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LET THEM EAT CAKE

grandcountyuncensored.com Opinion and commentary by Reggie Paulk

October 13, 2011 || Volume 1, Number 14 || Free

What is becoming of our nation? As I write this, thousands of people are camping out in cities across the country in a protest known as Occupy Wall Street. The protest has even moved into the mountains of Colorado, with a movement dubbed Occupy Aspen. The Occupy Wall Street movement, like the Tea Party movement before it, is in the process of being quantified by government, commentators and the news media alike. These protesters didn't just show up, wave a few signs in the air and then head home. These people are pissed. These people are staying. The movement is already reaching a critical mass, and that could become a major problem for the powersthatbe. Without proper direction, it could become dangerous. Americans got a wake up call in the fall of 2008. The nation, and indeed the world, has been floundering ever since, and our representatives have no intention to make it right. The largest financial heist in the history of human civilization has stolen the security of all of our futures, and not one of the principle actors has even been indicted, much less convicted of a crime. In fact, these crimes are being actively covered up by the very people we've entrusted with oversight. Thomas Jefferson was just 33 years old when he penned the Declaration of Independence. It says in part,"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Only 11 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing at the moment. They are clearly not operating with the consent of the governed. In fact, these are the kinds of approval ratings that have brought about the fall of dictators such as Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. We are treading dangerous waters here, and just because there aren't tents set up in Hot Sulphur doesn't mean we don't have the same level of frustration here in Grand County. Most people know they've been screwedthey just don't know the mechanism of how or why. The people protesting on Wall Street are lashing out, and just because it may be slighly misguided doesn't make it any less dangerous to us as a people and a nation. Congress is full of arrogant, self serving, narcissistic pricks. That much we know. That they have no intention of putting a stop to the ongoing looting by large financial institutions deemed too big to fail is also known. It is one of the main reasons I began printing Grand County Uncensored in the first place. I gave up on trying to make a difference at a national level soon after Congress passed the troubled asset relief program (TARP) bill. Congressional offices were receiving calls from constituents that numbered 300:1 against bailing out the banks. In fact, the call and web volume was so large that it crashed Congressional web servers and phone systems in the days leading up to the vote. It slowly dawned on me that Congress had gone rogue, and not just in 2008. Congress has been dangerously rogue for decades. I decided to focus my energies locally instead. What I've discovered over the past couple years in Grand County is our local representatives exhibit many of the same traits as our state and federal officials. That same dangerous arrogance pervades town halls and board rooms across the county.

Arrogance is defined as overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors. Nowhere was this more clearly demonstrated than at last year's pre adhoc meeting of the town councils, school board and county commissioners. Watching these people go on about how to influence citizens to approve more taxes was a despicable charadeespecially in light of the fact that only one person in the room even knew what the East Grand school's budget looked like. I was determined to derail any effort to raise new taxes, but I also wanted to educate myself about the district budget. I spent weeks pouring over the thing, line by line. I met with the superintendent. I spent hours on the phone with the Colorado Department of Education. I distilled the thing into a single blog post so anyone with a spreadsheet and a calculator could figure out the finances for themselves. I then sent it off to all of the principal members present at the meeting. No one responded. Every town but Kremmling pledged funds to bailout the school districtseven the town of Fraser with its million dollar deficit. Only one town council member in Winter Park voted against giving money. The county commissioners, armed with my budget and all the information needed to verify it, not only gave the schools moneythey increased the amount by 25 percent. Not one group questioned the school district's projections, and they had the information to dispute them in February! Then the adhoc committee failed. Then Grand Lake Elementary was closed. Then the school district 'miraculously' had $800,000. If you file a civil claim seeking damages, you must provide a preponderance of evidence to prove your claim. "A preponderance of evidence is a standard of proof that must be met by a plaintiff if he or she is to win a civil action. For most civil claims, there are two different evidentiary standards: preponderance of the evidence, and clear and convincing evidence." (thefreedictionary.com) For preponderance of evidence, the standard is met if the proposition is more likely true than not true.(Wikipedia) When I accused the school district of lying, and backed up my claim with a researched budget, I provided a preponderance of evidence, did I not? In light of current information, I'd say my assessment was spot on. After the school debacle, it was apparent I needed to keep a closer eye on the commissioners. Their decisions were puzzling, and I wanted to see what else might be going on at the empty board meetings. The very first meeting I attended revealed what can only be considered a scam. In order to try to bring more tourists into Grand County, the commissioners enacted a one percent 'lodging tax' to be levied on any short term rentals. Ignore the fact that they're essentially levying a fine on those who've made the effort to visit Grand County. Ignore the arrogance of government as efficient allocator of capital. The commissioners have taken over $500,000 from lodges and pumped it back into a dubious advertising campaign with abysmal results. I wrote about it in my first paper, but nothing has been done to stop it. There's no excuse to have a lodging tax in this county, and the commissioners were presented with clear evidence against it from their own people 15 weeks ago. Speaking of lodging, the commissioners recently held public hearings regarding the use of residential zoned properties for shortterm rentals. Due to this paper and the Sky Hi News, people actually showed up to the meeting in opposition to the amendments they were considering. CONTINUED...

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Even when confronted by lodge owners who said they would suffer loss of business (or go out of business) should they proceed, they went ahead and voted to allow them anyway. Commissioner Bumgarner voted against the amendment because it had a registration requirement. Instead of examining why they even have zoning laws they don't enforce in the first place, the commissioners chose to slap a bandaid over their problem and call it goodliterally screwing legitimate businesses across the county. The only consolation is that they've now become the new landlords of the county because of the registration requirement, and created a beuracratic headache that just might cause them to rethink their actions. When presented with evidence of actual criminal fraud, our county officials have been disturbingly quiet. In the fourth issue of Grand County Uncensored, I pointed out a number of mortgage assignments with clearly questionable signatures. I even highlighted one missing the notary's signature entirely. In December of last year, I sent evidence of this to the Sheriff, Clerk and Recorder, County Commissioners and the District Attorney. I even sent copies of mortgage assignments missing signatures from the same bank using the same notary filed on the same day in other Colorado counties. Nothing has been done to address this, even though banks have admitted to filing fraudulent paperwork in courts across the country. Don't worry though. We're aggressivley pursuing the monsters who speed, smoke marijuana, drink and drive and fail to wear seatbelts. Chris Foster of ADS Builders was recently convicted of defrauding subcontrators in a Grand Lake development scheme. He was sentenced to 59 days in county jail and ordered to pay restitution of $300,000. How is defrauding home owners, investors and counties any less of a crime, and why does it continue to go unpunished? In government, the mere appearance of impropriety is usually all that's necessary to cause them to stop or change behavior. This is the case with our county attorney. Jack DiCola performs the duties of county attorney while concurrently pursuing a private practice right across the street from the administrative building. Jesus Christ himself could not escape judgement for having an arrangement with such clear possible conflicts of interest. Jack has served this county for over three decades, and is no doubt an invaluable wealth

I've spent a lot of time on these two pages pointing out things I perceive as being broken and needing fixing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have excellence. I haven't spent time focusing on excellence, but I intend to begin doing so right now. I'm searching for the best of the best in Grand County, and I need your help to find them. If you meet someone who's work is exceptional, I would like to know where to find them. Wether they're the best welder or waitress craftsman or artisan, it would be great to find these people and highlight their work. If this is the first copy of Grand County Uncensored you've read, you're misssing out on 13 issues that have already gone to print. Don't worry though, I've got you covered. All back issues of Grand County Uncensored get uploaded to Scribd, where you may view a full PDF of the paper online. Just visit: scribd.com/gcuncensored

FOCUSING ON EXCELLENCE

NEED BACK ISSUES?

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." "Dependence begets subservience and venality (prostitution of talents or offices or services for reward), suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition." "A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned this is the sum of good government." "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." "Tis easy to see, hard to foresee." "Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other." Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

of knowledge, but you can't ride two horses with one ass. The commissioners must address this perception. Our nation is facing a great test. The rampant abuse of power by those in positions of authority at the state and federal levels are not going unnoticed, and the underpinnings of dissent are beginning to take root. It behooves our county representatives to set the tone and begin educating themselves as to the cause of why our country is in peril and begin seeking solutions. Time is quickly running out, and the alternatives are not palatable. I absolutely detest saying 'I told you so,' but time and again, this continues to occur. I started this paper to educate and inform. I've pointed out numerous situations where, even when presented with convincing evidence they should not move forward, our representatives arrogantly did anyway. You shouldn't need a flood of emails or phone calls to convice you to to the right thingeven when the right thing is the more difficult choice. Our representatives took an oath to uphold the Constitutionbut their actions continue to show they are prone to expediency. Believe me, I want more than anything else to see our leadership succeed. I want to be witness to doing the right thing even when it's the more difficult choice. I want to see justice delivered evenly and appropriately. I believe people are capable of changing long held assumptions and beliefs when presented with convincing evidence to the contrary. We're currently headed down one of two paths in this country. We can either begin addressing the injustice right now, or we are going to have open revolt in the streets across America. Those kids camping out on city sidewalks have nothing to lose. They are angry. They are disenfranchised. They feel betrayed. They are easy to manipulate. They are a lit powderkeg. As my friend Karl Denninger says, "The fact of the matter is that the cabal of looters, including Bernanke who is stealing from Granny each and every day with his zero interest rates in a puerile and outrageous attempt to prevent those who ripped her off with 'home equity loans' and 30 percent interest on credit cards from having to face the music for their idiocy, still haven't repudiated their failed policies and faced the mathematics: What they're doing can't work the victims of this vampiric attack have been sucked dry and have no more blood to 'donate' by force!" Our sheriff, commissioners, mayors and their various coalitions need to wake up and understand their main focus needs to be on petitioning the state to get on the ball and start prosecuting the financial crimes that continue to be committed and covered up by a complicit Congress. I've presented enough bread crumbs for them to follow, and the onus is on them to act. Marie Antoinette is said to have callously exclaimed, "Let them eat cake," when she learned the peasants had no bread to eat. She would later lose her head to the guillotineexecuted by the very peasants she ignored.

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Please send donations to: Uncensored Media, LLC P.O. Box 1738 Fraser, CO 80442 NOTE: Donations are NON taxdeductible Contact the editor: reggie.paulk@gmail.com (303)5527963