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Free Downloads

If you miss a favorite author like Al Franken or Joan Didion when they appear at Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store, you’re no longer completely out of luck. Thanks to a new partnership between the legendary independent and a local firm called BurstMarketing, podcasts are now being prepared with Colorado readings from these and other big-name authors. The collaboration, called Authors On Tour — Live!, will generate free weekly weekly downloads featuring recently published authors reading from and discussing their works while at the Tattered Cover. The first of these 30-45 minute shows, with J.R. Moehringer, author of the acclaimed memoir an introduction by store owner Joyce Meskis, and thoughts by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, [more]

Healing Through Music

Erienne Romaine is a Denver 14-year-old with a terrific voice for jazz. The daughter of drummer Paul Romaine, she has been performing in local venues like the legendary El Chapultepec since she was 3 and was rehearsing for her first wedding performance last summer when she suffered a seizure and collapsed. Erienne was diagnosed with a rare condition called arteriovenous malformation that can be fatal if left untreated. She has no health insurance, but she does have a great CD called The Scenic Route that is being sold to help raise funds for her costly, multiple medical procedures. [more]

Guv Clamps Down

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens has declared that employees of his office can no longer use state computers to post comments on political websites. But does that mean they're prohibited from posting on other sites as well? Seems the Rocky Mountain News discovered that someone in the Guv's office has been offering anonymous commentary on the state's must-read political blog, Colorado Pols. After being confronted with the news, Owen's chief of staff issued the following directive: "It has become apparent that Executive and Legislative computers have been used to post commentary on political web logs (blogs). Today, the governor ordered that we develop new policy prohibiting the use of government computers from being used to post to any such sites. Please make certain that all members of your respective staffs are notified that this policy is effective immediately." Looks to us like insider postings from state hardware are still okay here and on other non-political blogs.

Pushed by Dems

Whenever I discuss politics with friends on the coasts, they usually blow off the national prospects of rising Western stars — particularly Democrats like Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer — with four simple words: "Too small a state." But the possibility that Schweitzer or New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson can be so rapidly dismissed will diminish considerably if a proposed Western presidential primary becomes a reality by 2008. And as a petition to initiate one begins circulating among Democratic party officials, political junkies on influential lefty blogs like My DD are starting to seriously discuss the potential impact. At the very least, supporters on both sides contend the larger voice resulting from such a move would certainly ensure the West can no longer be ignored as Republicans and Democrats vie for their party's top spot in the next presidential election. [more]

State Law Supercedes?

When Denver voters approved Initiative 100 last month, the measure legalizing adult possession of less than an ounce of marijuana instantly became the talk of the nation -- and was instantly shot down by local law enforcement officials who promised continual prosecutions under stricter Colorado statutes. Now, the Rocky Mountain News reports that the inspiration for countless Mile High City jokes will face its first court test. Seems a 39-year-old real estate consultant was caught with a vitamin jar full of weed on Nov. 17, the day after election results were certified. And he claims he only had it with him because he thought spliffs were now kosher.

Update: A Jan. 18 court date has been set to hear arguments in the case. [more]

Politics and War

Where does Bob Beauprez, one of Colorado’s U.S. House representatives and a top 2006 GOP gubernatorial hopeful, stand on the Iraq war? We can guess, but we don’t know for sure. That's because Beauprez was one of only two Congresspeople from this region who did not cast a vote last Friday in the most contentious floor action on Iraq since the initial decision to invade. Beauprez and fellow Republican John B. Shandegg of Phoenix were among just 22 House members who did not officially voice their opinions in an emotional evening of high theatrics last Friday when Congress considered a late-night emergency resolution to immediately terminate U.S forces in Iraq. We don’t know where Shandegg was, but it seems Beauprez was in Colorado preparing for a state GOP powwow on Saturday — a party gathering so contentious Gov. Bill Owens made sure he was vacationing in Russia and unable to attend. [more]

Support Down Elsewhere

There are just three states in the U.S. where a majority of residents now approve of the job being done by Vice President Dick Cheney -- and they’re all right here in the New West. According to the latest polling results from SurveyUSA, residents of Wyoming, Utah and Idaho are the only ones who still give Cheney an approval rating of more than 50%. The weighted average across the country of all respondents, surveyed November 11-13, is 34% approval and 61% disapproval. And while the group's latest national tracking of President Bush's job approval has not yet been updated this month, October's results mirror those of the Vice Presidential surveys. [more]

Tancredo Watch

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado's most quotable elected official, is at it again in his high-profile fight against illegal immigration. Now, he wants to change the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in an effort to eliminate so-called "birthright citizenship" – a 150-year-old clause that bestows automatic citizenship on anyone born in the U.S. But while the proposal floated this week has, not surprisingly, gained its share of supporters, even some conservatives are joining with liberals to denounce it as a terrible idea. [more]

TABOR vote implications

It's been a week since Colorado voters approved Referendum C and called a time-out on the most restrictive provision of the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights. But potential national repercussions keep surfacing. The big news on this front was yesterday's decisive rejection of a state-spending limit in California, although analysts aren't quite sure if Colorado's November 1 vote or Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rapidly fading popularity were to blame. Elsewhere around the U.S., however, opponents and proponents of similar legislation and referenda continue debating the issue -- and the implications of a "no" vote by those who have lived with the draconian restrictions of TABOR for more than a decade. [more]

Second (Day) Thoughts

The big news from Colorado Election Day 2005, of course, is the passage of Referendum C, with the dust settling in the camps of elated proponents and glum opponents as Sandra Fish explained last evening. There was a lot more to the statwide tally, however, including a surprising victory for pot smokers in Denver, an array of winning tax measures around the state, and the defeat of an attempt to yank the welcome mat out from under Wal-Mart in Westminster. [more]

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