Woah…  I never thought November would actually come, like this election had no end to it and the issues would never be absolved; the wars, the economy, the environment, the candidates and their campaigns seemed to suspend in mid air while the world was on edge…

 A scene was burned into my head after September 11th. Citizens in foreign nations dancing in the streets, celebrating our death and destruction. A little over 7 years later, there were people dancing in the streets because of one man’s American Dream. Hunter S. Thompson declared the American Dream dead but Barack Obama revived this nation's faith in it. After having talked with Tom Morello he wanted me to let you know that the Nightwatchman has got your back.

He made an interesting point though, if music isn’t an effective protest weapon then why is the government so afraid of stopping it?

My election experience kicked off with Tenancious D and the Beastie Boys at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, Colorado. Adrock stood in front of the Fillmore crowd and told patrons to hold one finger in the air, he said, "This is your voting finger." Then the crowd cooed "freeeeessssssh," then the bass beat dropped to "Ch-Check It Out" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wddY7qCn-ig&feature=related. 

There were about 3,000 young people who were ready to vote or had already voted at the Fillmore. 

With the polls closing on the East Coast, polls will be open for another hour and a half here in Colorado. The Beastie Boys were out rocking the vote on election day in Colorado and they hit Boulder this afternoon with dorm storms. This evening they will be in Fort Collins knocking on campus doors and hittin an Obama party in Denver.  

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 Zach Braff, Ben Harper & Laura Dern were at the University of Colorado, Boulder campus urging students to roll out of bed and vote early. So far, well over a half million people in Colorado have voted already.

The “Colorado Civil Rights Initiative,” more formerly known as Amendment 46, is the brainchild of California businessman Ward Connerly. Connerly, an African American, was dubbed in a recent article by Good Magazine as an “Anti-Affirmative-Action Crusader.” Connerly told THINK MTV recently that Amendment 46’s educational influence will not be that significant based on the current admissions and program funding at universities in Colorado. However, opponents of the ballot measure say it would effectively execute the 1964 Civil Rights Act and end equal opportunity programs in the state but proponents of the bill say that Amendment 46 is the first step to end the gender and racial divide in Colorado.

Drug trafficking arteries snake through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and eventually make their way to Colorado where the meth road dead ends on the western slope. The shadow of the Roan Plateau and Grand Mesa provides cover for the drug trafficking roads that weave on the ground like salty, calcified capillaries. Around these parts, meth is known as "crank", "jib", "ice", "crystal", "tina", "glass", "P" or it’s referred to as the “poor man’s cocaine.”

Methamphetamine enters the cerebral cavity and triggers an exponential release of norepine...

Henry Akim Gama is known to his friends as "Gama." He is a 29 year old Zimbabwe citizen in search of political asylum here in Colorado. His story is unique to Colorado and all to prevalent in Zimbabwe.

Students at the University of Colorado, Boulder enjoyed the presidential debates and shared their thoughts on where the candidates can take this nation in the future.

The Roan Plateau is a huge swath of land that spans thousands acres on Colorado’s western slope. On August 14th, the Bureau of Land Management fetched $114 million from oil and gas companies for 55,000 acres on top of the Roan Plateau.

The main bidder was Vantage Energy, which purchased about 35,000 acres of the 55,000 acres up for lease.

Vantage is backed by two venture-capital funds — the Carlyle Group and Riverstone Energy,

51% of sale proceeds will go to the U.S. treasury and the other 49% will go to the state of Colorado.

Governor Ritter had proposed that the 55,000 acres leased by the Bureau of Land Management be leased over a period of time instead of all at once. This phase leasing strategy, according to Governor Ritter would have, “maximized the value of the natural-gas resource beneath the Roan over a longer period of time.”

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Like Virgil leading Dante through the "Inferno" I took a walk around downtown Denver with the lead organizer for the Recreate 68, Glenn Spagnuolo. We talked about the differences in this year's protest and protests of yore. Fortunately, Rennie Davis of the original Chicago 7, was able to provide some insight as to where today's protest movements are missing something that was present in the late 1960s.