Lesser of two weevils in the 2006 election

Letter from Slim Wolfe

Politics - January 2007 - Colorado Central Magazine - No. 155 - Page 36
Copyright © 2007 by Slim Wolfe and Central Colorado Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
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Editors:

Lessers of two election weevils: Why not earmark some of that animal shelter funding for a birth control campaign? Why levy the entire county for the negligence of a few animal owners, unless we're in line with conservatives whose notion of acceptable contraception seems to be a fourteen-year-old male?

Why not legalize a pound or two of marijuana? Martha thinks the stuff is a waste of time and money, but some folks get a nice lift from it, and might rather spend their weed dollars locally. Legalization of an ounce implies approval of an illegal chain of dealers and suppliers -- since even a single homegrown pot-plant implies more than an ounce. As long as small-time local cultivation is discouraged, the alternatives are encouraged.

It was the usual sophomoric campaign, so let me tweak a couple of locals who happened to get my vote despite it all: Curtis Imrie, you bought successive back pages of Colorado Central and had plenty of space to give us a platform over and above buzzwords and a cute cartoon. Gail Schwartz, you plastered the highways and the airwaves for name and face recognition, but what kind of electorate votes for a face? Sure, it was your opponent who started the slurs, but give the voters credit to see that stuff for what it was, and use your money as if you had an electorate that deserves to know more. Integrity, vision, fair play, health care, serves the people, duh. All that tells us is that if elected you'll do what's politically expedient.

[Cartoon from Slim Wolfe]

I do get a good bit of depth reporting on KRZA community radio in Alamosa/Taos, and I hope the Salida community will continue to support KHEN so it can grow and expand its mission to inform the community. If it's okay to feed a few lost dogs out of the public coffers, it ought to be okay as well to help fund a radio endeavor which feeds information to hungry citizens. Maybe if your town or county council tossed a bone to this magazine, as well, the editors wouldn't find a small incentive to KHEN so objectionable. We need news sources that get beneath labels like neo-con or neo-lib to the truth of the matter which is neo-anderthal.

Which word also brings to mind some of the search-and-destroy missionaries who appear on our roads and lands each hunting season. As if bleeding our state for gas, oil, and minerals isn't enough. Give us a candidate or two who can propose some sort of viable sustenance that will replace these medieval leeching practices. Okay, there's a certain self-reliant thrill the first time you tromp through the snow with a single-shot old Mauser and bring down a large beast for food, but that's plainly not what hunting season is about any more. Gorged with high-dollar gear and out for more blood, they might as well be leeches, most of them.

 Slim Wolfe
 Villa Grove

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