Colorado
updated
9:44 a.m.
The plus side of eco-vigilante James Lee’s Falling Down routine at the Discovery Channel headquarters is that viewers might be prompted to wonder what’s there to protest. Will the media paint the 43-year-old Lee as a kook, without addressing to what in particular the would- be superhero took offense? Maybe that the cable propagandists purport [...]...
Not My Tribe - Wed 7:09 p.m.
Oh, thank you Colorado, for making this election season just a little bit fun (via TPM ). Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes on Tuesday backed away from a claim that, as a police officer 25 years ago, he worked "undercover" with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Maes previously said he was fired as a police officer in Liberal, Kan., after working undercover with the KBI in a g...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Wed 3:45 p.m. - 6 clicks 
It's been a while since I did a "meta" post, so I figured that I was due. I check site statistics every once and a while, which is a vaguely naughty business. Despite the fact that here are hundreds of millions of users out there, many of my "known readers" have distinctive IP address locations, so I can make fair guesses of who is reading what a surprisingly large share of the time. Is it an ...
Wash Park Prophet - Wed 2:25 p.m.
August has passed without any major town hall eruptions, but that doesn’t mean it is a quiet time in American politics. Midterm-election campaigns are heating up, and it’s becoming clear that these races could determine what gets accomplished in the next Congress. This includes what we do -- or don't do -- on clean energy and climate solutions. Comprehensive climate legislation ma...
SquareState - Wed 2:25 p.m.
Nietzsche said" "When we look into the abyss, searching for monsters, the abyss looks into us as well" . Right now we are staring the abyss in the face and there are indeed monsters there. This abyss is the elections this fall. The chance that radical Republicans will take over the House and perhaps the Senate has grown. The affect of constant lies from Fox News and Talk Radio have ener...
SquareState - Wed 8:24 a.m.
In the current conditions, the gubernatorial race in Colorado is not competitive, and cause of that I will not include finally D Maes in the series, like I include not the republican challengers for VT-Sen, HI-Sen, RI-Gov and NH-Gov for the previous states of this series. I update the series after new votes or political events, and if these races change for become more competitive I would include...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Wed 5:47 a.m. - 3 clicks
Because the Hatemongers and Deathmongers have gotten increasingly abusive in their rallies to drum up support of Killing People. While they say they’re not Racist about it in any way, they do fly the Confederate Battle Flag, the “Southern Cross” and sometimes bear signs saying “Not Hate, Heritage” and the Hate Flag. It’s a heritage [...]...
Not My Tribe - Tue 11:26 p.m.
Hello Square State. We haven't posted here before, but we thought you'd enjoy this. Before Don Beezley was the Republican nominee in House District 33, he told the unvarnished truth about his vision for Colorado, and his vision is, in a word, bizarre . The Broomfield County Democrats launched a website today www.BizarreBeezley.com , dedicated to educating voters about the real Don B...
SquareState - Tue 8:44 p.m. - 5 clicks
"Everything that happened to [him] was my fault." . . . "In all the years I've known him, there's always been exactly one place [he] wanted to be, and he's always fought like hell to make sure he got there and stayed there." "Where's that?" "Wherever you were. Remember when you fell out of that tree on the farm when you were ten, and broke your arm? Remember how he made them let him ride with...
Wash Park Prophet - Tue 4:44 p.m.
[A]n elderly relative started complaining about "Obamacare" and how it would lead to "socialized medicine." Knowing the person had heart surgery courtesy of Medicare and was receiving ongoing monitoring and care, I said, "I didn't realize you were so unhappy with Medicare." To which I received the reply: "I'm not talking about Medicare, I'm talking about socialized medicine." - full dialog avai...
Wash Park Prophet - Tue 4:28 p.m.
Stereotypically, Russian society is pretty bleak. Like most stereotypes, it doesn't come entirely out of nowhere. Consider this first line of a popular Russian love song : You didn’t need to fear my love, I don’t love you so awfully much. Just the thing to get that romantic va-va-voom going. Americans, in contrast, are enthusiastic even when their loves turn sour. Consider Fall Out Boy'...
Wash Park Prophet - Tue 3:26 p.m.
Today's diary continues checking the strength of M Udall as the third democrat from Colorado against the more prominent republicans from his home state. The next republican included in this series is K Buck, as the winner of the republican primary for senate. In some days I will write a diary more adapted to this year competitive senate election in Colorado with M Bennet vs K Buck, but today we h...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Tue 9:20 a.m. - 7 clicks
In the movie Witness, there is a scene where a little Amish boy, who has witnessed a murder, takes the gun of the detective who is there to protect him from a chest of drawers. He is caught by his grandfather who sits him down for a talk. The grandfather asks if the boy would use this gun to kill. The boy says that he would only kill a bad man. The grandfather asks "How will you know who is the ba...
SquareState - Tue 6:21 a.m. - 5 clicks
Kind of like the Miracle Inflamed Hemorrhoid that kept his buddy Rush from not only the draft, but enlisting as well. On our blog, one of Glenn’s Peeps wrote the other day that if we don’t join their Hate Speech Mob we must be cowards. What an amazing Epiphany that was! Here I’d always thought [...]...
Not My Tribe - Tue 2:46 a.m.
I’d been hearing that for the past (few) years from preachers, one of my pastors, gone almost thirty years now called them “Hellevangelists” but they’ve been saying that the Twin Towers were attacked because they were a religious symbol of Christian America. False. They were a trade exposition, a massive mall where you could stop [...]...
Not My Tribe - Tue 2:09 a.m.
The Powwow will be September 25 at Rock Ledge Ranch, “technically” according to the West Side Pioneer, local newsletter, a part of the Garden of the Gods. Which is a sacred site for American Indians. The same people who put this really offensive sign up at Bancroft Park that Old Colorado City was the first [...]...
Not My Tribe - Tue 1:41 a.m. - 10 clicks
FR: Dee Brown The following is an email from the City of Colorado Springs Help Desk support product. CASE_ID_NUM: 10-073910 MESSAGE: The message for you follows Thank you for taking the time to alert the Streetlight Deactivation Team of your concerns. As you may know, the team was created to systematically turn off [...]...
Not My Tribe - Mon 11:46 p.m. - 8 clicks
Detractors see "moralistic therapeutic deism" as a derogative description of one more way that American teens are slouching their way to Gomorrah. I'm inclined to be more positive and see it as an emerging ecumenical consensus that can unite a culturally divided society. I also strongly dispute the claim of the author of the book that the linked story is based upon that "religious teenagers do...
Wash Park Prophet - Mon 6:07 p.m.
The respective local Chambers of Commerce will probably not be bragging about the fact that their hometown is one of "America's Ten Dead Cities." The cities: (1) Buffalo; (2) Flint; (3) Hartford; (4) Cleveland; (5) New Orleans; (6) Detroit; (7) Albany; (8) Atlantic City; (9) Allentown; (10) Galveston. I got married and started practicing law in Buffalo, have a shirt tail relative in...
Wash Park Prophet - Mon 1:26 p.m.
The next step in this series is to check the strength of the senator M Udall as the third democrat from Colorado here, against the former governor W Owens. This hypothetical contest is like always in this series for a generic highest level race (senate or governor). Generic questions make we can compare the results of the different diaries. The chance of see this hypothesis becoming real seems...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Mon 6:44 a.m. - 8 clicks
The anti-Muslim whirlwind continues to be reaped in the United States. For all that the Sarah Palins and Rudy Giuliani's of the world think that the fight over the Park51 Islamic Center is confined to Manhattan the reality is that it is spreading and getting more and more violent. This weekend the site of new Islamic center outside Nashville was fire bombed. No one was hurt but some very expensi...
SquareState - Mon 6:27 a.m.
America has freedom still, or what little is left, because of the actions of Dissidents, not Conformists. The Army didn’t give us these freedoms, save by surrendering their claims to any authority to do otherwise. Most certainly the wars in which the Army is engaged today, and has been steadily engaged in since the “cessation [...]...
Not My Tribe - Sun 11:20 p.m.
Great advances have been made in diagnosing and understanding Alzheimer's disease (a common type of progressive dementia experienced mostly by older people), including recent developments of PET scan and spinal tap diagnostic tests. but thirty years of intensive research have yielded no therapy that has been scientifically proven to be effective in treating it, according to a panel of "15 medic...
Wash Park Prophet - Sun 8:45 p.m.
The President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Fed Chair Paul Volcker has offered up a treasure trove of proposals for tax simplification, increasing tax compliance, corporate taxation and international taxation, all of which are revenue neutral or tax reducing for families making less than $250,000 a year, in a new 128 page report. These are (mostly) moderate, sensible proposa...
Wash Park Prophet - Sun 8:45 p.m.
People like Beverly Willett are Exhibit A in the case for adopting No Fault Divorce. She tells the story of how she spent five years of pitched court battles in New York, in the time period before it adopted no fault divorce, trying to prevent her scum bag husband who had left the family home after having an affair with someone else from divorcing her. Her lengthy account make clear that cond...
Wash Park Prophet - Sun 8:45 p.m.
Colorado Confluence is a new kind of political-plus blog, Colorado-based but not geographically (or topically) exclusive, "to articulate the genius of the many with the expertise of the few, the simple pleasures of daily life with the sublime pleasures of aesthetic and intellectual discovery, the roiling surface of the political sea with the surging depths of the human mind." Colorado Confluen...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Sun 5:47 p.m. - 7 clicks
Amendment 63 - as marketed by reactionaries from the Jon Caldara camp at the Independence Institute is misleading; asserting it promotes choice for Colorado's concerned citizens. Let's really look at what Amendment 63 will do in light of the federal coverage mandate by 2014. Insurance coverage vs Health Care? The US adopted a federal insurance based system in 1973, ratcheting the controls of...
SquareState - Sun 2:49 p.m. - 6 clicks
"The Colorado Lawyer," which is the monthly journal of the Colorado Bar Association had a notice that marked the end of an era in its September issue: The Colorado Lawyer has discontinued printing classified ads. Classified advertising is being accepted for online posting only on the Colorado Bar Association website, www.cobar.org. When I started practicing law in Colorado, those print edit...
Wash Park Prophet - Sun 2:22 p.m. - 7 clicks
Until this summer, there Manga scanlations were a cottage industry, large enough to have even spawned a few academic articles and books (see, e.g., here , here , here , here and here , as have the works themselves ) . The idea behind a scanlation is that graphic novels written in Japanese or Korean, where comics are written in far more genre and for far more audiences than their American s...
Wash Park Prophet - Sun 1:08 p.m. - 8 clicks
Happy Sunday Bread Heads! This week we're going to handle a request and keep going on the sourdough breads. Sourdough Pumpernickel is one of the great sandwich breads of all time. The dense crumb and complex flavors make this bread more than just the base for some meat and cheese, it makes it part of the overall meal. As with all the sourdough breads it begins with a starter....
SquareState - Sun 9:07 a.m.
After reading the Denver Post article of 8/24 regarding Silt, I had to stop and gather my thoughts. When television news became the easy way to get your news, we knew at a certain level that it was quick sound bites but we also knew we could trust Cronkite, Burroughs, and a few others. But we knew that for in-depth intelligent analysis you went to the paper. Unfortunately, at lea...
SquareState - Sun 2:47 a.m. - 10 clicks
Republican Senate Candidate Ken Buck has tried really to convince Colorado that he really isn't an extremist. He walked back that whole repealing the 17th amendment business that he used to support. He also now supposedly no longer wants to abolish the Department of Education. He even used a tea party rally to try to turn back that extremist label. Too bad for Buck that there's that thin...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Sat 5:25 p.m. - 8 clicks
In yesterday's diary the people select here M Udall as the third democrat from Colorado. Again a tie, and like always here, I must take the politician what hold the higher level offices (now and in the past). Today I begin with the diaries with a democrat and a republican face to face checking the strength of the different politician in a format what help us to compare the results between politic...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Fri 7:44 p.m. - 6 clicks
The United States Army has terminated its "Ground Combat Vehicle" competition (i.e. the program to build a next generation Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle) after in house Pentagon consultants looking at preliminary proposals for the vehicle realized that what the Army asked for in its "request for proposal" wasn't really what it wanted. The vehicles defense contractors tried to come up with t...
Wash Park Prophet - Fri 6:42 p.m.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll [pdf] finds mixed news for Dems in Colorado. The basics : Democrat John Hickenlooper has a substantial lead in the Colorado governor’s race in which a third-party candidate is splitting the Republican vote, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll. But the Democrat in Colorado’s Senate race, incumbent Michael Bennet, trails Republican challenger Ken Buck...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Fri 6:02 p.m. - 9 clicks
There were 4.2% fewer births in the United States 2009 than there were at the 2007 peak. In Colorado, there were 3.2% fewer births. The trends don't necessary closely track the impact of the financial crisis. Florida and Nevada, for example, were both very hard hit economically, but did not see big declines in births (Florida's increased, Nevada's stayed almost the same). But, births are, of...
Wash Park Prophet - Fri 2:29 p.m. - 6 clicks
If I had a gun it would serve as my point of meditation. [Excerpt, Swimming Upstream, Eve Ensler editor] And I would look at it and re-remember Harriet Tubman’s steely whisper and Nanny’s ear-splitting yell, Ida B. Wells’ unrelenting voice and Fannie Lou Hamer’s unwavering glare. I’d remember Nat Turner’s plot and Tony Morrison’s [...]...
Not My Tribe - Fri 8:00 a.m.
This evening Andrew Romanoff held a birthday party in part to help retire his campaign debt and for some reason, Ken Buck, in a classless, antagonistic move crashed the party. Attendees who wanted to take the opportunity to question Buck's policies (and sanity) say Buck wouldn't answer any questions. Who the f#(k does this prick think he is to walk into a hornets nest and then thumb his nose at ...
SquareState - Fri 1:49 a.m. - 8 clicks
Uh… yeah. The dude got skunked on his watch twice in the same place by the same group, (by his account) and has spent the last few years, since they kicked his numb nuts out of the Mayoralty, running seminars where he gets really STUPID people to pay him money to tell them that he’s [...]...
Not My Tribe - Thu 10:27 p.m. - 2 clicks
In a paper published today by "The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", scientists found traces (in the form of gene sequences) of murine leukemia virus- (MLV) related viruses in 32 of 37 chronic fatigue syndrome patients; but in only 3 of 44 healthy blood donors. The researchers did not find XMRV. . . . A paper published by the CDC at that time found no XMRV or other MLV-related v...
Wash Park Prophet - Thu 7:03 p.m. - 2 clicks
The next step in this series finds the third democrat from Colorado. This is a key position for assure the victory in the three highest level offices. For win the two senate seats and the governor, the third democrat must be over all the republicans, and cause of that, this series check the strength of the third democrat from every state against all the republicans what are in this series giving ...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Thu 6:26 p.m. - 6 clicks
The SEC has released new proxy rules for publicly held companies. The Proxy Rule Status Quo Every year, every publicly held company sends out a proxy statement which is a Soviet style ballot to appoint or reappoint the members of its Board of Directors, who are nominated one person for each position, by a committee of the Board of Directors, a process that is generally controlled, directly o...
Wash Park Prophet - Thu 11:22 a.m. - 2 clicks
I worked on Capitol Hill for a long time, and I do not consider myself naive about the inner workings of Washington. But even I was surprised by two revelations this week exposing the amount of money the oil industry is spending to buy political influence. The first eye-opener came from recently released lobbying numbers. The OpenSecrets blog reported that the oil and gas industry poured $174 ...
SquareState - Thu 11:22 a.m. - 3 clicks
The linked commentary isn’t about the bus lack-of-service, it’s to fellow local activist Loren Wirbel made a short documentary film just showing a FEW of the multi-gazillionaire “defense” plants around town. You know the ones, our Magnificently Superior Business Experts at City Hall made the command decision for us to give them Tax Exemptions that [...]...
Not My Tribe - Aug 26 - 2 clicks
George Washington, the individual, had a profound influence on the shape of the American political system. This is to be expected from the first top executive in any organization, but I hadn't realized until lately just how exceptional he was and how important that may have been to preventing the United States from becoming a monarchy. He was closer to being a life long dictator than may people ...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 26 - 2 clicks
When the educrats and politicians fail -- Colorado kids can win! From yesterday's defeat of Colorado's so-called reformers in their avaricious sprint in the "Race to the Top" contest, should come a realization that improving education is not going to......
Metro Denver Greens - Aug 25 - 6 clicks
Dan Maes, the Republican nominee in the Colorado Governor's race, named a running mate as credible as most. Tom Tancredo, in contrast, has named Pat Miller , who served only a single term as a state representative a couple of decades ago and has run some second rate anti-abortion groups in the meantime. Her views are probably further to the right than any other candidate who will appear on the ...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 25 - 9 clicks
Those who read my posts (and there are a lot more of you than I ever thought there would be) know that I am not really a fan of divisive politics. This comes from the teachings of my Mom, who spent her political career reaching out to Republicans to get things done in Washtenaw County. Her argument was always that while you might hammer your opponents in today's fight, you're probably going to nee...
SquareState - Aug 25 - 3 clicks
Sometimes I need to stop a little for think and try to give the right interpretation to the people voters in this series, and this is one. I think is not casual to see here D DeGette over well loved and respected politicians like J Hickenlooper. That mean she is very respected and the people see D DeGette as a politician with high value what can take high level offices in the future. She is no...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Aug 24 - 2 clicks
The DSCC is hitting Colorado Republican Ken Buck on his one-time support for repealing the 17th amendment--the one that provides for direct election of Senators. Once Buck realized that this was a slightly nutjob position to run a race for Senate on, he recanted. But it's still a good ad. As crazy as repealing the 17th amendment, or the 14th, or really any of them other than th...
DailyKos (Colorado) - Aug 24 - 3 clicks
Denver Direct notes that the City of Denver first appears to have overpaid for a property adjacent to East High School that was to be used to build a Central Denver Recreation Center (which was a great idea, the Rec Center, not the overpaying part), and then ran out of money to build and operate it in the near future, forcing it to make the $6.5 million dollar property assessed at $1 million in...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 24 - 3 clicks
Minority Lead McConnell, can we talk a minute? You are an educated man, so it is probably pretty hard to say some of things you say when defending the tax policies of the Bush Administration and arguing for their continuation. Perhaps your time in Washington has taught you the skill of being able to say any kind of nonsense but really, Senator, you have to know in the back of your mind that enacti...
SquareState - Aug 24 - 3 clicks
Newly appointed Denver Manager of Safety Ron Perea has resigned effective August 31 after his slap on the wrist sanctions for police officers who lied in reports about police brutality received media attention and public protests. Perea, an outside hire from a Secret Service appointment, never understood how important reining in police misconduct was in Denver, or how deeply he was damaging h...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 23 - 5 clicks
On August 15, 2010, New York State adopted a law allowing for divorce without proof that the other partner to the marriage was at fault . All of the other states in the United States had already adopted "no fault" divorce. The law took as long as it did to be adopted mostly because some supporters of it believed that it gave wives more bargaining power on substantive issues in a divorce. The d...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 23
The city fathers of Philadelphia have decided that blogging, even if the blog isn't profitable, or produces only nominal hobby income ($11 in two years), must pay a $300 once or $50 per year business privilege tax , on top of city, state and federal income taxes. Needless to say, Philadelphia's interpretation of its tax laws are at least contrary to all common sense, and at worst, unconstitution...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 23 - 2 clicks
John Salazar (D?-Pueblo/Gunnison), brother of Colorado's semi-beloved, former Senator and current Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar , has been recently found to be aiding and abetting a land swap deal for one of the Koch Brothers up here in Colorado. Locals don't like it. Partly because the recipient of the favors, Bill Koch, can't be trusted , and partly because Salazar is pushing this trick...
SquareState - Aug 23 - 3 clicks
The New York Times via the Sentencing Law and Policy blog discussed the criminal punishment, usually for adultery, of stoning. Some Muslims complain that stoning — along with other traditional penalties like whipping and the amputation of hands — is too often sensationalized in the West to smear the reputation of Islam generally. Most of these severe punishments are carried out by the Taliban ...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 23 - 2 clicks
"Whether or not you think the Islamic cultural centre and mosque should be built near the World Trade Center site, do you think that Muslims have a constitutional right to build a mosque there?" From Steam Powered Opinions via Mother Jones via the Economist. Mother Jones appropriately notes that the question isn't posed in a way that precisely captures the true constitutional issue, but...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 23
Add Enik Rising to the list of blogs you regularly read on Colorado politics. Denver based author Seth Masket is "a political scientist who specializes in state politics and political parties." The content can be a bit dry and has an inside baseball flavor, but if you're into that kind of thing, that's great. The blog is three years old and I don't know how it managed to evade my active notic...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 23 - 4 clicks
I've published in the state bar journal, taught many continuing legal education classes, and presented conference papers at academic conferences, but I haven't actually published a law review article. This blog did rate a citation in a 2010 article, however, at footnote 42 in a recent article on the bankruptcy gag rule: Renee Newman Knake, "Contemplating Free Speech and Congressional Efforts to...
Wash Park Prophet - Aug 23
Happy Sunday Bread Heads! This week we're going to make French Style Sourdough Bread. The idea for this bread comes from a great bakery deli just tucked away off the main campus of the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), Zingerman's Deli . They make a Chocolate Sourdough bread that is out of this world. It also cost $10 bucks plus shipping so I decided to see if I could replicate the reci...
SquareState - Aug 22
Cross-posted from spoonfighter.com The last US combat brigade left Iraq yesterday, which raises a very important question: where should we invade, er, I mean, protect our freedom, next? Here are some possible candidates: Canada 1) They have oil. 2) They sponsor terror (Justin Bieber). More after the jump. Europe 1) We have a moral duty to free the people of Europe from the sociali...
SquareState - Aug 21
