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by Ellen Goodman, Aspen Daily News Columnist Saturday, September 6, 2008 You gotta love this campaign.
No sooner does the curtain come crashing down on one climactic moment than up it goes on another. The Democrats choose NoDrama Obama and the channel switches to Soap Opera McCain. You want change? I’ll show you change: Introducing Sarah Palin, a running mate as unfamiliar as the tundra. Full Story »
by Beth Brandon, Aspen Daily News Columnist Saturday, September 6, 2008 I like to write about my current obsessions. So it should come as no surprise that I want to share with you my latest hankering: politics.
I’m watching speeches on the Internet. I’m wearing T-shirts in support of a particular candidate, and am feeling more impassioned about politics and the fate of our nation than I ever have before. Full Story »
by Ted Rall, Aspen Daily News Columnist Friday, September 5, 2008 Until four years ago, no one had heard of our current Democratic nominee.
“Who is Barack Obama?” asked CBS News after he was picked to deliver the keynote address at the Dems’ 2004 confab. “Not exactly a household name.” Four years later, that speech remains his biggest achievement. No landmark legislation bears his name. His claim to fame is his gift of gab. Full Story »
by Connie Harvey, Aspen Daily News Columnist Friday, September 5, 2008 That possibility drew environmental activists and legislators to a reception in Grand Junction this week with Colorado Congresswoman Diana De Gette and West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Nobody’s counting chickens yet, but a huge milestone was passed when the previous chairman of that committee, Richard Pombo, was voted out of office last year.
You might recall that Pombo is the man who wanted to sell off some of our national parks, and sell a right to rename others to the highest bidder. An implacable foe of wilderness, endangered species, and other environmental protection, Pombo was in a position to block any attempt to add to our wilderness system. Full Story »
by Amy Goodman, Aspen Daily News Columnist Thursday, September 4, 2008 Government crackdowns on journalists are a true threat to democracy.
As the Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., this week, police are systematically targeting journalists. I was arrested with my two colleagues, “Democracy Now!” producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, while reporting on the first day of the RNC. I have been wrongly charged with a misdemeanor. My co-workers, who were simply reporting, may be charged with felony riot. Full Story »
by Jeremy Madden, Aspen Daily News Columnist Thursday, September 4, 2008 Today marks the end of the Republican National Convention. With it comes the closing of the longest primary in American history.
For nearly a year, candidates from both major parties struggled to gain their constituents’ consent to earn the right to fight for the oval office. As it turned out, each winning candidate started as an underdog, then, little by little, made his way to the top. Full Story »
Aspen Daily News Staff Report Wednesday, September 3, 2008 When Joe Biden was campaigning to be the Democratic presidential candidate, he was the only one in either party who forcefully and consistently wielded the Constitution like a sword: opposing Bush’s warrantless wiretapping as an “unconstitutional expansion of presidential powers” (though Barack Obama voted for the FISA amendments, agreeing with Bush). And Biden also introduced the National Security with Justice Act of 2007 that would have ended some of Bush’s more egregious lawlessness.
That Biden bill included essential restorations of our rule of law, including international treaties we’ve signed. He would: “Prohibit (CIA) ‘Extraordinary Renditions’ (kidnapping suspects to be tortured in other countries); Close Black Sites & Extra-Judicial Prisons; Prohibit the Torture or Mistreatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody.” Full Story »
by Lynn Burton, Aspen Daily News Columnist Wednesday, September 3, 2008 Here’s a phenomenon last week’s Democratic National Convention demonstrated. Some of us are B.S. intolerant.
Like folks who are lactose intolerant and can’t drink milk, we are B.S. intolerant and cannot tolerate party politics. Symptoms of B.S. intolerance include sudden high blood pressure and bulging eyes when exposed to political ads or speeches on TV. Other times, we are overcome with the urge to throw the nearest brick at the TV screen anytime a career politician such as Barack Obama, John McCain, George Bush or Nancy Pelosi come on. We break out in a full-body rash complete with exploding blisters all over our face when exposed to professional liars such as Carl Rove and James Carville (aka “political strategists”). Full Story »
by Richard Cohen, Roaring Sports Columnist Tuesday, September 2, 2008 One of the great sights of American political life — a YouTube moment if ever there was one — was to see the doughboy face of Newt Gingrich as he extolled the virtues of Sarah Palin, a sitcom of a vice-presidential choice and a disaster movie if she moves up to president: “She’s the first journalist ever to be nominated, I think, for the president or vice president, and she was a sportscaster on local television,” Gingrich said on the “Today” show. “So she has a lot of interesting background. And she has a lot of experience. Remember that — when people worry about how inexperienced she is, for two years she’s been in charge of the Alaska National Guard.”
It’s a pity Gingrich was not around when the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his nickname Caligula, reputedly named Incitatus as a consul and a priest. Incitatus was his horse. Full Story »
by Steve Skinner, Aspen Daily News Columnist Tuesday, September 2, 2008 I’m basking in the afterglow of the historic acceptance speech of Barack Obama at Invesco field last week. I’m writing this the morning after so I still do not know McCain’s running mate and I still haven’t heard the counterattacks that are sure to follow.
Obama’s speech was good but unfortunately, the state of our sound bite lifestyles kept him from talking straight to the world and our country. He had to spend three-quarters of the convention and his speech explaining that he is a hard-working, close-to-the-ground, in-touch American success story. That’s all true. He has a uniquely American story. He has a fabulous wife and beautiful kids. He’s patriotic and his family has military and public service history. Full Story »
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Horoscopes
- Aries
 You wake up feeling renewed and ask yourself if you are the same person as you were yesterday! This weekend, if you relax and let your imagination take over, you could see a friend and or family member far differently. Tonight: Reach for the stars.
- Taurus
A key person in your life finally reaches out for you. After an unusually tense period, this variation is welcome. Do not withhold, lecture or try to go over what was. Enjoy what is, for goodness sake. Tonight: Enjoy the moment. Give up proselytizing.
- Gemini
 Let others do their thing, and you do what you want. That is not to say there will be a disagreement, quite the contrary. Giving space often comes with trusting. Later on, bring friends and family together. Tonight: A party could go on and on.
- Cancer
- Leo
Express your jovial and fun nature. Roar, purr and carry on. Others love it when you act spontaneously and do what you must. Express your depth and caring. Loosen up and deal with a difficult person. With your energy, this person, too, could become more sunny. Tonight: In the whirlwind of living.
- Virgo
 - Libra
- Scorpio
- Sagittarius
- Capricorn
- Aquarius
- Pisces
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