God makes the laws 'round these parts

Two Colorado Senate Republicans are letting their true colors show. I call those colors "Bigotry Brown" and "Holy-BS Red."

• Senator Dave Schultheis (R- Colorado Springs- big surprise) voted against a bill to get pregnant women tested for HIV (he was the only "no"vote). Why? Because he thinks HIV comes from promiscuity, and that those women and their children deserve to suffer the consequences of that promiscuity. A direct quote from him: "What I'm hoping is that yes, that person may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby and when they grow up, but the mother will begin to feel guilt as a result of that."

• Greeley's R Scott Renfroe quoted scripture in the senate to explain why gay partners shouldn't be able to share health benefits: "We are taking sins and making them to be legally OK, and that is wrong. That is an abomination, according to scripture.
  "And I'm not saying that this is the only sin that's out there. Obviously we have sin, we have murder, we have all sorts of sin. We have adultery ... and we would never think to make murder legal."

The saddest thing is that these people probably actually reflect the opinions of their God-crazy constituents in the bible-black-holes of the Springs and smells-like-Greeley. Seriously people- all this religious lawmaking stuff is getting old. You are acting like children. Grow up.

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and by the way... So long to the Rocky Mountain News. I grew up with that paper every morning, and was always annoyed any time I got stuck reading a giant Post. Now our fair city takes a small step backwards and we have one newspaper. Great.

Coen Brothers' ad about "Clean" Coal

Just because they call it clean...

WWFSMD?

www.venganza.org

Happy Darwin Day!

Today is Charles Darwin's birthday. His ideas have been the basis of biological science for 150 years. Unfortunately, we live in a country that still thinks he was full of BS (see chart below, from The Economist). More than half of the US population rejects the scientifically proven fact of evolution. It's like rejecting the idea that gravity exists. It's mass delusion.

Fortunately, there is more data all the time to help us open our eyes.

I think things are slowly changing. We have a long way to go, but people are starting to see the light. Evolution is a beautiful theory that really makes the world seem more amazing and interesting to me. It may be easy to think the complexities of the human brain and the sophistication of the eye are designed by some sort of supernatural god. But it is wrong. All it takes is a little interest in the subject; just a little research, and it opens up a world of understanding of how life works. It can be hard to figure out how an octopus' skin changes color, but that doesn't mean it is a magic trick; it isn't God showing off. To say so is to discount how amazing it is that life exists on our little planet in all of its amazing varieties. All of these sentiments have been expressed by millions of people already, I know. I just thought I should add to the growing roar of people fed up with this age of ignorance we have been living in. Wake up, people. The world is more amazing than your God could have ever imagined. Happy b-day Charles.

Suggested reading: Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins

CG Back to DC, Rapids get DP Back!

It looks like the rumors were true. Christian Gomez has been traded back to DC United, along with GK Mike Graczyk. In exchange, the Colorado Rapids picked up Ivan Guerrero and the Designated Player slot they originally traded away for Gomez last year. Considering the rumors of how Gary Smith wanted to get rid of CG for whatever reason, and Gomez's apparent unhappiness in Colorado, it seems like a great outcome to me. It's exciting to see we have a DP slot again, though it is hard to imagine the Rapids front office using it. It definitely opens up some more possibilities for that much-needed pedigreed 2nd striker. The optimistic dreamer in me can't wait to see what happens with the DP slot and added salary cap space. However, the realist in me cannot see the FO shelling out the big dough.

I was a big Christian Gomez fan while he was a Rapid. It was a shame to me that the whole thing didn't work out. Seeing Nick LaBrocca get the start over CG week after week just never made sense to me, but then I never knew what happened in training or the locker room. I did see some magic from Gomez. I could tell he had that vision to link up with savvy players like Conor Casey. But somehow he was not very impactful as a Rapid. I would have liked to see him roam around the field more to disrupt other teams' plans, like Blanco does for Chicago. Maybe it was his unwillingness to take that role that led to his being benched, and ultimately traded back to DC. Good luck Christian. It's time for Medhi Ballouchy to prove all the naysayers wrong this year, I hope. Go Medhi.

Read This: The Omnivore's Dilemma

I think everybody should read this. It was honestly one of the most interesting books I've ever read. Pollan breaks down how the food industry works in an honest and interesting way. It's not a vegtarian's manifesto or anything, but it certainly presents a case for eating very little meat, especially once you realize where it comes from. I'm not just talking about the nasty, animal cruelty stuff either. I'm talking about how the whole American food system works, and why it is broken. Pollan explains how most of the cheap easy foods we are used to come from two unlikely sources: corn and oil. I won't bore you with my rehashing of it, but it was eye-opening to find out why McDonald's is really so cheap, and why natural foods tend to cost more.

If you have any interest in food, health, and understanding where your dinner comes from, I strongly recommend The Omnivore's Dilemma.


Get it cheap here, or check out http://www.michaelpollan.com/

Call Me. I'm Home.

Back in Denver. So happy to be here. My phone is reactivated to all those who haven't been able to call me the last few months. Call me.

I'm Coming Back to the 303!

Yup. We'll be back in Ballerado on Saturday, and to get ready I've been catching up on my 3OH!3 videos and gang signs. Can't wait to eat some Qdoba and Toffuti Cuties.

3OH!3 - Don't Trust Me (MySpace Music Alt. Version)

Represent.

Japan Plans to Keep Whaling

Will it ever stop? Well, of course, eventually it has to... when all the whales are gone.