Although I haven’t made money from Amazon Associates program, other people who run web sites in Colorado do. Now they can’t because HB 10-1193 was passed and signed into law in Colorado. I received this email from Amazon early this morning:
Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:
We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to “voluntarily” collect Colorado sales tax — a course we won’t take.
We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states.
There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.
You may express your views of Colorado’s new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill.
Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010.
We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.
On 1/4/2010 the Larimer county Commisioners passed a new zoning amendment in regards to medical cannabis dispensaries and grow operations. Here is video from the meeting broken down into smaller clips for easier navigation. The full video was found the counties web page here. Also below the video clips are the minutes from the meeting provided by the county.
This discussion pertains to zoning in any land that is in unincorporated Larimer County. Zoning in cities such as Fort Collins is not covered by the passed amendment.
This first clips is about 40 minutes long. This is the initial reading of the proposed zoning amendment dealing with medical cannabis in Larimer County.
The GOP establishment and thus, the rank-and-file is falling for it again. Without any serious and visible progress being made towards true conservatism, one-by-one, each of the candidates that even had a semblance of provoking a move towards real revision in the GOP vision, mission and message is dropping out in favor of the hand-picked candidates of the Republican establishment.
The only remaining, non-establishment candidate in a statewide race of any importance is Ken Buck in the US Senate primary race against Jane Norton to face Bennet in 2010. Jane Norton is a loser for the GOP even if she wins the race. Scott McGinnis would prove the same as Governor. He likes to appear as the outsider due to his feud with Dick Wadhams and the state party. That’s window dressing. He’s an establishment NeoCon through and through. His ethical and decisional challenges have already been on display early on in his campaign.
This type of compromise, locally, statewide and federally may allow the GOP to claim some recovery of the legislative majorities and office losses of the last six years in 2010. However, the result for Coloradoans and people of the United States by 2012 and beyond will continue to be disaster, only to a slightly lesser degree than having the Dems in charge. But disaster just the same.
The failure of the Party establishment to recognize the immediate need to dramatically and internally change the course of the GOP from the failures of the last decade is going to complete the split going into 2012. Any wins by the establishment candidates will simply return the party to the status quo, same-ol’, same-ol’, while Rome continues to burn. The wins by the establishment candidates (of all stripes) will be hailed as some kind of huge recovery, when in fact it will it will simply be the extension of the status quo. Apparently nothing is going to change in the GOP until complete disaster overtakes the country and by then it will be too late.
These campaigns, as in the Penry letter, will be sold as campaigns of necessity, made necessary only by the need to win at all costs without taking account of the actual cost. That is a historical failure in the GOP and will insure the end result for America is complete and utter systemic failure.
On the afternoon after the sheriff’s news conference where it was revealed there would be charges filed against the Heene parents I interviewed some of the media camped outside of the Heene household. The family was not home. I ask them what they think of covering this non-story and why aren’t they covering something else like the declining value of the dollar among other questions.
