Dooty and Honor

About Farce

2011-06-13T14:08:00.001-07:00

Read this, it will explain the connection between Gabe Santos and the anonymous smear campaigns perpetrated by the new conservative majority on council.

Link to presentation

David Brooks nails it

2011-04-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

From Whiskey Fire:

Very few people have the luxury of being freely obnoxious. Most people have to watch what they say for fear of offending their bosses and colleagues. Others resist saying anything that might make them unpopular.

But, in every society, there are a few rare souls who rise above subservience, insecurity and concern. Each morning they take their own abrasive urges out for parade. They are so impressed by their achievements, so often reminded of their own obvious rightness, that every stray thought and synaptic ripple comes bursting out of their mouth fortified by impregnable certitude. When they have achieved this status they have entered the realm of Upper Blowhardia.

Wow. Best description of Longmont's most virulent hate-blogger I've ever seen. Gotta hand it to the wingnuts, when one of them gets it right they nail it. Thanks Dave!

(wave/shout out to Longmont's Lunatic Fringers)

Small Town, Small People

2011-04-20T23:34:00.000-07:00

Longmont really is a small town.

And the smallest people live in the biggest houses.

Lovely morning

2011-04-17T10:29:00.001-07:00

It's a lovely morning. Great to be alive.

Hypocrisy speaking

2011-04-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Seen recently at the Times-Call 'website'

Put in context of the action in the ongoing national budget crisis the President has a Constitutional fiduciary duty to present a statement of the cost of his administration of the governance of this country. No withstanding total control of the government the Democrat's dominance has failed to appropriate the ways and means to sustain the concept of freedom in America. For someone constantly lauded by the media for his brilliance and high-mindedness who never seems to stop talking about bipartisanship and unity, President Obama never fails to be petulant, petty, hyper partisan and, most hypocritical when it comes to withholding funds for the soldiers Obama himself ordered into combat. At a time when our nation is at war it is unfortunate anyone would have, much less demonstrate, less than honorable and professional reasons for compromising the safety of American fighting men and women in harm’s way. Perhaps the shock of reality inherent in Shalini Schane's letter opened the President's eyes. The greatest honor any American can bestow on any fallen American Soldier is to personally honor fallen American soldiers for their ultimate sacrifice and thanks the soldier for this gift of life with freedom. The death and the act of regular acknowledgement by all citizens reconfirm the Union or social compact government has with the governed to maintain liberty. That union was being split by BO insisting at the opening of his speeches “we will move forward together, or not at all, for the challenges we face are bigger than party and bigger than politics”; and the practices of his Administration. Now an American Longmont Mom and a school teacher who organized the trip to DC just called his bluff and may have changed the course of history, if he gets the message.

Wyageeska, Longmont, CO, 4/9/2011 4:37 PM
----
What sublime bullshit.

This wild-eyed loudmouthed loon has constantly attacked teachers as the core of the economic problem, but as long they're bashing a black president, this blabbering bonehead loves them. Shows how mercurial and fickle the far-right is. As long as you're attacking, attacking, attacking you're okay. Let up for a split second and you're the devil.

Fetid-breathed fool.

Panic in the Tower, Chaos in the Sky

2011-03-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

Panic in the Tower, Chaos in the Sky

February 23, 2011

By M. Douglas Wray

From INews – The Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network:

Colorado air traffic safety concerns soar

Near mid-air collisions in Colorado may be triple FAA’s public disclosures

Image courtesy of INews

I-News has analyzed 10 years’ worth of federal air safety reports and found that Colorado’s air traffic controllers reported more serious safety concerns last year than they had in the previous five years combined.
We then compared these reports – which are made to NASA – with data from the Federal Aviation Administration. We found the number of near mid-air collisions in Colorado since 2000 may be as much as three times higher than the FAA publicly reports. FAA officials say the NASA reports – which are anonymous – are not as precise as their own.
The near misses and dangerous decisions are sometimes blamed on inexperienced trainees or overtaxed veterans, according to the NASA reports. Concern is likely to mount as a

Air Safety Plummeting?

wave of controller retirements is expected to peak in Colorado next year.
Search and read the actual NASA air safety reports for yourself: NASA Safety Database

If you have a Colorado air traffic safety story to share, add your comment below or contact info@inewsnetwork.org.

Great, so the FAA has been (let’s use a nice word) ‘fibbing’ about how many ‘serious’ (as in could have caused a crash with loss of life) safety incidents there have been the past few years.
So maybe St. Reagan’s firing of air traffic controllers wasn’t such a great idea.
With lots of experienced controllers gone, (obviously) less-skilled ones were hired and after little time on the job were called ‘experts’ – when they clearly weren’t.
Now these wannabe Mavericks are teaching other controllers and the incidence of near-misses and near-disasters is soaring.
Golly. Letting the market control things sure doesn’t seem to be working out for the consumer. At least from the safety standpoint – and after all, isn’t that the bottom line? Getting there alive?

Dear FRChicken

2011-02-23T21:46:00.000-08:00

Come see me in person, or are you not man enough?

You're filth and all those that help you are too.

--

So many masks the wingers wear.

So the village idiot is hackin on 'overfed' people

2011-02-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

LOL

Blowing Gessler

2011-01-29T22:20:00.000-08:00

I knew the second I saw Scott Gessler getting hell for his stupid remarks about his 'poor government salary' that in no time his attack chihuahua would come skittering along, yapping and peeing all over the place.

Yes, by all means lets start digging into every single thing that Democratic reps and senators do to make ends meet. Oh by all means. Lets take a look at all the government employees while we're at it. Sure would be nice if we knew just how much money is being spread around by those lovely folks at Western Tradition Partners... something tells me it's a lot.

It's such far-right bullshit... I see in the latest lunatic fringe screed cracks about the condition of education in Colorado - and the hypocrisy is outrageous. Hey shitheads, your raving anti-tax pals and you have been howling about cutting every damn thing they can from the schools.
The reason the education system in Colorado is in poor condition is because you and your teabaggin pals have been hackin away at it for decades.
So take your smarmy smears about the state of Colorado's education system and put em back where the sun doesn't shine.

As for playin games, you and your far-far-right pals have been playin the hate game for years now - you start this kind of smearing, I guarantee you, you'll regret it. And don't hold up the TC Line as some kind of oracle to the public's opinion - the Times-Call is as far right as a newspaper can get and not have the GOP logo hanging over it's door. With any luck the recent sale will change that.

PS - It's DEMOCRATIC. Your continued misuse of term tells me you're just a hypocritical, double-standard blowhard, so go skydiving. Please.

Challenger Revealed

2011-01-28T17:50:00.000-08:00

From GlobalResearch.ca:

Challenger Revealed: How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age

by Richard C Cook

My book Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age is being published this month (February 2007) by Thunder’s Mouth Press. It’s the only book by a participant in both the events leading up to the Challenger disaster of 1986 and the investigations which followed it.

I went to work at NASA in July 1985, six months before Challenger blew up 73 seconds after liftoff in the freezing morning temperatures in Florida on January 28, 1986. I had been hired as a resource analyst in the comptroller’s office at headquarters.

My first assignment was to interview the solid rocket booster engineers at headquarters who were looking at problems with the O-ring joints which connected the segments of the rockets. I was shocked when they told me that the flaws in the joints could cause the shuttle to blow up. They said they “held their breath” with every launch. Though a redesign was in the works, the shuttle would “fly as is” for over two more years. I reported this in a memo to management.

There were other problems with the shuttle that caused people at headquarters to say that “sooner or later” there would be a catastrophe which would bring the program to a halt. But no one could stop it. The Space Transportation System had been declared operational by President Reagan after the fourth shuttle flight in 1982.

Besides, the shuttle was becoming a platform for space weapons testing under the Strategic Defense Initiative – “Star Wars” – so it was an integral part of the Reagan military build-up. Whether the military use of the shuttle was in agreement with the stated purpose of NASA’s 1958 enabling legislation – “that activities in space should be devoted to peaceful purposes for the benefit of mankind” – was a question no one seemed to be asking.

The greatest tragedy of the space age took place that cold January morning. Seven astronauts died, including Christa McAuliffe, the teacher-in-space. They were calling her mission “the ultimate field trip.”

NASA knew that same afternoon exactly what had happened to cause the disaster. The O-rings had been too cold to seal. A burnthrough in the side of one of the two booster rockets severed the strut which connected it to the external tank. The hydrogen from the tank ignited in a gigantic fireball, and the Challenger orbiter broke into pieces, with the crew cabin emerging intact. The cabin fell 40,000 feet and struck the ocean at 200 miles per hour. At least some of the astronauts were alive on the way down. We know this, because three of their emergency air packs had been activated.

NASA immediately moved to implement a cover-up, but more was going on than met the eye. A few days later a Presidential Commission was created by the White House which had its own cover-up agenda, namely to conceal White House involvement in the launch decision in connection with publicity for the teacher-in-space mission.

So I was sitting with my wife Phyllis in our house in rural Virginia with a pile of documents showing just how thoroughly NASA was aware of the O-ring problems and how they knew such a disaster could happen. I approached the Presidential Commission but sensed something was strange with their approach so quickly backed off. I tried to document internally that engineers were saying it was a preventable accident, but NASA confiscated all the copies of my report – except the one I took home, of course.
I made the decision to leak the O-ring papers, including my own July 23, 1985, warning memo, to the New York Times. The story that resulted, written by science writer Phillip Boffey, won the Pulitzer Prize.

Suffice it to say that almost everything the public learned about Challenger, notably the facts that the O-ring seals were known to be deficient and that the night before the launch, engineers from Morton Thiokol had argued vociferously against launching in the cold weather, originated with whistleblowers who defied their organizations to speak out. These included myself at NASA headquarters, Roger Boisjoly and Alan McDonald of Morton Thiokol, a member of the Presidential Commission, Nobel Prize winner Dr. Richard Feynman, and John Young, NASA’s most veteran astronaut. From one point of view, my book is the largely untold story of the whistleblowers.

But there were many things the official reports did not disclose. While the militarization of the manned space program was the chief underlying cause of the disaster, not one word in the reports of the Commission or the House Science and Technology Committee mentioned this fact. The reports claimed that higher NASA officials were uninformed about the O-ring problems, which was untrue. The reports blamed poor communications and procedures, also untrue. NASA was the world leader in communications and procedures. Nothing was said about the fact that NASA was in the throes of a leadership crisis due to a virtual coup engineered by the political right-wing a few weeks before the explosion. Finally, the Commission claimed there was no political pressure from outside NASA to launch Challenger, which my book shows conclusively to be false.

In fact, Chairman William Rogers admitted to the Senate that the Commission didn’t know why NASA launched when it shouldn’t have. This was repeated in the report of the House Science and Technology Committee. Think of it – two major government investigations, months of hearings and investigations, thousands of pages of records and reports, and they said they didn’t know why it happened.

My book analyzes all these issues through meeting notes, documents, interviews, and analysis, much of which has never before been disclosed in print. And my book, twenty-one years later, does tell you why and how it happened.

Richard C. Cook and screenwriter Chaz Valenza are collaborating on a movie version of Challenger Revealed to be titled Single Point Failure, the story of a true patriot who has the courage to question authority, whatever the consequences. A political drama, the movie will depict the little known events and self-serving decisions leading up the tragic launch and deliberate cover-up.

Richard C. Cook is the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age, called by Publisher’s Weekly, “easily the most informative and important book on the disaster.” He worked in the Carter White House and NASA before spending twenty-one years as an analyst with the U.S. Treasury Department. Once a high school history teacher, he is now a writer and consultant on public policy issues. Seeing how our debt-based monetary system has bankrupted our country, he is also working on a book on monetary reform. His website is at www.richardccook.com.

Still Spitting On My Wife's Grave

2011-01-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

Once again the Times-Call moderators are allowing public hate attacks on myself and Kaye Fissinger:

Nah NotSoBonita, Fissinger and her cronies are against a rail served industrial park. Wrong mode of transport, but yet another one of our LAEC director's projects and goals that constantly get libeled at by the far left in the pursuit of bringing jobs to Longmont. Imagine if no growth Fissinger had gotten on council (yeah, ah he** no). Her voice in this one means squat.

NPH, longmont, co, 1/14/2011 5:32 PM

and

It figures that Kaye Fissinger and her cronies at that TC slandering website would be against this because they didn't think of it, their pals on council don't want it, and it's in the same general 100 mile area as Lifebridge. We need jobs, not this kind of "anti-anything Party of NO" attitude.

NotSoBonita, Firestone, CO, 1/14/2011 3:46 PM

--
My guess is that these two are Daniel Martin and Brigette Rodriguez respectively.*

I've asked the Times-Call management to disable the user ID 'NotSoBonita' since it's a clear attack on my deceased wife Marilyn Bonita Wray.

It's sad when the local 'news' source aids and abets this kind of pathetic, hillbilly tactic.

But it's a clear pattern of abuse and it's gone on for over a year now.

The TRUTH is, Kaye Fissinger advanced the idea of a Technology Park during the last council campaign - and now the wingnuts want to claim it as theirs AND stuff a big wad of money in the LifeBridge elders' pocket. Nice. Use taxpayer money to reward their theocrat pals. While the local paper smears their opponents.

I trust the public notices that the TC has become little more than a far-right hate organ.
---
* Brigette writes:
"I am NOT notsobonita. FYI...BIL is also NOT Brigette in Longmont.

Stop writing me and about me."

Then I wonder who would have such a burning hatred that they needed to attack my wife?
Fascinating.

Not Exactly Civil

2011-01-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

This comment I spotted on the web is fascinating:

"...beat the shit out of you with my dick." ??

How does one do that?

Obviously done at very close range.

More yapping

2011-01-03T22:48:00.000-08:00

I guess some ill will was Hatched when the lightning struck the other way... you can hear that damn chiuhuahua yowlin again... sad. Wish the 'owner' would let that mutt play in traffic.

Who pissed in his cornflakes?

2010-12-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

What's up with Fergo?

Just bang, bang, bang... bark, bark, bark.

Definitely got a stick jammed up somewhere or somethin.

Either the missus ain't treatin him right or his 'roids are actin up... maybe both.

Poor fella.

Hope Santa brings him something to cheer him up, maybe an Obama doll to stick pins in.

Give Thanks!

2010-12-11T07:25:00.001-08:00

Longmont's #1 hate blogger is extolling the virtues of 'doing nothing' (golly... just like the GOP, no wonder he's so well loved by the far-far-right flapping and flailing lunatic fringe).

As for him 'doing nothing' - well... it's good to see him doing something he's good at.

Keep up the good work!

Bah humbug again!

2010-12-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

(Reprinted from "Dull dull boring dull" as another relief from the grim saga of Longmont politics)

Time for another snarky, Grinchly diatribe against the commercial rape of the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus. Actually, I find that my last (and first) “Bah, humbug!” was three years ago (3 Dec 07). In fact, my illustrious blog, world-famous for its rapier wit and profound insights, has been practically dormant for the last year (one post in February and one in August), as it became evident that, world-famous as it was, nobody ever read it. But that’s another story.

Gosh, there’s so much to bitch and whine about! In ’07 it was about (1) the fact that it’s not Christmas until after the 25th, not before; (2) the mangling of Christmas carols blared from store speakers to make people spend more money; (3) the “war on Christmas” bullshit spouted by that demagogic asshole Bill O’Reilly. I could add “I’m dreaming of a black Kwanzaa” and “It’s the most horrible time of the year” to “Rudolph the purple-assed baboon,” “I saw Mommy blowing Santa Claus,” and “Roadkill roasting on an open fire.” I could note that the spending frenzy encouraged by the stores ultimately supports the economic growth of China and the stranglehold of the financial-services crime syndicate on consumers who are goaded into squandering money they don’t have and never will have. I could make more of an issue of obscenely opulent displays of decorations of such spectacular magnitude that they can be seen from outer space by the disrobed eyeball—displays which must create staggering amounts of greenhouse gases from the hundreds of kilowatt-hours of energy they use.

But this year I will attack Santa Claus—or, more precisely, what Santa Claus has been turned into by the secular-commercial society. Last year I was requested to act the part of Santa Claus in a fund-raising benefit at a local bookstore, and I replied that I’d only do it if I could call attention to the derivation of the present-day Santa Claus from St Nicholas, bishop of Myra (now part of Turkey) in the 4th century. Boy, did that ruffle some feathers among the secularists and atheists! (It didn’t help when a gay friend of mine asked to play the part of Mrs Claus.) Since St Nicholas’s feast day is 6 December, nineteen days before Christmas, it is rather curious how he became associated with the latter feast. According to the Wikipedia article on “Santa Claus,” he is derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, a “historical, legendary figure” who is said to bring gifts to the homes of good children on Christmas Eve. The legend has a hagiographic basis in the historical St Nicholas because of his generous giving of gifts. Nicholas is still revered as a saint in eastern Christendom, and up until recently was depicted in the regalia of an Orthodox bishop, which in western Christendom was gradually transmogrified into the ridiculous costume associated with Santa Claus today.

Enter Clement Clark Moore, the attributed author, in 1823, of that unspeakable abomination, “’Twas the night before Christmas,” for which I fervently hope he is eternally frying in Hell. It is to him that we owe this asinine business of flying reindeer pulling a sleigh through the sky and this fat fuck climbing up and down chimneys without getting a speck of soot on his absurd costume. I am warmly comforted by the fact that some children are terrified of this hideous apparition when they see him in stores during their parents’ spending orgy, and by the hundreds of jokes and cartoons which depict him as child-molesting old pervert who is often drunk when playing his part—as anyone would have to be to make such a monumental ass of himself in public. Then add that further atrocity Rudolph, who was introduced in a 1939 book before being enshrined in the 1949 song, and the debasement of Kiss-my-ass to a spectacular orgy of obscene prostitution is complete. Mind you, I’m not much more fond of some of the quasi-religious celebrations which focus on a sweet little Baby Jesus who looks distinctly Anglo-Scandinavian, and on immaculately groomed farm animals without a trace of cowshit anywhere in sight. (I still love the possibly apocryphal story of the choir that programmed a concert with “Here betwixt ass and oxen mild” followed by “Whence is this lovely fragrance?”) For my money, the best contemporary take on Christmas is still W. H. Auden’s For the time being, in which Joseph is the subject of town gossip because Mary is pregnant out of wedlock, and Herod is depicted as a liberal who resents being manipulated by God into being a bad guy against his will (i.e., slaughter of the Holy Innocents). I find it hard to beat these lines:

The garden is the only place there is, but you will not find it
Until you have looked for it everywhere and found nowhere that is not a desert;
The miracle is the only thing that happens, but to you it will not be apparent
Until all events have been studied and nothing happens that you cannot explain;
And life is the destiny you are bound to refuse until you have consented to die.

Try singing “Santa Claus is coming to town” after reading that.

Happy Feast of the Nativity of Jesus.

Lovecraft on Republicans

2010-11-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

As for the Republicans — how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'...) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.

H.P. Lovecraft in an1936 letter

I just wonder

2010-10-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Could the pseudonym* BIL possibly stand for 'Brigette In Longmont' ?

--
* Seen at the Times-Call website trying to discredit FreeRangeLongmont.com

NotSoBonita

2010-10-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Once again vicious hatred finds a home at the Times-Call.

In the comment stream for

Time for change at state Capitol

'NotSoBonita' takes yet another swipe at my deceased wife Marilyn Bonita Wray:

Correction, sometimes tumors do go away - one way or another.
NotSoBonita, Firestone, CO, 10/13/2010 8:59 PM

I believe the persons behind this pseudonym (and 'BIL') are Chris Rodriguez and his wife.

It's just my opinion however, since the Times-Call won't verify it - I've asked directly more than once.

Truly sad that someone has to resort to this kind of personal attack - on my dead wife no less.

Anyone that has proof is encouraged to come forward.

More howling

2010-09-25T19:12:00.001-07:00

Jeez. I almost feel bad for 'im.

To NotSoBonita

2010-09-24T03:20:00.000-07:00

You're filth.

To BIL

2010-09-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Mr Wray, you and former council candidate Kaye Fissinger are the biggest harassers of the mayor (and his wife) on your piece o crapola website. Your faux concern is pitiful. As for Sean McCoy, ya think he could have waited until the mayor was 100% after having his freaken kidney and rib removed due to cancer before you begin your usual attitude problem towards him? While the mayor doesn't need fake condolences from Mr Wray (ack), the attitude projected last night is disgusting, yet typical of Sean McCoy and his supporters Mr Wray and Ms Fissinger. Partisanship at it's worst.

BIL, longmont co, 9/22/2010 8:50 PM
---
The sentiment is sincere. If you can't understand my meaning, you're an idiot.

How about 'NotSoBonita' ? Making fun of my dead wife? There's a real hero.

The mayor's wife tried to freaking BRIBE ME with a 'charitable contribution' to stop bringing up Longmont Report.

It's clear who's harrassing who.

Dung right

2010-09-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Came across this recently:

From Wiki.Name.com:

From WikiName

Dung:
Its source is a Chinese expression meaning Correct. Also means brave, heroic in Vietnamese.

So for once the ever-flailing, often-failing far-far-right lunatic fringe got one right when they hung that moniker on me.

Fighting the dangerous sociopaths that haunt Longmont and cyberstalk its citizens is the 'correct' thing to do. Considering the hateful people involved in the endless smears on me, it does take a certain amount of bravery - far more than the asshole running LongmontReport.com who continues to hide behind a mask. Maybe if he'd grow a pair and grow up a little people might accord him a little credibility. Till then he's just another sad avatar of a raging narcissist in desperate need of medication.

From rubber bands to AA batteries...

2010-09-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Spotted this on the MSNBC.com Photoblog:

Click here for photo

This photo provided by EADS shows an unidentified pilot aboard The Cri-Cri, the first four-engine all-electric plane during its maiden flight, Thursday Sept.2, 2010 in Le Bourget, north of Paris. The Cri-Cri is the latest effort to develop a battery-powered aircraft with performance comparable to light, piston-engine airplanes. The Cri-Cri's lithium batteries give it 30 minutes of autonomous flight at 66 mph (110 kph).

Plug-in plane

John Brecher says: I figured that battery weight would make electric planes unworkable - looks like I had it wrong. More about this plane here and possible uses for electric planes here.

Gee. An airplane you can plug in. Guess that's an improvement over the rubber band.

A whole 30 minutes of fly time! Golly. At a whole 66 mph.

Earthshattering.

Flat heads, flat hat

2010-08-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Merriam-Webster provides some interesting perspective:

The Word of the Day for August 30 is:

flat-hat \FLAT-hat\ verb
: to fly low in an airplane in a reckless manner : hedgehop

Example sentence:
Unable to resist the temptation to show off, the young pilot decreased altitude and flat-hatted over the county fairground.

Did you know?
Legend has it that the term "flat-hat" originated with an incident back in the days of barnstormers in which a pedestrian's hat was crushed by a low-flying airplane. According to one version of the tale, the reckless pilot was subsequently required to purchase a new hat for the hapless pedestrian. It seems unlikely that such an event actually took place, but we can well imagine how fear of having one's hat smashed flat by a passing airplane might have given rise to such a vivid verb. "Flat-hat" first appeared in English in 1940; another word for flying low to the ground, "hedgehop," debuted 14 years earlier.

So reckless antics in aircraft have been around since the days of the barnstormers - the '20s. Barnstorming itself based on super-cheap government surplus planes ($5000 planes being sold off for as little as $200). Yep. Subsidies and handouts are great - when it's going to 'the right people.'

So, after dodging the draft, rich playboys bought the aircraft that brave young men risked their lives in and played with them... and they haven't changed since.

Periodical literature review

2010-08-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

(Note: Once again--fortunately not very often--I offer this blog a glimpse into an alternate reality which has absolutely nothing to do with, and in fact resolutely ignores, the sleazy political shenanigans of Longmont, in the hope that some of the readers may find it a welcome change of tone. It was originally published in my own blog, "Dull dull boring dull," which nobody ever reads.)

As usual, I see no reason to apologize for five months of silence. I see no reason to make any comments on the continued plunge of the nation and the world into apocalyptic chaos and anarchy, except to opine that it isn’t happening fast enough for my taste. I see no point in making more than passing mention of the BP oil disaster, or Mel Gibson’s self-destruction in a flaming display of terminal assholism, or the media debates over whether Sarah Moosehunter will run for President in 2012, or whatever other non-events are the current fodder for the mass-opiate machine, or what Joe Bageant calls the American holograph. I stay remarkably busy with music gigs of one sort or another, and stay autistically isolated from a reality which I find unpleasant and boring. Life goes on, in spite of every effort to avoid it. It is, as Thomas Hobbes said, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

I remember when the mainstream propaganda made considerable hay of Moosehunter’s failure to respond appropriately to some interviewer’s question of what newspapers and magazines she read. Having less presence of mind than an ordinarily bright turnip, she made the mistake of trying to cover her ass, instead of simply quoting the great line from none other than Jefferson, one of our revered floundering fodders, who said that the man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers (but probably not better educated than the man who reads something besides newspapers). Presumably a candidate for high public office is expected to be conversant in the literature of the mainstream propaganda machine. I, however, not being a candidate for any office at all, rather pride myself on being essentially illiterate with regard to the mainstream media. If anyone were to have nothing better to do than ask me such a stupid question, I would reply that the only “news”-papers I read are the satirical Onion (stories you wish were true) and the local leftist Boulder Weekly, and the only magazines I make any effort to look at once in awhile are Mother Jones, The New Yorker, and the U.K.-published Economist. I may give a cursory glance at Time occasionally if there’s nothing else available, but I wouldn’t be caught dead with the Wall-eyed Journal. Mother Jones is to the Wall-eyed Journal as the Communist Manifesto is to Smith’s Wealth of nations.

But sometimes, in browsing through the magazine rack at my favorite coffee shop (which is NOT Starfucks!), I run across some rather interesting alternate realities, in some ways more bizarre than the Onion. The other day I picked up an issue of something called Real Simple, under the fatuous illusion that, judging from the name, it might have something to do with “simple living.” Not hardly. Roughly 200 of the 280 pages were devoted to advertisements, all of which, every one of which, were targeted to women, most of them for feminine health, beauty, and vanity. I subsequently learned from a Wikipedia stub that it is indeed a “women’s interest” magazine, to which I should have been clued in by the fact that the vast majority of customers at the coffee shop are women; I sometimes feel like I’m in a henhouse. There are no copies of Guns & Ammo, or even Sports Illustrated, in the magazine rack. Obviously no men except queers or transvestites are expected to look at it, and as one of the former, I can tell you the royal we were thoroughly disgusted. I can’t imagine how Time Inc., the publisher, came up with the name Real Simple, because the lifestyle it advertises is about as simple as the court of Louis XVI; I wonder if the millions of people on earth who live in grinding poverty, gnawing hunger, and squalid filth, or even the people in the “developed” nations who pursue authentically simple lifestyles, would consider it “simple.” I think Time Inc. should be sued for false labeling.

The real find, however—and, characteristically, I can’t remember where I found it—was a magazine called Kush: Colorado’s premier cannabis lifestyle magazine. Now, this is interesting on so many levels that it’s difficult to know where to begin. But let’s start with:
(1) The fact that a magazine devoted to “Colorado’s … cannabis lifestyle” is published in Calabasas CA, an exceedingly affluent, yuppie suburb west of LA, and there’s no indication that anyone on the editorial staff has anything to do with Colorado.
(2) The fact that the name “kush” refers to a strain of cannabis which is particularly popular with the medical pot community, and which is named for its origins in the Hindu Kush Mountains, in the region of Pakistan and Afghanistan—which will come as a great surprise to anyone who knows diddly-squat about the geopolitics of weed.
(3) The fact that the issue I picked up had an issue date of “June 15, 2010 – Volume 2, issue 6,” which may or may not indicate, depending upon what upscale publishers trying to sound like stoners mean by such terms as “volume” and “issue,” that the mag has been around for a year and a half, and I’m just now seeing it. I move in the wrong circles—obviously.
(4) Most basically, the fact that there even exists a magazine—a large, very glossy, rather pretentious magazine—devoted to “Colorado’s cannabis lifestyle”—or, more accurately, devoted to hundreds of ads for the doctors and dispensaries that the new industry has spawned. We’ve come a long way since the days when we had to furtively toke up in friends’ houses, paranoiacally looking over our shoulders for narcs lurking in the shadows; and frankly, I pine rather nostalgically for the good old days. (Who remembers the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers?) Now you have to go to all the hassle of getting some charlatan quack doctor to write a phony prescription for you. And you can buy (or pick up free, as I did) your own glossy yuppie mag to show how hip you are in your use of something that thousands of people are spending their lives rotting in prison for because of possession of miniscule amounts. There are, of course, still many knuckle-dragging troglodytes, lots of them in positions of political or “law enforcement” power, who would like to continue locking people up for seeking relief from chronic pain. These miserable cretins, who are lamenting the passage of all the bills legalizing the use of cannabis as presaging the downfall of civilization, are still stuck in the 1938 mentality of that monumental piece of cinematic propaganda bullshit, Reefer madness. There’s a special place in Hell for these creatures.

Well, till next time, as Red Green says, keep your stick on the ice. (I don’t think he’s referring to a hockey stick.)

Who Baum, Santos, Witt and Sammoury associate with

2010-07-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

The following is an open letter to Mayor Bryan Baum, Gabe Santos, Katie Witt and Alex Sammory.

--------------

I'm writing because I want this to become part of the public record.

First, go and find out my deceased beloved's full name:

http://tinyurl.com/TheBonitaReference

Then know that I fully understand the references being made on the Times-Call website.

I believe the persons behind it are Chris and Brigette Rodriguez - who eagerly and enthusiastically supported all of you.

My wife was a beautiful woman - through and through.

Attacking anyone using such vile means should bring shame upon the people they associate with.

I know this is being done anonymously because it's cowardly and they would not dare do it to my face.

Your supporters have gone too far - and done it with glee and in public. The Lehmans are undoubtedly aware and in my opinion complicit.

What a hideous thing to encourage.

Response to Longmonter on TC Blog

2010-07-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Jun 8, 2010 ... Did you type in Wrongmont.Com or LongmontAdvocate. ... The basic concept started in 2002 with Wrongmont, and morphed into Longmont Advocate ...

2002 is when the hate began, long before any Progressive was blogging.

If there's anyone that should 'pack up and leave town' it's the people running the sites above. Those people have done more to foment hatred, destroy civility and damage our local government than anyone else. They're aided an abetted by the absolute dregs of humanity, the wealthy oligarchy of Longmont - who actively support their endless hate and smear campaigns.

Councilmembers Witt, Santos and Baum should be ashamed to be associated with these people - but they aren't - the politics of personal destruction got them where they are.

Who knows how much dirty money is involved.

No, the hate clearly started with these folks and remains there to this day.

The Progressives simply got tired of being bashed in the complicit Times Call and in numerous faked-up 'forums'. The fact that we've kept up the fight is making these people insane - bullies don't like it when you fight back.

Get used to it punks. Ain't changin.

And the Lunatic Fringe Calls Me 'Dooty' ? Good Grief.

2010-07-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

CO GOP member Ken Buck responding to CO GOP member Jane Norton:

"I have cowboy boots. They have real bullsh** on them. That's Weld County bullsh**, not Washington DC bullsh**."

Hat tip to Slapstick Politics for spotting the YouTube video. Bet $ it's gone before morning.

Because there is no decency or oversight apparently

2010-07-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

For the record:

This person commenting on the Times-Call is not me:

Weird Boulder has a reputation for solving homicides and not bringing in suspects needlessly. Just ask Mark Carr

MacNwebguru, Longmont CO, 7/12/2010 6:06 PM

I only post under my real name M. Douglas Wray.

Also, I find it terrifically funny that a local hate blogger calls me names for giving the TC shit but it's okay for his pals to hack on them:

Such sloppy reporting, Times-Call. You tell us he won't stand trial. If we read between the lines, I presume we're supposed to assume that there is/was not enough evidence. If that is so, tell us. Interview the prosecutor's office. Is the case still open? Is the man still a suspect? What does it mean that the body was moved? By a person, the elements, an animal?

also vigilant, blue state, USA, 7/12/2010 4:19 PM
-
AV, this is just typical TC reporting - do nothing but parrot press releases, and copy and paste meeting minutes. Perhaps a murderer has walked? Eh, maybe later. Unless, of course, they are hot on the trail of the Colorado's White Menace, raw milk!

Snagglepuss, Longmont, CO, 7/12/2010 5:14 PM
-
I love it! Snagglepuss! I do agree with your comment though. Their "reporters" are largely like us. They don't do much actual reportage, wherein they interview people and try to get a decent story. They are just creating content. Often, the Daily Camera has better articles on Longmont - they send reporters who interview and ask questions.

Red_Man, Longmont, 7/12/2010 5:46 PM

---
Typical hypocrisy of the right. IOKIYAR.

With all due respect to Mr. Larison

2010-07-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

"Candidates won because more voters trusted their message and outlook for Longmont."

Bullshit.

Candidates won because a huge smear campaign was run, funded by a ton of out of state money, aided and abetted by vicious right-wing liars and thugs.

Only fools or paid henchemen would trust Baum and his crowd. The man's a punk and it shows:

And this bit proves that it's ALL ABOUT THE MONEY:

This translates to: "Government is for the wealthy, peons need not apply"

The fact that the Times-Call keeps running screeds underlines their bias.

And always with the sports analogies.

It's not a football game you monobrowed clown, it's MY HOME - and I intend to fight for it before I let thugs like you and your ilk destroy it.

Anti-God mentality? Jesus, the holier than thou shit is really old - and another lie.

God have mercy on you and yours, you'll need it.
--
LOL! I see from the semi-coherent screechings that I hit a nerve.

It's good to see that our dear friends on the outer fringes of reality are reading.

*waves and smile brightly*

Say hi to the missus!

Verbal Fireworks

2010-07-06T18:00:00.001-07:00

To all the haters. You know who you are. Every word of this is meant for you. Take it personally. Please.

Can't wait to see how this plays out...

2010-07-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

...especially since the next City Council election promises to be the dirtiest one in history, what with unlimited money and a right wing willing to sacrifice anything to win - even their dignity, decency and humanity.

However, citizens are watching closely now and whistleblowers could not only turn things upside down, but raise the ante to unprecendented levels, especially when the people behind the dirty tricks are revealed - again.

Fort Collins wingnuts tried and failed epicly to attack a Progressive and now are facing possible legal charges and jail time - I wonder if Longmont's wingnut brigade could stand a stay in the slam?

Somehow I doubt it, they're delicate flowers and might wilt if the heat got up too high.

Maybe Mayor Baum Should Do An Ad Like This

2010-06-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

--
He could set up plywood targets labelled 'liberal scum' and then machine gun them down. Yeah, that'd get the teabaggers barkin and howlin. Anything to fire up that base.

Busted Teabag

2010-06-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

I can always count on the Times-Call to roll out the red carpet for the loons...

The comments on this opinion 'piece' are hilarious - in particular:

Way too many of "We The People" vote to extend our own gravy train from the largess of the Federal Government. This is the simple tyranny of the "majority" of voters in populous cities and states (e.g., SEIU and other union members) voting for US Senators who favor forced redistribution of wealth. This is also known as "democracy." That is the SAME reason that we must cherish and preserve the use of the electoral college to choose the US President. If not for that, sparsely populated states would never be able to have a chance of representation in the Executive branch of government.
NOTE TO ALL POLITICIANS AND MEDIA: The Constitution of the United States establishes a REPUBLIC of sovereign States, NOT a Democracy. The word "democracy" appears nowhere in either the Declaration or the Constitution.
NVUH

NextVoiceUHear, Longmont, CO, 6/17/2010 11:26 AM

--
For the record, FreeRangeLongmont.com has received comments in the past from Daniel Martin, using the exact same pseudonym and listing his email address. (The comment was an attack on one of FRL's writers and was not published per the comment rules.)

Mr. Martin is a candidate for Boulder County Clerk and Recorder. (TC Story)

Seriously, would you let someone with views this extreme anywhere near our government? Let alone the department that controls so many basic functions? Imagine the chaos this wild-eyed hardcore partisan could wreak given access to these systems. At the absolute least he'd drive the staff out of their minds with intolerant and ill-informed rhetoric.

Did I mention the Clerk and Recorder manage our elections?

My advice is to vote to retain Hillary Hall.

Libel

2010-06-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=22394

Ah, let's not call names, let's name names. This nebulous sounding WIIFL has a registered address NOT in the City of Longmont (Unincorporated WeldCo) and it's members, according to the Secy of State's Office are (this isn't libelous or anything, just on the state records): Duane Leise, M. Douglas Wray, Kaye Fissinger, Anita Lynch, and Joan & Robert Peck. And their petitions are all on file at the City Clerks Office if you're curious who circulated this agenda-driven campaign. I don't blame most of the people who signed those petitions, the ones I talked to were flat-out lied to. And we all will pay the price for a long time.

Longmont Advocate, Longmont, 6/14/2010 10:30 PM

--
Pathetic. I told no one a lie. This is just more hateful bullshit from the loons on the right. Aided and abetted by the Times-Call.

'The ones you talked to' - you mean that "hide behind anonymity because they'd have to prove it otherwise" - and can't. But you won't grow up.

You just can't deal with the fact that Longmont did not WANT the Lifebridge project - a small, well-heeled group of greedheads did. You must have been in for a nice cut to be still pounding away at this petition drive.

As for 'costing' Longmont - your pals all made out fine from the lawsuits.

What more do you want? Your enemies paraded down Main Street so you and your NRA pals can shoot them? Please. Grow up.

Acts of God

2010-06-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

It's funny, but I see God's intentions too. Seems obvious. A coincidence?

It's going to be interesting to see Firestone's plan for supporting the LifeBridge development.

How do you budget for more services with less net tax revenue?

Metro Special District is going to become a curse-phrase.

Shovels in the Ground

2010-06-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it's cost the 4Cs several Ms, a couple of years and permanent writer's cramp for their staff of blogger(s), but by gum the god-fearin money-havin people in Longmont done got thar way! All nine of em.

Longmont, Firestone settle border war

I'm sure there was dancin and whoopin in the upstairs at the TC today, considering their significant investment in political capital.

But what caught my eye was a comment by one of the angriest of the frothing far-right-wing commenters: 'BIL'-

As for the What's in it for Longmont crowd: DON'T EVEN THINK OF TRASHING THE GOOD PEOPLE OF LIFEBRIDGE in this comment section. I will report every single comment for comment policy violations. They are our friends, neighbors, and community members and this issue being settled will allow them to move on and not be trashed any longer. To try to trash their reputations again would be disgraceful. The only thing your self proclaimed partisan driven "historic petition" did was create division in our community.

longmont co, 6/14/2010 5:23 PM

Hey BIL - I'd like to encourage you to mate with yourself.You and your 'vested' pals at the TC may be able to quiet people you don't like - but NOT OVER HERE. I'll say what I like about whom I like and you can basically piss off.

The division in Longmont started a LONG time ago, when the wealthy decided they owned everything in Longmont - including the people. They don't.

The 'good people of Lifebridge' you're so valiantly defending are the Elders - who will bring nothing but ruin on Firestone. One good thing, it won't be happening to Longmont.

ps BIL, say hi to our favorite person since I'm certain you're him.

Suthers part of the Party of NO

2010-06-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

From the Camera:

Leon Rodriguez: John Suthers is part of the party of “no”

Posted by Camera staff in Wednesday, March 24th 2010 under Uncategorized

Yes, Attorney General John Suthers is a republican. Yes his attempts to stop Health Care reform in Colorado is political and just another republican political act of “NO” fostered by the republican party of “NO”. Yes we are required to buy insurance for the cars we drive. Yes we are required to buy insurance for the home we own. Why shouldn’t we be required to purchase insurance for the most precious part of our existence, our own health and of those we love? Again the republican herd attitude of “NO” is fighting against the grain of intelligent Americans.
The republicans are on the wrong side of history again:

NO on Social Security.
NO on Workman’s Compensation.
NO on Civil Rights.
NO on Medicare & Medicaid.
NO on Banking Regulations.
NO on Health Care for Americans.

Health care for all Americans is not socialism, Heath Care for all Americans is a civilized right.

Leon Rodriguez
Denver

To 'NotSoBonita'

2010-06-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, I've noticed this.

My dear wife Marilyn's middle name was 'Bonita'

The person using this pseudonym is a ball-less coward who has no sons.

Low IQ = Likely Suicide Attacker

2010-06-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

From Prometheus 6:

That includes guys who fly their airplanes into government office

Prometheus 6 6/3/10 7:16 PM Prometheus 6 Seen online
I'm pretty sure it applies to guys who kill their families before blowing their own fool heads off, too.

Link identified between lower IQ scores and attempted suicide in men

Low IQ scores in early adulthood are associated with an increased risk of attempted suicide in men, according to new research funded by the Wellcome Trust.

In the largest study of its kind, a team of researchers studied the medical records of over one million men in Sweden dating back over a period of twenty four years and compared rates of hospital admission for attempted suicide against IQ scores. The research is published today in the British Medical Journal.

Out of a cohort of 1.1 million men with IQ measured in early adulthood, almost 18,000 had been admitted to hospital at least once for attempted suicide. Even after adjusting for factors such as age and socioeconomic status, the researchers found that men with lower IQ scores were increasingly likely to have attempted suicide at least once. By far the most common method used was poisoning, for example taking an overdose of medication.

Dr David Batty, a Wellcome Trust Fellow at the Medical Research Council Social and Public Heath Sciences Unit, who led the study, says: "We have found a clear link between IQ and attempted suicide in this group of men. In common with some previous, smaller studies, we have shown that men with lower scores have a markedly greater risk of attempted suicide than men of higher IQ."

Read the rest at P6

Glen Beck - Icon of GOP civility

2010-05-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

From Drudge Retort:

Glenn Beck, who repeatedly tells people in politics to "leave the families alone," spent several minutes of his radio program Friday morning mocking the intelligence of President Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia. "That's the level of their education," Beck said derisively of Obama's children. "They're coming to daddy and saying 'Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?' Plug the hole!"

---

I swear, the GOP is coming completely unhinged. Everywhere I turn I have to listen to crazed attack dogs howling their idiot heads off, making up bullshit lies, spreading hate and openly advocating armed insurrection.

Keep yapping assholes, you lost the election and that's NOT CHANGING.

That's ONE part of the 'hopey changey' that's workin - and I'm thrilled to death to see it stuck so painfully in your idiot craws you racist bastards.

Oh, as for your hoped-for civil war - rethink. Your wealthy pals stand to lose the most and once the dust settles your 'power base' will be gone forever, the people whose throats you had your boot on for eight years during Bush will see to that. So, do rethink, holster the gun, zip up your pants and start thinking of some way to get the teabaggers out of your party. Unless you'd like to lose the next election.

No Humility Seen

2010-05-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

Great article at the TC 'We are humbled' -

Rev. Rick Ebbers is quoted as saying:

“Part of what we do here today is to honor those throughout our nation who have laid down their lives, but another part is we want to say thank you to you — you men and women who don the uniform every day, who are willing to put your lives on the line.”

So these men and women who voted for the right to collective bargaining clearly have earned it - and the voters agreed.

Take a wild guess who disagreed, claiming "they don't need it" (MP3 file) Yep, the Skinless Mayor's own hard-bloggin wife, author of the notorious (and lie-packed) 'Pink Letter' that was hand-delivered to every frothing wingnut in Longmont and helped shepherd Gabe Santos onto the council where he now sits at the mayor's right (desperately) trying to keep him from acting like an idiot (and failing epicly).

The man sitting in the mayor's chair does not believe that workers (in any field) deserve any voice - ever and his wife actively campaigned against it with him nodding and smiling as she did.

Every citizen in Longmont needs to remember, the new majority on council does not value their safety and never has - their own words campaigning prove it without a doubt.

Still Leaking

2010-05-12T20:49:00.001-07:00

Janey's Fetish Thing

2010-05-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

Jane Norton. Unbelieveable. I mean... really??

From SquareState.net:

Republican Senate candidate Jane Norton revealed her latest health care prescription for Coloradans at a campaign stop in Cheyenne Wells Tuesday, touting the elimination of cancer screening coverage enacted during her tenure as Lieutenant Governor in the Owens-Norton administration. During the campaign event, Norton giddily boasted that as Lieutenant Governor she eliminated requirements for insurance companies to cover cancer screenings, such as cervical and prostate screenings, in health insurance plans. Norton then went on to compare cancer screenings to "shoe fetishes" and "caffeine addictions." Please see the below bullets and the attached audio for Jane Norton's latest prescription for fixing Colorado's health care system.
-
The audio is here.

Beyond belief.

My wife died of lymphoma - if she'd gotten the screening I'd been trying to beat out of the insurance company she'd be alive today.

*expletives deleted*

Plastic Fantastik

2010-05-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

I can imagine this is very popular with the boar-hunting crowd.

The phrase 'mounting the trophy' is now even more disquieting.

Imposter

2010-05-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Just for the record, on this post at the Times-Call there is a comment:

Speaking of sociopaths in power. . . Impeach
Obama now! While we still have a New York! Ohh
yeah don't forget Pittsburgh. I hear Louisiana
is a mess too. God help us.

MacNwebguru, Longmont CO, 5/2/2010 2:51 PM

This is most definitely not me (my personal website is http://www.macwebguru.com ) - it's some childish asshole desperate to draw me into the snake pit of libels and smears encouraged by the Times-Call's non-moderated comment system. There's a list of likely suspects but the one certain thing is that it's a far-far-right lunatic fringe member whose testicles have yet to form/drop.

This same crowd of high-school mentality mouthbreathers complains that FreeRangeLongmont.com doesn't let them spew their schoolgirl stupidity freely. Talk about the militantly stupid.

What amazes me the most about this SUV-driving, gun-toting crowd of wankers is that virtually none of them use their own names. It's emblematic of the cowardice that defines the CO GOP and the far-far-right fringe looneys in Longmont. All that money and not one drop of class.

The comments coming in at Free Range Longmont make it completely clear that the far right is violent, ignorant and racist beyond degree.

Funny how I never hear anyone calling out people for racist remarks about Mexican illegals in the TC comments but there's pages of vitriol dished out for comparing someone to an ankle-biting dog.

Hypocrites.

NOW they're mad??

2010-04-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

We are told by the Tea-Party that they are “mad and can’t take it anymore” and that the rest of us should be too!

Folks, we had eight years of Bush and Cheney, but NOW they are getting mad ???REALLY ? !!!! NO, REALLY? !!!!

They didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
They didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
They didn’t get mad about gas prices when Bush and Cheney friends at the oil companies raised a gallon of gas price to more than $5 and posted highest profits in the history of U.S for 8 years straight (Bush presidency).
They didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative identity was revealed.
They didn't get mad when the Patriot Act , which allows torture and disregards personal rights for Americans, got passed.
They didn't get mad when Bush and Cheney illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us, Iraq.
They didn't get mad when Bush and Cheney spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war, Iraq.
They didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
They didn't get mad when they found out about torturing people.
They didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
They didn't get mad that Bin Laden was not caught when Bush had a chance to do so.
They didn't get mad when they saw the horrible veterans conditions at Walter Reed.
They didn't get mad when Bush let a major US city drown like a 3rd world country.
They didn't get mad when Bush gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.
They didn't get mad when, using reconciliation; a trillion dollars of our tax dollars was redirected to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage, which cost over 20 percent more for basically the same services that Medicare provides.
They didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark (when during Clinton presidency we had almost a Trillion dollars surplus), and our debt hit the thirteen trillion dollar mark.

They finally got mad when a government decided that people in America deserved the right to get treatment if they are sick and can not afford to do so.

Yes, an illegal war, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with the Tea party. They are partying not with tea, but with sucking the blood of the ordinary Americans.

Sure! NOW, THEY ARE MAD!!! Helping the ordinary Americans...” oh hell no! They have to be MAD!!!”.

Teabaggers are hypocrites and clowns. Period.

Back and Forth

2010-04-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

Saw a response by Melissa Engelhard to Kaye Fissinger's article 'Hatriots' over at Voice of Longmont.

Long response and largely focuses on not using inflammatory language - sounds like a great idea. Sure wish other bloggers in Longmont could listen to her - maybe if they'd stop screeching...

Frankly, I think Kaye's earned the right to speak her mind any way she likes*. The hatred and vitriol heaped on her at every turn by GOP sympathizers using pseudonyms is shameful and cowardly.

I don't want to pick the entire response apart but a lot of it seems to be 'we're not like that' - I'd agree. Melissa doesn't seem to be like the people Kaye's talking about. However, there are those in Longmont that have made their undying hatred of anything 'liberal' or 'progressive' quite abundantly clear (sometimes via screaming threat-calls or ominous legalese-filled emails). No, I'm sorry but I won't offer up any apologies for Kaye's tone - the people she's writing about have earned it.

Speaking of 'earned' - Guess who's the biggest benefactor from Longmont's far right? Mr. Tom Tancredo** - by a mile... suddenly his appearance at this meeting comes as less of a surprise. That kind of grease makes the wheel turn on command I'm sure.

* as have I - harrassed out of my own Rep's town hall? There's some classy GOP behavior. All because I wanted to videotape Musgrave's remarks. What is UP with these people and recordings? Michael Jackson was less touchy. Public means PUBLIC folks.

**It's fascinating reading really.

Rude Pundit on Bachmann/Palin/Hannity

2010-04-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Bachmann and Palin on Hannity: Like Hell on Earth:
Last night
Bachmann and Palin on Hannity: Like Hell on Earth:
Last night Rep. Michele Bachmann and celebrity Sarah Palin joined Sean Hannity on his Fox "news" program. The occasion was a Minneapolis rally for Bachmann's reelection where Palin spoke. It was not unlike a menage a trois in Hell, where you get so tired of the barbed tails in your ass and mouth that you wonder when you can just go back to roasting in a lake of fire.

Right out of the gate, Hannity said one of those inconceivably idiotic things, something that makes you wonder if he actually listens to his own show. Talking about sexist attacks on Palin and Bachmann (without using the word "sexist," because, on supposes, it's part of the liberal lexicon), he offered, "You have been criticized for your looks, for your clothes, et cetera, et cetera." And then he queried, "What do you think the reaction would be if things that were said about either of you were said about either Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama or Nancy Pelosi? Would there be a difference?"

And Hannity might be right to ask such a question if he wasn't completely wrong. Because to ask that question in that way is to willfully ignore a King Kong-sized shitpile of sexist criticism of Pelosi, Clinton, and Obama. Where do you wanna go with this? Pelosi facelift remarks? Pelosi facelift remarks made on Hannity's own fucking show? Jokes about Hillary Clinton's looks? Sexist remarks about Hillary Clinton aired without condemnation on Hannity's own fucking show? And, no, we've never had to listen to any attacks on the way Michelle Obama dresses. Oh, except for all those attacks on the way she dresses, including on Hannity's own fucking show.

Bachmann's response to Hannity was to make some off-handed remark about the media, adding, "We all know that there's a double standard." And then Palin said some stupid bitch thing. (That was sarcasm, motherfuckers, sarcasm. Unless it wasn't. Who knows?)

The whole of the interview was like watching three wildebeests fuck each other - awkward, stupid-looking, and mostly goddamned funny. Of course, to the wildebeests, it's very serious business, this fucking they're engaged in. Palin did what she always does; she strung together key words and talking points into nonsense verse: "I think this is indicative of what is coming in November. I think that there will be that sweeping of change and you will see that takeover, if you will, a positive, a good valuable takeover of common sense conservatives back in Congress." That's not actually a sentence with a logical progression of ideas. But it does contain words that the slavering teabaggers in the room could understand. It's the conservative version of pointing and grunting.

Bachmann, of course, continued with her apocalyptic fear-mongering: "Well, we're looking at certain bankruptcy and certain economic collapse if we don't get our house in order. Within 10 years leading economists tell us the United States will essentially be in the same position as Greece. The United States of America."

And then Palin followed up the fearmongering by saying it's not fearmongering, "Now and let me remind you, Sean, too, when we talk like this, when we talk like this, you know that lame stream media, they will get weed out about this. Their heads will spin and they will tell people that we are fear mongers, that we are exaggerating the State of the Union. And yet this is reality." Or, in other words, "Grunt. Lame stream media. Grunt."

They went on to talk about Obama's nuclear arms policy, and asking Sarah Palin about nuke policy is like asking an especially inarticulate five year-old if she prefers early or later Bergman films. They all praised Ronald Reagan, without acknowledging that, like Obama, he negotiated disarmament deals. And by the time Bachmann said, "I want to thank Governor Palin for breaking the barrier by being a woman as a vice president on the ticket," as if the barrier hadn't been broken 30 years earlier by Geraldine Ferraro, the Rude Pundit couldn't get his head around the number of delusions, lies, and distortions.

The fact that these two people are considered "leaders" in their movement demonstrates that the movement itself is an empty vessel, lurching forward, hoping to accomplish nothing more, and nothing less, than just wrecking whatever is in its path.

[The Rude Pundit]

A Very Good Question

2010-04-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Why Isn’t Fox Going Wall-to-Wall With the Denver “Shoe Bomber?”
BREAKING NEWS (per Fox, below): “Air Marshals Reportedly Stop ‘Shoe Bomb’ Attempt on Jet from D.C. to Denver.”

So why isn’t Fox going to breathless, hyperventilating wall-to-wall BREAKING NEWS, this is a FOX NEWS ALERT-type stuff?
UPDATE: Could it be because the “suspect” turns out to be a Qatari ($$oil$$) diplomat?

Filed under: Fox "News"/ Fox "Business" /Rupert Murdoch / Wall Street Journal / My Space / Facebook / DirectTV, etc. (Murdoch owns them all, and more.) [Say It Ain't So Already]

Advocates for Stalking

2010-04-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is why I keep an eye on the Times-Call blog comments:

Mr Singer, speaking of being respectful...perhaps you best talk to your own Longmont Area Democrat member Doug Wray and ask him why he took photos of a... member of the community who was shaking hands with the Longmont mayor and then (lie deleted) (more lies and conjecture without proof) FYI: When you have active members of the Longmont Area Dems attempting to bait... members of the community like this and then going out and preaching about "inclusiveness"...it tends to fall on deaf ears.
RedHair, longmont, co, 4/6/2010 2:22 PM

--
Gee, there's just nothing like having your own team of stalkers. Why don't you two¹ get a life? Really. You're embarrassing yourselves - but I'm sure that's nothing new to you.

I just love how these whackjobs make this nonsense up and then libel me with the help of the moderated-after-the-fact Longmont Times-Call. At least the TC takes this bullshit down when called on it².

The Longmont Times-Call claims they can't pre-moderate because it's 'too difficult' - funny... FreeRangeLongmont has no trouble doing it... Longmont's 'First Lady'³ has found this out the hard way⁴ - several times.

FYI: when you have hard-core partisan hacks whispering in the mayor's ear (and his wife) and piles of old money without Hawaiian vacations or boar hunts to go on it's pretty much a nonstop bombardment of lies, innuendo and slander.

Gee... just like Tom Delay⁵ would do!
----
1. 2.5 if you're measuring by volume, 0.75 if by IQ
2. Assuming you catch them at it - just like the GOP
3. Who's really no lady at all and has lied about 'not blogging' anymore...
4. She's very clearly a slow learner
5. Gabe Santos' old boss, a crimminal and thug

Sean Hannity is a liar

2010-03-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

A congressman was spat on. Here's proof.

The right constantly claims they're being lied about - this is FACT.

Anyone that thinks spitting on a member of Congress is acceptable is an asshole - and you know exactly whom I'm talking about sir. Fine example you set for your children.

Longmont's First Lady Still Blogging

2010-03-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Not satisfied with phone calls and obnoxious emails (that got her banned from Front Range Longmont) our glorious mayor and his 'first lady' are now resorting to using Facebook to attack free speech and catspaws to send hateful messages.

I know why they're so desperate to silence their opposition - but the facts aren't going away.

They've Got a Boehner

2010-03-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

I get emails. Lots and lots of emails. Some from people that would pee themselves if they knew they ended up on my desk.

Here's one such:

Fellow Friend of Israel,

The Obama Administration's heated denouncement of our ally Israel's actions in approving the development of 1600 apartments in East Jerusalem during Vice President Joseph Biden's visit was beyond irresponsible.

The actions taken by Israel were absolutely consistent with the policy and commitments of three previous U.S. administrations. It is this current administration's attempt to renege on such previous promises that is abhorrent and should be condemned by all Americans. It is clearly an affront to the values and foundation of our long-term relationship, but most importantly, from a national security standpoint, it is beyond comprehension why this administration would choose to demonize and weaken Israel - the U.S.'s closest friend, the strongest democracy and our most important military ally in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, this development is just another example of how the far left ignores the principles and traditions of America. The Obama Administration has demonstrated a repeated pattern since it took office: while it makes concessions to countries acting contrary to U.S. national interests, it ignores or snubs the commitments, shared values and sacrifices of many of our country's best allies.

With Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid in the president's back pocket, the cycle is likely to continue. That's why it's absolutely critical for Republicans to win a majority in Congress in November. I am reaching out to you because I need your financial support to ensure my re-election so I can continue to provide conservative leadership for the entire country.

Will you follow this link and make a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more today? Any amount you can give will make a big difference in my campaign.

Threatening America's relationship with Israel is a dangerous path for the far left to lead us down politically and militarily. Americans have strong ties to Israel, and will not tolerate a fraying in our two countries' relationship. And with troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans will not allow the Administration to put their safety at risk. It's reckless to focus so much attention on Israel when countries like Iran pose such serious challenges to our national security.

If the Administration was serious about working toward resolving the conflict in the Middle East, it would focus on Iran's behavior - its pursuit of nuclear weapons, state-sponsorship of terrorism, crushing of domestic democratic forces, destabilizing impact on the region - and the credibility of international nonproliferation efforts.

But don't count on it. The Administration is more focused on ramming its jobs-killing agenda through Congress. Fortunately, House Republicans remain committed to our long-standing bilateral friendship with Israel, as well as to the promises this country has made.

House Republicans recognize the real security dilemmas facing the United States. So can I count on you to make a generous contribution to my re-election campaign? I need your support to help ensure that I continue to represent our responsible, conservative values in the House. Please follow this link to give so generously as you can today.

Thank you in advance for your support.

John Boehner
House Republican Leader

P.S., Who do you want controlling Congress next term? Nancy Pelosi and her far left cronies who care more about spending, taxing, and borrowing than our fiscal health and national security? Or House Republicans who are working every day to ensure that our nation and our security are not jeopardized by the Administration's agenda? If you said "House Republicans" then you know that it is absolutely critical to elect a Republican majority this November. Please help by following this link and making a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more to my re-election campaign. Your support today will ensure that I continue to represent your values in the House and I am able to keep leading the charge to protect you and your family. Thank you.

------
Jesus... The ink on the Health Care bill isn't even dry and these scammers are already trying to make hay with it - and to the religious right no less.

You think they'd learn - I mean the religious right who will dive on this with both hands and feet and shovel money into the pockets of the people that will harm the country the most. Reliable fools they are.

What I wonder about is why is Mr. Boner doing this? Surely with all the corporate money they'll be getting they don't need their base to even try. So... why the 'give' message - and so carefully timed? I think because they know the bill is going to make a lot of folks happy and they won't want to contribute then - and the GOP is going to have to pay a LOT of money to incite a civil war.

Sometimes it's not so much what your opponent does as when. When there's a drumbeat of attacks and violence and I see fundraising letters from GOP senators it's pretty obvious who they're appealing to.

GOP shows true colors: whiny infants

2010-03-23T18:00:00.001-07:00

From the Colorado Independent:

Republicans angered over the passage of health care legislation Sunday have blocked a hearing scheduled by U.S. Sen. Mark Udall for this afternoon on how to protect Colorado cities and towns from the hazards of the beetle infestation that has ravaged millions of acres of lodge pole pine tress here.

Okay, so they've gone from the 'Party of No' to 'Obstructionists' - not really that big a change...

So, from a representation point of view, do CO Republicans accept that their party is simply going to do nothing the rest of the year? This is what passes as 'bipartisan' work? That's just repulsive and childish.

I'm been sick to death of hearing a hard-core partisan mayor (and his shrill, angry wife) cawing about how Longmont needs to 'come together' when in fact they've done everything imaginable to tear the town apart. And then I read that Congressional Republicans are going to be pissy crybabies the rest of the year and do everything to hamper the operation of Congress.

The GOP is proving that they're not about doing their jobs or being honest - just like all the crooked creeps trying to rip off the taxpayers with sleazy half-baked public-funded (aka tax-exempt) developments.

It's time to vote them ALL out. ALL OF THEM.

HeavenFest YES YES YES Rhythm on the River NO NO NO

2010-03-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

I have to say the comments on the TC story Recession hurting Rhythm: Fest organizers to ask city for money are really quite confusing.

Almost unanimously the wingnuts are screaming NO!!! NO!!! NO GIVEAWAYS!!! - which I find confusing since they seemed so enamored of giveaways - especially in the case of HeavenFest and the ankle-grabbing way they insisted their new Immoral Majority hand over the keys to the city.

So, a festival that's been part of Longmont for decades gets a high hard one while a johnny-come-lately religious loon-fest gets to cause thousands and thousands of dollars of damage while taxpayers foot the bill (and get stiffed on any gate proceeds)(well, at least that money will go to help orphans... hmm... not so much).

I just don't understand.

Oh, wait, it's to ultimately help the cause of theocracy in Boulder County (the CO GOP's 'unicorn') and to take back Colorado from those evil, evil Progressives. All that gate-take will be funneled back to the CO GOP (through carefully-obscured channels) to help their candidates run nonstop full-throttle door-to-door smear campaigns, ensuring that business once again OWNS and RUNS Colorado.

So basically the symbol for Longmont will be a big cross with a ring of dollar signs around it?

Jesus save us.

Why not do as instructed?

2010-03-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

All I know is that if someone publicly insulted me that way it would be the last time I ever spent my money there. Bet this means less business for WalMart - lovely timing for it too.

Video Games = Stupid Kids

2010-03-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

Study shows gaming can hinder reading, writing progress

Parents of young boys, take note

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

17th March 2010 10:30 GMT

A study has confirmed what any savvy parent could have told you: young boys who are given games consoles may fail to advance as far academically as their Wii, Xbox and PlayStation-less peers.

A team from the Denison University in Ohio led by psychologists Robert Weis and Brittany Cerankosky gave PlayStation 2s to 32 boys out of a group of 64 lads aged between six and nine years old. None of the kids had a console already.

Half of the children given a console got it at the start of the study, the rest at the end. The test ran for four months. During that time, parents kept a record of their kids' activities from the end of the school day until bedtime.

Reading and writing skills were assessed throughout the group at the start and at the end of the study period.

The researchers didn't monitor what the boys were doing with their consoles, only how much time they spent playing on them.

The results were clear - you'll undoubtedly have guessed them already. Kids with consoles spent less time doing other things, from homework to reading to less tangible academic activities such as discussing their school day with parents. That manifested itself in slower progress in the development of reading and writing, as evidenced by "significantly lower reading and writing scores" in the second, final set of tests.

Read the rest at RegHardware

Jesse Ventura's Censored 9/11 Commentary

2010-03-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

From watching the watchers

By Jesse Ventura
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 01:08 PM

Editor's Note: The following column by former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura was removed by Huffington Post after it was published March 9 and replaced with a note that states the site "prohibits the promotion and promulgation of conspiracy theories -- including those about 9/11."

You didn't see anything about it in the mainstream media, but at a recent conference in San Francisco, more than 1,000 architects and engineers signed a petition demanding that Congress begin a new investigation into the destruction of the three World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9-11.

That's right, these people put their reputations in potential jeopardy -- because they don't buy the government's version of events. They want to know how 200,000 tons of steel disintegrated and fell to the ground in 11 seconds. They question whether the hijacked planes were responsible or whether it could have been a controlled demolition from inside that brought down the twin towers and WTC Building 7.

Richard Gage, a member of the American Institute of Architects and the founder of Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth, put it like this: "The official Federal Emergency Management [Agency] and National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] reports provide insufficient, contradictory and fraudulent accounts of the circumstances of the towers' destruction."

He's especially disturbed by Building 7, whose 47 stories came down in "pure free-fall acceleration" that afternoon, even though it was never hit by an aircraft. This is a subject I take up in my new book, American Conspiracies, published by Skyhorse. An excerpt follows: Some people have argued that the twin towers went down, within a half hour of one another, because of the way they were constructed. Well, those 425,000 cubic yards of concrete and 200,000 tons of steel were designed to hold up against a Boeing 707, the largest plane built at the time the towers were completed in 1973. Analysis had shown that a 707 traveling at 600 miles an hour (and those had four engines) would not cause major damage. The twin-engine Boeing 757s that hit on 9-11 were going 440 and 550 mph.

Still, we are told that a molten, highly intense fuel mixture from the planes brought down these two steel-framed skyscrapers. Keep in mind that no other such skyscraper in history had ever been known to collapse completely due to fire damage. So could it actually have been the result of a controlled demolition from inside the buildings?

I don't claim expertise about this, but I did work four years as part of the Navy's underwater demolition teams, where we were trained to blow things to hell and high water. And my staff talked at some length with a prominent physicist, Steven E. Jones, who says that a "gravity driven collapse" without demolition charges defies the laws of physics.

These buildings fell, at nearly the rate of free-fall, straight down into their own footprint, in approximately 10 seconds. An object dropped from the roof of the 110-story-tall towers would reach the ground in about 9.2 seconds. Then there's the fact that steel beams that weighed as much as 200,000 pounds got tossed laterally as far as 500 feet.

NIST started its investigation on Aug. 21, 2002. When their 10,000-page-long report came out three years later, the spokesman said there was no evidence to suggest a controlled demolition. But Jones also says that molten metal found underground weeks later is proof that jet fuel couldn't have been all that was responsible. I visited the site about three weeks after 9-11, with Gov. Pataki and my wife Terry. It didn't mean anything to me at the time, but they had to suspend digging that day because they were running into heat pockets of huge temperatures. These fires kept burning for more than three months, the longest-burning structure blaze ever.

And this was all due to jet fuel? We're talking molten metal more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Probably the most conclusive evidence about a controlled demolition is a research paper (two years, nine authors) published in the peer-reviewed Open Chemical Physics Journal in April 2009. In studying dust samples from the site, these scientists found chips of nano-thermite, which is a high-tech incendiary/explosive. Here's what the paper's lead author, Dr. Niels Harrit of the University of Copenhagen's chemistry department, had to say about the explosive that he's convinced brought down the twin towers and the nearby Building 7:

"Thermite itself dates back to 1893. It is a mixture of aluminum and rust powder, which react to create intense heat. The reaction produces iron, heated to 2,500 degrees Centigrade [4,532 degrees Fahrenheit]. This can be used to do welding. It can also be used to melt other iron. So in nano-thermite, this powder from 1893 is reduced to tiny particles, perfectly mixed. When these react, the intense heat develops much more quickly. Nano-thermite can be mixed with additives to give off intense heat, or serve as a very effective explosive. It contains more energy than dynamite, and can be used as rocket fuel."

Gage is one of hundreds of credentialed architects and structural engineers who have put their careers on the line to point out the detailed anomalies and many implications of controlled demolition in the building collapses. As he puts it bluntly: "Once you get to the science, it's indisputable."

A former Navy Seal, professional wrestler and actor Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota on the Reform Party ticket in 1998 where he served until 2002. Today, Ventura is best known for hosting the popular television show Conspiracy Theory, which airs on cable television. He is also the author of five books.

Don't Ask, Won't Tell

2010-03-13T12:03:00.001-08:00

Newspaper Doesn’t Report on Utah GOP Candidate’s Hot Tub Liaison w/Nude Teenager
Utah’s House Majority Leader Kevin Garn admits to incident with girl in the past (that his local newspaper knew about but didn’t do a story on).

Say It Ain't So Already

Jump

2010-03-13T10:27:00.001-08:00

NSFW but wonderful

Anonymous Liars Continue Smears

2010-03-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

More slime-creatures from the Times-Call (motto: 'Moderation? Who needs that?') -

Along came the Progressives who hate progress and evidently churches as well and they didn't want us to have any additional development in Weld County and started playing nasty. So the wise landowners went to Firestone where they would be appreciated. You can thank the Progressives for the loss of what could have been a marvelous addition to our town and a striking entrance into Longmont on our eastern border.
Vigilant Patriot, Longmont, CO, 3/12/2010 9:56 AM

--
A few points 'Vigilant' (may I call you Viggie?)(more likely 'Veggie'):

Progressives don't hate progress - your definition of 'progress' generally involves destroying the economy, ripping off the working class and shovelling public money into the pockets of the already-ludicrously wealthy - i.e. graft. We hate that.
Churches are fine, as long as they're not meddling in local politics - like LifeBridge and 4C. That we despise since it's aimed directly at converting America into a theocracy - you know, like the Taliban - complete with beheadings and lots of guilt doled out by sexually abusive priests.
The 'playing nasty' has all been from the right - anonymous smear sites, drumbeat attacks by unhinged liars, 'news' organizations that are bought and sold, realtors and out-of-state money. Perhaps that beam in your eye is making it hard to see that mirror.
Wise landowners? You crack me up.
After LifeBridge's little cult-town has sat empty for a couple of years and the houses are falling apart - turning the whole thing into a huge blighted mess - people will thank us for keeping Longmont out of it. And we'll be sure to remind folks know who was cheerleading for it and should be responsible for the cleanup.
'Striking entrance' ? Oh, I'm sure it will be 'striking' - I imagine most people, seeing the huge cross and the ticky-tacky rows of crumbling McMansions will think 'Thank GOD this didn't take hold like it did in Colorado Springs'

ps - I think you should stay away from the Jack until at least noon. Also, dude... tic tac.

Just Say It Ain't So, People Will Forget

2010-03-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Ah, there's nothing like listening to the shills struggling to cover up for the mayor's pecadillo. The far-right partisan site "VoteLongmont" steps up and tries (unsuccessfully) to stick a fig leaf over the scandal:

Mayor Baum when campaigning stated at a previous candidate forum that the mall owner was having trouble. He also stated that we previously obtained 22% of our sales tax revenue from the mall and that now it was down to around 6%. Kaye Fissinger, was a council candidate when he made this statement was present at the same forum. It was also at a previous town hall meeting in which Council Levison, Benker, and Hansen were present in which Levison stated that she wanted to see Panattoni's books as she felt they had more money than they were letting on. It was also at the same town hall meeting that Council Hansen said that the mall theatre (which many in Longmont want!) wasn't a priority for him as he gets his movies from Netflix. I'm disheartened to see all few comments that point to a website (which recently attempted to associate the mayor with the KKK) and that is gleefully hoping that the mall fails on the new council's watch. The mall is a top priority to Longmont citizens and they have been telling the former councils that for years in surveys, etc. Hopefully Panattoni will be able to hang on and rebuild the mall for the Longmont community. Thanks to Rachel Carter and Tony Kindelspire for getting experts to back up what Mayor Baum and Council Witt have already said.
VoteLongmont, Longmont, CO, 3/11/2010 1:39 PM

The issue Ms. Fissinger brought up was the -value- of the Mall (link) here's a short excerpt:

An email dated February 10, 2010 from Councilmember Katie Witt to a constituent reveals that Panattoni, owner of Twin Peaks Mall, is in serious financial difficulty. The future of Twin Peaks Mall is in jeopardy and may fall victim to a “fire sale.”
According to Witt’s email, the Twin Peaks Mall was purchased for $37 million and is now worth only $17 million. She also states that Panattoni placed $8 million down when the mall was purchased
Because of the collapse of the financial industry which began in the spring of 2008, greater accountability is now required from financial institutions. Banks are “shedding loans that do not have at least 50% equity invested in the property.” Since the Twin Peaks Mall loan currently fails to meet that criterion, Bank of America may call the loan and the mall would likely be sold to the highest bidder.

Click here for the full text of the email.

----
The real problem the Mayor is going to have is distancing himself from Longmont's nonstop attack bloggers who have made such sport of the Progressives - for a mayor that's all about 'unifying' Longmont he sure has some hateful pals.

Sick Mind

2010-03-11T00:16:00.000-08:00

I wonder who this could be:

Most telling comment posted yet "I can't wait till the post-event debriefing. I'm sure it will be very interesting." M. Douglas Wray, Longmont, CO, 3/9/2010 9:20 PM.
You can almost hear this self proclaimed environmentalist/progressive praying, sorry I meant to say hoping, that HeavenFest is an unmitigated disaster, willing to sacrifice his god of the pristine union reservoir area so that he and the naysayers can say "I told you so!" These folks unfairly give the entire left a bad name. Instead of progressives we should call them the uncooperatives.

JCH, Longmont, CO, 3/10/2010 8:45 AM
----------
As for 'these folks' giving the entire left a bad name, um... no, actually your hero Rush does that pretty much nonstop. Doubt I could improve on his bs.

As for who should be called what, there's already a name for you: coward.

As for 'uncooperatives' I think you're referring to 'The Party of No' (aka the GOP).

Ah, the Times-Call, a veritable oasis of public spirit. *cough*

Slandering the dead

2010-03-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

Well, the Longmont Advocate has gone to a very special place.

Not satisfied with slandering the Progressives in Longmont endlessly and hatefully, it's gone way beyond that - now he's slandering my dead wife.

Apparently there is no lower limit for this self-proclaimed 'journalist'.

Truly sad.

I haven't linked to the site because frankly I refuse to give him traffic - just wanted to say publicly I saw the post and it was repulsive.

War Wagons

2010-03-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Didn't John Wayne drive one of those in a movie? Good grief. Hat tip to Say It Ain't So Already.
This is insane:

(excerpts)
Christian Hate Group Terrorizes Amarillo Texas

Repent has struck with some success at many of its enemies within the town. A community theater attempted to open "Bent," a play about the persecution of homosexuals during Nazi Germany. But the day before opening night, Repent members helped shut down the play by calling in fire marshals to complain about the theater’s permit. Staffers at a nature preserve were featured on local news defending themselves against Repent accusations that their site represents something related to witchcraft.
-
A Louisiana sheriff plans to arm volunteers with shotguns, riot shields, batons, and a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on a "war wagon," as part of "Operation Exodus," a program to provide security in the event of a terrorist attack or civic unrest. "It's a calling," he says.
The office of Sheriff Larry Deen of Bossier Parish, near Shreveport in the northwest part of the state, last month selected for the program 200 local residents -- mostly ex-law-enforcement personnel -- and began training them in "defensive techniques in the event of a struggle," reports the Shreveport Times. The plan calls for the new recruits to be sent to protect food from grocery stores, gas from gas stations, and other crucial local resources, should the situation demand it.
-
....a 'Struggle' - what kind of struggle sherriff? Will people 'pay' for what you judge 'crimes'? Will the scales finally be 'evened'? This is just plain nuts and to me it's the sound of country's fabric tearing as stoneage idiots dig in their heels as time carries us forward.

TP the Republicans

2010-02-28T18:43:00.000-08:00

by Mary Pitt

"I've got yer clean sheet of paper right here!" This is the message that should be sent to the Senate Republicans by everyone who wants and needs the passage of the Health Reform measure which the House and Senate have proposed and it's a message that we can afford. We get appeals daily for contributions of money on behalf of one political agenda or another and we do not respond because we have no money to send. This is a simple request and one that is well within our means. It would cost only a US postage stamp.

With or without a letter of explanation, the point would be made that the donation is exactly what they asked for in their "summit" with representatives of the two parties. Further, it is highly appropriate for their stated purpose. Their suggestions for health care "reform" consist of only two measures:

Tort Reform: This is merely another Republican pay-off to the insurance companies and perpetrators of malpractice. It would limit the amount that a private citizen who is injured in any way by the inappropriate or mis-applied treatment bu hospitals and physicians. Those who go in for a hangnail and find themselves with an amputated leg, or worse, the wrong leg amputated will be told that they need to "shut up and live with it!" Families of patients who are mistakenly given the wrong medication that leads to their death will receive no or less compansation for thier loss. These are problems that have always been left up to the Courts but Republicans believe the Courts have been unduly generous. If you don't agree with them, hie yourself into the bathrooom and mail them a piece of toilet paper on which to write it.

Allowing the purchase of insurance "across state lines": This would strip the states of their power to regulate the insurance companies that sell insurance within the state. Currently. most insurance companies have their home offices in states that re very lenient in their control, a condition that was created in order for the companies to base their headquarters there. Other states have an official, usually and Insurance Commissioner with the authority to investigate the policies and records of performance of the applying company. In many cases, their standards for acceptance are so high that few companies deign to sell to their citizens. The results are that those companies may create policies that do not provide the coverage that they represent in their advertising and, thus, forego applyng to that state to sell their coverage. If you do not agree that cancelling this local protection, get that piece of "Plain Paper" in an envelope and mail it to your Republican Senator or one in a neighboring State!

This would be a way that those of us who need insurance but can't afford it or those who have been denied coverage because of "pre-existing conditions" or discontinued while ill because your care cost too much can make Congress abundantly aware of our desires. While we can't afford to show up at demonstrations at The Capitol or even a Tea Party on a Court House lawn, most of us can afford one small sheet off the roll to make our wishes known. If it doesn't work, at least we can feel appreciated for our efforts to "cut government spending".

This writer is eighty years old and has spent a half century working with handicapped and deprived people and advocating on their behalf while caring for her own workung-class family. She spends her "Sunset Years" in writing and struggling with The System.

Whitewash Squad Hard at Work

2010-02-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

Our new mayor clearly has the Times-Call covering his ass (which is a full-time job) - just saw yet another lubricious tongue-washing in the local fishwrap.

"Insight into a visionary leader" - please. If the Times-Call gets any more purple in their prose, they'll need kneepads.

"...courageous visions for the city" ? OH? Like fighting a plan that would help citizens add solar to their homes? (Video from council) Being insulting and rude to citizens speaking at Public Invited to Be Heard? Oh yes, that's courageous as hell.

Expanding Vance Brand airport? Are you nuts? The noise is bad enough now - but adding jets to the traffic over Longmont? Good grief. Wait till one of those ends up on Main Street (and I'm not talking about a parade either).

Longmont needs someone that cares and is excited? Well, you need look no further than the folks that stopped the Lifebridge Union Annex - we got over 6000 people to care and be excited.

There is one part of this puff-piece that I liked: the mayor supports skydiving.

I'd like to encourage him to go frequently.

Daily even.

Please.

Dishonorable Pervert

2010-02-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

From the Denver Post:

Staffer at Windsor American Legion gets back over sex harassment
By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post

Posted: 02/26/2010 11:25:56 AM MST
Updated: 02/26/2010 12:05:04 PM MST

A female bar manager suffered such egregious sexual harassment at the American Legion Forbes-McKay Post No. 109 in Windsor that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission said it has taken the unusual action of reversing an administrative law judge who ruled that the woman failed to prove unlawful discrimination.

The commission said it agreed with the bar manager's claims that she had been "severely sexually harassed" by Post Commander Lowell Buderus, and was fired in October 2007 because she was unwilling to participate with Buderus "in his sexual advances."

A phone number for Buderus has been disconnected and a person at the Windsor post said Buderus is no longer commander.

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission said today it has awarded the woman back pay.

The commission also said it ordered the Post to cease and desist from further discriminatory practices, specifically finding that the woman had "experienced an extremely severe level of sexual harassment" and the Post's explanation for her termination was "not credible."

The Post did not follow its standard termination procedures, the commission added.

Contrary to the finding of the administrative law judge, the commission said the bar manager had met her burden of establishing a case of discrimination.

Among the commission's findings were that on the evening of July 19, 2007, Buderus came up to the woman who was seated on a barstool at the Post, put his arm around her shoulders, spoke to her in a sexually suggestive manner and began rubbing himself against her thigh.

Read more

About that reconciliation thing...

2010-02-25T23:39:00.000-08:00

From Say It Ain't So Already:

When You Hear Republicans Whine About Reconciliation — Remember This

Between 1981 and 2009, 22 bills have been passed through reconciliation. Eight of the bills were initiated by a Democratic-controlled Congress. The rest, 14, were done by a Republican-controlled Congress. So the Republicans have used reconciliation almost twice as much as Democrats. They have no basis upon which to complain. It’s all an act. Period. End of story.
Now let’s move on.
----

Well said -doog

Brief political inquiry

2010-02-23T09:21:00.000-08:00

Could someone please tell me why the Republicans are enjoying such a huge resurgence of popularity among the masses when they’re the ones keeping the Administration from doing anything constructive, automatically and mindlessly saying “No no no no no” to anything Congress or O-bomb-a tries to do? The “Tea Party” phenomenon has been shown, by numerous commentators, to be basically a crock of stupid shit embraced by political imbeciles and moral cretins, who are led around like mindless puppets by raving psychopaths whose rhetorical techniques seem to include crying like a baby, lying like Pinocchio, and fomenting as much fear and hatred as possible. And yet the “Tea-baggers” seem to be growing in strength, which presumably argues for an increasing number of political imbeciles and moral cretins deciding the movement expresses their feelings (I hesitate to credit them with thoughts or ideas). Granted, they have a lot of ammunition in the catastrophic debacle which this Administration has turned out to be, but they themselves are part of the reason for this, another part being the total spinelessness and treachery of the Dummy-crats.

Well, I said this would be brief, and I’ll keep my promise, uncharacteristic as it is for me to be brief. Just thought I’d throw that out and see if anybody would shoot it.

The Face of Hate

2010-02-18T18:00:00.000-08:00

Longmont has a very definite 'crazy' side - the kind of people that shoot things simply because they love to watch them die. This group of sociopaths has been howling for blood ever since the prairie dogs began 'infringing' on their favorite play areas - though in truth the prarie dogs have been there all along and it's the humans doing the 'infringing'.

What I find most repulsive about this crowd of mask-wearing cowards is the way they constantly vilify Ruby Bowman and the point-blank crazy threats and fantasies they blurt out on the unmoderated Times-Call comments:

I'm taking bets that they'll find Prairie Dog Lady caught in one of those traps too.
NoBoulderNo Longmont, CO, 2/18/2010 6:57 AM

Actually, I'd be more concerned about one of your stray pets getting caught in one. Maybe when you're 'hunting' and your dog steps in a rusty old bear trap you'll think differently about this. Doubt it though, the violent sociopaths always seem to have a quick rationalization ready - and a sacrificial lamb (they're big on anything that involves killing or bloodshed). Besides, pets are just another consumable to them, made with unskilled labor (like those people that harvest our food).

The only good prarie dog is a dead prarie dog!!
Weld Resident, Longmont Co, 2/18/2010 8:41 AM

Well, that's touching. The same kind mentality nearly exterminated our wolf population. Oh wait, this is the same crowd that cheers a woman that hunts wolves from a helicopter - the most craven technological cowardice conceivable.

I wonder if Animal and Pest Control Specialist Inc. is going to post a guard by their traps to prevent the "priarie dog lady" from coming by every night and tripping the traps or freeing any animals caught already. If she's caught, I wonder what they can charge her with.
Elwood, Longmont, CO, 2/18/2010 10:08 AM

I have no doubt the local NRA members will have the entire area staked out and will shoot to kill anyone that comes anywhere near their twisted little playground. I wonder if there will be any charges after they injure a citizen. My bet is no since they've got friends in high places.

This sounds like a great idea to feed the lettle devils to the birds Now would someone tell me if the prairie dogs do in fact carrie a desease that is harmful to humans and if so then whats the big deal about iradicating them and where are the save the mosquito wakos after all dont they feed BATS and Ill bet if you ask the protesters they are for for pro choice go figure And a 22 round would be a lot cheaper maybe the SWAT team could go practice their shooting
conservelongmont, Longmont,colorado, 2/18/2010 10:16 AM

Good grief. You can nearly hear the banjo music behind that one.

Longmont, the majority of you are better than this. It's time to stand up and denounce these violent sociopaths for what they are - murderous idiots with guns and a drooling need to kill something - anything. This is the mentality behind the Teabagger movement and the Secessionists - madmen willing, no - eager- for a civil war just so they can 'settle the score' in their favorite way: with a gun.

Think this is about prairie dogs? Read all the comments at the TC and you'll see how short the hop is to exterminating their political opponents. These are dangerous, murderous people - make no mistake.

Disrespect for the electorate

2010-02-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

Well golly gee. The mayor finally sees the light - not too hard when the entire city stands up and shines it in your stupid face.

The PUBLIC is who you SERVE. The people that take their time to come and speak are the ones who are the most concerned. (JCH needs to read up on some civics, she's clueless)

Being an asshat to them is a sure-fire way to find yourself on the hotseat - as the Mad Baumer has no doubt discovered.

Oh, and speaking of the hotseat - how long did you think you'd keep this dirty little secret under wraps?

All the lying and smearing in the world from your trained attack chiuhuahua won't make this go away.

Not an auspicious start for this 14%-approved crowd of wingnuts.

I think Geroge S had a great comment:

Hopefully, the cable TV broadcast of council meetings will show not only the speaker but also which council members are listening and taking notes, and which are nodding off, texting or otherwise ignoring the point the member of the public is making.

George S. Longmont, 2/17/2010 10:42 AM

Which is one of the reasons I bring my own camera - to capture the disrespect for the citizens our Mayor and his merry band of wingnuts are showing the public.

All will be watching. Closely.

Who are the "Progressives"?

2010-02-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

by Mary Pitt

When we read reports of polls, we find that the "Independents" in the United States outnumber the declarents for either of the established political parties. In discussing this, the pundits assume that this indicates that most voters are in the "middle of the road" between the Democrats and the Republicans. This is not the case. The number includes members of small established groups that have been with us for years and their views are all over the map. There are the Libertarians who are far to the right, the Green Party with their ecological aganda, and now, the Tea Party whose views are more anti-government.

Buried and out of sight are the Progressives who have no party affiliations at present but who know what they want and need. There is an Progressive wing of the Democratic Party but they are not necessarily representative of those who advocate for progress but are not yet convinced that the party, as it exists today, are truly committed to the substance of their own needs and will not deal them away in the interests of "bipartisanship." President Obama was swept into office on a wave of support from these very people who are now waiting to see whether he can or will accomplish the promises he made to them in return.

But, who are these Progressives, these nameless, faceless people who claim to represent a majority of the populace of the United States? I am one and I will undertake the task of telling you exactly who we are.

We are the vermin of your life, We are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and every shade of every color in the palette. Very few of us are rich or even "middle-class". We live everywhere yet we are largely unseen. We are in the long lines at the unemployment offices and at the gates to those plants that are still operating; we serve your meals, we clean up your messes, take out your garbage, and clean your toilets. We are on your streets, yet you do not see us because there is nothing about us to which to draw your attention. We neither damage your ears with loud jam-boxes nor are we using expensive cell phones into which we speak loudly so you will notice us. We are simply there.

We work in your yards and in your homes, we nurture and nourish your children so that they do not suffer your absence unduly. We are as diligent with "Yes, Ma'am", and "No, Sir," as those who worked in utter bondage in centuries past. We prepare the hotel rooms in which you work or vacation, making sure you have all the comforts and cleanliness that you expect. We clean your offices after you have gone home or to your recreational pursuits. We live in your slums and your low-income housing prjects, We live along the highways and the byways as you pass in your big gas-hog cars or fly over in your silbery airplanes. We grow and cook your food and clean your clothes; there is not an aspect of your life in which we are not an integral part, yet you do not see us.

We can easily be seen when we turn out to support President Obama when he appears in our area but we cannot afford to travel to attend Tea Parties and other big demonstrations. But we can be seen in huge numbers at the Free Health Clinics as they are held in larger cities offering life-saving health care for those who have been deprived of it, sometimes for years! These affairs are not covered by news agencies except, recently by MSNBC. Hundreds of medical professionals throughout an area will gather in arenas or in huge tents to dispense needed physical care to those of us who have no insurance but are deemed to be "too rich" for Medicaid or any other Federal program to be diagnosed and steered to free clinics for every complaint from new eye glasses or dental caries to life-threatening cancers.

For this reason, our principal political goal is for truly universal health care. Learning that President Obama approached this problem first by consulting Big Pharma and the heads of the insurance companies was a kick in the gut! President Clinton tried that and we still suffer from his failure President G. W. Bush told us that we had no problem; that all we had to do was to go to the nearest Emergency Room. We've been there and done that! We have thereafter received the over-inflated bills and many have had our assets attached and been hounded into bankruptcy if we could not pay. We will not be doing that again!

We are the "make or break" faction who will determine whether the Democrats are allowed to continue their majority status past the next election. We will do as we have always done. We will accept the fact that, once again, we have been lied to by a politician, crawl back into the woodwork and disappear until the great day, by and by, that some other political figure might arise and convince us that they will do something about our problems.

You see, we are the sixty per cent of the population who don't bother to turn out on election day. We are aware of our invisibilty and unconvinced that you and the others like you are so consumed by your own lives, your good jobs, ypur beautiful children, and your secure lives that you have no reason to care about us. We will go on doing what we do, trying to scratch out a living from our poor endeavors living as long as whatever god we believe in decrees for us, allowing you to demean us at every opportunity as the "lower class" and a "drag on society" while giving you our offspring for cannon fodder in your wars of aquisition.

Think of us as the peasants of Middle Ages France who bore the burdens of serving the "upper classes" until they could no longer bear it. For we know that we are the base for everything you treasure. We are the ones who provide your creature comforts. Without us you would have to live in an unbearable world of chaos and your own trash. When you pray, pray for us. Pray that we will continue in our firm belief in the Brotherhood of Man and that we wil continue to support you. That is because we know, though you obviously do not, that you are just like us!

This writer is eighty years old and has spent a half century working with handicapped and deprived people and advocating on their behalf while caring for her own workung-class family. She spends her "Sunset Years" in writing and struggling with The System.

Longmont's 'Tagline'

2010-02-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

The Times-Call* had a fun bit of fluff about possible 'taglines' for Longmont.

Here's a few I thought up:

Longmont: We're cheap, just ask Montana

Longmont: God, Guns & GOP - we got it ALL.

Longmont: 4Cs bitch - again.

Longmont: Coming soon: Pratt Falls!

Longmont: North of Boulder, far right of reality.

Longmont: Where 14% is a 'majority'.

Longmont: Wingnut Wonderland.

Longmont:Wannabe Weld County.

Longmont: Nucla's big brother.
---
* tagline: "We post-moderate by complaint!"

Bad Language

2010-02-10T17:08:00.000-08:00

Just got home from a protest at a fundraiser for Scott Gessler*.

Gee, neither Mr. Wrongmont or the Longmont Examiner seemed happy to see me. Used bad language to me! Sorry, no video on that, next time!

Others noted at the scene of the crime: Dale Bruns of LifeBridge 4C fame, Julia Pirnack of past GOP-controlled council and Marvin Dyer, property owner at the heart of the LifeBridge land deal gone wrong. The stench of old money and bad blood was strong in the air.

Stay tuned for a full report later tonite.
--

* You remember Scott Gessler, right? He's the guy behind the Western Tradition Partnership from Montana that helped screw our city council election and saddle us with Bryan "Blows Up Real Good" Baum.

Upright in their soul but face-down in the public trough

2010-02-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

Stimulus Foes See Value in Seeking Cash:

Sen. Christopher S. Bond regularly railed against President Obama’s economic stimulus plan as irresponsible spending that would drive up the national debt. But behind the scenes, the Missouri Republican quietly sought more than $50 million from a federal agency for two projects in his state.

Mr. Bond was not alone. More than a dozen Republican lawmakers, while denouncing the stimulus to the media and their constituents, privately sent letters to just one of the federal government’s many agencies seeking stimulus money for home-state pork projects.

Wow. These are tax-cutting heroes. YEAHRIGHT. Two-faced shits.

From

This Should be Breaking News All Over the Television at Say It Ain't So Already

Make Money Reliably Forever Or...

2010-02-06T18:48:00.000-08:00

From I.O.U. via The Agonist:

Make Money Reliably Forever Or . . .

From I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay.:

This is how it’s supposed to work. A well-run bank is a machine for making money. The basic principle of banking is to pay a low rate of interest to the people who lend money and charge a higher rate to the people who borrow it. The bank borrows at 3 percent (say), and lends at 6 percent, and as long as it keeps the two amounts in line and makes sure that it lends money only to people who will be able to pay it back, it will reliably make money forever.

Reliably make money forever! Instead the banksters got greedy, decided that a return on equity of anything less than 25% per annum was unacceptable began their binge of serial acquisitions and soon we all crashed headlong into a crisis.

Me? I'd rather make money reliably forever. Boring is good. Singles win championships and all that. But hey, I'm not a greedy, megalomaniacal, ego-centered fucktard.

Sean Paul Kelley February 6, 2010 - 3:33pm

Walk a Mile...

2010-02-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

I know you need your sleep now,
I know your life's been hard.
But many men are falling,
where you promised to stand guard.
~~Leonard Cohen

My friend Bernie says he's suffering from Afghanistan information exhaustion. "During all those months that Obama was dragging his feet about escalating the war in Afghanistan, did you ever get the impression," he asked, "that foxes were in the hen house, chickens were squawking and running around crazily, wolves were tearing the foxes to pieces, and farmers were shooting wildly into the coop with no regard for the innocent?"

I stared at him, mouth agape, my mind trying to shore up all that activity. "Well ... I --"

"And that's just the generals -- David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal -- and their boss, or cohort, defense secretary Robert Gates. They were everywhere -- everywhere!" Bernie said, rolling his eyes. "And still are. Turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper, open a magazine, check out Congress, look under a rock -- peek behind a tree -- and there they are. They're a three-man brigade -- "we're going in, we're coming out -- we're winning, we're losing. Or maybe not. We won't know for 15 years...20 years...or until it's over --"

Bernie shook his head in disgust, and headed for the door. "You keep telling me to walk a mile in Obama's shoes; that he's got a lot on his plate. Well," Bernie said grimly, "every time I try to do that, I nearly drown. And, if you're paying attention, you know he's having trouble keeping his own balance out there on those turbulent partisan political seas."

President...who?

Bernie says he'd like to give President Obama credit, or blame him, for the decision to expand the war in Afghanistan, but is convinced that Obama's input was neither wanted nor accepted by the three top war dogs. I agree. What those of us familiar with military protocol -- with a properly functioning chain of command -- witnessed was a crude, but effective, military coup.

Aided by an eager and complicit media, for months these insubordinates fueled the fire of Obama's inability to come to a quick decision to meet their demands. They brushed him aside as idealistic and inexperienced. Commander-in-Chief? C'mon, get real. During the recent health-care fiasco, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) put into words what all Republicans, not a few Democrats, and far too many military brass think of Obama...

"...I believe he didn't serve in government long enough to understand really how things work...Remember, he was in the Senate four years, but effectively only two years because he spent two years where he was hardly ever here at all -- he was campaigning for president. He really does not have an understanding of how Congress operates."

The hateful audacity of Chuck "Obama wants to kill your grandma" Grassley is the typical Republican mindset concerning this president. Each time Republicans push him or challenge him, rather than push back or kick ass, Obama backs down, preferring to compromise to reach a bipartisan agreement. Unfortunately, Republicans don't work that way. They want it all, and the only way they know to get it is to -- as Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol said -- "go for the kill."

The military also goes for the kill. But that is its mission -- what it is trained to do. And Obama needs to understand the military does not function on compromises or bipartisanship. It has a chain of command, and when the Commander-in-Chief, after considering input from field commanders, makes his decision -- gives an order -- all those throughout that chain of command, whether they agree or not, salute and continue to march.

That is not happening here. After ten "war council" meetings and months of considering input, an angry Obama rejected McChrystal's plan that had been leaked to Bob Woodward at the Washington Post, and informed McChrystal that his goal of doubling the force would not be met.

Two days later, on Dec 1, Obama announced his decision from the US Military Academy at West Point. He didn't mention smoking terrorists out, getting them on the run and bringing them to justice, but he dredged up 9/11 and why we should remain convulsed in fear. He spoke of "huge challenges," "bold action," "seizing the initiative," and "long-term consequences." While we were trying to figure out if former president George Bush had left a copy of his speech on the Academy podium, Obama announced he was sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan but insisted since America has no interest in fighting an endless war, 2011 was a definite time frame. He said unequivocally that there would be no counterinsurgency and, beginning in July of 2011, the troops would begin to come home.

Or not. Nobody saluted. Gates, Petraeus and McChrystal, along with Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Michael G. Mullen continued to march in lockstep. They raced to the media both here and abroad, where they shrugged aside Obama's promise of a July 2011 transition, saying it was an "open issue." They insisted that counterinsurgency and special ops remained "embedded" in their war strategy. Ten days after being rejected by Obama, McChrystal's request to double the size of the Army and police to 400,000 remained unchanged.

Foxes, Chickens and Wolves

Obama should take a long, hard look at the Dick Cheney "stay behinds" who are wreaking havoc, especially in defense; insubordinates who openly challenge his decisions and defy his orders while whipping up confusion with daily conflicting announcements and interviews. Perhaps he should start with Cheney who not only stayed behind but remains in his Virginia bunker, just a stone's throw from CIA headquarters, where he "goes for the kill" by giving hate speeches and issuing press releases accusing Obama of being a coward that are published verbatim by the media.

Just hours after Obama's speech, the placid, eerily serene Gates, along with Mullen and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, testified before Congress that troop withdrawal depended on conditions on the ground rather than a deadline. The consensus seemed to be that their commander-in-chief was simply indulging in "wishful thinking."

Days later, according to Think Progress, Gates, Petraeus, Clinton, and another Cheney "stay behind," National Security Adviser James Jones, were all over the Sunday talk shows. Gates told CBS Meet the Press, "We will have a significant -- we will have 100,000 forces -- troops there. And they are not leaving -- in July of 2011."

Jones agreed with Gates on CNN's State of the Union, repeating what he had told BBC two days earlier -- "It's very important that people in Afghanistan hear this very clearly: this is not a withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in 2011, it is a decision to turn over to the Afghans some of the responsibility where they are ready to accept that responsibility. But in no manner, shape or form is the United States leaving Afghanistan in 2011." (emphasis added)

These stay behinds, their shoulders blazing with stars, now so eager to expand their military industrial killing spree throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan -- even Iran -- are like wolves circling their prey. They are presenting a powerful, united front against Obama.

And none has refused to follow orders more relentlessly than McChrystal, former commander of the clandestine Joint Special Operations Command, whose secret assassination teams answered only to him, and he answered to no one. McChrystal is a frightening lone wolf. Check him out here, here, here, and here.

It's difficult to imagine President Obama, after promising change -- promising to stand guard and end our wars of aggression -- deliberately putting himself in a position where he appears impotent when he is ignored and over-ruled by subordinates. He has been warned by those who have been there, done that. He is being warned by the people who are gathering for massive national anti-war marches in Washington D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco on March 20 -- the seventh anniversary of Bush and Cheney's illegal war of aggression against Iraq.

It's time for Obama to put aside empty, soaring speeches and come to grips with who his enemies really are. It's time for him to step onto dry land and walk a mile in his own shoes -- while he still has a pair.

The ultimate eco-terrist

2010-02-04T21:53:00.000-08:00

Prairie Dogs.

That's right - The ultimate eco-terrist.

After reading this article, I now understand why the Longmont Lunatic Fringe partisans want to eradicate them:

Prairie dogs have language and can evolve.

Unlike them.

Examine your silliness

2010-01-29T18:01:00.000-08:00

To the lovely person who complains about my taking photos at City Council meetings:

Get used to it.

They're called 'public meetings.' That's why they're videotaped from at least two angles - so my photographing or taping from another angle is actually helping document the event, which is my intent and my right. I see others with cameras, so, as usual, this is more idiocy on your part. Please, get an enema... the pressure is obviously already at extreme levels and you might just burst... think of the kids.

As for taking pictures of kids, hey, YOU BROUGHT EM. Your choice. Funny, the Taliban likes to hide behind kids and innocent people too.

What kind of parent subjects their kids to that degree of boredom?
A parent that uses their kids for props.

Sad.

Morans at work

2010-01-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

I just love the wingers in Longmont.

In the comments on a poll I remarked:

I prefer the 'full strength' First Amendment, not the 'limited' version thank you very much.
M. Douglas Wray, Longmont, CO

--
and *minutes* later this commenter belched:

That's interesting M.DouglasWray in that the top two featured headlines on your Free Range website admonish "Rude commenters will be banned" and "Silencing your critics." Full strength First Amendment, eh Wray?
All-American, Longmont, CO

-------
First, anonymous... a snivelling coward. Is the mostly-incoherent Richard Yale the only one of you with a pair? (however wrinkled and shriveled, at least he's got em)

Second, the only comments I've had to block were from a realtor (shocking!) and a far-far-far-right wingnut apparatchik attacking Kaye Fissinger. Neither comment had -any- substance and were frankly attacks. How long would you tolerate someone coming into -your- home and screeching at you? I've posted the mayor's wife's ludicrous screeds and that was being charitable, more than either of the so-called 'citizen journalists' have ever done for me. Piss off ya loony.

And if this person would (could?) read, they'd see that 'Silencing your critics' is about the event that prompted this poll.

Morans. (sic)

What I find incredibly curious is how the mayor says he has no intention of surpressing free speech, but then the next damn day the Times-Call runs this poll... Guys, get your act together. Your collusion is so obvious it's laughable.

As are your attack dogs. (quick tip, chiuhuahuas aren't really very fearsome)

I tagged this as a personal attack and off-topic but it's still up there.

So much for the Times-Call's 'moderation'.

Maybe what's pissing the Lunatic Fringe off so badly is that we suppress hate speech - which is definitely NOT free.

You can howl all you want, Free Range Longmont is going to be around a LONG TIME and we'll make sure the public knows what's going on, regardless of how much the deep-pocket interests in Longmont try to sweep it under the rug.

Splash

2010-01-26T23:55:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned how much fun the Times-Call comments can be? Sure, there's generally a ton of libels in there about me but sometimes a truly fun exchange can be had...

Enjoy

Start at the bottom and work up.

Photo taken from Black and WTF
------------

Actually the computer had gone psychotic and was given a 'lobotomy' by removing it's higher logic functions so that it would function merely as a machine. The parallels to the current council condition are ironically similar. Not to mention, the reason Hal -went- nuts was because he was ordered to keep a secret. The ironometer is pegging, must stop now. But enjoying your input immensely.

M. Douglas Wray, Longmont, CO, 1/27/2010 12:18 AM                        Report abuse

What was it HAL 9000 the artificial intelligence computer said as his cord was pulled? LOL, Mr. Wray.

Richard Yale, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 11:47 PM                        Report abuse

Dr. Freud! Hurry! LOL.

M. Douglas Wray, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 11:05 PM                        Report abuse

Apparently Doug and Kaye didn't watch the council meeting tonight (or maybe didn't pay attention since you were there, I assume you were watching?) The Mayor addressed the ideas he brought up at the retreat - they were just ideas. Why don't we make the work the council is doing the center of focus and not how many ways you can bash the mayor, mayor pro-tem and other members of council. Have any gripes about the way Benker's Energy Incubator vote went? Guess that whole environmentally unfriendly council bit is out the window now, huh?

Longmonter, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 10:56 PM                        Report abuse

I'm decent? Really? :-D Dr. Freud, line one! (yes, HIM again Doctor... yes... THAT ONE... uh huh... Hurry please)

M. Douglas Wray, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 10:21 PM                        Report abuse

The council is trying to improve the process Mr. Wray. Your decent into an ad hominem attack on two personalities instead of offering a solution is admission you lost the argument and haven't figured it out yet.

Richard Yale, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 10:11 PM                        Report abuse

"...causing Mayor Baum to be bored and not get his list of things done..." - which really upsets the people holdng his receipt. I can imagine his discomfort. Failure to perform is usually punished severely by the GOP. No doubt having Tom 'The Hammer' Delay's ex-office-manager (Councilman Santos) sitting to his right is becoming less and less comforting. Funny how that works.

M. Douglas Wray, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 9:35 PM                        Report abuse

What has the Mayor suggested that isn't what they find appropriate in Boulder: http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=528&Itemid=Public "Participation allows citizens to speak to the City Council on any City issue not scheduled for a public hearing later in the meeting, for a maximum of three minutes. This includes consent agenda items. Public Participation begins promptly at 6:00 p.m. and ideally concludes at 6:45. Public Participation is run on a first come, first served basis. You will be called in the order in which you signed up. You must sign up in person.
We may be unable to accommodate all the people who sign up within the 45 minute time period.. In that case, it is up to the Mayor to determine how to proceed. You will probably be offered the opportunity to speak after the last public hearing item. Please listen to the Mayor’s decision on this matter." If it is good enough for Boulder, why not Longmont? Some seem to think we should follow their lead, when our leaders do and some don't like it who enjoy free TV exposure and they might be cut short, they undercut their their credibility to follow Boulder the rest of the time.

Richard Yale, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 9:35 PM                        Report abuse

The mayor's attempt to limit the other council members is just as troubling as his attempt to limit the public. Each member only gets 3 minutes to speak? They can only ask one question at a time? What exactly is going on here? Who gave him the right to say how many questions a fellow council member can ask? I was always taught that the more information you have, the better the decision you can make. The only reason to limit discussion is if you already know how you are going to vote and don't want to be bothered with even going through the motions of pretending to listen to others. Clearly Baum has his agenda set and is looking to silence all that stand in his way or "waste his time". Yikes!

may rational minds prevail, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 8:28 PM                        Report abuse

Mayor Baum, If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. Part of your job is listening to those pesky citizens, including the ones that don't agree with you. We live in a democracy and that means everyone gets a chance to have their say - left, right and middle. I am always suspicious when someone tries to shut others out. If your principles and actions are just they will survive the scrutiny of others.

may rational minds prevail, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 8:02 PM                        Report abuse

In the real world I sit in meetings all of the time at work and someone is always yabbering on about something and taking my time away from my work as well. I end up having to put in OT to get things done that could have been done had I not been wasting my time in a meeting listening to some tool. In this case, someone is yabbering on and causing Mayor Baum to be bored and not get his list of things done. I can feel for you Mayor Baum; however, aren't the citizens your boss? Don't we pay your salary? Didn't we elect you so we could be heard? (yes I voted for you) Shouldn't you listen to us anyway, even the boring ones? just a thought.

time_to_rant, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 4:28 PM

Explaining the Irony of the Muskrat

2010-01-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

This is why I still despise Marilyn 'The Ousted Muskrat' Musgrave - her membership in the Susan B. Anthony list (which I'm certain it's namesake would spit on and then kick the crap out of the whiny bitches running it) is classic irony:

National connections and events further illuminate suffrage developments in Colorado. In both 1877 and 1893, Colorado suffragists received funds, advice, and personnel from national and other state organizations. Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, and Henry Blackwell stumped for woman suffrage during the 1877 referendum campaign, while Carrie Chapman (later Catt) did the same in 1893.

Given her druthers, I'll bet Muskrat et al would roll back women's rights to the stone age.

"Susan B. Anthony" list my ass. Hypocrites.

Magic Thing

2010-01-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

I've been keeping at eye on the comments at this story on the Times-Call:

Mayor wants to trim length of public speaking at meetings

and saw this little blurp:

In the real world I sit in meetings all of the time at work and someone is always yabbering on about something and taking my time away from my work as well. I end up having to put in OT to get things done that could have been done had I not been wasting my time in a meeting listening to some tool. In this case, someone is yabbering on and causing Mayor Baum to be bored and not get his list of things done. I can feel for you Mayor Baum; however, aren't the citizens your boss? Don't we pay your salary? Didn't we elect you so we could be heard? (yes I voted for you) Shouldn't you listen to us anyway, even the boring ones? just a thought.
time_to_rant, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 4:28 PM

So, I felt it incumbent upon me to add this:

"...causing Mayor Baum to be bored and not get his list of things done..." - which really upsets the people holding his receipt. I can imagine his discomfort. Failure to perform is usually punished severely by the GOP. No doubt having Tom 'The Hammer' Delay's ex-office-manager (Councilman Santos) sitting to his right is becoming less and less comforting. Funny how that works.
M. Douglas Wray, Longmont, CO, 1/26/2010 9:35 PM

Irony is a magic thing

Go and read..

2010-01-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

...The Onion.

Right now.

PS - put on something absorbent first or use your portable while you sit on the toilet - it will maximize the enjoyment.

Wingnuts going wild

2010-01-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

From the Times-Call article:
Mayor wants to trim length of public speaking at meetings

The following comment just screams for a detailed response... so here it is...

First, I'd like to mention the point that this was a suggestion that was brought up at the retreat - a retreat is where councilmembers can brainstorm ideas and talk about ways to make the city and their jobs more efficient.

---
Looked all through the agenda and didn't see a word about making "the city and their jobs more efficient. The agenda items were content oriented (with the exception of "team building." Any suggestion that the mayor not defend the Constitution (as he swore to) is a retarded suggestion - especially if it's coming from the mayor... what planet are you on?

I hardly think it appropriate for everyone to get bent out of shape by one member throwing out an idea for discussion.

----
"I'm the Mayor and it's up to me. I can set this up any way I want." Yep, that's "just one person" alright. The one with the gavel.

Of course you don't think it's 'appropriate' for your political opponents to be allowed to speak - ever. You and your reich-wing Lunatic Fringer pals have made that endlessly clear. Sorry, we're still in America the place that the soldiers you love to pretend to support fought and died for so we can have the Rights guaranteed to us in the Constitution. Your moronity is beyond belief.

But that being said, the public has PLENTY of times to speak - at first call Public Invited to be Heard, during the public discussion when items are being voted on and THEN a second call for PITBH.

----
And by second reading the item has almost always been decided and any substantial change has to be republished at expense to the city. So you really mean that PITBH is nothing more than a smokescreen that makes the public think they have influence over city decisions, when it was never intended. Time and time again the rabid right has denied that this is a democracy. Instead they prefer to focus on "representative government". Translation = once you guys elect me (however few or many), I get to do whatever I please. Lovely! The PITBH segment of Council meetings has been treated with ultimate disrespect more than once - the last wingnut-controlled council hacked it down from five minutes to three and now this jackass imitation of a mayor thinks he's going to chop it down further? Not a prayer. You assholes always do this shit, get control then immediately try to change the rules. You want to see your mayor yanked out by a recall, keep this shit up. Please. You're making it easy.

Really is such a big deal to limit the first call to 30 minutes - then people can still speak when the topic they are concerned about is being voted on.

----
See above. Riddle me this batguano, would you be okay with this if the Progressive-controlled council had tried it to muzzle you? You know fucking well you would have been setting yourselves on fire and leaping off the City Hall building.

(deleted barking and yipping about unrelated shit that this commenter routinely drags into every comment because their position is so idiotically weak)

Better yet, why don't we institute a policy like the Times Call has with regard to Letters to the Editor - you can only have a letter appear once every couple of weeks, and this is a daily paper - what about limiting speakers to speaking once a month so the same yahoos can't get up every week and say the same thing over and over.

---
Oh yes, let's hold up that paragon of fairness the Times Call. How about we limit you barf-mongers to one comment per day on their stories? (hell, per article would be an improvement) As of this writing there are at least a dozen multiple-personalities running around with half a dozen anonymous 'nicknames' that the Times-Call admits they can't control. How would you like it if we showed up to PITBH wearing various adorable little costumes and signed up several times - one for each costume? Those 'yahoos' you're referring to are concerned citizens and you will not silence us no matter how hard you try.

Just repeating the same rhetoric every week doesn't make it true.

----
Reading this line I literally burst out laughing. Karen Benker Much? You spread lies about her non-stop for two years with the willing help of your pals at the Times-Call. You slime-molds did exactly that - lied endlessly - until your 14% of full-on fringers were all but barking for her blood. Please. Clearly you can't hear yourself or you'd have deleted that line rather than sound like a total fool.

Lastly, there are PLENTY of other opportunities for people to be heard - Coffee with Council, emailing the council members or even making an appointment to sit down and talk with one.

----
Right. If the mayor would ever answer ANY of my emails I'd DO THAT. But he's such a moral coward he won't even discuss the topic of civility with me. He'd rather just cut off anyone that doesn't agree and then hide behind a rulebook rather than stand up for the Constitution - as he swore to do. Worse yet, you bloviating clowns think you're going to prop up this pathetic little tin-plated dictator and pretend he's helping the city? Your hubris is only exceeded by your hypocrisy.

But the radicals who get up and speak each week want the spotlight. They want to be seen on Channel 3 and maybe get their name mentioned in the paper. They want to be a squeeky wheel in the hope that somebody will listen and do what they want to be done, no matter how ridiculous.

--
So, in other words, you're not hearing enough 'happyspeak' about your beloved new mayor. Well, let's not get him confused with the loudmouthed wingnuts that run numerous anonymous (and cowardly) websites - one of which the mayor's own wife has admitting knowing the operator. Or the stream of sockpuppets howling on the Times-Call's website. Oh no, those are real 'statesmen' in Longmont. Again, your hypocrisy is revolting. As for 'the radicals' wanting publicity, please, you're projecting again. There's only one massive ego in Longmont blowing his own horn so hard it's amazing his nuts haven't flown out of it and he's squarely in the Lunatic Fringe's camp.

I actually think some of them think they are unelected members of the council, and that the public is begging to hear their two-cents. Well guess what? You're not, and we don't. If the council didn't have to sit and listen to the same drivel every week, they could get more work done and get our economy rolling that much faster.

---
Some of them got votes. That alone means someone believed in them and felt they would be a good representative for them. Why the supporters of this wingnut-a-palooza council think it's a democracy when you ignore the citizens is a sign they're completely off their nut. Drivel? People have a Right to speak you twit. You don't like it, move back to Romania.

Last point - why is it such a radical idea to let council have a couple minutes to respond after PITBH?

----
Sigh. Because it's PUBLIC INVITED TO BE HEARD you mental midget. Not 'Public invited to be insulted and argued with by a childish tyrant'.

I didn't get the impression that the need to respond is to try and shut someone up or counter their arguments,

---
Go watch the video of the mayor - that's exactly what he was trying to do - you'd think someone that's made so much money from 'smart decisions' would have the wits to read some history and realize how much Americans don't like being stepped on.

I got the impression that councilmembers should have an opportunity to answer questions that citizens bring up during the PITBH.

---
Again, you got that wrong. So much for your understanding of PITBH.

As it is, the council is not to respond, so when someone comes up with a question during their 3 minutes they either get no answer or have to wait until the break or until Council Comments to get an answer. Most people have left the meeting or turned off the tv by the time midnight rolls around and council gets to finally offer some answers. Wouldn't it be in everyone's best interest to let the council be helpful right after the questions are asked instead of never answering or answering 4+ hours later, when everyone has forgotten the original question? JMO
Longmonter, Longmont, CO, 1/25/2010 1:30 PM

----
Previous council members have instructed the appropriate staff member to answer the question on the council's behalf. You're reaching so far for an argument, you'll soon be falling flat on your face. Come to think of it, you already have.

If our illustrious mayor would bother to read his packet rather than dodge it like a bored fratboy, answered his emails or just DID HIS JOB he could answer them afterwards as intended.

If the public wants to talk for four days that's our right - it's our government and our town and our country. You're well-advised to keep that firmly in mind when you start trying to pass off this fascist idiocy as 'common sense' - because it's not. It's the first step down a road that leads to a real nightmare - and you'll have to go through me for one to get there.

Seen recently in Longmont Council Chambers

2010-01-21T04:39:00.000-08:00

--
Oh wait, that's not Mayor Baum... it's British bobsled rider Gillian Cooke bursting her skin-tight Lycra suit during a world championship event in Switzerland, exposing her sport to thousands of YouTube viewers ahead of the Winter Olympics next month in Vancouver.

Hat tip to the Drudge Retort!

There Must Be Answers

2010-01-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

From Harper's Magazine:

The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle

by Scott Horton

1. “Asymmetrical Warfare”

When President Barack Obama took office last year, he promised to “restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great.” Toward that end, the president issued an executive order declaring that the extra-constitutional prison camp at Guantánamo “shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order.” Obama has failed to fulfill his promise. Some prisoners are being charged with crimes, others released, but the date for closing the camp seems to recede steadily into the future. Furthermore, new evidence now emerging may entangle Obama’s young administration with crimes that occurred during the Bush presidency, evidence that suggests the current administration failed to investigate seriously—and may even have continued—a cover-up of the possible homicides of three prisoners at Guantánamo in 2006.

Late in the evening on June 9 that year, three prisoners at Guantánamo died suddenly and violently. Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, from Yemen, was thirty-seven. Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, from Saudi Arabia, was thirty. Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani, also from Saudi Arabia, was twenty-two, and had been imprisoned at Guantánamo since he was captured at the age of seventeen. None of the men had been charged with a crime, though all three had been engaged in hunger strikes to protest the conditions of their imprisonment. They were being held in a cell block, known as Alpha Block, reserved for particularly troublesome or high-value prisoners.

As news of the deaths emerged the following day, the camp quickly went into lockdown. The authorities ordered nearly all the reporters at Guantánamo to leave and those en route to turn back. The commander at Guantánamo, Rear Admiral Harry Harris, then declared the deaths “suicides.” In an unusual move, he also used the announcement to attack the dead men. “I believe this was not an act of desperation,” he said, “but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.” Reporters accepted the official account, and even lawyers for the prisoners appeared to believe that they had killed themselves. Only the prisoners’ families in Saudi Arabia and Yemen rejected the notion.

Two years later, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which has primary investigative jurisdiction within the naval base, issued a report supporting the account originally advanced by Harris, now a vice-admiral in command of the Sixth Fleet. The Pentagon declined to make the NCIS report public, and only when pressed with Freedom of Information Act demands did it disclose parts of the report, some 1,700 pages of documents so heavily redacted as to be nearly incomprehensible. The NCIS report was carefully cross-referenced and deciphered by students and faculty at the law school of Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and their findings, released in November 2009, made clear why the Pentagon had been unwilling to make its conclusions public. The official story of the prisoners’ deaths was full of unacknowledged contradictions, and the centerpiece of the report—a reconstruction of the events—was simply unbelievable.

According to the NCIS, each prisoner had fashioned a noose from torn sheets and T-shirts and tied it to the top of his cell’s eight-foot-high steel-mesh wall. Each prisoner was able somehow to bind his own hands, and, in at least one case, his own feet, then stuff more rags deep down into his own throat. We are then asked to believe that each prisoner, even as he was choking on those rags, climbed up on his washbasin, slipped his head through the noose, tightened it, and leapt from the washbasin to hang until he asphyxiated. The NCIS report also proposes that the three prisoners, who were held in non-adjoining cells, carried out each of these actions almost simultaneously.

Read the rest

A sign of psychosis

2010-01-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

One of the anonymously insane commenters at the TC blurted this out:

mfrede, sorry that you don’t get it. We have to rescue progress from the so-called progressives. We need a liberal, not a libertarian, social order with deeper values than material advances. Your idea all pre-existing traditions or values are by definition just so much unprogressive baggage is as philistine as it is laughable. Pseudo progressives pose danger of fanaticism, authoritarianism, abuse of power, exploitation or abuse of the old and the young, corruption, rigged elections and harm to minorities. In our confused discourse, some people who embody these very threats have disguised themselves as liberals. Their deep intolerance and intimidatory techniques in pursuit of license and power must be resisted in the interests of preserving a decent, fair and free society. That is why I am a progressive.

Wrangler, Longmont, 1/15/2010 12:21 AM

This is so twisted up logically it hurts to read.

The person behind this pseudonym should really seek psychiatric help immediately... obvious loss of connection to reality.

I mean, this person is so spooky they should be required to wear a yellow shirt with thick black diagonal stripes at all times to indicate 'hazard'.

Anyone this mentally disrupted shouldn't be allowed to drive.

laughing

I Don't Care What You Say

2010-01-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

Wow. Talk about solar-hostile.

"I'd vote that way a hundred times"

"I don't care what you say"

Now, there's some representation.

Watch for yourself and see what kind of a mayor 14% of Longmont supports.

Attacking Family Members

2010-01-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

A quote from an email between Council member Katie Witt and myself:

"Attacking family members is not acceptable. Folks should have to post under their real names; lots of this nonsense would go away. If you aren't willing to put your name on it, you shouldn't say it, right? -Katie Witt, Jan. 13, 2010"

I have to agree, with one caveat: unless said family member has been a vocal opponent, already deeply in the fray.

And you know who you are.

Dear DF

2010-01-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

FNF, it's that the way you really feel...good thing we cleaned up council!! p.s. You lost. Bahahahahaahahahahaahaha
And Mr Wray: hope you got your family issues solved. Your girlfriend Fissinger informed whomever cared to listen that you had "family issues"...does Tammy know?

DF, longmont, co, 1/13/2010 7:22 PM
--
Yes, Tammi knows. She also knows Kaye very well. Your inuendo is chidish and shows a marked lack of class.

I knew you vicious idiots were eager to hear me speak just so you could attack me.

I don't mind the attacks on me, but bringing my finace into this is beyond childish and is clearly stalking.

Abound Solar adds space in Longmont

2010-01-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

From the Denver Post:

$10 million industrial sale lights up dark real-estate market

Bitzer Real Estate Partners/CORFAC International recently completed a sale that ranks among the area's largest single-tenant industrial investment transactions of 2009, according to the company.
In late December, the firm completed the $10,037,500 sale of a manufacturing facility on behalf of its client, First Industrial Realty Inc., to W.W. Reynolds Cos.

The 126,384-square-foot Class A manufacturing facility at 9586 East I-25 Frontage Road in Longmont is fully leased to Abound Solar, formerly AVA Solar, a manufacturer of low-cost and thin-film photovoltaic solar modules.

Visit the Abound Solar website

Pissing off (and on) the Lunatic Fringe

2010-01-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

Gee, somebody out there really has their leopard-patterned undies wadded up badly.

They're tweaked that I took photos at the recent Baum Squad swearing in.

Public event means the public gets to see it. I mean really. Grow the fuck up (if possible).

I constantly hear the right screeching about people 'trying to silence them' and yet that's pretty much all they seem to be trying to do to others. All the while hiding behind masks and making threatening noises.

It's like having a bunch of ADD five-year-olds running around screaming.

Sad people, sad.

Libel is not free speech

2010-01-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

Watch out TC, your loon patrol is straying...

From the Longmont Ledger:

Gardener says:

January 7, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Mr Wray, first, as a self-described computer geek, do you really think that blocking IP addresses will work? After all, what about variable (dynamic) IP addresses? And second, do you really want to censor opinions that you disagree with? Don’t you respect and support the US Constitution? Don’t you , in every blog you type, embrace the idea of free exchange of ideas and expressions of personal thought as protected by our Bill of Rights regardless of whom or how badly it offends? If you can censor them then shouldn’t people who disagree or are offended with you be able to censor you? Frankly, the reason I and most others will not reveal identity when opining is because your sanctimonious proclamation that you are completely inclined and experienced in frivolously perusing the civil justice system in order to intimidate and threaten those who disagree with you or offend your fragile sensibilities.
I like to read your blogs because your thought processes are so unique and different than mine. I enjoy conversation that provokes thought and consideration of new or differing opinions. However, your claim of oppression wears thin and reminds me of the little boy who cried wolf. It ain’t working for ya.

---
(my response)

Gardener (whomever you are). Yes, I do believe that blocking IP addresses would work. Most of the local commenters are not using dynamic IPs. Nice try. The current method of stopping accounts >clearly< doesn't work. At no point did I express an interest in censoring anyone – that is a canard. What I endorse is stopping libellous remarks, which abound at the Times-Call due to their policy of 'publish first, moderate by complaint' which serves to enable anonymous libellers – perhaps by design? I don't mind people disagreeing with me, that's all well and good. But continually accusing me of committing crimes is libel – which I would prosecute if I knew who was accusing me. I know it bothers the far right wing in Longmont that they can't silence me, so it seems they're using a time-honored GOP practice of personal destruction – proving that they're more about division in our community than unity.

I'm delighted you enjoy reading my blogs.

By the way, your writing style seems (to me) similiar to Richard Yale.

========

I'm sure any time someone on the left points out the crimminal behavior of the far right Lunatic Fringe in Longmont it will be characterized as 'crying wolf'. Trouble is, in this case it really is a wolf - you can see the evidence of it on the City Council. Three new far-right members elected by one-fourth of the voters and a cadre of hard-core anything-to-win partisans patrolling the newspapers and blogs punishing anyone speaking out against them.

More like crazed hyenas.

Great show from KGNU about Heaven Fest

2010-01-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

Local activists Kaye Fissinger and Judy Lubow were on KGNU's Connections today talking about the planned Heaven Fest concert at Union Reservoir. Well worth a listen.

Click here to listen (links to MP3 file of show)

Just Rewrite History

2010-01-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Now the GOP is trying to push the meme that 'there were no terror attacks under Bush'.

This is called LYING.

Just like Gabe Santos claims his email saying 'let the attacks begin' didn't mean 'attack my opponents' (which it obviously did) and Stephanie Baum admitting (then trying to recant) about knowing who's behind LongmontReport and Chris Rodriguez claiming he 'mistakenly' listed 'LongmontReport' as his Skype address.

The only reason people get away with bold-faced lies like these is because:

Their supporters let them
No one calls them on it
Apathy

So you can count on always being able to find these items of proof right here because while you can choose your opinions, you can't choose your facts.

28% of Longmont voted in the last council election, meaning 72% - just shy of three quarters - didn't - which means three quarters of Longmont likely don't know about these facts.

But I guarantee they will, sooner or later - regardless of how often the Times-Call helps them minimize and attempt to deflect the truth.

There's a drumbeat about recalling the remaining Progressives on Council - I wonder how many of that 72% would vote for recall of Santos and Baum if they knew the truth?

Say it ain't so

2010-01-05T16:09:00.000-08:00

From the Associated Press and DenverPost.com:
Builder gets prison time for mortgage scheme.

GREELEY, Colo.—A Weld County builder has been sentenced to 31 years in prison for his role in a mortgage scheme that prosecutors say left many Greeley-area families in foreclosure and defrauded lenders.

Fifty-two-year-old Mark Strodtman of Windsor was sentenced Tuesday. He was convicted in November of racketeering, 11 counts of forgery and 11 counts of theft of $15,000 or more.

Homeowners accused Strodtman and his associates of tricking them into buying homes they couldn't afford.

Strodtman was arrested in Mexico last year.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14127392?source=rss#ixzz0bmn0oJT3
=====
Golly. A crooked builder that parted fools from their money. In lily-white squeaky-clean Weld county. Lucky this guy was caught. Now we can all sleep easier because this kind of crime will never happen in Colorado again.

Cough

Certainly not in Weld County again.

Cough Cough