Free Republic

Two Colorado organizations have launched another petition drive to put a personhood amendment on the 2010 ballot. Colorado Right to Life and Personhood Colorado are joining forces to gather the signatures for the 2010 Colorado Personhood Initiative. Right to Life spokeswoman Leslie Hanks says they are energized for the campaign. "People are really beginning to see that the God-given right to life of the preborn child is something exciting to fight for," she explains, "and we've really stood idly by for too long, allowing horrible human rights abuses to go unchallenged in so many ways in this country." In 2008, Colorado's Personhood Amendment garnered...

Denver Capitol Tea Party

LONGMONT — Free Marijuana in Longmont is collecting signatures to ask voters in November to change city pot laws. But even some members of the group aren’t confident they’ll get the question on the ballot. The group wants to legalize possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana for adults and reduce city penalties for public consumption of marijuana and possession of some types of drug paraphernalia. Volunteers have been walking neighborhoods, knocking on doors and visiting local bars and hangouts as they try to collect the 3,485 signatures they need to put the question before voters. Free Marijuana volunteers...

U.S. 'ready' for N. Korean missile Pyongyang expected to test ICBM By Bill Gertz July 2, 2009 COLORADO SPRINGS | U.S. missile defenses are prepared to try to knock down the last stage of a Taepodong-2 missile that North Korea is expected soon to launch if sensors detect the weapon threatens U.S. territory, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command told The Washington Times. "The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I'm very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I've...

Former congressman Scott McInnis took the first major step in his gubernatorial bid Wednesday, filing paperwork with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office to create his campaign committee and begin raising funds. “We need to strengthen taxpayer protections, not tear them apart,” he said. “And we need a climate where Colorado is once again a magnet for small business and entrepreneurs, not a state that demonizes companies that offer family-sustaining jobs — and revenue.”

All eyes will be on Chief Denver District Judge Larry Naves on Wednesday as he takes arguments at an all-day hearing for and against giving ousted professor Ward Churchill his job back at the University of Colorado. The hearing is the culmination of a lengthy dispute between CU and the controversial professor, who was fired two years ago. The judge has the option of ruling from the bench at the end of the hearing or issuing a written decision later. Neither the judge’s clerk nor the attorneys in the case would hazard a guess as to when Naves might announce...

Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- Although they were not successful in getting their states to sign off on state constitution amendments for personhood for unborn children, pro-life advocates in Colorado and Montana are giving the effort another try. A large majority of Colorado voters rejected one amendment while Montana voters never had a chance to vote on the proposal there.Backers of the amendments will host kickoffs in both states on measures they say will recognize the rights of all citizens, including children who haven't been born. In Montana, pro-life state Rep. Wendy Warburton is working with the Montana Pro Life Coalition...

Coloradans whose license plates expire in July will have to pay new fees to get their plates renewed starting Wednesday. The size of the fees varies by the weight of the vehicle... Late fines are going up, too, and there will be a $2 daily fee on rental cars. The fees come from Senate Bill 108, the first new funding source for Colorado highways since the last time the gas tax increased nearly two decades ago. Democrats led by Gov. Bill Ritter pushed for the law, which should raise $200 million to $250 million a year to repair roads and...

Like other green-leaning Colorado cities, Boulder finds good intentions aren't enough to meet greenhouse-gas goals. Even for Boulder, an icon of earthy urban planning, saving the planet doesn't come easy. Faced with a looming deadline and lagging results in its efforts to cut carbon-dioxide emissions, city leaders recently vowed to redouble their efforts. The City Council earlier this month voted to raise the city's "carbon tax" — a charge based on how much electricity one consumes — to the maximum $21 per year for residences and $94 per year for businesses. And Boulderites aren't pikers. Many of the 20 or...

A piece of legislation is before the U.S. House that could drive up your electricity bill by 47 percent. The proposed bill would put a cap on carbon dioxide emissions output for all electricity companies. As part of a national effort alerting rate-payers, Grand Valley Power is sending a letter to their customers. they know their customers are hurting in this economic climate, and urges them to speak up.

Easy money, sleepless nights lure users, cultural expert says Western Colorado is far from immune to the looting such as that alleged by federal agents after the arrests last week of 24 people in southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. There’s a modern twist, however, to the looting that western Colorado and other officials have noted of late: methamphetamine. Law enforcement officials declined to elaborate on incidents in which they have noted the connection between looted sites and meth use, but archaeologists and law enforcement officials said they are aware of the connections. Looting and methamphetamine use have more in common...

A man shot a bear to death after it broke into his home in Colorado Springs. The bear broke in through the back door of a home on Columbia court around 8 p.m. Friday night. Colorado Springs police say the homeowner loaded his gun, after a roommate yelled that the bear had broken in. The bear roared at the homeowner several times, and went to a part of the house where it couldn't get out. The man shot the bear 4 times, and it died. Division of Wildlife investigated, and say the homeowner was justified in the shooting.

6/18/2009 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) -- After a brief stop in America's Heartland, an Air Force Reserve C-130 Hercules aircrew from here took another step in a long journey for a special load of cargo headed for Iraq. On June 11, reservists from the 302nd Airlift Wing flew to Sioux City, Iowa, where they received four pallets of children's wheelchairs. The 115 wheelchairs, donated by Hope Haven International Ministries of Rock Valley, Iowa, will be handed out to children in the Baghdad area by Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C. "It really gives...

Shawna Forde and members of Minuteman American Defense — an anti-illegal immigration vigilante group charged in the double homicide of an Arizona man and his 9-year-old daughter and the attempted murder of the man’s wife — shared a stage, if not their vigilante streak, with former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo.

Imagine you're at Focus on the Family to watch founder James Dobson formally step down from the board after three decades. The newly powerful ministry president—the micro-managerial Dobson is now officially powerless—steps to the mic and says: "What we want to see are more families like Barack Obama's."Would never happen, right?Well, it already has. The Denver Post reports on Focus's newish CEO, Jim Daly, who wants to trade Focus's image as a Christian right group in for one of as a family-focused ministry. After all, apolitical, family-focused work still absorbs the vast majority of Focus's resources.A few key graphs...

Former CU professor will appear on 'Stories from the Edge of Free Speech' on June 29. The controversial academic-misconduct case surrounding Ward Churchill will be prominently featured in an upcoming documentary about free speech that is scheduled to air later this month on HBO. Key players in the case, including Churchill, are interviewed for the documentary, called "Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech." CU system Ken McConnellogue, in an interview, said that the school fired Churchill because he did not meet academic standards.

El Marco's new photo essay exposes how the Denver Art Museum is promoting LSD and radical revolution to today's generation of children. This in-depth study uncovers how a public institution is undermining the city it is supposed to serve. The shocking history of the Psychedelic Movement in San Francisco is juxtaposed with real tragedy in today's recovery community in Denver. http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2009/06/drugs-and-revolution-to-children-at-dam/

Union Pacific officials say boxcars, locomotives and employees are being idled until this country’s economic engine chugs back to life. “Times are tough with us and really the entire freight-rail industry because of the recession,” said Mark Davis, Union Pacific spokesman. System-wide, Union Pacific said it has 1,900 locomotives and 66,000 freight cars in mothballs. In addition, the company has 5,200 employees who have been furloughed, Davis said. The railroad depends on the production of goods. Without that production of everything slows. “For the first quarter (of 2009) we were down 21 percent system-wide,” Davis said. The amount of coal...

The thick-muscled man with close-cropped hair who called himself Rick Duncan seemed right out of central casting as a prop for a Democratic candidate running against Bush administration policies last fall. A former Marine Corps captain who suffered brain trauma from a roadside bomb in Iraq and was at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attacks. An advocate for veterans rights who opposed the war. An Annapolis graduate who was proudly gay. With his gold-plated credentials, he commanded the respect and attention of not just politicians, but also police chiefs, reporters and veterans advocates for the better part of two...

As Colorado's Democrat governor effectively signed away a long-standing policy limiting the growth of the state's budget, a key legislative ally called today for rolling back other restraints on taxing and spending. Incoming Senate Democrat leader John Morse welcomed the enactment of controversial Senate Bill 228--diverting billions of dollars away from transportation projects in coming years--by promising that the fight "is just beginning" to retool the state's other constitutional taxing and spending limits. That double-punch left Republicans incredulous, and they pointed out that only months ago, Colorado voters soundly rejected a ballot proposal that would have gutted the perennially popular...

Program could create door-to-door energy consultants. It’s time for an in-your-face approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Boulder City Council decided Thursday night. The council unanimously approved increasing the city’s voter-approved carbon tax from its minimum to its maximum level beginning Aug. 6, providing an additional $810,000 annually toward meeting the city’s carbon-cutting goals. The tax, built into utility bills, is expected to help the city reach 95 percent of the Kyoto Protocol — which calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels — before the tax ends in 2013. Kara Mertz, an environmental affairs manager...

Blinded by a dust storm kicked up by helicopter rotor wash and grenade explosions, all Sgt. 1st Class Michael Lindsay could see was shadowy figures scurrying about in the dim light, grabbing weapons. // In the ensuing firefight inside a remote rural compound in Samarra, Iraq, Lindsay was seriously wounded. But he and his fellow Army Green Berets kept firing. When it was over, 11 insurgents were dead - including the target of the predawn raid, a man described by the Army as a high-value terrorist who had been financing weapons and roadside bombs with profits from a kidnapping and...

The push to put a widely used oil and gas drilling process under federal oversight could gain ground with a new administration in place and concerns about the development of huge gas fields in the East. Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and Maurice Hinchey of New York plan to reintroduce a bill that would repeal a ban on regulating the process, called hydraulic fracturing, under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption was part of the 2005 energy bill and followed an Environmental Protection Agency report that found there was little or no threat to underground drinking water...

The University of Colorado’s flagship campus will cut $12.9 million from its budget, partly by eliminating 75 faculty and staff positions, trimming its investments in long-term plans and slowing down the pace that it replaces its computers and campus technology. There are smaller budget-trimming chores, too — employees are even being asked to take out their own trash to save on garbage services. CU-Boulder’s operating budget is about $500 million.

The phone calls usually come in the evening after the machinery goes silent on farms across the country. The callers speak of dwindling cash flows, crumbling marriages. Some admit they're holding a loaded gun. Across a wide swath of rural America, increasing numbers of farmers are considering taking their lives. The nation's largest network of crisis hotlines for agricultural workers reports a spike of 2,000 calls through May compared with the same period last year — a 20 percent increase. In Colorado, the number of suicides among farmers and ranchers has risen in the past five years: Fourteen took their...

Where there is a spending siphon, a tax is sure to follow. That’s the theory of state Senate and House minority leaders Josh Penry of Grand Junction and Mike May of Parker. Each man ...believes an ailing transportation fund that will face new challenges with the signing of Senate Bill 228 this morning could be backfilled with a new tax. Penry said revenue from increased car registration fees, new this year, won’t be enough to patch up roads and 128 Colorado bridges in need of repair. “Probably their plan is for a new tax or tolling,” Penry said. The pair...

National forest roads and bridges in 31 states will get long-needed repairs under an economic stimulus spending plan announced by the Obama administration. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday that $228 million in economic stimulus money will be used for road maintenance and decommissioning and watershed restoration in dozens of national forests. A total of 106 projects in 31 states will be paid for as part of the $1.15 billion in economic stimulus funding awarded to the Forest Service

From 1977 to 1979, the retired Air Force colonel commanded the 46th Aerospace Defense Wing at Peterson Air Force Base. For decades he has been a flight instructor, owning his own school and even serving on the city's airport advisory board. Perhaps this kind of history makes Thursday's incident just a little embarrassing. His plane ran out of gas.

The next time you book a flight, make sure your name on the ticket is exactly the same as your ID. Otherwise it could take some time to get on the plane. The federal Transportation Security Administration is introducing a requirement that passenger names on tickets be exactly the same as the name on a government issued ID... The move is designed to reduce the amount of travelers incorrectly identified with names similar to those on terrorist watch lists. "We're doing some testing now, but we won't roll out the first phase until August," . About 58,000 travelers have filed...

Hours after the Sunday morning shooting death of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller in Wichita, Kan., a Boulder physician — who says he could be the only doctor in the world still performing the procedure — said Tiller’s assassination was the “absolutely inevitable consequence” of decades of anti-abortion fanaticism. “I’m profoundly sad and I’m furious and I think the American people need to understand that we have a fascist movement in this country,” Dr. Warren Hern told The Colorado Independent on Sunday. “We don’t have to invade Iraq to find terrorists. They’re right here killing abortion doctors.” “Every doctor that...

Young Marines retire flags caught up in 2008 tornado By Erin Smith reporters@mywindsornow.com Tattered and torn by the winds of the 2008 tornado, American flags from the area were gingerly folded by a group of young people and retired on Saturday. The Flatirons Young Marines, a unit of boys and girls ages 8-18, performed a flag retirement ceremony Saturday morning. Some of the flags had been ripped by the tornado, some were worn by age and given by community members for a proper retirement. More than 50 American flags — some in shreds — had been collected since the tornado...

Battle Continues Over Greeley DA And Tax Preparer. Immigrant advocates say they've seen nothing like it before or since: A prosecutor looking for illegal immigrants seized thousands of confidential tax records from an income tax preparer popular with Hispanics in this northern Colorado city. The October seizures led to identity theft and criminal impersonation charges against more than 70 people, and prosecutors allege that as many as 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants were working using false or stolen Social Security numbers. The investigation started after a Texas man alerted Weld County authorities that his identity was being used. The suspect in...

If Boulder is serious about meeting the goal it set in 2002 when city leaders agreed to meet the Kyoto Protocol -- reducing greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels -- it's time for city officials to play hardball in their negotiations with Xcel Energy. That's the message a group of business, community and environmental leaders hope to convey to the Boulder City Council on Monday when they meet at the Stazio Ballfields to listen to speakers rally the crowd from a pile of faux coal. With the slender towers of the Valmont Coal Plant as a backdrop, the...

Two Fort Carson soldiers have been arrested on charges that they sexually exploited children following a joint investigation by local and military authorities. ">snip<"

(video) Joe Biden's teleprompter falls over in the wind while addressing the Academy graduates, and he makes a very funny joke about Obama's reliance on the 'prompter. This will make the BEST OF JOE reel for sure!

Former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill will make his case for getting his job back during a one-day hearing to be held July 1, a Denver District Court clerk said Wednesday. Chief Denver District Court Judge Larry Naves will preside over the hearing, during which both Churchill and the University of Colorado will argue for and against reinstatement of the former controversial ethnic studies professor. Churchill was fired nearly two years ago by the CU regents after the school claimed he had committed widespread and systematic academic fraud.

Back in November, Colorado Republicans took an important first step toward regaining their former status as the state's dominant political party: They lost. Colorado voters swung for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, ousted Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and kept Democrats in charge of the state' General Assembly. Given that Colorado already had a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators, the election effectively erased the Republicans' last hold on what was once a bright red state and moved it into the purple - or even blue - column. But unlike the national Republican Party, which is fighting among itself as it...

Michael Bennet's record U.S. Senate fundraising pace is built on out-of-state donations, Colorado donors concentrated in Denver, and well-heeled associates from his past endeavors in politics and business. It's a tried-and-true formula for neophyte politicians, especially those in swing states defending Senate seats where the price of victory may be more than $10 million. A Denver Post analysis of the $1.4 million the Democrat raised in the first three months of 2009 showed: • Less than half of the $1.1 million he raised from individual contributors came from Colorado. He received more than $100,000 from donors in New York, Washington,...

The H1N1 virus continues to spread with 5,469 confirmed cases in 48 states, and 56 cases in Colorado as of May 19. So far, no H1N1 cases have been found in Grand County. Though H1N1 is currently mild, the CDC and health care providers around the country worry the virus could hit hard during the fall flu season. Preparing for pandemic flu since 2006, Grand County Public Health took advantage of the H1N1 outbreak to test its procedures. “As soon as we got the alert about H1N1, we began following our procedures and everything worked like clockwork,” said Gail Van...

DENVER — Area legislators hailed Thursday’s passage of Colorado’s version of Katie’s Law as a means of protecting the public and exonerating the innocent. “We created legislation that is going to save people’s lives,” Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez said Thursday, just before Gov. Bill Ritter inked Senate Bill 241 into law. “I couldn’t be more pleased or excited to see the bill go through.” Tipton, with Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction and Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, sponsored the bill, which requires DNA samples from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony. The law is named for Katie Sepich, a...

DENVER -- Admitting that it may be "political suicide" former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo said its time to consider legalizing drugs. He spoke Wednesday to the Lincoln Club of Colorado, a Republican group that's been active in the state for 90 years. It's the first time Tancredo has spoken on the drug issue. He ran for president in 2008 on an anti-illegal immigration platform that has brought him passionate support and criticism. Tancredo noted that he has never used drugs, but said the war has failed. "I am convinced that what we are doing is not working," he said.

Unemployed since November, Eugene Sobczak wanted nothing more than to aid another cash-strapped soul, gratis, when he read the online ad asking for help attaching a car bumper. Instead, he got an unexpected lesson in barter, that most basic form of exchange that has gained renewed popularity in a down economy — and forged friendships along the way. Ryan Lee, who was laid off late last year, had bought his new bumper online after an accident and was grateful for Sobczak's help. But he wasn't looking to get something for nothing. The two men got to chatting. "That's when I...

Former Congressman Scott McInnis has officially entered the 2010 gubernatorial race with little fanfare... The secretary of state's office confirmed that the Republican turned in his paperwork Tuesday afternoon. McInnis has traveled the state building support for his campaign in recent weeks and launched a phone campaign.

The NBA has World Wrestling Entertainment in a logistical figure-four leglock. WWE’s Monday Night Raw was scheduled for Monday, May 25, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, but the NBA has scheduled Game 4 of the Lakers-Nuggets series for that date. “Even though the Denver Nuggets had a strong team this year and were projected to make the playoffs, obviously Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke did not have enough faith in his own team to hold the May 25th date for a potential playoff game,” said WWE chairman Vince McMahon.

Hyperion Power Generation today has no product or service. It certainly doesn't have a plant. Yet, the Denver company is valued at an astonishing $100 million by investors, and its books boast a whopping 70 orders for what it plans to manufacture — small nuclear reactors. Unlike large reactors in nuclear power plants that cost billions of dollars, Hyperion's reactors will sport a relatively modest price tag of $25 million to $30 million apiece. "We are four years away from putting the first reactor in the ground," said Hyperion CEO John "Grizz" Deal, sporting the optimism of many chief executives....

Marilyn Musgrave is still taking her loss to Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) extremely hard. After a tough loss in one of the most expensive elections in the country, the former congresswoman went underground for a while, not even thanking her campaign staff. She now has wound up over at anti-abortion group the Susan B. Anthony List, hoping to "get rid of the worst liberals in Congress." She recently sent out a tersely worded, stunning four-page (four-page!) missive reeking of bitterness, with underlined sentences, paragraphs in bold and even a postscript from the letterhead of "Congressman Marilyn Musgrave" announcing her latest...

DENVER -- A Denver third-grader will be front and center at the Colorado State Capitol Saturday pushing for same sex marriage in the state. Ethan McNamee arranged the rally as an independent class project. He was concerned about the issue after hearing about anti-gay remarks on the playground and then learning about a same sex couple in his neighborhood that couldn't get married. "Everybody is different in a good way," he said. Ethan believes that if two people love each other that is the only issue to be considered.

During last year’s presidential campaign, gun-owners’ groups like the National Rifle Association said Barack Obama, if he were elected, would be the most anti-gun president in the history of the United States. That claim and similar statements sparked a buying spree on guns and ammunition immediately following the election, which continued well into this year. I bought some shells last week, and told I was limited to two boxes. There is nothing to indicate that this shortage is the result of Obama administration actions, however. I’m not here to proclaim that President Obama is really a great friend to gun...

Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado. He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org. And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively. Now, politicians are dealing with news that...

Freep this poll Gov. Bill Ritter has vetoed a bill that would have exempted some gun buyers from background checks, saying it contains "inadequate safeguards" to prevent ineligible people from buying firearms. The bill would have allowed holders of valid concealed-handgun permits to avoid mandatory criminal background checks by presenting that permit along with one other piece of identification when buying a gun. Critics said there would be no way to guarantee that the current holder of a concealed-weapons permit surrendered it in the event of their arrest for a violent felony. A person in that circumstance would not be...