Junction Daily Blog

The Colorado House Republicans reported this evening that District 55 Representative Laura Bradford (who now lives in District 54) has been suspended from her chairmanship of the House Local Government Committee for an unspecified traffic infraction that occurred Wednesday.

KKCO reports that Bradford admitted to Denver Police that she had been drinking before she was pulled over. KKCO reported that Colorado law prohibits her arrest if she was driving to or from The Capitol, but that’s not exactly what the law says.

The Colorado Constitution, Article V, Section 16, says,

The members of the general assembly shall, in all cases except treason or felony, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the sessions of their respective houses, or any committees thereof, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, or any committees thereof, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

If she was already in Denver, and it was the middle of the week, and she wasn’t on her way to a legislative session, it’s unclear how that section applies. But we don’t know any of those things yet. It would seem to a regular person like me that she was already there, but that depends on exactly when she was pulled over and exactly where she was headed at the time. That’s for the lawyers to hash out. Fortunately, I’m not one of them.

I’m sure more facts will emerge with time.

If she was DUI, shame on her. She needs to resign.

Pardon me if I can’t get past this afternoon.

Today was the memorial service for Joe Paterno.  Paterno was one half of two idols I have in my life, the other being Muhammad Ali.

All week long, I have been looking forward to this service.  I would have been much happier, of course, if it hadn’t been necessary.  But it was. Nobody lives forever.

I was particularly put out that the ceremony was carried on the Big Ten Network.  These are the same bastards that took Joe’s name off of the Big Ten Championship trophy.  Today, they felt the need to make money off of his memory. That didn’t sit well with me.

Other than that, it was very uplifting, while at the same time being very sad.  Six former Penn State athletes were enlisted to speak, one from each decade in which Joe coached.

Also enlisted was an undergraduate, a recipient of a Paterno fellowship in the humanities.   Joe graduated Brown with a degree in English, and a specialty in the classics.  He and his family have endowed a program in which undergraduate liberal arts majors can enroll without application, but must excel in order to go further. That was Joe’s M.O. We’ll give you a chance, you must do the rest yourself.

Phil Knight, the President of Nike, was the only speaker who mentioned the Jerry Sandusky scandal.  Note that I didn’t say the “Penn State” or “Joe Paterno” scandal. Neither did he.  Knight, who contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to Penn State athletic programs, ripped the Board of Trustees a new one.  As a major contributor, he’s probably the only one who could get away with it.  Knight said, “it turns out [Paterno] gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chains to the head of the campus police and the president of the school. The matter was in the hands of a world-class university, and by a president with an outstanding national reputation.”

He added, “…this much is clear to me. If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno.”

Knight got a standing ovation. A well-deserved standing ovation, in my opinion. Of all the people who were touched by the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Joe was the only one who said, “I wish I had done more.” For that, he was vilified. The rest of them are still running for cover. Joe was the only man among them.

There was much talk today about Joe’s “legacy.”  It was unnecessary.  His legacy was everywhere in the room. Athletes, alumni, and students alike. Joe touched a lot of people, myself included (in case you couldn’t tell.)

I sent Sue Paterno a card today. It said, “Dear Mrs. Paterno, I never got a chance to meet Coach Paterno during my time at Penn State. But that’s not important. I know that if I live my life according to “The Paterno Way,” I will get to meet him in another place at another time. You have my deepest sympathy for your loss. But more important, you and the rest of your family have my heartfelt thanks for sharing this wonderful man with the rest of us.”

The ceremony lasted 2-1/2 hours, but I can’t complain that I won’t get those hours back.

I wouldn’t have spent the time any other way.

I hope new coach Bill O’Brien was watching today. He has big shoes to fill. There were six decades of lettermen in that room, and a lot more love, loyalty, and tradition. As long Coach O’Brien honors the University, we will be behind him. It’s up to him now.

U.S Representative Gabrielle Giffords resigned from the House today. Giffords was shot in the head on January 8, 2011. Her inspiring message to her constituents follows.

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Joe Paterno was laid to rest today. Thousands of people lined the streets of State College, PA to say goodbye to Joe.

I wasn’t there. I wish I could have been.

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Saguache County Clerk Melinda Meyers was recalled by her County’s voters yesterday.

I can’t say that I blame them.

I have written about the 2010 Saguache County election debacle before, but a quick search of the modern version of the Daily Blog found nothing, suggesting that whatever I wrote was written before June.

Meyers’ alleged bungling of the 2010 election was the subject of a report by voting machine vendor Election Systems & Software, and of a grand jury investigation.

Both reports found a comedy of errors, if a botched election can be considered comedy. The Grand Jury report found no criminal wrongdoing. Saguache County voters, however, apparently decided that criminal or not, one botched election was one too many.

Unlike Congressman Doug LameBrain from Somalia Springs, I’m watching the State of the Union address. I won’t have watched it all by the time I’m done writing this, but the theme seems to be fairness.

Republican Candidate Romney fed into that theme today by releasing his tax returns for last year. (Why not more years?) Romney paid a lower effective tax rate than Cheryl and I did on Social Security. That’s not illegal–it’s the American system right now. But is it fair? And can we change the system so that it’s more fair?

Of course we can. I have no problem with the abstract idea that investment spurs jobs. I have no problem with the idea that a high capital gains rate hurts retirees like me who live off of what we have invested. But that’s not the way the system is currently working. The current system rewards speculation, not investment. And if a higher capital gains rate is bad for seniors who are living off of our investments, why not raise the rate for professional speculators, but exclude the first $50-$100K or so for retirees who live off our investments?

I have brought the idea of a Capital Gains exclusion to the Senators and Congressmen who purportedly represent me. So far, there has been no interest.

You see, retirees like me don’t make enough money to buy a member of Congress.

Gotta go now. Gotta watch the rest of the speech.

Colorado CD-5 Congressman Doug Lamebrain plans to skip the State of the Union address tomorrow night.

His reason? He “does not support the policies of Barack Obama.”

Congressman Lamebrain was last seen apologizing for comparing Obama to a Tar Baby. I’ll leave the racial connotation of that comment up to you.

Obama is President of all of the United States, not just the United States minus Colorado Springs. Lamebrain, for better or worse, is a member of the United States House of Representatives.

You know, THAT United States. All of it.

Lamebrain can be forgiven, of course, if he has a different United States in mind.

Which United States would that be, Congressman Lamebrain? And why do you hate America?

This morning, at 9:25 AM Eastern time, the soul of Joseph Victor Paterno left this Earth and went straight to heaven.

In my mind’s eye, I can see Joe arriving at the Pearly Gates and saying to Saint Peter, “We are,” and Saint Peter responding, “Penn State.”

I haven’t completely formulated my thoughts about Joe’s life and death.

And I am unlikely to publish my thoughts until I have sent a card to his wife and family. I am sure that my card will express my sympathy. I am also sure that my card will thank Sue Paterno for sharing Joe with the rest of us for all these years.

I could write a lot more about my feelings about Joe, but his family deserves first crack. I might write more someday, but by the time I write to his family, his death will sadly be “old news.”

Of the many comments I read today, a couple have stuck out. Read more »

One of the best things about being registered “Unaffiliated” is that you get all the robocalls.

That’s “best” only if you like getting robocalls.  Being a political junkie, I like getting robocalls.  It helps me understand the talking points.

I got a robocall tonight from Newt Gingrich.  Being somewhat politically astute,  I knew that any call to my state this far in advance of a primary wasn’t trying to get me to vote.  It had to be an attempt to raise money.

I dutifully listened to the entire recorded message, most of which consisted of race-baiting quotes from the South Carolina debates.  Then came the hook.  If I would just stay on the line for a while, someone would ask me for money.  “Aha,” I thought.

When the real live human being came on the line to ask me for money, I pounced.  She asked me if I would make a donation of $75 to support the only true conservative in the presidential race.

“Well,” I said, then I paused for effect, “I think Newt is an arrogant blowhard.  I would sooner pluck out my eyeballs with a fork than vote for him, let alone let alone give him money.” 

Cheryl looked at me in a certain way that said, “Did you really just say that?” 

Then she burst out laughing.

Read more »

I watched the Republican debate last night.  When CNN’s John King asked about Newt Gingrich’s dissing of his second wife, I almost bought into Gingrich’s faux outrage.

“Almost” because I think that people’s personal lives ought to be off limits.  And “almost” because Gingrich doesn’t live by that code.

Gingrich railed against sullying something as important as a made-for-TV presidential debate with that question.

Then I got to thinking…

This is the same Gingrich who was willing to sully the entire U.S. House of Representatives by trying to impeach a President who did less.

Almost as entertaining was Mitt Romney’s response to being asked to release his tax returns: “Maybe.”

What a bunch of clowns.

…Well, not enough.

Former Montrose District Attorney Myrl Serra was sentenced today to a year in jail, one year parole, sixty days in the County jail, and four years of sex-offended probation.

In my humble opinion, this was not enough for a man who was in a position to demand anything he wanted from his victims while having sufficient power to make their lives a living hell if they didn’t go along with him. Read more »

Yes, we’re back and we’re suffering no ill effects other than maybe a little less favorable search-engine placement for a while.

I was proud to participate in the strike against SOPA/PIPA.  I was less proud of other sites, such as the Huffington Post, which tried to get the rest of us spun up about the strike but didn’t participate in it themselves.  Such is the effect of corporate “progressivism,” I guess.  It’s OK for the rest of us to make sacrifices, but to the corporate progressives, one day of ad revenue must be too much to sacrifice.

I can’t say if the protest worked.  Like most protests, it probably didn’t.  Maybe, just maybe, it helped raise awareness of a bad bill. I think that’s the best we can hope for. Read more »