Collen Truden has managed to run through 74% of her annual budget so far, and will go before the Garfield County Commissioners this afternoon to get more money. Truden, who ran through more than ten large remodeling her office and another $35K on computer equipment and maintenance that wasn't needed, including a $6,000 personal services contract with her husband, is the subject of a recall.
Jay Marvin on AM760 (Air America in Denver) is so bad it has become unlistenable radio. This morning: Bashing immigrants and Mexico. Hey Jay:
1) There's nothing progressive about supporting a Republican who's trying to break a treaty in order to have an accused murder back to the US to receive the death penalty.
2) Mexico gets US foreign aid because they are fighting the war on drugs.
3) If we cut Mexico off from US foreign aid because they won't extradite criminals, what incentive would they have to treat Americans fairly when they are charged with crimes in Mexico?
4) Remittances are not foreign aid. People come here to work for that money. If they send it back to Mexico that's their business.
5) Why not talk with John or Ken Salazar about immigration issues, instead of pumping up a GOP Gubernatorial candidate with thinly veiled racial appeals?
Chris Gates was FAR better and smarter last week on Air America. Let's have someone that knows Colorado issues and will talk intelligently about them, informing the listeners instead of going off half-cocked and ranting that we give Mexico $66 million in foreign aid?
Survey USA has approval ratings for Colorado senators:
Allard:
Approve: 49% (+4%)
Disapprove: 35% (+2%)
Salazar:
Approve: 55% (+2%)
Disapprove: 33% (-1%)
Salazar would have to have been said to have won the battle with Focus on the (White) Family. The average for all senators is 56% and Allard is in the lowest 20% in popularity.
Survey USA also has approval ratings for governors, and Native Texan Governor Bill Owens has a 54/38 (approve/disapprove) rating, which is good, but not as good as Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal's 67/20. The Summit Daily News has a good story on Owens at the crossroads of his career.
Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar BOTH sponsored Mary Landreau's anti-Lynching legislation, but NEITHER Wyoming Senator has. What gives?
A thousand people turned out yesterday in Manzanola (pop. 450) to pay their respects to Sgt. Justin Vasquez, who was killed in Iraq.
The people running the campaign against referendums C&D are liars, says Jim Spencer of the Denver post. No doubt we will hear more lies through November.
Colorado's DMV is not only corrupt, it's inefficient. And people in line are getting hot.
John Salazar wants a better system for distributing federal water dollars.
GOP Senators, including Wayne Allard, are looking at increasing the retirement age as a way to keep Social Security solvent.
ProgressNow has a Tancredo watch blog.
Colorado is cutting off funds for sex offenders to take Viagra. Why does ANYONE get Viagra on the state dime? I'm sure the state doesn't pay for birth control pills.
Colorado Springs is all for small government and making your own way. Except that almost 40% of Colorado Springs' economy is tied to government spending.
Colorado may be part of a Western Super Primary, which could benefit New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson or Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, according to the Hill. Richardson is hoping to strengthen the West's hand in the nomination of the Democratic Presidential nominee. No Democrat has ever been nominated from west of a state that borders the Mississippi river, despite the fact that it is the area which most markedly turned away from Republicans in 2004.
The battle over the $1000 tuition hike rolls on, as CCHE met by teleconference yesterday to plan an attack on the 28% tuition hike at CU. You know what will work to punish them for higher tuition? CUT THEIR STATE BUDGET. The CCHE is filled with morons. And the man that appointed them, Native Texan Governor Bill Owens, is on the Intergovernmental Task Force on Education.
The Governor engages in a little Fuzzy Math of his own.
Owens says that CU has received more revenue because tuition revenue
has gone up. Yes, but...tuition revenue has gone up largely because CU
has admitted more students. This means larger class sizes and longer
time to degree (and remember CU will only get state money for students
that graduate in four years). Tell the truth Governor: the 28%
tuition increase was YOUR idea! It was what YOU agreed to when you
hatched the hare-brained voucher idea.
Film makers were in Boulder yesterday, talking to students about embattled professor Ward Churchill. They are clearly out to get Churchill, rather than have a balanced view.
"I hope that more people will be aware of the complications of the
American Indian identity, the struggle of the identity. It's not as
clear as Ward Churchill makes it out to be," said Heidi McCann,
Crowell's partner in creating the documentary and an enrolled member of
the Yavapai-Apache tribe.
The CU grad said her American Indian friends first described Churchill to her as "this white guy who thinks he's Indian."
Chancellor Phil DiStefano was in Durango yesterday answering questions from the public. He also met with the Grand Junction Sentinel's editorial board. He was also in Montrose hoping to recruit Western Slope students. Defending allegations of rape and racial incidents, a 28% tax increase and doing recruiting? Timing is evidently not the Chancellor's strong suit.
Funny, this didn't make the headlines in today's RMN. The Rocky paid over $375,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit yesterday. The Rocky settled a dispute with 10 Black employees before the EEOC. Racism at the Rocky Mountain News? Naw... Now, about their editorial concerning the Sand Creek Massacre, which has never been retracted, much less apologized for...
John Salazar took the Bureau of Land Management to task for its continued sale of mineral rights without surface owners' knowledge. BLM routinely sells mineral rights, and while oil and gas exploration companies make it their business to know about the sales, BLM does not notify surface owners, even though it has a major impact on their property.
Garfield County issued a $174,000 contract to study the impact of the drastic increase in oil and gas exploration yesterday.
There's no end in sight to the energy boom in Colorado, either.
The Colorado Conservation Trust doled out $200,000 to protect the upper Yampa river.
The Colorado Supreme Court will hear an important water case this week. At issue is whether water owners can change the water use without regard to how it impact other users.
Avon may be building a gondola to get skiers from the I-70 town to Beaver Creek skiing area.
The ACLU is back in court going after the Denver Police Department's spy files. The DPD has been spying on progressive activists for years, but were ordered to stop. They didn't. All you Hickenlooper lovers need to think hard about that. Find out if you are in the spy files by working with the ACLU.
The San Luis Valley has reported three cases of Hantavirus. West Nile, Bubonic Plague and now Hantavirus...What's next? Tom Tancredo running for President.
The Telluride Bluegrass Festival starts tomorrow.
The Lodo Music Festival starts Friday.
The Snowmass Chili Pepper and Brew fest starts Friday.
The World Beat Festival starts Saturday at Keystone.
The 107th Annual Strawberry Days starts Friday in Glenwood Springs.
Juneteenth is celebrated at Five Points in Denver on Sunday.
Event information from all around Colorado can be found in the Yellow Scene.
The Little Britches Rodeo is coming to the Eagle County fairgrounds this weekend.
Broomfield is handing out $90 million dollars to build a stadium for concerts and minor league hockey and basketball teams.
No word yet on how it will impact traffic on US36 (the Turnpike), but
Broomfield didn't bother to stop and even consider that, just like when
they built Flatirons mall.
Greeley is pretty closely divided on rezoning downtown. After a 4-3 vote on the Greeley City Council failed to get a rezoning, a business group sponsored an initiative, which apparently passed yesterday 1153 to 1150. A recount is pending.
