Will East Grand Get Money For Closing Schools?

Here's one that should get the hackles in Grand Lake to come up:

"The U.S. Department of Education today said Colorado has been awarded $6 million for school turnaround work.

Districts must apply for a share of the School Improvement Grant money, which will be distributed by the state.

The four intervention plans to pick from are: a transformation model; school closure;[Check] turnaround model that replaces principal and large portion of staff;[Is that the 'financial' reason for the departure of three principals in Granby?] or a restart model that allows schools to close and begin again as charters."

Did the administration already have this money in mind when they persuaded the board to shut Grand Lake down? I would think so, since the money has been available since 2009. Is this behind the recent removal of the two primary and one assistant principle in Granby? Wouldn't this have been a material disclosure for the district to have made when discussing school closures? With administration officials referring to well informed members of the public as liars, this just brings up more questions.

There's a bit of a silver lining here in that Grand Lake could apply for grant money to transform their elementary into a charter school.

Sky Hi News | Censoring You One Comment At A Time

Are you perplexed by why the Sky Hi News and its sister sites turned off their comment systems, effectively censoring the public discourse occurring under their online articles?

For an answer, look no further then the Summit Daily News, where they sum up their total lack of understanding of the online space:

"...online comments have been a vexing feature of our website for years. On the one hand, they do provide a wonderful forum for discussion of news and opinion. On the other, they can provide a platform for an awful lot of unsavory and insulting language[Perish the thought!], both from regular readers and from “trolls” from all over who bounce from site to site commenting on topics of interest to them (and these folks tend to be the nastiest of the nasties). Because our commenting software did not require a “real name” convention, most folks appeared under anonymous screen names — a situation that often facilitated what many might consider to be the polar opposite of civil discourse[What, exactly, is the definition of civil discourse?].

Summit County Real Estate 'Professionals' Reveal Stupidity

Boy oh boy, it just keeps getting better and better. I like to read up on the goings-on in other mountain communities here in Colorado, and the Summit Daily News is always a good place to go for a laugh or two.

Tonight, I happened upon an article titled 20 percent downpayment idea worries Summit County real estate experts. This precious piece quotes three types of 'experts;' realtors, mortgage brokers and the Summit County Housing Authority.

High Speed Video | Orion Launch Abort Live Fire Test

This goes along with my earlier story on the Ares I and Orion programs at NASA:

To Jesse Lee: Bite Me

Obama has appointed a new czar to oversee his online image.

Titled Director of Progressive Media and Online Response, Jesse Lee will be monitoring the online buzz about his boss in order to quickly help prevent any truthful or unedited content leaked to the web from harming the President's image.

In this age of smart phones and high speed Internet, the ability of the establishment to manipulate their messages before public consumption has been greatly diminished.

In order to show he means business, and that his boss approves of a 1984 future, Jesse took to twitter to post this:

Meet Reggie | He's A Smart Guy

But no relation:

Grand Lake Elementary To Close

According to the Sky Hi News, the East Grand School District board voted to close the Grand Lake Elementary school in a 4-2 vote.

And just like that, the ad hoc committee made up of representatives of the towns, county, Grand Foundation and school board, looks like a group of fools.

I wonder if The Denver Post or Channel 7 will be covering this event with the same fanfare as the $500,000 bailout?

Grand Lake has been granted a unique opportunity if they'd still like to use that building for education.

Have You Hired A Social Media Expert For Your Company?

In a blog post titled Why I Will Never, Ever Hire A "Social Media Expert," Peter Shankman points out what the hype is really about:

Hate The Patriot Act? Think The TSA Should Be Disbanded? You Can Stop It

A four-year extension of the Patriot Act is set to expire this Friday unless the Senate debates, passes and gets it signed by President Obama by Friday.


It only takes one Senator to stall this legislation, and we have two at our disposal: Udall and Bennett.


Why should Congress scrap this legislation? Because it is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, and does NOT enhance your or my safety. As Benjamin Franklin said, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

The Beauty Of Decline | Detroit

Michigan Central Train Station, Detroit

The above photo tour is reminiscent of many former civilizations: Egypt, Greece, Rome... It's quite striking to actually be alive during the decline of an empire...

James Delingpole | Genius In One Paragraph

It's a rare thing to find someone who can succinctly describe the problems of a society in one paragraph, but British subject James Delingpole does so with aplomb in this missive about Obama's visit to Ireland:

"I’ve argued before that Tony Blair and Barack Obama have an awful lot in common. Both are lawyers; both are snake-oil-salesman; both claim to be post-partisan, and Third Way and consensual; both play the acceptable, moderate-seeming public face of a regime chock full of Communists, class warriors, single issue rabble rousers, malcontents, communitarians and eco-loons hell bent on destroying every last vestige of what once made their country great. And both do (or did) the things dodgy political leaders always do when the going gets tough at home and their domestic audience finally wises up to how totally useless they are: they hop on the plane and pose as international statesman instead."

UPDATE | Winter Park Pizza Hut Closed Due To Economy

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It's official; Pizza Hut is out of business due to the economy. I had a nice conversation with owner Randy Barrett, and he said they just couldn't keep bleeding the way they were any longer.

Pizza Hut has been in business for 32 years--23 of which he's been the owner. If Mr. Barrett can't make it, after having gone through some tough times before, that calls into question many of the other businesses in Winter Park and the rest of the county. 

Pizza Hut is a canary in the coal mine. It's time for people to wake up and realize that things have changed permanently, and we should stop being in denial about it.

Illegal Alien Begs President For More Free Money

In a story titled Undocumented Student Writes The President, Channel 7 describes how an illegal alien who just graduated high school has written President Obama asking for an exception:

"I'm the first to graduate from my family but being an undocumented student, I'm not able to get grants and scholarships because they're very limited and competitive," said Vasquez. "We don't get state or financial aid at all, because we don't qualify for it."

From Each According To His Ability, To Each According To His Need

Wouldn't it be great if every person in our society contributed to it to the best of their ability? And wouldn't it be wonderful if they only consumed from the rest of society in proportion to their own need?

This is what the healthcare bill has set out to do... Newt Gingrich says this about it: "People must be forced to buy or simply be given health insurance so they don’t free-ride on society." 

Sheriffs Out Of Control | Shoot First Make Excuses Later

Here are some headlines to get your juices flowing on this fine Sunday morning:

Attorney: SWAT raid found guns, body armor

Tucson SWAT team defends shooting Iraqi vet 60 times

Ind. Sheriff: If we need to conduct RANDOM HOUSE TO HOUSE searches, we will

The first two articles are regarding an early morning SWAT raid on a home of a suspected  drug dealer in Arizona. The homeowner, a two time Iraqi war veteran, was sleeping when he was alerted by his wife to an armed person outside her window. The neighborhood they lived in had recently been victim to a deadly home invasion, so he rightfully grabbed his gun and went to confront the intruder.

Spain? Isn't That In Europe?

For those of you who think that Grand County and Spain have nothing in common, think again.

Spain is currently sitting on a 22 percent unemployment rate because of--get this--the bursting of their housing bubble. Of all the European countries, Spain's real estate boom--and ensuing bust--was the biggest. European banking exposure to Spanish debt is probably the worst out of all of the PIIGS.

You Are The Only One Who Can Stop This

Sometimes You Just Need A Change In Perspective

Obama | Killing People In Sovereign Nations With Unmanned Drones Not War

war

noun /wôr/  wars, plural A state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state - Japan declared war on Germany - the two countries had been at war for six years A particular armed conflict - after the war, they emigrated to America A state of competition, conflict, or hostility between different people or groups - she was at war with her parents - a price war among discount retailers A sustained effort to deal with or end a particular unpleasant or undesirable situation or condition - the authorities are waging war against all forms of smuggling - a war on drugs

Winter Park Pizza Hut Out Of Business

Ever since I was a little kid, I've been going to the Pizza Hut in Winter Park. When I was about five years old, I use to be allowed to go behind the counter to grab handfuls of their signature peppermint candies after we'd eaten there. I've occasionally taken my own children in there to pass on the tradition. Those days are now over.

As of May 15th, owners Randy and Toni Barrett have shut its doors forever:

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I don't know if I can recall a time when I drove through Winter Park during normal business hours and didn't see the 'Open' sign lit up in the window.

I went to school with the Barrett's son, and have tried to contact them to see why they're going out of business. I'll let you know what I find out as soon as I can. I have a feeling the economy is beginning to take a real toll on many of the businesses in Grand County, but I wouldn't be surprised if the 8.9 percent tax imposed in the town of Winter Park didn't have a part to play here.

Good bye Pizza Hut and good luck to the Barretts--we'll miss you!