Illegal immigrant tuition and fumbling councilmembers

Did ya catch the Feb 24th Longmont City Council meeting? Some of the more interesting and entertaining parts you might not read about in the local paper. Somebody out there is making YouTube videos (nope, it's not me) of some of the stranger occurrences, which you are free to check out some of them at my YouTube Channel.

Check this one out, I saw some comments on the Times-Call website about this, now I know what they were talking about...

There was more, like several times asking to clarify what a YES or NO vote meant. Now, I've been known to join in the post-council meeting get-togethers at O'shays for a drink or two (I don't think I've paid for one of my own yet though). But there was something else Councilmember Sean McCoy referred to at this meeting that got my attention:
Senate Bill 170, which you can read in its entirety at this link.

The first sentence sends off alarms for me: "Requires that a person, regardless of immigration status, who attends a Colorado high school for at least 3 years and enrolls in a Colorado institute of higher education within 5 years after either graduating from a Colorado high school or earning a general education diploma in Colorado shall be charged the same tuition rate and shall be eligible for tuition assistance under the same criteria as a person who establishes domicile in Colorado."

So not only is that paragraph admitting that you are indeed paying (through mill levies, bond issues, property tax, etc) for the high school education of someone here illegally, you should also kick in to make their college education financially on par with a resident of the state! What a bunch of suckers.

I don't care who endorsed it, who backs it, or what political party they're from. I've got a problem with "regardless of immigration status" for what should be obvious reasons. I'm definitely all for residents of Colorado to have some advantage over out-of-state applicants, but out-of-country? Illegally at that? I don't think so.

Lets say you have a cousin who wants to move here and go to CU or CSU, hey, that would be cool, they would at least have some family nearby. But their tuition is exorbitant being out-of-state, but not for someone here illegally. Does that seem the least bit fair? Basically we'd be subsidizing someone here illegally at the expense of U.S. citizens.

Here's an idea: go ahead and get all of those illegal immigrants applications who want to come to these schools we help fund in one way or another. Dump them on some new school run by "educators" like Mr. McCoy who want this subsidizing (on your dime) of said illegal immigrants, and they can have a new college just for them. It won't be CU or CSU caliber (in this case especially), but what do you want for half off while you don't pay in to the system that's helping to fund you?

In the meantime, their immigration status can be verified - one way or the other.

What is with this attitude of getting something for nothing? Why would Mr. McCoy (among others) want this? Without the "immigration status" part, I can understand, but with it? It's pandering, pure and simple. It's not about human rights or fair treatment - unless you're here illegally of course. Remember back to one of my podcasts where I said "White guilt does not equal racial tolerance"? This is about getting votes, nothing more, nothing less. And looky here, there's a Longmont City Council election coming up in November.

That's alright, you may forget. I'll make sure to remind you.

Conference highlights unity in the Longmont community

At a conference last night titled "Unity in the Community", The Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce hosted over 400 community and business members and approximately 70 officials from the state, county and local levels.

Read the rest of the story by the Longmont Examiner...

Eat More Chicken...if city council will let you!

In the final yeah-right installment of "As the Chicken Lays" we find Longmont City Council last night approving... wait for it, wait for it... a measly fifty permits for backyard chickens. After wasting time on this matter for almost a year.


...Read the rest of the story here: http://www.examiner.com/x-517-Longmont-Examiner~y2009m2d25-Eat-More-Chickenif-city-council-will-let-you

Brandon Shaffer has a problem with transparency

Colorado Senate Bill 57 would require Colorado school districts to post their spending reports online. Every type of government should do this, school districts are no different, especially in light of Longmont just approving the mill levies and bond issues for St. Vrain Valley School District.

You would think these districts would want to show they are trustworthy. Apparently Longmont's State Senate Representative Brandon Shaffer either doesn't think they are trustworthy, or you're just too stupid to understand the minutia.

He, along with 7 other senators voted against SB-57. It was already diluted prior to this vote, not diluted enough? Why would they want to keep this information secret? Rubber stamping on behalf of lobbyists Mr. Shaffer?

So, all of you who voted for the mill levy and bond, and especially those that didn't, you really have no way of knowing where or how this money is being spent if Mr. Shaffer has his way. Like I've said before Mr. Shaffer - those that tell you you're doing a "great job", don't believe it. You're just another political hack yes man. Anyone can do that.

Thank God for term limits.

Dancing Giants, Beer and Beignets

What would you have expected when walking in to an event called “Ales for Females”? Well, take everything out of your head you would have imagined.

City Council Watch: Public speakers berate council and invoke 'The Big Lie'

If you aren't familiar with the war room goings-on at the Longmont City Council meetings and live in the City of Longmont, perhaps you should start watching now...

...read the rest of the story at: http://www.examiner.com/x-517-Longmont-Examiner~y2009m2d22-City-Council-Watch-Public-speakers-berate-council-and-invoke-The-Big-Lie

State capitol rally against generational theft

Since most of you probably had to work on Tuesday, or have what I like to call a "life", you probably missed the rally held at the State Capitol over the so-called stimulus package. Aka Porkulis, AKA Generational Theft Act, or whatever you prefer to call it.

I had the day off and had to be in the area anyway, so I went down there - along with another contributor to this site, much to our mutual surprise. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, thought you might like to know what this observer saw.

Traffic and parking was tough, so I got there a little late and right about when I thought it was going to start, it was over. It was a pretty decent sized crowd for the middle of a weekday. There were plenty of speakers, but each only spoke a very short period of time, and the wind was a serious factor in trying to hear the speakers. I’m not sure if there were limitations on the time they had at that location, whether a permit was required, etc. Either way, I was surprised how quickly it ended.

But most of the fun occurred after the event was technically over. Lots of people stayed, milled around, and talked to each other. They had a real live pig, and also a roasted one. I thought the latter was fake, a prop, but it was real alright, and sure smelled good.

There were various factions representing all kinds of views, from parents concerned about their kids future, to 9/11 Truthers, and a small scattering of Obamacons. This one guy, who was wearing a soon to be copyright infringed t-shirt, just wasn’t getting the attention he demanded. So he just yelled louder, to no one in particular. I got closer to see what was going on and saw someone trying to engage him, and witnessed pretty much what I expected: certain types yell questions and platitudes, even if you’re trying to actually have a dialogue with them. This guy would make some idiotic assertion; the person talking to him would answer, or try to, but without even listening to the response this clown was on to another talking point.

Like most sane people, they got sick of him and just walked away laughing and shaking their heads. So what did this guy resort to? Apparently he had nothing left in his bag of wits other than a crack on the other guys’ hair, or lack thereof. Yep, that’s it, pretty sad. Then another speaker would flare up with some loud speech, people would look, or maybe gather around, then it would be over. The television stations and news agencies were all there, but I didn’t see any of them cover the activities following the rally.

I saw people talking to elected representatives about issues that concern them, and not all were of one particular political persuasion either. I got to meet a couple of these State Senators (Renfroe and Mitchell), and apologized for mine (Shaffer). I also got to meet Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute and radio/TV fame, but forgot to thank him for allowing me to use some audio from his TV show for my podcast (the ReCreate ’68 piece - Thanks!).

I also met syndicated columnist and FoxNews regular Michelle Malkin. I was standing near the Capitol steps and people were handing me their phones/cameras for me to take a picture of them with her. I was glad to do it, and then I got a picture of me taken with her (thanks for emailing it!). Never the shy one, I wanted to crack a joke for the picture, so I promised her I wouldn’t “Alex Jones” her. (He chased her around at the DNC in Denver like a wailing, well, pig). I then took a self-guided tour of the Capitol building, very impressive.

Some thoughts on the event: Some of the speakers were a little too partisan and this isn’t really a left/right, conservative/liberal, or Republican/Democrat issue. I was glad to see some speakers, most notably Mr. Caldara make that point. Your kids and mine, and theirs yet to be born, will be saddled by this for decades and some of those labels and parties may just be a memory by then. But this insanely large bill (and the one before it and the ones sure to follow) won’t be a memory; it’ll be their reality – as sad as it may be.

I’m not much of a rally attendee or marcher. I do my talking either here, on a podcast, at/to city council, or in the newspaper. I went to this event to say I was there on the day when my President signed away my future family members hopes of a life as good as mine and those before me. For you other parents (regardless of affiliation) who are equally concerned, even though I wasn’t one of the ones yelling in the crowd, I was there for you, too.

Does that mean I have a better answer or alternative? No. But at least I would hope my representatives (this includes you Congresswoman Markey, and Senators Udall and Bennet) would do us the favor of actually reading a bill of this magnitude before signing it. These three clearly did not do that and I consider this a dereliction of their duty. This proves they are just rubber-stamping political hacks. Thanks for nothing. No, thanks for worse than nothing.

You always hope your kids will do better than yourself, sort of improve on the current model. Now those hopes have been handcuffed. And while I can’t understand how some people are thrilled that the government is handing out billions (trillions with interest) and think it’s free money. It’s not free, it has to be paid back, or they’ll just put the money printing press on hyperdrive followed by hyperinflation. Either way, it’s tying future generations’ hands behind their back as they hope to try to strike out on their own.

They’ll likely strike out alright, but not the good kind.

You can see pictures of this event and more at the following Longmont Examiner page:
Locals attend Anti-Pork Roast on Capitol steps

Local meteorologists’ best suited for local weather

An upcoming report due to the FAA about meteorologist consolidation would have an impact on the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) here in Longmont. Along with the Denver Weather Examiner, I did a write up of this situation at my Denver Aviation Examiner site, with a little help from fellow Longmont Advocate contributor Dave Larison.

...rest of the article at Examiner.Com

A progressive assault on Longmont-area churches

News is out that the city of Longmont has spent $68,073 in legal fees to thwart the Firestone annexations that would facilitate the LifeBridge Union development. This spiteful expense of taxpayer dollars--pushed by left-wing Progressives Sean McCoy and Karen Benker on city council--is even more outrageous considering the current skintight city budget situation.

The Boulder County commissioners have been just as vengeful in their notorious dealings with Rocky Mountain Christian Church. Recently it was revealed that Boulder County has spent a staggering $1.1 million in legal efforts to prevent RMCC from expanding its church facilities on its own property in Niwot.

What's going on here is clearly a violation of religious freedom as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. One could argue that our local churches worship the Creator as defended by our nation's founders, while the new wave of Progressives in Longmont and Boulder County worship the environment (i.e., the Holy Grail of Open Space).

Regarding the Union project in relation to Longmont and Firestone, we repeatedly hear from the green-extreme crowd, "We need to protect Longmont's eastern borders!" Take a look at the images shown below...

2002

Source: Project LifeBridge Master Plan

2007

Photo: Jill P. Mott Longmont Times-Call

As I have pointed out many times, large housing developments already exist to the immediate east and west of the LifeBridge/Union site; commercial development stands to the south, and there is plenty of city-owned open space to the north in the reservoir surroundings. How in the world would a build-out of the Union plot break up Longmont's eastern borders?

The only possible point of contention would be the Fairlight (FairView) property areas that are truly on Longmont's eastern border, but this too was addressed in a spirit of compromise by Firestone and the 4C Corporation. It was described by Firestone Mayor Chad Auer in a Times-Call commentary last December...

"When I took office, I promptly appeared face-to-face with Longmont's City Council and told your leaders that I was committed to investigating common ground on this regrettably decisive issue (Union). Because open space and a community buffer were central desires of Longmont, I presented a written proposal in which the Fairlight property (hundreds of acres between Union and Longmont) would be available to Longmont for use as both an open space corridor in the flood plain of Union Reservoir and a common sense community buffer. Unfortunately, the offer was soundly rejected by Longmont officials."

So Longmont had its chance. If it couldn't afford to buy the immediate eastern border properties as open space, tough luck. Let us hope that the foundations of free enterprise and religious freedom will not be lost if we are truly to progress in the 21st century.