Better Wait for a Real Crisis

June 7, 2019

Rob Reiner’s first comedy classic as a director, 1984’s “The Sure Thing,” is a saga of everything that can possibly go wrong for two students falling in love on a cross-country road trip. The ride they arranged from a bulletin board abandons them in the middle of nowhere, and after several failed hitch-hiking attempts, they […]

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How Much Are We Paying?

May 31, 2019

There is an old Reader’s Digest anecdote about a wealthy but absent-minded tycoon asking his top manager, “How long have you worked here?” To which the man says 30 years. He then asks, “How much am I paying you?” The manager tells him, and he finally says “And what is your name?” It seems a […]

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Western Slope Sacrifice Zone

May 24, 2019

During the 1970s oil shale boom, the Carter Administration considered Western Colorado a “national sacrifice zone.” Western Slope residents often consider themselves victims of policies that would sacrifice our communities and economies on the altar of urban politics. During the decade I was president of Club 20, Denver friends occasionally accused us of acting like […]

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Were They Even in the Same Meeting?

May 16, 2019

George Bernard Shaw once quipped, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” That could apply to the famous 2009 meeting between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Pope Benedict XVI, after which she reported that they discussed “poverty, hunger, and global warming.” The Pope, however, reported that he had […]

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Don’t Let ‘Em Take Your Water

May 10, 2019

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, made a campaign appearance in Pueblo, Colorado. He was asked about western water issues – as national candidates invariably are when visiting the Centennial State – and his answer baffled the crowd. He was from Arizona, but had never really been much involved in […]

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Going Postal on Junk Mail

May 3, 2019

I have a friend who saved all his junk mail for a year, so he could weigh it. He was convinced that he received more unsolicited mail than anybody, and wanted to prove it. The pile weighed over 40 pounds. Imagine his disappointment when he found out it was no more than average. Indeed, Americans […]

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A Rare Opportunity for America

April 26, 2019

I was among a small group that met recently with Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, to talk about public land management. When the discussion turned to minerals, he picked up a dark brown rock from the Mojave Desert and passed it around, explaining that it was mostly composed of a “rare earth” element. Such rocks, he […]

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Make Those Nasty Drivers Pay!

April 19, 2019

Louisiana Senator Russell Long famously explained how most people feel about taxes: “Don’t tax you; don’t tax me; tax that fellow behind the tree.” It was an apt description of our natural desire to make other people pay for things we want. Metaphorically, the man behind the tree is invisible, so we can in good […]

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Have You No Sense of Decency?

April 12, 2019

In June of 1954, the career of Senator Joseph McCarthy began to implode when an Army lawyer, Joseph Welch, interrupted with his now-famous, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” The anti-communist investigations soon ended, and senators voted to censure McCarthy. They charged that he “acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the […]

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Cherish Them From Afar

April 5, 2019

Bayard Taylor wrote, “And far and wide, in a scarlet tide, the poppy’s bonfire spread.” He could have been describing the famous poppy fields in Lake Elsinore, California. They cover the hillsides so colorfully that they are a popular destination for picnickers and shutterbugs. They also provide a seasonal economic boom for the town, but […]

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