Epilogue - Colorado Governor's Race

The race is now over and we have all had a week or so to digest the results, now I'd like to put my thoughts down on this insane Governor's race in Colorado. First off, I will congratulate Governor-elect  Hickenlooper. We voted and you won. We can now prepare for higher taxes and more regulation. I do believe you will be a one term Governor, assuming the Colorado Republican Party can pull it's head out of it's ass. So Mayor Hickenlooper enjoy your stay at 400 E. 8th Avenue while you can because we will be back in 2014.

That brings me to the other players in the Governors race:

Dan Maes

I read Dan Maes Facebook notes on the election and the only thing I could think of while I was reading them was: "Stop your damn whining and get over it already, it's time to pull up your big boy pants and move on to another endeavor because your shot at politics is over."

Tom Tancredo

Did Tom do the right thing by jumping into the Governor's race? I think he did. He stood up what he believed was a bad choice for a Republican canidate.  About 617,000 other Coloradoans also believed an error was made in the primary.

Scott McInnis

I hope future candidates have learned a thing about ethics from Mr. McInnis. Scott made an ethical mistake and it cost him the Governor's seat.

Joshua Penry


Don't you wish you would have stayed in the race now?

Republican Party of Colorado


Maybe you should find a better method of vetting your candidates before they make it to the primary, so this crap doesn't happen again.

Coloradans

This was one of the few political races, this year, that wasn't a referendum on some policy or lack of policy. It wasn't even a race about an specific ideology. This was a race about values. The values of honesty, humility, sincerity and personal responsibility. You can debate weather the participating candidates have any those values or not but one thing is for certain, the voters in the State of Colorado do have those values and their voice was heard.

I don't believe that I will like the policies that a Governor Hickenlooper will bring to the office, but he won because he was the least questionable person in the race. In a way it was inspiring that Hickenlooper won because it means that the people of Colorado stood up for values even if it cost them an election. That is a reason to be proud.

Did You Know You Contributed to the Bennet Campaign?

I was reading the top 100 contributions to the Bennet campaign on opensecrets.org and here are some contributions that stuck out:

University of Colorado $13,800
State of Colorado $10,805
Denver Public Schools $10,325
US Government $9,700
Colorado Office of Economic Development $9,600

I am no expert on campaign finance but don't these seem a little on the unethical side? We are running in the red in Colorado and the nation and they are contributing to political campaigns? Is that some sort of yard sign stimulus? I sure would hate to tell someone I had to cut their job because we contributed to a political campaign. This is not how I want my taxes spent that is for sure.

Amendment 62

This amendment to Colorado's Constitution states the term "person" shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being. So essentially you have the right to life and be not aborted.

I am a pro-life guy, to me it is a simple choice. The opposite of pro life to me is anti-life or death (one of the reasons I am not to fond of the death penalty either, but that discussion is for another time). I don't believe we as humans need to be making those choices. Those choices should be left to God.

There is the argument about health of the mother, rape, and incest and how the family will not have a "choice" to abort the baby in those cases. Less than 1% of abortions are because of those reasons. The answer to me simple if God wants a baby to be born, he makes one we do not.

For me and my family we will be to voting YES on Amendment 62.

Proposition 101, Amendments 60 and 61

There are three measures that are going to be voted on this year Proposition 101, Amendments 60 and 61. These are the ballot questions:

Proposition 101

Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning limits on government charges, and, in connection therewith, reducing vehicle ownership taxes over four years to nominal amounts; ending taxes on vehicle rentals and leases; phasing in over four years a $10,000 vehicle sale price tax exemption; setting total yearly registration, license, and title charges at $10 per vehicle; repealing other specific vehicle charges; lowering the state income tax rate to 4.5% and phasing in a further reduction in the rate to 3.5%; ending state and local taxes and charges, except 911 charges, on telecommunication service customer accounts; and stating that, with certain specified exceptions, any added charges on vehicles and telecommunication service customer accounts shall be tax increases?

Amendment 60


Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning government charges on property, and, in connection therewith, allowing petitions in all districts for elections to lower property taxes; specifying requirements for property tax elections; requiring enterprises and authorities to pay property taxes but offsetting the revenues with lower tax rates; prohibiting enterprises and unelected boards from levying fees or taxes on property; setting expiration dates for certain tax rate and revenue increases; requiring school districts to reduce property tax rates and replacing the revenue with state aid; and eliminating property taxes that exceed the dollar amount included in an approved ballot question, that exceed state property tax laws, policies, and limits existing in 1992 that have been violated, changed, or weakened without state voter approval, or that were not approved by voters without certain ballot language?

Amendment 61

Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning limitations on government borrowing, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting future borrowing in any form by state government; requiring voter approval of future borrowing by local governmental entities; limiting the form, term, and amount of total borrowing by each local governmental entity; directing all current borrowing to be paid; and reducing tax rates after certain borrowing is fully repaid?

I have read that Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and Reeves Brown, spokesman for Western Slope advocacy group Club 20 believe that these measure would result in "complete anarchy". Really?
Colorado's  budget is about 20 billion dollars. These measures would limit 2.2 billion in taxes. So you are telling me that if you eliminate 10% of a budget that it would cause anarchy? Let's get real people.  What limiting 10% of the budget does do is prevent us from paying interest (wasted money) in borrowed money. It also puts $2.2 billion back into the economy where the people can decide how to spend that money not the government. When businesses look for places to place setup shop, one of the main things they look at is the tax burden. If we lower that burden I believe it would also bring in more businesses (ie: more tax revenue). Will it be hard to do? Sure. But it can be done.  I'm for any idea that limits the power (money) of government.

Crazy Gubernatorial Race in Colorado

This is one of the craziest political campaigns, I have ever seen in my life. We have: Improper campaign contributions, plagiarism, lies about former employment, a third party spoiler candidate, party leader strong arming, endorsements and endorsement resending. I can't even keep up anymore.

One thing that I do know is that all this political bickering on the Republican side has pretty much sown up the Governors race for John Hickenlooper. This is a most critical election, with the redistricting that will be occurring in the coming months and Republicans have surrendered what should have been a Republican shoo-in for Governor.

I am very dissatisfied with the Colorado Republican Party. For a party that needed a rebuilding they seem to be playing politics as usual. I have been a registered Republican since the mid 90's. I don't always agree with what Republicans stand for but they align closest to my personal beliefs. I have stayed with the Republican Party because I wanted to have a choice in the primary elections. This last primary election I felt I had no choice, so... I was one of those 578 people in Mesa County that did not vote in the race for Governor.

Since I no longer have a choice in the primary elections, I find no reason to stick with the Republican Party. I will soon be changing my party affiliation to Independent. I have had enough of these back room deals and political shinanigans.

In the coming election, if the candidates are the same as they are currently, I will again be an "under vote" (not voting) or writing in a different candidate. I don't care if the candidate has an R or D after their name, if they are not ethical I cannot vote for them. My vote, in my opinion, is my credibility, my duty and my honor. I'm not going to lessen my credibility and support a person with little or no credibility. The time has come for no more "politics as usual", and this citizen is putting his foot down. Enough Already!

Colorado Tea Party Speaks

I was looking at the election results and I see a bit of a theme. The Tea Party candidates did very well. Even the Tea Party canidates (or ones that billed themselves as tea party canidates) that lost, got quite a few of votes. I think it shows that the silent majority is truly tired of the same old song and dance by Washington D.C. and Denver. The people want REAL change. I think that coupled with the Dems "eating thier own" with comments like; "I hear these people saying he's like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested."; a Robert Gibbs comment on the liberal Democrats who have been disagreeing with the Administration. There could be a larger growth in people who affiliate themselves as Tea Party people and vote for a tea party candidate or at least vote against the sitting liberal Democrat.

With this remember, in this last couple of months before the election there will be lots of people, on both sides, that emulate the tea party positions. Do your research carefully. Just because they say they want lower taxes, doesn't mean they don't mind a fee increase or want to implement a socialized health care. Some sites to get you started are on the left sidebar of this blog. Question everything you hear there will be many lies thrown about by the media and the candidates campaigns.

I believe with the awaking of the country their are many, many, more people who are taking the time to find the candidate that fits their core values. That coupled with about 10% of the people who have a lot more time on their hands because they have no job, I think we can have one of the most vetted elections ever. I was taught that knowledge is power. The power of an educated silent majority can speak volumes to a deaf Washington and Denver.

Colorado Governors Race

One day after I give my support to Scott McInnis; a story breaks that he plagiarized some information for a report which he sold for $300,000. He has lots of excuses why that has occured, I don't like excuses.

I am withdrawing my support for Scott McInnis. I believed him to be an honest upstanding man, recent events have put that into question. I have based my life and this blog on principles and values, I can not support a candidate that appears to have violated one of those values; that of honesty.

I am not endorsing Dan Maes at this point either. The questions regarding his role in illegal campaign contributions, for which he was fined, require for me to look a lot closer at his record prior to any endorsement.

Time to Catch Up

A week ago or so, I tried to lift a lawn mower to a place I needed to mow. About 3 seconds into the operation, I was reminded I am not 20 anymore and have been kinda "gimped up" for a spell. Now I'm going to try to catch up on all the news I've been missing, thanks for your patience...


Obama vs. Brewer

After blowing off Brewer since Arizona passed their immigration legislation, Obama decides that he can meet with Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona and blow her off in person. I just hope that Governor Brewer doesn't want a job in the administration because it appears that the White House is hiring.........

White House vs. Senate Contenders

If you run happen to be a Democrat and be running against a Democrat Incumbent for Senate it appears that you might be getting a call from Rahm Emmanuel (Or a visit in the shower) and be offered a "job" in the administration. Ahhh Chicago politics...Richard J. Daley would be proud.

Plug the Damn Hole!

As a concerned President, Obama sent a bunch of engineers and oil men to the Louisiana coast to help plug the drill hole leaking into the gulf.....ahem....excuse me .....I guess he sent lawyers...so never mind.

Grand Junction "Listens"....

The City of Grand Junction had a "listening tour" about building a new police/fire station that was voted down by the public a couple of years ago. I hope they got their money's worth because it cost $1,000 a head to hear what those 41 people had to say...

Maybe next time you give a high school kid a hundred bucks and have him walk around the mall with a tape recorder and ask questions, might have a better result.

Moon Rocks ....Moon Rocks where could you be?

Moon rocks that they just discovered to be missing, were located in the home of Former Gov. John D. Vanderhoof. Governor Vanderhoof quit being Governor in 1975, so it took 35 years to figure out that they were even missing. What else has gone "missing" the last 35 years?

OK there's my brief thoughts on the headlines thanks again for your patience.

Teacher Tenure

Right now the Colorado Assembly is contemplating changing teacher tenure in Colorado schools. To me this is an idea that is way overdue. My feelings about tenure started back when Ward Churchill was calling the victims of the World Trade Center attack "little Eichmanns".  My thought was "How can we not fire this [place expletive here]."

I don't understand how one industry can have an established system to allow for unlimited employment. In my opinion it is about time someone based teacher job performance to  pay.  Even the most powerful job in the world, President of the United States, has to have a good job performance to get re-elected.

I understand that teaching our youth is a difficult task. I also understand, if done well, it can be most rewarding. What I don't understand is why teachers would oppose these changes. Don't teachers want  to be better at their job? Every job I have had I have been evaluated on my job performance. Sometimes they are good sometimes they are bad. When evaluations are good I get more benefits or a wage increase, when they are bad I get knowledge on what I can do to improve my job performance, thus making me a better employee. 

On a side note about employee evaluations...The best evaluation I have ever received was actually a poor evaluation of my performance. I knew I had done better than the other employees so I when I asked my boss why I received a poor evaluation he gave me a simple answer.  "Todd, I know you did better then the other employees, but I am not evaluating how you did in comparison to them, I am evaluating your performance based on what I know you can do versus what you have done."  Lesson learned.

Back to my rant...  I believe that if a teacher is going through the motions to pick up a check, maybe this isn't the line of work for them. Equally, I believe that a good teacher can be overlooked, thus an opportunity to learn from the good teacher on how to educate our children best, is lost.

I would think that the good teachers would be in favor of a merit based system, as bad teachers just make their job more difficult as well as lessen the teaching professions credibility as a whole. 

I think that instead of being beholden to the teachers unions good teachers need to stand up and support Colorado Senate bill 191.

Chicago style politics in Colorado

I read this story in the Denver Post about a Elections-reform bill in the offering.

It appears that the Colorado House Dems want to change the rules in the middle of the game... They want to allow for voter registrations to be allowed on the same day as the elections. The bill also calls for "pre-registration" of children who are 16 and over. The last provision is...All ballots to be mail in ballots that can be collected (and held) by a third party.

There is so much wrong with this bill I don't know where to begin...

I guess I'll start with what I'll call the "ACORN provision" where ballots can be delivered by a third party (ie: like ACORN). They can also be held for up to 10 days. What kind of nonsense is that? We are going to allow for some third party control our LIBERTY for 10 days? Are we going to supply them with a computer to alter the ballots as well?

The next provision is the Pre-registration of 16 year-old children. This is what I call the "Teachers union provision". The way I see it is; at 16 years old our children are still being heavily influenced by teachers. Teachers are controlled by a left wing union. So is this a way to allow for more liberal influence of our children at a younger age?

The last part is the headline part of the bill. What I'll call the "Libs steal the election with out-of state people and illegal immigrants provision". The whole design of the bill is not to get greater participation of Colorado citizens, it is to get greater participation from out-of-state citizens. If you have registrations the day of the election you cannot verify the person is a Colorado citizen. You can not verify if the person is even a legal US citizen. So what you get is a flood of new "residents" from Illinois and Mexico voting in our elections, making our decisions.

This bill is just bad, bad, bad! The bill is to be introduced next week in the Colorado House, so contact your Colorado Representative and tell them you don't want them to support the liberal out-of-state take over of our elections.

Colorado House Members for Mesa County:

District 54: Steve King
Phone:303-866-3068 E-mail: steve.king.house@state.co.us


District 55: Laura Bradford
Phone:303-866-2583 E-mail: laurabradford55@gmail.com

Is Colorado Becoming a Terrorist State?

Today they arrested a woman from Leadville, that is somehow involved in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of Mohammed. Then we had the guy from Aurora that wanted to blow up a train in New York City. We have had the other "terrorist type" activities like the Columbine shooting and the recent middle school shooting.

It got me wondering what is happening (or not happening) in Colorado that doesn't seem to be happening in other states.  I don't think I have any answers, just a lot of questions to think about...

Why do all these people seem to be from Colorado? Are we more lax with our vigilance here? Do we believe that for the most part no one from Colorado would do something so bad such as a terrorist act?   Are we the type sort people that don't take any garbage from people so when we notice a wrong (even if the wrong is wrong) we do something about it?

Is it a mountain or climate thing? Are the mountains just a good place to hide? Is the climate similar to Afghanistan or Pakistan so the Muslim extremists like to come here and recruit?

Maybe we are just getting good at law enforcement. They did catch the two most recent Muslim extremists before any crime was committed.  Maybe our cops are just getting good at catching the bad guys and the other states don't do it as well.

I was born in Colorado and have lived here the majority of my life. I love this state, it's beauty of both the mountains and the plains. I love the "rugged individualist" attitude I feel in this state. This is a new time from when we grew up, we need to be completely aware of our surroundings now more than ever. For those people who think terrorism cannot happen in your area, your state, your wrong.  If it can crop up in Western Colorado it can crop up anywhere. So remember to be alert and don't let the bad guys win.

Immigration on the Western Slope

It has been quite some time since I wrote about the topic of immigration reform. I read that the Colorado Immigrations Rights Coalition has opened an office in Montrose, so I thought it time to state or restate my position on immigration.

First off, I like immigration. My forefathers came to the U.S. from Germany, Ireland and Russia. Bringing with them their culture, food, and traditions. They came to the United States, they learned our language, they shared their traditions and culture and learned the traditions and cultures of other Americans.

The difference between the mass immigrations between 1850 and 1910 and the immigrations of today is all the immigrants in days of old, came in the front door of America, not sneeking in the back door.

Immigrants of the day had difficult problems to deal with, just as much as immigrants of today. They were discriminated against and they did the "jobs Americans wouldn't do". They worked hard to get into this country. They worked hard to learn the language. They worked hard to pass the tests required to be come a citizen of the United States.

The current immigrants from Latin American countries seem to think that they are "owed" citizenship because they went through all the difficulties of breaking the law to get into this country. What? We want to reward lawbreakers with citizenship? How does that work?

Let's say a man steals a car. Because he had such difficulty stealing the car, should we should be rewarding him with a Rolls Royce? That is insane. You don't reward illegal activity. We needn't give away the citizenship of greatest country of the world. Citizenship is not a prize. You have to earn it. To become a member of the greatest country of the world you have to make the effort, do the work.

So if this Colorado Immigrations Rights Coalition has been put in Montrose to help legal immigrants in becoming legal citizens, I will support them all the way.

But if this Coalition's main interest in granting citizenship to millions of criminals, then let me be the first on the Western Slope to suggest setting up an ICE station next door.

Colorado Loves Califorina Taxes

Governor Ritter declared February 12 as "Colorado Loves California day". We love California so much in Colorado,  we are already adopting the California tax structure of tax everything. Here's a little note to the Colorado Assembly and the Governor.....Don't take advice from a state that is about to go bankrupt.

The recent bills that were approved and sent to the Governor's desk will increase taxes for the following things:

• Candy
• Soda
• Online purchases
• Software
• Pesticides
  
• Other agricultural items
  
• Energy used in industrial processes
• Direct mail materials
• Non-essential food items (like plastic spoons, napkins)

The legislature is also working to eliminate tax credits and exemptions for businesses. A statement from Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder..."Businesses don't care about Colorado. They care about their own profits. They'll get as much money as they possibly can out of us, and then they'll leave when it suits them."  Well you have the leave part right Jack, they will leave once you idiots tax the hell out of them. Of course, they will take  the jobs created by the business with them.

I wonder how the Democrats plan on balancing the budget once everybody from Colorado moves to Texas because they can't afford to live here anymore?  I guess they can just levy the additional taxes on Jack Pommer.  We could do that because Jack knows that businesses don't contribute anything to the state now, so all the tax money raised must be from Jack's magic money tree.

Steve King Ethics Probe

My Colorado State House Representative Steve King (R) is being investigated for "double dipping" or taking money from both the State and his own campaign.
In his defense Mr. King sent a letter to the ethics committee that said that his car was broken down, he had no cash, and borrowed the money from his campaign to rent a car to get to Denver (to work). Then he repaid the campaign.

I don't know how true the story is, I usually consider politicians guilty until proven innocent, but it does bring some interesting things to light. For the sake of this blog let's say that Mr. King's story is true. What is he supposed to do? He did what he thought was right to make it to Denver to serve his constituents (me) in the 54th District. Then he fixed the money thing by repaying his campaign. Was it ethical? I think that is a fine line. Borrowing without telling anybody, probably not ethical, but serving his constituents is ethical, repaying the money is also ethical.

I never read anything in the Colorado Constitution that says you have to have money to be a Representative in the State of Colorado. Some detractors will say "Why doesn't he put it on his own credit card and pay interest like everybody else." What if he doesn't have a credit card? Not everybody has a credit card. Me for instance, I don't have a credit card. In my thinking if I can't afford it, I don't need it, with no credit card the temptation is not there to buy something I haven't worked for yet.

That brings me back to the question, What was he supposed to do? Who was he going to tell? Maybe we (people of the State of Colorado) could set up an emergency fund for instances like this, where a lawmaker could borrow the cash to rent a car so they could go to work, then repay the borrowed cash when they get reimbursed. Maybe the State of Colorado could set-up a direct bill account with a rental car place so all the legislator needs to do is sign his name and the car company bills the State. How about a State issued credit card? If I have a broken pipe at the motel on a weekend, I don't have to call the owner to get a check issued to buy the parts, I have a company credit card for the hardware store.

Maybe we could make an incentive for legislators to carpool to Denver, like pay them an extra 10 cents a mile for carpooling. Then the legislators could even chat along the way, fixing Colorado's problems, one mile at a time.

I can see the ethical problems both for and against Mr. King, but I'm not ready to throw him under the bus. I just think we need to help our legislators get to Denver so they could do what we hired them to do create legislation.

The Western Slope doesn't matter?

The website Coloradopols.com posted an article that states that Western Slope doesn't matter in a state wide election. The article essentially said that the Western Slope of Colorado doesn't matter, in a state wide election because the Front Range has so many more people than the Western Slope.

I think the folks at Coloradopols.com didn't give to much thought to their article. There are roughly 600,000 people that live on the Western Slope. That is about equivalent to the populations of Colorado Springs and Greeley combined. Do they matter in a statewide election?

If the Western Slope doesn't matter then why have we been visited by the two Presidential candidates (Obama, McCain), a Vice Presidential candidate (Palin) and then after the election we were visited by the President? I would say that the Presidential election is a bit bigger than a state election and we mattered at that time.

If you think the folks on the Western Slope don't matter, then let me point you to another election that was pretty close, Bush vs. Gore. That election was essentially decided by 537 votes cast in Florida. All the voters in an election matter, that is what democracy is all about. I don't think it matters if you live in Denver, Grand Junction or even Crook, Colorado you are part of this state and your vote matters.

The State of Nanny (Colorado)

Is Colorado becoming an nanny state? You read the news lately, and you could believe that to be true. I always thought of Colorado as a "do-it-yourself-leave-me-alone" kind of place, but now the government wants to be increasingly more intrusive into our lives.

Here are some top stories today:

Bill would require high school mascots to get Colorado OK (Denver Post)

If your school happens to be called the Central Warriors, you will have to get permission to use that moniker or else you get a BIG fine. Glad you could watch my back Colorado. I would hate to make somebody mad at me in this politically correct world of ours.

Tax on Cola and Candy may return (ABC Channel 7 News)

I'm not sure if you will give up soda on a 4 cent tax (I won't), but the government sure wants you to give it up. The other portion of the bill about computer software being taxed should stop one thing in the state ....growth. If I was an industry and had to buy a $100,000 software product (believe me they are out there) to upgrade my business, I might look to another state to buy that software, or I might even move on of Colorado to avoid the costly price of doing business here.

Greeley council votes to nix the chicks (Greeley Tribune)


If you don't like that there are chickens in your neighbors yard, I've got three solutions: Move, Don't move there to begin with, or chicken soup.

Colorado State releases draft of campus gun ban (9News)

Ask the victims of Virgina Tech if they would have liked to have a firearm on that terrible day, oh that's right you can't because they are no longer alive.


I think it is time we got the State off our backs and our of our lives. We are Coloradoans, the rugged individual kind of people. We don't need someone else telling us what to do. Maybe there are laws to protect the rest of us in case you do something real stupid (ie: drunk driving). But if like someone else telling you that you can't have that candy bar and a cola as you play Doom (or whatever the popular game is today) because it is bad for you, that is ridiculous.

Attention legislators: Give me liberty in Colorado, not rules.

Grand Junction and Amendments 60, 61, Prop 101

I read an article today in the Daily Sentinel that states that ballot issues for Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 would cost the city 10% of it's budget next year.

Please realize that as of this writing I have not read the actual measures, just going off the information in the article.

I will go measure by measure, then give my opinion as it relates to the City of Grand Junction.

Amendment 60: This requires that a government can not extend your property taxes without voter approval. Voter approval would happen every 4 years. Limits mill levies and forces the state to make-up the shortfall. Humm, accountability to the voters that doesn't sound bad to me. It also sounds like it would limit the amount of debt incurred by government.

Amendment 61: This would limit the amount of money that a government could borrow without voter approval, including leases. Hummm, even more accountability to the voters, that's good. Larger limits on the amount of debt that a government can have, sounding even better.

Proposition 101: Decreases ownership fees for vehicles, limits sales taxes on vehicles over $10,000. Cancels lease fees and rental fees on vehicles, eliminates telecommunications taxes and lowers income taxes. Hummmm, lower taxes and fees, sounds best so far.

When the whole country is in a recession it is amazing what happens. As a business you learn to not spend money, except on the critical items, you cut back, you make due with what you have. A family does the same thing. They make the small cuts to save the big stuff. With government they seem to think they are impervious to the the poor economy. They keep spending like it is a boom time. They don't plan for the future. They are like a spoiled child that wants everything NOW! Well Vercua, you can't have it now. You are elected by the people and are accountable to the people. The first sign of good legislation is when the bureaucrats come out and say: "We can't do that or it is impossible".

The above measures would cut the city budget by about 10%. What is wrong with that? I would be willing to bet that every department in the city could cut 10% with little problem. The people and the businesses in this town have cut much more than that over the last year, maybe it is time for government to do the same.

What if this happens... you cut all these taxes, making Colorado more attractive to businesses, they move in, adding jobs and even more money to the state and local coffers. Maybe there is two sides to every coin. Accountability in government is a good thing and I think I like these budget measures already.

10th Amendment

The 10th Amendment to the Constitution reads....

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute of Golden has proposed a ballot question that would create a new Colorado Constitution Amendment that would allow for Coloradoians the right to "opt-out" of any federal health care plan that is approved.

Mr. Caldara said mandating all Americans to have health care insurance is a violation of states’ rights. That “The citizens can decide to speak up and say no to Obama care,” Caldara said. “Colorado is defending itself from an unfunded mandate from Washington, D.C.”

What a novel concept: using the Constitution when we draft legislation instead of some political agenda. I hope that this becomes a ballot measure in November, defiantly one that I can support.

Here is the link to the Independence Institute on Facebook: Defend-Colorado-from-ObamaCare Facebook page.

Colorado's 30th Congressional district

With the stimulus money evidently we have "saved or created" 14 jobs in Colorado's 30th Congressional District. Interesting Colorado only has 7 Congressional districts. Humm...Wonder where the money is really going....

I am sure the White House will blame somebody else, they always do. How about making one of the jobs that is created or saved, a proofreader to the website. Hell of a concept. These are the people that want to be in charge of your medical records...

Just imagine it now, the government insurance agent talking..."I don't know what is wrong with the guy but he needs to have an operation on his second skull."

Here's a list and jobs created in some of the strange congressional districts. I took this from the recovery.gov website.

Top Congressional Districts/ Jobs /Amount

00 congressional district/0 /$10,127,728
8th congressional district/3/$2,193,620
30th congressional district/14/$1,085,762
25th congressional district/0/$278,122
59th congressional district /0/ $182,183
58th congressional district/ 0/ $56,304
64th congressional district/ 14/ $33,195
43rd congressional district /0 /$26,490
45th congressional district /5 /$23,098
12th congressional district /0 /$10,037


I don't know what scares me more; that somebody doesn't know where they live or that we are paying 10 million dollars in a non-existant Congressional district that didn't create a single job.

Maybe they are all in our 57th state...or the state of make believe.

Governor Ritter makes the kids pay!

It appears the only way that Governor Ritter can create a balanced budget is to charge the children. The latest barrage of insanity; cut the education budget, tax candy, soda, and online purchases.

It appears that the Governor doesn't want young people to have any money. The current unemployment rate for teenagers is 27.6%. So if you are a teenager that actually has a job you are going to be charged extra for your candy and soda. I am so glad that Governor Ritter is here to help take care of us, I don't know if we could do it ourselves.


It might be interesting to so see if the education budget gets cut, increases are mandatory under the Colorado Constitution.

Governor Ritter must not realize that there are 49 other states we can live. Young people will be making the decision on where to go to school, or just live, in the near future. Does he think they are going to want to live in Colorado, when all their money pays taxes and fees?

I envision this as Governor Ritter's "Things to do List":

1) Kick mentally handicapped people out of their home..... Check
2) Release prisoners from prison early......Check
3) Get rid of that nasty natural gas industry.....Check
4) Raise fees for all services.....Check
5) Tax all soda and candy.........In process
6) Reduce education budget.....In process
7) Lose election in 2010......In process

A little side note....

I can see a promising career for those out of work teens....start bootlegging my Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Diet Pepsi from Utah.