NoCoPolitics.com

Required Reading This Week

Mark Steyn's take on all of the talk of "change" coming from the presidential field.

Journalistic Two-fer

Two shoddy articles in the Coloradoan yesterday.

No matter how you feel about Doug Bruce, is it really "journalism" to run a story entitled "Unlike lawmaker, children say kicking is wrong."?  That's pretty juvenile.  It's certainly not journalism.  This type of pettiness doesn't reflect well on the professionalism of the Coloradoan.

Second is this story about the Larimer DA's re-election bid. 

Inexplicably, the third paragraph of the story decided to delve into the Masters controversy.  Why?  This took place long before Larry Abrahamson was in charge.  So why is it included in a political story about his re-election?

Imagine if the third paragraph in the story about Representative Kefalas' re-election bid was about how the state legislature "is under intense scrutiny" for a bill passed before he took office.  It's a bit incongruous, no?  But there it is in the story about Larry Abrahamson. 

Oh, and note the weak writing that Abrahamson "...says he had little to do with the case."  That's reporting?  Did he or didn't he have anything to do with the case? 

Leaving it up to an Abrahamson denial creates a "When did you stop beating your wife?" construct.   

How does this type of stuff make it into print?

(The irony of the Abrahamson story is that, if anything, he should be commended for re-opening the Masters issue and spending a not-insignificant portion of his budget to have a full public hearing.)

UPDATE: It has been correctly pointed out to me that Larry Abrahamson did not, in fact, "re-open" the case.  He is, however, in a very difficult position.  In order to see justice done, he has had to take a position that could pit him against the actions of his predecessors and the actions of law enforcement.  Abrahamson should be commended for his openness and willingness to get to the bottom of this.

The FOP is Lying to the People of Fort Collins

They'll lie to get you to sign their petitions.  Classy. 

At what point do the rank-and-file of the Fort Collins PD stand up to the union that's tarnishing their image with the public?

Paid consultants gathering signatures for a petition drive to put collective bargaining for city employees on the ballot this spring may have misled voters when asking for their support.

I've been hearing of this stuff going on for a while now: Union signature gatherers outright lying to voters in Fort Collins.  The professional public employees of Fort Collins should be ashamed of this type of tactic.  The professional police force of Fort Collins should disavow it publicly.

As for the topic of public employee unions, Michael Barone nails it with his usual logical precision:

The teachers and other public employee unions have a vested interest in getting higher pay and less accountability. Higher pay is bad for taxpayers. Less accountability is bad for the intended beneficiaries of public services.

Does Scott Goff really speak for the police officers? 

If not, when will someone challenge him for spending their dues to wreck the image of the Fort Collins Police Department?

Jury Duty

I've been a bit busy the past two days.  I reported for jury duty on Tuesday morning, firmly believing all of those "one day, one trial" assurances and confident I'd be out of there in a few hours.  Yet Tuesday ran into Wednesday and I sat there yesterday afternoon, one of the 38 finalists for the jury for the Romero murder trial.

I didn't make the final cut.  Good luck to those who did.

There was an interesting dynamic in the room that's worth noting.  No one wanted to be there.  After all, this is a two-week trial - a huge inconvenience for anyone.  However, there was a palpable sense that the majority of the 38 finalists in some way wanted to be selected.  During voir dire, the potential jurors were forthright, honest and earnest.  There seemed to be an attitude that, well, if someone's going to have to serve on this jury, it might as well be me. 

It was impressive. 

Public Employee Unions Coming to Fort Collins?

Get ready for an April ballot fight.

Supporters of a measure that would allow city workers to unionize say they'll have enough signatures to get the question on an April municipal ballot.

The Most Depressing Thing I've Seen in a Long Time

This is a brief departure from Northern Colorado politics, so bear with me.

I haven't read "1984" since high school, but I was reminded of it recently when I watched the brilliant movie "The Lives of Others" which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film last year.  (William F. Buckley Jr's reaction: “I think that is the best movie I ever saw.”) 

"The Lives of Others" is set in the East Germany of the 1980's and it is a chilling portrayal of how intrusive and controlling the state was in the everyday lives - and thoughts - of the East German citizens.

That was behind the Iron Curtain.

This is Alberta, Canada.

Follow the link.  It's the most depressing thing I've seen in a long time.  Free speech is dead in Canada.  Watch the videos of the thought crime interrogations of the Alberta "human rights commission."  Here's the brief background:

In February of 2006, the Western Standard magazine, of which I was publisher, reprinted the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. We were immediately hit with two "human rights complaints". These are a strange species of lawsuit, inimicable to Western liberal traditions of rule of law and freedom of speech. A real court would have thrown these complaints out as baseless, but Alberta's human rights commission has proceeded. Friday was the day of my interrogation. I videotaped it.

This isn't an isolated case. 

Perhaps more well-known is the case against Mark Steyn and Maclean's magazine.  The background is here.

Chilling indeed.