Dan Maes was "intentionally and maliciously attacked" by the Republican Party, his own party. And, he feels, that's why he lost his run for Governor of Colorado.
"I think our campaign went absolutely wonderful, right up to the primary... we had enormous grass roots support, we had great Tea Party support, and our victory was historic. And then everything changed with the entry of the third party candidate, and went downhill quickly after that." The third party candidate in question is Tom Tancredo, former Representative from Colorado and the American Constitution Party candidate in the recent Colorado gubernatorial election. "I can say that I certainly have, you know, a lot of negative emotions when I think about his candidacy," admitted Mr. Maes in an interview Wednesday.
Mr. Maes has these negative emotions because even though he won the Republican nomination, once Tancredo, with his ten years of Washington experience, entered the ring, the Colorado GOP shifted their support to him. "There was a very strategic and intentional attack on my campaign by what we'll term elitists. I was warned early on that we had to stand on our own. However, after the primary, we absolutely were abandoned by the state GOP and the Republican Governor's Association."
What happened to Mr. Maes is part of a national Republican trend of throwing their support at the candidate they believe will have the best chance of winning, even if that candidate isn't the Republican nominee. Christine O'Donnell and Charlie Crist are perhaps the highest profile GOP nominees left floundering, and unsurprisingly, they both lost their races. But there were many other candidates nationally that were told they had the support of the Republican Party only to be dropped when a better-looking independent candidate came along.
In the case of Lisa Murkowski, the write-in candidate for Senate in Alaska who was recently declared victorious, the Republican Party decided to take the credit after the fact. Despite not having given her any support during her run, the party is now making her a GOP success story, the face of their efforts to get more independent, grass roots support. "Well, assuming that it's [Murkowski's win] true, what happened in Alaska is exactly what happened in Colorado." Maes said, "Murkowski and Tancredo were fools of the GOP, as was the similar race in New York last year. There's a difference in being abandoned like Christine O'Donnell was and being abandoned and having to deal with a third party candidate. That's completely different. Charlie Crist in Florida was the exact same thing."
While Republicans clearly did well this election, taking the majority of seats in the House, their indecisiveness also cost them seats to Democrats in states that would normally go red. The Governor's house and a Senate seat went to Democrats in Colorado, and there were similar results in Arkansas, West Virginia, and Texas. Only time will tell if this is an effective strategy for the Republicans, but in the mean time it is certainly ruffling a few feathers in the party.
"They were fooled in to believing the third party candidate was the better choice for some reason still not really identified yet. I was very disappointed in them being so malleable."
Throughout the quarter I have conducted an ongoing comparison between a potential alcohol tax increase vs. the legalization of marijuana. I found it peculiar how a tax increase positively effects and applies to more people compared to marijuana legalization, yet marijuana legalization gets more attention.
On one of my first blogs, I posted statistics that showed all the positive effects that ensued from a tax increase. I cited the 1983 Alaska four to six cent increase on bottles of beer. That two-cent increase resulted in less consumption, which led to a 29 percent drop among alcohol related deaths. Aside from the health benefits, studies indicate that a tax increase would save each state millions in healthcare while generating millions in revenues.
Marijuana being legalized is relevant to a portion of the population, and it does accommodate people with specific health needs, but it isn’t relevant to as much people as alcohol. This left me both dumbfounded and curious about what goes into a decision to enact or abolish policies. As a result, I pursued Michael A. Katz, the Assistant Director of Student Life at the University of Denver. Katz has a large say in what policies get enacted and abolished at DU. He declined to be interviewed while being filmed because of time constraints. However, he acknowledged that DU, like most other communities tries to have the highest level of citizenship and community standards. “We want a welcoming and safe environment while also providing a area were students can thrive.” He declined to comment about why a tax increase gets less attention than marijuana, his rational being that he wasn’t knowledgeable enough to provide an informative answer. We spoke about the recent rule to abolish smoking on campus. Student Life was in a dilemma about this issue, they had to choose between taking away the students federal right to smoke and maintaining a welcoming environment. Ultimately they decided to abolish smoking in order to make the university look good.
Although their completely different issues, I can draw some conclusions between the smoking ban on campus and the tax increase vs. marijuana legalization. Abolishing smoking undoubtedly pissed off smokers the same way raising taxes will upset alcohol consumers, but despite any indifference people may have with the rules/laws, they undoubtedly benefit the public’s best health interest. Also, by abolishing smoking, the school looks better to the external eye, which in turn generates more revenue for the university. No sane parent wouldn’t allow their child to attend a school because it’s a smoke free campus. However, that same sane parent might be reluctant to send his or her kid to a pro smoking campus. Mind you one kid makes a difference; $45,000 yearly tuition. That same concept can be applied to alumni’s. A non-smoking alumnus with a heavy pocket is less likely to donate money towards the university if he or she catches a whiff of cigarette smoke by a student who is walking to or from class. Contrasting from that, a smoking alumni with a heavy pocket is unlikely to not donate money if that same student walks by, but without a cigarette. DU financially benefited from the smoking ban just as the government would if a tax increase is enacted.
After confronting one campus security officer, I realized that I might not get anything besides a ‘no comment’, led alone an interview. However, through persistency and multiple rejections I came across one anonymous officer who let me explain my topic and then ask how a potential marijuana legalization and tax increase may affect their job. “It wouldn’t, DU is a smoke free campus and most of the students living on campus are under age,” she said. Joint or cigarette, it doesn’t matter, either way campus security is obligated to act upon any person roaming the campus who is smoking or engaging in under age drinking.
Following my first interview with Mikah Johnson, an employee from the Serenity Moon Dispensary, I came to the realization that you can’t compare marijuana legalization to a tax increase because unlike cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana is not a ‘sin tax’. I tried to schedule an interview with the manager of serenity moon, but she was unavailable. Instead, I conducted a follow up interview with Johnson. Johnson has a boatload of knowledge in relation to marijuana. He reiterated from the last interview how people are against marijuana for the wrong reasons, such as cultural stereotypes and business. However, he took it a step further this time by elaborating about what the right or wrong reasons were. Ironically, Johnson is hesitant and skeptical about a potential legalization. He’s concerned that if marijuana is to be legalized, it will be regulated and produced in order to turn a profit, instead of accommodating people with legitimate health needs. He thinks a non-profit private organization should control the production process, that way money wont effect production
In my first interview with Johnson, he explained that people are against marijuana being legalized because of what culture its associated with (hippie, sex & drugs, rock ‘n roll), but he thinks through health accommodation and appropriate advertising, people will begin to disaffiliate dispensaries from culture. A key issue working against a culture disaffiliation is marijuana being sold on the streets, which dictates the prices in dispensaries. As long as street prices continue to dictate dispensary prices, it will be difficult to disaffiliate the cultures. Johnson uses stem cell research as a metaphor in relation to dispensaries. “Stem cell research was widely unaccepted in the 90’s because people equated it with embryo and abortion blah ba blah ba blah, but for the last decade any conservative person who’s had anybody with cancer or leukemia or whatever died who needed stem cell therapy um changed their mind.” He is making the case that like stem cell research, dispensaries have a positive effect, but they need to disassociate from cultures the same way stem cell research disassociated from abortion.
Through research and conducting interviews, my outlook toward my topic has slightly altered. I still believe a tax increase is being over looked and most people don’t realize the amount of positive effects it can have on society. However, my outlook on marijuana has changed substantially. I now realize it was naïve and ignorant to compare alcohol to marijuana. I did little research on the subject before deciding it would be what I would compare the tax increase to. Who am I to decide what issue is more important than others? The marijuana community has a legitimate cause and their trying to transform their image to help people, all the power to them. I’m not telling the government how to prioritize public issues, however an alcohol tax increase needs to be getting more attention than it is.
The political sphere has constantly been the forefront of fashion, with icons such as Jackie Kennedy and now Michelle Obama, the first African American woman to grace the steps of the white house. But, within an industry that prides itself on expression, trends and adherence to the changing times, diversity has not seemed to be one of them, until recently.
Fashion Designer Francis Roces is the co creator behind the Denver based clothing line “Kimono Dragons”, a hybrid line that brings in “a taste of Asian, a sprinkling of retro and twist of modernity”. Roces has been in the fashion industry since he was in high school, and has noticed a change in women of color appearing in the industry since his days of freelancing and sketching.
“People are looking for something different, something new and exciting. [The industry] is starting to look outside of the ‘wonder bread’ box finally”.
Since the presidential inauguration, first lady Michelle Obama and her sense of style has been focused on immensely throughout the fashion industry. Women of color have started to seemingly rise to the forefront of the runways and magazine covers, and it’s possible that this could be contributed to the larger amounts of diversity that has been recently witnessed within the White House. “I believe that Michelle Obama has affected the industry because she has become a focal point. What she wears and how she wears it is focused on, people are always watching what she does” said Roces. Roces believed that there was more to diversity in the fashion industry than just Michelle Obama in the white house. He expressed that the industry is attempting to pull more creative influences from ethnicities, and “designers that are becoming well known are becoming more innovative and non-traditional”. Diversity has been a controversial issue in the industry for decades. Numerous reports have argued about the lack of color appearing in fashion shows, on the runways and in Fashion publications. But, within recent years, there has been an upturn in the appearances of models on the runways and fashion magazines. This hike has become more prevalent after Michelle Obama took her seat as the First Lady. Could it be that industry professionals are starting to take notice to this lack of ethnic backgrounds and attempting to rectify the situation? “[Designers] are discovering other cultures and ethnics, and expressing and tapping into them. They want to be able to market to the wears to other cultures” said Roces.
If Michelle Obama isn’t necessarily the main reason for diversity appearing in fashion, then could there be a more behind the scenes outlook into where diversity is appearing. Fashion designers themselves could be the cause for streams of skin color appearing in the Fashion industry. Recently, new designers, such as Thakoon and Vera Wang, who are from ethnic backgrounds themselves, could be attempting to add diversity into the industry, and Michelle Obama could just be the one in the forefront of it all.
Roces expressed that the “onslaught of new Asian designers are starting to bring more Asian models almost to the status of supermodel. [But] there is also Tyra Banks and Iman doing their shows as well, which shows you more women of color within the Industry. It stems to the music industry also, with Beyonce’ and her line ‘House of Dereon’, she brings plus size models and women of color to the front as well. Models don’t have to be a size zero or only Caucasian anymore.”
Just recently, Aurora resident Allen Grider, a Vietnam War Veteran with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, filed a lawsuit against the city. He stated that the city had no right to mandate how his service dog is maintained, regardless of the ban. Grider said that, “She’s my protector,”during an interview earlier this year with the Aurora Sentinel. “I can’t sleep if she’s not here. If I’m tense, she’ll bother me until I calm down.”
The Pit Bull ban has been a long fought battle. The ban was enforced in 1989, challenged, and brought back in full force in 2005 in response to two cases of attacks that resulted in injuries caused by Pit Bull breeds in the Denver Metro area. In 2006, Aurora chose to adopt the ban as well. The ordinance states that Aurora bans any "restricted breed of dog", meaning any American Bulldog (Old Country Bulldog), Dogo Argentino, Canary Dog, Presa Mallorquin, Tosa Inu (Tosa Fighting Dog, Japanese Fighting Dog, Japanese Mastiff), Cane Corso, Fila Brasileiro or any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of any one or more of the above breeds. The ban includes dogs that display the "majority of the physical traits" of these breeds or "distinguishing characteristics that substantially conform" to AKC or UKC breed standards.
If a Pit Bull is reported in the area, the dog is taken away and transported to a local shelter. A judge evaluates the case and the dog either: remains in the shelter and is adopted out by a family that lives in a city that does not participate in the ordinance, or the dog is euthanized. A person owning a Pit Bull may apply for a license 60 days after the ban has been enforced, but they must follow certain restrictions, like wearing a muzzle and signage claiming you have a Pit Bull.
On November 18th, 2010, provided by Cherly Conway, public relations specialist of Animal Care Division, city council members passed a revised issue of the ordinance with a vote of 3-1.
The ordinance now sates that:
New ADA regulations addressing RB service dogs will take effect on March 15, 2011. Municipalities will no longer be allowed to prohibit a disabled person from keeping a Pit Bull or RB as a service dog. In light of these pending regulations and the potential for new dogs to come into the City, even after all grandfathered dogs expire, it is recommended the City revise the ordinance to formally address these animals.
The citizen owning a Pit Bull service dog is required to obtain a license; however the ordinance will:
Waives the annual license fee
Adjust the minimum age to meet the handler
Waives insurance requirement
Waives gate signage requirement
Waives Pit Bulls from not being allowed on porch or patio if it interferes with duties
Waives requirement of dog to be on 4-feet or shorter leash and muzzled if it interferes with duties as well.
The biggest contributing factor in this new ordinance is the fact that, a citizen of Aurora now has the ability to claim the need for a Pit Bull service dog without providing any proof of their disability due to discrimination. During the council meeting, it was addressed that there remains the possibility of any person claiming they have a disability in order to obtain or retain a Pit Bull.
“I don’t agree that they do not require certification for a service dog. I can’t take my dog into the hospital because I want it to be there and didn’t want to be there. Of course you need certification—I think,” said Molly Markert, city council member.
This new ordinance protects Pit Bulls from being taken out of the city and possibly enables more Pit Bulls to come into the city. Therefore, is this ordinance the new gateway to revoking the ban in Aurora, and how many people will take advantage of it?
Be prepared. Meals like this come at no small cost, or do they? At SAME Cafe, which stands for So All May Eat, a customer may pay for their meal in terms of a donation the size they see fit, or in fact just volunteer an hour of their time.
Groups like ColoradoLocalFirst.com and LocalHarvest.org are taking charge in ending this prevelant steryotpe; SAME Cafe as only one of the examples they post on their Local Flavor Guide, a guide for "finding locally sourced food food at independent local restaurants and markets". They firmly believe that "local food is just one aspect of building a better economy."
The initiative to eat healthily and locally is also supported by the Mile High Business Alliance who believes that "local businesses are the foundation of a resilient, connected and healthy economy. [There are] ways to strengthen the local food system and connect with locally owned restaurants and independent markets committed to supporting local farmers."
ColoradoLocalFirst.com and the Mile High Business Alliance have released the print Flavor Guide to different restaurants and businesses to raise awareness in the Denver community of local, healthy, and price-specific options. The guide includes restaurants such as City O' City and Watercourse, sister restaurants that both serve all vegetarian and vegan meal "comfort food" options. While these restaurants often get into the pricer range, they are not the only options for low-cost local food. In the Flavor Guide, Organixx, Sazza, Snooze AM Eatery all list as single $ (meaning entrees under $10) places in Denver to eat.
The guide ranges in dollar signs from $ to $$$ to signify the different pricing of entrees, so that consumers in Denver can be aware of how much they sre spending. SAME Cafe offers healthy and local options even to the down and out of Denver, as they leave it up to the customer to decide how to pay for their meal.
*Photos curtsey of http://foodieforthought.blogspot.com/
While teen pregnancy rates are on the LINK decline across the United States, a prevalence in the media viewed by young people is apparent. However, experts can only predict the effects of such content in their lives based on that of previous studies.
According to Renee Botta, chair and associate professor in the department of media, film and journalism at the LINK University of Denver, the media has been efficiently glamorizing the presence of teen pregnancies for pubic figures and turning pregnant mothers into public figures, but the outcome of such influences brings a cloudy forecast.
“My daughter is 11-years-old and when she sees the headlines of tabloids about teens being pregnant she asks me, ‘Why are so many girls pregnant?’”
The truth is not all teen girls are getting pregnant. In fact, only approximately LINK 6 percent of teens are pregnant in the United States with an overall decrease in pregnancies across the country.
“While we know that the media has a very low impact, it certainly glamorizes this idea that being a teen and pregnant is cool,” says Botta.
LINK Studies show that young people who have a heavy diet of sexual content are more likely to initiate sex. With the average teenager viewing approximately LINK 4.2 hours of television per day, there is a substantial amount of leeway for sexual content to enter the minds of young people.
LINK A 2008 study also predicts that a high level of sexual content will result in young girls being 2-to-3 times more likely to become pregnant in three years.
While young people absorb these topics, both with their direct textual content and subtextual content, they’re not getting the whole picture.
Some tough discussions occur in the public eye through television shows such as 16 & Pregnant, but the traditional stigma of the young girl’s pregnancy has not been attached to these shows. Rather, the girls receive media attention, care from their families and financial support in some cases. In reality, everyone is not so lucky.
“The media is meant to be glamorous,” says Botta. “They want to sort of have that glamour and be that, so I think it’s a very negative thing to hand that to young girls when they’re not ready for it.”
Further, health communication effects experts, such as Botta, face a number of media effects theories to ponder when facing the issue of teen pregnancy’s portrayal in the media.
LINK Cultivation theory is one which fits the issue almost to a tee. Cultivation theory states that television in particular maintains people’s ideas of themselves, their world and events. Therefore, media literally cultivate a vision of the world that is similar to reality, but it is a distorted mirror of “reality.”
With this model, it’s easy to understand how young teens, especially girls, are able to believe that there teen pregnancy is an every day occurrence and very commonplace for young girls. The media has inadvertently normalized the concept of young girls being pregnant, essentially removing the stigma, difficulties and sacrifices they face in the real world.
This distorted vision of the world and what being a teen mother entails leaving young girls with only half of the puzzle pieces to make an educated decision.
“I think it’s very confusing for young girls,” I mentioned my daughter before and they are very much so encourages to be sexualized but they’re not ready to be sexualized an they don’t understand the ramifications to doing so.”
While the teen pregnancy rates are decreasing overall, some states maintain significant increases in teen pregnancy rates. LINK Particularly in the southern states, Teen pregnancy consists of at least a 10 percent increase. While there is a distinct pattern in the pregnancy rates based on geography, there are currently only hypotheses for these trends.
“It could be that abstinence only practices have increased the rate of teen pregnancies in the South due to a culture that highly values religion,” says Botta.
Denver democrats are gearing up for possibly another vote a mere two weeks after the midterm election results reestablished John Hickenlooper as mayor and Michael Bennet as state senator. But despite Chris Romer’s win of the senate seat in House District 32, local political leaders are speculating that he will resign by December.
As a result, more than 30 members of House District 1 gathered over breakfast last Saturday at Sooper’s Credit Union to meet four possible replacements for Romer, as well as discuss the future of Colorado.
Before introducing State Representative Beth McCann, Healthcare for all Colorado President Irene Aguilar, Denver County Secretary Owen Perkins, and former EPA manager Jeffrey Hart, State Representative Jeanne Labuda commented on the consequences of republicans retaking control of the House of Representatives.
“Colorado is the only state that didn’t lose money in the economic downturn because of Kerry Kennedy,” Labuda said. “And she [was] kicked out because of this unstoppable force that’s out there.”
That unstoppable force, also known as the GOP, has been gaining momentum over the past few months due to strong reactions against the Obama Administration’s financial and healthcare policies. So it was no surprise that these issues were at the top of the meeting’s agenda including the shrinking middle class, immigration law, and education.
Each probable candidate has a particular concern that they were especially passionate about addressing if given the opportunity to fill Romer’s seat. For McCann, it is providing adequate funding for schools.
“If we cannot give our children affordable and quality education both at the K-12 level and at the higher [education] level,” McCann said, “it is really going to cost this state in terms of our productivity, in terms of the quality of our lives, and our children’s lives.”
Aguilar echoed McCann’s sentiments, especially when it comes to education for children of undocumented immigrants.
“I’m very concerned about people who already have to overcome barriers to succeed in life getting other barriers as well,” said Aguilar. “Unfortunately, a lot of times children don’t even know that they’re undocumented” so to deny them in-state tuition would be “putting on the children the sins of the father.”
Aguilar’s primary interest, however, is “providing quality health care for Coloradans.” Using her experience as a physician for credibility, Aguilar argued that hospitals merely treat diseases instead of focusing on preventative measures that could save citizens (and the government) time and money—not to mention unnecessary suffering.
Hart also mentioned finances, but specifically how they are being grossly mismanaged to support party agendas.
“I don’t know about you,” he said as he addressed the attentive crowd, “but I am absolutely sick about this Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision that has poured all this money into our campaign—especially this last cycle.”
“Imagine what we could have done in this country with $4 billion dollars on things that really matter, that really account for something,” he emphasized.
Unlike Hart, Perkins seemed more interested in earning money for the state than the allocation of its resources.
“The environment is one of my biggest issues,” he said while stressing the importance of preserving Colorado’s ecosystems for tourists. A surprising fact is that tourism in the form of bed and breakfasts, ski resorts, casinos, and campgrounds is one of the largest employers in the state of Colorado. These seasonal occupations provide work for 200,000 Coloradans which, for Perkins, is reason enough to preserve them at all cost.
Once the potential candidates finished stating their case, the floor was opened for a question and answer session. A moderator passed the microphone between the four as they took turns addressing the audience’s inquiries on everything from medical marijuana to foreclosures and what illegal substances constitutes a child’s suspension from school.
But regardless of the breadth of topics discussed during the meeting, one thing was clear—Colorado democrats believe that they are more equipped to handle them than republicans.
“We all have to stay together and we have to protect our democratic values because they’re under assault.” McCann said. For instance, the Tea Party has made it very clear that they would like to see Obama’s presidency restricted to one-term. And political commentators are already speculating that former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin will make a run for the white house in 2012.
Time will only tell if local and national democrats can regain their authority.
What happened to Mr. Maes is part of a national Republican trend of throwing their support at the candidate they believe will have the best chance of winning, even if that candidate isn't the Republican nominee. Christine O'Donnell and Charlie Crist are perhaps the highest profile GOP nominees left floundering, and unsurprisingly, they both lost their races. But there were many other candidates nationally that were told they had the support of the Republican Party only to be dropped when a better-looking independent candidate came along.
