Free Republic

Monday, August 17, 2009WWII a big part of man's life story Mike Peters Age is catching up with him now, as it does when you're 85. He spent some time in the hospital last week, scaring his family with a “heart episode.” But Nick Golovanoff of Greeley is still going. Still telling the stories. Still finding a laugh here and there. He and his wife, Mary Alice, haven't lived in Greeley long. They came here so their daughter could help. She is Sandi Selders, wife of former Greeley mayor Tom Selders. But being old is not the story of Nick...

Yesterday I took a bus ride with a group of people down to President Obamas Grand Junction Colorado Town Hall on health care. I should preface this after action report with a few foundational thoughts and a little bit of background. First, I was completely honest about my name, the fact that I was/am a Citizen Reporter for the Huffington Post, and the fact that I write a politically charged health care blog, and am a health care activist. While I did not tell those in charge of the trip that I am also a conservative free market activist who...

Rep. Markey’s scheduled public meetings on federal health care reform: 08/18 Congress on Your Corner Ft Collins 9am – 12pm 08/19 Congress on Your Corner Greeley 11am – 1pm 08/20 Congress on Your Corner Longmont 3pm – 5pm 08/21 Seniors Day Event Greeley 1pm – 3pm 08/22 Congress on Your Corner Ft Lupton 10:00am – 12:00pm 08/24 Tele-Town Hall Meeting District-wide 7:30pm – 8:30pm 08/26 Congress on Your Corner Ft Collins 10:30am – 12pm 08/28 Congress on Your Corner Ft Morgan 9am – 10:30am 09/01 Congress on Your Corner Johnstown 8:30am – 10am 09/02 Congress on Your Corner Windsor 1pm...

After more than a year preparing to host her party’s national convention and helping its candidates win the White House and boost their majority in Congress, Pat Waak wanted August to be what it usually is — a quiet time when the political static recedes. “It certainly has not been like that at all so far,” the chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party said Monday. Partisans on both sides have turned the August congressional recess into a running battle in the war over health care reform. The issue will be part of the message President Barack Obama brings to Colorado...

In the evenings, Donna Munson liked to sit in front of her picture window and watch the bears amble toward her Ouray County log cabin for dinner. The 74-year-old woman — who stocked her backyard with dog food, fruit and yogurt — was found dead outside her home Friday, being eaten by a bear. It was still unknown Saturday whether a bear killed Munson or whether one or more animals consumed part of her body after her death. But people who knew her said she was an eccentric wildlife lover who had been feeding bears, elk, skunks and raccoons for...

Speaker Pelosi & Rep. DeGette Talk Health Care Reform (Change that Works - Colorado) Join us as we welcome House Speaker Nancy Pelosi & Rep. Diana DeGette to the Stout Street Clinic Time: Wednesday, August 12 from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Host: Colorado Change that Works Location: Stout Street Clinic (Denver, CO) 2100 Broadway St Denver, CO 80204

BOULDER, Colo. — U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, was swarmed by people Friday morning when he dropped by the Vic’s coffee shop in north Boulder, expecting a friendly chat with a couple dozen constituents. But the event, the first of a series of meetings dubbed “Congress on Your Corner,” drew hundreds of people, many with health care issues on their minds. “The idea is that it’s so hard to get your average constituent to make it out to a public meeting, that the congressman goes out to where the people are,” said Lara Cottingham, Polis’ press secretary. “Usually it’s 12,...

Luke Carroll, half of the so-called “Dumb and Dumber” duo that robbed a Vail Village bank in 2005, was returned to his home country of Australia this week, immigration officials said Wednesday. Carroll was sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the WestStar Bank heist, in which he and friend Anthony Prince made off with about $130,000, only to be arrested a day later. Seasonal ski shop employees Carroll and Prince made headlines for their blunders during and after the robbery. As they robbed the bank using BB guns, they wore name tags from their ski shop...

Marvin Heemeyer of Granby, Colorado was a profoundly frustrated muffler repair man. In the late 1990s–after years of protests, petitions, and town meetings–it became obvious to the 52-year-old that he was entwined in a gross miscarriage of justice. His business was ruined by some shady zoning changes, and Heemeyer contended that mayor and city council were corrupt. Even as he was forced to give up his legal fight and sell his land, he hatched one last plan to secretly retool his muffler shop to serve a single malevolent purpose: to construct a machine that would allow him to exact his...

Kelsey Grammer wasn't able to attend a parole hearing today for the man who raped and murdered his sister back in 1975 -- so he sent this powerful letter which was read aloud. Grammer -- who missed the hearing in Colorado Springs this morning due to rain delays at JFK airport -- pleads with the court not to release the man who "abducted ... raped ... savaged ... butchered" his little sister Karen. Grammer described his sister as "smart and good and decent," and said "I can never escape the horror of what happened" to her ... "Please do not...

Please feel free to share this flyer with anyone who lives in Denver and/or Colorado! Jenny Hatch More Here: Pajamas Media Web Site for the Constitution Day Teaparty!

Thousands of low-income Coloradans reliant on public assistance could get a free cellphone under a plan before the state Public Utilities Commission. If approved, the plan by TracFone Wireless in Miami would make Colorado the 17th state it has settled into with free cell service for the indigent, a form of wireless welfare that proponents say taps into one of the last untapped markets for the telecom technology. "Our hope is to have it up and running by September," said Jose Fuentes, TracFone's director of government relations. "Historically, it's a very underutilized service, and we'd like that to change."

Denver (AP) Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has awarded some of the state's first stimulus money to his former employer in a no-bid contract. Ritter hired his former law firm, the Washington-based Hogan & Hartson, in a no-bid contract to review stimulus spending, The Denver Post reported Friday. It said the firm was paid $40,000 in stimulus money through June. ...

A Permit has been obtained for the West Steps of the Denver Capitol for an Evening Constitution Day Tea Party and Candlelight Vigil for Freedom on September 12, 2009 in Denver Colorado. Guests are invited to come early to hear a broadcast of the American Constitution accompanied by Patriotic Hymns. This 68 minute reading will begin at 5:30 PM and will be followed by a reading of The Declaration of Independence and then the Bill of Rights. The Tea Party will officially begin at 7PM with the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of our National Anthem. A series of...

Note: The following text is a quote: Federal Grand Jury Returns Indictment on Internet Bomb Threats Hammond, IN—The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana announced that a three-count indictment was returned against Ashton Lundeby for his role in Internet bomb and related threats directed to Purdue University, Indiana University/Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Ind., and numerous other educational institutions throughout the country. Lundeby, 16, of Oxford, N.C., was arrested by the FBI at his home in Oxford on March 6, 2009. A federal search warrant was also executed at that time. Lundeby was arrested pursuant to a...

THE WIDER VIEW: Taking shape, the new bridge at the Hoover Dam 04th July 2009 Creeping closer inch by inch – 900ft above the mighty Colorado River – the two sides of a £160million bridge at the Hoover Dam in America slowly take shape. The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself. When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona. In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be...

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

A young mountain lion was trapped and relocated by the Colorado Division of Wildlife after eating a house cat Monday ... north Boulder. “He was just too close,” Churchill said. “We wanted to give him a spanking and move him out of town.” Wildlife officials previously tagged the same cougar in February when the kitten was stuck in a tree, Churchill said. He is part of the five-year Front Range Mountain Lion Study, which aims to track mountain lions between Lyons and Evergreen to better understand cougar movement trends and develop a way to mitigate aggressive behavior near human establishments,...

Across the country, Americans are suffering at the hands of out-of-control state governments and spending. But guess what? There exists an immunization that helps relieve some of the pain associated with that sort of fiscal calamity. The remedy already is working wonders in Colorado. So, one might ask, why, rather than exporting the treatment, are local Colorado officials in the process of killing it? Colorado has enjoyed more than a decade of above-average economic growth. The state, with its low taxes and highly educated work force, is cited regularly as one of the best places to do business and live....

The radical right wing has launched a vicious campaign of racist and sexist attacks against Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's selection to replace the retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor's "compelling life story" involves a brilliant legal career after being raised in a South Bronx public housing project by parents who moved from Puerto Rico. Sotomayor graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude, edited the Yale Law Journal, then served as a "fearless and effective" New York City prosecutor and corporate lawyer before being appointed to the bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1992. "Since...

A prosecutor looking for illegal immigrants seized thousands of confidential tax records from an income tax preparer popular with Hispanics in this northern Colorado city. The October seizures led to identity-theft and criminal-impersonation charges against more than 70 people, and prosecutors allege that as many as 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants were working using false or stolen Social Security numbers. But the American Civil Liberties Union said the documents of as many as 4,900 people were seized, many of them legal residents, and that the probe was the "equivalent of a house-by-house search of innocent homeowners in order to find a...

A retired Air Force colonel with decades of experience as a flight instructor gave one of his students a hands-on lesson in a key principle of flying: Don't run out of gas. Al Uhalt of Colorado Springs made a bumpy but safe landing in a field Thursday when the single-engine Aviat Husky he and a student were flying ran out of fuel near the end of a 45-minute lesson. Neither Uhalt nor the student, 16-year-old Kyle Sundman, was injured and the plane was undamaged.

Note: The following text is a quote: Eight Uzbekistan Nationals Among 12 Charged with Racketeering, Human Trafficking & Immigration Violations in Scheme to Employ Illegal Aliens in 14 States Twelve defendants, including eight Uzbekistan nationals, have been charged in a 45-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on May 6, 2009, on RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges related to labor racketeering, forced labor trafficking and immigration and other violations in 14 states. Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev, 30, Nodir Yunusov, 22, Rustamjon Shukurov, 21, citizens of Uzbekistan residing in Mission, Kan.; Ilkham Fazilov, 44, Nodirbek...

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

It is imperative, now more than ever, to exercise rights and liberties that are, no doubt, soon to be under attack. Congressional liberals, and even our Governor (who recently vetoed HB1180 – a bill to streamline the purchase of a gun for a valid CCW permit holder) oppose many of our second amendment rights. Even Barack Obama, in an interview with NPR in September of 2004, made clear his contempt for right to carry laws. As a result, more and more Coloradoans are preparing to exercise their liberties, and applying for their own permit; despite their inclination to carry a...

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

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

They dropped their tiny dog off for grooming at the Castle Rock PetSmart. Minutes later, another dog mauled it to death...What troubled the family most though, was that Buddy had been killed by the PetSmart grooming manager's dog, a dog other workers call a pit bull. But a dog the owner calls in the police report, an American Bulldog Mastiff.

Students in Pueblo, Colorado have been given a homework assignment to come up with a terrorist attack for history class. Naturally, the school is saying that the kids misinterpreted the assignment, and that any kid who plots an attack on the school will be punished. They are destroying the assignments as we speak. Is an assignment like this appropriate for school? Take the poll at the link.

PUEBLO, Colo. -- A ninth grade history project at a high school in Pueblo was supposed to teach students about terrorism, but instead it outraged parents.Gini Fischer says her daughter came home Thursday saying she had two minutes to come up with a plot for an act of terrorism.  Over 110 freshmen at Pueblo County High School were given the project.The teacher claims the assignment was to illustrate an act of terrorism by a foreign government on American soil.Fischer says, "To ask them to use their creative energies to come up with a plot for an act of terrorism...

DENVER - New developments in the case of an Iraq veteran whose car was impounded by Denver Police. Airman Brian Furman says he had just returned to home from a dangerous, 13 month deployment in Iraq when he was stopped by a Denver Police officer for a broken headlight. The officer also ticketed him for invalid license and then impounded Furman's car under a new Denver law which allows police to seize cars when the driver isn't carrying a valid license. It also requires the owner to post a $2,500 bond, plus fees. If the bond isn't posted within 30...

Poll Question How do you grade President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office? A B C D F

Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck announced today that he’s now an official candidate for the Colorado U.S. Senate seat up for election next year. “For too long, Washington has forgotten the values of the rest of the country. I believe the strength of America is the work ethic, innovation and persistence of the American worker,” Buck, a Republican, said in a statement. Buck, who said he’d filed his candidacy papers today, is one of several Republicans who have been openly considering runs for the Senate post now filled by Denver Democrat Michael Bennet. Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Bennet to...

Democrat Bill Ritter rode an anti-Republican sentiment into the governor's office in 2006, but a new poll suggests he might have a much harder time in his re-election bid. In the survey of 1,050 likely Colorado voters, Ritter's disapproval ratings are higher than his approval ratings among all voters, including Hispanics and the most crucial bloc of all in Colorado politics: unaffiliated voters. Ritter ... most likely will face one of two Grand Junction Republicans next year: former Congressman Scott McInnis or Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry. The poll shows McInnis beating Ritter, 48-41, and Ritter barely edging Penry, 40-42....

It's been said that conservatism has different meanings for different people. It may not be textbook, but without a whole lot of navel gazing, here's what it means to me and what Free Republic is all about: In a word, Freedom! In two words, Preserving Freedom. In a handful of words as stated by our Founding Fathers, to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity! America was founded on the proposition that all men are created equal by God and that our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are granted directly by God...

A suspected home intruder is under arrest Saturday morning after police say the homeowner took security into their own hands. Colorado Springs police say they were called to 3295 West Woodmen Road on a report that a person armed with a knife had just broken into the caller's home. The caller told police they had used their gun to fire a shot at the armed suspect and the suspect had run away. Police and K-9 units found the suspect in the woods with non-life threatening wound to his lower leg. He was transported to Memorial Hospital and arrested after he...

Do not believe the nattering nabobs of negativity. The Nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt was a huge success!! What we need now is MORE and LOUDER!! Obama has no clue. Being confronted by millions of fed-up citizens is new to him. He never expected the otherwise docile American people to rise up against his wannabe Marxist/fascist totalitarian regime. He's now lashing out at us through the Dept of Homeland Security as if We the People are his enemy. Well, we are! And he now knows it. And he's scared witless!! And the media has been reduced to the speechless,...

So let's review: what happens when you are an average citizen that skips out on paying late fees? You get your car repossessed, your home foreclosed upon, or your utilities shut off. If it is a government fee you refuse to pay, you will likely end up in jail for not paying. But, whatever late fee you aren't paying, it bodes major trouble if you're a regular citizen. Now what happens if you are a Democrat politician that finds a late fee assessed to you for whatever reason? Naturally, you decide you are exempt from paying such piffle because, after...

A bomb threat demanding the release of immigrants being held for deportation was received by the Weld County Sheriff ‘s Office on Thursday. The threat was a handwritten letter in Spanish threatening judicial and law enforcement officers with the bombs with the “intent to kill the most number of Americans,” according to a press release. Currently, there are 58 inmates with immigration holds being held in the Weld County Jail. In the letter, the writer threatened to place bombs in and around Greeley after April 20 unless the immigration holds are released. “Sheriff (John) Cooke wants the public to know...

Congratulations FReepers and Patriots! According to Henchster's ongoing tallies, we've surpassed 750,000 participants in our nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt! Woo hoo!! All 50 states fully engaged! Over 600 cities represented and reports still coming in! Huge turnout, huge SUCCESS!! Elected officials take note: DO NOT TREAD ON ME!! Tyranny, usurpation, corruption, overreaching, big spending, high taxing will no longer be tolerated! We the people are FED-UP and we're not going to take it anymore! Ignore us at your own peril! All Congressional seats, all elected offices throughout the land at risk! Revolution is in the air!!

If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP grass-roots effort as “AstroTurf.” “This initiative is funded by the high end; we call it AstroTurf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class,” Pelosi said....

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state. Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the...

The U.S. Forest Service wants to thin or burn 25,000 acres of overgrown forest on Pikes Peak and surrounding foothills, areas where fire suppression has created "unnatural forest conditions prime for catastrophic wildlfire," . It would be the largest tree removal project on the peak since 1890s loggers left wide swaths of the mountain bare to meet the demands of Cripple Creek's gold rush. Officials say thinning and burning is needed because a major fire on the peak would pose a threat to the lives and property of the many people who live adjacent to the peak's forests, Colorado Springs'...

Colorado's March state sales and income tax collections fell 22 percent from 2008, leaving the state more than $57 million below revenue projections for the month and exacerbating an already dire budget shortfall. The results were 13.4 percent lower than a conservative budget forecast. Legislators already are working to close a budget shortfall of $1.4 billion over the next 15 months and are considering options such as ... raiding the Pinnacol Assurance reserves for $580 million.

We cheer the reddest. We corn the hardest. And, apparently, we grin the widest. Because Nebraska is the happiest state in the U.S., a new study says. The survey — conducted by personal finance Web site MainStreet.com — ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia from fiscally happiest to saddest based on a few factors of economic well-being. These included foreclosure numbers, unemployment rates and the ratio of average debt to average annual income. “It reflects the attitude of this state,” said Gov. Dave Heineman. “We are a positive people with a can-do attitude who are focused on...

DENVER — One Colorado woman’s love for tofu has been judged X-rated by state officials. Kelly Coffman-Lee wanted to tell the world about her fondness for bean curd by picking certain letters for her SUV’s license plate. Her suggestion for the plate: “ILVTOFU.” But the Division of Motor Vehicles blocked her plan because they thought the combination of letters could be interpreted as profane.

Denver—In order to strike a blow to irresponsible drivers and save the children, the Colorado House of Representatives passed a measure—House Bill 1094—restricting the use of cell phones to “hands free” devices, and banning flatulence for drivers of motor vehicles. The resounding victory came on Wednesday, April 8, 2009, in a 39 – 25 vote, ending the scourge of drivers on the highway that use cell phones and “pass gas.” The bill was brought by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, to protect other drivers, children and the environment.

Federal agents searched three money-transfer businesses in Minneapolis on Wednesday, carrying away boxes of documents and copying computer hard drives in a quest for details of financial transactions between the U.S. and several African nations. Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial. FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson confirmed the searches but wouldn't elaborate on the reason.

Are you ready for a FReepathon!!? Well, it's a new quarter and a new president and he's everything we knew he would be. In less than 90 days he's managed to take an economic downturn and turn it into an unmitigated disaster for good old American capitalism. Never let a good crisis go to waste! The government is now printing money as fast as they can run the presses. Our federal budget is doubling and tripling and the Fed is running with no controls or oversight whatsoever from the congress, pumping trillions more into the "economy." The government now spends...

The newspaper industry is turning upside down. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News, the Baltimore Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle are among the papers that have ceased daily publication or announced in recent months that they may have to stop publishing. Not long ago, Tribune Co., owner of the Baltimore Sun, filed for bankruptcy. None of this bodes well for our democracy. Our country depends on an open and free press to monitor what happens in our communities so that Americans can make sound judgments about their lives and leaders. Thomas Jefferson, a man who was frequently vilified...