Subject: Social Policy

• The Right Stuff

  April 4, 2007

• Immigration Reform Horse Shit

  May 24, 2007

• Archbishop Charles Chaput works both sides of political fence

  Archbishop Charles Chaput. Denver-based Archbishop Charles Chaput has grown more political since taking over as head of the city's archdiocese in 1997 -- and he spoke out early and often about the politics of abortion during the run-up to the 2008 presidential vote. As such, even his condemnation of abortion doctor George Tiller's recent assassination has been called into question by critics such as John Tomasic, writing for the left-leaning Colorado Independent website. Granted, the comments

  June 3, 2009

• Tancs for the Memories, Tom

  December 20, 2007

• Immigrant-rights activists kick off campaign

  There's a painfully obvious division within the Denver population that's attributable to a broken immigration system, says Julie Gonzales, political coordinator for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. "A lot of people within the immigrant community feel like they have to separate themselves -- like they have to hide. And on the other side, there are a lot of misconceptions, confusion and false information about immigrants that a lot of people believe," she says. "So, that's why we're her

  June 2, 2009

• Sick Right Here

  April 18, 2008

• Barack Obama's shout-out to Michael Johnston and Mapleton

  October 30, 2008

• ICE deportations in Denver set record; see the release here

  November 6, 2008

• Follow That Story

  July 14, 2005

• State senator Morgan Carroll's blog: Even feistier than advertised

  State senator Morgan Carroll. Earlier this week, the Denver Post published a story about Morgan Carroll, a Democratic state senator from Aurora, who had angered the leadership in the legislature after posting a blog last month criticizing the way they treated Senate Bill 166, "which sought to ban drug companies from giving gifts to doctors or reselling patient prescription information for marketing purposes." In the article, Carroll shrugged off criticism from the likes of Senate President Pete

  March 26, 2009

• Cool School

  November 6, 2008

• Did Governor Ritter flip-flop on needle exchange?

  Photo from Wikipedia Commons.Bill Ritter once supported needle exchange, but now he's silent on the issue. Listen to Ritter's testimony on a 1998 bill seeking to legalize syringe exchange in Colorado. Colorado lawmakers last tackled the legalities of syringe exchange -- the topic of this week's feature "Ahead of the Needle" -- eleven years ago, when they tried to change the state law prohibiting it. They failed. But not before Governor Bill Ritter, then Denver's district attorney, weighed in.

  April 8, 2009

• Letters from the week of April 16

  April 16, 2009

• The next Tom Tancredo

  October 2, 2008

• Barack Obama gives principal Michael Johnston extra credit

  August 28, 2008

• Cesar Chavez Says

  Yes, he was against illegal immigration -- but he was also pro-Aztlan.

  July 3, 2008

• Letters to the Editor

  Letters from the week of 4/24/2008

  April 24, 2008

• Funky Town

  Even though the EPA says Denver's air is getting cleaner, the odor lingers on.

  January 10, 2002

• The Answer Man

  July 5, 2007

• Fear Factor

  In his first week running his new website, Brad Jones crashed a state representative. What will he do for an encore?

  April 12, 2007

• Guest Wishes

  Helen Krieble wants to end all the horsing around over illegal immigration.

  November 9, 2006

• Trial by Wire

  There's lots of cash and carrying on over First Data's south-of-the-border business.

  March 3, 2005

• It's Not Easy Being Green

  Look who's mad at Dick Lamm now!

  March 18, 2004

• Russian Roulette

  The bride says she married for love; her mother-in-law suspects it was money. The only person who can settle the dispute is dead.

  September 25, 2003

• The Flag-Bearer

  Tom Tancredo is on a crusade to save America -- and he's looking for recruits.

  July 3, 2003

• In Sickness and in Wealth

  April 3, 2003

• Cutting Edge

  A plan by some Colorado leaders to trim hard-won health-insurance benefits could leave consumers feeling the pain.

  February 14, 2002

• Reading, Writing and Refrigerator Raids

  Virtual schools are becoming a viable option for parents who prefer to keep their kids at home.

  January 31, 2002

• Card Sharps

  Selling green cards in Denver is easy money.

  December 7, 2000

• The Food Group

  An innovative welfare-to-work program feeds the restaurant business.

  April 27, 2000

• Communication Breakdown

  The Boulder Valley School District has a hard time learning how to teach kids with special needs.

  December 16, 1999

• You Can't Get There From Here

  July 2, 1998

• Canadian Bakin'

  An angry state senator's message to Broncos owner Pat Bowlen: Take off, hoser.

  August 7, 1997

• The Fight of Their Lives

  Dr. Warren Hern ranks high on the anti-abortionists' hit list. They're playing Ken Scott's song.

  February 13, 1997

• CROSSING THE LINE

  HOW ILLEGAL ALIENS WITH CRIMINAL RECORDS COME OVER THE RIVER--AND THROUGH THE CRACKS.AMERICA OR BUST ILLEGAL ALIENS CAN COMMIT BURGLARIES, THEFTS AND ASSAULTS IN DENVER--AND HAVE LITTLE TO FEAR FROM THE INS.

  May 10, 1995

• INDEPENDENCE'S DAY

  A CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK IN GOLDEN MAKES THE DEMOCRATS THIRST FOR ONE OF THEIR OWN.

  February 22, 1995

• GETTING TESTY

  A DISPUTE OVER AIDS TESTING ENSNARES A HEALTH OFFICIAL FROM COLORADO SPRINGS.

  July 27, 1994

• Tom Tancredo continues his free-speech tour at Providence College

  Since leaving Congress earlier this year, past Westword profile subject Tom Tancredo has been taking his immigration-reform crusade to locations around the country -- and as documented in Alan Prendergast's April 15 blog "Obnoxious North Carolina Students Leave Tom Tancredo Speechless," he hasn't always been greeted with kind words and open arms. The video above shows him at a Rhode Island VFW, where protesters greeted him with chants of "Tom Tancredo, go away! Racist, sexist, anti-gay!" Thin

  May 1, 2009

• Latino community set to march in Greeley tomorrow

  A Flickr photo. Over the past few years, Greeley has become a hotbed for immigration issues in Colorado. In 2006, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Swift meatpacking plant there, arresting more than 250 people, many of whom were detained and separated from their children. And last year, local law enforcement, led by outspoken Weld County District Attorney and now-U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck, seized thousands of records from a Greeley tax preparer with an eye toward catch

  May 1, 2009

• Read Archbishop Charles Chaput's argument for immigration reform

  Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput. Denver Archibishop Charles Chaput is typically thought of as a conservative, and no wonder, since he regularly implies that voting for a politician who supports abortion rights is tantamount to helping the ghost of George Tiller section a fetus in its eighth month. But this weekend, he was among speakers calling for immigration reform at an event organized by Representative Jared Polis, himself a pro-choice politician -- and his call is earning national attenti

  June 16, 2009

• Jared Polis makes the NYT with anti-Obama health care message

  It looks like Boulder Congressman Jared Polis has taken the lead as one of the Democrats to cross party lines and thumb his nose at President Obama's health care proposal. But his concerns don't have to do with health care itself. No, a letter he wrote that was signed by 21 other Democratic congressmen, is concerned with the fate of the wealthy, according to today's New York Times report:

  July 20, 2009

• So that's why Polis has been so ballsy on health care: He's been making it rain on the Hill

  "I got money in the bank/Shorty what you drink?"​House Democrats are playing nice again, and moving closer to finding compromise on a stripped down version of the president's health-care plan. And wouldn't you know it, just days after irking upperclassmen with his very-un-freshman-like stance on the bill, Rep. Jared Polis (D-A Big Pile of Money) showed up on the Denver Post Op-Ed page this morning urging support for the president's plan: I am happy to say that significant progress has be

  July 30, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: Help me roast Tom Tancredo

  ​I am listening to Tom Tancredo filling in for Peter Boyles on KHOW radio, marveling at how the former congressman is maintaining a one-man monologue that, in the past five minutes, has touched on illegal immigration, healthcare, how Republicans need a speaker as slick as Barack Obama, illegal imigration, Harleys, healthcare again, illegal immigration, and how he first started thinking about running for public office while he was teaching a junior high civics class. I am listening to Tom

  August 7, 2009

• Ed Perlmutter gets an earful at health-care meeting in Brighton

  On Friday, we shared a video in which folks protesting healthcare reform in Pueblo compared Obamacare to Pol Pot and Adolph Hitler -- and this brand of overheated rhetoric is hardly isolated to that community. Over the weekend at an event in Brighton, pro-healthcare reform rep Ed Perlmutter was greeted by a group toting signs with slogans such as "Seniors: Get Your Death Pills Here" -- and at one point, you'll here one man shout, "We will ram it down your throats and shove it up your butt. And

  August 10, 2009

• Colorado's new Medicaid funding plan will leave disabled adults on the outside

  August 20, 2009

• The Mexican advises against rushing to the altar

  September 3, 2009

• Jon Caldara's animated attack on Obamacare is plane crazy

  The Independence Institute's Jon Caldara last foray into YouTubery was decidedly low rent: He pimped 2008's Amendment 49 using sock puppets. This time, he's opted for a more high-tech approach, creating the animated video above to attack the Obama administration's version of healthcare reform. In his analogy, the public plan is pictured as an airplane -- and when people abandon private insurers for this lower-cost alternative, he argues that the government will start jettisoning its most vulner

  October 15, 2009

• Archbishop Charles Chaput puts Obama administration on notice about abortion funding

  Archbishop Charles Chaput supports healthcare reform -- but his mind could be changed.​Archbishop Charles Chaput supports healthcare reform -- but his mind could be changed.​Although Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is seen as an arch-conservative in many quarters, he's actually supported a number of measures considered progressive, including immigration reform. He's backed an overhaul of the healthcare system, too -- but this weekend, he's telling members of his flock that there rem

  November 6, 2009

• Abortion rights a hill Diana DeGette's willing to die on in healthcare debate

  Will Nancy Pelosi get so mad at Diana DeGette that she actually blinks?​Just because the House of Representatives passed a healthcare bill this weekend doesn't mean it'll stay passed. Denver congresswoman Diana DeGette is leading a group of reproductive-rights supporters who are mad as hell that the version of the legislation okayed on Saturday contains an amendment co-authored by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak that builds on the barriers already in place (most notably the 1976 Hyde Amendme

  November 10, 2009

• Betsy Markey rep just not that into talking about her "no" vote on healthcare bill

  Betsy Markey doesn't like the House's healthcare bill -- and she's not that into talking about why not, either.​Even though Diana DeGette has big problems with an amendment to the mammoth healthcare bill limiting access to abortions, she voted for the measure. Not so Betsy Markey, the only Democratic representative from Colorado to turn her thumb down -- and it doesn't seem to have been a last-minute decision. After all, her statement explaining her reasoning, on view below, is dated Novem

  November 10, 2009