June 2007 | Main | August 2007
By Ed Markham
Many people are experiencing brown or straw coloring on their lawns. During the height of summer, this is not unusual. However, many people attempt to correct the problem by increasing the amount of water they apply. This may lead to wasting water without receiving benefits.
This Speakout has not been edited.
Many people are experiencing brown or straw coloring on their lawns. During the height of summer, this is not unusual. However, many people attempt to correct the problem by increasing the amount of water they apply. This may lead to wasting water without receiving benefits.
In some cases, improper or infrequent fertilization may be the culprit. In the Rocky Mountain region, most lawns are comprised of cool-season grasses.
For cool-season grasses (Kentucky bluegrasses, fescues), it’s best to aerate and fertilize the lawn before the grass gets going in April. If you choose to fertilize only once, feed in the fall - if twice, then in spring and fall. If you desire a green lawn from spring to fall, then fertilize four times per year, early spring, late spring, late summer and mid-fall.
Another common problem is the manner in which water is being delivered to your lawn. You may be missing spots. You may be watering during the day when much of the water is evaporated.
To conserve water and water most efficiently, water uniformly, deeply and infrequently in the early morning or evening hours. You may verify watering uniformity by utilizing 4 to 6 flat-bottomed, straight-sided cans as gauges with a ruler and a watch. Arrange the gauges at random distances away from any sprinkler, but all within the area you assume is being covered.
Run the sprinkler for a specific time (pop-up spray heads 15 minutes, rotors – 30 minutes). Then measure the amount of water in each can, checking for uniformity. Some variation is expected, but a difference of 10 percent or more between any two gauges must be addressed by adjusting your sprinkler coverage, or repairing the sprinkler heads.
Other problems may require the assistance of a professional. The Rocky Mountain Sod Growers Association is comprised of experts who use science and experience to provide quality advice concerning sod installation, lawn care and water conservation.
For more information, please visit our educational website located at www.rockymountainsodgrowers.com.
Ed Markham is president of the Rocky Mountain Sod Growers Association in Berthoud.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBackBy Dick Nace
Aerospace industries, like Lockheed Martin, and telecommunication companies, like Avaya, are having trouble hiring knowledgeable and well trained new engineers.
This Speakout has not been edited.
Aerospace industries, like Lockheed Martin, and telecommunication companies, like Avaya, are having trouble hiring knowledgeable and well trained new engineers. Because of problems like these, organizations throughout the country have sprung up to work with our educators to help alleviate this shortage, and to do it soon. Such an organization exists today in the Denver area; and this problem is also being addressed by our state government.
The US universities that are educating prospective scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, are finding that their undergraduate and graduate populations have a growing percentage of foreign nationals in their graduating classes.
In years past many of these foreign nationals stayed and became productive members of our economy. In those times there was no demand for their work "back home." Today, that’s not the case. Most are returning to their country of origin either to serve in new industries or to teach in their country’s new universities. I recently heard Governor Ritter report that 1000 universities are under construction in China today.
Yes, we are beginning to lose the world-wide edge in the educational areas of mathematics, science, engineering, and technology. I have listed mathematics first because this discipline is the basis on which to build upon in order to develop competency in the other three. The reduction in the interest of collegiate technical majors in the young generation today is a result of our not motivating them at an early age in the "fun," logic, and yes, the beauty of math. Middle-school and high school math and science classes are conducted by math- and science-trained teachers. This isn’t necessarily the situation in grades K-through-6. Before the children become interested in girls, boys, malls, text-messaging, etc.; that’s the time to get them introduced to the concept that math and science are interesting and challenging courses of study. Don’t force-feed our school children; lead them to their highest potential in the subjects in which they have an interest.
Dick Nace is a resident of Parker.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBackToday’s Immigration
By Glenn Tefft
So many supporters illegal immigrants have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. The people now in question aren’t being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.
This Speakout has not been edited.
So many supporters illegal immigrants have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. The people now in question aren’t being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to everyone why today’s American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times.
They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.
They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.
Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan.
None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country’s flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American.
They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.
And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I’m sorry, that’s not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900’s deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.
Glenn Tefft is a resident of Longmont.
By Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince
It is unlikely, despite a substantial majority of Americans now opposing the war in Iraq, that the United States will soon be ending its occupation and leaving the country.
It is unlikely, despite a substantial majority of Americans now opposing the war in Iraq, that the United States will soon be ending its occupation and leaving the country.
Remember the euphoric atmosphere that prevailed after it became clear that the Democrats had won control of both houses? The election results combined with the release of the Baker-Hamilton Report suggested that the United States might change course in Iraq. There were high hopes among many that the war in Iraq might soon end. Did people expect a miraculous transformation or some kind of political epiphany?
Call it cynicism or realism, but we were not particularly surprised that the situation in Iraq has only worsened since.
Our assessment then was that the United States had accomplished its goals in Iraq and was unlikely to make any fundamental changes.
While the Democrats did not start the war in Iraq, they went along with virtually every move toward war. Weren’t most Democrats involved, along with Republicans, in authorizing this unjust and illegal occupation of Iraq? Weren’t they a key part of a Congress that didn’t challenge the Bush administration’s bogus claims of evidence?
At the same time Democrats and Republicans throw harmless barbs at each other, 14 major U.S. military bases are being built in Iraq, four of which compare to medium-sized American cities. The United States might pull back some from Iraqi cities, but these bases, first called “enduring” to avoid the more apt term “permanent,” are not coming down anytime soon.
The superficial attempt earlier this year to force this administration to think of an exit strategy was to appear to be doing something, in other words, a public relations exercise. The Democratic Party is going through a crisis, a crisis of electability.
How to become electable has become the only goal for the Democrats, not as a means to serve the people but as an end in itself. This crisis has paralyzed the Democratic members of the House into doing nothing concrete at all to change the current American foreign policy and to remedy its ongoing tragic and violent consequences.
In the absence of a miracle and in the line of the current paralysis that has taken over the Democrats, what can we do to end the violence and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and to prevent another one being started? It is highly unlikely that the upcoming Democratic convention in Denver will change this situation. Miracles don’t happen often in Denver.
The U.S. military is in Iraq to stay. Is there a reason for optimism? We do not believe so.
Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni is an imam for the Muslim community in Denver. Rob Prince teaches international studies at the University of Denver.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBackBy Sen. John P. Morse
Can you imagine the boredom of being a state trooper assigned to protect the Capitol?
Can you imagine the boredom of being a state trooper assigned to protect the Capitol?
I mean, seriously, someone comes in and tries to kill the governor — oh, I don’t know — about once every hundred years. And what are the chances that you will actually be the one on duty that has to confront the gunman? Really small, a tiny fraction (I am the product of public education, so I understand these things).
Well, in truth, it is probably one of the most difficult jobs in law enforcement.
You have to stay sharp 100 percent of the time, because all hell can break loose at any moment on any day. The job is complicated by the fact that it is a public building open to anyone. And your bosses want all visitors to feel welcome regardless of their viewpoint, regardless of the size of their purse or backpack and regardless of any elected officials who are currently in the building (read: targets).
As law enforcement officers, they are trained to be suspicious of everything but polite and helpful to every person — all the while making sure no one is hatching a plot to kill the governor, a staff member or even a random visitor to our Capitol.
Law enforcement officers are extensively trained in the use of deadly force. They know how to shoot, when to shoot, and, importantly, when not to shoot. Nearly all pray — some literally, some figuratively — that they never have to shoot anyone.
I spent many years as one of them. I drew my gun many times, pointed it at another human being several times but, thankfully, never had to pull the trigger.
Those who do have to pull the trigger have to deal with it for the rest of their lives. Most, not all, get over it, but none of them ever forgets it.
All of us as police officers rehearse mentally about all kinds of different situations and build a mental resolve that if it comes down to “him or me,” it will always be “him.” When confronted with a critical situation in which it really is “him or me,” decisions are made quickly and are really just reactions based on training. Dealing with the decision afterward is individualized. We all know intellectually we may one day have to pull the trigger, but actually doing it is life changing.
We ought to work with the mentally ill to keep them out of situations in which they have a gun and officers have to resort to deadly force for their own protection and the protection of others. Unfortunately, there are too many such situations.
Trooper Jay Hemphill faced such a situation, and had he not reacted in accordance with his training, we may well be planning funerals right now. Thank you, Trooper Hemphill. Thank you for your attention to duty. Thank you for shifting instantly from your role as a helpful state employee to that of expert bodyguard willing to sacrifice yourself for the cause. And, finally, thank you for what you are going through right now — whatever it may be. My thoughts are with you.
I don’t have to tell Trooper Hemphill that others were involved in this incident, too, even though they didn’t pull the trigger. Several troopers responded to the initial call for help and more for later calls. They, too, did good work.
Did the State Patrol make mistakes in this situation? I don’t know — probably. These things never go smoothly — they’re emergencies! I know both State Patrol Chief Mark Trostel, who runs the entire State Patrol, and Captain Mark Savage, who runs the unit responsible for Capitol security. They are both consummate professionals and sticklers for details. They know that details can get people killed.
I suspect they have identified issues as a result of this tragedy that would never occur to the rest of us and have already taken action to address them.
It is so easy to second-guess every action in a situation like this. I have seen many newspaper and television reports, and I know the Denver Police Department is conducting an investigation that includes the preparation and execution of several search warrants.
These people collectively have probably spent more than a thousand hours in just a few days examining this event, and many have expressed all kinds of opinions.
So, I offer mine. Trooper Hemphill had probably less than four seconds to conduct his investigation and take action. I think he did the right thing. Again, my thoughts are with him because I know that in spite of doing the right thing, this is not an easy time for him. He did what he had to do.
Thank you to the entire trooper security unit assigned to the Capitol. I felt safe in your hands before July 16, and I feel safer now having seen you in action.
John P. Morse, a Colorado Springs Democrat, represents Senate District 11 in the Colorado General Assembly.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackBy Dr. Steve Berman
In 2003 President George W. Bush strongly advocated for passage of a drug benefit program, Medicare Part D, for the country’s elderly despite projections that the legislation would cost hundreds of billions of additional federal dollars.
In 2003 President George W. Bush strongly advocated for passage of a drug benefit program, Medicare Part D, for the country’s elderly despite projections that the legislation would cost hundreds of billions of additional federal dollars.
The legislation even specified that the government would not be able to aggressively negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical manufacturers.
President Bush never stated any opposition to expanding a federal governmental single payer entitlement for seniors, yet he now threatens to veto the State Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization, which funds Colorado’s Child Health Plan, if the bill includes sufficient funding to enroll more of America’s uninsured eligible children.
He has said that the Senate compromise is “the beginning salvo of the encroachment of the federal government on the health care system,” that “expansion of government in lieu of making the necessary changes to encourage a consumer-based system is not acceptable,” and that “you’re really beginning to open up an avenue for people to switch from private insurance to the government.”
Implying that additional funding for SCHIP will lead to socialized medicine seems ludicrous given his position on passing and signing the prescription drug benefit for seniors before his election. Was his Medicare position simply political opportunism to capture more of the elderly votes? Many Republican legislators and commentators such as Mort Kondracke have voiced strong disagreements with Bush’s threatened SCHIP veto.
Sen. Ken Salazar, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, responded immediately to President Bush’s veto threat.
“It is unconscionable that the president would announce a veto threat before we have even begun to mark up the SCHIP bill in committee. Reauthorizing SCHIP is a no-brainer. It has become a critical resource that provides much needed coverage to children who would otherwise go uninsured. It is our moral and economic obligation in Washington to invest in our children’s health care, as our investment today will pay off tomorrow.”
A bipartisan compromise passed the Senate Finance Committee by a vote of 17-4 on July 19. It increases the funding by $35 billion from $25 billion to $60 billion over the next five years, enough to enroll an additional 3.3 million children. The additional cost would be funded by an increase in the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents to a dollar a pack.
The increase over five years is less than the $50 billion Democrats initially wanted and what child advocates and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended, $60 billion. The Bush administration is recommending only a $5 billion increase, which will require states to cut back their programs and reduce the number of children that can be covered.
Where is the president’s compassion for uninsured children? Based on data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports that 21 million children 21 and younger were uninsured for all or part of 2004: 9 million without coverage for the entire year and 12 million with gaps in coverage sometime during the year.
While contradictory studies make understanding whether SCHIP leads to a shift of children from private employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) to public coverage difficult to determine, we know that employer-sponsored insurance coverage has been steadily eroding in recent years.
From 2000 to 2005, 5 million employees lost health insurance coverage as the proportion of businesses offering insurance fell from 69 percent to 60 percent.
As the cost of premiums has increased, low-income workers are less likely to be offered insurance — and even when offered, the employee cost share of purchasing family coverage is often unaffordable.
SCHIP needs to be reauthorized by Sept. 30 of this year. This week the full Senate should send President Bush a strong message and pass the Senate Finance SCHIP bill by a veto-proof majority.
While children may not vote, it is time that our legislators respond to their needs. Salazar has said, “It is our moral and economic obligation” to do so.
Dr. Steve Berman is a past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Posted by denver-admin at 11:01 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBackUpholding CU's integrity
By Hank Brown
Faculty integrity is the cornerstone of every great university. The University of Colorado is no exception.
Faculty integrity is the cornerstone of every great university. The University of Colorado is no exception.
The quality of our faculty’s work is the foundation for what the university is and what it strives to become.
Faculty teach the students who will become integral parts of the human infrastructure of Colorado and the world. They conduct research that improves our lives and advances knowledge. They inspire the confidence of alumni who hold degrees from CU.
Our faculty members understand their obligation as the keepers of an academic tradition and reputation built over the university’s 131-year history.
Unfortunately, the integrity of our faculty was called into question over the past two-plus years as the case of professor Ward Churchill played out in the press and the university process.
While the academic misconduct of one person should not tarnish the reputation for integrity CU faculty have worked so hard to build and maintain, his case is troubling. Charges of research misconduct led more than 20 faculty members (from CU and other universities) on three separate panels to review his work.
The faculty found a pattern of serious, repeated and deliberate research misconduct that included fabrication, falsification, improper citation and plagiarism.
Faculty reviewers unanimously agreed that the evidence showed professor Churchill engaged in research misconduct and that it required serious sanction.
That sanction was carried out Tuesday when the CU Board of Regents approved my recommendation to dismiss professor Churchill from the Boulder campus faculty.
Ultimately, we had little choice since professor Churchill gave no indication he would correct his misrepresentations or refrain from similar activities in the future.
CU’s success depends upon maintaining our reputation for academic integrity. A public research university such as ours requires public faith that our faculty’s professional activities and search for truth are conducted according to high standards.
Coloradans give us almost $200 million a year, federal taxpayers fund some $640 million in research annually, all to support quality education and research.
Our alumni expect us to maintain the value of their degrees, and students and their families trust that faculty who teach them adhere to the standards of the university and the profession. Failure to maintain academic integrity would cause irreparable harm.
There are some who claim professor Churchill was singled out for his unpopular political views. The university determined early in the investigation that his speech, however controversial, was protected by the First Amendment.
At issue was the quality of his work and the basis on which it rests. Academic freedom — the ability to challenge conventional views or put forth unpopular ideas — is fundamental to any university. But it does not excuse academic fraud and intentional fabrication.
Professor Churchill’s failure to meet his responsibilities and the standards of the profession is an affront to all those faculty members who honor academic integrity and traditions of research and knowledge.
By any measure, we have an outstanding faculty. Among them are Nobel Prize winners, recipients of the MacArthur Foundation “genius” awards, researchers at the forefront of scientific discovery and teachers whose work is guided by those who came before. The common thread is that they take pride in their work and understand their obligation to live up to the high standards of their profession and of CU.
In the end, CU will not be judged by the shoddy work of one faculty member but by the excellence the rest of the faculty demonstrate every day in classrooms and research laboratories.
The reputation for academic integrity and excellence built by generations of CU faculty, students and alumni will remain intact because the university’s Board of Regents acted to protect it.
Hank Brown is president of the University of Colorado.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBackBy Aaron Mclucas, Northglenn
In the July 4, 2007 editorial “The nation’s birthday-Adams foresaw nature of the celebration", you present us with a few words from the founders that portray the nation’s mindset at the time. Now, fast forward 231 years later, and those words have become lost or forgotten on our citizens.
This Speakout has not been edited.
In the July 4, 2007 editorial “The nation’s birthday-Adams foresaw nature of the celebration", you present us with a few words from the founders that portray the nation’s mindset at the time. Now, fast forward 231 years later, and those words have become lost or forgotten on our citizens.
On Sean Hannity’s daytime radio talk show he does a “man on the street” segment where he sends an intern down to the streets of New York and asks passers-by a series of questions about our government. On Tuesday’s show he asked some basic Fourth of July questions. I used to be amazed by the lack of knowledge of the common citizen, but anymore it’s just dull-surprise.
The questions he presented were as follows: 1) What is July 4th? Answer: Independence day 2) Who did we win our Independence from? Answer: England 3) What was the name of the war we fought to win our independence? Answer: Revolutionary war 4) Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? Answer: Thomas Jefferson
All pretty basic questions, right? Of course, you have to wonder if it’s all staged, and if the people were hand-picked before they get on the air.
Anyway, out of the four of five citizens quizzed, all got the first question correct, but only one person could answer the next two, and no one got the last one. So I used the same questions and asked several of my customers through out the day and was not surprised to see the same results that Hannity got.
Hannity’s last question to them was whether they vote Democrat or Republican. Of course, being in New York it’s an obvious answer. But the people I asked are all pretty much Republican. So it doesn’t really matter based on party lines who could answer the questions or not. Nobody seems to know their history any longer, which is sad.
We obviously do not make it a priority to teach American history in our schools, and by the people I talked too, it just isn’t that important. Men like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington along with the brave men and women of early America, fought and gave their lives for what we have today; FREEDOM. Do we not owe them respect for all eternity, at least one day every year, the knowledge that we know where we came from, and the sacrifices made?
So, let us not forget. Set down your iphone and your latte and read a book on what was done to create this great and wonderful country we live in.
Sacrifice just a little of your time to learning what gives you the ability to live free. Outside of the problems in the world today, and the growing pains of our past, we still live in the greatest country ever constructed by the human mind. We owe it to future generations to keep our history alive.
Leaders do not understand the ravages of war
By Leon Rodriguez, Denver
How embarrassing, here I am a 70 year old, decorated Vietnam Veteran walking around Johnson Lake with suddenly having uncontrollable tears coming down my face. I hope that people passing me think it is sweat.
This Speakout has not been edited.
How embarrassing, here I am a 70 year old, decorated Vietnam Veteran walking around Johnson Lake with suddenly having uncontrollable tears coming down my face. I hope that people passing me think it is sweat.
I just had just had a flashback to a time in 1969 during my second tour of duty in Vietnam when I made my first trip to a Catholic Orphanage. The situation started with one of my Seabee buddies trading me a case of steaks and several cartons of dehydrated shrimp for a few bottles of booze. I asked the Seabee what in the world would I do with dehydrated shrimp. He suggested that I take it out to one of the orphanages. He could not do so as the orphanages were off limits to his group.
One afternoon a few days later I got a jeep and went out to this Catholic Orphanage. It was a small unguarded compound located in some scrub trees about three hundred yards off the water of China Beach. Upon entering the compound the over powering stench of pseudomonis, feces, urine and death were sickening.
There were three little Vietnamese nuns running the place. They were overjoyed at my gift of shrimp and also my offer to help. I was overcome with horror and sadness at the scene unfolding before me. There were little boxes that looked like drawers from a very cheap dresser. These boxes were on shelf’s stacked four deep and lined the walls, also they were stacked back to back in the middle of the rooms. In the boxes were babies age 6 months and up. These little babies were covered with flies, feces, urine and pus draining from wounds, such as amputations, chest and belly wounds.
On my first visit to this orphanage there were three German nurses from the German Hospital ship located in the Da Nang harbor. These wonderful human beings were washing, changing dressings, feeding and giving their love to these babies. Most of these babies had been thrown away, deserted or their families had been killed. Many of these babies were half Vietnamese and half Caucasian or half Vietnamese and half Negro. Many were blind and many had cleft palates.
Many were starving for nourishment and medical care; all were starving for love and attention. Worse yet, none was wanted.
As a father of five children and four grandchildren, I try to give all the love and attention that I can muster for my babies.
What set off this flashback and sad memory of Vietnam was a scene I recently viewed on the news of little Iraq children starving and being untreated in a horrible makeshift orphanage in Iraq.
Our current administration leaders have never seen the real ravages of war, that makes it easy for them to believe that war is righteous and sterile. War is madness and enough to make me cry.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBackBy Lance Perryman
What does it mean to Colorado and the nation that an organization has been successful for 100 years?
What does it mean to Colorado and the nation that an organization has been successful for 100 years?
As the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, which is celebrating 100 years at Colorado State University, I have been reflecting on that question.
For 100 years, the faculty and students in this college have improved and lengthened the lives of animals and people through their dedication and passion for their work.
In 1907, the Department of Veterinary Sciences was established at Colorado State. The first class of 27 students graduated in 1910. Since then, the cornerstones of our college have been teaching, research and outreach. That trilogy has served to better the lives of animals and humans.
In the Veterinary Medical Center, in just this year our veterinarians and students have seen 25,000 animals, saving and bettering many of their lives with novel treatments and innovations for every kind of ailment — from hearts to joints to eyes.
We have operated on fish, restored sight to wild owls, treated movie-star bears for cancer, fitted burros with prosthetic legs and performed successful open heart surgery on famous dogs. Those stories are only illustrations of the tasks performed daily to save the lives of family members of so many in the community: countless cats, dogs, horses, llamas, rabbits and reptiles.
When people think of our college, they often think only of animals, yet virtually all of the health discoveries and advancements that the college makes directly benefit people. And a large portion of our college is devoted to areas typically not associated with animals, such as fighting infectious diseases and improving environmental health. Our work with animals is a direct complement to advancements for human health.
For example, the college was one of the first in the world to use animal tumors as models to study human cancer. We were also the first to develop radiation therapies for animals diagnosed with cancer. As a result of this pioneering spirit, we’ve developed a number of innovations.
One of our discoveries spares limbs impacted by bone cancer; this transplant is used by thousands of cancer survivors in the world today. Another technology significantly increases the odds that children with certain bone cancers will be cured.
In addition to saving lives, our equine reproductive team is rightfully proud to boast the world’s first foal born from the ovaries of a deceased mare with the help of a surrogate mother. This research significantly brightens the future of numerous couples who face challenges in starting a family.
Researchers in our infectious disease program are devoted to stopping devastating diseases and illnesses that cause worldwide suffering and death or that could be used as biological weapons. These diseases include tuberculosis, dengue fever, the plague, West Nile virus, anthrax, HIV, malaria and leprosy.
Our Health and Safety Consultation Program was the first in the nation to be invited to manage on-site health and safety operations at the World Trade Center recovery site.
Meanwhile, Colorado State University was the first university in the world to begin teaching animal ethics courses for animal use and research.
As the second-ranked college of its kind in the nation, we have many reasons to be proud as we embark on the next 100 years.
Lance Perryman is the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:00 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBackBy Rep. Bob Gardner
The Rocky’s July 13 editorial bemoaning Army expansion in Piñon Canyon is misguided and wrongheaded both for Colorado and for its future (“The senators’ chance”).
The Rocky’s July 13 editorial bemoaning Army expansion in Piñon Canyon is misguided and wrongheaded both for Colorado and for its future (“The senators’ chance”).
Regardless of the fact that expansion would bring $500 million in construction spending and 8,000 new jobs to southern Colorado, the Rocky and local residents are willing to forgo the economic benefits to keep their land and maintain their “way of life.”
On its face, this has great emotional appeal. But there are other, equally compelling facts that responsible elected officials and community leaders must consider. Not only are there other “ways of life” at stake — there are lives at stake.
Setting aside for the moment the lost economic benefit and the very real long-run danger of losing Fort Carson and consequent benefits for our state, the Army’s new force structure and combat doctrine require nearly double the training acreage of the Cold War force.
Without the necessary training ground, our soldiers will go into battle with less of an edge, putting their lives in greater danger.
These are the lives at stake. Proper military training for our troops translates directly to their security and ours as well.
The Army has repeatedly stated that it will only use eminent domain as a last resort.
It will first deal with willing sellers, who themselves obviously have a right to sell their property.
Even so, eminent domain may be used to purchase land, at a fair and reasonable price, for a public purpose.
The Army is not proposing to take land to distribute to another private interest or simply to provide some economic benefit. The Army is not in that business. Its business is national security.
Even so, some our state’s leaders remain unconvinced of the Army’s needs and believe that the maintenance of a way of life trumps the Army’s judgments on national defense.
What then about other areas in Colorado that will suffer the consequences of this decision?
The ranchers, and others, have argued that the only area to benefit from this expansion is Colorado Springs, as Fort Carson creates 21,500 jobs there. These are not simply Colorado Springs jobs. They are Colorado jobs.
Without them, our economy would lose sales of $2 billion each year along with $200 million in tax revenue. Is it really a responsible decision to place that many jobs and their related economic impact at stake?
All Coloradans’ education, transportation and health care will suffer. Whether you live in Denver, Boulder, Ft. Collins or on the Western Slope, your quality and way of life are at stake. $500 million in construction spending and 8,000 new jobs will absolutely improve the economic health of our state.
On the other hand, if the expansion does not move forward, the potential loss of our largest military installation would be devastating.
At the very least, Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar should support funding for the Army to move forward with its environmental impact studies.
Furthermore, we should assure that residents of southeastern Colorado are fairly compensated and that the federal government does whatever is necessary to alleviate the impacts on their communities.
Our leaders would be remiss to let emotion rule the day and turn their backs on the larger impacts for all Coloradans’ way of life, as well as the lives of our soldiers who protect it.
Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, represents House District 21 in the Colorado General Assembly.
Posted by denver-admin at 05:46 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBackBy Francis M. Miller, Parker
This Speakout has not been edited By Francis M. Miller, Parker
Thirty years ago most capital projects in the public sector were financed on a pay-as-you go basis. That has changed; let me give you just a few examples:
1. Two ex-Denver mayors and our recent ex-governor are involved in using their political contacts to link financiers in the private sector with public sector initiatives.
2. Denver sold bonds, using its school buildings as collateral, raised nearly $400 million dollars, which it invested in the market, and is now right back where it started.
3. Jefferson County and other public sector organizations with pension under-funding deficits have been approached with similiar schemes.
4. Employee pension plans, who, 30 years ago, would have their portfolios in bonds and maybe a few stocks, are now fully placed in the equity, real estate, and hedge fund markets and are allowing their monies to enter private equity placements with high levels of risk.
5. When I was on the Douglas County Planning Commission I discovered that the Open Space group had leveraged its revenues by selling bonds and then going on a spending spree, buying properties. They now have little or no money and must spend most future tax revenues to service the debt.
6. The infrastructure, such as water, sewer, roads, etc, for most housing projects are financed selling bonds. Often the developers include golf course and equestrian and other recreation facilities that help sell the property. The mill levies can be steep and there is virtually no oversight on these bonding projects which encumber the future homeowners within a development.
Everywhere you turn there are government agencies beginning to use leveraged financing, not only for capital projects, but also to work themselves out of pension problems, road mainteannce and a host of other operational issues. If you were to extend your search to NGOs, such as hospitals, universities, etc, I would dare say there are literally billions of dollars of projects being financed on the come.
I am not so conservative that I do not see a need for the use of bonding and other leveraged financing where it fits. I spent 25 years in public accounting with firms such as Deloitte Touche and KPMG doing financial feasiblity studies for the issuance of bonds. That work ranged from hospitals, public housing authorities, indian reservations, schools, airports and mass transit. But, I also saw really stupid, irresponsible things occur, such as Arapahoe County assisting in the bankrolling of a race track, that smelled like dead fish, all in the pursuit of economic development.
The problem is many-fold, as I see it. First, use of leveraged financing nearly doubles the cost of a project. Second, if the period of repayment is longer than the useful life of the asset, you end up, like with a car lease, having to roll debt forward into the replacement project, creating a compounding situation from which you can never escape. It astounds me that government agencies are getting themselves in a position where they have to use leveraged financing as a bailout for poor management of pensions and road maintenance. This is like using a reverse mortgage on your house to buy a time-share in Hawaii and leads down a path of no-return.
I am further troubled that our government leaders are entering these fields. I do not wish to deny a man a living, but it is hard no to feel a sense of betrayal when Bill Owens ends up weilding the oil can and grease gun to lubricate the railroad locomotive bearing down on the taxpayer strapped to the railroad tracks. How many other legislators and government officials are playing a role in positioning themselves for lucrative contracts in the private sector and how many of our projects are being compromised all the while.
I realize that it is a challenge for a newspaper to get to the root of such complexity. It is tantamount to investigating white collar or organized crime because so much of the activity is done in the shadows.
I think your reporters have been doing a great job reporting the most visible of the activity such as the school pensions, but its hard to tally up the total impact of many stories or connect the dots over a long period of time. It takes a Woodward/Bernstein kind of reporting to go after this.
I recognize that the DNA has to continually justify its new format and approach to the news in this internet world. I assure you that probing this whole matter of leveraged financing in the public sector will be an area for which the public will thank you as the years pass and they come to realize this is potentially putting them on a road to serfdom.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (5)
| TrackBack
By Travis Whitsitt, Fort Collins
This Speakout has not been edited By Travis Whitsitt, Fort Collins
No, I believe the Democrats are cognizant of a few critical things. The Mexican immigrants who come here illegally represent a huge bloc of potential votes, and theirs is a demographic that strongly trends Democratic.
Let me address a philosophical issue at the core of these debates-this is not about “immigration” the way those who favor the bill try to spin it. It is about “illegal immigration.” Immigrants from the past, who came here, assimilated into the culture, learned the language, and became Americans have built this country. Modern immigrants who refuse to assimilate, continue to speak a language the rest of us do not understand, and have no interest in becoming an American beyond accruing benefit from government programs have no business being here. What is this “patchwork quilt” What needs to be done? First, build the bloody fence and keep any more illegals from getting into the country. Before you start shouting at me that fences won’t work, ask yourself why we build them around our prisons.
Second, triple the size of the Border Patrol and remove the restrictions that prevent them from doing their job. (Did you know a Border Patrol agent has to fill out a form to get permission to discharge his firearm prior to doing so? Funny, if some drug runner whips out his Uzi, filling out a form to get permission to defend myself with my pistol is the last thing on my mind)
Third, immediately check the citizenship status of everyone in our prison system and unceremoniously deport every single one of the illegal immigrants guilty of crimes OTHER than illegal immigration (over a third of them, according to most estimates).
Fourth, make a real dedication to screening everyone for citizenship status when they commit a crime, apply for government benefits, or apply for a job. Deny them all that good stuff, and deport them for good measure.
Fifth, closely tied to number 4, reverse all of those insane rulings that entitle illegals to the health care and education that we taxpayers fund. (Did you know that under Jimmy Carter’s administration, the Democrat congress made immigrants eligible for Social Security benefits even though they had never paid a dime into it in their lives?)
Sixth, make English the country’s official language and require a working knowledge of it for citizenship.
Seventh, set up a guest worker program with zero promises of government benefits or citizenship that employers can apply to be a part of if they truly can’t fill their workforce with legal employees.
Eighth, reverse the Kennedy immigration bill from the 60’s and start to once again favor skilled workers who will benefit the United States in our immigration policy.
The bottom line that liberals consistently fail to understand is that you get more of behavior that you reward. Everything that has been done since the Kennedy bill has rewarded illegal behavior. Do we really expect that to change with even more rewards being handed out?
And finally, shame on George W. Bush for selling out his base and having the gall to tell us that we “are not interested in what is good for America” because we don’t support this bill of his that is nothing more than a desperate attempt to placate a hostile Congress.”
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (49)
| TrackBack
By Roberta L Brake-Pound, Aurora
Back in the 1970’s, I can remember the same hyperbolic activity over the
Role Playing Game, Dungeon and Dragons, right along with Tunnels and
Trolls, Power and Might and a few dozen other “RPGs” that were born
around the same time.
This Speakout has not been edited By Roberta L Brake-Pound, Aurora
Back in the 1970’s, I can remember the same hyperbolic activity over the Then as now, it should be pointed out that the mentally unstable can Yes, there are some people, who get too involved in their on-line games. Addiction is not something that just happens. It is a pre-disposition People with addictive personality types will become addicted to Is it the substance’s fault, that the individual is addicted to them? Addicts were pre-disposed to the addiction to begin with and therefore Once they have given themselves up to their addiction they have A few addicts, realizing they have a problem make the leap and proclaim Alcoholics know they cannot drink not even one little sip, or they will Yes, there may be some people who will and who have been carried away Most likely the answer will be NO. They had issues and this ‘escape’ However, most of the online gamers live perfectly normal lives. They After they have played the events out, they go to bed, then they get up In simple terms, they are normal, in every way. (Okay, so maybe a few of Of course, the hype that media is putting out makes it sound as if every Of course what do I know, though; I certainly am not a medical For all that, horror, of admitting I play online role playing games, I They would also report that, I am an avid book reader (addicted to It is all a matter of perspective and it is something healthy people Is gaming online addictive? Yes, for certain types of people it is very By Heather Bennett, Aurora
This Speakout has not been edited By Heather Bennett, Aurora
What is so bothersome to me is that our family did not feel comfortable sitting down and having this conversation together. Perhaps it is too idealistic to think that families do that today. Do adult children know how their parents have planned for the future? Do parents talk about health care concerns and needs? Or are we so caught up in the “me” and in keeping everything private that we don’t stop to talk about it? What is the emotion behind this? Is it fear, embarrassment or shame?
When people ask me why my parents are in the film and why I think this is so important, I have answered that my parents are an example of what a couple might have to go through even though they are both working and are fully covered under multiple insurance plans. What I have come to understand over the past few weeks is that the importance of this movie is much more simple than that. It is about having the conversation and then doing something about it.
Inability to have conversations is a big part of the problem in America today. We are so careful about what we say, how we say it, when we say it and to whom we say it that often we decide it is easier not to have the conversation at all. As Michael Moore asks in this film — “Who are we?”. My answer is that we are lots of individuals or small family units that are pretty uncaring and unconcerned for those around us. I would argue that Moore’s statement about the “me not we” ideology has bled past our every day dealings with the outside world, straight into our family lives. I know that I myself have learned things about the struggles they have faced by watching them give interviews or reading my mom’s eloquent words posted on a blog or a newspaper article. I also know that I feel utterly unprepared to assist as my parents age.
We live in a different time. Gone are the days that families stayed close together, generation upon generation living in the same community — taking care of each other. In our family, discussions on health care issues, financial issues and independent living issues rarely take place. What is the source of the stubbornness that stops these conversations from happening? How can we regain that connectedness?
If you are the child of an aging parent, I urge you to sit down with your parent(s) and have this discussion. Talk to them about their health. Talk to them about their healthcare. Ask the tough questions.
What will happen if there is a major illness? What will happen if that illness is so debilitating that assisted living is required? Would your parent be able to survive the financial drain that a health issue can cause?
Not only do these conversations need to happen within families, but we need to take those discussions and turn them into action. Start with your State Representative, your Congressional Representative and your Senator. Where do they stand on universal health care or a single-payer plan. Have they taken money from the health care lobby? If so, why? Pledge your support for a bill in Congress — HR 676. Challenge each of the Presidential Candidates for 2008 to really explain their health care plan. The voices that rise up from our families, to each state House to the halls of Washington should be filled with anger and outrage at a system that is failing so many. For every day that we do not take action, 50 more people will die.
I wish that I had asked these questions earlier. I wish that I had been engaged in discussions with my parents on an entirely different level.
In America, we must get back to a focus on “we”. It starts with asking the questions and planning for the future. Parents must feel no shame or loss of dignity in telling their children what they might need to survive a major illness. Children need to be prepared before something happens.
I urge you to see this movie — parents and children together. Start the conversation and then take action. When you start the conversation, you may be surprised at what you learn. I know I have been.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (9)
| TrackBack
By Michael Duane Archer, Golden
It appears the Wild Oats - Whole Foods merger is dead. I think that’s good; big isn’t always better. But I wonder why mergers between two minor food players is not allowed but mergers between oil giants is fine and dandy?
This Speakout has not been edited By Michael Duane Archer, Golden
It appears the Wild Oats - Whole Foods merger is dead. I think that’s good; big isn’t always better. But I wonder why mergers between two minor food players is not allowed but mergers between oil giants is fine and dandy?
The retail food industry has evolved enormously since I was a child. Grocery stores have changed a lot over the last two generations or so. They are better in many ways, of course. Better selection of foods and lower prices because of volume wholesale purchasing. The grocery shopping experience has changed, too. It’s worse.
The first store I remember, in the 1950’s, was Nick’s on the corner of 32nd and Tejon in Northwest Denver. It was technically Nigro Bros Grocery. Nick ran it with his two brothers. Nick was the GM, his younger brother, Jerry, worked the meat counter at the rear of the store and his older brother took care of maintenance detail. But they were all cross-trained, so you might see Jerry behind the meat counter one day and running the check-out line the next.
The entire store was smaller than the produce department of today’s large chains. But it was very efficiently laid out, everything always neat as a pin. There was plenty of variety as far as I could tell. I remember my mom sending me to the store for syrup and being slightly overwhelmed by the number of brands, three of them, and the two different sizes.
Nick was a happy-go-lucky sort of guy and obviously enjoyed working with the public. He was kind, also. Our family mostly just made ends meet in those days and Nick would occasionally carry us an entire month. I’m sure he did the same for others and I’m equally sure it was a strain on the store’s finances. He was not just a store GM but also a friend and neighbor; more cross-training!
I remember my mother buying meat at Nick’s — pork chops, chicken, shoulder steak and hamburger. I can’t swear to it, but I’m fairly sure they all tasted better then than they do now. Nick’s brother would always give me several feet of that wonderful white meat wrapping paper as a bonus for drawing and making things. If I ran out, he would always give me a few feet, even if we weren’t buying any meat that trip.
I had my first job at Nick’s, sweeping the floor at closing time, which was 5:00PM. Nick and his brothers had family and they wanted to spend time with them. Nick’s older brother, Carmen, showed me how to sweep but I was very short and none too coordinated. He was also quite fastidious and was the one responsible for the store always looking so clean and neat. Pay for fifteen minutes work was a ten-cent bullet ice-pop that tasted great and lasted a long time.
In the late 1950’s we moved a few blocks away and started going to bigger stores — Musso’s and Polidori’s. Polidori’s on 34th and Shoshone was a very nice store. The cheese and meat department was to die for and would hold its own with the finest of today’s delis. Some good things do stick; the Polidori family still makes sausage and it is every bit as tasty as it was so many years ago.
The Mussos were our next-door neighbors — Mike and Louise. They made items such as ground red pepper, pepperocini and olives, bottled them in their home then sold them at the store. I doubt they needed a wall full of licenses to do that in those days. They were the entrepreneurial type and also ran the neighborhood tavern, the Alpine Inn.
The first King Soopers was on 38th and Irving, if memory serves. That was the beginning of the big chains in Denver. In the early 1960’s I spent most of Saturday with my Uncle Johnny traveling to all the northwest Denver grocery stores picking up the ad specials and carefully collecting trading stamps — Blue, Green and Gold Bond. Gold Bond was the favorite, for a reason to which I was never privy. Besides Polidori’s and Musso’s we went to: Shutto’s, Miller’s, Piggly-Wiggly, Furr’s and the really big King Soopers in the Lakeside shopping center. I remember Uncle Johnny’s fascination with the then state-of-the-art electric light door opening mechanism.
So many stores made for a long day. But the grocery shopping was an experience; an end-in-itself, not just a means-to-an-end.
Today in the Denver area the number of stores has been pared down to Safeway’s and King Soopers. All the smaller chains - much less the mom and pop operations such as Nick’s — are dead or dying. Other retailers have entered the arena — Target and Wal-Mart. I’m not so sure that is a good idea, but I don’t make the rules. Costco and Sam’s Club are also food players now.
You can see the trend, of course. The stores are getting bigger and bigger, less and less personal; more of a means-to-an-end and less of an end-in-itself experience. Everything is ‘super this’ or ‘mega that’ today.
Forget the cross-training, too. You won’t see the meat cutter running a check-out register.
The big stores are part of our never-ending quest to save time. But it often seems we are saving time to just save more time. These days we never really have time for anything else!
Now there is now a Brobdingnagian vending machine called ‘Shop2000’ dispensing everything from aspirin and sushi to soap and eggs.
Say goodnight, Nick.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (2)
| TrackBack
By Keith Maddox, Colorado AFL-CIO deputy trustee
Yesterday’s vote on the Employee Free Choice Act marks an historic moment in the long battle to restore workers’ freedoms in this country. A majority of US Senators voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will allow workers to exercise their freedom to form and join unions and bargain collectively.
This Speakout has not been edited By Keith Maddox, Colorado AFL-CIO deputy trustee
Yesterday’s vote on the Employee Free Choice Act marks an historic moment in the long battle to restore workers’ freedoms in this country. A majority of US Senators voted for the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will allow workers to exercise their freedom to form and join unions and bargain collectively. That is a watershed achievement – one scarcely imagined just a couple of years ago – and an important step toward shoring up our nation’s struggling middle class.
It is a shame that the Republican’s obstructionist tactics kept the majority’s views from prevailing. The vote today shows us who is standing on the side of working families’ dreams and economic opportunity – and who is standing with corporate America to block working people’s bargaining power. The obstruction by the Republicans in the minority in Congress is shameful and it will be remembered.
In Colorado, however, Senator Ken Salazar showed us that he stands with working families. He understands that a paycheck doesn’t stretch nearly as far as it could with a union card. He knows the intimidating tactics employers use to keep workers from exercising their freedom to form a union – he realizes that labor law is broken in this country.
We commend Senator Salazar for standing with working families and voting for the Employee Free Choice Act. However, Senator Wayne Allard turned his back on his constituents today. Instead of listening to our stories of intimidation, fear, and economic hardship, he sided with big business to obstruct the bill that would help millions of workers exercise their freedom to form and join unions.
Working families across the country contacted their Senators to indicate their support for this common sense legislation. The grassroots activity is bigger and more exciting than anybody could have imagined. Support is pouring in from working men and women as well as from 16 governors, state legislators and local officials from every state, religious leaders and other allies.
Americans have seen up close the terrible price working families are paying for our failure to protect workers’ rights. Living standards are falling. Health care and pensions are declining. Americans know the best way to the middle class is a union card – union workers earn 30% more than workers who don’t have a union.
No wonder more than half of U.S. workers — 60 million — say they would join a union right now if they could. But the system is so broken that workers cannot exercise their right. It is so broken that last year alone, more than 31,000 workers had their union rights violated by their employer.
But today’s Senate vote shows the ground has shifted. Working families in Colorado have the attention of our representatives at the local, state, and national level. As we march towards the 2008 elections, the groundswell of support will carry us to the ballot box and to a government that makes the Employee Free Choice Act law.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (10)
| TrackBack
By Mark S. Griffith, Parker
By Mark S. Griffith, Parker
About the only thing he wrote that makes any sense at all is that “Americans . Campos implies that not much at all changed on 9/11. Really? Since that date there have been more terrorist . I suspect that if Campos concludes his nonsense with a string of non sequiturs.
Finally, he points out that since 9/11 I infer that he is equating all deaths regardless of how He wraps up his illogical comments by asserting that some of those 14 million people who died over the past six years “died agonizing deaths on emergency room floors because they didn’t have health insurance.” Is this true? Sounds like the reporters at the Rocky and Can He points out that a quarter-million Americans were killed in car crashes. Beyond the aforementioned moral equivalence of comparing a murder victim to those who die in auto accidents, there is likely some hypocrisy involved here. I suspect Folks, this man teaches law at the University of Colorado. Now that’s nonsense.
Posted by denver-admin at 03:58 PM
| Comments (2)
| TrackBack
By Sue Casey, Denver
By Sue Casey, Denver
Befuddling, to say the least.
While money seems to be at the heart of McCain’s travails, following the money does not help make sense of John McCain in 2008. Instead, we must look to John McCain circa 2000.
McCain didn’t raise the most money back then either; not even close. He did not have the best organized campaign or the most well-regarded staff. Yet he won the New Hampshire primary and became the candidate to beat.
But in 2000 McCain cut a romantic figure. A cross between John Wayne and the Lone Ranger, campaigning aboard his Straight Talk Express, this seemingly principled man spoke his mind, answered every question, and was fearless. He epitomized the maverick independent spirit and Western heroic character that one meets only in the movies.
And voters fell in love, choosing to forgive him for his too conservative views, or his too-liberal views, depending on which side of the fence the forgiveness needed to come from.
It wasn’t just voters who fell in love, however. Many members of the media did as well.
So when McCain stepped back on the presidential campaign stage a few months ago, his admirers were expecting their romantic hero. Instead they found a candidacy riddled with contradictions and questions. Voters and media alike were left with nostalgia for the old days, or worse, a sense of betrayal. The coverage of his campaign has reflected this contradiction — deep affection for who they thought he was and deep disappointment in who he might have become, in an almost roller-coaster swing of coverage. There were glowing stories early, as McCain was preparing to formally enter the race, but by late April the story line changed. McCain’s campaign was in “meltdown,” according to Newsweek magazine. E.J. Dionne declared that we were witnessing the McCain “tragedy.” Others opined about the “political death watch” surrounding his candidacy, only partially fueled by his anemic fundraising totals. Just as quickly as reports of his imminent demise appeared, they disappeared and positive articles of him righting the ship, reorganizing, hiring new staff, getting back on the Straight Talk Express became the norm. The John McCain of 2000 was back, supposedly. Soon enough, the story line changed once again. Certainly his support for the surge, and his fight for immigration reform have cost him support. But his visit to Iraq and his incomprehensible testimony of how safe he felt walking the streets in Iraq (while he was surrounded by an army of protectors) and his musical comedy attempt “Bomb, bomb, bomb — bomb bomb Iran” (to the tune of the Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann) were quickly turned into fodder for late-night comedy, and his candidacy reached an all-time low. Yet again he seemed to rally, only to see his roller-coaster ride for president hit bottom again, with campaign aides deserting the seemingly sinking ship. McCain is no stranger to making it through difficult times, and while he is having a rough ride right now, he is not totally deluding himself in thinking that this too will pass. Money is not and never has been the essence of McCain. Nor is it the central challenge of his campaign. Instead it is about character and whether or not John McCain can persuade voters that he still is that independent heroic figure, a leader of principle and conviction, who earned his moral authority from his service and his courage and his willingness to talk straight in 2000. And that, money can’t buy. Sue Casey is a former member of the Denver City Council and veteran of five presidential campaigns. In 1987 she authored Hart and Soul: Gary Hart’s New Hampshire Odyssey and Beyond. By Tom Michel, Aurora
This Speakout has not been edited By Tom Michel, Aurora
The case of Federal Election committee vs. Wisconsin Right to Life is based on the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law that banned “issue” ads before an election. Many people felt that this provision of McCain-Feingold was a restriction on free speech, banning when an ad could be run, and was unconstitutional to begin with. However, the AP wrote it up as “opening the way for deep-pocketed interests to broadcast…. advertising close to elections” and demonstrating that “changes in the court’s lineup can alter a case’s outcome.” Is saying that you can run any advertisement you want really “conservative”? Did the justices all agree or was it more complicated? Is the lineup critical to the case based on their decision? The only way to know is to actually read the opinion of the Court and the dissent. One side believes (usually called conservative) freedom of speech takes precedent, while the other believes that Congress is within its power to limit ads and contributions (liberal). This is a switch from their usual sides but the opinions clearly explain why they interpret the constitution they way they do.
In the case Morse v. Frederick, called the “Bong hits for Jesus” case, it is much more complex than any newspaper has reported. The decision was 5-4 on the merits but all nine justices upheld the protection of the principal for taking the banner down.
They also all agreed that a school has a right to limit speech that violates school rules and most agreed courts should defer to the schools. However, Justice Stevens dissent clearly shows it was the “vagueness” of this particular message that should have meant the student was not suspended. Since the banner did not clearly support drug use, it did not warrant a suspension. Justice Breyer went as far to say that the case should not have even been decided on the First Amendment but rule simply that the district is immune from the financial lawsuit brought by the student and to leave it at that.
Many media reports say that the “conservative” Court voted to deny students freedom of speech. Again, one could look at that way, or one could seek the truth for themselves, that all the justices agreed that schools have the ability to restrict certain speech.
People forget that the last 5 years has had its share of “liberal” decisions too. Two years ago the so-called “liberal” side of the Court decided that towns and cities can take away private property via “eminent domain” as long as there was a community benefit (more taxes) in Kelo v. New London Connecticut. The Court also ruled that Guantanamo prisoners had the right to due process in their detention contrary to the Bush administrations position (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld). The Court upheld Oregon’s right to die law as constitutional (Gonzales v. Oregon). Finally, the Court ruled unanimously that all people in a stopped vehicle, can challenge the stop, not just the driver (Brendlin v. California).
If all of these decisions are part of the “conservative” court then I must not understand the definition correctly. In some cases the court’s decision appeals to conservatives, to liberals, and sometimes both or neither. To label the Court as conservative or liberal is inaccurate and irresponsible. What would be far more useful would be to actually read the opinions and dissents of the court and learn that there are more similar opinions than we are told by the media. In the 64 decisions (plus 8 per curiam) this year through June 26, there have been more 9-0 decisions than 5-4 decisions. When you add 8-1/7-1 decisions to the equation, over half of all the decisions are either unanimous or have only one dissent. That does not look conservative to me, that looks like nine justices applying the Constitution, sometimes in ways I disagree with, but never “liberal” or “conservative” according to the justices. The media should report what is actually decided and not play politics with the Court.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:04 AM
| Comments (3)
| TrackBack
By Larry Karl, Erie
This Speakout has not been edited By Larry Karl, Erie
So here we are today with upwards to 50 million illegal aliens laying claim to our country, more still flooding into our country unabated and without fear of being deported. Instead of our government taken a stance and shutdown the southern border they compound the problem by further allowing illegal immigrates to not assimilate into our culture. We have states that print their ballots in various languages including Spanish. And now they want to add to a struggling welfare system as many of the illegal aliens currently live in poverty and would be “entitled” to government social programs.
Children whom cross the borders receive their taxpayer funded breakfast and lunch while attending school and learning in their native tongue. Instead of gratitude we see a growing pattern of large protest throughout the country by illegal immigrants and their supporters, holding their native country’s flag up high with pride. (Sidebar. My observations of those who continue to subside on government programs seem to be angriest than those who strive for a better, more independent life) Bad government is getting worse.
While thousands line up to lawfully abide by our laws on their path to citizenship, the recent amnesty bill floated by the U.S. Congress makes it easier for citizenship to an alarming unskilled workforce. I guess that was the reason for increasing the minimum wage prior to the yet to pass bill. This bill has a presumption that lawbreakers will now follow ours laws. If you believe that I will sell you some ocean front property in Arizona.
I recently listened to a woman on a radio show who called In to express her opposition to this bill as she spent over $10,000.00 dollars and ten years following the law To become a U.S. citizens.
As our U.S. Congress and Executive branch continue to do nothing but debate the immigration issue they still allow for open borders and the streaming across into this country for a better life; they know about the problem but they do nothing to shutdown the borders now. One could call this the Paris Hilton affect of a lot about nothing.
Upwards to 80% of American citizens are against amnesty according to recent polls. Other Polls show unfavorably of the job or president and Congress are doing.
I believe money is the root of all evil.
I suspect if the media were to conduct an unbiased investigation into the cause of illegal immigration it would not be surprising if they unearthed a money laundering scheme were both special interests and big business spend billions of dollars “legally” bribing elected officials to turn a blind eye. So much coming out of Washington nowadays follows this modus operandi that a growing citizenry consider it normal. Meanwhile, the biggest fault of illegal immigration is the 70%-75% of eligible voters who allow for a small minority to decide the fate of this country by not voting.
If you peel back the layers and look at this problem from a political perspective one has to ask who the benefactors are. I would start with various unions and their organizations who gain memberships and businesses who hire illegal aliens. Take these entities and do a thorough analysis and I’m sure it will be determined they provide substantial financial assistance to our two party monopoly. Our politicians want you to believe amnesty is a good thing. For them maybe because you Have additional poverty the government has to take care of. So more government dependence for the few leads To more government control.
Political correctness have government officials cowering away from ensuring our current laws are upheld. So much for the improved security the Homeland Security Department was suppose to incorporate into making our country safer.
So what am I going to do about it? Join me in 2008 and not vote for incumbents or U.S. Senators using their current term to run for higher office. The majority of voters need to step up and vote in order to send a clear message that this is a Republican/Democratic government and our officials are charged by proxy to make tough decisions on our behalf, at times taking preventive actions. It does not mean for them to act on some flimsy popularity poll, which they do more and more, deferring their responsibilities.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (14)
| TrackBack
By S. Johnson
This Speakout has not been edited By S. Johnson, Mead
This was evident to me in a court proceeding last month in Montrose County Court. She and her 4 children have a wonderful opportunity to leave the state of Colorado with her husband. She has 3 children from a previous marriage and has primary custody. The children’s father refused to let them leave the state. He did not file for custody; he just won’t let them leave! Her husband who was transferred with a Corporate merger to the neighboring state of Kansas-better job, more money, better schools, lower cost of living and more opportunities in every way.(And well documented to the courts.) All of this is secured and waiting. She did everything right and through the courts, waited and waited and waited as is the process. This process was long and hard, as she moved in with me (her mother) after moving out of a rented home in Denver. Her husband leased a home large enough for all to live in Kansas while starting his new job.
They commuted the children 1 hour to and from school for one full month. (She receives a whopping $480 in child support for 3 children) She was also in her last month of pregnancy at the time, being remarried to a wonderful man. They have the new baby who now is 1 month old.
Through the corporation they have great health insurance, (something the 3 boys dad never did furnish for them, my daughter worked and provided the insurance) the children are all insured under her husband’s policy. Let me just reiterate this. All children are covered with medical Insurance under this policy; that the step father has, not their father! My daughter gets less than 500 dollars per month of child support! For 3 boys. Her husband is a diabetic and the new baby has a possible metabolic disorder that is manageable but only with good insurance! Just one of the babies recent tests were over $900.00. You cannot just change health insurance on a whim!
In summary, the judge ruled that she could not take her children outside the state, even though they would make sure via the parenting plan that the Father in Montrose would see them 130 days per year. As has been the rule for the last couple of years.
The Judged ruled that it would be too much of a hardship on The Father here in Montrose to take a few extra hours a few days a year.
Therefore, she needs to move back to Colorado, basically having 2 separate households. The youngest (1 month old) will be separated from his father Now what? Did I really read that right? The Judge is telling my daughter, Ok I will split up your family, you can live with your mom, or just have 2 households. I will put you all in Jeopardy just because of an inconvenience for one. 130 days a year.
But what you do for the other 235 I really could care less...
With all the anguish, money and hardship this has caused I believe the Judge should have considered what really was in the BEST INTEREST of the children. Instead of the best interest of a father who only wants them at his convenience. 130 days a year.
Holidays and Summer Vacations and Hunting trips.
Wow! Isn’t that justice- In more ways than one!
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (23)
| TrackBack
By Mark Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., executive director,
Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment
In 1998 when three restaurants went voluntarily smoke-free in Jefferson County as part of the public health department's "Ahead of the Pack" Project, it made the news. People were concerned these businesses would lose customers and have to shut their doors. That didn't happen and people noticed.
This Speakout has not been edited By Mark Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., executive director,
Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment
In 1998 when three restaurants went voluntarily smoke-free in Jefferson County as part of the public health department's "Ahead of the Pack" Project, it made the news. People were concerned these businesses would lose customers and have to shut their doors. That didn't happen and people noticed. That helped mark the beginning of a change in sentiment about smoke-free policies. When Arvada passed a smoke-free law in 2005 which included parks, trails and outdoor patio areas of restaurants, some thought it was too stringent, but other Colorado communities noticed and followed in Arvada's footsteps. Now, prohibiting smoking in these outdoor areas is a growing trend in communities across the nation. When the Pueblo Heart Study results were released in 2006 showing that Pueblo's smoke-free law resulted in a 27 percent reduction in acute myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), people noticed. And, when a recent study by the State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership showed that air pollution in bars and restaurants has improved by nearly 70 percent since the Clean Indoor Air Act took effect, people noticed again.
We have passed an important milestone regarding public knowledge and sentiment about the harms of secondhand smoke: the greatest majority of us now know that secondhand smoke is a health threat and believe it is important to protect ourselves and others from exposure. Not only are nearly all of us protected from smoke exposure at our worksites, more and more of us are adopting smoke-free rules for our homes and autos. The most recent data from the Tobacco Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (TABS) show that eighty two percent of Jefferson County households had smoke-free home rules in 2005 compared to 78 percent in 2001. That's an increase in protection from secondhand smoke in the home for more than 55,000 individuals in our County in just four years' time.
There is more work to do to, but the efforts to raise awareness and implement protections are working. Our state's smoke-free law continues to help improve public health in Colorado and people are noticing.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (8)
| TrackBack
By Dave Burrell, Denver
This Speakout has not been edited By Dave Burrell, Denver
The Planning Board has already ruled against this very proposal. Did they act improperly? Were they not given full information? No, the Planning Board did their job correctly.
Denverites take the viewplane very seriously, and allowing a company to pierce it because they have the money to do so (and don’t want to spend pennies per ratepayer to do so) is ludicrous. We have very clear rules so that preferential treatment cannot be given. That’s why we make rules in the first place.
You may note that there are no overhead transmission lines in Country Club neighborhood. Where are they? Underground. Why do you suppose that is?
Perhaps it is because folks in Ruby Hill make something less than one third as much as their Country Club brethren.
Sounds like the story of the rich mouse versus the poor mouse. only in this case, our public utility is laying the trap. They’re certainly the ones with the cheese.
But it’s not just Ruby Hill at stake. If we further pierce the Ruby Hill viewplane, why not Cheesman Park’s? Why not Wash Park? Southmoor? Cranmer?
DIA? Sloan’s Lake? If we do not pull together here, what right would these neighbors have for their own view planes?
This matter is being rushed through for nefarious purposes. Excel has not been “taken unawares” about this matter (summertime always comes right around now, after all), but the public certainly has. We currently have 2 vacant seats in Council and 1 outgoing Councilwoman, who just happens to represent the district in question. The Planning Board only weighed in last month, so why rush this ordinance through if not to disadvantage the near-neighbors? We need to have our new representative, Chris Nevitt, at the time when this momentous decision is made, and the two other new Council members should fill the ranks of the now-unrepresented districts. A full and fair public hearing is required in this matter, and time should be given to consider it.
In the end, I hope you will preserve this viewplane and not stand silent as Denver loses its most precious resource. allowing the triumph of underhanded, unrepresentative, political posturing against the mountains views which symbolize Denver itself.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
By Andrew Wallach, Denver
Mayor John Hickenlooper recently learned of the departure at the end of July of his brand new press envoy. Marlena Fernandez Berkowitz had been on the job little more than two months when she declared that she would be leaving to spend more time with her family. Mayor John Hickenlooper recently learned of the departure at the end of July of his brand new press envoy. Marlena Fernandez Berkowitz had been on the job little more than two months when she declared that she would be leaving to spend more time with her family. Such announcements materialize with alarming frequency. Staff turnover among the mayor's appointees is a recurrent problem for Hickenlooper. In a recent one-year period, a fourth of the administration's appointed management positions turned over. Probably particularly painful for the mayor was the departure of about half of his Latina appointees during a single 12-month period. The parks division of Denver's Parks and Recreation Department has recently lost its deputy manager and planning director, the only "new blood" besieged Manager Kim Bailey was able to attract to top management slots. The departure of these two professionals leaves only longtime middle managers in place at the top of the organization to shepherd some of the city's most treasured assets. Other high-priority programs are drifting as well. The city's economic development office lost its director a few months ago (the post is still vacant), and the mayor's principal staff aide for economic issues recently departed as well. Making matters worse is Hickenlooper's tendency to abandon important functions when the person performing them leaves. Since original chief of staff and close friend Michael Bennet left in 2005, Hickenlooper has had no in-house consigliere with the capacity to act as an alter ego, both top manager and trusted policy adviser. Since Dana Bryson left her post as accountability and reform director in 2004, the function has been, for all practical purposes, abandoned. Kelly Brough, the mayor's current staff director, nominally filled the accountability post for a while, but chose not to pursue what had been its main responsibilities. Now, the title (and function) no longer exists. Other than lots of new names and faces for the City Hall career staffers to learn, does all this make much difference? The answer appears to be yes - Hickenlooper's agenda has been crippled by the turnover turmoil. His infrastructure bond issue/mill levy increase exercise has been bloated with seemingly nonessential items piled onto the proposal. Months of discussion have stretched on to nearly a year with only weak public participation. The mayor's "million tree" initiative seems to be stuck in four figures, as the infant forest withers from lack of irrigation and care. The mayor's climate change initiative has produced few concrete results. The boldest initiatives conceived by a well-respected "Greenprint" advisory council have been dismissed by a nervous mayor without significant public discussion. Both housing developers and neighborhood residents complain bitterly of an unresponsive, if not comatose, city construction review process. In its first year, the city's vaunted 311 citizen complaint tracking system, it turns out, was reporting requests as fulfilled after no more than a referral to another city agency had been accomplished. With such current and upcoming challenges, the popular mayor needs to ask himself why his management team continues to witness such numerous departures. Denver taxpayers may be curious as well. By Jan Marie Belle, Denver
On Monday, July 9th at 5:30 PM the Denver City Council will "decide" (one would hope they have not already "decided") whether or not to allow Xcel Energy to violate the law by further invadeing Ruby Hill park This Speakout has not been edited By Jan Marie Belle, Denver
On Monday, July 9th at 5:30 PM the Denver City Council will "decide" (one would hope they have not already "decided") whether or not to allow Xcel Energy to violate the law by further invadeing Ruby Hill park and piercing the Ruby Hill View Plane with extremely ugly large rust- colored power transmission towers that are 7 to 26 feet higher than the already nonconforming existing towers and which will double the power transmission from 115 kilovolts to 230 kilovolts.(Xcel has promised to paint these towers in all OTHER neighorhoods (excepting Ruby Hill) so as to blend in with the skyline). The Denver Planning Board, all Denver citizens serving in volunteer unpaid capacity on behalf of all citizens of Denver, ruled in May 2007 that Xcel cannot violate the law by erecting these towers in violation of the Ruby Hill View plane.The solution is to underground these power transmission lines. However: After the Planning Board vote, City Council introduced an "emergency measure" to CHANGE THE LAW for Xcel, allow these towers (and only Xcel's towers) to pierce the Ruby Hill view plane (and only the Ruby Hill View plane). I note that Kathleen MacKenzie the councilperson representing the area in which Ruby Hill Park is located, to her everlansting and eternal credit, OPPOSES changing the law for Xcel. But enough of her collegues decided THEY know what's best for HER district and pushed this forward with the speed of power through an upgraded transmission line. Surely this requires more information and thoughtful debate. We begged at Blueprint Denver Committee for a "courtesy" public hearing which was set on July 9th, despite our requests that the public hearing be held after the new city council takes office on July 14th, just one week later. Our "courtesy" public hearing willl be shared with four, or maybe it's five, other public hearing, and restricted to one hour. One hour for us, or one hour for all four or maybe it's five public hearings? I don't know yet. I guess we will find out for sure on Monday July 9th. What's really going on here? Can someone please help me connect the dots? I am seeing my neighborhood of low moderate income hard-working people and seniors on fixed incomes AGAIN being the site of "objectionable uses". Remember how so called "adult uses" were "restricted" to so called "light industrial areas"? Well, that's us too -- Witness the "Adult" usage at the foot of Ruby Hill on the southwest corner of West Mississippi and the South Platte River. People of Denver, wake up! What's next? A highrise development being able to block historic views that are our unique Denver heritage because lower costs/higher profits can be realized going vertical into the view plane? What are the REAL "Power Transmission Lines". Please attend the City Council meeting at 5:30 PM on Monday July 9th to see your government in action and connect the dots. Jan Marie Belle is a native of Denver and president of the Ruby Hill Neighborhood Association. By Brian Kurz, Denver
As we celebrate our independence this week it is important to remember how we have come to be free. For some of us our ancestors fought against oppression from a ruler an ocean away. For others, freedom was granted through an emancipation, a civil war and more than 100 years of pursuing equal rights.
This Speakout has not been edited By Brian Kurz, Denver
As we celebrate our independence this week it is important to remember how we have come to be free. For some of us our ancestors fought against oppression from a ruler an ocean away. For others, freedom was granted through an emancipation, a civil war and more than 100 years of pursuing equal rights. And there are those that are born into the freedom that this nation has fought to provide. While our experiences with freedom differ, almost all of us have gained this freedom through legitimate means. However, legitimate freedom does not apply to I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a man who was granted freedom from prison before ever serving a day behind bars. Without the benefit of new evidence or legitimate cause for appeal, Libby’s sentence was commuted from 540 days in jail to 0.
While it is not completely shocking that Libby has gotten off the hook in terms of jail time, though he still has to survive two years of probation and pay a $250,000 fine. It is shocking that the reasons given for this commutation do not adhere to logical thought. The President “concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby was excessive” and decided to remove this punishment from the sentence.
While the President is entitled to commute anyone’s sentence for any reason, he should not do so without providing support for his claim.
Mr. Libby was facing up to 25 years in prison and up to a million dollar fine for the felony he committed. He was sentenced to 16% of the maximum jail sentence and asked to pay 25% of the maximum penalty.
Being sentenced to only a quarter of the allowable penalties is hardly excessive. The President did not argue the conviction or the actions of the court; instead he simply gave an incoherent explanation for his decision and proceeded.
More troubling than the commutation is the reason that the President was able to pursue this action. He has nothing to lose.
The President cannot run for re-election. His current approval rating of 26% (Newsweek) only demonstrates that a quarter of our nation has decided that the President can do no wrong. The remaining three-fourths are left with a President who cannot go lower and has shown no interest in improving his approval rating. He is able to commute Libby’s sentence without doing further damage to his or his party’s reputation. Instead, he appeases his base and confirms what those who oppose him already think: he puts those loyal to him above the law. This President has shown a strong unwillingness to compromise or consider outside opinions. Instead he will continue with failed policies, dispute scientific research with fallacious information and free felons who were convicted for lying.
The leadership of our country has been compromised not only by this commutation, but by the timing of the event. Mr. Libby was spared jail time at the cost of the American people’s voice. This is a hefty price for the President to pay for the loyalty of a felon. By silencing the courts, the President has dealt a blow to the constitution and to our freedom as a people. When the courts cannot be counted on as a fair judge of all people, then the entire system is thrown into a gray area of legitimacy. While other presidents have issued pardons, it has seldom been done immediately following a felony conviction and immediately prior to the beginning of jail time. As in the case of the U.S. Attorney firings, the President has exercised his constitutional rights while not providing any substantive reasons for his actions. By only providing flawed reasons for his actions, the President has defiled his office and arrogantly offered the American people a hollow excuse for freeing a criminal.
Our first President, one of the men most responsible for the freedom that we enjoy today, is credited with saying “I cannot tell a lie.” This President, his namesake, has made it clear to ever citizen that lying is not a problem. It is a necessary evil. The President has yet to rule out a pardon of Libby. As his jail sentence was reduced to zero, Libby will begin serving parole soon. Assuming he does not get picked up for infractions he will still have about six months remaining by the time January 20th, 2008 rolls around. While others have taken different routs to freedom, Libby will likely gain his freedom by way of a pardon. And, of course, a $250,000 refund check.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (6)
| TrackBack
By Francis M. Miller, Parker
This Speakout has not been edited By Francis M. Miller, Parker
As an aside, an article on July 1, 2007 in the NY Times by Pam Belluck, noted that Massachusetts, (with a population of nearly 6.5 million people) has, since 2006, been able to get only 130,000 people into their new scheme, and that required the insurance be free or subsidized. The rest of the uninsured in the state have said, thanks, but no thanks.
This whole endeavor is a not so veiled attempt to solve the State’s rising Medicaid cost crisis and the hospital’s and doctor’s collections problems by putting as many people as they can herd into a corral and force them to buy insurance. The problem is that federal ERISA plans in the state are not going to participate and you can bet that PERA and other governmental employee organizations are not going to touch this skunk with a ten foot pole. If the State unwittingly destroys the individual and small group health insurance market they will create a highly regressive system with many unintended consequences.
Recent e ditorials by members of the Commission are little-by-little revealing their socialistic philosophical core and their nearly complete lack of understanding of market-based economics. To say that the market has failed is to ignore the role government has played over the past 30 years in meddling in the health care market. You would have to go way back to before the 1970s to find any semblance of a functioning health care market. This is tantamount to the federal government polluting Rocky Flats and then proclaiming that nature doesn’t work any more. We are on a path to socialize the remainder of 16%, soon to be 20%, of the US economy. If the hospitals and doctors think that forcing the uninsured to buy health insurance is not one more step toward having their fees and practices regulated by a government bureaucracy they are mistaken. Global warming has less of a chance of melting the glaciers than the creeping vine of liberal Democratic socialism has of turning the medical profession into proxy employees of the government. You reap what you sow guys!!!
Fran Miller has been a management consultant for 25 years and he has a graduate degree in health policy from the University of Colorado’s Graduate School of Public Affairs. Miller is the past president of the Colorado Business Coalition for Health, a two term member of the Colorado Legislature’s Interim Committee on Health Care. He was appointed by governors Richard Lamm and Roy Romer to two terms as vice chairman of the Colorado Health Data Commission. He is presently writing a book on health care in the 21st century.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (4)
| TrackBack
By A. Woodbury, Fairplay
This Speakout has not been edited By A. Woodbury, Fairplay
What we need are dedicated officers to enforce the laws as they are written today. It would be even better if we could respond retroactively and send them all back if they don’t meet the criteria for citizenship. These people are breaking the law and need to be treated accordingly. I don’t care how bad off their life was in their own country, we are not responsible for their welfare either figuratively or literally. Since America was founded we have had armies fighting for our freedoms and rights as citizens. We have earned these lives we live in this free country. It isn’t right that we should be inundated with foreigners who refuse to obey our laws, or speak our language and work for Americans who break the laws by employing them. They take from the mouths of babes that which is not rightfully theirs. They receive medical attention when US citizens w/o insurance can’t get the help they need. I’d rather see socialized medicine for American citizens before we let this continue. Obviously, the bleeding heart liberal portion of America is allowing this siege to take place. I wouldn’t doubt that the fools think they can make citizens of them in time for voting in 2008. These outlaws would certainly be beholding to someone.
Sending them back would be much more economical than dealing with them. These people are breaking the law and we should hold that thought. Any other person breaking the law ends up in jail. Since there are so many and the burden is affecting the lives of Americans more every day, I think it makes sense to send them back where they came from no matter how they beg or how pathetic they are.
They don’t belong here.
If they sneak across the border they don’t have the proper papers to be employed. How could they possibly pay fines. What good does a fine do anyway? Most assuredly they connect with inside outlaws who produce false identification for them. This is another area where enforcing current laws could make some difference. We don’t need more government we need effective enforcement. The reason the numbers have gotten so high is because we are enabling them. That same liberal sector feels bad for their plight and doesn’t see what it is doing to our society. We are being inundated with problems. My pet peeve is having to choose to speak English when I call the phone company. I’m a natural born American and I have always spoken English, as do all my family and friends. I resent that these outlaws are able to make this type of invasive change in my life. The menu should ask that you press one for a language other than English. When they bring their children it adds to the burden on our education funding. Already that money doesn’t go far enough because the majority of it is spent on administration. With language barriers it becomes impossible for American children to get what they need. If we have to change all the rules and books to accommodate these aliens we are taking even more from our own children. It is not legal. It is not what we pay taxes for. They should be required to read and speak English as immigrating adults and before the children can attend school they should have a working knowledge of the English language. We can’t afford what we are trying to do for our own people, how can we possibly take on this kind of burden? America is a free democratic society. We shouldn’t be extending the socialistic arm to these people. It isn’t our responsibility to make things right for them. Where they come from things must be difficult but that is not a worry for us.
They cross the border because people in charge are turning their heads the other way for bribes or favors. These ‘officials’ should be jailed also. Aliens keep coming in because they get away with it. The situation is unbalancing our society. We deserve better law enforcement for our tax money. Don’t let this go on.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (6)
| TrackBack
By
This Speakout has not been edited By
They routinely build a straw man version of Christianity based not upon the Ten Commandments and the morality of the Christ, but rather upon Old Testament Levitical laws that have long since been abrogated. They cannot be so naïve as to believe that Christians condone the murder of back talking children, yet that is exactly the sort of rhetoric they routinely tout.
In the latest books by avowed atheists, such as Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Great and Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation, the crux of the problem lies undisturbed. It never seems to surface amongst the pestiferous rhetoric of the atheist leaders.
They call for a secular America that mimics the “least religious societies on earth,” such as Norway, Denmark, Belgium and most Western Europe, believing that the “end of religion” is an achievable goal. Yet, Western Europe has undergone an unprecedented decline in population that threatens its very existence. Conversely, the Middle East and Africa saw the greatest population growth during the 1990s, in nations that are predominantly Islamic. Osama Bin Laden was one of 53 children and has sired at least 27 of his own, due to Islam’s “progressive” view of polygamy.
The new atheists applaud Western European openness toward matters of gender equality and abortion, yet both of these departures from traditional religious mores have contributed to the dwindling population problem. Sam Harris, in his Letter to a Christian Nation, submits that “seventy percent of the inmates of France’s jails are Muslim.” He obtusely observes that Western European Muslims are generally not atheists, implying that atheists are not part of the “problem.”
However, by not recognizing the real problem, and by diverting attention toward Christianity rather than Islam, neither are they part of the solution. France’s tolerance has permitted their Muslim population to exceed 10%. Their hospitality has already been reciprocated with Islamic car bombings and gang riots. In America, the Muslim population is generally estimated at less than 2% of the population.
The increase in Europe’s Muslim population, along with population decline among European nationals, is changing the demographic climate in the cradle of continental philosophy. Rather than a progressive transformation toward analytic scientism and a consummately secular society, Europe is slowly and methodically regressing by embracing the ancient Mesopotamian culture that has emigrated from the cradle of civilization.
The new atheists aren’t the only ones with an agenda. While Sam Harris wants to see “the end of faith,” Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to see the end of Israel and the United States. Saudi Arabian oil money is pouring into our nation’s colleges and universities, mosques and Islamic day schools, at an alarming rate. Saudi monies don’t fund new science labs, libraries or gymnasiums, but rather Middle Eastern Studies programs, many of which have become bastions of radical jihadist thought. There is one thing virtually all Muslims agree upon, the need for Shari’a Law and the emergence of an Islamic caliphate that will rule the entire Middle East and, if possible, the entire globe.
President Bush entered Iraq with the goal of liberating the Iraqis from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, much like President Roosevelt entered Europe to liberate that part of the world from the maniacal control of Adolf Hitler.
Our presence in Iraq has two very reasonable purposes: to aid the Iraqis in stabilizing their nation and to keep an eye on their next door neighbor, who unabashedly considers us the “Great Satan.” The new atheists are diverting our attention from America’s real problem by blurring the distinct boundaries between theistic religions.
Dr. RC Metcalf is the author of Letter to a Christian Nation: Counter Point
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (37)
| TrackBack
One of the reasons American Muslims by-in-large reject extremism is that they have been integrated into our ‘Melting Pot’ through public education. Through public education, Muslims, and all ethnic and religious groups, have been given a stake in the system and value America’s economy and society, which sustain them. This Speakout has not been edited By
One of the reasons American Muslims by-in-large reject extremism is that they have been integrated into our ‘Melting Pot’ through public education.
Through public education, Muslims, and all ethnic and religious groups, have been given a stake in the system and value America’s economy and society, which sustain them.
The ruling of the Supreme Court on June 28, 2007, could “ghettoize” (ethnically concentrate) education, not only allowing but, in fact, promoting “separate but equal” funding for neighborhood schools of different ethnic make-ups.
As it stands, “quasi-ethnic” schools such as mostly Anglo suburban accelerated schools, largely African-American, highly-regimented urban schools, and predominantly Hispanic, ‘Caesar Chavez-type’ schools are all publicly funded.
What, then, is preventing the formation and public funding of “Tariq’s (meaning “morning star’s”) World School, with a distinctly ‘Mid-Eastern’ character? This type of school is often a ‘charter’ school, run largely free of governmental oversight. I do not mean to imply that such a ‘Mid-Eastern’ focus would be any less socially desirable than any other ‘ethnically-concentrated’ school.
The Supreme Court decision forbade local school districts from voluntarily instituting integration programs, which used the race of a child as a factor in assigning him or her to specific schools. Hundreds of school districts throughout the country have adopted such programs for both educational and civic reasons. The legality of all of these voluntary programs is now in question.
If we forgo our “Melting Pot” paradigm, we will be ‘ghettoizing’ and ‘Balkanizing’ America to our own great disservice and at our own peril, extinguishing millions of potential relationships among both adults and children of different cultures and religions in our country. In light of Great Britain’s experience this week, such divisions within a society are very sobering.
We must continue to include all Americans in our Melting Pot. Indeed, it is this Melting Pot, which has produced America’s vibrant society and economy.
Lisa Mieritz, MSA, is director, Economics in Education, Inc., at economicsineducation@earthlink.net.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (5)
| TrackBack
By
By
The acting is good and the story is compelling, but the most important reason to see this movie is, maybe then you Pearl was just out to get the story. But to get it, he had to venture alone into a dangerous part of Karachi for a rendezvous with a dangerous man from a terrorist cell. He never came home. Like anyone who does that kind of work, Danny Pearl knew the risks but took them anyway. For the money? He could have made more by going to law school. The fame? A reporter Sure, a thirst for adventure probably is part of any foreign correspondent Covering cataclysmic events for almost a quarter In my younger days, I saw myself as brave, but nowadays I see another applicable adjective: reckless. Reckless, with a wife and two sons at home, to put my life at risk. But if someone doesn So, being older and smarter, I didn And yet lots of Americans complain, Maybe Americans who still think this war is worthwhile are right and there are plenty of stories about Iraqis welcoming our troops and about U.S. soldiers doing humanitarian work that don By
“Do we have to destroy every beautiful place?” asks Keith Goddard, owner of Magnum Outfitters of Rifle, who depends on the Roan Plateau for his income and way of life. A wild Roan Plateau attracts the hunters, anglers and photographers he ushers across the plateau, and he knows those people won’t come when the roar of big trucks and the bright lights of drill rigs destroy the night.
This Speakout has not been edited By
“Do we have to destroy every beautiful place?” asks Keith Goddard, owner of Magnum Outfitters of Rifle, who depends on the Roan Plateau for his income and way of life. A wild Roan Plateau attracts the hunters, anglers and photographers he ushers across the plateau, and he knows those people won’t come when the roar of big trucks and the bright lights of drill rigs destroy the night. “Who’s going to pay me $2,500 to $3,000 to see a bunch of roads and gas wells?” Goddard asks.[1] A recent poll of 400 likely voters in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District (represented by John Salazar) showed 72% support for prohibiting drilling on the public lands atop the Plateau. This support was strong across party affiliations. There is also strong support for restrictions on drilling among the outdoorsmen of the district. Among hunters, 69% support restrictions on additional drilling.
Support is even stronger among fishermen (74%) and hikers and campers (74%).[2] Recent studies in the booming coal-bed methane fields of Montana and Wyoming indicate energy development is driving away mule deer from their historic grounds. “We’ve seen a 40 percent decline in deer populations close to energy activity,” David Stallings of Trout Unlimited’s Public Lands Initiative said. “That also means loss of hunting opportunity.” An earlier report from the BLM estimated the Roan Plateau deer herd could decrease by 36 percent because of energy development.[3] And it surely will be, because the area is also the No. 1 County in the state for drilling permits, with more than 1,700 wells permitted in 2006 alone.
Another 15,000 to 20,000 new wells are expected to be drilled during the next decade. To some, that may sound like a good idea, but we cannot drill our way to energy independence.
Sixty-five percent of the world’s known oil reserves are in the Persian Gulf; the United States has only 3 percent, but we account for 26 percent of the world demand.[4] It’s simple math and common sense. Drilling the Roan Plateau will not do us any good in the long run. Foreign oil and gas imports will continue to go up because U.S. production peaked 35 years ago and has been declining ever since. Accelerated drilling — as opposed to conservation and developing alternative energy sources — only beholdens us to Middle Eastern dictators and tyrants.
But until our leaders realize that it’s impossible to drill our way to energy independence, until they recognize that drilling in our national treasures destroys the very things that make this country worth cherishing and defending, and until they see that the only way to reduce foreign oil dependence is to raise fuel economy in cars and embrace alternative energy, the fight will never really be over. [2]John Anzalone and Jeff Liszt. “Summary of Polling Results in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.” Anzalone Liszt Research: 5/9/07 [3]Dave Buchanan. “‘Environmentally sound’ drilling?” The [Grand Junction] Daily Sentinel: 7/25/06 [4]John H. Adams. “Oil-Fueled Foreign Policy.” Onearth: Spring 2003, p.4 By Patrick Garrett, Boulder
This Speakout has not been edited By Patrick Garrett, Boulder
We can improve the systems they have, in order to better suit it to the needs of this nation. What’s more, I believe it’s possible for private healthcare institutions to exist, for those who choose to privately invest, even with a universal healthcare system — but for those who are not in a position to fund it themselves, we must have a system where they can get the treatment. They are entitled to it, not only because they can’t afford it, and not just beca use it’s the right thing to do, but because our country’s ideals demand it.
All Americans are entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," an edict demanded by the ones who gave birth to our nation. Universal healthcare will give life to those who may need it, will liberate the American people from fear of retirement, and allow the American people to do what they do best — pursue happiness.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (12)
| TrackBack
By John DiNardo, Aurora
The rest of the court experience, however, is something we should all stand up and take exception to and ask what is happening to the United States?
This Speakout has not been edited By John DiNardo, Aurora
The rest of the court experience, however, is something we should all stand up and take exception to and ask what is happening to the United States?
She was asked to be in court by 4:30PM, with which she complied. However, when she got there, it was announced that all non-English speaking persons with traffic violations would be taken care of first. The reasoning being that the interpreter leaves every day at the same time and does not stay late. So a reward for not speaking English is one gets to go the front of the line.
Next, the non-English speaking individuals do not have driver’s licenses or insurance. Never was it asked why they did not have licenses, what they were doing to get licenses or insurance. What they were given for driving without a license was a $35 fine. Since many of them did not have $35 they were also given payment terms. So, they are granted another reward for not having the money to pay the fines.
My wife, who was born in Denver, Colorado, raised here, and lived here all her life, was given a $249 fine for her speeding ticket, was not given payment terms, and had to wait until all the non-speaking, aliens were treated first .
If I understand this correctly:
* Let’s never require the non -English speaking individuals who live in this country to learn English.
* Let’s never require they become citizens of this United States of America.
* Let’s never require them to ever get driver’s licenses and pray they never kill someone on the road with their driving.
* Let’s never require they get automobile insurance, so that all of us who do will pay higher and higher premiums.
* Let’s make sure that those of us who do get injured by these individuals pay higher and higher health insurance premiums
* Let’s make sure those who can pay their fines, pay big ones to subsidize all those $35 fines on payment plans.
* Let’s make sure we never inconvenience them and let’s never inconvenience the interpreters in this country who may have to work late.
Our Country is eroding every day right before our eyes.
No country in the world has ever survived having 2 major languages.
We are heading down that path. (I highlighted this because I believe i t needs to be acknowledged. Does it matter to you?) By Debra Hart, Commerce City
This Speakout has not been edited By Debra Hart, Commerce City
Every 47 seconds another child is born without health insurance — 1,839 each day.
More than one in seven children in Colorado are uninsured, a rate that is even higher than the national average. We must provide all Colorado children with the health and mental health care they need to lead healthy lives and realize their full potential in school and life.
Americans support health insurance for all uninsured children. In a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, more than 80 percent of Americans would said they favor expanding government-sponsored health insurance to cover all uninsured children even if it meant paying more in taxes.
Solutions to the Issues: The All Healthy Children Act guarantees all uninsured children and pregnant women the health coverage they need.
In the next few months, Congress must reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). During this reauthorization process, Congress should at least: Guarantee all children and pregnant women health coverage and access to timely health care regardless of where they live;
Give children and pregnant women all medically necessary services to ensure they survive and thrive;
Simplify and streamline enrollment so it’s easy for children and pregnant women to get health coverage and keep it.
Encourage the newspaper to educate and update its readers on this issue and to use the voice of its editorial page to persuade Members of Congress to support legislation that will guarantee all of the nine million uninsured children — not just some — comprehensive coverage through a simplified health care system.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (3)
| TrackBack
By
By
Once in a while, of course, it turns out to be true, giving politics-via-scandalmongering just enough credibility to persist. Mostly, though, it gratuitously wrecks reputations while discouraging innovation and initiative in government by adding ever more procedural roadblocks.
That’s how I see the recent tarring-and- feathering of Christine Johnson, the exceptionally able president these past six years of the Community College of Denver and my 20-year friend and professional colleague. I have no way of knowing what’s in the heads of Colorado Community College System chief Nancy McCallin and her nine-member board, but odds are slender that their abrupt dismissal of Johnson is not, like most political moves, fundamentally about power.
Johnson is a dynamic executive who doubtless cut some procedural corners and sent some politically incorrect e-mails in pursuit of her largely successful goal of strengthening CCD’s academic offerings, student performance and fiscal stability. Change-minded leaders invariably do things that auditors and investigators can challenge because such executives are more interested in results than in procedural niceties. When procedural niceties become enshrined as the supreme organizational value, you can bet that innovation will vanish, productivity will plummet and strong leaders will not accept jobs.
When the U.S. Secretary of Education appointed Johnson to the new National Assessment Governing Board in 1988, she was already one of the most accomplished urban high school principals in the land — at Denver’s Lincoln High. She went on to an illustrious career in K-12 and postsecondary education in Colorado and to memberships on myriad national boards and committees. Her character is impeccable, her integrity is proven and her track record of accomplishment is enviable. She was doing great things with CCD, too, until the long knives came out.
The chief allegation seems to be that, when Barbara Casey, the college’s chief financial officer, told Johnson that she mistrusted some of the numbers on CCCS’ famously troubled data management system, Johnson advised her to understate the size of CCD’s surplus.
What a peculiar criticism. I’m hard pressed to remember anyone who was fired for erring on the side of caution.
Educators across America understand that, in depriving CCD of Christine Johnson’s leadership, the CCCS high command is doing students and taxpayers no service and is, at least for the moment, dimming one of the bright lights in a field that needs more illumination.
A former assistant U.S. secretary of education, Chester E. Finn Jr. is president of the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and is a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (3)
| TrackBack
By Allen Campbell, Colorado Springs
This Speakout has not been edited By Allen Campbell, Colorado Springs
What then is this liberty that was so important to the first patriots that they would pledge their very life to defend it. It is defined as; “freedom or release from slavery, imprisonment, captivity or any other form of arbitrary control". The first three of these took a long time to implement. The fourth has not yet become reality. Arbitrary is defined as; 1. not fixed by rules but left to to one’s judgement or choice—- 2. based on ones preference, notion, whim, etc; capricious. 3. despotic, absolute.
I say that we have not yet been granted freedom of, or release from, arbitrary control yet because our state legislators use arbitrary whims, notions and personal preferences all the time in enacting laws. I know that the majority of people are unaware that legislators do not have to adhere to standards of proof or factual evidence when enacting laws. They only have to BELIEVE a law is necessary to impose it on the public. A belief is an opinion, a notion of the rightness of something. This Belief does not need to be proven by fact or even apparent truth. In other words, legislators can pass any law they want without a thought given to it’s proven necessity or the rightness of it. In any other profession that standard would insure failure. Would you accept a doctor telling you his belief was that you had cancer without even examining you, would you accept an estimate from a plumber, an electrician, a mechanic or a ditch digger that told you he believed certain work or repairs were necessary without even looking at the problem and investigating what was needed. Why then do you accept laws enacted by politicians for reasons that you would throw any craftsman out the door for.
I think it might be a good idea if you, the taxpaying public, insisted that when state legislators enact a law, they must require at least as much factual reason and evidence for doing so as you would require from a ditch digger. By the way, this was the way the smoking ban was passed. Without establishing need based on investigation of all the available evidence but only relying on the statements of tobacco control advocates and their privately funded “on demand studies” that contradict the seven year study and it’s findings of the eminent federal agency, OSHA , charged with enforcing the safety of work places and workers and which study and findings have been upheld in federal appeals courts. Hell may have no fury like a woman scorned but, that is nothing compared to the fury of a people made aware that they have been lied to by those who they elected to represent their best interests. Rest assured this will be made apparent in the very near future.
Allen Campbell is Senior VP of the Coalition for Equal Rights
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
By Sen. Dave Schultheis, Colorado Springs
Recently, Sen. Salazar challenged citizens to come up with a better plan to handle the immkigration issues if they didn’t like the one he is proposing.
Judging from the large volume of e-mails I received last week, citizens in Colorado and across the nation are becoming incensed with the continued push for amnesty by President Bush and certain select senators in Washington.
This Speakout has not been edited By Sen. Dave Schultheis, Colorado Springs
Recently, Sen. Salazar challenged citizens to come up with a better plan to handle the immkigration issues if they didn’t like the one he is proposing.
Judging from the large volume of e-mails I received last week, citizens in Colorado and across the nation are becoming incensed with the continued push for amnesty by President Bush and certain select senators in Washington. They refuse to listen to the citizens of this country, who oppose amnesty no matter what pretty label is put on the package.
In Colorado, our own Senator Ken Salazar has angered voters by becoming a “point man” for Ted Kennedy’s amnesty package. Salazar has the gall to tell citizens that if we don’t’ like it we should “come up with a better one”! Citizens have been suggesting a sensible alternative for years: secure the border and enforce the law!
When Sen. Salazar says that “our nation badly needs the reform,” what he is really saying is that we need an amnesty program that virtually decimates our borders. In Senator Salazar, we have an elected official who places the wishes of illegal aliens and their “immigrant rights” advocates above those of American citizens. Coloradoans will not forget this rejection of the rule of law.
Representative Tom Tancredo got it right in his recent comments on the failed Senate amnesty bill: “It’s a shame that Senator Salazar, President Bush and others seem to be so tone-deaf on this.” Tancredo is derided by the mainstream media for his fierce opposition to amnesty, but he alone had the courage to fight this battle while most politicians were asleep. Salazar refused to debate Tancredo on CBS’s Face the Nation, which shows he is afraid to come out from behind his curtain of misleading rhetoric and debate the real issues.
President Bush is equally to blame for this embarrassing circus. He is attempting to strong-arm (or should I say bribe) reluctant Republican Senators to vote for this travesty. Seven Republican Senators voted last week to continue pandering to big business and their agriculture buddies, while Democrats openly salivate at the prospect of ten to fifteen million new Democrat voters.
The best test of who actually best represents the views of the American people is to separate the Senate bill into five individual bills and vote on each proposal separately and in sequence —- first, genuine border security; second, stronger workplace enforcement; third, new rules for future green cards by phasing out “family reunification” visas in favor of merit-based visas based on education and job skills; fourth, the guest worker proposal; and finally, the “Z visa amnesty.” The “probationary benefits” instant amnesty section of the bill should be dropped forever. I challenge Sen. Salazar to support all five of these separate bills and to persuade Majority Leader Reid to force cloture votes on all of them! Then let’s see which Senators have the courage to vote for amnesty. Why are Kennedy and Reid and Salazar afraid to do that? Sen. Salazar denigrates opposition and refers the millions of Americans who want Congress to enforce our current immigration laws as “bomb-throwers.” He ought to consider several ideas that are very popular with the voters of Colorado. He should begin with the enforcement of our existing laws, including:
There are many additional immigration laws needed to strengthen our immigration system:
It’s time that Sen. Salazar came “out from the shadows” of Sen. Kennedy. Instead of private, close-door meetings with Kennedy and amnesty coconspirators, he should meet openly with the citizens of Colorado to explain and defend his actions. It is time that Sen. Salazar took notice of the burden on taxpayers to pay for upwards of $1 billion annually in costs to support illegal aliens in Colorado’s schools, hospitals and prisons. It is time that Sen. Salazar took notice of those Colorado families who have suffered deaths by drunken illegal alien drivers, execution-style killings of police officers and rapes. My answer to your challenge, Sen. Salazar, is to ask you to show some leadership to see that federal funding is sufficient to enforce our current laws. I suggest that you propose a bill that puts in place the suggested legislation set forth above. The citizens of Colorado are screaming to get your attention. If you listen, you can’t help but hear them.
By State Senator Dave Schultheis Judging from the large volume of e-mails I receive week, citizens in Colorado and across the nation are becoming incensed with the continued push for In Colorado, our own Senator Ken Salazar has angered voters by becoming a “point man” for Ted Kennedy’s amnesty package. Salazar has the gall to When Sen. Salazar says that “our nation badly needs the reform,” what he is really saying is that we need an amnesty program that virtually decimates Sen. Salazar denigrates opposition and refers the millions of Americans who want Congress to enforce our current immigration laws as “bomb-throwers.” There are many additional immigration laws needed to strengthen our immigration system: It’s time that Sen. Salazar came “out from the shadows” of Sen. Kennedy. Instead of private, close-door meetings with Kennedy and amnesty By Leellen Koroulis, Steamboat Springs
CSU has announced that premises registration under the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will be mandatory for all 4-H/FFA youth in October 2007 as a part of registration in a livestock project. Premises registration is voluntary at the federal level at this time but, CSU believes it will become essential in all segments of the livestock industry in the future.
This Speakout has not been edited By Leellen Koroulis, Steamboat Springs
CSU has announced that premises registration under the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will be mandatory for all 4-H/FFA youth in October 2007 as a part of registration in a livestock project. Premises registration is voluntary at the federal level at this time but, CSU believes it will become essential in all segments of the livestock industry in the future.
The NAIS is to be implemented in a three stages.
1. Premises Registration. Every livestock owner would have to register the premises where the livestock is held within the state. Livestock animals include cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, poultry, horses, bison, deer, elk, alpacas, llamas and others.
2. Animal Identification. Animals would either be implanted with a microchip or tagged with a radio frequency device. Group or lot identification could only be used where groups of animals are managed together from birth to death and not commingled with other animals. In practice, only large confinement producers of poultry and swine would be able to avail themselves to tagging by lot. Animals not meeting the requirements for group identification will be individually tagged/chipped.
3. Animal tracking. Every time a tag is applied, lost or an animal needs to be re-tagged, an animal is missing, an animal is commingled with other animals (i.e. rodeos, horse shows, livestock shows, clinics, etc.) or, an animal is sold publicly or privately, the event would have to be reported to the government within 24 hours.
4. Premises registration itself is free, but tagging, reporting and tracing are all at the expense of the livestock owner.
The entire NAIS program is still in DRAFT form. Please access a copy of this lengthy document at the Colorado Department of Agriculture website and read it. The word DRAFT is clearly watermarked on every single page of the document. It seems quite insidious to me that 4-H/FFA families are being mandated to have their premises identified into a program that is in DRAFT form. It would be similar to being mandated by a government entity to acquire a loan at a bank chosen by the government and, after the loan is signed, wait to find out how much you borrowed and what the terms and conditions of the loan may be. Once your premises have been registered, they are forever registered regardless of what changes are made in the NAIS program.
4-H agents are agents of the USDA according to Dr. Goodwin of CSU. Whatever assurances you are given by anyone (including myself) regarding what may be required of you with respect to the NAIS program can be no more than pure speculation.
While it may be sad that my child will be prohibited from showing a lamb at the Colorado State Fair in 2007 and any county fair in the state of Colorado in 2008, it is a small price to pay to maintain freedom from constant government surveillance as a private citizen who has not been accused of, or convicted of, any crime.
Is the NAIS program a violation of the rights afforded me under the Constitution of the United States?
I have not been promised or received any grants, have no corporate ties, am not up for election or re-election, owe nothing to any lobbyist and am no one’s agent - other than my family. Please do your own research on this subject. Type the words ‘NAIS Opposition’ into any search engine and see what comes up.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (3)
| TrackBack
By J.F. Meyer, Olathe
Ted Kennedy must be stopped! He has pushed seven amnesties into law.
Thats right, SEVEN: 1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy’s blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirments for actual reductions in illegal immigration. The illegal flow continued.
This Speakout has not been edited By J.F. Meyer, Olathe
Ted Kennedy must be stopped! He has pushed seven amnesties into law.
Thats right, SEVEN: 1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy’s blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirments for actual reductions in illegal immigration. The illegal flow continued.
2. In 1994, Ted Kennedy’s Section 245(i) Amnesty gave legal residence and jobs to 578,000 illegal aliens. It was a temporary rolling amnesty primarily for extended family members of immigrants who instead of waiting in line, come on to the country illegally. The illegal flow continued.
3. In 1997, Ted Kennedy’s extension of the Section 245(i) rolling amnesty was followed by an increasing flow of illegal immigration.
4. In 1997, Ted Kennedy also won an amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America. Illegal immigration sped up some more.
5. In 1998, Ted Kennedy won an amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti. The illegal flow continued.
6. In 2000, Ted Kennedy got the so-called Late Amnesty, legalizing another 400,000 illegal aliens who claimed that they missed out on Kennedy’s 1986 amnesty. Illegal immigration continued unimpeded.
7. In 2000, Ted Kennedy also won the LIFE Act Amnesty for an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. It was another reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty., an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens.
Illegal immigration accelerated.
Now, Ted Kennedy is saying that this amnesty is necessary if we are ever to stop the flow of illegal aliens. Why would any of these Senators believe him when he says this amnesty bill will end illegal immigration with a track record like his?
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (22)
| TrackBack
By
A By
A This billing of subjects for search and rescue does nothing but hinder future searches. If people feel they may be billed This also endangers the lost or injured parties to a greater extent.
A Nation Of Legal Immigrants
Role Playing Game, Dungeon and Dragons, right along with Tunnels and
Trolls, Power and Might and a few dozen other “RPGs” that were born
around the same time. Mainly, it is seems to be a knee jerk reaction,
caused by a few (darn few) mentally unstable people who got involved
with the games. Through their involvement in the games, they seemed to
have lost their way from reality into fantasy. Once lost they began to
act out their own fantasies. Their acting out or attempting to live the
fantasy in reality caused more then a little distress in the real world
around them. Mainly because, deaths happened, this is never a good
thing.
just as easily become obsessed with anything that takes their mind away
from reality. They are ‘already’ in an unhealthy state of mind. Their
minds are not working in what is considered a normal fashion. For some
of these individuals it is a chemical imbalance. For others of them it
is the result of some trauma that they experienced and never received
help to work through.
Because of their involvement, they forget common niceties like bathing
and general hygiene. They become reclusive, compulsive, and may even
display violence if prevented from having access to their games.
However, the question everybody should ask before pointing a blaming
finger is, were they mentally healthy to begin with?
that some people have; it is set down in their hard wiring. They have
family histories of addictive behavior, and not all-addictive behavior
has to be destructive. Some addictive behavior is merely compulsive,
take the example of the mother who cleans house every single day every
single moment.
something, thanks to their genetic wiring. For some it will be alcohol,
drugs, smoking, sex or even coca cola (laugh is you want to but it is
true!). They are set or primed if you will to becoming addicted.
Perhaps in a way yes, but in a very real way no. The person who is
addicted is addicted because of the way their substance of choice makes
them feel. Some addictions give the person a sense of well-being, of
being loved of being supported, of being important to somebody or
something. Others make the pain of everyday life fade away and let them
not have to deal with or think about it. Still others give them a sense
of power or control. All these feelings are of course illusions.
However, for the person with the addiction they seem real, so they feed
the addiction. To continue to get that feeling or escape what is
bothering them.
not of stable mental constitution. This is not to say that every
addiction is dangerous, unless it takes over the person’s life and keeps
them from having a normal life. Again, I direct you to the compulsive
behavior of cleaning, which is in itself an addiction.
abandoned reality for the illusion that the addiction provides, because
it provides something they find reality lacking.
their problem. They are however NOT the norm, they are the exception.
These you will find attending meetings for (insert name of addiction)
anonymous, and they then know they have to watch themselves around their
addictive substance. Yes, there are gamers anonymous, because some
people have determined that they were addicted. However, no one has yet
established if these individuals had mental health issues to begin with.
spiral into the pattern they have fought to break. Ditto, gamblers,
sexual addicts, they learn to avoid the substances that cause them to
behave inappropriately. Compulsive cleaners have to learn to relax and
let go of this need to order their environment. It is a real problem; it
is just not one people might thing is bad. (Try living in a house where
the place always looks like a show room and like no one lives there and
see how comfortable you are.)
with online gaming. Examples of it abound on the internet an example is
the young lady who sold her self for sexual activities in order to earn
fake ‘gold’ to buy an equally fake mount (if you can believe that it
actually happened. This seems to be the commonly held belief of this
event.) Yes, there are reports of men, and women who are so caught up in
online gaming that they throw away their normal lives in order to plug
in for hours, which turn into days. Forgetting food, family, children,
pets, jobs. However, the question still remains, were they mentally
healthy to begin with?
merely brought the issues they had to the forefront of everybody’s
awareness. However, telling them they have problem will not solve the
issues or the problem. They have to come to that awareness on their own.
wash, brush their teeth, eat meals and generally hang out with friends
(who they can talk to about anything and everything including their
gaming) and not one of them has an issue. Some of them are NOT
teenagers, but adults with 9 to 5 jobs that are mentally stressing and
draining. For them the two to three hour instances (dungeon, raid,
adventure) on an on line gaming world, is a mini mental break, it is not
the focus of their life. Sure, they want the best armor, weapons, and
mounts, for their role-playing character. However, they do not fall into
a pattern where everything else is place on permanent hold for the game.
and go to work the next day, dressed correctly, clean and neat, to their
offices, their patrol cars, their busses and never once does anybody
think they have some sort of issue because they choice to unwind by role
playing on line.
them are single and do not have a relationship) However, just as many do
have a relationship and the relationships are healthy ones and working
ones. (Functioning in a normal fashion)
single online role player is on the edge of reality and cannot handle a
9 to 5 job and family responsibilities. Or is on the verge of losing it
altogether, and becoming violent, acting out the violence that is in the
online role playing game (I have yet to see a Frostsaber walking down
the street. Nor a single Orc have I run across though a few people seem
to be closely related. )
professional, nor am I deeply involved in psychology. I am however
married to a medical professional whom... (Horrors) plays on-line
role-playing games. But then again (gasp) so do I.
have managed to raise two children (17 and 27) and not once did they
starve; go without proper medical attention, clothing or supervision.
In fact, they would tell you they could not get away with anything; that
I had sonar or something like it.
reading, if my home library is any evidence and if you asked my parents,
they would tell you it was a life long addiction). Included in their
report would be that I also love to cook and bake (the old fashion way)
so I could be accused of being addicted to cooking and of course eating.
(Since I like what I cook) and feeding people well, I have been known to
feed armies of friends (I wonder what type addiction that is?).
have (perspective that is.) We do not forget to look at the whole
picture and we do not jump on bandwagons and make strange accusations,
or assumptions about others behavior without all the facts being
available.
addictive, but then Monopoly is just as dangerous for them as any single
‘Role Playing’ system or game they might come across.
Big isn't always better
On the Senate Employee Free Choice Act Vote June 27
. . have radically different views on (terrorism).” Indeed. . . sorry, “criminal” . . . attacks than I could possibly list here by the same group that perpetrated 9/11. And those attacks have occurred all over the world, including countries that are not in the least bit involved in the current war in Iraq.
McCain down, but don’t count him out
The Supreme Court's term
A worrying court decision
Progress toward a smoke-free environment
Preserve Ruby Hill view plane
Let freedom ring
Immigration Laws or Lack Thereof
The "Melting Pot" is unique to America
media critic.
Posted by denver-admin at 12:01 AM
| Comments (0)
| TrackBack
Roan Drilling Bad for Colorado, country
Americans entitled to universal health care
Health insurance for all children
What then is liberty?
An Open Letter to Senator Ken Salazar
amnesty by President Bush and certain select senators in Washington. They refuse to listen to the
citizens of this country, who oppose amnesty no matter what pretty label is put on the package.
tell citizens that if we don’t’ like it we should “come up with a better one”! Citizens have been suggesting
a sensible alternative for years: secure the border and enforce the law!
our borders. In Senator Salazar, we have an elected official who places the wishes of illegal aliens and
their “immigrant rights” advocates above those of American citizens. Coloradoans will not forget this rejection of the rule of law.
President Bush is equally to blame for this embarrassing circus. He is attempting to strong-arm (or should I say bribe) reluctant Republican Senators to
vote for this travesty. Seven Republican Senators voted last week to continue pandering to big
business and their agriculture buddies, while Democrats openly salivate at the prospect of ten to fifteen million new Democrat voters.
He ought to consider several ideas that are very popular with the voters of Colorado. He should begin
with the enforcement of our existing laws, including:
·
·
·
·
deportation orders.
·
ID Act as adopted by Congress in 2005.
·
·
·
·
·
bill.
coconspirators, he should meet openly with the citizens of Colorado to explain and defend his actions. It is time
that Sen. Salazar took realized the burden on taxpayers to pay for upwards of $1 billion annually in costs to support illegal aliens in Colorado’s schools,
hospitals and prisons. It is time that Sen. Salazar took notice of those Colorado families who
have suffered deaths by drunken illegal alien drivers, execution-style killings of police officers and rapes. My answer to your challenge, Sen. Salazar, is
to ask you to show some leadership to ensure federal funding is sufficient to enforce our current
law and to propose bills that put in place the suggested legislation set forth above. The citizens of Colorado are screaming to get your attention. If you
listen, you can’t help but hear them.
Ted Kennedy's seven amnesties