http://denver.yourhub.comThe latest blog posts in The Denver Newspaper Agency YourHub.comen-usnews@yourhub.com(c) 2009, YourHub.com5Running for office in five elections since 1994, I repeatedly warned Coloradans that the end result of the human rights crime known as the War on Drugs would be the collapse of the prison system. It's expensive to run a police state, and it's especially expensive when society's crime against huma...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~639066.aspx7/22/2009 10:15:51 AMJack Woehr He took a cigarette from a crumpled packet marked VICTORY CIGARETTES and incautiously held it upright, whereupon the tobacco fell out on to the floor. - George Orwell, 1984 When one blogs for the purpose of chronicling government stupidity, inefficiency, and inhumanity, one is never lackin...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~636438.aspx7/14/2009 11:18:19 PMJack Woehr Ever since the racist federal officer Harry J. Anslinger and newspaper-and-timber baron William Randolph Hearst teamed up in the 1930's to persuade the public of the terrible threat of hemp cultivation, American government has persisted in breaking lives and committing a wide variety of human...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~634953.aspx7/10/2009 10:21:43 AMJack Woehr I left the Democratic Party in 2001 but they still send me fundraising letters, in recent years emails. Today I was the amused recipient of the latest pitch from the Guv as he solicits funds for his 2010 re-election bid. "Our June 30 fundraising report will show the pundits, the press, and ou...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~631461.aspx6/30/2009 8:50:01 AMJack Woehr As reported in the Denver Post today , the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp has decided how they are going to rescue banks in the state of Georgia, banks which failed due to their heavy investment in "toxic assets". Those toxic assets are the commoditized subprime mortgage loans which government i...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~630883.aspx6/27/2009 6:13:46 PMJack Woehr To us of the boomer generation, Richard Nixon is, well, "special". My generation could see with the eyes of youth that this man was the one American of truly Shakespearean dimension, a monster with an insatiable appetite for self-destruction. Our elders scolded us for thinking such though...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~629678.aspx6/24/2009 10:49:53 AMJack Woehr The United States Constitution is pretty specific on some points, e.g.: Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no War...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~628442.aspx6/19/2009 11:15:31 AMJack Woehr I've been reading in the "mainstream" press that Obama has disappointed many who voted for him in hope of change, as I, too, did. Obama hasn't disappointed me. In my November 6, 2008 YourHub entry titled " One libertarian candidate's take on the election " I wrote: President Obama will ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~626066.aspx6/12/2009 12:03:20 PMJack Woehr The Denver Post recently reported the appointment by Gov. Ritter of a "chief operating officer" for the state of Colorado. The Republicans responded that the governor of Colorado is the chief operating officer of Colorado, so why the heck is he creating a brand new job paying about $146,00...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~625546.aspx6/11/2009 10:44:30 AMJack Woehr In October of 2008, I was doing the first Friday art walk on Tennyson St. in Denver when I was accosted in a friendly fashion by a Democrat activist my own (middle-) age. "Vote for Obama!" was his enthusiastic message. "I'm a Libertarian," I told my new friend, "Still, I'm going to vote for Mr...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~621484.aspx5/31/2009 9:00:04 AMJack Woehr The national Libertarian Party home page describes the Libertarian Party as "the party of principle". However, in a recent instance, the party has notably caved on its principles to demagogue on a phony issue. The recent Libertarian Party press release Libertarians urge Obama to contro...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~616047.aspx5/15/2009 4:05:38 PMJack Woehr The Colorado Assembly ended this year's session with a whimper, much whining, and a growl in the general direction of TABOR. The Democrats proved once again that even with a majority in both houses and an unpopular and inept Democratic governor, they can't do the job. The Republicans meanwh...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~613570.aspx5/10/2009 9:11:24 AMJack Woehr Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo recently posted an interesting piece in/on the Denver Post. Tancredo's thesis is, of course, that more border security is the answer to H1N1 swine flu as it is to so many of life's ills (per Tancredo). Tancredo is a populist. The populist struts the stage of ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~611204.aspx5/4/2009 6:01:13 PMJack Woehr The Colorado Assembly may once again have to choose between schools and prisons. Referendum C put off the Day of Reckoning, but the wolf is back at the door again. Colorado's bloated prison system has been growing faster than Colorado's education system for about twenty years now. Col...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~602263.aspx4/11/2009 12:03:13 PMJack Woehr Having run out of alternatives for funding the bloated Colorado prison system, the Colorado Assembly has decided to rob a bank. Pinnacol Assurance is our "quasi-governmental" insurance company that backs workers' compensation here in Colorado. It was separated from the rest of state government...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~601138.aspx4/8/2009 11:56:39 AMJack Woehr "Common sense is not against the law." - Washington State Supreme Court decision, circa 1960. Marie Morrow of Cherokee Trail High School got a valuable civics lesson recently: she found out what it was like to live in a police state where common sense is against the law. Ms Mo...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~580236.aspx2/14/2009 7:59:39 AMJack Woehr Down in Olde Town Arvada last Wednesday, Old Wadsworth Blvd. was blocked off from Grandview to 57th as the Arvada Police and Jeffco Sheriff dealt with an apparently disturbed fellow who had barricaded himself in an upstairs apartment after allegedly making some threats and waving a knife. Fol...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~577508.aspx2/6/2009 1:29:00 PMJack Woehr In 1955, GM President Charles E. Wilson was nominated for Secretary of Defense and was asked by Congress if he could make a decision adverse to the interests of General Motors. Wilson replied that he thought "what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa". Al Capp, ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~557722.aspx12/11/2008 10:11:33 AMJack Woehr All this bailout foolishness is just a case of "filling the centerboard well". What? You never filled the centerboard well? Small sailboats have a retractable centerboard instead of a keel. The centerboard is raised and lowered in a well, an open slot for the blade-like centerboard in the...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~557714.aspx12/11/2008 9:47:53 AMJack Woehr In addition to the trillion dollars already committed in direct bailouts in 2008, the Fed is guaranteeing 8.5 trillion more. EIGHT POINT FIVE TRILLION is almost the size of the entire national debt at the moment. Is this a bailout or have the money boys and girls finally perfected the art of ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~552749.aspx11/26/2008 1:03:43 PMJack Woehr $25 Billion for GM. GM is a dinosaur. It is the Selectric®. It is eight-track tape . It is like those old volcanoes whose main cone is extinct but which still throw off little cones from the side of the mountain. One little cone from GM was Saturn, and that seems to be going extinc...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~549198.aspx11/17/2008 10:58:51 PMJack Woehr Excerpt from a Libertarian newsletter: Subject: Bailout bill contains buried provisions to invade your privacy Do you think the IRS should set up undercover operations to entrap unsuspecting taxpayers? Do you think the IRS should release your confidential tax returns to law enfor...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~546232.aspx11/10/2008 12:04:54 PMJack Woehr The Rocky Mountain News today reports the ACLU's well-documented (they have a Jeffco Sheriff's report) allegation that police staged a confrontation with each other during a DNC demonstration. The use of agents provocateurs , agents who join the opposition and egg it on to illegalities...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~545432.aspx11/7/2008 11:30:24 AMJack Woehr The election has come and gone, thank heavens! It's time for a little reflection. Our Libertarian Colorado Assembly candidates like myself polled 4% to 6% in our races. This is 2-3 times our normal performance and 4-6 times our registration. It shows there are many voters who are looking for ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~545279.aspx11/6/2008 11:11:59 PMJack Woehr "Life is full of little ironies for the stupid." - P. J. O'Rourke The irony in American politics since 2001 is not the unprecendented incompetence, illegality and corruption of the current national administration. No, the irony is the extent to which the Democratic Party has been the ena...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~529681.aspx10/4/2008 2:00:37 PMJack Woehr Before the Titanic hit the iceberg, engineers thought it nearly unsinkable. The Titanic was a new design of steamship. Its holds were separated by sealable bulkheads and a pump system pumped water from one leaking compartment into another in order to stabilize the ship so it would not tip and...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~525549.aspx9/25/2008 12:13:56 AMJack Woehr The Democrats have left town jubilant, and why should they not? Even the heavens storm in their favor against the glum and desperate Republicans. I'll probably vote for Obama. He was clearly born to be President at this time, if omens have any meaning ... black and white, christian and muslim,...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~515668.aspx9/1/2008 10:06:27 PMJack Woehr America emerged from World War II as the only intact industrial economy in the world. That, and possession of massive military force insured our dominance of the post-war world. Our enemies, lacking our resources, surpassed us in brutality to maintain their dominance in their regions of inter...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~511202.aspx8/21/2008 1:47:50 PMJack Woehr The Republican-leaning web news and commentary service Face the State features this week an interesting article titled Libertarian Impact on State Races Under Microscope . The article incidentally enumerates many of our Libertarian public office holders. If you are looking for informati...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~501961.aspx7/30/2008 1:27:13 PMJack Woehr According to legislators from Summit County , it appears that the precipitous closure of Lake Dillon Dam Road was an even more foolish act than I suggested in an earlier blog entry . The closure, with two (2) days notice to the County and to the Fire Department, was based on a threat asse...http://denver.yourhub.com/Evergreen/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~501042.aspx7/28/2008 4:08:45 PMJack Woehr