What is CDOT's real business? If the judiciary's job is to have a conversation with the other branches, what are our courts saying to Colorado? And, because it's Friday, some garden notes.

For what reason are we managing transportation in this state?

Is it for the easy and low-cost flow of goods and services?

Is it for the easy and safe flow of people?

Is it to be good stewards of the money we taxpayers give to the government?

Is it to meet the environmental goals of advocates?

I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that we are doing it for the fourth category above, to meet environmental goals of advocates.

And I want you to understand that I say this without the thought in my head that reasonably accommodating all of the above is not possible.  That is, I do not see any dichotomy between the environment and ability for Coloradans to move themselves and goods safely and easily.  

What I mean is that I am coming more and more to see transportation planning and construction in this state to be more and more driven by satisfying environmental and global warming concerns AT THE COST of the other considerations.  

To help you get a sense of what I mean without going on here too much at length, I want you to take a look at the two articles linked below (the second one, the CompleteColorado op ed by Mr. Sharf is an older one, but the concepts therein are still valid).  Both of them delve into what I'm trying to say at greater length.  

CDOT, prior to doling out the money you and I give them to pay for roads, requires their pound of flesh in the form of environmental plans and insinuation of their values into aspects of our lives one would have struggled to imagine a transportation and road-building agency would have even considered their business 5 years ago.  

They do this social engineering despite its likely dubious value toward a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or solution to the problem of climate change.

They do this despite the fact that they hold themselves to little account in terms of wasted money and fair contracting process (for the actual construction they do).

And they do it with the express approval and at the direction of the Democrats who run this state. 

https://themaverickobserver.com/transportation-colorado-moves-address-emissions-and-footprint/

https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2022/02/15/sharf-commission-turns-cdot-into-colorados-urban-planner/

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A dialog with our state's AG Phil Weiser and the Democrats running this state.

Take a second and read the quote from Justice Ginsberg in the attached screenshot (I put the full length quote in so you could see that what I'm about to discuss below sort of fits what her concept was, but not exactly).  If you're interested in more, I put the link from her interesting discourse on "Speaking in Judicial Voice" first below.**

The idea that a judge's job is to enter into dialog with the other parts of government got me thinking.  

Taking Ginsburg's paradigm, what do you suppose the recent Federal Supreme Court rulings are trying to say to our AG Phil Weiser and the Democrats running this state?  

And I don't just mean websites either.  Take a look at the recent op ed by George Brauchler (not a friend of Weiser by any imagining) linked second below for a rundown on decisions handed down that went contrary to what our AG either had to defend or chose to insert himself into.  

 I'm not going to tell you what to think.  That question is a genuine one and one I want you to come to your own conclusions.  

What is the role of law in terms of morality?  How sacred do you hold the idea that one should not have to violate their conscience?  When and where do my rights end with regard to harm I might cause you?  Zooming out, what do we owe each other as humans:  both as individual to individual and when we act in a body to an individual?

Much has been made lately (mainly by those that disagree with the decisions coming down from a more conservative-leaning court) about how the "progress" our country has made is being eroded by the Supreme Court.

I don't know that I see it that way.  To me, just like with a tension between competing parties helps us stay around middle of the road policy, a back and forth between court decisions is entirely appropriate.  A revisit of earlier decisions and a check on the drift to one ideological side are fine.  What we see now is not more than a nudge of the wheel in the opposite direction to keep us in our lane.  

That is, those that complain now are the liberal version of people like me who felt for years and years that the court was far far too liberal in their presumptions of what the Constitution was implying and in their lack of protection for individual rights.  

So while AG Weiser and every other good Progressive in this state rail about the unfairness and horror that this Court will visit upon us, I remind myself that it wasn't that long ago that the Court was inventing rights and tilting the balance of individual vs. collective way too far toward the collective. 

And I remind myself that it's okay if we our thermostat glides above and below the setpoint rather than staying there (or, worse, running away in either direction).

It's appropriate to nudge the wheel back over every so often, whether that nudge is to the left OR the right.

**Another tangential connection?  I once attended a lunch given by my schools animal judging coach and team (having grown up in Denver, I knew nothing about animal judging and wanted to learn).  I remember one of the kids saying that when the animal judge delivers his or her verdict, he or she should do so in a way that acknowledged good qualities of all the animals and explained the reasoning behind the decision.  Shades of the Supreme Court.  

https://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/ECM_PRO_059254.pdf

https://gazette.com/opinion/columnists/column-phil-weiser-has-had-a-bad-run-at-bat-george-brauchler/article_3c089302-1b39-11ee-9794-935d6dc8dd97.html

Garden Notes: it’s garlic time!

Last one of the week and you know what that means:  something for fun and not related to politics.

Things are really starting to pop in the garden this week and I thought I'd give you a little look.

First, it's garlic time.  If you planted garlic and haven't yet, pop out and check those leaves.  If the outermost 3 or 4 of them are brown and dropped (and the neck has bent), it's time to harvest.

I harvested this week (picture #1), gave them a preliminary "haircut" (picture #2), and hung them out to dry (picture #3).

After a couple weeks under the world's hottest metal-roofed patio, I will pull them down dust off the dirt and outermost skin, cut the roots even shorter if possible, and then leave them with a couple inches of stem (cutting off as much root as possible and leaving on a couple inches of stem is the best way to prevent them from sprouting in long storage).

I recently made a bread with bits of roasted garlic in it (found in my copy of the wonderful book "Bread Baker's Apprentice"--see link below), and I'm officially a fan of roasted garlic now.  I think some of these heads might go straight into the oven instead of storage!

Tomatoes are coming up ripe now too.  I planted San Marzanos and a variety called "spoon tomatoes" (a free gift from a seed supplier).  The SM's are not anywhere near ripening yet**, but the spoon tomatoes are starting to ripen.  See picture #4.

They are tiny, tiny!  About the size of a very large pea, in fact.  They do have a good flavor and I'm looking forward to adding them to salads.  They're about the right size for my taste:  tiny little pops of summer.  I will definitely plant them again.  

Lastly, I mentioned fernbush in an earlier post as a good player in the xeric garden.  I recently noticed that my aztec lilly is starting to bloom (picture #5), and remembered that it deserves special mention too.  

It's a really low maintenace, low water use plant that works well in all kinds of soils and locations.  I have it in some heavier clay out back and in a tiny little clay flue planter out front.  Does fine in both.  

Another good thing:  it's easily divided.  So if you buy it and get it established well, some Spring before it wakes up too much, chop off a hunk and put it somewhere else you want flowers.  Or give to a friend.  

How about you?  Anything going on in your garden you want to share?


**I say yet here because I recently came across a video (second link below) that apparently holds the key to hurrying along your tomato plants:  defoliate them.  I think I'll give it a shot.  


https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/250188/the-bread-bakers-apprentice-15th-anniversary-edition-by-peter-reinhart/