‘Voices & Thoughts’ Archives
When Romney helped Perry evade the law
Lawsuit reveals contradictory stories about an illicit $1 million campaign contribution from “Swift Boat” funder By Mark Hertsgaar “Follow the money” is an elementary rule for understanding American politics, and in the case of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the money trail leads to a case of apparent money laundering that involves his Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney and a $1 million contribution from the same Texas tycoon who ... Full Story
Infrastructure? Don’t you mean Union?
We hear the repeated and resounding call by the President to invest more money on "infrastructure" (roads, bridges, school construction, etc.) Didn't we try this two years ago? Remember "shovel ready projects" that turned out to not quite be "...as shovel ready as we thought"? Let's look at what this is REALLY all about. Unless I am sadly mistaken, the Davis-Bacon labor laws prevent non-union construction companies from even submitting bids for such federal contracts. Is this ... Full Story
The War on Drugs Has Become the War on the American
By John W. Whitehead October 17, 2011 "On July 29, 2008, my family and I were terrorized by an errant Prince George's County SWAT team. This unit forced entry into my home without a proper warrant, executed our beloved black Labradors, Payton and Chase, and bound and interrogated my mother-in-law and me for hours as they ransacked our belongings… As I was forced to kneel, bound at gun point on my living room floor, I recall thinking that there had been a ... Full Story
The Tax Hikes That Republicans Love
The Tax Hikes That Republicans Love A Commentary By Joe Conason Saturday, October 15, 2011 From the tea parties to the corporate boardrooms to the presidential debate platforms, we hear a familiar droning whine about taxes -- except the angry message is no longer simply that taxes are too high. Today, conservative politicians and pundits complain instead that some people, namely those too poor to owe federal income taxes, aren't paying enough. ... Full Story
Red Rock, I ran the numbers
I ran the numbers that were provided by Red Rocks Academy in the Berthoud Surveyor on the proposed charter school. As Red Rocks freely admits, the "money follows the student.” I have attached the spreadsheet of that money so that you can see the impact. Now, if a school has already been built, as have all the Berthoud schools, then there are fixed costs associated with their operation that must be covered. Fixed costs are just that: fixed. If there are no children in the school, they are ... Full Story
The class warfare the rich don’t understand
Al Jazeera The class warfare the rich don't understand The Masters of the Universe evaded responsibility and defiantly demanded more sacrifice from their victims, says author. By Heather Digby Parton, Last Modified: 10 Oct 2011 09:43 "Those who own the country ought to govern it." - Founding father, John Jay There have been rumblings in the corners of the Tea party movement for some time, but the minute president Obama announced that he was going to ask ... Full Story
No to charter school
Some people are in line to make money on this charter school project, but what it will do is to tear our town apart. Berthoud is too small for a charter school. Yes, they can probably do it. The school board will turn the application down and then the state will approve it. This is all planned out already. Why don't the organizers ask the people of Berthoud through a vote and let us see if they are really in this to help the people or just in it for themselves. If the school is built, ... Full Story
How much does a congressman cost
All Posts Editorial Opinion As we consider ways to cut costs, perhaps the congress should consider eliminating itself. At least some of itself. It is expensive to keep a congressman in office. How much does it cost to have a man or woman in the House of Representatives? The house publishes a Statement of Disbursements, which you can access by going to this site; http://disbursements.house.gov/. This document is over 3000 pages and covers the expenses incurred in running the offices ... Full Story
Larimer County Issue 1A
Issue 1A on the ballot gets a thumbs up from me. Government was instituted to provide protection to the citizens. The Sheriff’s Office and the County Jail deputies have been doing that quite well in recent years. The sales tax that funds a significant portion of the jail expires very soon. That’s a problem! Without funding, the Sheriff will be forced to cut back on many of the effective programs from the jail. I’ve seen the kind of people who are kept in the jail and I ... Full Story
Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
We can't seem to be able to rein in unprecedented spending or come anywhere close to balancing the budget. But now watch for a huge push to expand the role (and budget) of FEMA in the weeks and months to come. FEMA still hasn't recovered what it laid out for "Katrina", but we've got fires, and twisters, and quakes, OH MY! Remember those days before FEMA existed? Hard to do so, isn't it? Just like trying to remember how our schools possibly functioned before the Department of ... Full Story
