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Fri, 21 Nov 2008 @ 13:56 || National Velvet || PoliticsThis stupid thing went up recently in Denver. It cost taxpayers $55K.While I'm all for art displays, maybe we should have a little more oversight on what we spend the tax money on. Like asking the artist what they are going to do before approving the money. And why spend so much on one piece of art? $55K sounds like that should be the yearly budget for random art displays on walking paths. link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Sun, 16 Nov 2008 @ 11:09 || Keene NH || PoliticsI grew up near Keene. It was the closest larger city to our North. Doubt many people would consider it a large city, but from where I grew up we did.I became aware of this story from the Colorado Libertarian site that I have linked to on the left hand site of the blog, scroll down you'll find it. Man sentenced to 93 days in jail for illegal couch. On one hand he could have just paid the fine, and charged his tenants, it isn't even his couch. On the other had, he should have been able to argue his case about unfair code enforcement without being thrown in jail. In the first place, they could have given him a warning to remove the couch instead of starting with the fine. He also seems to have pissed off the judge prior to the case, which led to the 3 counts of contempt of court. I would expect a good lawyer should have been able to avoid the contempt of courts, as well as talked away the fine for the couch. I support his fight against oppressive government, I hate code enforcement too. However, I can't help feel he could have avoided the jail time had he been less of a dick. In the video it looks like he didn't provoke anyone, however, listening to his radio show it's possible some people in authority may have it out for him. Abuse of power anyone?
link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Wed, 22 Oct 2008 @ 16:18 || Voted today || PoliticsAfter Mindy's dentist appointment this morning we swung by the library for some early voting. Turns out the early voting didn't open till 10am... not very early at all imo. Had to wait 30 minutes for the library to open.I ended up filling out a provisional ballot, due to the mail in ballot already being sent to me. Elyse was right, but I was still able to vote, just not on the computers, which isn't that bad. I wasn't the only one, an older couple a few people ahead of me and a number of folks after me all had the same issue. The line was slow, but short. At any one time they may have been a dozen people in line. They had one person that seemed to know what he was doing and six old people who were mainly confused. The one person was running most of the show, I was amazed at how he was able to herd the old folks without being demeaning (Like I am). They seemed to listen to him and for the most part things moved right along. The sticker nazi was annoying, made me feel like I was caught in a Seinfeld episode. I didn't really think I needed a "I voted" sticker, so I walked out without one, he chased after us, I ignored him till he followed us into the parking lot, yelling "Don't forget your sticker!". He seemed upset I didn't want one. Not sure why they waste a voleenter like that, if they had him working a terminal checking IDs or walking the harddrives to the voting booths the line would go much faster. Maybe he was too old and incapable of anything else. Seemed more alive than the others. link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Mon, 20 Oct 2008 @ 15:53 || $5 Obama || PoliticsI was looking to get into a yard sign war with my neighbors. Till I found out Obama is charging $5 a piece for them.link to story || 2 comments || Add a comment Tue, 14 Oct 2008 @ 14:28 || Early Voting || PoliticsI sealed my mail in ballot, then was wondering what this left over piece was. Turns out it was the privacy sleeve. The envelope is such that you can't open it w/o invalidating it. Reading the Privacy sleeve it states that it must be inside the envelope or my vote won't be counted. Looks like I will be voting in person like I wanted to. I double checked the rules theres nothing saying I can't go to the polls, only that I can't vote twice. I perfer doing it in person anyway.link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Wed, 08 Oct 2008 @ 14:39 || Mail in ballot || PoliticsGot my ballot in the mail the other day. I opened it, kinda read it, then tossed it on the kitchen table. I noticed, it wasn't pre-paid return postage, and it has an ugly warning that "will not deliver if full postage is not met" or something like that. I'm pretty sure that it will only require 1 stamp, but it is a hefty envelope and the ballot is on thicker paper. That would be quite a controversy if thousands of mail in ballots went undelivered due to a few cents in postage.I'm not sure if I'll do early voting or use the mail in ballot. The polls open up in my county on the 20th, I think. Last time there was no lines. I feel a little better actually going to the polling place. link to story || 1 comment || Add a comment Fri, 03 Oct 2008 @ 17:37 || Amendments Update || Politicsinitiatives off Colorado ballot Amendment 53, 55, 56 and 57 are all off the ballot. So all the ones I was voting against are no longer possibilities.
link to story || 4 comments || Add a comment Mon, 29 Sep 2008 @ 15:19 || State Amendments and Referendums || PoliticsThis year we have a slew of them.
So, I poked around and found out more about these. 53 Criminal Accountability of Business Executives I'm voting NO on this one. The ad, while too sensational for my taste, is right. I'm a business executive and I don't want to increase criminal accountability for anything I may do. However, digging into it more. this bill will take existing non criminal law and make it criminal. So if there was something we did as business that got us into a civil dispute, and we lost, it would be considered criminal. So hell NO, this is a bad amendment!55 Allowable Reasons for Employee Discharge or Suspension Hell NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO. This changes our "At-Will" status to "Just Cause". Currently, I can fire employees at my discretion. I don't have to have a reason. If changed, I could not trim back the employees due to lack of demand. This has only happened once, but it saved the company. In fact if this passes I will consider moving the company to other state. 56 Employer Responsibility for Health Insurance A weak no on this one. All companies should provide health care to all employees. However.. it shouldn't be mandated by the state. I offer all my W2 employees full employer paid health care. I do not require anyone to pay any portion. Very few companies do this, I do it out of choice. Every company should be able to chose to offer this benefit or not. 57 Additional Remedies for Injured Employees An average NO Seems like this is covered under workmans comp insurance. I'm not sure of the purpose of this amendment, and I can't seem to find information on it other than what I've linked to. On the face it seems to want to allow workers to sue employers if they collect workmans comp. This type of ad is not the way I would have tried to get the word out to vote no against these amendments. But it worked, kinda, I almost didn't bother reading up on these and mkight have voted YES, based on the terrible ad. The ad comes off sleezy, as if it's hiding something. Illuminating Colorado Issues has an interesting write up on each Amendment. link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Thu, 18 Sep 2008 @ 14:53 || Amendment 58 || PoliticsTheres been a lot of hubbub on TV for and against Amendment 58.Amendment 58, Gov. Bill Ritter's Smarter Colorado plan, would eliminate an existing property tax-severance tax offset for energy and mining companies and increase the tax on some low-volume wells. The additional revenue would be used for college scholarships, wildlife habitat, renewable energy programs and transportation and water projects in communities affected by energy development.
It's a proposed change in state law, not a constitutional amendment. One side says Colorado has been giving $300 million a year to the oil companies in a tax break. The other side claims this is a $290 million tax increase.
This site gives a good review on both sides I think I'll be voting to get rid of the tax break for oil companies. My company doesn't get a tax break so why should any others. link to story || 4 comments || Add a comment Fri, 05 Sep 2008 @ 14:16 || Election Thoughts || PoliticsNow the conventions are over I thought I'd jot down my thoughts on our three choices.This time we have two pretty good choices and one crappy choice. Every other presidential election I recall, you'd hear folks complaining about "The better of two evils". I don't think thats valid this time. McCain I really like McCain. I don't agree with the following points.
I do agree with these points
Because of his age, and his VP choice, I doubt I'll vote for him. While I trust McCain not to be bullied by the religious right, I don't trust Palin. I have a large (healthy) mistrust for organized religion, and not letting them get closer to the White house almost trumps all other issues. Obama Points I don't agree with
Barr Haven't seen or heard of anyone bashing Bob Barr yet. I'm not voting for him. He's not a true enough libertarian for me. He's petty. He was one of the main drivers behind Clinton's impeachment, which as a libertarian I saw as a huge waste of time and money. link to story || 3 comments || Add a comment Tue, 26 Aug 2008 @ 10:47 || DNC || PoliticsPer request, my expeience with the DNC. This is the second DNC I've had the misfortune to be close to. 4 years ago I was in Boston on a 2 week contract and got stuck in a hotel with only local channels, nothing on TV but DNC coverage. Luckily I have cable at home and Denver isn't as annal as Boston about the DNC.I'm staying home for the most part. Last Friday after working at a client in Boulder I drove to my office for a few hours, drove the usual way, Lookout Rd to rt52 to I25 to 120th where the office is, nothing unusual for Friday afternoon traffic. I Was listening to Science Friday on NPR Talk, so forgot the DNC was starting up. After working in the office for a few hours I drove home, and was suprised at the number of limos around, especially around the AMC theathers at Church Ranch and I36. Must have saw at least 8 limos. Figure they were people here for the DNC. This weekend, I spent most of Saturday downgrading a Vista PC to XP Pro in the office. Sunday we went shopping in the morning and stayed home watching movies in the afternoon. So, not very exciting, I plan to stay clear of the whole mess. link to story || 2 comments || Add a comment Wed, 13 Aug 2008 @ 14:47 || Politic Road Trip || PoliticsThis actually seems like fun. Where is the Red is a group of college kids driving around helping out campaigns. I don't agree with most of what they are pushing, but hey, any excuse for a road trip. Their webpage has a place you can donate to them, which I assume pays their gas/lodging, there's no mention of what the donations are used for on their website.One refreshing note, remarkably missing from their website is any mention of religion. link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Mon, 11 Aug 2008 @ 17:58 || Obama || PoliticsBarack Obama has accepted your LinkedIn invitationJohn McCain accepted my invitation at 3:27 MDT, Barack Obama accepted at 5:07 Looks like Obama was a little too late. However, is the Obama campaign spying on McCain's campaign. They see him accept my invitation, then they rush in hour and 40 minutes, find my invitation and accept it? Could be something there....
link to story || 5 comments || Add a comment Mon, 11 Aug 2008 @ 15:55 || McCain || PoliticsJohn McCain has accepted your LinkedIn invitationLooks like John gets more of my consideration than Barack. Yes, I'm now connected to Senator John McCain on LinkedIN, not sure this really means a hell of a lot. link to story || 2 comments || Add a comment Thu, 07 Aug 2008 @ 16:34 || Obama or McCain || PoliticsBoth presidential candidates have linkedIN accounts.I invited both of them to join my Network. Which ever one does first, I will consider more when I go to cast my vote. link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Thu, 31 Jul 2008 @ 16:13 || Will Shafroth || PoliticsThis guy is running for something in my home state. I'm posting on my blog about him, due to his campaign harrassing a friend of mine on her Blog. I'm not registered with the blog counters like she is, so I'm not sure if they'll find me.From what I can tell Will Shafroth isn't well financed, I know very little about him, and his two competitors (all dems) are fighting it out on TV. I'm not even sure if Will Shafroth is running for my district, I'm in the Jefferson County portion of Westminster. If he is, I'm voting for that Polis guy, or whoever the Libertarian canidate is, if they have one this time. link to story || 3 comments || Add a comment Fri, 21 Sep 2007 @ 09:52 || 10 easy steps || PoliticsNaomi Wolf was on the Colbert Report Wednesday night. And while not as entertaining as Ed Asner, she was much better looking.
 Naomi was plugging her book Fascist America, in 10 easy steps. Which was very interesting. For those too lazy to read the summary in the link provided, I'll summarize here.
link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Thu, 20 Sep 2007 @ 13:25 || Habeas Whatsit || PoliticsThis country is going to hell. Senate Fails on Habeas Corpus.This is stupid, but not unexpected. Here you can see if your senator voted to uphold the constitution or not. Senate Roll Call My republican senator did the wrong thing, big surprise, but my democrat did the right thing.
Allard (R-CO), Nay However, for some reason this was tied to a big defense spending bill, which is a good thing for my company. I like to be making money, but the principles that the country were founded on shouldn't suffer. link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment Tue, 31 Jul 2007 @ 08:52 || Lies || PoliticsAccording to a Florida court there is nothing illegal about lying on the news, in fact it's covered under the 1st amendment.I actually agree, there shouldn't be anything in the constitution about lying . However, the FCC should be just as diligent against lying on the public airwaves as they are against profanity. One should be more offended by companies like FOX news passing things off as the truth than a shock jock dropping the F bomb. It's pretty simple, the standard could be drawn around the word "News". If a show has the word "News" in the title, it should be all fact, if the FCC can find any obvious lies in a show with the word "News" in the title, then the channel or network should be heavily fined. Shows like "The O'Reilly Factor" can go on doing what they do, as there is no word that suggests truth in it's title. However, the FCC could state that any channel with the word "News" in it's name could also be considered a all truth channel, and fine them when appropriate, that would cause Fox News to change it's name or lose most of it content. link to story || 0 comments || Add a comment |
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