is because of one simple reason, Weld County has a large number of traffic fatalities.

“He must not care about all the people were dying in the County. We are always either number one or number two in traffic fatalities in the state,” Cooke said. “In 2011 we were number two in the state with around 38 deaths. El Paso County, which was number one, had 42 deaths, but they have twice the population of Weld County.”

Cooke explained his department increased the number of officers in the traffic unit to help prevent the large number of fatalities on county roads.

“When you compare traffic deaths to the number of homicides we have which is between one and four per year, I don’t think it’s a wise move to cut her traffic unit,” Cooke explained. “There was one year Weld County had 93 fatal accidents and in response we increased the number of traffic people from 5 to 10 because that was our number one health issue and safety concern.”

“The year after we increased the officers on traffic patrol we were able to get that number back down to around 43 and now we’re hovering around the high 30s. I can’t imagine how many fatalities we  would have if we cut the traffic unit like he is proposing.”

Olson said if elected the tone of his administration will be to be more responsive to the needs of Weld County rather than the needs of the county treasury.

“For a long-time Weld County has had a sinister reputation among the rest of the state because of our crime and gang violence. We are starting to turn the corner only because we focused on doing what is right, and that is get as many criminals off the street as possible.”

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    Just prior to Memorial Day, Ruth and I had a chance to visit the Seattle area and test a new Infiniti JX35.  We drove it from the airport to Port Angeles, WA, for the purpose of catching a ferry to Victoria, BC.  We also circled the Olympic peninsula and its riny beaches and forests.  Before we flew out of Seattle, we caught two Seattle Mariner ballgames at Safeco Field.

The JX35 was introduced by Infiniti in the spring of 2012, and is classified as a mid-size crossover SUV.  I call it a luxury crossover, and this one was particularly fancy with an M.S.R.P. of $55,170, including freight.  Its base price of $41,550 was driven up by the optional premium package ($4,950), deluxe touring package ($2,550), theatre package ($1,700), technology package ($3,100), and a set of roof rails for $370.  It’s not difficult to guess at some of the features included in the packages; moon roof, lane change warning, front and rear collision warning/braking, radar cruise control, heated seats in four locations, Bose surround sound, power mirrors/locks/windows/tailgate, tilt/telescope, three movie screens, 8” navigation monitor, and twin front power buckets.  The leather interior was attractive with wheat colored material and gold piping throughout.  Throughout, by the way, means three rows of seats – seven passenger seating in a mid-size!

The outside mirrors had a handy switch that allowed them to be folded in for slender parking spaces or garages.  The feature was nice on the Black Ball ferry boat when passengers were cramming all the vehicles below deck for the 18-mile ride to Canada.  It seems that most people go back and forth down there to fetch a handbag or camera.  Other features of the JX included satellite radio, Bluetooth hands-free phone setup, backup camera, pushbutton and remote engine start, heated steering wheel, blind spot monitor, rain-sensing wipers, and wireless theatre headphones for back seat passengers.

Power for the JX is supplied by a 3.5 liter V-6 with 265 horsepower and 248 ft. lbs. of torque.  It’s just ample for the 4,552 lb. machine, and is coupled to a continuously variable transmission (CVT).  The all-wheel drive car sits on a wheelbase of 114.2”, is 68” high, and its width is 77.2”.  Fuel economy ratings are 18 and 23, and during my time with it I observed a 21 mpg reading.  Acceleration at sea level is zero to 60 in 7.8 seconds with a top speed of 121 mph.  The shiftless CV transmission is the best one I have ever driven.

When Infiniti personnel rolled out the JX at a 2012 Denver press conference, they hyped the seven passenger capability and the styling.  The company did, in fact, do a good job with the styling, but their FX and QX crossovers are no slouch in that  department, either.  The good-looking JX had the roof rails as well as ten-spoke alloy wheels, chrome side trim and door handles, fog lights and Infiniti’s signature bold chrome grill.  Tires were Bridgestone 235/55R20 all-season radials.

The Northwest vacation was a blast, in large part due to the great vehicle we were able to travel around in.  Infiniti’s great handling and good looking JX35 is a nice package of luxury and refinement.

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Even the Denver Post coverage of his indecision suggested that he appears to be trying to “have it both ways,” in responding to a petition for clemency for the convicted mass murderer. And indeed, the artful dodger governor once again spun his ten gallon hat like a character from a Texas chicken ranch and left everyone wondering what will have to happen next to put finality to this case.

“It sure isn’t leadership,”said Arapahoe County District Attorney, George Brauchler, in describing Hickenlooper’s indecision. Brauchler stated the governor showed a lack of courage in refusing to resolve Dunlap’s fate – one way or another.

The case was tried some 17 years ago and Dunlap was convicted of killing four employees at a Chuck E Cheese’s restaurant in 1993 and attempting to kill a fifth. After finally exhausting all his appeals, Dunlap was scheduled for execution this coming August. If his sentence is carried out, he would be only the second execution in Colorado since 1967.

As long as Colorado continues to elect the kind of legislators and governor we have today, the rule of law will never be followed.

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