According to the latest on the Barack Obama Big Show aka Acceptance Speech in Denver, http://cbs4denver.com/politics/dnc.tickets.convention.2.797469.html, half of Invesco Field at Mile High will be filled with Coloradoans. The local news is reporting that the criteria for a “free” ticket was volunteering to work on the Obama campaign wasn’t a requirement is only telling half the truth.

I have it by reliable sources (someone I know applied for a ticket) was told that they would need to put in 6 hours of volunteer time or make a contribution to the Obama campaign. I guess it just goes to show you, you can’t get anything for free.  I thought “free” meant “for nothing.” That means no pay back or volunteering – just show up and they let you in.

As a result, my reliable source is not going to show up for the acceptance speech. I wonder how many other people will be doing this too? Tune in on August 28th to see if Invesco Field at Mile High is filled with 70,000 people or maybe the DNC will digitalize the crowd – just ask the Chinese how they did their opening ceremony.

Until later,

Linda

With the DNC only weeks away, many Denver Downtown residents are cashing in by renting out their homes. Recently the local media http://cbs4denver.com/local/denver.home.rentals.2.790856.html reported that Denver residents are renting their condos and homes to people willing to pay top dollar for housing near the Pepsi Center. From reporters, celebrities, lobbyists (really I didn’t think the Democrats allowed lobbyists in their group!) to other political power-players are renting lofts and condos starting from $750 to $1,000 per night. 

The Rocky Mountain News http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/07/oprah-rents-digs-for-week-of-dnc/ recently reported that Oprah Winfrey has rented a home in the most up-scale neighborhood of Cherry Creek. She is paying $50,000 per week for this home. Must be nice. 

Also rumor has it that Barack Obama will be staying at a home  miles away from downtown Denver in the Cherry Hills neighborhood. This estate home will have all the luxuries fit for the Chosen One. 

So where will Bill and Hillary Clinton stay or Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? Haven’t heard yet, but I’ll keep you posted. You don’t think they would stay in downtown Denver at one of the many exquisite hotels. I’m sure they will be staying at a rented home in the up-scale areas of the Denver Metropolitan area.

But what about conserving gas and being green for these folks? If you leave the downtown Denver area, you need a car to get back into town. Or maybe RTD will accommodate them – it’s a joke folks. Can you imagine these people taking the bus to the Pepsi Center? 

Oh the opulence of the DNC! I thought the Democrats were the people’s party. I guess they want to throw a big party and really don’t care how much it costs. Are they using taxpayer’s money or their own money? Something to think about. 

Until later, 

Linda 

The latest news from Denver is that Barack Obama will be giving his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium. He claims that he wants to offer this “historic” event to the “grass roots” community.

What is he talking about?

The DNC is only offering minimal tickets (about 1200) to local people to attend at Invesco. The stadium holds over 76,000 people and if you take into account all the dingbats from the DNC convention that leaves about 40,000+ empty seats.

But this gets better. Now the DNC is offering a free trip to see Obama speech (see the article at http://cbs4denver.com/local/convention.obama.donors.2.765275.html). They are raffling off tickets at $5 or more for a chance to attend the speech.

Isn’t this illegal? Whose checking on this type of “fund raising/”raffle”?

The truth of the matter, it seems as though the people of Colorado are not interested in the DNC at all. Surveys on local channel web sites show overwhelmingly negative numbers when asked if they are planning to attend the DNC and even the “historic” speech at Invesco.

Concerns about the $12 million short fall for the convention is gaining momentum. Local web bloggers are saying that taxes may be raised to pay for the convention.

Right up the Democrats alley isn’t it? Let’s spend and tax the people – Coloradoans are wealthy they can afford this.

I don’t think so.

Until later,

Linda 

Today, July 7, 2008 the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado is officially closed for all sporting events until after the DNC convention starting on August 25, 2008. The DNC officially has the keys to the Center to start construction and clearing equipment and furnishings from the building’s retail stores, storage areas and locker rooms of the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche.

All of this is taking place even when the last report in June was that Denver was short about $11m to host the convention. Now rumors are saying that the cost to host the convention is more than the $40.6 million originally asked for. They are calling these costs “overruns.” The contract calls for additional security costs of $1.5 million, another $1.5 million for reimbursement of Pepsi Center suite holders and $900,000 in host committee costs. None of this money is included in the original $40.6 million. The contract also requires almost $10 million of in-kind services, whatever that means. What isn’t raised in donations must be paid for in cash. My question is by whom?

Now the Democratic National Committee wants to move Obama’s acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field at Mile High. The DNC claims that there are no potential additional costs. I don’t think so.

What about security? Security needs to be set up at Invesco as well as a plan for moving all the big wig Democrats to Invesco. TV stations need to move their communication trucks and of course set up for the event. Highways need to be shut down and this is during a workweek. Did I mention that a lot of businesses are planning to let their employees work from home? Also, Denver is going to pay, yes pay you, to take alternative transportation into town during the convention. Where is Denver getting this money from?

Of course, Democratic Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. praised the decision to move the acceptance speech to the larger venue. He said, “Senator Obama and the DNCC have truly brought the community into the Convention. This decision will enable thousands of residents from Colorado, the Rocky Mountain West and across the nation to witness history first hand. What a way to fire up our grassroots activists as we head into the fall campaign.”

Once again, the Democrats have shown that they have no fiscal responsibility and are not good citizens. They are demanding from a host city to have their way and don’t care how much they spend other peoples’ money! With a Democrat Mayor and Governor, all the hard-working citizens of Colorado can do is just sit and watch this craziness.

I’m getting this feeling that the Democrat Party just doesn’t care how much money they spend or how much inconvenience they cause a city and their citizens. They are in this for all show and no substance.

I can just see Howard Dean basking in the glow of all of this pomp and circumstance. He wants to show the American people how great the Democrats are. But in reality the DNC convention is going to be nothing but a three-ring circus. Is this the type of “change” Obama is talking about? The only change I see is from our pockets to feed the Democrats’ ego as well as his.

With about seven weeks to go before the convention starts, the good people of Denver and Colorado are in for a rude awakening of how the Democrats actually run their party. Let’s see how responsible they really are and if they leave a huge mess (money mess) for the citizens of Colorado to pick up.

The past year the majority Democrat legislator in Colorado sent to Governor Bill Ritter over 400 bills to sign. While a handful of these bills were widely publicized, one Senate Bill 200 that was signed on June 5, 2008 by Governor Bill Ritter didn’t get a lot of publicity.

Why?

Because this bill expands the “ant-discrimination” law that covers sexual orientation not only homosexuality or bisexuality, but also “transgender status or another person’s perception thereof.” The bill prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. It protects those who identify themselves as gay, bisexual or transgender from discrimination in areas including housing, business and education. And here is where this law really gets interesting, it also prohibits discrimination in “public accommodations.”

Here is a link to the actual bill http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2008A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/BD7A295EB6F4460E872573F5005D0148?Open&file=200_enr.pdf.

Known as the “unisex” bathroom bill, this law is a potential time bomb waiting to explode.

The bill allows men who self-identify as “transgender” a legal right to demand to be able to use women’s bathrooms, health club showers, bathhouses and any other “public accommodation.”

In addition, the bill doesn’t define the term “transgender”. In other words, not only is there no legal definition for transgender, but there isn’t even a solid dictionary definition for a court to rely on. Instead, transgender status is a matter of self-identification. Any lawyer will tell you that rendering such a claim is nearly impossible to prove or disprove.

So now, it’s legal in the state of Colorado for a grown man to walk into a girl’s restroom in an elementary school, for example, for whatever purpose, and it is illegal for the school to say you can’t do that. Isn’t this just a wonderful law for sexual predators!

Colorado’s bleeding heart liberals want to make the state’s laws of fairness and justice applicable to everyone living in Colorado. Sounds to me that they even want to make child predators and perverts happy living here too. You see, when something happens, they will be the first ones to say, “How did that happen?”

Rumor has it that Governor Ritter had to pay back some of his staunch supporters – Gay Activist Groups who gave big bucks to his campaign – with this bill. Is this true or just innuendo? No one knows for sure because Governor Ritter won’t comment about signing this bill into law.

I’ve lived in Colorado for over thirty years and used to read the Denver Post religiously. However, in the past ten years this newspaper has turned into a “rag.” Their biased editorial comments and non-descript articles are not worth the dime the newspaper is printed on. 

Now the Denver Post all of a sudden decided that it would be a great idea – maybe to sell more of its rag paper – to publicize Colorado State Employees Compensation. See their article at http://www.denverpost.com/ci_9465204.

First of all they claim that they have the right to do so according to their legal request filed pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), §24-72-201 et seq., C.R.S.  Well that’s nice, but instead of reviewing the compensation and listing the compensation as a group for each Colorado State Department, they included names and titles of each employee along with their salary. Then they put all of this data up on a web site where anyone from anywhere can go and find the information.

As one angry state employee commented, anyone who is savvy in searches can figure out who these people are and where they live. A victim of a violent crime commented that she is now afraid that her attacker may find her again. For fair disclosure on my part, I do have a member of my family who is a Colorado State employee and who is very unhappy with this confidential information published on the World Wide Web.

Did Greg Moore the editor of the Denver Post take any of this into consideration when he agreed to create this “informational” database? Probably not.

I really think he didn’t care. I’m scratching my head as to why he even did this. What was his purpose? Is this news that we all need to know? For what purpose?

Maybe to see how our tax dollars are spent? If he wanted to show the taxpayers of Colorado how their money is being spent I say go after the Colorado State Legislators run by a majority of Democrats with a Democrat governor, who passed idiotic bills this year at the taxpayers’ expense.

Sure, the Denver Post web site tried to justify posting their salary database by saying that other states post this information by newspapers, organization or government web sites. Then they list a handful of states: Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

Once again, the Denver Post lives up to their reputation of being nothing but a “rag” newspaper that is now reaching far into the World Wide Web.

What a night of Dancing with the Democrat candidates on the CNN Democrat Debate. Clinton and Obama were dancing the Waltz. As they twirled, whirled, dipped and bedazzled the crowd with niceties to each other that were sometimes sickening . The only bashing done was to President Bush and the Republican Party.

Quite frankly I’m tired of the Democrats bashing the Bush administration. Hello! He’s not running for the 2008 election. That’s the past – I want to know what they are planning for the future. Hillary Clinton took a snipe at the Bush administration by saying that it took a Clinton to clean up the first Bush administration and now it looks like it will take another Clinton to clean up the other Bush administration. 

Oh please, give me a break. For the past 7 years our homeland has been safe from an attack. We’ve had good economic growth despite the war in Iraq which is now showing progress – you know Rome wasn’t built in a day – these things take time.

And by the way, during the first Clinton administration the Republicans’ were the majority party and they controlled spending and that is why we had good times in the 1990’s. I agree the Republicans did mess up when they were in the majority this time around but that accounts for many of the Republicans not running again. I believe they got caught up in a spend – spend mode. Now the Democrats are the majority party and quite frankly they have done nothing to be proud of for the last few years.

As for the debate last night, I have a lot of concerns about both Obama’s and Clinton’s Health Care Plan. Too much government control and you know what happens when the government is in control – poor service and expensive costs that ALL of us have to pay for.

What I heard last night is raising taxes, spending more and of course getting out of the Middle East. Obama still doesn’t have a clue on foreign affairs. He still wants to have negotiations with the terrorists. I can see it now, an invitation to a parlay hand delivered to Osama Bin Laden to please meet with President Obama. Where will it be delivered? And if we knew where he was I think the only invitation Osama Bin Laden would get is one to Guantanamo Bay.

Can either one of these candidates really believe that we the people will be in charge of the country when they take office? That’s what they are claiming. If you took Civics in high school you know that the only way the “people’s voice” is heard is through their elected officials. And even then that’s an iffy proposition. Once elected and in Washington their ears listen to lobbyists and their own political party. We the people are just forgotten. So wise up people, you won’t have a prayer of a chance to have your voice heard by the President of the United States. He/she will be listening to other voices and cutting deals and wheeling and dealing – like always.

Super Tuesday should be an exciting day. Both parties in 24 states are voting on their choice for their presidential candidate. More debates are scheduled for February and I’m going to watch both the Democrat and Republican debates to see how their dancing with the politicians contest is doing. Let me know what you think about all of this. 2008 is an exciting year filled with political drama so get involved in the process.

Until later,

Linda

Last night the Republican debate on CNN turned into a sniper attack by John McCain and Mike Huckabee. I guess after all of these months of campaigning all of these candidates are getting a bit testy.

McCain kept referring to Romney’s “timetable” comment about the Iraq War. McCain claims that Romney wanted to put a timetable on leaving Iraq just like the Democrats. Romney kept denying that was the intent of his comments. When you hear what Romney said, he is right and McCain was wrong. But I guess McCain feels that his age gives him privileges to not be contradicted in what he thinks. Oh my I just sniped at McCain!

Huckabee was giving a poor me over here every chance he could as well as where are my dozens of questions Cooper that you promised me? Granted he’s not a viable candidate right now but I do want to hear what he has to say on important questions. Whining and sniping does not become you Mr. Huckabee so knock it off!

And then there is Ron Paul. The man is intelligent but about 100 years behind the times. He still is in the “talking points” mode and I don’t understand why he just doesn’t drop out of the race. All he has received is between 3 and 4% of the votes. Time to pack up your carpet bag and head for home Ron!

Some of the questions asked last night from CNN were timely and gave the viewer insight on the candidates. No touchy feely questions but something you can hold onto and see what each candidate is made of. Tonight is the Democrat debate on CNN before Super Tuesday. Now that one should rock the house – the last two standing – Clinton and Obama.

Anderson Cooper I want to hear tough questions and timely questions to see what these two candidates’ plans and goals are for the country. Please no touchy feely questions but right to the heart of the matter.

Until later,

Linda

I’ve been watching both the Democrat and Republican debates these last few weeks and all I can say it is like watching Dancing with the Stars.  All of the candidates are performing the Quick Step, the Cha Cha Cha, the Paso Dobla and the Jive. 

For example, in one of the Democrat debates Hillary Clinton made the allegation that Barack Obama was working for a slum landlord in his earlier career and Barack came back and said what about her employment as legal counsel of Walmart. Now that’s a Paso Dobla filled with passion and drama if I’ve ever seen one! Then of course there are the allegations that Obama is playing the race card and Clinton is playing the gender card – Cha, Cha, Cha. 

What about the questions that they ask during the Democrat debates? How do you feel about this? How do you feel about that? Where are the real tough questions? What do you stand for? How can you make our country safer and better? I haven’t heard those questions at all – nothing but Jive and Quick Stepping to me.

What about the Republican debates you ask? I’ve heard tough questions asked but once again the politicians are dancing the Quick Step, Cha Cha Cha, Paso Dobla and Jive. I love it when they start to bicker – you said this – no I didn’t – yes you did – Cha, Cha, Cha.

Play nice boys! What truly amazes me is that when one politician seems to be ahead the rest of them gang up on him or her. There’s lots of Paso Dobla going on here if you ask me.

I really would like to see more Waltzes or even a beautiful Samba during these debates. But then when these politicians start making nice to each other it gets boring and is it for real or just for show?

The real Dancing with the Stars start up again on March 17^th, until then I’ll be watching Dancing with the Politicians and judging for myself who is the best dancer.

Until later,

Linda

With only one week as the majority in Congress, the Democrats are now talking about a military draft.  Figures!  Democratic Representative Charles Rangel from New York said Sunday that he will introduce legislation to reinstate the military draft, asserting that current troop levels are insufficient to sustain possible challenges against Iran, North Korea and Iraq.

Mr. Rangel, your proposal is ridiculous.  I remember the draft back in the ‘60s and the protests and the draft dodging that went on.  Right now, we have the best trained, educated and committed military personnel in the world.  I remember Mr. Rangel’s statements a couple of years ago saying that there should be a draft.  I thought back then it was wrong and I still do. 

Rangel went on to say that “having a draft would not necessarily mean everyone called to duty would have to serve. Instead, “young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it’s our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals,” with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.”  While this sounds noble enough, who is going to pay for the additional personnel assigned to seaport, airports, schools, etc?

You and me – that’s who!

Once again the Democrats want big government programs that cost us the taxpayers’ money.  Don’t be fooled with the greater good idea they are trying to sell us.  It just won’t work.  Today’s military is very high tech and needs well educated personnel to serve.  Once again, the Democrats have failed to understand the military and how it works as well as who is volunteering for the military today.  The average age is 26 with at least two years of college and some with a college degree.  Not 18 year olds who don’t know what they want to do with their life.  But dedicated and proud citizens that bring to the military skills and education to make it a noble profession along with the ideology to preserve freedom and protect this great country.

Thank goodness for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.  He’s not buying any of this.  I urge everyone to let their Congressman and Senator know that we don’t want the draft to be brought back.  Keep the military a place for dedicated people to serve their country.  With the high tech weapons we have now I feel confident that we can handle any situation. 

Until later,
Linda