FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 29, 2007
GOP AND DEM STATE CHAIRS TALK CAUCUS
Next Tuesday, December 4, Noon, at Denver Pavilions-Maggiano's, 500 16th Street, 16th St Mall, The Lions Club of Denver is hosting a special program on the Colorado Caucus। December 5 is the deadline for registering to vote and affiliating with a party to be able to vote in the February 5 neighborhood precinct caucuses that will be held across the state.
Announcing the meeting, John Wren, Lions Club of Denver board member, said, "This is not a debate about which party to join, but rather a joint presentation about how the Colorado Caucus system can serve the average person who wants to make a difference। We hope the meeting is of value to our community as those new to the state and new to politics decide how best to participate in our unique Colorado Caucus system.
"One survey has shown that only 8% of the people in Colorado know about our bi-annual caucus, and most of them have not attended in the past. I personally hope this program helps change those sad facts, and that it serves as a model to encourage other Lions Clubs and other service clubs and groups across the state to make a Colorado Caucus Day a bi-annual event."
Paat Waak, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party www।coloradodems.org and Dick Wadhams, Chair of the Colorado GOP www.cologop.org will speak on "Since 1912-- The Colorado Caucus: The Best Chance for the Common Person to Serve in Elected Public Office."
John Wren was one of the founders of Save the Caucus which defeated Amendment 29 in 2002 which would have ended the Colorado caucus-assembly system for nominating to the primary ballot, and the founder of the Colorado Caucus Community of Practice which is now holding a weekly Denver Grassroots Rally. http://cocacop.meetup.com/2 He is also the Denver GOP District 5 Captain।
The meeting is open to everyone, lunch is $15 for guests. For more information, see www.denverlions.org or call (303) 504-6293.
###
Friday, November 30, 2007
ON THIS DAY IN: 1782 - American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris (1783) — In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris). 1874 – Born: Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel laureate (d. 1965) 1995 - Official end of Operation Desert Storm.
DENVER POST Editorial about the Colorado Caucus: Remember, it's not enough to be registered, a process that's automatic if you voted in the last election. You must also be listed as a Republican or Democrat (by next Wednesday, December 5) to attend that party's caucus. If you are, this year your voice may help choose a president.
Join me this afternoon for:
Denver IDEA Café Startup Workshop. 2 pm, Panera Bread, 13th & Grant St. Free and open to all, we just as you bring your brain for the brainstorming. Info & RSVP at http://ideacafe.meetup.com/1
Denver Grassroots Rally, 4 pm, Panera Bread, 13th & Grant St. Like a poetry reading for politics. Sign up sheet to speak opens at 3:30 pm, or RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2 This afternoon we will be discussing the Colorado Caucus system, or whatever else is on your mind. Join us!
DENVER POST Editorial about the Colorado Caucus: Remember, it's not enough to be registered, a process that's automatic if you voted in the last election. You must also be listed as a Republican or Democrat (by next Wednesday, December 5) to attend that party's caucus. If you are, this year your voice may help choose a president.
Join me this afternoon for:
Denver IDEA Café Startup Workshop. 2 pm, Panera Bread, 13th & Grant St. Free and open to all, we just as you bring your brain for the brainstorming. Info & RSVP at http://ideacafe.meetup.com/1
Denver Grassroots Rally, 4 pm, Panera Bread, 13th & Grant St. Like a poetry reading for politics. Sign up sheet to speak opens at 3:30 pm, or RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2 This afternoon we will be discussing the Colorado Caucus system, or whatever else is on your mind. Join us!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Happy birthday daughter Brooke!
I just went to mapquest.com, put in your office address and found http://www.davidbrownflowers.com/,
and the flowers are on the way to your office! David said they should be
there in about 2 hours. I love you!
Dad
I just went to mapquest.com, put in your office address and found http://www.davidbrownflowers.com/,
and the flowers are on the way to your office! David said they should be
there in about 2 hours. I love you!
Dad
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
On this day in: 1660 - At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society. 1905 - Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin as a political party with the main aim of establishing a dual monarchy in Ireland. 1925 - The country variety show Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut on station WSM. 1975 - As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, the final two American soap operas that had resisted going to pre-taped broadcasts, air their last live episodes.
Steamboat Pilot Newspaper Entry into Colorado Caucus PR Contest:
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — It’s a rare chance to participate in national politics at the grass-roots level, and voters who don’t declare a party affiliation by Dec. 5 will miss out on the opportunity.
Next Wednesday is the deadline to declare party affiliation in time to participate in the Feb. 5 precinct caucuses for the Republican and Democratic parties. Those who participate will discover that caucuses can provide an avenue to address political issues important to them as well as have a say in which candidates eventually make it onto their party’s primary ballots. This year’s caucus also provides the opportunity to influence both parties’ presidential nominations.
This year, Colorado — like many other states — moved its caucus date from late March to early February in an effort to have more of a voice in presidential nominations, which often were decided well before Coloradans had a chance to participate.
But that’s not the only reason caucuses often see limited voter participation. Quite frankly, the caucus system can be confusing and intimidating.
While the former may be true, the latter shouldn’t be, Routt County Clerk and Recorder Kay Weinland said.
“It’s kind of intimidating to some people, but it’s just neighborhood meetings,” she said. “It’s truly a party function. It’s the beginning of the political process.”
Caucus attendees will elect delegates for the county assembly and county convention. Delegates typically are elected to advocate for the issues and candidates expressed by their fellow caucus attendees. In other words, the delegates represent the votes of their electors.
The county assembly and county convention entails a similar process, with delegates nominating county-level candidates to appear on local ballots as well as platform issues to carry on to the state and national assemblies and conventions. The county convention leads to the state, congressional and national conventions. It is at the national convention where Republicans and Democrats officially nominate their candidates for president. With the 2008 Democratic National Convention taking place in Denver, some Routt County voters could be there to see it happen.
Almost 6,000 of Routt County’s registered voters are unaffiliated; 5,038 are registered Republican, and 4,500 are registered Democrat. Voters who want any say in the nomination process for local, state and national candidates and party platforms must declare party affiliation, and they must do so by Dec. 5. We encourage all voters to be active in the process. For more information about local caucuses, call Weinland at 870-5556.
Steamboat Pilot Newspaper Entry into Colorado Caucus PR Contest:
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — It’s a rare chance to participate in national politics at the grass-roots level, and voters who don’t declare a party affiliation by Dec. 5 will miss out on the opportunity.
Next Wednesday is the deadline to declare party affiliation in time to participate in the Feb. 5 precinct caucuses for the Republican and Democratic parties. Those who participate will discover that caucuses can provide an avenue to address political issues important to them as well as have a say in which candidates eventually make it onto their party’s primary ballots. This year’s caucus also provides the opportunity to influence both parties’ presidential nominations.
This year, Colorado — like many other states — moved its caucus date from late March to early February in an effort to have more of a voice in presidential nominations, which often were decided well before Coloradans had a chance to participate.
But that’s not the only reason caucuses often see limited voter participation. Quite frankly, the caucus system can be confusing and intimidating.
While the former may be true, the latter shouldn’t be, Routt County Clerk and Recorder Kay Weinland said.
“It’s kind of intimidating to some people, but it’s just neighborhood meetings,” she said. “It’s truly a party function. It’s the beginning of the political process.”
Caucus attendees will elect delegates for the county assembly and county convention. Delegates typically are elected to advocate for the issues and candidates expressed by their fellow caucus attendees. In other words, the delegates represent the votes of their electors.
The county assembly and county convention entails a similar process, with delegates nominating county-level candidates to appear on local ballots as well as platform issues to carry on to the state and national assemblies and conventions. The county convention leads to the state, congressional and national conventions. It is at the national convention where Republicans and Democrats officially nominate their candidates for president. With the 2008 Democratic National Convention taking place in Denver, some Routt County voters could be there to see it happen.
Almost 6,000 of Routt County’s registered voters are unaffiliated; 5,038 are registered Republican, and 4,500 are registered Democrat. Voters who want any say in the nomination process for local, state and national candidates and party platforms must declare party affiliation, and they must do so by Dec. 5. We encourage all voters to be active in the process. For more information about local caucuses, call Weinland at 870-5556.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Rocky Mountain News entry into pre-Caucus pr contest:
Registration cutoff near for caucuses
By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News
There are only nine days left to register to vote if you want to participate in the Colorado presidential caucuses Feb. 5.
With 55 delegates at stake for Democrats and 46 for Republicans - coupled with eight candidates on each side - both political parties in Colorado would like to see people register to vote and make themselves eligible to participate.
"We want to be sure that people understand that if they want to be a part of this process, they have to be registered with a party," Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak said.
The deadline to register to vote in the caucus is by the close of business Dec. 5.
The rules are simple, if you want to participate in the caucuses that will help select each party's presidential candidate for the general election.
First, you must register as a Democrat or a Republican with your local county clerk and must be affiliated with either party for at least two months before the caucus. Secondly, you must be a resident of a precinct for 30 days prior to voting.
There is also one exception: Any registered voter who turned 18 or became a naturalized citizen during the two months preceding the caucus meeting may vote at the caucus.
Dick Wadhams, chair of the Colorado Republican Party, said the GOP has not engaged in any extensive voter drive but has instead relied on the media to publicize the deadline - a course also being followed by Democrats.
He did say his office has noticed an uptick in calls inquiring about voting eligibility for the upcoming caucus.
Waak said there is increased interest because Denver is hosting the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25-28 and people want to be delegates.
Why isn't this story featured on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News Online? Why doesn't it come up when "Colorado Caucus" is the search term? Is the Rocky intentionally burying the story?
Technology centers with a greater concentration of immigrant entrepreneurs in their state averages include Silicon Valley (52.4 percent), New York City (43.8 percent), and Chicago (35.8 percent). Three technology centers had a below-average rate of immigrant-founded companies: Portland (17.8 percent), Research Triangle Park (18.7 percent) and Denver (19.4 percent).
Like to entrepreneur org
Registration cutoff near for caucuses
By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News
There are only nine days left to register to vote if you want to participate in the Colorado presidential caucuses Feb. 5.
With 55 delegates at stake for Democrats and 46 for Republicans - coupled with eight candidates on each side - both political parties in Colorado would like to see people register to vote and make themselves eligible to participate.
"We want to be sure that people understand that if they want to be a part of this process, they have to be registered with a party," Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak said.
The deadline to register to vote in the caucus is by the close of business Dec. 5.
The rules are simple, if you want to participate in the caucuses that will help select each party's presidential candidate for the general election.
First, you must register as a Democrat or a Republican with your local county clerk and must be affiliated with either party for at least two months before the caucus. Secondly, you must be a resident of a precinct for 30 days prior to voting.
There is also one exception: Any registered voter who turned 18 or became a naturalized citizen during the two months preceding the caucus meeting may vote at the caucus.
Dick Wadhams, chair of the Colorado Republican Party, said the GOP has not engaged in any extensive voter drive but has instead relied on the media to publicize the deadline - a course also being followed by Democrats.
He did say his office has noticed an uptick in calls inquiring about voting eligibility for the upcoming caucus.
Waak said there is increased interest because Denver is hosting the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25-28 and people want to be delegates.
Why isn't this story featured on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News Online? Why doesn't it come up when "Colorado Caucus" is the search term? Is the Rocky intentionally burying the story?
Technology centers with a greater concentration of immigrant entrepreneurs in their state averages include Silicon Valley (52.4 percent), New York City (43.8 percent), and Chicago (35.8 percent). Three technology centers had a below-average rate of immigrant-founded companies: Portland (17.8 percent), Research Triangle Park (18.7 percent) and Denver (19.4 percent).
Like to entrepreneur org
Monday, November 26, 2007
9News entry into DGRR pre-Dec 5 caucus info contest:
"The caucus process is grassroots democracy," said Bill Compton, who is the political director for the Colorado Democratic Party. "We want (voters) to come out and have a say on who the presidential candidates are ultimately going to be. It requires people to get involved and to make the effort to go to those caucuses."
The push to register voters by next Wednesday might be the rare issue Colorado's two major political parties agree upon.
"A caucus, it sounds mysterious, kind of insider, but you know (what) it really is? It's nothing more than a neighborhood meeting," said Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams. "I think this is a great opportunity for Coloradans to be directly involved in the Republican and Democratic nomination process."
"I think the results of our caucus will mean something that night," said Wadhams.
The Cherry Creek News and Central Denver Dispatch caucus news contest entry:
Dems urge voter registration in time for Colorado caucus
by Matt Sugar
Monday, 26 November 2007
Party Caucus Voter Registration Deadline is 5th
The deadline to register party affiliation in order to participate it the party “caucus” process is December 5, 2007.
Pat Waak, Democratic Party Chair said, “With the Democratic National Convention coming to Colorado next August Coloradans have a heightened interest in playing a role in our nations future. One of the first steps in the political process is party affiliation so I’m urging all those legally qualified to vote to register at there local County Clerk and Recorders office.”
In order to vote in a precinct caucus, the voter must be a resident of the precinct for thirty days, and have registered to vote no later than twenty-nine days before the caucus, and be affiliated with the political party holding the caucus for at least two months as shown on the books of the county clerk and recorder; except that any registered voter who has turned 18 years old or has become a naturalized citizen during the two months preceding the meeting may vote at caucus even though the voter has been affiliated with the political party for less than two months.
Also in The Cherry Creek News and Central Denver Dispatch:
Being Optimistic - helping kids, living longer, and finding community
Written by Devon Barclay
Thursday, 15 November 2007
When Buffalo Bill Cody was still alive, Denver saw the formation of one of the world's first Optimist Clubs. In what would later become the Mile Hi Optimist Club, in 1916 a group of Denver businessmen decided it would be good to set a weekly meeting to get together and talk hopefully about the city they lived in. Over the years, new members joined, and in 1988 the club accepted its first female members. Now, the club is one of the oldest and most successful Optimist clubs in the country, and works to be a "friend of the youth" by offering and supporting a suite of programs throughout the year that give members a chance to work with young people and help make society better.
But, in weekly meetings at the Denver Country Club, there's still a sense of the club's original feeling. Each Thursday, the Mile Hi Optimists host a guest speaker - anyone from Mayor Hickenlooper to Detective Estrada - sit down for lunch, and enjoy the good graces and fellow feeling that comes from sitting in a room with the distinct purpose of looking at the bright side.
"I lived in Steamboat, and thought, 'how can I be involved with kids throughout the year,'" says Pam Kirk, who now works with kids through the club on an ongoing basis at Valdez Elementary.
"The caucus process is grassroots democracy," said Bill Compton, who is the political director for the Colorado Democratic Party. "We want (voters) to come out and have a say on who the presidential candidates are ultimately going to be. It requires people to get involved and to make the effort to go to those caucuses."
The push to register voters by next Wednesday might be the rare issue Colorado's two major political parties agree upon.
"A caucus, it sounds mysterious, kind of insider, but you know (what) it really is? It's nothing more than a neighborhood meeting," said Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams. "I think this is a great opportunity for Coloradans to be directly involved in the Republican and Democratic nomination process."
"I think the results of our caucus will mean something that night," said Wadhams.
The Cherry Creek News and Central Denver Dispatch caucus news contest entry:
Dems urge voter registration in time for Colorado caucus
by Matt Sugar
Monday, 26 November 2007
Party Caucus Voter Registration Deadline is 5th
The deadline to register party affiliation in order to participate it the party “caucus” process is December 5, 2007.
Pat Waak, Democratic Party Chair said, “With the Democratic National Convention coming to Colorado next August Coloradans have a heightened interest in playing a role in our nations future. One of the first steps in the political process is party affiliation so I’m urging all those legally qualified to vote to register at there local County Clerk and Recorders office.”
In order to vote in a precinct caucus, the voter must be a resident of the precinct for thirty days, and have registered to vote no later than twenty-nine days before the caucus, and be affiliated with the political party holding the caucus for at least two months as shown on the books of the county clerk and recorder; except that any registered voter who has turned 18 years old or has become a naturalized citizen during the two months preceding the meeting may vote at caucus even though the voter has been affiliated with the political party for less than two months.
Also in The Cherry Creek News and Central Denver Dispatch:
Being Optimistic - helping kids, living longer, and finding community
Written by Devon Barclay
Thursday, 15 November 2007
When Buffalo Bill Cody was still alive, Denver saw the formation of one of the world's first Optimist Clubs. In what would later become the Mile Hi Optimist Club, in 1916 a group of Denver businessmen decided it would be good to set a weekly meeting to get together and talk hopefully about the city they lived in. Over the years, new members joined, and in 1988 the club accepted its first female members. Now, the club is one of the oldest and most successful Optimist clubs in the country, and works to be a "friend of the youth" by offering and supporting a suite of programs throughout the year that give members a chance to work with young people and help make society better.
But, in weekly meetings at the Denver Country Club, there's still a sense of the club's original feeling. Each Thursday, the Mile Hi Optimists host a guest speaker - anyone from Mayor Hickenlooper to Detective Estrada - sit down for lunch, and enjoy the good graces and fellow feeling that comes from sitting in a room with the distinct purpose of looking at the bright side.
"I lived in Steamboat, and thought, 'how can I be involved with kids throughout the year,'" says Pam Kirk, who now works with kids through the club on an ongoing basis at Valdez Elementary.
The Denver Post had a news article about the Dec 5 deadline for registering to vote in the Feb 5 Colorado Caucus. This will be entered into the Denver Grassroots Rally contest for pre-December 5 media coverage:
Colorado voters face Dec. 5 caucus deadline
By: Karen Crummy, The Denver Post
Colorado voters have only two weeks left to register with a political party if they want to participate in the Feb. 5 presidential caucuses.
The registration deadline is Dec. 5.
Voters can switch parties, and unaffiliated voters, who make up about one-third of the state's electorate, can register with a party in order to take part in the caucuses.
Colorado, which usually holds its caucus in the third week of March, is now one of more than 20 states that are holding, or planning to hold, their presidential caucuses or primaries Feb. 5. Both Democratic chair Pat Waak and GOP chair Dick Wadhams wanted the caucuses moved up so Colorado would have more of a voice in the presidential nomination.
"I do believe we will see an increase in attendance at precinct caucuses," Wadhams said.
The Democrats have been "actively recruiting" voters so they are registered prior to the Dec. 5 deadline, said party spokesman Matt Sugar.
The caucuses will operate as a preference poll. It is not until the Democrats hold their state convention on May 17 in Colorado Springs and Republicans conduct their convention on May 31 in Broomfield that delegates officially select their presidential candidates.
By then, however, both the GOP and Democratic nominees will likely be known.
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com [1]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.politicswest.com/2008_election/13959/colorado_voters_face_dec_5_caucus_deadline
This is the comment about the above article that I just posted online:
Thanks for mentioning the December 5 deadline for registering
for the Colorado Caucus. It will be posted on my blog www.JohnWren.com
and entered into the Denver Grassroots Rally contest for the best
pre-December 5 caucus coverage.
Why the discouraging comment "by then (Feb 5) both the GOP and
Democratic nominees will likely be known." On what do you base that
opinion? And why did you choose to put it in a news story?
Also, why isn't the December 5 deadline featured on the front page of
Denver Post Online, or at least Politics West? Few people even know
about the caucus, the one's who learn about it at our new Denver
Grassroots Rally http://cocacop.meetup.com/2 seem very interested.
From The Washington Times:
"-30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper" is worth (reading) if you care about journalism and its importance in a democratic society.
Why is the classic American big-city daily newspaper becoming such an embarrassing irrelevancy at a time when there is a desperate need for the citizenry — especially the young — to be better informed?
There is a glaring error at the root of that question. Newspapers are not merely a sacred and inviolable product that should be fashioned and sold like coffee or motor cars by brand alone. First and foremost, newspapers are a service where content matters most. What the majority of today's newspaper owners appear to forget is that the printed broadsheet newspaper is simply a convenient medium for transmitting vital information.
Colonial Americans flocked to Ben Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette because it provided the widest possible flow of dependable information, and, as added attractions, opinions based on authority and amusement based on genuine wit. Starved for information that was weeks in coming and questionable when it arrived, Franklin offered a vital service in product form. When combined with his control over the colonial postal delivery system and his ties to other newspapers along the Atlantic seaboard, Franklin (not Al Gore) can truly be said to have invented the first American Internet.
What's wrong with the classic American newspaper is that it no longer is the sole source of vital information that is authoritatively presented to the citizenry. And while the Internet of today is messy, raucous and politically bent in many aspects, it is the service an increasing number of people — including those darling youngsters — turn to each day, or rather, each hour.
"Email delivers the highest ROI by an eye-popping margin:a whopping $57.25 for every dollar spent on it in 2005." -- DMA, October, 2006
Colorado voters face Dec. 5 caucus deadline
By: Karen Crummy, The Denver Post
Colorado voters have only two weeks left to register with a political party if they want to participate in the Feb. 5 presidential caucuses.
The registration deadline is Dec. 5.
Voters can switch parties, and unaffiliated voters, who make up about one-third of the state's electorate, can register with a party in order to take part in the caucuses.
Colorado, which usually holds its caucus in the third week of March, is now one of more than 20 states that are holding, or planning to hold, their presidential caucuses or primaries Feb. 5. Both Democratic chair Pat Waak and GOP chair Dick Wadhams wanted the caucuses moved up so Colorado would have more of a voice in the presidential nomination.
"I do believe we will see an increase in attendance at precinct caucuses," Wadhams said.
The Democrats have been "actively recruiting" voters so they are registered prior to the Dec. 5 deadline, said party spokesman Matt Sugar.
The caucuses will operate as a preference poll. It is not until the Democrats hold their state convention on May 17 in Colorado Springs and Republicans conduct their convention on May 31 in Broomfield that delegates officially select their presidential candidates.
By then, however, both the GOP and Democratic nominees will likely be known.
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com [1]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.politicswest.com/2008_election/13959/colorado_voters_face_dec_5_caucus_deadline
This is the comment about the above article that I just posted online:
Thanks for mentioning the December 5 deadline for registering
for the Colorado Caucus. It will be posted on my blog www.JohnWren.com
and entered into the Denver Grassroots Rally contest for the best
pre-December 5 caucus coverage.
Why the discouraging comment "by then (Feb 5) both the GOP and
Democratic nominees will likely be known." On what do you base that
opinion? And why did you choose to put it in a news story?
Also, why isn't the December 5 deadline featured on the front page of
Denver Post Online, or at least Politics West? Few people even know
about the caucus, the one's who learn about it at our new Denver
Grassroots Rally http://cocacop.meetup.com/2 seem very interested.
From The Washington Times:
"-30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper" is worth (reading) if you care about journalism and its importance in a democratic society.
Why is the classic American big-city daily newspaper becoming such an embarrassing irrelevancy at a time when there is a desperate need for the citizenry — especially the young — to be better informed?
There is a glaring error at the root of that question. Newspapers are not merely a sacred and inviolable product that should be fashioned and sold like coffee or motor cars by brand alone. First and foremost, newspapers are a service where content matters most. What the majority of today's newspaper owners appear to forget is that the printed broadsheet newspaper is simply a convenient medium for transmitting vital information.
Colonial Americans flocked to Ben Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette because it provided the widest possible flow of dependable information, and, as added attractions, opinions based on authority and amusement based on genuine wit. Starved for information that was weeks in coming and questionable when it arrived, Franklin offered a vital service in product form. When combined with his control over the colonial postal delivery system and his ties to other newspapers along the Atlantic seaboard, Franklin (not Al Gore) can truly be said to have invented the first American Internet.
What's wrong with the classic American newspaper is that it no longer is the sole source of vital information that is authoritatively presented to the citizenry. And while the Internet of today is messy, raucous and politically bent in many aspects, it is the service an increasing number of people — including those darling youngsters — turn to each day, or rather, each hour.
"Email delivers the highest ROI by an eye-popping margin:a whopping $57.25 for every dollar spent on it in 2005." -- DMA, October, 2006
Sunday, November 25, 2007
There is a now-legendary story about (Ewing M.) Kauffman’s start in the business world. Fresh out of the Navy, he caught on with a pharmaceutical company in the Midwest.
He was so prepared, so motivated, so charismatic and so convincing that the commissions he made his first year were more than the salary of the company’s president — who reacted by trimming Kauffman’s commission and shrinking his territory.
Kauffman didn’t much care for that, so he quit and started Marion. He gave the company his middle name for two reasons. He never did like his first name (he also disliked the formality of “Mr. Kauffman,” which is why he went with Mr. K) and he wanted to give the impression that his was more than a one-man operation — even though, at the beginning, that’s exactly what it was.
“I’d go out (in the morning) and call on doctors and sell to them,” Kauffman once said, “come home at night and bottle the pills and label them, put cotton in them, put the lid on them, go to the typewriter and type up the order, go back and package them and then, maybe 11 or 12 o’clock at night, run to the post office and mail them.
“Boy, it was fun. It really was.”
Governed by Kauffman’s business model — essentially the Golden Rule applied to pharmaceutical sales — Marion went from $30,000 in gross sales its first year to $930 million in fiscal 1989. When the company merged and became Merrell Dow (now Aventis), the transaction created more than 300 millionaires.
Kansas City Star
He was so prepared, so motivated, so charismatic and so convincing that the commissions he made his first year were more than the salary of the company’s president — who reacted by trimming Kauffman’s commission and shrinking his territory.
Kauffman didn’t much care for that, so he quit and started Marion. He gave the company his middle name for two reasons. He never did like his first name (he also disliked the formality of “Mr. Kauffman,” which is why he went with Mr. K) and he wanted to give the impression that his was more than a one-man operation — even though, at the beginning, that’s exactly what it was.
“I’d go out (in the morning) and call on doctors and sell to them,” Kauffman once said, “come home at night and bottle the pills and label them, put cotton in them, put the lid on them, go to the typewriter and type up the order, go back and package them and then, maybe 11 or 12 o’clock at night, run to the post office and mail them.
“Boy, it was fun. It really was.”
Governed by Kauffman’s business model — essentially the Golden Rule applied to pharmaceutical sales — Marion went from $30,000 in gross sales its first year to $930 million in fiscal 1989. When the company merged and became Merrell Dow (now Aventis), the transaction created more than 300 millionaires.
Kansas City Star
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Two more entries into the Denver Grassroots Rally "Promote the December 5 caucus registration deadline" contest:
Longmont Times-Call
Deadline nears to choose party affiliation
Voters have until Dec. 5 to pick a side so they can participate in caucuses
By John Fryar
Fort Collins NowKirk Brush has a busy winter ahead.
By Rebecca Boyle
The new Larimer County Republican chairman, elected to his post just two weeks ago, has plenty of organizing to do before the upcoming statewide caucuses in February.
Longmont Times-Call
Deadline nears to choose party affiliation
Voters have until Dec. 5 to pick a side so they can participate in caucuses
By John Fryar
Fort Collins NowKirk Brush has a busy winter ahead.
By Rebecca Boyle
The new Larimer County Republican chairman, elected to his post just two weeks ago, has plenty of organizing to do before the upcoming statewide caucuses in February.
Here's an entry into the Denver Grassroots Rally "Promote the December 5 Deadline for Registering for Colorado Caucus" contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThbfmUzmOk
Join us next Friday for the Denver Grassroots Rally, bring your entry! If nothing else, write a letter to the editor of your favorate newspaper, bring copies for us! RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThbfmUzmOk
Join us next Friday for the Denver Grassroots Rally, bring your entry! If nothing else, write a letter to the editor of your favorate newspaper, bring copies for us! RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
From The Los Angles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-podclass24nov24,0,5117576.story
By making hundreds of lectures from elite academic institutions available online for free, Apple is reinvigorating the minds of people who have been estranged from the world of ideas.
For several years universities have posted recorded lectures on their internal websites, giving students a chance to brush up on their classes or catch ones they missed.
But 28 colleges and universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford and Yale, now post select courses without charge at iTunes.
Check out Dr. Amar Bhide’s “Hustle as Strategy” in which he makes the case for true entrepreneurship and against formal market research and strategic planning.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-podclass24nov24,0,5117576.story
By making hundreds of lectures from elite academic institutions available online for free, Apple is reinvigorating the minds of people who have been estranged from the world of ideas.
For several years universities have posted recorded lectures on their internal websites, giving students a chance to brush up on their classes or catch ones they missed.
But 28 colleges and universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford and Yale, now post select courses without charge at iTunes.
Check out Dr. Amar Bhide’s “Hustle as Strategy” in which he makes the case for true entrepreneurship and against formal market research and strategic planning.
Correction: This is the link to the Rocky Mountain News article where you can post your comment http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/24/no-holds-barred-abortion-battle/
80 is the new 30 for senior citizen entrepreneurs, says America On Line and Inc. Magazine. Includes a profile of the world’s oldest entrepreneur, Denver’s Jack Weil. http://smallbusiness.aol.com/features/older-entrepreneurs
Lead story Rocky Mountain News Online this morning:
No-holds-barred abortion battle
'Personhood' amendment could ban some birth control, stem-cell research
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/24/no-holds-barred-abortion-battle/?printer=1/
Read the article, then post your comment there on the new Rocky Mountain News Online.
Here's the comment I posted there:
When does a woman become a mother, and her child gain equal rights?
When the child draws its first breath? When it is conceived? When it can defeat its father in physical combat?
Who decides? In our representative form of government, in the long run it is our elected representatives. The League of Women voters has said your voice counts most in electing them at your neighborhood caucus.
Resolutions on both sides of the question are sure to be offered across the state February 5 at the 6000 or so meetings with neighbors at our Colorado caucus. To be part of the discussion, you must register as a Republican or Democrat by December 5. To learn more Google “Colorado caucus.”
Lead story Rocky Mountain News Online this morning:
No-holds-barred abortion battle
'Personhood' amendment could ban some birth control, stem-cell research
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/24/no-holds-barred-abortion-battle/?printer=1/
Read the article, then post your comment there on the new Rocky Mountain News Online.
Here's the comment I posted there:
When does a woman become a mother, and her child gain equal rights?
When the child draws its first breath? When it is conceived? When it can defeat its father in physical combat?
Who decides? In our representative form of government, in the long run it is our elected representatives. The League of Women voters has said your voice counts most in electing them at your neighborhood caucus.
Resolutions on both sides of the question are sure to be offered across the state February 5 at the 6000 or so meetings with neighbors at our Colorado caucus. To be part of the discussion, you must register as a Republican or Democrat by December 5. To learn more Google “Colorado caucus.”
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
"I think of myself ... as a troubadour, a village storyteller, the guy in the shadows of the campfire," (Louis L'Amour) once said. "That's the way I'd like to be remembered."
"He always felt that if he could get an education in public libraries," Kathy L'Amour says, "it is possible for anyone."
Education is manditory, school is optional. I wish L'Amour could have joined us for Socrates Cafe. http://socratescafe.meetup.com/82
Maybe if we'd met around a campfire...
(Yes, mandatory is misspelled above. Emerson said, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” I’ve always put standard spelling in that category. Catagory? Maybe it’s time for me to spend a little more time in the library!)
The first Thanksgiving
The following account of the first harvest and thanksgiving observance at Plymouth colony in 1621 is from writings of two of the settlers, Gov. William Bradford and Edward Winslow, as compiled for 'The Pilgrim Reader' by George F. Willison. The spelling is that of the original manuscripts.
YOU will understand that in this little time that a few of us have been here, we have builte seven dwelling houses, and four for the use of the Plantation, and have made preparation for divers others.
We set last spring some twentie acres of Indian corne and sowed some six acres of barley and peas. And according to ye manner of the Indians, we manured our ground with herrings, or rather shads (or rather, alewives), which we have in great abundance and take with great ease at our doors.
Our corne did prove well and - God be praised! - we had a good increase of Indian corne, and our barley indifferent good. But our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown. They came up very well and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom…
And although it be not always so plentifull as it was at this time with us, yet, by the goodness of God, we are so farr from wante that we often wish you partakers of our plentie.
(Today) there are LOTS of (GOP) folks still on the sidelines, including Iowa's Chuck Grassley, who appears happy staying unaffiliated. Jeb Bush would be a big get but one gets the sense he, too, wants to stay out of the fray. Ditto with his presidential brother and father. Is Arnold Schwarzenegger more interested in supporting Michael Bloomberg more than the eventual GOP nominee? The Doles, as a couple, could be a good one-day story for someone should they decide to pick a candidate. The NRA, if they truly put their political muscle behind someone, would a real difference maker. Like the Doles, Nancy Reagan would be a nice story for a candidate, particularly if she decided NOT to endorse John McCain. But since the Reagan library is hosting another GOP debate in January, she'll likely be on the sidelines. Frankly, the biggest "gets" will be when the two eventual frontrunners (whoever they may be) start fighting over the big-time dropouts.
ACROSS THE NATION: Primary calendar
November 21, 2007
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
Jan. 3: Iowa caucuses
Jan. 5: Wyoming GOP caucuses
Jan. 8: New Hampshire primary
Jan. 15: Michigan primary
Jan. 19: Nevada caucuses, South Carolina GOP primary
Jan. 26: South Carolina Democratic primary
Jan. 29: Florida primary
Feb. 1: Maine Republican caucuses
Feb. 5: Alabama primary, Alaska caucuses, Arizona primary, Arkansas primary, California primary, Colorado caucuses, Connecticut primary, Delaware primary, Georgia primary, Idaho Democratic caucuses, Illinois primary, Kansas Democratic caucuses, Minnesota caucuses, Missouri primary, New Jersey primary, New Mexico Democratic caucuses, New York primary, North Dakota caucuses, Oklahoma primary, Tennessee primary, Utah primary
Feb. 9: Kansas Republican caucuses, Louisiana primary
Feb. 10: Maine Democratic caucuses
Feb. 12: District of Columbia primary, Maryland primary, Virginia primary
Feb. 19: Hawaii Democratic caucuses (Hawaii Republicans will have no primary or caucus.), Washington primary, Wisconsin primary
March 4: Massachusetts primary, Ohio primary, Rhode Island primary, Texas primary, Vermont primary
March 8: Wyoming Democratic caucuses
March 11: Mississippi primary
April 22: Pennsylvania primary
May 6: Indiana primary, North Carolina primary.
May 13: Nebraska primary, West Virginia primary
May 20: Kentucky primary, Oregon primary
May 27: Idaho Republican primary
June 3: Montana primary, New Mexico GOP caucuses, South Dakota primary
In today's Denver Post:
Rodgers (detective paid to dig up dirt on Ritter) was not working for the Colorado GOP, as had been alleged, but was paid $750 by Trailhead, a political group founded by former Gov. Bill Owens, oilman Bruce Benson and beer baron Pete Coors. Rodgers, the former chief investigator for the Harris County DA's office, declined to name his friend, but said he was retired and possibly under a criminal investigation.
Here's my comment on this disclosure, which I posted on the above article:
GOP Gang
It’s widely acknowledged that the state of Colorado has turned blue because of it’s powerful leaders, the four big financial contributors.
Where were our GOP leaders? Our Three Stooges, Owens, Coors, and Benson, were stabbing Bob Schaeffer in the back, supporting C and D, supporting A thru I, and conducting back-ally attack politics. Is it any wonder that it’s almost impossible to find GOP volunteers in Denver right now? Or that phone calls to GOP county headquarters don’t get returned? Why would anyone in Denver want to be a Republican for this election cycle?
December 5 is the deadline for changing affiliation to vote in the Republican or Democratic neighborhood caucus that will be held February 5.
We have a lot to be thankful for today, but that does not include the GOP in Denver. Do we rebuild or abandon ship?
"I think of myself ... as a troubadour, a village storyteller, the guy in the shadows of the campfire," (Louis L'Amour) once said. "That's the way I'd like to be remembered."
"He always felt that if he could get an education in public libraries," Kathy L'Amour says, "it is possible for anyone."
Education is manditory, school is optional. I wish L'Amour could have joined us for Socrates Cafe. http://socratescafe.meetup.com/82
Maybe if we'd met around a campfire...
(Yes, mandatory is misspelled above. Emerson said, “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” I’ve always put standard spelling in that category. Catagory? Maybe it’s time for me to spend a little more time in the library!)
The first Thanksgiving
The following account of the first harvest and thanksgiving observance at Plymouth colony in 1621 is from writings of two of the settlers, Gov. William Bradford and Edward Winslow, as compiled for 'The Pilgrim Reader' by George F. Willison. The spelling is that of the original manuscripts.
YOU will understand that in this little time that a few of us have been here, we have builte seven dwelling houses, and four for the use of the Plantation, and have made preparation for divers others.
We set last spring some twentie acres of Indian corne and sowed some six acres of barley and peas. And according to ye manner of the Indians, we manured our ground with herrings, or rather shads (or rather, alewives), which we have in great abundance and take with great ease at our doors.
Our corne did prove well and - God be praised! - we had a good increase of Indian corne, and our barley indifferent good. But our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown. They came up very well and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom…
And although it be not always so plentifull as it was at this time with us, yet, by the goodness of God, we are so farr from wante that we often wish you partakers of our plentie.
(Today) there are LOTS of (GOP) folks still on the sidelines, including Iowa's Chuck Grassley, who appears happy staying unaffiliated. Jeb Bush would be a big get but one gets the sense he, too, wants to stay out of the fray. Ditto with his presidential brother and father. Is Arnold Schwarzenegger more interested in supporting Michael Bloomberg more than the eventual GOP nominee? The Doles, as a couple, could be a good one-day story for someone should they decide to pick a candidate. The NRA, if they truly put their political muscle behind someone, would a real difference maker. Like the Doles, Nancy Reagan would be a nice story for a candidate, particularly if she decided NOT to endorse John McCain. But since the Reagan library is hosting another GOP debate in January, she'll likely be on the sidelines. Frankly, the biggest "gets" will be when the two eventual frontrunners (whoever they may be) start fighting over the big-time dropouts.
ACROSS THE NATION: Primary calendar
November 21, 2007
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
Jan. 3: Iowa caucuses
Jan. 5: Wyoming GOP caucuses
Jan. 8: New Hampshire primary
Jan. 15: Michigan primary
Jan. 19: Nevada caucuses, South Carolina GOP primary
Jan. 26: South Carolina Democratic primary
Jan. 29: Florida primary
Feb. 1: Maine Republican caucuses
Feb. 5: Alabama primary, Alaska caucuses, Arizona primary, Arkansas primary, California primary, Colorado caucuses, Connecticut primary, Delaware primary, Georgia primary, Idaho Democratic caucuses, Illinois primary, Kansas Democratic caucuses, Minnesota caucuses, Missouri primary, New Jersey primary, New Mexico Democratic caucuses, New York primary, North Dakota caucuses, Oklahoma primary, Tennessee primary, Utah primary
Feb. 9: Kansas Republican caucuses, Louisiana primary
Feb. 10: Maine Democratic caucuses
Feb. 12: District of Columbia primary, Maryland primary, Virginia primary
Feb. 19: Hawaii Democratic caucuses (Hawaii Republicans will have no primary or caucus.), Washington primary, Wisconsin primary
March 4: Massachusetts primary, Ohio primary, Rhode Island primary, Texas primary, Vermont primary
March 8: Wyoming Democratic caucuses
March 11: Mississippi primary
April 22: Pennsylvania primary
May 6: Indiana primary, North Carolina primary.
May 13: Nebraska primary, West Virginia primary
May 20: Kentucky primary, Oregon primary
May 27: Idaho Republican primary
June 3: Montana primary, New Mexico GOP caucuses, South Dakota primary
In today's Denver Post:
Rodgers (detective paid to dig up dirt on Ritter) was not working for the Colorado GOP, as had been alleged, but was paid $750 by Trailhead, a political group founded by former Gov. Bill Owens, oilman Bruce Benson and beer baron Pete Coors. Rodgers, the former chief investigator for the Harris County DA's office, declined to name his friend, but said he was retired and possibly under a criminal investigation.
Here's my comment on this disclosure, which I posted on the above article:
GOP Gang
It’s widely acknowledged that the state of Colorado has turned blue because of it’s powerful leaders, the four big financial contributors.
Where were our GOP leaders? Our Three Stooges, Owens, Coors, and Benson, were stabbing Bob Schaeffer in the back, supporting C and D, supporting A thru I, and conducting back-ally attack politics. Is it any wonder that it’s almost impossible to find GOP volunteers in Denver right now? Or that phone calls to GOP county headquarters don’t get returned? Why would anyone in Denver want to be a Republican for this election cycle?
December 5 is the deadline for changing affiliation to vote in the Republican or Democratic neighborhood caucus that will be held February 5.
We have a lot to be thankful for today, but that does not include the GOP in Denver. Do we rebuild or abandon ship?
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Christ’s instruction to the Apostles:” Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give” (Matt. 10:8) resonates with the soul of Ignatius. He harked back to the same concept repeatedly - in the Spiritual Exercises, in the Constitutions, and in his personal correspondence. “People will listen to us only when we can show them that we have nothing to gain from what we are calling them to.”
When the first Jesuit school was opened in Messina in 1547 gratuitous teaching was a novelty which in the following 150 years was continued by all Jesuit schools. The need to get involved in education arose from the fact that young Jesuit students needed training. If the Society were going to have schools for their own students, why not give the same opportunity to young people who are not Jesuits? Ignatius commissioned his secretary, Father Polanco, to provide examples of how the schools might be funded: by the city, by some prince, by some private individual, or by a group of individuals.
“Thus not to charge for education was a corollary to one of the most fundamental graces Ignatius received: to give freely what one has freely received, to minister without worrying about benefit and without support of gold or silver, concepts almost foreign to the way” Some dioceses and congregations are seeing things perhaps in India today even in some highly Christianised States. When the secretary of Ignatius, Fr. Polanco, wrote the programme for non-Jesuit students, he began by saying: ”First of all, we accept for classes and literary studies everybody, poor and rich, free of charge and for charity’s sake, without accepting any remuneration.”
When the first Jesuit school was opened in Messina in 1547 gratuitous teaching was a novelty which in the following 150 years was continued by all Jesuit schools. The need to get involved in education arose from the fact that young Jesuit students needed training. If the Society were going to have schools for their own students, why not give the same opportunity to young people who are not Jesuits? Ignatius commissioned his secretary, Father Polanco, to provide examples of how the schools might be funded: by the city, by some prince, by some private individual, or by a group of individuals.
“Thus not to charge for education was a corollary to one of the most fundamental graces Ignatius received: to give freely what one has freely received, to minister without worrying about benefit and without support of gold or silver, concepts almost foreign to the way” Some dioceses and congregations are seeing things perhaps in India today even in some highly Christianised States. When the secretary of Ignatius, Fr. Polanco, wrote the programme for non-Jesuit students, he began by saying: ”First of all, we accept for classes and literary studies everybody, poor and rich, free of charge and for charity’s sake, without accepting any remuneration.”
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Interesting video of Robert Kiyosaki just went up on YouTube, I just linked to it. What do you think of it? Have you read his book? Message is don’t just be an employee if you want to be rich. Be self-employed, or better build a business and be an investor. I’m going to talk about his “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book at the next few IDEA Café sessions.
Bella is supposed to be the movie to see on Thanksgiving. For details see http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809423607/info
And they are off!!! The Colorado Legislative Council announced the 30 bills that will go before the Colorado Legislature. More to come, these bills do not go against the 5 bill limit for each legislator. Hold on to your wallet. With A thru I there will be a real possibility for the state to use the same Chinese menu technique with a referral to the 2008 ballot. For list of bills already pending see: http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/Clics2007A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersHouse?openFrameset
Businesses in the 21st century trying to practice sustainability -- balancing environmental and social concerns with generating profits -- would do well to open their U.S. history books and study the contributions of inventor, author and diplomat Benjamin Franklin.
"He was the epitome of values-based leadership," Walter Isaacson, former media executive and author of a 2003 biography of the Philadelphia statesman, told a Pittsburgh audience yesterday… http://www.business.duq.edu/Beard/
Mr. Isaacson was the keynote speaker at a symposium on sustainable business sponsored by Duquesne University's Beard Center for Leadership in Ethics and Palumbo Donahue School of Business. About 200 attended the event in the Hilton Pittsburgh, Downtown.
As the proprietor of a print shop in Philadelphia, Mr. Isaacson said, Mr. Franklin spearheaded the Leather Apron Society -- a group of tradesmen who met every Friday to talk about how they could best serve their community. "They asked themselves the moral questions of the day," which are the same moral questions facing business owners today, Mr. Isaacson said.
Mr. Franklin believed that successful business people had an obligation to be civic and community leaders, "And that's a key to sustainability," said Mr. Isaacson, whose most recent book is a biography of Albert Einstein.
To meet the growing demand for business leaders better versed in the concepts of sustainability, Duquesne's business school this fall began offering a master's degree in the topic and has earned high ratings by the Aspen Institute for its program and for being among the few small universities in the United States to have one.
From: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07320/834328-28.stm
Bella is supposed to be the movie to see on Thanksgiving. For details see http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809423607/info
And they are off!!! The Colorado Legislative Council announced the 30 bills that will go before the Colorado Legislature. More to come, these bills do not go against the 5 bill limit for each legislator. Hold on to your wallet. With A thru I there will be a real possibility for the state to use the same Chinese menu technique with a referral to the 2008 ballot. For list of bills already pending see: http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/Clics2007A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersHouse?openFrameset
Businesses in the 21st century trying to practice sustainability -- balancing environmental and social concerns with generating profits -- would do well to open their U.S. history books and study the contributions of inventor, author and diplomat Benjamin Franklin.
"He was the epitome of values-based leadership," Walter Isaacson, former media executive and author of a 2003 biography of the Philadelphia statesman, told a Pittsburgh audience yesterday… http://www.business.duq.edu/Beard/
Mr. Isaacson was the keynote speaker at a symposium on sustainable business sponsored by Duquesne University's Beard Center for Leadership in Ethics and Palumbo Donahue School of Business. About 200 attended the event in the Hilton Pittsburgh, Downtown.
As the proprietor of a print shop in Philadelphia, Mr. Isaacson said, Mr. Franklin spearheaded the Leather Apron Society -- a group of tradesmen who met every Friday to talk about how they could best serve their community. "They asked themselves the moral questions of the day," which are the same moral questions facing business owners today, Mr. Isaacson said.
Mr. Franklin believed that successful business people had an obligation to be civic and community leaders, "And that's a key to sustainability," said Mr. Isaacson, whose most recent book is a biography of Albert Einstein.
To meet the growing demand for business leaders better versed in the concepts of sustainability, Duquesne's business school this fall began offering a master's degree in the topic and has earned high ratings by the Aspen Institute for its program and for being among the few small universities in the United States to have one.
From: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07320/834328-28.stm
Monday, November 19, 2007
Yorktown University announces a launch of thirty-one courses and seminars at Apple iTunes. Starting Friday, November 16, Yorktown University will commence a rollout of lectures from thirty-one courses and seminars at Yorktown University.
Here is a listing of the first ten courses made available to the public: 1. Dr. C. F. Sills, History of Ethics 2. Dr. Gregory Browne, The Progressive Era 3. Dr. Gary Lee Wolfram, Introduction to Political Economy 4. Lawrence Roberge, Nutrition 5. Dr. William Luckey, History of Economic Thought 6. Michael Pollock, Principles of Genealogy, www.Anquestory.com 7. Dr. William Martin Sloane, Communication Media Law for PR Professionals 8. Dr. Thomas Landess, Writing as a Small Business 9. Dr. Arthur Pontynen, History of Art 10. Dr. Eugene Heath, Virtue and Business
Faculty biographies are posted at www.yorktownuniversity.com and www.yorktowncollege.com. Mr. Pollock’s genealogy service is located at www.Anquestory.com. These thirty-one courses and seminars are being made available free of charge by Yorktown University. Each month lectures from courses and seminars will be made available at iTunes.
December’s launch will feature podcasts from nine courses and a five-hour seminar on Supply-side Economics with lectures by the Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore, Economists Alan Reynolds, Mark Skousen and Stephen Entin, and tech entrepreneur George Gilder. A guide to access iTunes is located at http://www.yorktownuniversity.com/podcasts.
About Yorktown University: Yorktown University is an Internet-based institution licensed by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and incorporated in Colorado as a for-profit stock corporation. The University enrolled its first students in May 2001 and offers the Associate of Arts, B.A. in Government, B.A. in Managerial Economics and M.A. in Government degrees. A new MBA in Entrepreneurship degree will be launched in August 2008. Yorktown University is an applicant for national accreditation. Headquarters:Denver, Colorado Websites: http://www.yorktownuniversity.com http:// www.yorktowncollege.com http://www.yorktownpatriot.com
Here is a listing of the first ten courses made available to the public: 1. Dr. C. F. Sills, History of Ethics 2. Dr. Gregory Browne, The Progressive Era 3. Dr. Gary Lee Wolfram, Introduction to Political Economy 4. Lawrence Roberge, Nutrition 5. Dr. William Luckey, History of Economic Thought 6. Michael Pollock, Principles of Genealogy, www.Anquestory.com 7. Dr. William Martin Sloane, Communication Media Law for PR Professionals 8. Dr. Thomas Landess, Writing as a Small Business 9. Dr. Arthur Pontynen, History of Art 10. Dr. Eugene Heath, Virtue and Business
Faculty biographies are posted at www.yorktownuniversity.com and www.yorktowncollege.com. Mr. Pollock’s genealogy service is located at www.Anquestory.com. These thirty-one courses and seminars are being made available free of charge by Yorktown University. Each month lectures from courses and seminars will be made available at iTunes.
December’s launch will feature podcasts from nine courses and a five-hour seminar on Supply-side Economics with lectures by the Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore, Economists Alan Reynolds, Mark Skousen and Stephen Entin, and tech entrepreneur George Gilder. A guide to access iTunes is located at http://www.yorktownuniversity.com/podcasts.
About Yorktown University: Yorktown University is an Internet-based institution licensed by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and incorporated in Colorado as a for-profit stock corporation. The University enrolled its first students in May 2001 and offers the Associate of Arts, B.A. in Government, B.A. in Managerial Economics and M.A. in Government degrees. A new MBA in Entrepreneurship degree will be launched in August 2008. Yorktown University is an applicant for national accreditation. Headquarters:Denver, Colorado Websites: http://www.yorktownuniversity.com http:// www.yorktowncollege.com http://www.yorktownpatriot.com
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Here's an idea. Mike Coffman and his heir apparent Ken Gordon, both good men, should put their heads together and decide what should be done with our elections here in Colorado. They are both well connected to their political parties; they could use those parties to find a true grassroots solution and then communicate it through those parties with a common resolution at the state-wide neighborhood caucuses that will be held February 5.
Below are two releases I made to the media Friday, please take a look right now, OK? Then set me straight if I'm off base with your comment here or email to me at JohnSWren@aol.com if you don't want to embarrass me in front of my friends. :)
Below are two releases I made to the media Friday, please take a look right now, OK? Then set me straight if I'm off base with your comment here or email to me at JohnSWren@aol.com if you don't want to embarrass me in front of my friends. :)
Friday, November 16, 2007
FOR RELEASE AT 4 PM TODAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2007
Comtact: John Wren, (720)495-4949
Political parties with good leadership are the megaphone of the grassroots in America, the place where the humble voice of the common person is best heard. February 5, the Colorado Caucus starts the process of not only nominating candidates for President and other offices, but also of electing the leadership of both major political parties.
My friend Sue said it best when she was still with us:
“(The Colorado Caucus is) a vibrant neighborhood forum for hashing out ideas—the last remaining arena in which you can get on the first rung of the ladder toward political effectiveness by just showing up.” (Sue O’Brien, Denver Post Columnist, 10/6/2002)
Our US republic has three parts:
1) Our elected representatives at the local, state, and Federal level and the system that supports them;
2) The grassroots, the common person expressing him or her self to our elected representative directly, through political parties, and through interactive media; and
3) The elite, people able to exert extraordinary influence on our representatives and our grassroots because of their monetary and non-monetary power.
Together, these strands form the strong rope of our Republic, the source of our freedom and justice for 232 years (if we take the founding of what we now call the U.S. Marine Corp on November 10, 1775 as the true start of our country.)
Each of these stands is important, but the first among equals in our American Republic is the grassroots. Not the unchecked mob-rule of a direct democracy, but the humble participation in our processes of freedom, being an active participant in reading, discussing the issues, and then electing and holding accountable our representatives.
Our two party system has served us well. Ego driven third parties almost always backfire. Both Ross Perot and his party and Ralph Nader and his party got the candidate they’d least like to see in power elected.
Some criticize the Democrats and Republicans, saying there is no real difference between them. Do we want a big difference? To win elections each party must move towards the middle of what the country wants. Democrats usually stress justice; Republicans usually stress freedom; but they are both for freedom and justice.
Demonizing the other side is sometimes just good fun, but too often sharp attacks are a tool of manipulation, the cheap shot of poor leadership and talk-radio.
There are good Democrats and good Republican. It’s like choosing up sides in a touch football game, does it really matter if you are a shirt or a skin, a red or a green? Two teams enables a healthy contest, but at the end of the day there is something very wrong with my thinking if I hate the other side.
Registering as a Democrat or a Republican is just a tool, your ticket to the process that starts with the February 5 caucus with your neighbors where the League of Women Voters has said you can best make your voice heard and your votes count.
My fellow Colorado Americans, today I beg of you to do your duty as a citizen. Read and discuss the issues, then register as a Democrat or Republican by December 5, the deadline for being able to participate in the February 5 Colorado caucus.
To find out more, talk with someone like Sue O’Brien who has seen the system work under good leadership a couple of decades back. Ask your favorite newspaper to write an article about our Colorado Caucus system and its history, and ask your local librarian for information. Join us for the new Denver Grassroots Rally (we may be moving our meeting time and place, to get a notice of each meeting RSVP yes/no/ or maybe at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2.)
If nothing else, go to a nursing home, and talk with someone who has been involved in politics. They will remember, and you can help us recreate on February 5, what Sue knew was and with good party leadership potentially still is ” the last remaining arena in which you can get on the first rung of the ladder toward political effectiveness by just showing up.”
Will you help us restore the grassroots in Colorado?
John Wren www.JohnWren.com is a business consultant and adult educator. He is the founder of the new Denver Grassroots Rally. His is currently the GOP Denver District 5 Captain. He can be contacted at (303)861-1447 or JohnSWren@aol.com.
FOR RELEASE ON
Friday, November 16, 2007
After 4 p.m.
Contact: John Wren (720)495-4949
New Contest to Reward Media Coverage of Colorado Caucus Registration Deadline.
Veteran community activist John Wren announced today contest for all Colorado media, including websites and blogs. The purpose is to encourage Colorado media to promote the December 5, 2007 registration deadline to vote in the Colorado Caucus next February 5, 2008. Wren made the announcement at the regular weekly meeting of the new Denver Grassroots Rally.
“The deadline to register to be able to vote in the caucus is much earlier than in past years. To encourage local media to get the word out about this and to explain the Colorado Caucus system to the thousands of new voters in Colorado, we are going to give an award for the most creative presentation of caucus information to Colorado citizens,” said Wren.
“Stories that come up on Google with the search term “Colorado Caucus” will be automatically entered; other stories can be emailed to JohnSWren@aol.com or brought directly to the December 6th regular weekly meeting of the Denver Grassroots Rally. Those attending December 6 will vote, and we’ll present the awards at the 3rd annual Denver Ben Franklin Birthday Party January 17, 2008 (Ben’s 302nd birthday).”
Contest awards will be given for the top three stories on the Colorado Caucus and how it works. All writers and reporters at all media are eligible, including blogs and websites of individuals and organizations, such as: the Secretary of State; Denver Election Commission; neighborhood, high school and college newspapers; etc.
“Certificates of recognition will be given to the top three vote getters this year. We hope to do more in the future contest through cooperation with the Colorado Press Association and other groups,” said Wren. “There is no reason that the Colorado Caucus can’t generate the same level of publicity for Colorado as we now see for Iowa and their Iowa Caucus, if the media will do a good job of informing citizens about the system. This could be a big boost for our economy.”
The multi-partisan Denver Grassroots Rally is held each Friday, 4 pm at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant Street. Those attending can just listen or they can get 2 to 5 minutes on the “soap box” to express their opinions. The meeting is free and open to all, for more information and to RSVP (which is NOT required, but gets first position on the speakers list) see http://cocacop.meetup.com/2.
The Colorado Caucus is prescribed by Colorado State Law, and the rules of the state and county political parties. It has been held every two years since 1912. Many Colorado political leaders got their start attending their neighborhood precinct caucus. Amendment 29 in 2002 would have killed the system for nominating to the primary ballot; it was defeated 60% to 40%. Attendance has declined over the past 20 years, until now it is estimated that only 8% of the citizens of Colorado even know that the system exists.
“Colorado’s traditional caucus-convention system rewards shoe-leather and diligence. It provides a low-cost way for aspirants to work the neighborhoods, investing energy instead of dollars…
“But even more important that the caucus’ benefits for candidates is its benefits for ordinary citizens. It’s a vibrant neighborhood forum for hashing out ideas—the last remaining arena in which you can get on the first rung of the ladder toward political effectiveness by just showing up.” Sue O’Brien, Denver Post Columnist, 10/6/2002
“The Colorado system was adopted in 1910 and went into effect in 1912… (It) combines some of the better features of both (the convention system and primary system) nominating methods and does not have any of the worst defects of either system. It is simple and direct; it permits citizens to run for office even though they may not be the ‘pets’ of the party organization, and at the same time it discourages persons without any real stature and public standing from becoming candidates.” Curtis Martin and Wallace Stealey, Readings in Colorado Government and Politics, Bureau of Governmental Research and Service, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1967.
John S. Wren, MBA+ www.JohnWren.com is an adult educator and consultant. He is now president of the Denver South Optimists Club, and a member of the board of directors of the Denver Lions Club. He is the past-president of the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association, the Denver City Club, the Colorado College Republicans, and the University of Denver Graduate Students Association. He is one of the founders of Save the Caucus which defeated Amendment 29 in 2002 which would have destroyed the neighborhood caucus-assembly system for nominating to the primary ballot. He currently serves as Denver GOP District 5 Captain. He formed the first Franklin Circle in Denver in 1996, he’s the founder of the Denver Ben Franklin Birthday Party, and the Denver Grassroots Rally.
###
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tomorrow at the Denver Grassroots Rally, I'm going to announce a new contest for people who want to write about the Colorado Caucus, our system for finding good candidates and getting them elected.
Click here: Colorado Caucus Contest News Release
I'll be making the announcement at 4 pm, Panera Bread, 13th & Grant near the Capitol. Join us if you can! RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
And consider writing something to help others learn about our wonderful neighborhood system. Every 2 years it gives us the opportunity for a state-wide civics lesson. School is now in session, will you be the teacher?
We'd like to recognize you for your effort with a letter to the editor, op-ed, special web-site or blog, or just web-site or blog postings, pamphlet, etc. on Ben Franklin's Birthday January 17. If you have any questions, give me a call, ok?
Click here: Colorado Caucus Contest News Release
I'll be making the announcement at 4 pm, Panera Bread, 13th & Grant near the Capitol. Join us if you can! RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
And consider writing something to help others learn about our wonderful neighborhood system. Every 2 years it gives us the opportunity for a state-wide civics lesson. School is now in session, will you be the teacher?
We'd like to recognize you for your effort with a letter to the editor, op-ed, special web-site or blog, or just web-site or blog postings, pamphlet, etc. on Ben Franklin's Birthday January 17. If you have any questions, give me a call, ok?
On this day in: 1926 - The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations; 1969 - Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy's fast food restaurant in Columbus, Ohio; 1979 - John E. Wren, my father, dies of cancer. He was born February 10, 1924.
There was no obituary in the paper for my father, only a funeral notice. Wellshire Presbyterian Church was packed, but many, many people who were not there have told me they wish they’d known about it and that they would have attended.
The service was led by dad’s friend from high school, Rev. Bob Ely who was pastor at the time at Trinity Methodist Church.
There was a reception for the family at Mom and Pop’s condo, where Mom still lives. Someone asked me to say something, and so I did. We ate, I took a walk with dad’s cousin Jack, and it was finished. My ex-wife Janet had all our Denver relatives and some friends over for Thanksgiving a few days later, and then she delivered Allie our 4th child November 25.
Dad’s last words to Mom were, “Don’t worry, honey, we’re going to lick this.” The hospice people had encouraged us to get dad to talk about dying, that it would help him and help us all. I remember sitting face to face with him for the last time in the Porter Hospital lounge and asking him, “what is this like for you, Dad?” He said, “How is what?” Dying. “That’s a morbid question,” he said. We went back to his room, he gave me a silent, final hug. That evening we stood around his bed as he slipped away.
There was no obituary because I could never bring myself to write it through the tears that have come every time I tried, and I insisted that it be my words. It needs to be a book. He was a remarkable, great man. He accomplished the American Dream, and then died way, way too young. We miss you, Pop.
like clouds
vanishing from a puddle
that morning
my father
silently disappeared
--Mariko Kitakubo
Coincidence? Jari Thymian, the widely published poet and author of her new The Meaning of Barns www.finishinglinepress.com shared this with us yesterday at the Denver South Optimists Club in her excellent talk “Haiku Introduction.” When I heard the poem yesterday, and even more as I share it here with you now, it brings tears. It expresses very much how I have felt about that last talk and final hug from Pop 28 years ago. Maybe now after these (final?) tears I can write his obituary.
If you knew Pop, would you write to me? I’d be very grateful, and will keep what you say confidential if you ask me to do so, or I’ll share it in what I write.
Thinkers 50 is an interesting annual list of the top 50 business gurus. It has short, interesting biographies with provocative quotes.
This year’s #16, Henry Mintzberg, says:
“I think every MBA should have a skull and crossbones stamped on their forehead and underneath should be written: "Warning: not prepared to manage."
(I say I’m a recovering MBA, that I put MBA on my business card by way of warning, not bragging!)
#14 Gary Hamel argues that complacency and cynicism are endemic. "Dilbert is the bestselling business book of all time. It is cynical about management. Never has there been so much cynicism," he laments.
Antidote to Dilbert. That's why I like Franklin Circles: It’s just about impossible to be in one for more than a few weeks and not become at least a bit less cynical and a bit more of an activist. I’m up extra early today because this morning we’re testing the Franklin Circle format at the new Downtown Denver Lions Club breakfast meeting, 7:30 am at the Denver Athletic Club. I’ll let you know how it goes. We’ll see...
This evening I’ll be at the Denver Socrates Cafe, Trinity Church, 7 pm, lots of free parking on Lincoln Street just a block East, the meters stop there at 6 pm. Meets each week (except next week because of Thanksgiving) if you enjoy good discussion, join us some Thursday. RSVP at http://socratescafe.meetup.com/82
Tomorrow, I’ll lead the Denver IDEA Cafe, 2 pm at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant. Speakers share their startup experience, and we brainstorm. Join us if you’re starting a new project, a new career, a new business, or a new campaign and you’re not sure what you’re going to do Monday morning. RSVP at http://ideacafe.meetup.com/1
Then at 4 pm at Panera I’ll MC the new Denver Grassroots Rally. Just listen or get a couple of minutes on the soap box to express your opinion on candidates, issues, philosophy or use your time to make an announcement, tell a joke or sing a song. It’s a lot of fun, we’re going to discuss moving it to a larger venue. No RSVP required, but those on the RSVP list and who come on time get to speak first. http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
For any of these three meetings, RSVP yes/no/ or maybe, and you’ll get an email reminder each week, an announcement of any special speakers or guests expected for the meeting, a list of others who have RSVP’d, and a notice if the meeting moves to another location. So if you’re interested RSVP now! And forward an invitation to your friends who might like to join us, meetup.com makes that easy, just click Promote/ Invite Friends.
Life is short, let’s get started! How may I help you?
There was no obituary in the paper for my father, only a funeral notice. Wellshire Presbyterian Church was packed, but many, many people who were not there have told me they wish they’d known about it and that they would have attended.
The service was led by dad’s friend from high school, Rev. Bob Ely who was pastor at the time at Trinity Methodist Church.
There was a reception for the family at Mom and Pop’s condo, where Mom still lives. Someone asked me to say something, and so I did. We ate, I took a walk with dad’s cousin Jack, and it was finished. My ex-wife Janet had all our Denver relatives and some friends over for Thanksgiving a few days later, and then she delivered Allie our 4th child November 25.
Dad’s last words to Mom were, “Don’t worry, honey, we’re going to lick this.” The hospice people had encouraged us to get dad to talk about dying, that it would help him and help us all. I remember sitting face to face with him for the last time in the Porter Hospital lounge and asking him, “what is this like for you, Dad?” He said, “How is what?” Dying. “That’s a morbid question,” he said. We went back to his room, he gave me a silent, final hug. That evening we stood around his bed as he slipped away.
There was no obituary because I could never bring myself to write it through the tears that have come every time I tried, and I insisted that it be my words. It needs to be a book. He was a remarkable, great man. He accomplished the American Dream, and then died way, way too young. We miss you, Pop.
like clouds
vanishing from a puddle
that morning
my father
silently disappeared
--Mariko Kitakubo
Coincidence? Jari Thymian, the widely published poet and author of her new The Meaning of Barns www.finishinglinepress.com shared this with us yesterday at the Denver South Optimists Club in her excellent talk “Haiku Introduction.” When I heard the poem yesterday, and even more as I share it here with you now, it brings tears. It expresses very much how I have felt about that last talk and final hug from Pop 28 years ago. Maybe now after these (final?) tears I can write his obituary.
If you knew Pop, would you write to me? I’d be very grateful, and will keep what you say confidential if you ask me to do so, or I’ll share it in what I write.
Thinkers 50 is an interesting annual list of the top 50 business gurus. It has short, interesting biographies with provocative quotes.
This year’s #16, Henry Mintzberg, says:
“I think every MBA should have a skull and crossbones stamped on their forehead and underneath should be written: "Warning: not prepared to manage."
(I say I’m a recovering MBA, that I put MBA on my business card by way of warning, not bragging!)
#14 Gary Hamel argues that complacency and cynicism are endemic. "Dilbert is the bestselling business book of all time. It is cynical about management. Never has there been so much cynicism," he laments.
"What we need is not visionaries but activists. We need antidotes to Dilbert."
Antidote to Dilbert. That's why I like Franklin Circles: It’s just about impossible to be in one for more than a few weeks and not become at least a bit less cynical and a bit more of an activist. I’m up extra early today because this morning we’re testing the Franklin Circle format at the new Downtown Denver Lions Club breakfast meeting, 7:30 am at the Denver Athletic Club. I’ll let you know how it goes. We’ll see...
This evening I’ll be at the Denver Socrates Cafe, Trinity Church, 7 pm, lots of free parking on Lincoln Street just a block East, the meters stop there at 6 pm. Meets each week (except next week because of Thanksgiving) if you enjoy good discussion, join us some Thursday. RSVP at http://socratescafe.meetup.com/82
Tomorrow, I’ll lead the Denver IDEA Cafe, 2 pm at Panera Bread, 13th & Grant. Speakers share their startup experience, and we brainstorm. Join us if you’re starting a new project, a new career, a new business, or a new campaign and you’re not sure what you’re going to do Monday morning. RSVP at http://ideacafe.meetup.com/1
Then at 4 pm at Panera I’ll MC the new Denver Grassroots Rally. Just listen or get a couple of minutes on the soap box to express your opinion on candidates, issues, philosophy or use your time to make an announcement, tell a joke or sing a song. It’s a lot of fun, we’re going to discuss moving it to a larger venue. No RSVP required, but those on the RSVP list and who come on time get to speak first. http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
For any of these three meetings, RSVP yes/no/ or maybe, and you’ll get an email reminder each week, an announcement of any special speakers or guests expected for the meeting, a list of others who have RSVP’d, and a notice if the meeting moves to another location. So if you’re interested RSVP now! And forward an invitation to your friends who might like to join us, meetup.com makes that easy, just click Promote/ Invite Friends.
Life is short, let’s get started! How may I help you?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Joyce Meskis, owner of our Denver treasure, the Tattered Cover Bookstore, spoke at the Denver Lions Club yesterday. Joyce started by sharing the titles of lots of unusual books. A sample: "Old tractors and the men who love them." "We've been through so much, and most of it's your fault." "How to understand your therapist."
Book stores and libraries are the heart of our communities, Joyce told us. Barbara Tuchman said, “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.”
Joyce said the Tattered Cover host 500 to 600 events per year. Get complaints from both the right and the left. She bought store in original location in 1974, moved it 3 times until now in the new Colfax location across from East High School. "There are worse places for kids to hang out," she said. Stores now in LoDo and Highlands Ranch, too.
My daughter had the great privilage of working at the Tattered Cover, and like all employees was given a personal orientation by Joyce. We are very grateful for that training, and grateful for this wonderful place that "brings books and people together."
I bought a book at the Tattered Cover recently that inspired me to write this last night as a storm blew into Denver from the mountains in the West:
Leaves blow as snow comes,
Memory and hope warm now.
Flowers past, future: present.
On this date in: 1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." 1956 The Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses. 1979 Former California Gov. Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
We may move the Denver Grassroots Rally to Civic Center Park. I just sent this release to Denver media:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2007
Contact: John Wren (720)495-XXXX
Nov 16, 2 p.m. IDEA Café_ Zane Robertson www.ActiveMindsForLife.com and Jane Mountain, MD www.BeyondBipolar.com will speak about their startup experience. Free to those starting a new career, a new project, a new business, or a new campaign. Startup experience is shared and there is brainstorming.
Location: Panera Bread, 1350 Grant St., Denver, in the community room.
Contacts: John Wren (720)495-4949
Zane Robertson (303)320-XXXX
Jane Mountain MD (303)329-XXXX
Nov 16, 4 p.m. DENVER GRASSROOTS RALLY_ Community activist John Wren will lead this open discussion on the topic: "Denver: Past, Present, and Future" Free and open to all. Sign-ups to speak open at 3:30 p.m. The group will also discuss when we plan to move to Civic Center Park, and if permission from the city will be needed.
Location: Panera Bread, 1350 Grant St., Denver, in the community room.
Contacts: John Wren (720)495-XXXX
John S. Wren, MBA+
www.JohnWren.com
(303)861-1447
We may move the Denver Grassroots Rally to Civic Center Park. I just sent this release to Denver media:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2007
Contact: John Wren (720)495-XXXX
Nov 16, 2 p.m. IDEA Café_ Zane Robertson www.ActiveMindsForLife.com and Jane Mountain, MD www.BeyondBipolar.com will speak about their startup experience. Free to those starting a new career, a new project, a new business, or a new campaign. Startup experience is shared and there is brainstorming.
Location: Panera Bread, 1350 Grant St., Denver, in the community room.
Contacts: John Wren (720)495-4949
Zane Robertson (303)320-XXXX
Jane Mountain MD (303)329-XXXX
Nov 16, 4 p.m. DENVER GRASSROOTS RALLY_ Community activist John Wren will lead this open discussion on the topic: "Denver: Past, Present, and Future" Free and open to all. Sign-ups to speak open at 3:30 p.m. The group will also discuss when we plan to move to Civic Center Park, and if permission from the city will be needed.
Location: Panera Bread, 1350 Grant St., Denver, in the community room.
Contacts: John Wren (720)495-XXXX
John S. Wren, MBA+
www.JohnWren.com
(303)861-1447
Monday, November 12, 2007
Wikipedia doesn't list anything for Colorado caucus, but it does have a big article about the Iowa Caucus, which includes a reference to this:
The Iowa Caucus Class http://www.public.iastate.edu/~sws/ic/iowacaucusclass.html is a comprehensive university exploration of the process by which the United States of America selects its candidates for president. See, Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform By James S. Fishkin.
The caucus class, developed by Dr. Steffen W. Schmidt, University Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University, is the FIRST Internet course on the caucuses and presidential selection process. Dr. Schmidt is a pioneer in distance learning and was recently awarded the highest honor for innovation in distance education by the IDLA (Iowa Distance Learning Association). The course uses the latest technologies including streaming digital video clips, discussion forums, real-time communications through Skype, Instant Messenger, and Web CT. On-line secure tests are also used for assessment.
The course is intended to be a "demonstration tool" for democratic politics and the practice of grass-roots (i.e. participatory) democracy for anyone interested in developing these techniques. The use of the Internet allows participants from around the world, for the first time, to create training communities or self-train on a very interesting process that dates back to Native Americans ( American Indians)in the United States. In fact, the word "caucus" is an American Indian term that means "a meeting of tribal leaders." (see David Yepsen, "FAQ's on the Iowa Caucuses", DSMR, 2004.)
The Iowa Caucus Class http://www.public.iastate.edu/~sws/ic/iowacaucusclass.html is a comprehensive university exploration of the process by which the United States of America selects its candidates for president. See, Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform By James S. Fishkin.
The caucus class, developed by Dr. Steffen W. Schmidt, University Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University, is the FIRST Internet course on the caucuses and presidential selection process. Dr. Schmidt is a pioneer in distance learning and was recently awarded the highest honor for innovation in distance education by the IDLA (Iowa Distance Learning Association). The course uses the latest technologies including streaming digital video clips, discussion forums, real-time communications through Skype, Instant Messenger, and Web CT. On-line secure tests are also used for assessment.
The course is intended to be a "demonstration tool" for democratic politics and the practice of grass-roots (i.e. participatory) democracy for anyone interested in developing these techniques. The use of the Internet allows participants from around the world, for the first time, to create training communities or self-train on a very interesting process that dates back to Native Americans ( American Indians)in the United States. In fact, the word "caucus" is an American Indian term that means "a meeting of tribal leaders." (see David Yepsen, "FAQ's on the Iowa Caucuses", DSMR, 2004.)
On this date in 1954 Ellis Island closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892.
Today is the legal observance of Veterans Day. November 11 was first proclaimed by President Wilson in 1919 after World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Google "Colorado caucus" and what comes up?
Articles about the caucus 2 years ago! Why aren't Colorado newspapers writing about the upcoming 2008 caucus? For the 48th time since 1912 Colorado neighbors will gather to start the process of nominating to the primary ballot.
Every two years we have the chance for a state wide civics lesson. Looks to me like the Colorado media is flunking the test! No wonder only 8% of the people in Colorado even know the system exists!
There are Meetups for new Dems and GOP, go to meetup.com, search on party of your choice.
Or Friday join us for the wide-open, non-partisian, Denver Grassroots Rally, where someone is sure to give an explaination of the system. http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
Today is the legal observance of Veterans Day. November 11 was first proclaimed by President Wilson in 1919 after World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Google "Colorado caucus" and what comes up?
Articles about the caucus 2 years ago! Why aren't Colorado newspapers writing about the upcoming 2008 caucus? For the 48th time since 1912 Colorado neighbors will gather to start the process of nominating to the primary ballot.
Every two years we have the chance for a state wide civics lesson. Looks to me like the Colorado media is flunking the test! No wonder only 8% of the people in Colorado even know the system exists!
There are Meetups for new Dems and GOP, go to meetup.com, search on party of your choice.
Or Friday join us for the wide-open, non-partisian, Denver Grassroots Rally, where someone is sure to give an explaination of the system. http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
Friday, November 09, 2007
Pick up a copy of The Denver Daily News today (Fri, Nov 9). It has my letter to the
editor, but more importantly a front page article headlined: "Ritter eyes tax increase--Unsure what for." (!!!) Does this signal The Denver Daily News becoming our watchdog?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Denver Post's Politics West has picked up
yesterday's glorification of the A thru I cash grab.
An interesting dialog has developed about the difference
between a democracy and a republic, see the comments
at the end of the article, then post your thoughts:
Click on: "Sincere Hickenlooper's success" at:
http://www.politicswest.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can we hear you now?
Join us this afternoon for the new Denver Grassroots Rally. Just listen in or get on the soap box for your 3 to 5 minutes. Just show up, or RSVP to get on the speakers list at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
Please forward this along to your friends who care, OK? They will thank you, and so will I if you'll let me know what you've done.
A new Franklin Circle for business people who'd like to get involved in politics is now forming. Let me know if you'd like more information about it.
How may I help you?
Life is short, let's get started!
editor, but more importantly a front page article headlined: "Ritter eyes tax increase--Unsure what for." (!!!) Does this signal The Denver Daily News becoming our watchdog?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Denver Post's Politics West has picked up
yesterday's glorification of the A thru I cash grab.
An interesting dialog has developed about the difference
between a democracy and a republic, see the comments
at the end of the article, then post your thoughts:
Click on: "Sincere Hickenlooper's success" at:
http://www.politicswest.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can we hear you now?
Join us this afternoon for the new Denver Grassroots Rally. Just listen in or get on the soap box for your 3 to 5 minutes. Just show up, or RSVP to get on the speakers list at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
Please forward this along to your friends who care, OK? They will thank you, and so will I if you'll let me know what you've done.
A new Franklin Circle for business people who'd like to get involved in politics is now forming. Let me know if you'd like more information about it.
How may I help you?
Life is short, let's get started!
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Why hasn't a crime report been filed on A thru I?
This morning both Denver daily newspapers glorify the Mayor's massive manipulation as he stole the A thru I election. He spent an incredible $1 million on an advertising and promotional campaign to sell Denver the big lie that a citizens committee of 115 wanted A thru I.
This massive campaign, an "investment" of those who would split up the take, used telemarketing to contact every one of the 470,000 voters in Denver, and this telephone sales campaign identified the gullible and feeble minded, and then stayed in touch with those 50,000 or so suckers until they returned their mail-in ballots, going to their door to pick up the ballot when necessary!
420,000 voted no or were so discouraged they didn't vote at all. 420,000 out of 470,000! The Mayor has perfected this technique, and now it is glorified in your very biased coverage of the campaign.
In the past one of our daily newspapers would have spoken out about this obvious manipulation. But now that there is no real competition between the papers, the people have lost their watchdog. I think that is the reason for the declining circulation of both papers.
Denver citizens need to organize now to prevent the next assault. We need an early warning system, a citizens grassroots network that can spot these efforts as they begin and mount an organized campaign to see that the election truly reflect the will of the majority of Denver citizens.
Those who are concerned are invited to join us each Friday at the Denver Grassroots Rally. Our first project is to encourage concerned citizens to register by the December 5 deadline to be able to participate in the February 5 Colorado Caucus. It will be held this Friday, 4 p.m. at Panera Bread at 13th & Grant near the Capitol. For more information or to RSVP to get on the speakers list, see http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
This morning both Denver daily newspapers glorify the Mayor's massive manipulation as he stole the A thru I election. He spent an incredible $1 million on an advertising and promotional campaign to sell Denver the big lie that a citizens committee of 115 wanted A thru I.
This massive campaign, an "investment" of those who would split up the take, used telemarketing to contact every one of the 470,000 voters in Denver, and this telephone sales campaign identified the gullible and feeble minded, and then stayed in touch with those 50,000 or so suckers until they returned their mail-in ballots, going to their door to pick up the ballot when necessary!
420,000 voted no or were so discouraged they didn't vote at all. 420,000 out of 470,000! The Mayor has perfected this technique, and now it is glorified in your very biased coverage of the campaign.
In the past one of our daily newspapers would have spoken out about this obvious manipulation. But now that there is no real competition between the papers, the people have lost their watchdog. I think that is the reason for the declining circulation of both papers.
Denver citizens need to organize now to prevent the next assault. We need an early warning system, a citizens grassroots network that can spot these efforts as they begin and mount an organized campaign to see that the election truly reflect the will of the majority of Denver citizens.
Those who are concerned are invited to join us each Friday at the Denver Grassroots Rally. Our first project is to encourage concerned citizens to register by the December 5 deadline to be able to participate in the February 5 Colorado Caucus. It will be held this Friday, 4 p.m. at Panera Bread at 13th & Grant near the Capitol. For more information or to RSVP to get on the speakers list, see http://cocacop.meetup.com/2
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
This just went up on the online Denver Post:
Bond, tax package grabs lead
By Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post
Article Launched: 11/06/2007 09:54:01 PM MST
Early tabulations showed that Denver's $550 million infrastructure bond and tax increase appeared headed toward passage tonight, but the portion that would raise revenue to expand cultural facilities led by only a thin margin.
As of 9 p.m., the $70 million expansion of cultural facilities garnered the favor of 51 percent of the voters in early returns, with 49 percent of the voters rejecting the measure…
John Wren, a Republican who had appeared on radio talk shows in opposition to the campaign, said Hickenlooper may have trouble passing future measures. Wren said he plans to organize opposition, which appeared fractious during the bond campaign.
"People will need to take notice and organize to oppose an end run against a representative system of government, or we'll just continue to see steady increases like this," Wren said. "We need a grassroots citizen network to watch these things as they form."
Bond, tax package grabs lead
By Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post
Article Launched: 11/06/2007 09:54:01 PM MST
Early tabulations showed that Denver's $550 million infrastructure bond and tax increase appeared headed toward passage tonight, but the portion that would raise revenue to expand cultural facilities led by only a thin margin.
As of 9 p.m., the $70 million expansion of cultural facilities garnered the favor of 51 percent of the voters in early returns, with 49 percent of the voters rejecting the measure…
John Wren, a Republican who had appeared on radio talk shows in opposition to the campaign, said Hickenlooper may have trouble passing future measures. Wren said he plans to organize opposition, which appeared fractious during the bond campaign.
"People will need to take notice and organize to oppose an end run against a representative system of government, or we'll just continue to see steady increases like this," Wren said. "We need a grassroots citizen network to watch these things as they form."
It appears that the H cultural question here in Denver is too close to call. The city website isn't being updated. www.denvergov.org.
All of the other A thru I questions are passing easily. Encumbents have been reelected on the school board. An the pot question has passed.
The Mayor's million dollar manipulation worked. All voters were called, postitives identified, and their ballots were picked up.
The lesson? Organized opposition needs to be mounted early. Legislation needs to be tracked like hurricanes with an early warning system.
Also tonight Denver Republican's held one of the most postive meeting I've seen here in the last decade. Chair Mary Smith and Vice-Chair did an excellent job of sharing information and motivation with the lively audience of Republican volunteers from across the county.
All of the other A thru I questions are passing easily. Encumbents have been reelected on the school board. An the pot question has passed.
The Mayor's million dollar manipulation worked. All voters were called, postitives identified, and their ballots were picked up.
The lesson? Organized opposition needs to be mounted early. Legislation needs to be tracked like hurricanes with an early warning system.
Also tonight Denver Republican's held one of the most postive meeting I've seen here in the last decade. Chair Mary Smith and Vice-Chair did an excellent job of sharing information and motivation with the lively audience of Republican volunteers from across the county.
My friend Elaine writes in the Denver Post today:
Are you independent and proud of it? Do you eschew the Republican and Democratic parties and simply vote your conscience? Would you like to have a say in which candidates make the ballot in the general election?
If you answered “yes” to all three questions, you need to decide which question is most important to you. If you want to have a voice, read on.
Next year, Colorado will have caucuses, and to participate, you must register with a party two months before the caucus. That’s right. Pick a party by Dec. 5 or you don’t get to play.
Are you independent and proud of it? Do you eschew the Republican and Democratic parties and simply vote your conscience? Would you like to have a say in which candidates make the ballot in the general election?
If you answered “yes” to all three questions, you need to decide which question is most important to you. If you want to have a voice, read on.
Next year, Colorado will have caucuses, and to participate, you must register with a party two months before the caucus. That’s right. Pick a party by Dec. 5 or you don’t get to play.
PEARLS FROM ‘THE BOX YOU GOT’
In “The Box You Got: Transforming the World You Live In,” Steve Bigari offers several of what he calls “bigg ideas.” Among them:
We are all leaders.
“If you don’t think of yourself as a leader, don’t fear. It just means you’ve never gotten in touch with your deepest passions.”
Vision attracts talent.
“Great vision transfers the passion of your heart into the hearts of others.”
Always consider the question, ‘What’s in it for me?’
“The bottom line to collaboration is that it works best when the people involved pursue their vested self-interests.”
Don’t take “no” for an answer.
“Wise people seek alternate ways to get a job done even in the face of opposition, dissent or naysaying. Whatever you’re faced with, there is a solution.”
If you’re afraid of failure, get over it — everybody fails!
“Swinging for the fences means taking more risks. You have to swing harder, commit sooner and react faster.”
You can’t put perfume on a pig.
(Well, you can, but it’s still a pig.) “Like the little child in ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ don’t be afraid to call ’em as you see ’em.”
To order “The Box You Got,” go to
www.theboxyougot.com. ($19.95 plus shipping and handling.)
In “The Box You Got: Transforming the World You Live In,” Steve Bigari offers several of what he calls “bigg ideas.” Among them:
We are all leaders.
“If you don’t think of yourself as a leader, don’t fear. It just means you’ve never gotten in touch with your deepest passions.”
Vision attracts talent.
“Great vision transfers the passion of your heart into the hearts of others.”
Always consider the question, ‘What’s in it for me?’
“The bottom line to collaboration is that it works best when the people involved pursue their vested self-interests.”
Don’t take “no” for an answer.
“Wise people seek alternate ways to get a job done even in the face of opposition, dissent or naysaying. Whatever you’re faced with, there is a solution.”
If you’re afraid of failure, get over it — everybody fails!
“Swinging for the fences means taking more risks. You have to swing harder, commit sooner and react faster.”
You can’t put perfume on a pig.
(Well, you can, but it’s still a pig.) “Like the little child in ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ don’t be afraid to call ’em as you see ’em.”
To order “The Box You Got,” go to
www.theboxyougot.com. ($19.95 plus shipping and handling.)
Main Entry: fraud
Function: noun
1 a : DECEIT , TRICKERY ; specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting : TRICK
2 a : a person who is not what he or she pretends to be : IMPOSTOR ; also : one who defrauds : CHEAT b : one that is not what it seems or is represented to be
synonym see DECEPTION , IMPOSTURE
From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Isn’t the election on A thru I we are witnessing today in Denver a perversion of the truth, a perversion of the true will of the citizens of Denver?
A million dollars spent to run ads, call every voter, send people to the front door to collect ballots of favorable voters. All this is funded through the large contributions of those who will benefit from the money collected?
What is the difference between this and just throwing away the NO votes?
The Denver Post is outraged when Gov. Ritter issues an executive order on a Friday afternoon. The truth is that Mayor J-Hic’s A thru I campaign is a time-release version of the same high-handed approach to government.
Voters of Denver who are outraged need to return their ballots today! Sitting on your ballot in protest just plays into the hands of those who are trying to short-circuit our representative system of government. Just vote NO on A thru I.
Voting NO is not enough. Email and telephone your friends, encouraging them to do the same. For more reasons to vote NO see my posts here over the last few weeks.
Function: noun
1 a : DECEIT , TRICKERY ; specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting : TRICK
2 a : a person who is not what he or she pretends to be : IMPOSTOR ; also : one who defrauds : CHEAT b : one that is not what it seems or is represented to be
synonym see DECEPTION , IMPOSTURE
From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Isn’t the election on A thru I we are witnessing today in Denver a perversion of the truth, a perversion of the true will of the citizens of Denver?
A million dollars spent to run ads, call every voter, send people to the front door to collect ballots of favorable voters. All this is funded through the large contributions of those who will benefit from the money collected?
What is the difference between this and just throwing away the NO votes?
The Denver Post is outraged when Gov. Ritter issues an executive order on a Friday afternoon. The truth is that Mayor J-Hic’s A thru I campaign is a time-release version of the same high-handed approach to government.
Voters of Denver who are outraged need to return their ballots today! Sitting on your ballot in protest just plays into the hands of those who are trying to short-circuit our representative system of government. Just vote NO on A thru I.
Voting NO is not enough. Email and telephone your friends, encouraging them to do the same. For more reasons to vote NO see my posts here over the last few weeks.
Monday, November 05, 2007
On this day in 1912 Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating incumbent William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt.
My ad in the Denver Daily News was left out of the paper today. Watch for it tomorrow. In the meantime, let's all do the little we can to defeat A thru I. Email and call your friends, be sure to get your own ballot in. For more reason's why, see the entries here for the last few weeks, lots of links to articles and letters the Post and News are burying in their online edition, don't even come up when you search for them, nothing on either front page encouraging voters to return their ballots.
OC Tanner was a very successful entrepreneur in Utah who started the OC Tanner Company, which his daughter operates today.
After reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography, Tanner chose Socrates and Jesus as his favorite heroes. From the one he took the belief that the unexamined life is not worth living; from the other he learned compassion for human suffering and an unyielding hope for an eventual human felicity.
Denver Post one-sided article profiles backers of A thur I yesterday, it attracted lots of negative comments about A thru I after mine (posted below) here's a sample:
.
• I just witnessed a channel 4 story with a group of betterdenver.org people coming to your doorstep and willing to watch you fill out a ballot and deliver it for you to a polling site? For or against that seems inappropriate and coercive! Shouldn't have any problems passing that way.
Lee Starr
Joined: Jun 27
Points: 314 Posted by Lee Starr (aka USAAlltheway)
at 6:16 AM on Sunday Nov 4 Report Abuse | Report Good Comment
• Just say NO With the economy faltering, housing prices in free fall, forclosures at record highs, and State taxes skyrocketing this is NOT the time for the largest tax increase in Denver's history. In addition to funding questionable projects which should be paid for by the users of the facilities, these taxes never go away. We're giving the tax and spend mayor and his spendthrift democratic buddies on City Council a blank check. The mayor has spent his political capital and it's time to tell him to take a hike. Imagine a great city that you can actually afford to live in. When the city learns to spend the tax dollars we're already paying maybe I'll consider voting for a tax increase but not until. VOTE NO on A thru I.
Dave
Joined: Jun 22
Points: 327 Posted by Dave (aka uncledave)
at 6:37 AM on Sunday Nov 4
Just vote NO on A thru I and do what you can to encourage others to do the same. Lots of people who are against A thru I are just not voting, what you do today could make a difference! Email and call your friends, call into radio talk shows.
My ad in the Denver Daily News was left out of the paper today. Watch for it tomorrow. In the meantime, let's all do the little we can to defeat A thru I. Email and call your friends, be sure to get your own ballot in. For more reason's why, see the entries here for the last few weeks, lots of links to articles and letters the Post and News are burying in their online edition, don't even come up when you search for them, nothing on either front page encouraging voters to return their ballots.
OC Tanner was a very successful entrepreneur in Utah who started the OC Tanner Company, which his daughter operates today.
After reading Ben Franklin’s Autobiography, Tanner chose Socrates and Jesus as his favorite heroes. From the one he took the belief that the unexamined life is not worth living; from the other he learned compassion for human suffering and an unyielding hope for an eventual human felicity.
Denver Post one-sided article profiles backers of A thur I yesterday, it attracted lots of negative comments about A thru I after mine (posted below) here's a sample:
.
• I just witnessed a channel 4 story with a group of betterdenver.org people coming to your doorstep and willing to watch you fill out a ballot and deliver it for you to a polling site? For or against that seems inappropriate and coercive! Shouldn't have any problems passing that way.
Lee Starr
Joined: Jun 27
Points: 314 Posted by Lee Starr (aka USAAlltheway)
at 6:16 AM on Sunday Nov 4 Report Abuse | Report Good Comment
• Just say NO With the economy faltering, housing prices in free fall, forclosures at record highs, and State taxes skyrocketing this is NOT the time for the largest tax increase in Denver's history. In addition to funding questionable projects which should be paid for by the users of the facilities, these taxes never go away. We're giving the tax and spend mayor and his spendthrift democratic buddies on City Council a blank check. The mayor has spent his political capital and it's time to tell him to take a hike. Imagine a great city that you can actually afford to live in. When the city learns to spend the tax dollars we're already paying maybe I'll consider voting for a tax increase but not until. VOTE NO on A thru I.
Dave
Joined: Jun 22
Points: 327 Posted by Dave (aka uncledave)
at 6:37 AM on Sunday Nov 4
Just vote NO on A thru I and do what you can to encourage others to do the same. Lots of people who are against A thru I are just not voting, what you do today could make a difference! Email and call your friends, call into radio talk shows.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
On Nov. 4, 1879, Will Rogers, the American actor and comedian, was born. Following his death on Aug. 15, 1935, his obituary appeared in The New York Times.
Well, that only goes to show the success magazines are full of bunk when they write about a fellow winning fame and fortune by working hard and sticking to one job. All of you know, as well as I do, it was some accident started you off on the right track, but you ain't going to tell the reporters that, the next time they interview you. Will Rogers
New movie theatre & café here in Denver near the Tattered Cover on Colfax.
DROP OFF YOUR DENVER ELECTION BALLOT MONDAY OR TUESDAY!
With the low turn-out that is expected, your vote could make a big difference.
Email and call your friends and encourage them to do the same.
For where to drop off your ballot CLICK HERE
The Denver Post ran a very biased article today on the Denver A thru I election. It says there is no formal opposition. Hidden in the story footnotes are these comments:
Rick Nevin said he thinks the new libraries, especially those in Stapleton and Green Valley, should have been built by developers. He also worries about the cost to staff those existing facilities, which wouldn't be paid with bond revenues.
Mary Smith, the chairman of the Denver County Republicans, said she served on a subcommittee that studied the issues proposed on the cultural portion of the bond package. That subcommittee originally recommended a more measured approach, but ended up getting overruled by an executive committee that forwarded recommendations to the mayor.
I posted this online comment to the article:
Does opposition have to be formal for it to be reported in the newspaper?
There is no shortage of people who are against A thru I, why aren't their comments included in the main body of this story?
People are wondering how this $1/2 BILLION blank check will really be spent with the DNC coming to town and collective bargaining for the city on the horizon, why aren't those concerns part of the story?
Bruce Benson backed Ritter on C and D, now he's being duped by Mayor J-Hic on A thru I. Maybe it's an alphabet thing...
My fellow informal opponents of A thru I, send out emails and make phone calls to your Denver friends TODAY. For reasons why see www.JohnWren.com and what has been posted there over the last few weeks, including a link to where to drop off your ballot by Tuesday (why wasn't where to vote included in the story?)
Buried in the online letters to the editor of both papers are buried comments from the informal opponents of A thru I. Here’s an example. Why weren't the thousands of people like this quoted in the Post article today? Just because they aren't organized?
Vote no on all Denver bond issues
Thursday, November 1 at 1:12 PM
Gary R Reed of Denver writes:
Let me begin by saying that I worked for the City of Denver for 31 years. I gave a lot of myself to the Fire Department and I believe that I have at least earned the right to comment on our current City government.
Lost in all the Rockies hoopla is the fact that Mayor Chickenlooper wants us to approve millions of dollars in bond issues. I wonder? Millions spent on dancing space aliens, blue bears and an exploded erector set called an Art Museum but we need to pony up (again) for necessary infrastructure.
Millions for “art” but Mr. Mayor objects when someone proposes a decent pay raise for City Workers.
A Fire Fleet that has survived on bailing wire and glue (at enormous risk to the citizens of Denver) but nothing in this bond issue to buy equipment or increase the ranks of Firefighters.
I am voting NO all the way across the board on these issues and until and unless the Mayor gives equal voice to the real needs of this City instead of to the “ascetics” he wants in place for the Democratic National Convention, I will continue to vote no on every bond issue the City proposes.
TODAY, take a minute and email and call your friends,
and encourage them to do the same. Stop the insanity!
Just vote NO on A thru I!
Well, that only goes to show the success magazines are full of bunk when they write about a fellow winning fame and fortune by working hard and sticking to one job. All of you know, as well as I do, it was some accident started you off on the right track, but you ain't going to tell the reporters that, the next time they interview you. Will Rogers
New movie theatre & café here in Denver near the Tattered Cover on Colfax.
DROP OFF YOUR DENVER ELECTION BALLOT MONDAY OR TUESDAY!
With the low turn-out that is expected, your vote could make a big difference.
Email and call your friends and encourage them to do the same.
For where to drop off your ballot CLICK HERE
The Denver Post ran a very biased article today on the Denver A thru I election. It says there is no formal opposition. Hidden in the story footnotes are these comments:
Rick Nevin said he thinks the new libraries, especially those in Stapleton and Green Valley, should have been built by developers. He also worries about the cost to staff those existing facilities, which wouldn't be paid with bond revenues.
Mary Smith, the chairman of the Denver County Republicans, said she served on a subcommittee that studied the issues proposed on the cultural portion of the bond package. That subcommittee originally recommended a more measured approach, but ended up getting overruled by an executive committee that forwarded recommendations to the mayor.
I posted this online comment to the article:
Does opposition have to be formal for it to be reported in the newspaper?
There is no shortage of people who are against A thru I, why aren't their comments included in the main body of this story?
People are wondering how this $1/2 BILLION blank check will really be spent with the DNC coming to town and collective bargaining for the city on the horizon, why aren't those concerns part of the story?
Bruce Benson backed Ritter on C and D, now he's being duped by Mayor J-Hic on A thru I. Maybe it's an alphabet thing...
My fellow informal opponents of A thru I, send out emails and make phone calls to your Denver friends TODAY. For reasons why see www.JohnWren.com and what has been posted there over the last few weeks, including a link to where to drop off your ballot by Tuesday (why wasn't where to vote included in the story?)
Buried in the online letters to the editor of both papers are buried comments from the informal opponents of A thru I. Here’s an example. Why weren't the thousands of people like this quoted in the Post article today? Just because they aren't organized?
Vote no on all Denver bond issues
Thursday, November 1 at 1:12 PM
Gary R Reed of Denver writes:
Let me begin by saying that I worked for the City of Denver for 31 years. I gave a lot of myself to the Fire Department and I believe that I have at least earned the right to comment on our current City government.
Lost in all the Rockies hoopla is the fact that Mayor Chickenlooper wants us to approve millions of dollars in bond issues. I wonder? Millions spent on dancing space aliens, blue bears and an exploded erector set called an Art Museum but we need to pony up (again) for necessary infrastructure.
Millions for “art” but Mr. Mayor objects when someone proposes a decent pay raise for City Workers.
A Fire Fleet that has survived on bailing wire and glue (at enormous risk to the citizens of Denver) but nothing in this bond issue to buy equipment or increase the ranks of Firefighters.
I am voting NO all the way across the board on these issues and until and unless the Mayor gives equal voice to the real needs of this City instead of to the “ascetics” he wants in place for the Democratic National Convention, I will continue to vote no on every bond issue the City proposes.
TODAY, take a minute and email and call your friends,
and encourage them to do the same. Stop the insanity!
Just vote NO on A thru I!
Friday, November 02, 2007
(A home in Malibu) was practically the only one on the street left untouched."Maybe it was because of the Ben Franklin plaque I had on my garage," (the owner) said in jest. Several years ago, (he) bought the antique plaque; a colonial-era sign that indicated residents had paid into a fireman's fund of the time.
"Ben Franklin pioneered the idea of a public fire department," (the owner) said. "In those days, if your house caught fire, they would send a fire truck to put it out if you had one of these plaques on your door."
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