‘Voices & Thoughts’ Archives
Responsible Gun Owner of the Day
Toddler Shoots Self, Gun Owner Immediately Arrested by Kristina Chew Toddlers and guns: you’ve very likely already read one too many reports about a small child finding a gun and killing someone or even her or himself. There have been way, way too many such stories lately, each one more a glaring reminder about the United State’s failed efforts to reform gun control laws.On Sunday, 3-year-old Damon C. Holbrook found a .40-caliber handgun loaded with 15 rounds in an ... Full Story
Impeachment Would Fix Lots of Problems
by Robert De Filippis What’s wrong with the Republican’s burning desire to impeach the president? If you lived here in the rural heartland, well sheltered from all those liberal, urban and coastal types, you would understand. I do, because recently I was educated by a couple of locals while we sat at the bar of a neighborhood restaurant. The larger topic was American politics. I learned that our most important problem is really Obama, who we all know is a (expletive) socialist ... Full Story
Obituary: Harry Orville Ayars
Harry O. Ayars, 69, lifetime resident of Weld and Larimer County Colorado, died Saturday, August 10, 2013, at Northern Colorado Long Term Acute Hospital, Johnstown, Colorado, after battling COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) for over 12 years. Born January 19, 1944, in Greeley to Loren Orville and Beulah Lillian (Wickstrom) Ayars, he grew up on the family farm and ranch 18 miles northwest of Grover. He graduated from Grover High School May 17, 1962 in a graduating class of 16. In ... Full Story
Al Jazeera on Snowden, WikiLeaks and Greenwald
Snowden, Greenwald and Wikileaks are winning Americans are becoming more concerned that government 'anti-terror' programmes are actually restricting civil liberties. Last Modified: 07 Aug 2013 11:33 By Mark Weisbrot: Opinion NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden and Sarah Harrison (L), a legal researcher for WikiLeaks, leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after Snowden spent nearly six weeks in hiding there "It is a slap in the face of all Americans," said Senator John McCain (R - ... Full Story
The true cost of hunger in America
Moyers: 50 Million Go Hungry Each Day Debates on how to address hunger are filled with clichés about freeloaders undeserving of government help. But the documentary "A Place at the Table" paints a truer picture of America’s poor. August 3, 2013 | Here in the richest country on earth, 50 million of us — one in six Americans — go hungry. More than a third of them are children. Debates on how to address hunger – in both Congress and the media — are filled with tired clichés ... Full Story
Bribery keep domestic spying in place
Domestic Spy Program Remaining In Place Thanks to Legal Bribes By Justin Acuff The recent failure of Congress to reign in the domestic surveillance capabilities of the NSA wasn’t split along party lines; instead, the 217-205 vote was split along which congresspeople get paid more by the defense industry. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that those getting more money from the defense industry voted against cutting that power back. Our government is deeply corrupt on a ... Full Story
Defining Terrorism
Mission Creep: When Everything Is Terrorism NSA apologists say spying is only used for menaces like "weapons of mass destruction" and "terror." But those terms have been radically redefined. One of the assurances I keep hearing about the U.S. government's spying on American citizens is that it's only used in cases of terrorism. Terrorism is, of course, an extraordinary crime, and its horrific nature is supposed to justify permitting all sorts of excesses to prevent it. But there's a ... Full Story
Letter to Edward Snowden
Tomgram: Rebecca Solnit, Emerging From Darkness, the Edward Snowden Story It’s true that, as Glenn Greenwald and others have written, the American media has focused attention on the supposed peccadillos of Edward Snowden so as not to have to spend too much time on the sweeping system of government surveillance he revealed. At least for now, the Obama administration has cornered the document-less whistleblower at Moscow’s international airport, leaving him nowhere on the ... Full Story
Fracking
To the Editor, Did the Loveland petition carriers ride their bikes to City Hall to turn in their petitions? Maybe, but there are better questions about hydraulic fracturing. What really is happening out there? How often do spills occur, what have been their effects on ground and surface waters, and have there been attempts to keep this information from us? How can we get oil and gas out of the ground without poisoning drinking water or causing air pollution that leads to serious health ... Full Story
Courage To Stand Up To Friends
by Daris Howard When I stood up to my friends, defending a new girl at my school, the janitor, Mr. Bandon, saw the whole thing. He told me that it can take more courage to stand up to friends than to enemies. That was when he showed me a picture in his office of men from his World War II battalion, and shared the story of Private Johnson, the man he said he admired most. Their battalion had fought across Europe, incurring heavy losses in the Battle Of The Bulge. As the Germans ran out ... Full Story
