Mad Mama Bison

Here is a picture I took just outside of Parker, Colorado last summer. There is a herd of American Bison, commonly called Buffaloes, at a ranch about half a mile from where I live. These noble beasts once roamed in great herds across the American West, but were nearly hunted to extinction by settlers out to fulfill Manifest Destiny. Luckily, they have made a comeback, and are now raised for their meat, which is lower in fat than beef, and quite tasty.

This is a shot I got where there were several adults and calves. This mama didn't like me getting that close to her young one, as you can see by her stance, and the dust she is kicking up. Needless to say, I took the photo and quickly got away from the area! Still, I think this is an interesting photo.

Garden of the Gods

Colorado is a very interesting state. Its geologic history has resulted in some very unique natural beauty. I have often thought about the first pioneers heading west across North America, with animals and wagons, crossing the Great Plains for hundreds of miles, when all of a sudden, the mighty Rocky Mountains loomed as an obstacle ahead.

The Great Plains was once the bottom of a great inland ocean, and the Front Range of the Rockies was the shoreline. This ancient geology provides spectacular and interesting things to see. One of these is the footprints of a dinosaur herd in the rocks near Morrison. Another is in the photograph above. This is the entrance to the Garden of the Gods, a city park for the City of Colorado Springs.

Garden of the Gods is a free park whose signature is the 300-million year old red sandstone rock formations. Every time I go there, I am in awe of the sight that nature has left from erosion and uplifting of land. In my photo above taken from the outdoor deck of the Visitor's Center, you can see the road leading into the park, with Pikes Peak, "America's Mountain" in the background. It was on the summit of Pikes Peak that Katherine Lee Bates was inspired to pen the lyrics to America, the Beautiful.

If you ever get to Colorado Springs, your trip is not complete unless you take the time to visit the Garden of the Gods.

Good News in Medical Legislation

There are a couple of very good items in the news today regarding legislation related to medical issues. I am very much opposed to politicians restricting people's access to needed medical treatments, but that is all too common.

Today, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is hoping to get a bill legalizing medical marijuana through the state legislature, after two very close votes failed to pass on a bill last week. Richardson, who is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, is risking political backlash, but believes in the issue to the extent he is willing to take the fallout. If the legislature can get this done, "The Land of Enchantment" would join states like Colorado and California in legalizing the drug for medicinal use. Given my last post about Angel Raich in San Francisco, the federal government can still negate the effect of the law, but it will make a statement. Progress will eventually be made on this front.

Speaking of progress, high praise goes out to Colorado's new Democratic governor, Bill Ritter, who signed into law a measure to require that rape victims be informed of Plan B contraception. This legislation was passed several times, and vetoed by former governor, Republican Bill Owens. Owens and Ritter are both Roman Catholics, but Owens cited beliefs based on his religion in his vetos. Ritter noted the bill has exemptions based on religion so that no person can be forced to go against his or her religious beliefs in this, but even Catholic healthcare institutions mus have someone who can relay the information to rape victims.

Plan B, unlike RU-386, does not induce abortion; but instead prevents either fertilization or implantation of reproductive cells. This is just another reason that religion has no place in government. People are free, and should be, to hold religious views. When they try to use our government to impose them on all of us, that crosses the line. I don't care whose god says so, eggs, sperm and zygotes do NOT have rights above that of a rape victim. If it was God's will that a child results from a rape, wouldn't that make God an accomplice to the crime? People really don't think their religious beliefs through to their logical conclusions. Forcing a girl or woman who has been raped to bear her attacker's child is victimizing her all over again. I am glad that Governor Ritter is progressive. Now, if only we can elect a progressive President maybe we can get somewhere.

Medical Marijuana

Let me start this entry by stating a fact of my life. I have never used any illegal drugs. I say this not to pat myself on the back, but because it plays into the subject of this post. Certainly, coming of age in the early 1970s meant I had opportunity to partake. I knew people who did. However I don't like putting substances into my body, plus I truly never had any desire to try them. So my opinion about what is going on with a San Francisco woman in the news is not based on my desire to use marijuana. If it were totally legal, it is still something that I would not choose to use for recreation.

The problem lies in the case of 41-year-old Angel Raich of San Francisco. She is suffering from multiple, life-threatening conditions, including scoliosis, a tumor in her brain, chronic nausea, among others. Raich lives in California, a state that has legalized the use of marijuana for legitimate medical reasons. Raich claims her use of marijuana is what is keeping her alive.

The problem is that two years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that regardless of state law, use of medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, and that users of the drug, along with their suppliers, can be prosecuted. Now, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected Raich's case based on the right to life argument; the idea that people have a right to use marijuana to save their lives when legal treatments have failed to help.

Raich says she will not let them kill her, and that she will continue to use marijuana to treat her condition. Who can blame her, short of the federal court system, that is. First of all, I see no benefit for the government to deny the legitimate use of a drug that helps people with dire health conditions. Many drugs are derived from plants, and just because it is commonly used as a recreational drug, doesn't mean that marijuana doesn't have legitimate medical uses. Marijuana is a drug with no known lethal dose, no evidence that it is physically addictive, and apparently has the capacity to alleviate much suffering. Putting aside the libertarian view that the government has no business regulating what people do with their own bodies for a moment, where is any compelling interest by the government to deny medicine to someone whose suffering it alleviates? I see none.

As I said, I am certainly no stoner, and have not once smoked marijuana, nor used any other illegal substance. Yet I am appalled at the repressed and puritanical attitudes displayed by our outdated laws about this matter. Sometimes I think I am living in a weird parallel universe where no one sees the obvious.

Conformity or Else!

You may not have heard the name Rich Cizik, but you probably have heard the name James Dobson. As Dobson's Colorado Springs-based "Focus on the Family" organization continues to push its right-wing, evangelical extremism into our government, it becomes less and less tolerant of divergent viewpoints, even within its core constituency. The most recent example is how Dobson has turned on Cizik, the career lobbyist for the Evangelical Association of America. Dobson led the charge to draft and gain signatures on a letter chastising Cizik.

What did Cizik do to be the recipient of "The Wrath of Dob"? Did he renounce his Christianity? No. Maybe he didn't focus on his family quite enough? Wrong again. Cizik's transgression was to be involved in environmentalism. He believes in taking care of the environment. For that, he is a persona non grata around the Focus campus.

You see, many modern Christian evangelicals believe that we are living in the last days; that Jesus is coming to rapture his own from the earth, prior to letting it enter the Great Tribulation, a time when the earth will be ruled by the anti-Christ. Then Jesus will return to set it all right and restore the earth under a 1000 year long theocracy where Christ establishes his government on earth.

This ridiculous fable has not only made enormous wealth for Tim LaHaye, co-author of the "Left Behind" books; it has caused many Christians to go against the climatic evidence, denying the compelling case for the reality of global warming. Rather than heed the words of their Savior to be good stewards over the earth, their motto seems to be, "Use it up, tear it up, because the end of the world is nigh anyway."

So when Cizik started speaking out for preservation of the environment, a true conservationist position, he is vilified by many of his fellow evangelicals. Dobson's heavy handed tactics show that many in the Christian community have no tolerance for differences of opinion in matters not of theological significance. This reveals the political nature of such so-called "ministries" such as Focus. They have much more to do with politics than with matters of theology & orthodoxy.

Unfortunately, in today's world the face of intolerance and bigotry comes packaged in the cloak of Christianity. As Sinclair Lewis once said, "When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." Indeed, it appears that his words could be prophetic.

Rocky Mountain High

Nearly ten years after the untimely death of seventies folk music icon John Denver, his hit song, Rocky Mountain High has been adopted as a co-state song. The Colorado legislature yesterday approved adding Denver’s famous tune, so now it officially joins Where The Columbines Grow, as a state song.

The change was not without controversy. Some legislators wanted to add a disclaimer that the song’s status in no way is an endorsement of drug use. For many years, some have claimed the song is a not so subtle endorsement of marijuana, because of the line, “Friends around the campfire, and everybody’s high”. Denver himself always claimed the song was about being high on the natural beauty of the state. Like any artistic work, I suppose the meaning can be in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. In any case, the proposed disclaimer was rejected.

The song itself has been a standard since its release, and has even been used in a advertising campaign by Coors Brewing Company, which touts its product being made from pure Rocky Mountain spring water. The part of the song I have always thought was creative was the contrasts in the first few lyrics; the actual impossibility of them if taken literally, but full of meaning if taken allegorically.

He was born in the summer of his twenty seventh year,
Going home to a place he’d never been before.

Oddly enough, one of Denver’s other hit songs became the unofficial anthem of another state, as well as giving it one of its promotional slogans. Take Me Home, Country Roads, starts out:

Almost Heaven, West Virginia.

John was right about one thing; even though they are separated by 1500 miles, Colorado and West Virginia are two states of immense natural beauty.

Strange Goin's On Down at the Waffle House

Calling Jeff Foxworthy! Here is some more material for your "You Might Be A Redneck" routine!

Just the good ol' boys,
Never meanin' no harm,
Beats all you've ever saw,
been in trouble with the law
since the day they was born.

The late Waylon Jennings sang the lines above in the theme song from The Dukes of Hazzard. Now it seems we have a real life, dumb redneck boy story coming from the state of Kentucky, and reported by the Associated Press.

If you're going to commit a theft of goods and services, you'd think you wouldn't do it in front of the local cops, nor over $100 worth of food at Waffle House!

In a really weird occurrence at the Waffle House in Richmond, Kentucky, four young men from Lexington ran up the tab, when luck would have it, two girls got into a fight. When an employee of the restaurant flagged down the cops, who entered the Waffle House, these four braniacs ran out the door to avoid paying the bill. They tried to run over police officers, which began a high-speed chase at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. The chase came to a sudden halt when the driver hit a pole. The four tried to run from the scene, but were apprehended.

Now it's bad enough that these guys committed these acts, and they are charged with numerous counts, including reckless endangerment, driving under the influence of alcohol, and other charges. It is also bizarre that this started with two girls getting into a fight. But what really puzzles police is how the four men ran up a bill of $100, when the most expensive items on the menu don't top the $10 mark!

More Downtown Denver

Late last month, I posted some pictures of public art I took in Downtown Denver. Today, I decided to upload a few more I took that day. The first one above is the Denver skyline near the main library, looking across Civic Center Park. The City-County Building (City Hall) is out of view to the left, and the Capitol building is out of view to the right. This photo looks north toward the heart of the city.

The tall brown building in the background to the left that has a white sign on it is the headquarters of Qwest Communications (Click the photo for a larger view). It is at 1801 California Street, and was once called Mountain Bell Center, then after the AT&T Divestiture in 1984, was the headquarters of US West, which was acquired by Qwest. I used to work in that building from 1997-2000. The top of the smoky grey building just in front of it was once called Anaconda Tower, then it became Qwest Tower when it housed the headquarters of Qwest before it merged with US West.

The tall building on the right with the rounded top is commonly referred to as the Cash Register Building. It has no cash register company inside, but if you were standing on the opposite side, it somewhat is shaped like the top of an old fashioned cash register (that would be a manual point-of-sale terminal for you younger readers!). The white, shorter building in the middle is home of The Denver Post.

The next photo is the south side of the main library building. This is a very unusual building, as it looks like several different styles and colors all attached together. This side of the library faces the Denver Art Museum complex.



The Denver Art Museum has some very distinctive buildings. The next two photos are part of the museum's downtown campus, known as the Civic Center Cultural Complex.



This really unusually shaped building is the Frederic C. Hamilton building of the Denver Art Museum. Look closely at its base, and you will see the whisk broom and dustpan sculpture I posted in a photo in my posting of February 24.



Remember our friend, the Big Blue Bear sculpture that peers into the Colorado Convention Center? The photo below was taken near him. He would be off to the left. The Convention Center complex is very large, and much of it is new. The Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) has light rail tracks that go beneath part of the center. I like the architecture of this building a lot. It was part of a major expansion of the Center in recent hears.

Old Plymouth

I love old cars. Especially the cars from the 1940s through the 1960s. I guess that is one reason I would like to visit Cuba; all the old U.S. cars that are still running all over that island.

Here is one I happened upon a while back, sitting for sale in Franktown, Colorado. It is an old Plymouth Belvedere from the 1951 model year I think. This car was for sale, and didn't seem to be in bad condition, and could be beautifully restored.

I don't have either the resources or the know-how to undertake such a project, but can certainly appreciate this fine old car. With Plymouth having joined the ranks of nameplates such as Studebaker, Nash, Rambler, DeSoto, Hudson, and Oldsmobile in the dustbin of automotive history, this car is all the more appealing.

I hope it got a good home.

Speaking of old car names that have gone by the wayside, here is a photo from a building on Broadway in Denver that once housed Franklin Studebaker. It is now vacant, but still looks ready to contain a new car showroom. I can easily imagine it.

Impending Storm

One of the most fascinating sights to me is when the weather is undergoing a rapid change. A frontal system moves through, and the skies can go from light blue to dark gray in a matter of minutes. In this picture I took a few months ago, we see such a change. The upper left still has a bit of clear blue, but it was quickly being replaced by darkness, as storm clouds moved in from the west. The gnarly chaos of the bare branches adds to the chaos in the sky behind them.

Here in Colorado, our moisture can come from several directions. Pacific storms can blow in over the Rocky Mountains, but sometimes we get moisture coming up across Texas and Oklahoma into the state. When the winds drive such water-rich air into the mountains, we get upslope weather conditions. In the winter, this results in blizzards like we had in December and January of this year. When Pacific and Gulf air collide over the Centennial State, watch out baby . . . it's gonna be a storm!

Fair & Balanced? Hardly!

See the Faux News Channel's character assassination team in full force, as they repeat lies and inuendo about Senator Obama. What did we expect from BushCo's propaganda channel. They repeatedly label Obama's elementary school a "madrasa", and make an issue of his middle name being Hussein. So what, his dad was a Muslim. Do they think everyone named Hussein is Saddam? Do they forget America's late friend in the Middle East, King Hussein of Jordan. I guess anyone named Lee is evil because they share a name with Lee Harvey Oswald. Or perhaps anyone named Timothy is suspect, because of Timothy McVeigh.

Sex, Lies, and Newt

The hypocrisy of politicians is something to behold. The glee and zest with which the Republicans in Congress, along with their pit bull Ken Starr, pursued President Clinton, is matched only by their own deeds. One of the primary players who went after the President over his lying about an extramarital sexual relationship, now confesses his own affair during that period. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, now seeking the Presidency himself, has acknowledged his own affair during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

So lets see what we have here. Mark Foley was chasing young male congressional pages, Rudy Giuliani moves his mistress into Gracie Mansion, and Newt is getting some on the side; all the while speaking of moral bankruptcy in The White House. Now Rudy & Newt both want to be President.

Now, I think that monogamy is a convention we have from a societal tradition, as it tends to create stable families. Yet, biologically, it seems we are not wired for it. Given that statistics show a lifetime of monogamy is not lived by a majority of people; and the fact that power and sex seem to go together, it is not surprising that our politicians go outside their marriages at times. I would be quite surprised if they did not.

What is reprehensible is the way these people misused their offices to go after President Clinton for political purposes, all the while doing the same thing they criticized him for doing. This type of hypocrisy is not new. There is an old saying about people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. In the Christian bible, Jesus tells a man not to worry about the mote in his brother's eye, when he has a beam in his own.

What is even more amazing is how these neocons derided Hillary Clinton, even though she did what they supposedly stood for; she forgave her husband and kept her family together. Yet family values Newt asked wife number one for a divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery, and then divorced wife number two to marry his mistress. Who better represents the conservative idea of so-called family values, Newt or Hillary.

These champions of family values are liars of the highest order. Some say confession is good for the soul, but even more than that, it appears to be very politically expedient. Any so-called conservative who supported the relentless pursuit and impeachment of Bill Clinton should take a long look at their values if they support either Gingrich or Giuliani.

All this aside, I don't vote for a President based upon his private sex life. I don't care about that, that is his or her own business. However, I find it sickening how these neocons played the high moral ground, all based upon lies. Just like the darling of the Christian Right, Ted Haggard, who preached against equal rights for gays, preaching that homosexuals are headed to hell; was conducting an ongoing relationship with a male prostitute in Denver; these guys don't practice what they preach. Despite their admirable leadership on many key issues, this "do as I say, not as I do" attitude make them unfit to occupy the Oval Office. They want one set of rules for themselves, another for the rest of us. They tell the sheeple whatever they want to hear to garner votes.

I don't condemn these men for their sexual liaisons, again that is their private business. I do condemn their gross hypocrisy. They owe Bill Clinton an apology.