By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 15, 2007
The numbers tell the story of a secret, self-inflicted slaughter. This country’s elderly kill themselves at higher rates than young people. Yet no one seems to care – or at least to be paying attention.
“When we talk about suicide, we immediately think about adolescents,” said Jarrod Hindman, the suicide prevention […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 12, 2007
It is public education’s version of warrantless wiretaps. Some Colorado school districts have begun seizing student cell phones and copying instant messages from them to place in student files.
The school divisions say they’re trying to ferret out potential criminal behavior. The ACLU says they can find the felons by looking […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 11, 2007
A sense of déjà vu hung heavily over Gov. Bill Ritter’s announcement of a new consolidated state information technology system.
Ritter bragged that the new system would eliminate dozens of IT “silos” and combine them into a single efficient comprehensive computing unit.
We have heard this sort of talk before, only to […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 10, 2007
Judging from the TV ads, it’s going to be don’t ask, don’t tell in the run up to the November ballot on eight bond issues and a tax increase in Denver. All we, the voters, will get is grinning Mayor John Hickenlooper standing in front of a bunch of oversized […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com
October 9, 2007
“I don’t think we would react to the Abu Ghraib images now the way we did in 2004.”
Naomi Wolf issued the indictment after a speech that explained to members of The Denver Forum why the United States is headed the way of Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia.
Torture photos from […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 5, 2007
Colorado State University student newspaper editor Dave McSwane canceled his press conference. He didn’t return phone calls. Neither did his lawyer, David Lane.
Better to leave well enough alone.
Given the atmosphere surrounding McSwane’s decision to publish an editorial in the Rocky Mountain Collegian with the headline “Taser This. F*** Bush,” […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 4, 2007
The leaders of New Era Colorado promised a different kind of candidates’ forum Wednesday night. When some would-be Boulder City Council members mounted the stage carrying pints of beer and the mistress of ceremonies announced “martini specials,” you knew they weren’t lying.
If the brisk sales of alcohol in the back […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 3, 2007
You worry that if Congress doesn’t stop introducing resolutions condemning people for their comments about the Iraq War, it will run out of time to actually do something about that misbegotten conflict.
First, the Senate had to debate the Republican-pushed resolution that blasted MoveOn.org for blasting Gen. David Petraeus in a […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 2, 2007
Denver Public Schools officials announcing the closure of eight schools had explained that they weren’t taking questions from the public. But the woman in the crowd at the Auraria campus Monday night shouted out anyway.
“All the schools you’re closing are black schools, Latino schools,” she yelled. “All kids of color. […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

October 1, 2007
The surveys continue to arrive, even though proponents of nativism succeeded in killing comprehensive immigration reform in Congress months ago.
The surveys usually come addressed to my wife, who handles all the finances in our household.
The surveying groups always bill themselves as “non-partisan, non-profit” entities, some with tax-deductible 501(c) 3 status.
They […]

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