Iowa is closer to Colorado than I realized. Last Wednesday, after borrowing a sweet riding 2011 Tahoe demo from Len Lyall Chevrolet, I rolled northeast on I-76 at lunchtime, and was gambling and eating a dinner buffet that evening in Council Bluffs. Down river (the Missouri) was a BYOB strip club where lady dancers wore only birthday suits to entertain men and women. So this is the cold, conservative heartland? No one seemed focused on the caucus.
I found some conservatism the next day about 100 miles east down I-80 in the picturesque little town of Atlantic, Iowa. I met a 67 year old native Iowan named Brownie at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. Ron Paul was set to appear at the Cass County Community Center at three p.m. It was just after noon and nearly sixty degrees when I let my instincts guide me to the golf course.
Brownie had a cart and his playing partners had not yet showed up. I talked him into letting me play his course with him. Brownie loaned me a Top Flite #4 and a tee. Because it was winter, the pro shop was closed. No problem.
We played two holes, one and three. I used his set-back Ping irons and Zebra putter. The driver was a little short for me but beggars can’t be choosers. Cass County, Brownie told me, was the second most Republican County in America. He told me stuff like “we all have some Republican in us. If you don’t work, you should not eat.” He said that Cass County had good schools, because there were no blacks or Mexicans. I did not push back. After all, I was using his clubs and cart.
Brownie seemed to favor Ron Paul, but he had no intention of going to the caucus come Tuesday. To a degree, he defended Barack Obama and said that most of the country’s problems were the work of George W. Bush. He felt certain that Iraq was going to go back to fighting with each other now that America was gone and he wondered what had been the point. Brownie brought up the cost of the wars and I said that the tab was big, about a trillion dollars. Brownie told me that he had heard it was about three trillion.
Brownie and I said our goodbyes and I went to the Cass County Courthouse to see what an Iowa courtroom looked like. Small, old, and not much. There was however a terrific war memorial hailing Iowa war heroes from the civil War, WWI, WWI, Korea and VietNam. Following lunch, I went to the Ron Paul event. I managed to get into the second row front and center. By the end, the media members seemed to outnumber the attendees. The Paul supporters ran from the gamut from young to old and from pale white to Caucasians with tans.
I fit in just fine. I had on my Air Force Academy grey hoodie sweatshirt and realized that Congressman Paul appeared to highly appraise me as a fellow Air Force vet. The Paul speech was his usual stump and drew sporadic applause. I was disappointed when the post – speech questions were limited to Iowa voters. No problem.
When the formal event was over, the Congressman came down to me and we shook hands before I hit his with the following question, “You were tough on Michele Bachmann, claiming that she hates Muslims. Are you sir concerned about radical Islam, jihad and sharia law?” Paul said that these things did concern him, but started into a spiel about how America had caused a backlash. I asked the Presidential candidate whether it could truly be the Islamic philosophy and teachings, with its hostility toward infidels and the very liberty agenda the Paul campaign is pushing. You can listen to our recorded exchange tomorrow on the show. My conversation with Ron Paul was further memorialized with a picture in the next day’s WSJ.
After that, back to I-80, and my first ever visit to Des Moines. West Des Moines to be precise -- the Jordan Creek Town Center, to be exact. I had forgotten my I-phone charger and needed Iowa’s only Apple Store. I found it in the center that reminded me, and would have reminded you of Colorado’s Park Meadows mall. I found a hotel near a Buffalo Wild Wings where they put the Nuggets game on just for me.
The next morning, I went to Java Joes at downtown Des Moines to see Newt and Calista Gingrich. It was the day that Newt cried when discussing his late mama. Shortly after his crying jag, Newt and Calista managed a smile with me, after I bought Calista’s fifteen dollar children’s book about Ellis the Elephant. Chris Mathews was there. So was Frank Luntz, John Heilmann, Joe Johns and Jonathan Karl. The mood seemed too somber for me to pester any of the Gingriches about anything too substantive. Falling poll numbers and falling teardrops are ominous and depressing signs.
There are not lots of yard signs up in Iowa yards. Just as in Colorado, most voters will not be attending a caucus. To participate in n Iowa, you need not be a member of the GOP until so declaring on the night of the caucus. Some, but not many. As I drove around the Midwest with Sirius satellite radio (including C-Span), I heard lots of other Iowa campaign speeches. To get home, I headed southwest down I-35 toward Kansas City, and then the straight I-70 shot home to Denver for the soon upcoming Chiefs-Bronco tilt, to tell you about it. That will be at 3:03.
Our precious dog, Matilda, suffered a severe stroke this past weekend. At the Veterinary Clinic on the night of August 30, she passed away peacefully in my arms. Tilda was a very good dog who will be sorely missed by Sam, Ben, Trish, Craig, and her litter mate Mikey.
When I voted for Barack Hussein Obama in 2008, I believed he was ideally situated to speak truth to the Muslim world regarding its intolerance of infidels, apostates, and unbelievers.I still think so.There is an urgent worldwide imperative for reformation of Islamist ideology, or we are all in big trouble.
Last Thursday at the State Department, at a time when Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood swarm all around Israel, President Obama saw fit to demand that the Jewish State let her enemies move closer.
In fairness, the President did also finally and blessedly mention freedom of religion as part of his universal rights agenda.It may be a start.That reference however was dwarfed by President Obama’s unexpected announcement that Israel’s 1967 border lines “with swaps” is now the United States position and expectation.
Barack Obama has kept me waiting and wanting more than a few times now.First time we met, the new Senator was book-touring The Audacity of Hope at the LoDo Tattered Cover.On October 24, 2006, there was a huge line of 500 ticketed patrons, but my press credentials allowed me to avoid the queue and get a front row chance to report on the future President.
When Senator Obama’s public remarks were done that day in Denver, I grabbed one of his books and filled a nearby empty chair.The thin man from Illinois took off his suit jacket and proceeded to charm hundreds of people who waited in line.I witnessed many book buyers project their hopes and dreams on the author.
I may have too.When the line emptied, Obama was finished, or so he thought.I had the audacity to bug him for one more autograph on his book that I had perused and purchased.Senator Obama was ready to leave.He had been there longer than expected but he gave me a handshake, an autograph and a brief greeting.
My radio partner, Dan Caplis, and I shared the privilege of broadcasting live Obama’s historic 2008 Denver DNC acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium.There was a huge security perimeter for maximum security, but it was well worth the walk and wait for that exciting historic event.Lofty and winning words were delivered at altitude.
Now, in 2011, I was waiting for President Obama again.This time, I had to fly to WashingtonD.C. to hear how the President would handle his potential Jewish problem at AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee).The 1967 lines between Israel and Palestine are indefensible, and most AIPAC attendees know it.Like me, most AIPAC members also voted for Barack Obama.
I arrived late on Saturday night.My hotel was a stone’s throw from the White House.It was nearly midnight when I went out for my slow jog.Initially, I ran a couple blocks north instead of south, and found myself in an area with modern corporate office buildings shielding row upon row of homeless people laid out on the sidewalks below.I wondered if these people too were left waiting and wanting by Barack Obama.
Turning back downhill, I hustled toward the Mall and the hard to missWashingtonMonument.Then I had a choice.I could go east toward the Capitol (Reid, Pelosi, Boehner, McConnell) or go west to see my old friend Abe.Is there any more inspirational artistic display than the Lincoln Memorial? Our 16th President was waiting there at midnight to inspire me.Right above him, the inscription reads, “In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.”
Whose side would this tall thin man from Illinois be on in the modern Middle East?The Western Wall of the destroyed SecondTemple was not regained by the Jewish State till 1967.I re-read the Gettysburg Address on the southern monumental wall and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural on the northern side.I thought about Egypt and its enslavement of the Jews.I thought about the Islamic Republic of Iran and its surrogates.
Abraham Lincoln was looking this night toward a waning ¾ moon hovering slightly to the south over Virginia.The WashingtonMonument obscured the view of the Capitol.But there beneath the moon, was the beckoning Thomas Jefferson Memorial.On the way, I ran into Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his little Scottish terrier, Fala.
What gems of American history!These Presidents had monumental moments.Honest Abe fought a civil war made necessary by ideological bigotry that elevated one skin color of humans over another.FDR had to take on bigoted intolerant ideologies across the oceans.Thomas Jefferson anticipated almost everything.Freedom and liberty is what Jefferson’s America was always supposed to be about.
Jihad and sharia law are antithetical to freedom and liberty.Why can’t President Obama say that?Instead, our American leader unexpectedly pronounced last week that the tiny democratic ally, Israel, needs to get smaller and move closer to its Islamist antagonists.
By the crack of Sunday’s dawn, I was up for the opening session of the AIPAC conference to witness the speech by Barack Obama.There was significant security, but after getting through and obtaining my press credentials, I settled with my laptop in the front media row and waited hours more for President Obama.
Obama’s AIPAC speech can be reviewed here.President Obama clarified his State Department pronouncements and spoke about the ironclad commitments between America and Israel.But there was disappointment amongst many in the room that this President had even uttered words that needed clarification.AIPAC policy conferences in the past had been a love fest for the 44th President.This is where candidate Obama declared in 2008, "I'll do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything!"
In any special friendship, it is wise to avoid words that wound.If criticisms need to be made, there is a delicacy and diplomacy that goes with the task.When bombshell pronouncements come publicly and unexpectedly, there is shock and dismay.Is Barack Obama more interested in other relationships?
Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader and a proud Virginia Jew, wowed the crowd on Sunday night when he spoke about the anti-Semitic intolerance of the Islamists bordering Israel. How is the Jewish State supposed to make peace with Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood?What can Israel do to truly appease Iran?Could the Jews in the 1930s make peace with the Nazis by living in smaller ghettos?
Eric Cantor closed by referencing founding father James Madison, the Virginian whose congressional seat Cantor now holds.Founder Father James Madison, America’s fourth President, studied Hebrew for a post graduate year at Princeton.Our American founders were Zionists, the majority leader told the AIPAC crowd.
I thought again of my midnight mission to study the monuments along the Potomac.Great American Presidents are celebrated for their courage to tell the truth and take action against poisonously bigoted enemies.The best Presidents all had the courage to stand bravely and unequivocally for freedom.Let’s hope and pray that Barack Obama becomes a great President.We are waiting.
I knew Pierre strictly from television.For many years, I watched him as a valued contributor and original panelist on Colorado Inside Out.Next, I got to know him on the set since I started doing the show on a semi-regular basis since the middle 1990’s.
Here is what I really liked about Pierre Jimenez.He was affable.Pierre was also not doctrinaire.As events dictated, he was willing to change his opinions and perspective.That is a sign of a smart and self-secure human being.That was Pierre.
Pierre was unfailingly polite. In a day and age where civility is in short supply, Pierre Jimenez supplied civility in abundance.He will be missed.RIP Pierre.
This is a photo of my late parents, Sheldon Silverman and Barbara
Silverman right after they got married in Denver on July 13, 1951. They had an
epic love affair that went the distance and lasted till my Mom's passing in
2008. My siblings and I were blessed and lucky to have had such terrific
parents. Now they are gone, but their memories and many contributions to the
Denver area live on.
My beloved father, Sheldon Silverman, passed away peacefully in his sleep
at his Denver home on Saturday morning, March 19, 2011. My Dad was born in
Denver on July 13, 1926 and grew to become an accomplished sportsperson,
attorney and family man. Following the funeral today, my family and I will be
observing a shiva memorial period for a week. I hope to be with you again on
the radio in late March. Thanks for your prayers and well wishes.
Craig Silverman asks John Elway a good question about whether #7 will now be on the side of the players or management when it comes to the pending labor dispute. The Hall of Famer gave an answer that suggests times have changed since he was top pick as a player.
Thanks for everybody who said or thought nice things about me while I was gone. I am back and feeling quite well.
My oldest son Ben turns 12 today and it is also Chanukah.
Happy Hannukah!
BTW,
how the heck do you spell Channukah? (Hint, it is a Hebrew word with
no easy English translation.) I enjoy the Hannukah album by the Leevees which contemplates such questions. Here is a link to the Leevees’ music and web site. Brad Lopez will be playing a lot of this album as bumper music for the next week.
BTW, last week while I was recuperating, Benny and Sammy and I all got a kick out of Sandler’s recent movie Grown Ups, now out on video. We give it three thumbs up.
The last show I did was a lot of fun for me.We had on Andy Partee, coach of the ColoradoCollege men’s basketball team, which had gone to the Air Force Academy the night before, and scored a huge upset against the Falcons.I celebrate CC now having a level of basketball glory that we never quite obtained when I played there from 1976 to 1978.We did achieve double digits in yearly wins (but never against a Division One team), and we had a lot of fun.Glory Days.I might have performed better if I could have breathed better.I have always had constricted nasal passages and I figure it is time to do something about it before I get too old.You can call it a mid-life crisis, but I call it intermission with another big act to come.This past spring, I decided to get in better shape by doing a little jogging and a lot of better eating and drinking.So much so that I saw glimpses of my six-pack again, and discovered an umbilical cord hernia.It makes me feel close to my departed and beloved mother, but slightly uncomfortable near my navel.
So I am going under the knife at RoseHospital (where my Mom gave birth to me on 12/16/55) for a double operation and will be off the air for a while.By the time you read this, there will have been one infusion of anesthesia, two surgeons, and two lawyers to watch them.Just kidding.Why pay for two lawyers?As for me, I will be out cold, and hopefully back before you miss me too much.Happy Thanksgiving.
TANCREDO, BUCK AND FALLON FOR THIS COLORADO INDEPENDENT
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
How are you going to judge a fight
where one of the competitors only dances and never punches?I score it for the man who is engaged and
competing.
What if there is a fight and one
side keeps throwing exceptionally low blows?At a certain point, that kind of dirty fighter gets disqualified by any
fair referee.
I am voting for Tancredo and
Buck.It is kind of shocking for me to
write, let alone do.The vast majority
of my votes have been Democratic through the years.I voted for Obama in 2008.I am
disappointed in the President and the Congress.
As I pondered the two biggest
political races in Colorado, I have wandered
the downtown streets of our Mile
High City.The 16th
Street Mall is looking sad and feeling
sadder.Huge federal repair money just
fell through.It feels just like Colorado missing that
enormous education money that Team Obama was doling out.It is the worst of both worlds, government
handouts bypassing Colorado.It appears these Colorado Dems have zero
clout with the White House.
Denver’s
magnificent New Deal courthouse has been replaced by a sterile cookie cutter Justice Center.The new courthouse is a winner if you love maximum solar energy and
accompanying sun glare dominating the entry and hallways.In the old courthouse, you only had to worry
about prisoners bumping into you.Bring
your shades Mayor if you wander over from your nice perch still in the
magnificent City and County
Building.
As recently as a month ago, I
anticipated voting for John Hickenlooper, but I watched the debates.I heard Hick say he wanted to “strengthen the
death penalty” by making it only applicable in cases of absolute proof because
so many people on death row have been shown to be innocent.How about focusing on Colorado’s Death Row where Nathan Dunlap
lingers for his second decade?
I heard Mayor Hickenlooper recently
tell KOA that the campaign was so enjoyable, he would like it to last several
more months.He also said that his Lt.
Governor choice, Joe Garcia, is a “rock star.”Rock star is what Hick called
Van Jones, the Marxist dismissed from his job as a White house czar.Friday night, I watched John Hickenlooper try
to perform like a country rock star at the Denver Press Club Gridiron dinner.The performance was more embarrassing than
entertaining.
After the show and some goodbyes, I
started walking down 17th
Street back to my Lodo law office.The Mayor and his show business entourage,
leaving ahead of me and also walking west, went into a big back booth at Harry’s.
Across 17th Street at the northwest
crosswalk at 17th and Stout, a large pothole posed danger to autos
and pedestrians.People waiting for
light rail seemed a bit uneasy on Stout
Street, perhaps the specter of downtown gang
attacks still fresh.A homeless person
was passed out in the vestibule at the Bank Lofts and a tent city housed lots
of homeless people under the pillars of the Colorado National Bank.
Michael
Bennet has run a dishonest and nasty negative campaign, criticizing a
non-charging decision in a sex case where no reasonable prosecutor would have
proceeded.When Bennet was in charge of
Denver Public Schools, graduation rates were pathetic and as reported by the
New York Times, his Wall Street background led him to create exotic deals
that put DPS deeper in debt but enriched his banker buddies.
Bennet and Congress have hurt this
country.They also have failed to even
address next year’s budget or tax changes.Bennet does not deserve to return as my representative in D.C and
neither does Diana DeGette.DeGette was
the lone member of the Colorado delegation to
not back Israel
with a simple supportive resolution.
I do not think that DeGette or
Bennet or the Dems are willing to address the menace of radical Islam as
represented by Al Queda, Iran,
Hamas and Hezballah.Dr. Mike Fallon, an
accomplished medical doctor, entrepreneur, and family man, will get my vote for
Congress.
Tom Tancredo and Ken Buck both
scare me a bit.They are by and large
right wing conservatives and I am not.Neither
is Colorado.But look at some of their independent
positions, such as Buck on Afghanistan
war futility and Tancredo on legalizing marijuana.I sense these men think hard about the issues
and make the best decisions they can.I
worry that the current Democratic positions are more scripted from the top, and
from special interests.
As a fourth generation Denverite, I
confess my preference for Colorado
originals.I also feel a kinship with
veteran prosecutors, having dedicated sixteen years of my own life to that
honorable pursuit.Ken Buck has risen
through the prosecutorial ranks on the state and federal level and he is still
standing tall.So is his family
including a proud wife and two gifted children who are actually old enough to
vote.
Tom
Tancredo is a north Denver
native.Like so many in the Tancredo
family, he became a public school teacher before becoming a prominent state
legislator.Ronald Reagan trusted Tom
Tancredo with a significant Education Department job and a mandate to cut
costs.Tancredo did the job.
It is easy
to caricature Tom Tancredo.The real man
is considerably deeper.There is acumen
and some prescience there.Tancredo saw
the critical flaws in Dan Maes when others missed it.Tom Tancredo never really wanted to be
Governor, and that might be his greatest asset.Tancredo could chart a course for the future
that will allow Colorado
to better weather the financial storms that are upon us.As Tom and I once discussed on his last time
hosting radio, it is all about the
freedom.
Tancredo
does not play a lot of political games.He will bluntly tell you what he thinks.Both Ken Buck and Tom Tancredo are plain spoken and have authentic good
humor.They are accessible to the media
and therefore, the public.
So those are my votes.You vote however you want.I will root for whoever wins to do well for Colorado.I will continue to do so from the vantage
point of an unaffiliated and independent voter with an amazing media
opportunity to ask good questions of our political leaders.I score the fights for Buck, Tancredo and
Fallon.
