Free Republic

[Snip]...The resolution, written by student Matthew Guevara of the School of Social Ecology, stated that "the American flag has been flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism" and noted that flags "construct paradigms of conformity and sets homogenized standards."

The National Rifle Association has endorsed Congressman John Salazar’s re-election bid, giving the Manassa Democrat an “A” rating. No word yet from the NRA on the number of other Dems the organization has endorsed this cycle and what its thoughts are on Tipton.

Scott Tipton’s campaign released a commissioned poll that puts the Western Slope Republican ahead of Democratic Rep. John Salazar in a rematch of their 2006 battle, which Salazar won handily: Salazar has recently been the subject of scrutiny from legislation over a proposed land deal that involves his largest donor. Yesterday, NRO Campaign Spot’s Jim Geraghty listed Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District as a 50-50 pickup probability. The Cook Political Report lists Salazar’s seat as “leans Democratic” in a R+5 PVI district. Real Clear Politics also lists the race as leaning Democratic.

A western Colorado land swap sought by U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., would eliminate what National Park Service officials termed a development threat to the Curecanti National Recreation Area. Salazar’s biggest individual campaign contributor, meanwhile, would get land that would allow him to complete assembly of his ranch in Gunnison County. At the heart of the measure is a land swap that would enlarge by 1,841 acres the Bear Ranch owned by William Koch and allow him to knit together disparate parts of his ranch tucked between Ragged Mountain and Paonia Reservoir. Koch and his family members have contributed $39,800...

Votes by U.S. Rep. John Salazar. D-Colo., on health care and the stimulus bill will get plenty of attention in the coming weeks from a squad of Grand Valley activists backed up by advertising critical of Salazar’s record. Americans for Prosperity, a non-partisan, free-enterprise, free-market organization, organized the meeting of about 80 people in the Museum of Western Colorado’s Whitman Educational Center to show them how to conduct phone banks and walk precincts in the coming weeks. The idea, Colorado Americans for Prosperity head Jeff Crank said, “is to simply educate people about John Salazar and show how he’s voted...

Sarah Palin may be swinging through Colorado’s 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts sometime soon, and it’s not to give Reps. Betsy Markey, D-Fort Collins, and John Salazar, D-Manassa, a shout out for voting ‘yea’ on health care reform. Palin has asked her supporters to help defeat both Markey and Salazar this fall, placing them on a list of 20 targeted seats she posted this week on her Facebook page. The posting is one of the strongest signs yet that Palin plans to wade full force into the 2010 elections, leveraging her enthusiastic following among the Republican base to help friends...

Unaffiliated voters leaning toward GOP. Less than a year from the 2010 elections, there's a chance for Cortez Republican Scott Tipton to pull a major upset over John Salazar, the incumbent Western Slope congressman, a respected pollster told Denver-area Republicans on Wednesday. Floyd Ciruli... recent elections around the country show unaffiliated voters leaning toward Republicans, while Democratic voters tended to stay home. He pointed to Tipton and Ryan Frazier of Aurora as two Republicans who might benefit. "I think the Republican Party wisely saw that lightning could strike out there. This could be one of those exceptional years," Ciruli said....

23 projects statewide affected by bill. The 2010 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill that was signed into law on Oct. 30 by President Barack Obama has reached the Western Slope, and has brought the Glenwood Springs wastewater treatment facility project, and many more around the state, to a screeching halt. the word came last week that the project would have to be put on hold, indefinitely, awaiting further clarification from the Environmental Protection Agency. Hecksel said that he was unsure as to why the Glenwood project would be included because the project was not seeking federal funding... The intent of...

A cross-section of opponents of health-care reform legislation making its way through Congress crowded into the Durango office of U.S. Rep. John Salazar... An orderly 50 or so protesters... represented at least three interest groups - Republican women, the Tea Party movement and the 9-12 Project started by conservative radio and television commentator Glenn Beck. The protest was part of a nationwide effort, which included thousands of conservatives rallying at the Capitol on Thursday against the Democrats' health-care overhaul plan, labeling it a government takeover of the nation's medical system. Health-care reform misses the target on all fronts... It's too...

House Democrats passed the 2,032-page Pelosicare bill on a near party-line vote Saturday night 220-215 (roll call here). The only Republican voting in favor of the measure was New Orleans-based Joseph Cao who has long ago proven to be a tax and spend (and spend and spend) liberal. After a week of intense arm twisting, threats and promises from party leaders, more than half of the 52 so-called conservative Blue Dog Democrats voted in favor of the over $1.3 trillion measure. These are the 28 Blue Dogs voting in favor of Pelosicare (who apparently fear the wrath of House Speaker...

Congressman John Salazar ...plans to hold health care town meetings during the August recess. "We are having town hall meetings which are teleconference meetings throughout the district. The district is very, very big..." Specific dates and times for the teleconferences have not yet been scheduled.

Before Congress left for this year, lawmakers in Colorado's delegation put down their markers for next year. "You can never start soon enough," said Alan Salazar, chief of staff to Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs. With the presidential election next year, he said, passing bills could become difficult. "So the sooner you get things done, the easier it is," Salazar said. Udall is one of those who introduced a bill in the last two weeks before the congressional session ended. Sen. Salazar's bill asks to study ways to protect the open space in and around Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests....

Former Delta County commissioner to try to unseat Salazar for House seat instead. Delta County Commissioner Wayne Wolf has dropped his longshot bid to become a U.S. senator and now is seeking the Republican nomination in the 3rd Congressional District. Wolf said his decision to try to defeat U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Manassa, has received "plenty of support" on the Western Slope and in southern Colorado. That's a much different response than he received this fall when he said he intended to challenge Bob Schaffer for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate. Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican...

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday he wants another look at drilling on the Roan Plateau but stopped short of saying he’d press the Senate to prevent it. “I would hope that there would be another opportunity to re-examine oil and gas on top of the Roan Plateau,” ... Salazar’s brother, Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., is seeking this week to have the House include a provision banning spending on Roan leasing during the 2008 fiscal year in an Interior Department appropriations measure... Drilling proponents said John Salazar might be “caving in to pressure from out-of-state special interests.” Most of the...

U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., and an aide are the talk of the Colorado political blogosphere. A highly critical ad apparently ready for television was circulating on the Internet on Monday, but had yet to be broadcast. The ad questions the conduct of Salazar’s Washington, D.C., spokeswoman, Nayyera Haq, who also speaks for the Congressional Muslim American Staffers Association. In that capacity, Haq criticized Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Front Range Republican, for his letter supporting Pope Benedict XVI, who had quoted a 14th century emperor that condemned Islam. Salazar, a first-term congressman from Manassa, has declined to comment directly on...

John Salazar is one of the most vulnerable Congressman in the country. He tries to get by pretending to be "moderate," though his staff is mainly composed of former Pelosi staffers. He is running against Rightroots endorsed candidate Scott Tipton:Scott Tipton is trying to knock off Democratic incumbent John Salazar in a district that went 55%-44% for George Bush in 2004. This is a seat that should be held by a Republican, but it's a huge district, and Tipton needs lots of cash to overcome the name recognition advantage Salazar holds. If he gets the money he needs, this is...

Rep. Tom Tancredo challenged one of his Colorado colleagues but drew no response on Thursday in a flap touched off by the pope’s controversial comments about Islam. On Wednesday, Tancredo sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI, urging him to resist calls to apologize over a recent speech that quoted a 14th century emperor who suggested that the Prophet Mohammed had inspired "things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Tancredo’s letter, which included criticisms of specific passages in The Koran, drew a strong response from Nayyera Haq, the Muslim...

WASHINGTON - At midday on Fridays, Muslims gather to pray in a basement room of the U.S. Capitol. Kneeling on sheets they've spread over the floor and facing east toward Mecca, they are members of the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, about two dozen congressional aides who are part of a small but growing minority in America and in the halls of government. At first just a prayer group, later a Muslim support group, the association is now looking outward to change what many see as woeful ignorance about Islam on Capitol Hill and beyond, said Jameel Aalim-Johnson, a black Muslim...