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March 26, 2011 03:04 PM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 76 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Without contraries is no progression.”

–William Blake

Comments

76 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread

    1. I remember when his surname used to be spelled with a “K.” It seems like it changes every week — from a “K” to a “G” to a “Q” and back again.

      1. Because we thought that was what we were seeing the most. As soon as we did, though, it seems like everybody switched to “Kadafi.”

        We’re not changing it again.

        1. …..similar to the way in which Kandahar can be spelled Qandahar or even Gandahar.

          Or that Qatar is properly pronounced “gutter”, or “cutter”.

        1. MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark

          All the sweet green icing flowing down

          Someone left the cake out in the rain

          I don’t think that I can take it

          ‘Cause it took so long to bake it

          And I’ll never have that recipe again, oh no!

          Perfectly clear.  The cake is ruined!  Sorrow abounds!

          1. as a young girl, from the time I saw him in tights in the movie version of Camelot. God he was hot. But between that awful song, arguably the worst and stupidest song ever written, and his laughable falsetto, the thrill was gone. Sad, at 16, to see your heart throb go from magnificent to pathetic over night.  

  1. As I said earlier the City decided to audit the tax payments of my company (because I was slightly critical of them).

    My company sells enterprise software worldwide. We have the end of the quarter coming up and that is the busiest time, with the final working day of the quarter generally pulling in substantially more money than any other day.

    And we’re a small company so we have one accounting person. She is the one that creates quotes, generates invoices, etc. And when we receive a P.O., she’s the one that then sends the customer their license keys. In other words, she’s essential to finalizing the sale. She’s also the one that will have to spend an entire day providing information to the City of Boulder tax people when they come to our office.

    Cue the dramatic music… You can see it coming can’t you… Of course they are coming on… March 31. This is akin to performing an audit on a retail store the Friday after Thanksgiving. Just one more way (of many) that the City of Boulder does it’s best to harm local business.

    For those considering locating in Boulder – there are a number of pluses here from the people to how pretty it is. And the Tech Stars program is awesome. But the city government is strongly anti-business. I think this comes from the large number of residents who are either trust fund babies, work at the University, or work in a research labs. To many of them private enterprise is unseemly and they think it degrades Boulder.

    Ps – my CEO has told me that I am not to say anything “funny” to the city accountants when they’re there. Darn – I was going to put a note on my door that said “Do Not Enter – Shredding Financial Documents”.

  2. …how the world really works. From TNTSNBN – Overland High School is censoring an accurate student newspaper article because it reflects poorly on the school administration.

    Principal Lundie – apparently you forgot that the job of a school is to get students to learn, not to shut down any criticism. And kudos to the students and teacher on the paper – you all are a great role model (unlike Leon “Moammar Gadhafi” Lundie).

  3. Fight as Libyan woman dragged from press by Gaddafi forces

    A distressed Libyan woman made a desperate plea for help on Saturday, slipping into a Tripoli hotel full of foreign journalists to show bruises and scars she said had been inflicted on her by Muammar Gaddafi’s militiamen.

    The woman, Iman al-Obeidi, said forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi detained her at a checkpoint in the Libyan capital and raped her.

    As reporters gathered to hear her story, security guards grabbed the woman and attempted to hood her before bundling her into a car and driving her away.

    The plain-clothed government minders then shoved back and fought with reporters who tried to intervene and film the incident.

  4. Hmmm, April 8th is the next looming deadline to avert a Federal government shutdown.  

    I wonder what the effect will be on those attempting to file their taxes, and even more on those anxiously awaiting their refunds?

    Which party will have the most disgruntled members, and which will have the most “gruntled” followers?

  5. I learned today from my paper subscription that the CO Dept of Unemployment (SUTA) issued incorrect 1099’s to 11,000 CO unemployment recipients.  The errors were an overstatement of taxable benefits by $300 “on average”.  Now, I’ve learned that an “average” is a statistic which can be manipulated into a lie.  So, it’s fair to say that many thousands of people received erroneous 1099’s that were far in excess of the $300 average.  This is taxable income and results in people paying more taxes than necessary.  These are unemployed people who, by definition, can least afford to suffer this mistake.

    Everyone makes mistakes, but this is yet another example of how the CO SUTA is the worst agency in Colorado.

    1. the CO SUTA is the worst agency in Colorado.

      I think OIT is the worst because they’ve not only blown hundreds of millions accomplishing nothing with CBMS, but a child died because the system doesn’t work.

      But I’ll agree that SUTA and DOR are tied for second.

  6. from CDLE

    Colorado Unemployment Rate: 9.3%

    National Unemployment Rate: 8.9%

    Something Tom Tancredo said in his interview with me that made a lot of sense (yes he had a couple of good points). He said that the unemployment rate is quite different between states that looking at their people and resources there should be no major difference in the rates. He went on to say that diving in to why the unemployment rate is different would probably lay a lot of that on state policies.

    I think there’s a lot of truth to that. There are many things the state could do to increase employment in this state. Unfortunately we have a governor who appears to have his primary concern on higher office in the future than on selling the voters and the legislature on what this state needs to do to thrive.

    Under Governor Hickenlooper we are continuing down the road of having just two industries – tourism and mineral extraction. Works great for the people at the top.

    1. got an 11% pay increase in 2010 when he cut 1800 jobs.  In fairness he dramatically increased their market capitalization but without benefiting average Americans in any significant way.  The chief operating officer’s compensation nearly doubled.  

      At the same time the GOP is fighting financial market reform that would prevent another melt down which would quickly wipe out any catching up the middle class has managed in their investment portfolios, mainly retirement funds that don’t do them any good at the moment. Also fighting anything  that would prevent those responsible for a melt down from keeping their billions and being handsomely rewarded with more. At the state level attempting to bust unions and privatize state assets and functions as fast they can, including the ability to dismiss elected local governments.

      All of this demonstrates that GOP economic policy at state and federal levels has one goal only; privatizing capital gain while socializing all risk, a free ride for the corporate elite.  Period.

      The rest, from “jobs,jobs, jobs (while they cut jobs , jobs, jobs)”, to solving illegal immigration, promoting the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman, fighting abortion, complaining about teacher quality while doing everything they can to make teaching an unattractive occupation for quality candidates, is all distraction for the sole purpose of getting the little people they systematically screw every day to keep voting in their lap dogs and tuning in to their propaganda.

      There are sincere, if deluded Main Street Republicans who mean well. GOP policy is pretty much pure massive distribution of wealth from them and the rest of the middle class directly to an increasingly greedy, amoral, let them eat cake elite. More peeing on our legs and telling us it’s trickle down economics.

      1. The GOP is pushing their unworkable policies really hard but there is an underlying mission… to keep the economy from improving before the 2012 election.  

        They would rather see millions more Americans suffer and the country’s economy collapse again than take a chance that President Obama may get reelected!

        And if they drive us into a double-dip recession instead of helping to gradually dig our way out of the current recession it will be really tragic!  But they are truely that delusional about the consequences.

          1. With all the publicity in WI and now in MI, IN and OH, hopefully some people are seeing the reality of the GOP.

            Oops, forgot NJ.

            I guess the hard truth may come if the government does shut down, even for a little while and then which party gets the most of the blame.  That is already not looking very good since the GOP, as usual, already has their message machine going 24/7 and I have no idea what the Dem message is for this circumstance.  Why do we think that everyone should just get it when we don’t bother to talk to them about what they need to get?  That is one reason why I posted the videos from the beginning of 2010.  President Obama did a great job of countering the GOP arguments and basically making them look pretty foolish.  There should be some great soundbites in there.

            Until those 2 events, I think that the GOP had no idea what (who) they were really up against.  For one thing, they couldn’t believe that he had already read their little handout, and understood it.  Just the looks on their faces at times in the videos is worth the time, although, I would recommend the 5 part Health Care videos for ironing day or something like that.

            What kind of messaging would you recommend?

            I think number one would be that the Dems need to keep track of what Frank Luntz is telling the GOP.  That would tell us what is coming, at least.

            1. to Frank Luntz won’t cut it.   We need our own Frank Luntz and our own well oiled aggressive message machine financed by our own billionaires.

              The GOP message machine didn’t attain dominance by reacting on the defensive, apologizing for being too conservative or promising to be almost as fill-in-the-blank as Democrats.

              Dems have been feebly defending themselves and their policies, protesting that they too are responsible, patriotic and big business friendly (please don’t accuse us of class warfare), and really almost just like those high ground holding Republicans.  This is where all that cowering by Dem pols has gotten us.  Reacting won’t get us out.

              It’s long past time for Dem pols to grow a pair, show pride in not being Republicans instead of being apologetic about it or hiding from it, declare for the middle class and against the robber barons and go on offense with a steam roller message machine of their own. Less DLC. More FDR.

              1. And why is it that Dems talk about this need over and over – the need for a good proactive (not defensive) message machine – but no one seems to take the lead on this.  I think if we had this in place, working everyday with proactive messages, providing the talking points that get repeated by Dems all the way up and down the food chain, we’d be in a very strong position.  

                There’s something in our Dem DNA that makes us more defensive than offensive.  We need to get past that – yesterday.

                1. and the more progressive pols who scare the establishment Dems are the ones who push for this.  The establishmemnt Dems are still scaredy cats. Reagan scared them so badly they’ve never gotten over it.

              2. Are tanned, rested, and ready.

                But last time I wrote that, they were poo-poohed as being too old-school.

                You can’t replace nobody with nobody.

                By the way, the Dems have their own Frank Luntz equivalent–Peter Hart.  Hart is one of the most respected public opinion researchers in the country.  He ran the focus groups that appeared on PBS during the 2008 presidential campaign.

                See http://www.hartresearch.com/ab

                All the Dems have to do is listen to him.

                1. They are perfect examples of operatives from the DLC, don’t hate us because we’re not real Republicans era.  And once again, I’m talking about something other than operatives. Luntz is a pollster and spinner, not a political operative like Carville and Begala. I’m talking taking control of the message and definition of terms, not campaign ops.

                    1. That’s the problem.  I’m not an insider. The Dem leadership should be looking for someone like Luntz. It won’t be a high profile already famous person. How did the Rs find Luntz?

                    2. I think the problem is they have to decide they’re going to fight in terms of marketing rather then in terms of who governs better.

                      We also face a problem that if we take on the rich who are presently running things, then the Democratic party gives up the giant stream of donations they get from Wall St. I don’t think most of our elected officials are willing to do that.

                    3. I think that the problem is finding the right message.  And I don’t think that a “progressive” message is the right one.

                      I’m not afraid of DLC people.  Elections are won and lost in the middle.  That’s the bull’s eye on the target.

                      The winning message is going to be the one that doesn’t freak people out.

                    4. is about fairness – how fair is it that some huge corporations pay little or no income taxes, while the struggling middle class has to pay more than their fair share?  There must be a way to frame – in terms of fairness – the growing disparity between the powerful wealthy interests in this country, and the diminishing middle class and those suffering in poverty.  

                    5. I think that tone can be a message killer.  That is why I get so irritated with Ed Schultz.  If he would use the same tone on his programs as when Rachel or Lawrence interview him, a lot more people would listen.  On his own programs he can’t seem to do anything but an angry tone.

                      But Ed is not the subject!

                      Luntz might even work for the Dems if they ask him.  And thinking that it is playing defense if you try to keep up with what Luntz is telling the Repubs is just plain silly.  (That is not meant for you, Ralphie)

                      Know thy enemy!  And, just saying No to everything doesn’t help.  

                      I think that Carville and Begala are too bombastic and just manage to turn people off.  I would stay away from both of them, especially Carville.

                      There are others.  George Lakoff is actually pretty good but is ignored most of the time.  There is also Thomas Frank, Jeffrey Feldman and Drew Westen, for starters.  Has anyone read Drew’s book “The Political Brain”?

                      And for someone who knows every Colorado county we could ask Dan Slater.  I would bet that he has some good ideas.

                      There appears to be something that I can agree with David T on… Marketing instead of governing.  We need to do the good governing but you can’t govern unless you can get elected and getting elected takes good marketing and, according to Westen, knowing the role of emotion.  That is how elections are won.

                      We might start with trying to get the Colorado Dems to agree on a message, any message and then practice using it.  From the State Party to County Parties to the door knockers.  Get used to sticking together instead of publicly calling other Dems names all the time.

                      I would hope that David Plouff would come up with some good messaging soon also.

                      So, everyone, start coming up with ideas instead of just saying ‘No’.

                      Maybe we could have a message contest?  

                    6. wasn’t that it wasn’t left enough. Although I do think the kind of triangulation that was absolutely necessary in the wake of Reagan isn’t what’s called for now.   It was that it was a defensive message; we’re really almost just like Republicans.  So why not just vote for Republicans  unless you happen to be particularly ticked off at them at the moment. The natural default, with that message is back to Republican. And that’s what keeps happening.

                      But no need to argue about the merits of DLC at this point. It’s day is over anyway.  

                      Dave and Ralphie are both right.  It is marketing and the right message. That’s what people like Luntz are so good at.  He’s a pollster.  He determines, on the most detailed basis, what goes over well with whom, who you need to get and then he finds easy sound bite ways to sell the right message to the groups whose votes you need.  

                      It may not have to be a specific person but it has to be someone or several someones along with an awareness on the part of Dem pols that they have to fight fire with fire, not with fearful avoidance, to make it happen for Dems. Unified message and targeted marketing don’t just get themselves done.    

                2. How does Luntz come up with his messages?  From the focus groups he runs, of course, and Hart does the same thing.

                  There is also:

                  http://www.thedemocraticstrate

                  and:

                  http://demos.org/

                  This is one of the books that they list.  I like the title but have not read it.

                  The Moral Center

                  How Progressives Can Unite America Around Our Shared Values

                  And… there are training classes that are quite good.  Wellstone Action is probably one of the best:

                  http://www.wellstone.org/

                  1. Yep, that’s Luntz.  But it also has been the willingness of GOP pols to take what he gives them and run with it in a coordinated way. The cracks caused by the Tea party are already affecting the edifice.  A perfect opening for Dems to use the Luntz methods to their advantage.

                    Dems will never achieve the monolithic Borg status enjoyed for so long by the GOP, nor should we but we do have to have a core set of messages as the champions of middle America that the disparate components of the party can all get behind and coordinate on, as the Rs have done so successfully over the decades since Reagan until now.   This is a great time for Dems to get it together while Rs are still figuring out how to deal with the Tea Party phenomenon.        

                    1. Instead, the party will fracture or splinter, as some  try to overreach.

                      Not necessarily “overreach” in the sense of what is smart or doable. But overreach for what the electorate will support.

                    2. in the recent pass to suggest they might get it right this time,  maybe a miracle can happen.  And we could commemorate it with a holiday like the Chanukah miracle of light or something.

                    3. It’s Wednesday after the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.

                      Which is more likely –

                      the D party realizes that in the current era, capturing the “middle” electorate will mean D majorities for many terms, or

                      the D party is split by the tension and challenge of holding the far left and the moderate left together as one party?

                      Which is better for the party –

                      capture the middle, or try to pull the party and the voters to the farther left?

                    4. redefine what the middle means as the GOP has done so successfully. The GOP managed to define policies that protect the corporate elite and undermine the middle class, redistributing wealth on a stunning scale, from  middle and low earners toan elite as representing the interests of average middle American. Quite the accomplishment.  Even manged to label liberals, not the Corporate types with all the money with all the money, as the elite.

                      Reagan, a B movie star actor, managed to redirect from Rs v Ds to just plain hardworking folks v welfare queens, lefties and unions, transforming traditional Dems into the famous Republican voting Reagan Dems. They’ve done it and maintained it with a big assist from traditional cold war anti-pinko fear, religious/social wedge issues and a hell of a message machine.  

                      Dems need to aggressively expose the anti-middle America policies of the right for what they are and convince the public that Dems are the majority middle’s, the real middle’s, only hope.  That is if the middle still has one.

                      So not a matter of moving to the right, left or center. A matter of showing the overwhelming majority where their real interests lie, who is really on their side.

                      Should be doable with 98% of the population on the losing side of R policy and only a fraction of a single percent getting the lion’s share of the benefit of that policy if Dems aggressively tackle the whole message marketing thing.

                      Just two things to stop it. Continuing lack of guts on the part of Dems.  And of course, if Dems insist on being corporate poodles just like the Rs, it really doesn’t matter much who people vote for anyway except on social/religious issues.   In the latter case, if we vote for Dems we get to marry whoever we want while we provide cheaper and cheaper labor for the rich. Super!  

                    5. Reagan tapped into fear – fear of godless commie russkies; fear that “others” were taking Americans’ birthright to good jobs, low taxes, and safety.

                      the welfare queen lving public housing, driving a caddilac and buying steaks with food stamps tapped into fear.  

                      Reagan knew what he was doing too – not only that it worked, but that he was doing it on purpose.

                      [re: Gorbachev] “…how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from some other species from another planet outside in the universe. We’d forget all the little local differences that we have between our countries …”

                    6. Not enough people fear suppression of civil rights because they don’t see how it could happen to them.  So gay marriage? Only scary to the weirdos who somehow think it threatens them.

                      AGW (climate change) is hard to fear – it’s large, amorphous, and distant.  It’s not a bad guy with a weapon at my door.

                      Outsourcing is scarey – to everyone who has lost a job that way.

                      And if D’s can’t find real things to be scared about, they hav eto find things that aren’t scarey really, and somehow make them scary.  Health insurance reform wasn’t scary – gov’t take over of health care with death panels and armed IRS agents , well that was scary.

                    7. of becoming part of a once middle class majority reduced to hanging on by the fingernails which is where GOP policy is rushing us, faster every day? How about fear of a return to old people on cat food?  Of a downward economic spiral for your children? No way to afford a college education wthout a silver spoon?  No say in a future where almost all government functions and services are privatized and beyond your control as a voter? No health and safety regulations to protect you from being poisoned?  No financial regulation to protect you from being swindled? Courts completely in the service of corporations? A future in which you are completely at the mercy of people who have only one interest in you: sucking you dry and keeping you quiet?  

                    8. Take a pay cut or lose your job completely because you cost more than a worker with similar skills in another place.

                      Scary to accept the pay cut- scarier to lose the job.

                      And pay cuts include reduction in benefit, increased cost share of benefits and less job security.

                      These are not things that shouldn’t be feared – they are hard to message on.

                    9. I’m no sound bite word smith ( to put it mildly) but there must be some way to get across the idea that the right is lying to you, swindling you, and after all your stuff. Rs tapped into resentment of the elite even though those they targeted weren’t in any way the real elite.  The GOP’s bosses are the real elite so it shouldn’t take that much adjustment.

                    10. find things that aren’t scary really, and somehow make them scary

                      That is exactly what the Repubs have done.  And the reason that I would like to find a message and get it repeated all up and down the line is that people believe the Repubs because they have repeated the same message over and over for years, until the people hearing it decide that it must be true.

                      So start with one message and then branch out.  

                      And it is very true that the Repubs find something to fear, even if it shouldn’t be feared.  One of the problems that Dems have that Repubs don’t have, is that Dems don’t like to lie, they aren’t able to lie and make it sound authentic.  So that is part of our quandary.  Repubs have no conscience!

                      So… the message has to be truthful but also emotional.  Emotion is key.

                    11. A Democratic Black man in the White House.  

                      Remember Bill Clinton?

                      He was scary enough just being a Democrat in the White House, to Repubs.

                      Even worse, a Black man who wants to change things up when Conservatives want to go back 100 years.  Before Blacks could vote, before women could vote, before there were child labor laws or minimum wage or unions or, or, or…

                      Change! That is what scares conservatives!

                      But the message is not aimed at conservatives, it should be aimed at the left (forget the Sirota types who are hoping for even more Repubs in 2012) and the reasonable middle.

                      The other thing that we really need is messengers.  Dems don’t demand camera time and don’t seem to want radio time so we need to find a few with PR sense who would work to get on camera and radio.  Maybe we could fund them like we do candidates?

                      Just thinking with my keyboard, I guess.

                    12. facts on our side.   We have the real massive redistribution of wealth and power to a real elite via taxes that soak the middle to pay the elite and privatization that soaks the middle and  removes more government functions from the reach of the democratic process to hand them over to private corporations who only want them for the purpose of sucking us as dry as possible.  

                      So we should be able to make people very afraid, as they should be , of real stuff.  No need to make anything up.  The opposite of the GOP’s situation and one that would give Dems the advantage if Dems had the guts to take it.

                    13. I started with a quote from another comment.  

                      There are lots of people that aren’t moved by “facts”.  We need to add some emotion to the facts to get them to take it seriously.

                      You keep talking about “if the Dems had the guts to take it”, or any number of other similar statements.

                      How about if YOU take it?  What are your real solutions?  Besides pushing it off on other people.

                      We can keep saying the same things over and over, day after day but that is not going to get anything to happen.  Come up with your solutions and see if you can get some elected officials to take them up!

                    14. just as many others here do. I network with an extensive e-mail list, call and e-mail my elected Dems in congress and at the WH, have been an active volunteer in campaigns and in my HD since 2004. But I’m not in the national spotlight.  I’m not somebody with big gun insider influence. The best I can do is get the occasional letter in the paper, add my voice to petitions and rallies, support grassroots movements that are making a difference, like what’s going on in Wisconsin (and mainly being studiously ignored by our President and other leaders), general nagging of our elected leadership and local political participation.

                      We need, you know, Dem leaders who somebody has actually heard of, getting out there to take advantage of this opening. And not just a few progressive pols but the big gun leadership from the WH on down.

                      And you know what they’re doing now? Debating whether they should blame Republicans or not for the stalemate now inching us closer to a government shut down.  Seriously. They’re still afraid of being seen as being mean to Republicans, maybe not being bi-partisan enough or being too friendly to labor or too pinko.  I’m not exactly in a position to fix that. Sorry. I would if I could.  

                  2. No soaring rhetoric, no practical nusts and bolts advice for solutions. Worst- nothing new.

                    It’s not a bad book. It’s not badly written (it is poorly edited and published) . It’s not a recipe for progressive excitement or victory.

                    I don’t have that recipe – but I know what it needs to address.

                    How is it that Japan is to be admired for handling the current crises, but disdained for having progressive income tax, publicly funded single payer health care and income disparity that is so much more restrained  than in the US?

                    How is it that France is to be reviled for their publicly funded single payer health care, progressive taxation, and public pensions, but admired for the way they publicly subsidize nuclear power?

                    China – feared for it’s military and political rise on the world scene, admired for it’s strong economic growth, although they are not just socialist -but communist.

                    And so on.

                    In the end, voters vote for other reasons.

                    No one wants to campaign on the economic reality that neither the President nor the Congress (nor the Fed) can control the economy so that we can have strong GDP growth, low unemployment and a rising standard of living. (if they could, every President would have strong GDP increase, low unemployment, and the world’s highest standard of living)

                    That requires complex policy positions. But complexity is bad for campaigning.  

      2. He will parachute anc cost Colorado another 4500 jobs. He was hired to sell the company off for the debt.

        He and his underlings run a company that promotes and maintains bigots while their legal department looks for only the appearance of due diligence. It’s a corrupt company, and has been since at least the Qwest/US West merger.

  7. Scott Walker Kills His Wisconsin Union Busting Bill By Publishing It

    Wisconsin Republicans stunned the nation today when they published Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union bill in seeming violation of a restraining order. The legislation was enjoined from publishing by a judge who ruled that Republicans violated the Open Meeting law when passing it. By publishing their anti-union legislation and turning it into law, Scott Walker and the Republicans may have killed the bill.

    Republicans skirted the judge’s order today by having the legislation published by an agency other than the specifically enjoined Secretary of State, claiming that the constitution does not specify which body must publish a law, while Democrats claim that the law must be published by the SOS.

    http://www.politicususa.com/en

    Followup statement:


    By publishing this bill, Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans remind Americans about the fatal flaw of the modern day Republican Party: It and its leaders lack judgment. The publishing of this bill which was now not only passed while violating state law but now published in violation of a court order smells vaguely but sickeningly of George W Bush’s arrogant invasion of a sovereign nation. Just as Bush refused to wait for the UN, Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans could not allow the process to play out properly. Instead, they went all rogue cowboy and reminded us why we swore we’d never vote Republican again.

    Republicans are great dictators, but they are terrible chess players.

  8. You’ve made the national press as educational douche bag of the week. A proud moment for you I’m sure.

    And yet, because the students responded to his assertion that the article was incorrect with a government record demonstrating their accuracy, Principal Lundie retaliated like a schoolyard bully, removing their adviser and shutting down their newspaper.

    They need to get rid of this guy. Someone who squashes student’s educational efforts has no business being in a school. And a bully who hates being told facts he dislikes has no business managing anyone – especially teachers.

    I guess we’ll see what priority Cherry Creek Schools puts on supporting student learning and the ideal of a school being open to learning and all ideas as we see how they handle this.

    1. For a better reason, actually. He felt the content was inappropriate–it was, but it was intended as satire that carried an anti-drug, anti-drinking message, was obviously exactly that to anyone with a brain, and we felt censorship was inappropriate. We mutinied and the principal was glad to leave after six months. Don’t mess with angry hippie kids.

      Good for these kids putting this in the news media. Stick to your guns, young journalists. This’ll be a great story for you to tell in a job interview for a big journo job someday (or a web content job if journalism dies entirely). Reporters will ALWAYS love a story that involves triumphing over the big, bad editor in chief, even if he’s just your principal.

      1. I’d never hire a CYA dip-shit like Lundie. But an intern or recent graduate applying with that on their resume – that would be a big plus. The only way to succeed in business nowadays is with people who have passion and will fight for what they believe in.

        I’m guessing those students will all do well in life. And to their teacher/advisor – you did really good sticking with the students.

        1. The only way to succeed in business nowadays is with people who have passion and will fight for what they believe in.

          I think you could apply this comment to almost any endeavor. The only way to win is…all in.

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