Posts Tagged ‘denver’
Posted by Richard on August 26, 2009
Denver Democrats are going to demonstrate in favor of government-controlled health care at 5 PM this Friday at Tivoli Commons on the Auraria campus (900 Auraria Parkway). Zombyboy thinks it would be great for those of us who think differently to counter-demonstrate, and afterward adjourn to someplace nearby to partake of some adult beverages:
For some of y’all, you might want to show up and show your support. Me, I’d like to show up and remind folks that there are a lot of us who don’t like their ideas. Either way, it sounds like a good place and time for a little friendly shouting.
And, after, we can raise a beer to each other’s health at a near-by bar. If the Boiler Room at the Tivoli hadn’t closed, it would be the perfect place (at least, I think it’s closed–if anyone knows better, I’d be happy to hear). The default position, of course, would be Weinkoop, but I’m open to suggestion.
Let me know what y’all think, and spread the word.
Count me in. If you're in the Denver area, how about it? Add a comment over at ResurrectionSong if you have any suggestions for afterward. Or just to say you're coming. Or to say something amusing, or clever, or whatever.
UPDATE: Organizing for America (the Obamacare bus tour organizers) has made a last-minute location change to North High School, 2960 N. Speer Blvd. (Federal & Speer), 1.75 miles north of the previous location. I suspect we'll still be at Brooklyn's (901 Auraria Pkwy.) afterward. But check the comments at ResurrectionSong for late news.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: denver, health care, rally | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on August 16, 2009
A couple of weeks ago, around 11PM, I'd just returned from a BBQ at my neighbors' and was standing on my front porch. Suddenly, a fox ran down the sidewalk past me. I admit I'd had a few adult beverages, but I wasn't drunk, and I was certain it was a fox. It looked like a fox and it had a gait like a fox.
Now, this was unusual because of where I live. I'm a block off South Broadway, a major 4-lane arterial, in a densely-built (most lots are 33 ft. wide) 90+-year-old urban neighborhood, not some subdivision. Our wildlife consists mainly of squirrels and pigeons (btw, I hate the latter with a passion).
But if I thought seeing a fox run past was unusual, I hadn't seen anything yet.
Tonight after dinner (it was still light out), I took my indoor recycling bin to the big bin by my detached garage. My neighbors' dogs were barking up a storm. I thought it was just at me (they bark at everything that moves), but as I started back toward the house, I caught a glimpse of something on my roof out of the corner of my eye. It was a fox. Sitting on the roof of my house. And I've got the picture to prove it.
Who knew foxes could climb trees? (No, there's no other possible way up there. Except with a little fox-sized hang glider.)
After snapping a couple of pictures (with the low battery light glaring at me), I went in and grabbed the phone book and phone. I wanted to call Denver's animal control office and find out what, if anything, one needed to do about a fox on the roof.
After several minutes of looking through the government pages, I gave up. Have you ever noticed how user-unfriendly the government listings in the phone book are? A person looking for the animal control number for Denver ought to be able to find it in the Denver City section under "A," dammit. It's probably in the Denver County section, listed under whatever department its part of with a totally unguessable name, but I never found it.
Anyway, I decided to call the non-emergency police number for District 3 and ask them how to contact animal control. So I took the phone out back to verify that the fox was still there before dialing. And it wasn't.
I'm glad I got a picture, or nobody would believe me.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: denver, wildlife | 4 Comments »
Posted by Richard on August 14, 2009
Good news! Frontier Airlines is not going away:
DENVER – Frontier Airlines announced on Thursday evening that Republic Airways Holdings won the auction for the Denver-based airline and not rival Southwest Airlines.
Frontier went up for auction on Thursday as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
"Republic submitted the highest and best bid," according to a release from Frontier. "This plan provides for Frontier and Lynx to maintain normal operations as a subsidiary of Republic."
"It's business as usual at Frontier, go ahead and book your travel for fall, winter, into next summer, we're going to be here," Frontier spokesman Steve Snyder said.
A lot of people are focusing on what the Republic victory means for Denver, the employees, customers, etc. But I'm delighted because Southwest was going to absorb Frontier. Republic will treat Frontier as a wholly-owned subsidiary. That means that Larry, Jack, Griz, Flip, Sal, Foxy, Hector, and all the other Frontier animals will remain on the tails of those planes, and the delightful and award-winning animal ads will continue. I think it's one of the best ad campaigns ever.
I just love that lynx.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: air travel, business, cats, colorado, denver | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on July 16, 2009
It's not a Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash (RMBB), it's a Rapid Fire Blogger Bash (RFBB). It's just two days away. And it features a prominent Left Coast blogger. Stephen Green made the announcement (via email) earlier today:
Sorry for the late notice, but Ed Driscoll is coming in from San Jose, and I think we owe him a good old fashioned Blogger Bash. Just like the ones they used to throw in Olden Tymes of Yore.
This Friday night. Sevenish. Wynkoop Brew Pub.
Bring your friends. Bring your neighbors. Bring a backup liver.
I think I lost my backup liver in February at
RMBB MMIX.1, but I'll just take my chances and show up anyway. If you're in the area, drop by the
Wynkoop Friday night!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: beer, blogger bash, colorado, denver | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on April 18, 2009
Nothing says "springtime in Colorado" like prodigious amounts of snow falling from the sky amidst rumbles of thunder.
Until about an hour ago, the big winter storm that was forecast looked like a bust. What was supposed to be 5-10 inches of snow by now fell mostly as rain and wet, sloppy stuff that turned to slush on the ground. But in the past hour, well over an inch has accumulated here at my house, and it's coming down hard. Still getting the occasional thunder, too.
I bet the folks in the foothills (above 6000 ft.) are looking at big piles of white stuff.
One thing's for sure, we're getting plenty of moisture. I'll be surprised if, by the time this storm is over tomorrow, it hasn't at least doubled and maybe tripled our year-to-date precipitation. Not that that's saying much — it's been pretty dry.
UPDATE: 30-60 inches in the foothills and mountain towns to the west (6000-9000 ft.). Denver missed having an epic snowfall by about 3 or 4°.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: colorado, denver, snow, weather | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on April 17, 2009
David Aitken took some terrific photos of the Denver Tea Party. He just has links at his blog, Life's Better Ideas, and I can see why. The photos are 2048 x 1536 pixels. On my 22" monitor (1680 x 1250), using Firefox, I had to zoom out to see the whole image at once. But he got right in the thick of things, they're sharp as a tack, and they really give you a great sense of being in the middle of the crowd. They're well worth a look. Just be patient if you don't have a very high-speed connection.
Michelle Malkin has a large collection of photos from around the country that shows, as she put it, "the full breadth and scope of the protests — not just the size, but the reach, a true sense of which is missing from the MSM coverage." And Instapundit posted several collections of pix, links to video, and commentary — here and here and here and here and here.
As you look at the photos, and especially Aitken's photos, notice that virtually every sign is handmade. The few printed ones look like people printed them on their inkjet — they probably downloaded the files from one of the think tanks or pro-freedom non-profits that jumped onto the tea party bandwagon. Contrary to what Nancy Pelosi and her PR firm, CNN, claimed, this wasn't an "astroturf" event — it was true grass roots, and it grew from the ground up. The national organizations and (relatively few) politicians who jumped aboard were following the people, not leading them.
At the Denver event, the only signs that were obviously professionally printed were the ones a handful of ProgressColorado and union counter-demonstrators had (with slogans like "Shut up and pay your taxes" and "We're cleaning up Bush's mess"). The printing was probably paid for by ACORN, using federal tax dollars. Or George Soros, the king of astroturf politics. Or the cadre of Colorado millionaire leftists who've bought the state for the Democratic Party in the last few years.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: bailout, denver, economy, obama, politics, pork, rally, spending, taxes, tea party | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on April 16, 2009
What a great day we had in Denver today. Sunny and in the 70s. A perfect day to gather at the State Capitol and voice opposition to tax increases, massive new spending, wealth redistribution, bailouts, pork, and the headlong rush toward socialism. And, boy, did people gather!
The police estimated 5000, and I think that's pretty conservative. I remember the gun rights rally that the police estimated at 3000, and this one was at least twice as big and probably quite a bit more. Quite a diverse crowd, too. Lots of families with children, and lots of strollers. More young adults than I expected, but lots of retirees, too. Men in suits, and men in biker jackets. Mostly middle-class working people.
I heard virtually nothing of the speakers, and I think most of the people there were in the same boat. The crowd spilled down the steps and grassy slope all the way to Lincoln St., and the sound system was really only adequate for the two to three thousand up on the drive around the Capitol and maybe a little beyond. But no one seemed to mind, and when those who were close cheered and chanted, everyone else joined in.
On Lincoln St. and Colfax, where traffic was heavy, the honking and waving never let up. I noticed that quite a few of the vehicles expressing support were work vehicles (panel vans and trucks with business names on them, etc.).
There were lots of Gadsden flags (I wore my Gadsden t-shirt) and lots of signs with references to Galt and Atlas Shrugged. Some of my favorite signs:
I am not your ATM
Don't spread the wealth, spread my work ethic!
Atlas Shrugged has come to pass
I left a socialist country for this??
Don't spend my money, I haven't made it yet (carried by a 10-year-old)
We are John Galt
Don't tell Obama what comes after a trillion
I was running late and forgot my camera, so all I got was some crummy shots from my ancient cell phone. You can see them here. But the Peoples Press Collective has much better pictures here and here. Heck, just go to the home page and keep scrolling. Drop by Slapstick Politics, too, for lots of coverage — pix, video, and links.
If you attended a tea party somewhere, how did it go?
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: bailout, denver, economy, obama, politics, pork, rally, spending, taxes, tea party | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on February 27, 2009
On November 22, 1858, William Larimer founded the city of Denver. Just a few months later, on April 23, 1859, it had a newspaper:
A cheer went up along Cherry Creek in the night. William Newton Byers, 28, and a crew of three printers cranked out the first edition of the Rocky Mountain News, beating its very first competitor, The Cherry Creek Pioneer, to the streets of Denver by 20 minutes.
Colorado had its first newspaper.
They've been planning for the 150th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain News for some time now. But they won't get a chance to celebrate it. As I write this, the last edition of the venerable paper — the Friday, February 27, edition, 55 days short of its sesquicentennial — sits to my side. On Thursday, executives of owner E.W. Scripps Co. broke the news to the staff.
I was somewhat surprised at how much the news saddened me. It's not that it came as a big surprise. There was very little chance that Scripps would find a buyer — the Rocky has been hemorrhaging money for some time.
One thing that really bothers me is the classless way Scripps handled the closing. A one-day notice, even with severance package, just sucks. Considering the millions they've lost in recent years, I think they should have sucked it up, eaten another couple of hundred thousand, and scheduled the paper to shut down after the 150th anniversary edition.
I'm going to miss the Rocky. I've been a subscriber for nearly a quarter century, although I admit I've been spending less and less time reading it lately, as the internet has replaced newsprint as an information source. I'm sorry they couldn't figure out how to adapt to that change financially. But they have a pretty good website, and their online farewell video, Final Edition, is worth a look (although I wish it didn't spend so much time on the entitlement-minded couple). I hope the site remains up.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: colorado, denver, journalism | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on February 18, 2009
The turnout was surprisingly good for the Americans for Prosperity stimulus protest today at the State Capitol — about 500 people showed up. The rally coincided with President Obama's signing of the "porkulus" bill at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Considering that the rally was only announced yesterday, that it was in the middle of a work day, and that most of us anti-big-government types actually have jobs we can't skip out on, that's a pretty impressive turnout.
And what's a noon-time rally without food, right? Well, the organizers served lunch, too (emphasis added):
Organizers said there is too much pork in the bill signed by President Barack Obama. So they carved up a roasted pig and made sandwiches just as the president was getting ready to sign the bill. A live pig was also present before the podium as protesters spoke.
Jocelyn Armstrong of Parker carried a gigantic check for $30,000, which she said represented the cost of the stimulus to each American family. Her 8-year-old daughter Hannah signed the check because Armstrong said she would have to pay for it.
"In my opinion, Obama, Pelosi and Reed are the Bernie Madoff Democrats who want to take our money and use it for their purposes and we're here to say, 'No more,'" Jim Pfaff with Americans for Prosperity told the crowd.
I'm sorry I couldn't attend (it's a 30-mile round trip, and I couldn't fit it in between meetings). It sounds like they had a better lunch than I did!
UPDATE: El Marco has some nice pix of the rally. (HT: LGF)
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: denver, economy, obama, politics, pork, rally, spending, taxes | 2 Comments »
Posted by Richard on February 17, 2009
Americans for Prosperity in Colorado is holding a rally in Denver tomorrow to coincide with President Obama's signing of the pork-laden abomination called a stimulus bill. From the email alert:
Join Americans for Prosperity at noon tomorrow on the west steps of the Capitol Building for a RALLY against the Obama-Pelosi-Reid fiscally irresponsible "stimulus" bill.
President Obama will be at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature between noon and 3:00pm tomorrow to sign the $787 billion "stimulus" package which is laden with pork-barrel spending and payoffs to liberal special interest groups. [Jim Pfaff] Local and national media will be present at the capitol with us, so come and make your voice heard. We will be making the case for limited government and real opportunity.
We need to send a message to President Obama and the Congress to stop mortgaging our nation's future away. They need to get the message that politically-motivated government spending hurts our economy and kills jobs and prosperity!
The rally starts at noon Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the State Capitol, 200 E. Colfax Ave. Speakers include Michelle Malkin, Dick Wadhams, Jon Caldara, State Senator Josh Penry, and other state legislators. Be there if you can!
UPDATE: Jon Caldera, President of the Independence Institute, has added his call to attend (via email):
We'll have over-sized checks you can sign to show your family's $30,000 commitment to the bill. I'll be joined by Michelle Malkin, Mike Coffman, Bob Beauprez, Jim Pfaff from AFP and many others.
I'm not usually one for public protests, because like so many on our side, I have a day job. But I just can't allow this huge push down the slippery slope to socialism be signed here in Denver without standing up and saying, "hell no." I wish to go on record.
Let's let the world know there were at least some of us who didn't want to put our kids into debt for a bill that spends more than has been spent in the entire conflict in Iraq.
Please come to the $30,000 a plate pork roast!
More info at i2i.org.
I was pleased to see that both of the local newscasts I watched tonight — KDVR and KMGH — had good stories about the negatives of the stimulus bill (sorry, neither link is directly to the story because they aren't on the website yet).
KDVR in particular had a great story about the cost per household of the stimulus bill plus the financial system bailouts. Depending on your household income, it ranged from $4600 to over $90,000 per household. So Caldera's $30,000 price tag is in the ballpark.
If you're a bit disturbed by what it will cost you to get an $8 – $13 per month tax break, and you're in the Denver area, take a long lunch and attend the rally.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: denver, economy, obama, politics, rally, spending, taxes | 4 Comments »
Posted by Richard on February 2, 2009
Colorado bloggers and blogger groupies, you have just enough time to order your Silymarin and Anti-Alcohol Antioxidants. Use 3rd-day air or faster so you get them by the weekend.
Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash MMIX.1 will commence at 7 PM Saturday, Feb. 7, upstairs at the Wynkoop Brewing Company, located at 1634 18th Street, just a block from the Union Station light-rail terminal.
If you'll be there, let Zombyboy know in the announcement comments. Just don't expect any reward for doing so — as he noted, "there won’t be free booze or food this time around because who the hell wants to sponsor a bunch of drunken bloggers in this economy?"
I'm just tickled pink that I actually understand the numbering for this one.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: blogger bash, colorado, denver | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on January 12, 2009
Let me get this straight: The Denver Broncos had a top-ranked offense, but one of the worst defenses in the league. Coach Mike Shanahan has always been an offense-minded guy. Owner Pat Bowlen fired Shanahan because he decided "it was time for a change."
So now he's hiring a 32-year-old offensive whiz kid and clone of Shanahan. Huh?
Well, at least with all the young, new players the Broncos have, the new coach will be older than most of the team.
I hope they thoroughly vetted secondary coach Dom Capers, whom McDaniels is reportedly bringing with him from the Patriots to be the defensive coordinator.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: broncos, denver, football | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on December 15, 2008
It was so cold that hundreds of school buses wouldn't start or died en route because the diesel fuel had jelled:
DENVER (AP/CBS4) ― Denver area school districts reported dozens of buses used to pick up students for class were delayed or wouldn't start at all Monday morning because of the extreme cold. About a third of the 370 buses in the state's largest school district, Jefferson County, either wouldn't start or couldn't finish their routes Monday morning because of cold-related engine and fuel problems.
The JeffCo school district saved two cents per gallon by buying diesel fuel without cold-weather additives, apparently confident that Al Gore was correct (emphasis added):
DENVER (CBS4) ― The problem that idled or stalled an estimated 45 percent of Jefferson County School's school bus fleet on Monday could have been prevented.
As a cost saving measure, the district had been buying diesel fuel without cold weather additives.
"We never expected it to get as cold as it did," said District Spokeswoman Melissa Reeves.
No word on how paying the extra couple of pennies for 3 months would compare with the cost of today's mess, with mechanics and tow trucks running around all over and thousands of kids stranded.
So how cold did it get? Officially at the airport, -19° F., clobbering the record of -6° set in 1951.
This afternoon, we got to 3° above zero. Woohoo!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: colorado, denver, weather | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on December 15, 2008
The big storm that moved in overnight is supposed to bring 1-3 feet of snow to the mountains by tonight, but here in Denver, we've only got a couple of inches so far.
But it's -3° F. right now (1 PM), and the wind chill is -20°.
Yesterday, it hit 60° in town. Sigh… We won't be seeing that again any time soon.
UPDATE: -15° F. at 11:30 PM. Wind chill is -36°. I hope this isn't the night that my old furnace dies.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: colorado, denver, weather | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Richard on December 5, 2008
The Denver weather roller coaster continues. On Tuesday, the official high (at the airport) was 69° F. and the low was 42°. In town, it was in the 70s. Yesterday, we only made it to 28°.
Today, it was in the teens and snowing off and on all day. Right now (11:45 PM), it's 0°, with a wind chill of -19°.
If you're coming to town this weekend to see whether the Chiefs will face the good Broncos or the bad Broncos, don't worry about the weather. It'll be in the mid to upper 50s and sunny. So those stadium seats will be dry.
Unless the forecast changes…
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: colorado, denver, weather | Leave a Comment »
