If you haven’t seen Britney Spears with her head shaved…don’t.
There are more allegations, sort of, in the ongoing saga of disgraced Pastor Ted Haggard. As Jean Torkelson of the Rocky Mountain News reports:
Ted Haggard’s “dark side” apparently spread farther than anybody thought.
“Numerous individuals” – some of them later described as young male staffers – have outlined what church leaders call a pattern of improper and even “sordid” behavior by the founder and former chief pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
Haggard’s former flock learned of the findings Sunday during two morning services, when the overseers of the church read a letter to filled auditoriums.
“We have verified the reality of (Haggard’s) struggle through numerous individuals who reported to us firsthand knowledge of everything from sordid conversation to overt suggestions to improper activities to improper relationships,” the Rev. Larry Stockstill told the congregation.
Good thing the church “cured” Haggard.
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Lynn Bartels of the Rocky Mountain News reports that some legislators have been receiving “robo calls” urging them to make adjustments to Amendment 41:
Rep. Ray Rose didn’t know whether to be amused or irritated after clearly confused callers urged him to fix problems with Amendment 41.
Many, he said, didn’t know anything about the ethics measure that has become a headache because of its unintended consequences, including the possibility that the children of public employees can’t accept scholarships.
“I’d say, ‘What do you know about Amendment 41?’ and they had no idea,” said Rose, R-Montrose. “They said, ‘Well, uh, it needs to be fixed.’ ”
He said voters in his district received blast “robo calls” this week. The taped message asked whether callers believed the ethics measure should be fixed and if they wanted to talk to their lawmaker about it, Rose said. If they said yes, they were automatically transferred.
Other lawmakers reported taking similar calls.
“This is just another stunt from the backers of Amendment 41,” Rose said. “A lobbyist can’t buy me a cup of coffee anymore but they (the backers) can spend money on these calls to tell us to fix problems we didn’t create and we warned were going to happen.”
You know what is the most amazing piece of that story? The fact that people are actually listening to robo calls. Who really pays attention to those things?
Meanwhile, the editorial board of the Rocky Mountain News is urging lawmakers not to approve a bill that would alter the meaning of Amendment 41:
Let’s recap: A constitutional amendment passed by voters says each commission member enjoys subpoena power; a proposed law implementing the amendment says a commission member can issue a subpoena only if three other members agree. We’d call that an attempt to rewrite the constitution without a vote of the people. It’s flatly illegal. It’s positively wrong.
HB 1304 is full of similarly high-handed definitions that would be entirely reasonable if the legislature were creating an ethics commission and Amendment 41 didn’t exist.In theory, we actually like the idea of requiring a supermajority of the commission to issue subpoenas; indeed, the thought of one unelected member going off half-cocked and issuing subpoenas gives us the willies. But like it or not, Amendment 41 grants the subpoena power to individual members. It may be stupid, but that’s what it does.
The authors of HB 1304, Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver, and Sen. Steve Ward, R-Littleton, justify their bill with lofty references to what “the voters intended.” We don’t profess to read voters minds; we prefer to stick with facts.
Fact 1: Voters passed Amendment 41.
Fact 2: The legislature can’t revise the constitution.
Fact 3: HB 1304 is an attempt to pretend Fact 2 doesn’t exist.Once lawmakers understand Fact 3, we trust they’ll vote this measure down.
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Senator John McCain is a true conservative.
No, really.
Okay – seriously.
He’s really, truly a conservative.
Honestly.
As the Associated Press reports:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party’s conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.
“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,” the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.
McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who “strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench.”
The landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade gave women the right to choose an abortion to terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court has narrowly upheld the decision, with the presence of an increasing number of more conservative justices on the court raising the possibility that abortion rights would be limited.
Social conservatives are a critical voting bloc in the GOP presidential primaries.
McCain may end up placating his conservative base at some point, but how far to the right is he willing to go in the process?
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State Rep. Joel Judd wants to limit the number of loaded guns people carry in their cars, as the Associated Press reports:
A Denver lawmaker is hoping to limit the number of loaded guns in cars with a bill that would allow major cities to require anyone with a loaded firearm in the passenger compartment of a vehicle to have a concealed weapons permit.
Rep. Joel Judd, D-Denver, said he’s tired of road rage incidents involving guns and drive-by shootings.“I’ve had a lot of people shot in my district, and I’m tired of the blood in the streets,” Judd said.
House Bill 1278 would allow a municipality with a population exceeding 100,000 to prohibit a loaded handgun in the passenger compartment of a vehicle by a person who does not possess a concealed handgun permit. It goes before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.The bill would modify a 2003 law that allows Colorado residents to carry handguns if they get a permit and pass a background check.
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A good number of oil and gas-related bills have already been introduced in the state legislature this year. Donna Gray of The Glenwood Springs Post Independent Times Call News Gazette has the story:
Colorado legislators this year are considering a profusion of bills relating to the oil and gas industry.
The bills cover everything from measurement of gas production to protecting wildlife habitat and public health.
Six bills deal directly with the immediate effects of oil and gas drilling and many more with funding for the bills’ mandates as well as the use of severance taxes paid by the oil and gas industry.
“There are probably as many oil and gas bills in (this) one year than in the last five years,” said Greg Schnacke, executive vice president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA).
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If the United States ever decides to invade France – and at the rate we’re going, who knows?
