Sean Penn at DU

Sean Penn spoke at the Ralph Nader Rally at DU last Tuesday. Fortunately, Juliette Mondot was there to record it for DenverDirect. Penn has a thoughtful and interesting premise. He believes that as the US constitution is degraded by government action, fundamentalist domestic violence will rise in opposition. Instead, he proposes, we must act first by electing a president who will uphold the constitution, and that would be Ralph Nader. Synchronistically, I happened to have a Netflix DVD of Into the Wild, screenplay written and directed by Penn, waiting to be viewed last night. A very good movie which I highly recommend (downer alert).

DNC Cop Violence Vidies

I decided not to go downtown to document the demonstrations. I could see hundreds of video cameras in use in the many vidies already appearing here and there on the tubes. I figured the people would have it covered. And they have. Here are the best of the Denver Cop Violence Vidies. I'll add as necessary. So far.... Woman knocked to the ground Producer arrested Best of police stupidity Overview

Max Kennedy at City Park

Last night at City Park Denver Dems Watch Fest a magic moment occurred for me when Max Kennedy spoke. Having attended a rally for his father, Robert Kennedy, in 1968 in his bid for the presidency, I was enthralled with a deep sense of deja vu. The sun had set, Chuck Pyle had finished singing, and it was getting dark. I opened my camera shutter all the way and hoped for the best.

(If you double click on the picture above, you will be taken to YouTube, where you can choose to view in a higher resolution, and then rate the video.)

Startup Saturday

Groups of police were gathering on street corners, strapping on equipment. One waved after I took this picture on 14th near Broadway.

Denver Mayor's Panel Calls on Police to Halt Marijuana Enforcement During 2008 DNC

4/20 at Civic Center

That Mason - he's always working. Support his efforts at http://www.saferchoice.org/

DENVER -- A city panel appointed by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has officially recommended that the Denver Police Dept. "refrain from arresting, detaining, or issuing a citation" to any adult for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver next week. (See full recommendation and PDF of memo below.) The panel's recommendation comes in response to news reports in which a spokesman for the Denver Police Dept. said police would be arresting or citing adults for marijuana possession despite ballot measures approved by Denver voters calling on them to refrain from doing so. In 2005, Denver voters approved a ballot measure making possession of small amounts of marijuana legal for adults, and in 2007, voters approved a measure designating adult marijuana possession Denver's "lowest law enforcement priority." "The People of Denver have made it clear they do not want adults in this city punished for simply possessing a drug less harmful than alcohol,"said panel member Mason Tvert, who led the campaigns for the two ballot measures. "Now a panel appointed by the Mayor of Denver has echoed that call, and we hope police will not defy the people of this city or its mayor when the international spotlight hits the Mile High City next week. "Tomorrow we will deliver an official memo from the panel to the chief of police and the mayor, and we expect police to abide by this very logical recommendation," Tvert said. "If police expect the taxpayers to cover their $1.2 million in overtime during the DNC, it is only fair that they respect the laws adopted by those taxpayers. There will be plenty for police to do during the DNC aside from arresting or citing adults who are simply making the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol."

On Being Tear-Gassed

If police use tear-gas at the upcoming DNC, protesters should be aware of what happened to me in 1968 at a Washington, D.C. rally. What you see on TV is often not what you get. I had gone down to Washington from my parents home in suburban Maryland, “to get my fair share of abuse” as the Rolling Stones put it. I drove as far as I could, parked my van, and walked a few blocks until I came upon a group of about 100 police gathering at an intersection. In the middle of the block, I stepped up into a townhouse yard to watch the action. The police were in formation to sweep each of the four streets from the intersection. Being a half-block away, in a yard and off of the street, I felt fairly safe. Suddenly, and without warning, an officer fired a tear-gas canister in my direction. It hit in the middle of the street in front of me, about 20 feet from where I stood. Now on TV when you see this happen, smoke starts to rise slowly from the canister. People often run up to it, pick it up, and throw it back. Something different happened to me. As soon as the canister hit, I was sprayed with a fine liquid, not gas. This was instantaneous. I never got to see the smoke, as the liquid, hitting my face, instantly sent me into a “senseless” state. I could not see, hear, or tell which way was up. I think I fell to the ground but I could not tell. I was completely cut off from my senses. I was like a blind drunk, spinning out of control. (CS nerve gas?) Within seconds, I was grabbed by some neighbors (but I had no idea who was grabbing me) and taken inside where my face was washed down with water and slowly, in minutes, my senses came back. Whatever had happened on the street took place without me. Within 15 minutes, I was able to walk back to my parked van and drive home. I picked up some hitchhikers on the way home. They got gassed from being in the van with me. The heavy leather welder’s jacket I was wearing had enough residual chemical on it to gas the hitchhikers. They got out a few blocks later, thanking me through their tears. When I got home and showered, the gas on my skin was reactivated and I fell down in the shower. Eventually, I got it off and recovered. I had indeed, gotten my “fair share of abuse”. Be careful out there.

T. Boone Pickens in Lamar, Colorado

The U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of Wind

Yes, I do occasionally get out of Denver, this time to videotape multi-billionaire T. Boone Pickens talking about his energy plan in Lamar, Colorado, home of the Colorado Green Wind Power Project.

You can watch his presentation here (http://www.pickensplan.com/). and see for yourself. Summarized - 22% of our electricity production uses natural gas - replace that with wind generation and use the natural gas instead for transportation, and you could reduce our dependance on foreign oil by 38%. Of course that would require fleet conversion, 100,000 wind turbines at a cost of 1 trillion dollars, major transmission corridors out of the wind belt, etc.

Pickens is a good speaker, and has it down. Why is he doing it himself, at age 80? Watch.

A City for the Tsar: The parks look terrible

Grasmere Lake in Washington Park Excavated (2007) for Effluent Evaporation Pond Lining (Editor's Note: Phil Goodstein is a Denver historian and author. This commentary was originally published in his newsletter, “The Naysayer,” in August 2008, and is reprinted with permission. While this commentary does not deal directly with closed commercial events in parks, it expresses what the writer sees as the contempt with which the city treats parks and citizens. It is this contempt which leads to the city’s assumption that all the public parks are alternative sources of revenue. By allowing admission-based events in parks to derive revenue, the city prevents free and open access and encourages lucrative sales of alcoholic beverages in parks.) A City for the Tsar: The parks look terrible by Phil Goodstein Last year, voters authorized a massive bond issue. The results have been predictable. Botanic Gardens is using the money to try to build a virtual fortress at the price of public spaces and rights-of-way. The Symphony is more disdainful of listeners than ever while it eagerly seeks to ruin its concert hall. Most of all, the parks look terrible. Some of the pious exponents of good government have lamented the massive brown spots in park lawns. They are especially concerned because the Democrats are coming. Denver, they insist, must present a smiling face to the visitors. In the process, they show their intense hatred of the city and its inhabitants. Such individuals simultaneously show an inability to link cause and effect. No one embodies this more than Jeannie Robb, the woman recently elected president of city council, a representative who disdains answering constituents' letters. Gregory Potemkin is the true inspiration for her and other local boosters. He was prime minister of Catherine the Great in the late 18th century when massive peasant revolts tore through the tsarist empire. When Catherine announced a tour of the countryside to see whether the populace had any reason to be dissatisfied with the status quo, Potemkin led the advance party. He spiffed up towns and saw that workers built impressive facades. Simultaneously, a heavy military presence kept rebels gagged during the tsar's visit. After she left, seeing everything was wonderful, Potemkin allowed the peasants to return to their everyday misery. Denver adopted the policies of Potemkin for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1993. It repeated them when Bill Clinton and company occupied the town in 1997 for the Summit of the Eight. In the process, the police swept the homeless off Colfax. In no time, the masquerades created for the visits of the dignitaries were falling apart. Indeed, proponents of last year's bond issue made their repair, especially at the Civic Center, a prime reason voters had to hike taxes. That ten-year-old "improvements" have crumbled is indicative of the shoddiness of a city administration that emphasizes appearances for wealthy and influential visitors over the amenities and comforts of everyday residents. The more city hall has awarded contracts on the basis of a "public/private partnership" to politically well-connected firms with the proper sexual, racial, and ethnic ownership, the less concern it has had about the quality of work. A scorn of the populace has been at the forefront of many park efforts. During most of this decade, Washington Park users have been confronted with a huge mud hole on the southern half of the greenery, the empty Grasmere Lake. At the behest of the Denver Water Department, crews repeatedly drained the pond in the name of saving water so the city could sell it to the suburbs to enhance sprawl. Now that the lake has again been filled, algae problems besmirch it, espe­cially near its inlet by the City Ditch, another amenity the DWD has done its all to ruin in the name of selling water to the suburbs. Even worse are conditions on City Park Lake. A massive draining and waste water effort have seen it emerge as more an algae swamp than a beauty spot. Much to the surprise of the planners, the recycled water is rich in nitrogen, fueling the growth of algae. Anybody concerned about the appearance of the parks would be asking why the administration never foresaw this most predictable result. Instead of doing so, they resort to banal rhetoric. By insisting the city put on cosmetics for the Democratic convention while failing to redress the endemic incompetent management of city hall, they show their intense contempt of the populace. Given this background, the city has screamed that protesters wish to besmirch the park by camping in it. In the process, the administration has been silent in dealing with those who deceitfully call on national activists to "Do it in Denver!" Those frustrated with the political status quo, but who have little vision and no original thought, have promised "free food, free music, free thought, free political education" in the community. Here they truly wish to recreate 1968: a manipulative deceit of idealistic young people fully worthy of the worst of the establishment. Part of the chaos of 1968 in Chicago stemmed from the arrogant lies of those sponsoring "The Festival of Life," the anti-war protests. They promised lodging and food, making no serious effort to provide them. Mayor Richard Daley and the Democratic establish­ment, in turn, showed they understood only crude physical force and were unwilling to admit that street politics are a full and worthy form of participation in the commonweal. Similarly, those objecting to having these political activists camp in the park have been silent in explaining why the city so fears protest. The administration is ready to close roads to assure the security of the Democrats while complaining about the traffic disruptions of political demonstrations and parades. Seemingly, the Democrats are so fragile that an exposure to dissident opinions would send them into convul­sions and ruin their convention. If the city had any wit, it would observe that the people who really hate protest and a free, full political debate are many of those behind Re-Create 68. This specifically refers to individuals who have readily employed stormtrooper tactics in silencing ltalian-­Americans celebrating Columbus Day. Far more than Hicken­looper or even Daley, they have allied themselves with ideologues in the American Indian Movement who despise reason and cel­ebrate crude physical force and intimidation. Instead of standing up to them by celebrating Denver as a tolerant community that can handle dissent and deal with the deceit of the "Do it in Denver!" promises, city hall has acted to try to make a police state its beau ideal. Consequently, it has turned to the tactics of Potemkin to cloak its essence. At the most, citizens can hope that nothing goes too severely wrong while they wait for conditions to return to their usual shoddiness and decay once the nuisance of the Democratic convention/visit of the tsar has passed. ---------- As a historian, Goodstein prefers postal mail instead of e-mail. He can be reached at Post Office Box 18026, Denver CO 80218.

Hypocrisy

Associate Dave Felice wrote to the open forum at the Denver Post today: Editor: The hypocrisy of the Democratic National Convention is amazing. City leaders continue to insist “the city is open” and “it’s business as usual” while: - streets are closed - snipers are on rooftops - city establishes “secret” jail in unused warehouse at East 38th Avenue and Steele/York - public transit schedules change, service cancelled, parking lots closed - air space is restricted - chain link fences confine citizens to specific spaces - the SWAT team sets up a field HQ at a downtown building - police set up a staging area in the main public library - classes on the Auraria campus cancelled for a week - downtown post office is closed - a number of residents deliberately leave Denver - anyone carrying a bicycle lock subject to questioning - city suddenly does park/street maintenance - hotels, service businesses doubling/tripling prices - hundreds of extra police officers imported from other jurisdictions - downtown workers finding ways to stay home Democratic Party delegates will be holding their convention in a facility belonging to a staunch anti-union Republican. Delegates are staying in non-union hotels, using non-union transportation, and dining at non-union restaurants. The amount of money being spent, officially and unofficially, on an unneeded event is absolutely obscene. How much better could even part of that money be used for schools, housing, other social programs, and infrastructure? While Denver tries to shed its self-conscious “cow town” image, convention participants are likely to run to Rockmount Western Wear for shirts with pearly snap buttons and cowboy boots of exotic skins before dinner at the Buckhorn Saloon where even the New Yorkers and Bostonians will try to talk with a western drawl. Since city officials heavily tout the “economic benefit” of the convention, will the city VOLUNTARILY offer verifiable evidence? For example, the city ought to be able to report increased revenue from sales and lodging taxes. Denver International Airport could report revenue on increased traffic. The city should encourage other businesses, such as taxi companies and private security companies, to offer some kind of report of percentages of increased revenue. It’s highly unlikely that anyone will ever know how much the Democratic Party pays for using “The Can” or “The Diaphragm”. All hail, the Anointed One, and those who hope to touch the hem of his garment. Dave Felice

Everybody is Ramping Up for the DNC