Mitt and the Bain thing

TAbout Mitt Romney and the Bain Capital thing: I’ve always admired venture capitalists. But not all venture capitalists are equal. The admirable ones are the sort who fund the start-up companies of entrepreneurs like Jobs and Wozniak. They’re the ones who enable the emergence of revolutionary technologies and ways of doing things that transform the marketplace and change the world.

War on fracking

Hands down easiest prediction for 2012: Boulder’s hyper-active activists will take time out from their busy schedule of sabotaging American food production to sabotage American oil and gas production.

Nixon on why I like Newt

Harvey and I were just tucking into a new batch of Alice B. Toklas fudge when there was a knock on the door. It was Richard Nixon. “Come in and grab some fudge and an eggnog,” I said.

Is Nablus Boulder’s weird sister?

According to a story in last Sunday’s Camera, a group has emerged that wants to establish a sister city relationship between Boulder and the Palestinian city of Nablus. Lovely city, Nablus. On Sept. 11, 2001, as 3,000 people were being cremated in jet fuel or ground into bits of bloody hamburger by the collapsing towers of the World Trade Center, the residents of Nablus were staging a howling, horn-honking, ululating celebration of the attacks and passing out trays of tea and sweets to the celebrants.

Climate change: U.N. takes on wrong problem — again

The United Nations is holding a global climate conference in Durban, South Africa, this week and next for the purpose of breathing new life into the Kyoto Protocol or, short of that, forging some other international agreement to cut global greenhouse gas emissions.

Anti-GMO activism is evil

DAccording to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, 88 percent of the 2011 U.S. corn crop consists of genetically engineered varieties — either herbicide-tolerant types like Monsanto’s Roundup Ready corn, or insect-resistant types containing genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), or both. The figure for the 2011 U.S. soybean crop is 94 percent genetically modified. For the 2011 cotton crop the figure is 90 percent genetically modified.

Cain’s manager inhales

A lot of politicos, left and right, seem mystified by an ad produced by Herman Cain, the former pizza CEO who — to their amazement and bemusement — is leading in most of the recent polls for the Republican nomination for president.

The Zetas and the Surfriders

Of the big four, water is hands down the most vital. If deprived of water, human beings will be on the fast track to the river Styx within three days, which alone is sufficient to make water the most vital urban service. Moreover, without water, a city's sewage service will collapse and its ability to fight fires will be degraded to close to zero.

Funding social security without raising taxes

This year’s budget battles have at least produced two points of clarity: 1) The federal government will go broke unless it cuts Social Security and Medicare or finds more revenue to pay for them. 2) Taxes aren’t going to be raised to pay for Social Security, Medicare, or anything else anytime soon, and “anytime soon” means between now and the next ice age (which, thanks to global warming, has been indefinitely delayed).

When Palestine declares its independence

Odds are that this week or next the Palestinians will unilaterally declare their independence. What happens next? It’s easier to say what won’t happen. Peace isn’t going to break out. Conflict and violence will. Chances are events will play out something like this:

Save journalism education at CU

I've noticed that CU officials are fond of saying that "discontinuance is an unfortunate term" when they talk about the closure of the J-School. (And even though a committee is still considering that closure, I think it's a done deal - they just have to study it for a few months to preserve the deliberative spirit of the university.

A regent race that actually matters

Currently, the board is controlled by Republicans, 5-4. Three positions are up for election this November, and two of those seats are expected to stay with their current parties, given political dynamics in the First and Fourth Congressional Districts.

A wake-up call

After all, most of us lead fairly secure, soft, comfortable lives, especially compared to people in Third World countries hell, even compared to parts of the United States.

Not Hell Fest after all

After all, my Feb. 11 story about the Christian music festival, which was held July 31 south of the reservoir, had outlined a variety of concerns about the event, ranging from traffic congestion to environmental impacts on plants and wildlife around the reservoir.

Just doing our job

Bob Brancato, a Republican vying to unseat U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, sent us a press release several weeks ago proudly announcing the fact that former Congressman Tom Tancredo had endorsed him. In the release, Brancato talked about his support for Arizona’s new anti-immigration law, which some say encourages racial profiling.

The Dean/Rove debate: More of the same

At one point during the Feb. 15 debate between Howard Dean and Karl Rove in Boulder, an audience member asked them to answer a question — without blaming the other side of the political aisle. It was a telling request and a sad commentary on the current state of our political system.

A question of journalistic ethics

Over the past couple of weeks, some of you may have heard about a Summit Daily News reporter in Frisco who was fired after writing a column that was critical of a major advertiser — the CEO of Vail Resorts, Rob Katz. In his column, Bob Berwyn poked fun at Katz for posting a photo of the snow at his Front Range home on Twitter to generate excitement about a Colorado winter storm, even though it was warm and sunny in Vail.

Responsible weeding

Weeds are nothing if not opportunistic. While you may not have bargained for getting one form of eyesore (weeds) by clearing another (an overgrown bush), dandelions and other fast-growing, quickly spreading plants know no bounds when some new territory opens up.

Eating raw

Dear EarthTalk: A friend with many minor health problems recently switched to a diet of only raw plant foods and reports feeling much better. She also insists her new eating habits are better for the environment. Does this make sense or is the strange diet making her crazy?.

E-waste

Dear EarthTalk: I work for an office equipment company selling copiers, fax machines, computers and printers. Each year new models come out making old ones obsolete. As a result, we have loads of trade-ins with nowhere to go. What can we do with this old equipment?.

Do melting ice caps affect salt levels?

Dear EarthTalk: If the ice caps are melting, what is happening to the salt content of the oceans? And might this contribute to weather patterns or cause other environmental problems?

Environmental impacts of the Haiti earthquake

As would be the case after any natural disaster, water-borne illness could run rampant and chemicals and oil could leak out of damaged storage facilities as a result of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that ripped apart Haiti on Jan. 12.

New world water

Dear EarthTalk: I am very concerned about the amount of chlorine in my tap water. I called my water company and they said it is safe just let the tap run for awhile to rid the smell of the chlorine. But that just gets rid of the smell, perhaps, not the chlorine?

Keep saving the whales

What is the current status of whales? How effective is the International Whaling Commission, and which countries are involved in illegal whaling?

Breathing and biking

I ride my bike to work along busy urban streets. Should I be worried about inhaling pollutants from vehicle emissions and other sources?

Green threads

Can you enlighten on the environmental impact of the fashion industry? As I understand it, the industry overall is no friend to the environment.

Beyond the Prius

Celebrities and billionaires are shelling out big bucks for cutting-edge green-friendly cars like the Tesla Roadster. But what are the rest of us — who live in the budget-constrained real world — to do about buying a new car that does right by the environment?

in case you missed it | Super Bowl Siberia

Take heart, Broncos fans. We may not be playing in the Super Bowl, but at least we don’t have to fork out thousands of dollars for the privilege of hanging out in Indianapolis for a few days. It only seems fitting that all those wealthy East Coast fans who are paying as much as $10,000 per ticket are headed to a place where the most exciting pastime is a temporary zip line designed to fly SB attendees through the heart of this nightlifeless cow-town some 50 feet above the entertainment desert below where no club or modern drinking and eating establishment has ever taken root.

in case you missed it | Here are some of the wonderful souls who have left us this past month:

At his funeral, wreaths from both the ruling government’s Minister of Industry and National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi were placed next to each other..

in case you missed it | Romney trainwreck

Watching Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign has been like watching The Human Centipede, the 2009 horror movie about a mad scientist who creates a “pet” centipede by kidnapping three hapless victims and surgically attaching their mouths to the others’ rectums.

in case you missed it | A $50K reminder of how far we haven’t come

We may have elected our first black president, but it wasn’t very long ago that we were committing unspeakable acts of racism. Just this week, a state-appointed task force in North Carolina recommended that every living person who was sterilized against their will as part of the state-run eugenics program should be financially compensated for their pain and suffering. As a matter of perspective, this program was not terminated until 1977, well into the Carter administration.

in case you missed it | Camera whiplash

On Dec. 18, the day before the Boulder County commissioners were to announce their decision regarding the planting of GMO crops on county open space lands, the Camera decided to give them plenty of political cover by endorsing the use of these frankencrops on our open space.

in case you missed it | Some of the less-than famous souls who passed in 2011 without ample fanfare

Hazel Jane Dickens (June 1, 1935 – April 22, 2011) was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-union, feminist songs.

in case you missed it | The guy behind the protester

TIME magazine’s person of the year for 2011 was not a person at all but rather an entire grouping of people the magazine referred to collectively as “the protester.” The idea is that from Egypt to Libya to Wall Street to Boulder, protesters have had and are having a significant impact on the world.

in case you missed it | Support the homeless! (Just not here)

The Boulder Homeless Shelter’s Housing First program taps into federal dollars to provide housing to the chronically homeless. The idea is that by getting transients off the street, you give them the stability they need to drag themselves out of their ruts and better their lives. In theory, it’s an easy idea to support, but one of the problems officials run into is finding landlords who are willing to take tenants with such checkered pasts and unstable futures.

in case you missed it | Drugs, driving and Denver

We were just tickled pink to see that the Daily Beast and Newsweek recently named CU-Boulder the druggiest school in America. Hey, it’s better than number one party school, right?

in case you missed it | Safety whizzin’

For those of you who have recently been exposed to Santa and/or his reindeer delivering a not-so-catchy anti-drunk-driving slogan from a poster plastered above the pisser in your favorite watering hole, there is an explanation for the odd nature of the ramblings.

Are we alone in the universe?

Biologists have been deepening our understanding of what kinds of environments life might need to flourish, and have found terrestrial life appearing pretty much everywhere they’ve looked, including in some of the most inhospitable places one might imagine. Meanwhile, astronomers have been looking more deeply, and with better instruments, into the universe around us, and have discovered that planets appear to be quite common in the cosmos, as are the chemical ingredients we know that life seems to require here on Earth.

Unraveling misconceptions of climate change

To those of us living in Boulder and surrounding communities, it may come as a surprise that many people remain unconvinced that the use of fossil fuels is the main contributor to current climate change.

2011 Preview of Science Headlines

The Fiske Planetarium and Science Center at CU-Boulder is proud to bring you a new monthly column on current topics in the earth and space sciences. Here are some developing science and technology headlines that are sure to spark imagination and curiosity. In the coming months, we’ll take a closer look at these and other topics.

Letters | Valmont’s ghosts

I want to thank you for publishing Pamela White’s piece regarding SOPA/ PIPA. It’s obvious most people don’t comprehend that stealing images, books and music affects the artists’ ability to earn a living.

Letters | Fracking unknowns

After reading the Paul Danish article “War on fracking” (Danish Plan, Jan. 12), I was left wondering why he ended up with a clear conclusion that fracking was completely OK and the response against it was unfounded...

Letters | Defending marriage

As a liberal, card-carrying Democrat, I am nonetheless appalled by Pamela White’s article “Defending divorce” (Uncensored, Jan. 5). When nearly one out of every two marriages ends in divorce, divorce hardly needs defending. Besides that, the article is filled with erroneous assumptions and information, which I would like to debunk.

Letters | Everyone counts

The holidays offer many of us a timeout — time off work, extra time with families and hopefully time to reflect on the things we take for granted most of the rest of the year: our health, our loved ones and the roof over our heads. Maybe keeping these blessings so present is why the holiday season also becomes the most charitable and neighborly time of year.

Letters | More on Danish

(Re: “Is Nablus Boulder’s sister?” Danish Plan, Dec. 15.) I just posted a comment to an article by Mr. Danish that focused only on the radical element in Palestine as to why Boulder shouldn’t consider Nablus as a sister city. I do appreciate the Boulder Weekly.

Letters | Danish’s latest rant

(Re: “Is Nablus Boulder’s sister?” Danish Plan, Dec. 15.) Oh yes, another rant from Paul Danish. This time about the proposed Boulder sister city relationship with Nablus, Palestine. His misinformed characterizations only help to fuel mistrust between the two peoples who live in Israel and Palestine.

Letters | GMO questions persist

Thanks for the article on GMOs and recent Boulder County meeting. I’m hoping you can answer a question for me that was prompted by the Monsanto rep’s comments at the end of your article. Lisa Drake explained that the company does not regularly sue farmers for having Monsanto GMO product in their produce as a result of drift.

Letters | GM no!

I am a Boulder chiropractor, live in Boulder County and have attended two Boulder County cropland policy meetings which invited public comment concerning GMO agriculture on Boulder County publicly owned open space land.

Letters | Evil GMOs

I really love how Mr. Danish opened his piece. First, he rightly points out the incredible percentage of crops in America that are genetically modified and then he asks an incredibly important question: “Why are we even having this conversation?” I was hoping I could answer that for him.

Letters | Inhumane society?

(Re: “Surviving shelters,” cover story, Nov. 10). The last comment I saw about Boulder’s humane society included this statement: “Boulder Humane actively exhausts all options before considering euthanizing an animal.”

We need conversations, not regulations

On Jan. 28, the Boulder County Board of Commissioners voted to grant the designation of “demonstration farm” to a piece of privately owned agricultural land northeast of Boulder. The property, owned by Zia Parker and located on North 63rd Street, will now be utilized to teach permaculture — a form of sustainable, organic farming that works with the local climate and conditions to preserve resources like water.

Stand up for democracy

Vote ‘yes’ on 2H

The limitations on corporations were very intentional on the part of the founders of this country who had been exploited and oppressed by corporations chartered by the king of England.

The death penalty: Are we getting it right?

The idea of Georgia inmate Troy Davis lying on a gurney in an agonizing wait for nine justices hundreds of miles away to resolve in a single-sentence statement that he should in fact die — even if innocent — should be enough to give pause to the most ardent supporters of the death penalty.

The racial wounds of 9/11

On Sept. 11, I was a 28-year-old attorney working for the Department of Justice. I remember being evacuated from my federal office building that morning, and later heading across the 14th Street Bridge to my home in Arlington, Va. I could hardly believe the sight of the Pentagon building with smoke billowing from it and a large hole in its side.

Harry Potter explores life's big questions

Parents who take their children to see the Harry Potter films enjoy a fun family night. But unless they dig deeper into the stories, parents miss a great opportunity to explore life's biggest issues with their children.

The silent jobless

The American economy is trapped in a vicious cycle. Those who are unemployed can't afford to buy much more than bare necessities, while people who are working are getting skimpier paychecks. This means consumers don't have much purchasing power, which has made companies reluctant to hire more employees or raise the wages of those they have.

Journalistic stings go mainstream

Here's a problem of professional ethics right out of today's headlines: If a news organization prohibits its own staff from using certain reporting techniques - say, deception - should it publish information that somebody else gathered using...

Winds of change in the Middle East

On Feb. 11, 1979, Islamic revolutionaries took power in Tehran. On Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden and his al- Qaida terrorists launched their attacks on New York and Washington, killing nearly 3,000 Americans. On Feb. 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt.

Idolatry of Ronald Reagan doesn't square with his history

Ronald Reagan, one of America's least-known liberals. I'm serious. If Reagan were governing today the way he governed back in the day, he would be defaced on tea party placards and dogged by rumors that he was born in Kenya.

U.S. needs to be on side of Egyptian people

Make no mistake: This is a diverse and pluralistic movement, initially driven by the youth from across the country, but now encompassing people of all ages.

Health care, one more time

The chasm was apparent most recently as the House of Representatives churned relentlessly toward its vote to repeal President Obama's health-care law. The two-day debate, carried out in a marathon series of two-minute speeches, remained civil. But it was clear that civility alone wont lead to consensus.

A better time, a better hero

But despite the strength and power that he displayed at the plate, Killebrew exemplified a humble and gentle demeanor that has been all but lost in a modern era of baseball that is rife with ill-behaved, overpaid, egomaniacal athletes. Babe Ruth was a womanizer; Mickey Mantle was an alcoholic; Pete Rose was a gambler; Barry Bonds cheated with steroids. But Harmon Killebrew was the kind of heroic role model that every 8-year-old boy needs and deserves...

Bikes and 'boarders

In the interest of full disclosure, I am an avid mountain biker. I enjoy riding several times a week, weather permitting, and for me that includes temperatures as low as 40 degrees, so long as the trails are clear and rideable with no residual damage. I have been known to get up at the crack of dawn, sneak away from the office in the middle of the day or hit the trails after work, rushing home for dinner after dark to the disapproving.

He moved me brightly

About 40 seconds into a 1967 CBS TV documentary about the thengrowing Hippie movement in San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury District (http:// tinyurl.com/2wvzjqq), a youthful, unbearded Jerry Garcia makes his first appearance.

Dear readers, supporters and community partners:

As we bid goodbye to 2009 and set our sights not only on a new year but a new decade, I would like to share with you some of what has happened during the past year at Boulder's only independent newspaper, as well as what you can expect to see from us in the coming year.

Newt Gingrich: the spawn of ‘Citizens United’

Justice Kennedy, meet Sheldon Adelson — a product of your cluelessness about how real politics work. For years, this casino baron has spent lavishly on right-wing front groups to advance his personal agenda, including pouring money into Newt Gingrich’s campaign.

GOP ‘mad as a hatter’ about EPA mercury regs

Why do congressional Republicans hate unborn babies? Yeah, I know they profess to love the unborn, even considering them “persons” from the very moment of conception. Yet, whose interest do you think these same politicos have chosen to protect when it comes to regulating an especially nasty industrial toxin that wreaks holy hell on unborn babies?

Repeal the farce of ‘corporate personhood’

The Powers That Be constantly try to pull the wool over people’s eyes, but sometimes the wool blinders are so itchy that people rip them off and clearly see the scam.

A people’s victory in Montana

Let’s hear it for American Tradition Partnership! It’s an organization that stands up for the politically dispossessed in our land. It goes to the highest courts to assert the fundamental rights of a minority that’s been denied its full voice in America’s political and governmental power circles. Yes, American Tradition Partnership is a tenacious advocate for (cue the patriotic music): corporations.

Organize for 2012

Let me just mention a few of the bigger bumps: non-stop Congressional gridlock, Donnie Trump, the working class depression, Obama’s serial surrenders to raw Republican partisanship, Newt Gingrich, the re-emergence of Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko arrogance, right-wing governors gone wild, Rick.

The disuniting of America

Today, that insidious love (taking the form of greed and excess) is celebrated in our country and has even exalted into official public policy, marring our economy with inequality and injustice. The reigning ethos of our nation’s upper crust is that too much is not enough. They’re not merely out to make loads of the money they love, but to make a killing, everyone else be damned.

PR soap can’t scrub off banker greed

Greenwashing” is the use of shameless PR campaigns by notorious polluters to portray their corporations as benign Bambi-loving protectors of nature. But now comes “Greedwashing.”

A tiny bug spreads happiness

Great news, people: a hot spot of nine-spotted ladybugs has been spotted in Amagansett, N.Y.! This uplifting story is a rich organic mixture of state pride, nature’s resilience, America’s scientific pluck, teamwork, serendipity and bug love. In today’s hard times, we need this.

Rewarding hubris, stupidity, hypocrisy and cynicism

Double-dippin’ Joe is back in the news. Double-dip is not some soda jerk working in an ice cream shop, but that’s not too far off. He’s a state legislator working in Texas to jerk taxpayers around for his own financial gain.

‘We the People,’ not ‘We the Corporations’

they’re spending on campaigns. Now there’s a bold stand for democracy: “Give us campaign finance reporting regulations or give us death!” Come on, we’re bigger than that. Here are just a few actions for real change that you can take, teaming up with others right where you live:.

Shooters should clean up their act

“When I go to any sort of site up in the mountains where there’s shooting, I see all this trash all over the place,” says Chris Wu, a founding member of RMFC. “It really irritates me. It makes us look like a bunch of rednecks. A few bad apples ruin the bunch. We try to police the area as much as we can, but people leave all kinds of nasty things.” It seems that the “Leave No Trace” ethic hasn’t quite caught on among recreational shooters to the same degree that it has among rock climbers, mountain bikers and other recreationists.

Larceny in the heart

Although I didn’t support SOPA/ PIPA, I was happy to see Congress at least exploring the issue of online piracy. I was concerned by the hate-filled anonymous rants of people who defended their right to steal — as if there were something noble about taking another person’s work without paying for it. These people probably felt it was OK to cheat on tests in high school, too. But I digress.

Carr goes off the rails

Boulder City Attorney Tom Carr has notified our city leaders that he wants to eliminate our right to jury trial for most municipal tickets. Why? In part because he would like to do away with the glut of requests for jury trials from homeless people who’ve been ticketed as a result of the camping ban and the park closure rules.

Santorum gives us reason to fear the fringe

During my adult years, I’ve watched the issue of reproductive rights descend from a debate about abortion to a debate about contraception, including condoms. Now, as the evangelical Christian movement has pushed its way deeper into politics, we finally have a Republican candidate who is willing to reveal the endgame:

Defending divorce

Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, wants to enact a new law that would require married couples with children to take classes about the impact of divorce on children and then go through a “cooling off ” period before being allowed to divorce.

Closing down freedom

City Manager Jane Brautigam has proposed a new rule that would close city parks and open space from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. — or at any time the city manager declares an “emergency closure.” A hearing on the matter is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Jan. 3 in the city council chambers.

Is the war really over?

From around the country came a collective sigh, “Thank God it’s over!” Whether any mission was accomplished remains for history to decide, though we can’t even agree why the United States invaded Iraq in the first place. There were no weapons of mass destruction, nor was there any tie to 9/11, as so many Americans were led to believe. And yet for all the uncertainty about the purpose and the outcome of the war, there’s little doubt that it hurt this nation by costing dollars, limbs and lives. Those are costs we’re going to feel for a very long time.

Industry doesn’t give a frack

As Colorado struggles with the increasingly pressing issue of fracking — short for hydraulic fracturing — news comes from Wyoming that fracking has been linked to groundwater pollution for the first time. Residents who have the misfortune of living near fracking operations, where a compound of water, sand and chemicals is injected under high pressure into the ground to break rock and free gas and oil deposits, have long reported changes to their groundwater.

Sex, race and abortion

Republicans in the U.S.House of Representatives took a long walk off the short pier of stupid this week when they introduced the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act. This act, the brain fart of Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., would leave doctors subject to lawsuits and prison time if they were to abort fetuses based on the fetuses’ sex or race.

You are what you leak

You are a living filter. Every time you urinate, you send a bit of yourself into the environment. This includes an array of chemicals, organic and artificial, that your body produces and absorbs — hormones, antidepressants, antibiotics and chemicals from plastics, beauty products, food additives and cleaners.

The dogma of bigotry

In1610, Italian astronomer and inventor Galileo Galilei used a telescope to observe the heavens and concluded that the earth revolved around the sun. His assertion contradicted the established dogma of the Catholic Church, leading to no end of difficulty for the brilliant scientist. He found himself accused of heresy and was eventually hauled before the Inquisition, which offered to resolve the dispute through torture if necessary. Imagine the gut-deep frustration Galileo must have felt knowing he was right but having to “confess” before a tribunal of stuffy old ignoramuses that the church was right and he was wrong. It wasn’t until 1992 that the Catholic Church formally cleared Galileo of wrongdoing and acknowledged that he’d been mistreated by the church.

Mind games for the holidays

Is any season more mixed up than the holidays? Where we feel such gratitude for our loved ones, and wish they would go away? Where we give lavishly and wonder if we can appease our boss with a $10 gift? Where couples cuddle in front of the fire and odd-one-out singles sit at the end of each holiday table, reminded once again that they’re not paired?

Copenhagen does nothing to stall global warming

WASHINGTON — A new global warming treaty would be all economic pain and little environmental gain for America even if China and other fast-developing nations sign on as well. But if developing nations remain exempted, it would be all economic pain and no environmental gain.

Just say nothing

Upstanding students defend our rights

Crucify the drunk

A zealous desire for revenge

Areas on to riot

Boulder cops go too far again

Lo,the poor athiests

Athiests cry discrimination while propagating the same

A post 9-11 Thanksgiving

Despite our problems, we can all give thanks

Enviromental Deceit 101

Breast feed kids, stay married, save the planet

School officials above the law

Columbine takes religious tiles from wall

Wanted: real election reform

The way we vote keeps Boulder down

Screwy little neighborhood cults

Boulder's twisted ACLU