Horrific: Massacre At Colorado Movie Theater; 12+ Killed

It's absolutely horrific to learn of the news this morning about the massacre in Aurora, Colorado overnight at a showing of the Batman movie. At least 12 people were killed when the gunman stormed into a movie theater during the showing of the Dark Knight Rises. Dozens more were injured. A suspect is now in custody and has been identified as James Holmes, 24, and that he was a former student at the University of Colorado.

Authorities recovered four guns -- a rifle similar to an AR-15, a shotgun and two Glock handguns, a senior official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms familiar with the investigation told CNN. It was unclear how many of the weapons were fired, the official said.

After the suspect told police there was a bomb at his apartment, officers went there and found a "very sophisticated" booby trap inside, Aurora police Chief Dan Oates told reporters. However, the senior ATF official said no explosives were found.

Some kind of device, either a smoke bomb or tear gas, was activated before Holmes opened fire.

People (particularly those on twitter) need to take a step back from their keyboards and think about what they're writing.

1. A paucity of information means that your first impressions may end up being completely wrong.
2. The discussions about gun control or concealed carry wait while investigators figure out what's going on here. They're dealing with what's an apparently still active crime scene at the guy's apartment; it's apparently booby trapped in a manner that may take some time to disable.
3. The guy apparently withdrew from medical school last month; could have been a 4th year.
4. Political affiliation may have absolutely nothing to do with the heinous crimes committed. Or not.
5. Mental status may have something to do with it. Or not.

There's more to worry about now than the political fallout at the moment; there's a whole bunch of people who are sitting in hospitals around Aurora and Denver - they were spending an evening hoping to be entertained by a new movie and instead are facing a life and death struggle after being shot. Our thoughts and prayers should be with them, their loved ones, and their families and friends.

The politics of firearms, gun control, mental health, etc. can wait. Of course, since we're into instant gratification, everyone will now proceed to figure out the guy's motivations, make claims that wont hold up to scrutiny, or otherwise make calls for this action or that.

It seems that some folks have already made up their minds about the events - one person tweeted that this is the reason to expand concealed carry, as though having one more person with a firearm in a chaotic situation would have saved the day. The eyewitness accounts seem to indicate that the guy started firing on the crowds and they didn't know whether this was part of the movie or not since they were in the midst of a battle scene on screen. By the time they realized this was all to horrifyingly real, the crowds began to rush out.

Witnesses reported that bullets came through the walls into adjacent movie theaters, which means that even if there were other people at the movie theater carrying firearms under concealed carry, it wouldn't have mattered to someone in the adjacent theaters if bullets were flying in different directions. The shooter wouldn't have been in that particular theater. It was chaos as people didn't seem to realize the deadly events transpiring in their midst.

I've also seen reports that among those injured were kids as young as 3 months. That's just nuts on so many levels. Other Twitters are wondering why 6 year olds were at a midnight showing of Batman.

Also, I can't tell just how many people were shot and how many were injured just trying to get out of there, but at least 20 of the injured were shot:

Of the wounded, at least 20 were being treated at the University of Colorado Hospital, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery. All of the wounded suffered from gunshot wounds, which ranged from minor to critical, she said.

"They're arriving by police, by ambulance. Some are walking in," she said.
The victims being treated there ranged in age from 3 months to 45, the hospital said.

Denver Health Center had six patients from the shooting, one of them in critical condition, five in fair, said Shelly Davis, house supervisor.
Swedish Health Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams said her hospital was treating three people, two of them in critical and one in fair condition. A fourth patient was on the way, she said.

Parker Adventist Hospital was treating two people for minor injuries, according to a spokeswoman.

Hundreds of police officers descended on the theater, and the FBI has joined the investigation.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by today's events.

While this is going over in Colorado, closer to home, police in Paramus NJ arrested a guy on a warrant from a neighboring town - and found a significant stash of weapons:

Police entered the house and found Eng, 43, asleep in his bedroom with a fully loaded 9 mm handgun under his pillow and two other handguns on his nightstand, Brock said.

On their way in, officers found two bags of high-capacity, fully loaded firearm magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition by the front door, police said. In the kitchen, they found three military-style ammunition boxes that contained thousands of rounds of ammunition, Brock said.

Police ultimately recovered a total of five long-barrel firearms, three handguns and 3,500 rounds of ammunition. A 90-round capacity “drum” magazine was also seized, along with assorted firearms equipment including scopes, ammunition cans, holsters and rifle stocks, Brock said.

Before acting on a warrant out of Bogota, the Paramus police had learned that Eng might have weapons in his home. He also had stated in court that if the police came to his house, there would be “two dead Paramus cops,” Brock said.

The suspect was released on $65,000 bail, despite the threats to his now ex-wife, the threat about police, and the weapons cache he had. I'd say that was far too low considering his history, but police should be commended for carrying out the arrest without a loss of life and averting a potential massacre close to home.

Investigators Looking For Who Planted Pipe Bomb at Colorado Mall

Investigators are searching for whoever planted a pipe bomb among propane gas tanks at the Southwest Plaza Mall in Littleton, Colorado shopping mall on the 12th anniversary of the Columbine massacre.



The bomb and propane tanks were discovered after the fire department responded to a small fire at the mall. The bomb squad was called to defuse the bomb. The FBI has identified a person of interest, based on surveillance video:

The FBI has released these surveillance pictures of the man they are looking for. The subject is describe as a white male, with graying hair, a silver mustache, wearing a dark colored cap with a light colored logo on the front, gray and white horizontally striped shirt, dark jacket with silver buttons, blue jeans, and dark colored shoes.

Anyone with information about this man is asked to call Jefferson County Sheriff's Office tipline at (303) 271-5615.

Members of the Jefferson County Bomb Squad found two propane tanks and a pipe bomb inside the mall after a fire broke out near the food court. The mall is expected to remain closed until Thursday.

The fire started at about 11:50 a.m. Wednesday. By 11:59 firefighters had extinguished the fire. Firefighters found a suspicious device at the origin of the fire, including two propane tanks and what was later revealed to be a pipe bomb.

Irony Alert of the Day

Douglas Bruce, come on down. You're the next contestant on the Irony Alert of the Day. Bruce has been a long time tax activist who has sought to affect tax policy in Colorado. The state's TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) owes its existence in large part to Bruce's lobbying efforts.

So, it is not without a little irony that Bruce was indicted on four counts of tax evasion, failure to file tax returns, and influencing state tax officials.

Douglas Bruce, the Colorado Springs activist whose tax-slashing crusades have left an indelible imprint on Colorado's budget, was arrested Friday on suspicion of tax evasion.

A state grand jury indicted Bruce, best known as the author of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR, on four counts of evading taxes, filing a false return, failing to file a return and attempting to influence a public servant. Three of the four counts are felonies, and the most serious of the charges could bring up to six years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

"State law requires that citizens who live in Colorado and enjoy all of the benefits of being a resident pay the appropriate taxes," Attorney General John Suthers said in a statement accompanying the indictment's announcement. "No one is exempt from that obligation."

Colorado Springs police officers arrested Bruce, 61, on Friday at a post office in the city. He was booked into the El Paso County Jail on $10,000 bond, which he later posted. Phone calls to his house went unreturned.

The case will be prosecuted in Denver.

The indictment focuses on Bruce's income and tax filings for 2005, 2006 and 2007.

He failed to file tax returns, failed to report income, attempted to influence public servants, evaded tax and should feel the sting of prison for his abuse of the tax system. The Indictment is here.

Amazon.com Ends Affiliate Relationships In Colorado

Colorado enacted an Amazon.com law that would impose new filing and reporting requirements on affiliates of out-of-state companies.

Amazon.com is ending its affiliate program for Colorado businesses. I'm sure that others, like Overstock.com will follow. Rather than deal with the headache of the filing and reporting requirements, they'll simply take the business elsewhere. And it's going to end up seriously hurting Colorado businesses that do business via Amazon.com who should have no one to blame but the Colorado politicians who enacted this law.

States are finding that every new effort to impose taxes, especially on out of state businesses, is not leading to new revenues as projected, but rather businesses opting out of doing business in the state. That hits the bottom line for the states and the individuals running these businesses.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter can whine about Amazon.com ending the affiliate program in his state, but he has no one to blame but himself for pushing this law. If the state doesn't take in as much revenue from in-state businesses because they aren't doing as much business because of the lost affiliate status, that's on the enactment of the affiliate nexus bill. It's on him.

Amazon.com made the business decision that it doesn't want to incur additional regulatory burdens and tax obligations. That's completely within its rights as a business. Ending the relationship with the Colorado affiliates prevents it from being hit with that tax burden. End the tax burden, and Amazon.com goes back to doing business in Colorado and the Colorado affiliates can get back to making money that ends up being taxed in the state (under the gross income tax or the corporate income tax). The problem for Amazon is that they're taking a publicity hit because they didn't notify their affiliates in a timely fashion and they look like a bad guy here. As the Denver Post reports:

The affiliates, ranging from online booksellers to individual bloggers who advertise Amazon on their websites to receive a commission in return, were both angry and confused by the move. And some say they were not notified.

"We had to find out from others, and we will lose 10 percent of our (revenues)," said Judith Briles, chief executive officer of Mile High Press, a book publisher in Aurora. "Amazon is going to get horrendous publicity for this. But there are two bad guys: Amazon and the lawmakers who moved this legislation through so fast."

Jeannine Crooks of Parker runs a number of online sites that refer customers to bigger retailers. She only recently became affiliated with Amazon, but said she will have to find other online stores that carry the products she offers. That may not be easy if other online merchants follow Amazon's lead.

"It's putting our entire industry at risk," she said.

At issue is a recent law enacted by legislators mandating Amazon and other retailers notify their online shoppers they must pay a 2.9 percent sales tax on purchases. Designed to offset a massive budget shortfall, it is expected to generate $5 million.

Amazon.com, Overstock.com and other online retailers that sell across state borders do not regularly collect sales taxes, though businesses with physical stores in Colorado must. They have fought attempts in other states to enforce collections of taxes on their products.

After Amazon criticized earlier versions of the Colorado bill, it was modified by law makers to ensure that affiliates did not bear any regulation burden.

On Monday, Amazon sent e-mail messages to some affiliates saying lawmakers "clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to voluntarily collect Colorado sales tax — a course we won't take."

Colorado should have seen what has happened in Rhode Island since the passage of its own version of the Amazon.com law. It's hurt business and tax revenues aren't meeting projections.

In fact, the nation’s first few Amazon taxes have not produced any revenue at all, and there is some evidence of lost revenue. For instance, Rhode Island has seen no additional sales tax revenue from its Amazon tax, and because Amazon reacted by discontinuing its affiliate program, Rhode Islanders are earning less income and paying less income tax. Amazon taxes also do not “level the playing field” between brick-and-mortar and online businesses; the laws actually mandate disparate burdens on online businesses. Litigation over the constitutionality of Amazon taxes is ongoing, with scholars on the left and right disputing their wisdom and legality.

In the mad dash for tax revenues to close massive budget deficits, states are turning to the Internet for a quick hit, and the expected revenues aren't being realized. That has serious consequences down the line, since in-state businesses are losing customers and their revenues are down, further reducing the revenues available to fund state operations.

Far from being a fix, these kinds of laws are tax policy gone awry.

The Never Ending Quest For Tax Revenue Leads To No Revenues and No Jobs?

Sales and use tax is imposed by many states, but many people don't pay the use tax on items they've purchased outside the state or much more commonly - on Internet purchases. Some states have established what's referred to as "Amazon tax" laws so that they can attempt to capture tax revenues that otherwise would not have been collected.

The problem with individual states attempting to impose the tax is that they've failed miserably to actually create any revenue because it's discouraged affiliates from participating in Amazon.com programs:

But the state law has done nothing to increase tax revenue. Officials at the R.I. Department of Revenue “do not believe that there has been any sales tax collected as a result of the Amazon legislation,” said Paul L. Dion, who heads the department’s revenue-analysis office.

For a company like Amazon, there is little risk in pulling out of Rhode Island, which has the nation’s fourth-smallest state economy, said Lee Hower, principal at Point Judith Capital, a Providence-based venture capital firm. But affiliate marketing is a “very common” component of many Web startups’ business plans.

“Amazon doesn’t care,” Hower said. “The only thing that Amazon has changed because of this policy is they’ve stopped paying companies in the state. … The reality is we haven’t gotten the revenue or the policy benefits out of this, but we do have this downside.”

Angus Davis, a tech entrepreneur who lives in Providence, said the law should be called an “affiliate tax” since it has no impact on Amazon. “It’s really slamming the door shut at the borders of Rhode Island to any kind of online advertising industry,” he said.

I'm not particularly surprised that there hasn't been any revenues generated from the tax, and that the market has shifted in ways that the states could not imagine - namely that businesses relocated or simply chose not to operate at all.

Yet, for all the problems with the Amazon tax, there are still states contemplating imposing their own form of the tax. The Colorado legislature is contemplating its own version of the tax that wouldn't mention affiliates. Virginia is looking at its own version.

California and New York are looking at the next step since both states are in dire need of additional revenues to feed the insatiable spending in those states. Amazon.com and Overstock are currently litigating whether the New York law violates the U.S. Constitution on Commerce Clause and Due Process grounds and in the process violating Quill v. North Dakota and its progeny.

What will most likely be needed is Congressional action to make such taxation possible. Yet, Congress is not likely to put its own neck on the line to impose still more taxes on an electorate already sick of taxes both existing and proposed. A backlash against taxes that might be imposed on online transactions would be swift and harsh - and for that reason we'll likely see a continuation of various cases and individual states pushing the matter.

Colorado On Cusp Of Approving First New Uranium Mill Since Cold War

With all of the focus on global warming/climate change and the need to find reliable energy sources that can produce power in sufficient quantities to meet existing and predicted demand, nuclear power is seeing something of a resurgence. Some countries, like China, are looking at nuclear power in a serious way and are in the midst of acquiring sources for uranium to power all the power plants they expect to build in the coming decade.

The US is also looking at nuclear power, but opposition remains steadfast. In Colorado, a private corporation is one permit away from being able to break ground on the first new uranium mill since the Cold War. It would produce uranium for power plants the world over, and given that prices for uranium per pound are currently $46 and expected to rise to over $70 within a few years, it's a good bet.

There are four mills currently in the US, although one is not actively producing uranium because of the recovery costs.

I've detailed some of the issues in the past and have included two books on the subject in my reading lists, Uranium: War, Energy and the Rock That Shaped the World and Atomic Awakening.

Yet, we've got noted experts like Daryl Hannah opposed to a power source that would produce zero emissions and would be capable of leading to a revolution in powering our national economy.

The US remains the world's largest consumer of uranium, while Russia is the largest producer.

Queens FBI Raid Part of Larger Investigation Focusing on Colorado

Yesterday's news of a major FBI and NYPD raid on locations in Queens turns out to be the tip of a much larger investigation focusing on Colorado and the threat of a 9/11 sized event.

Hundreds of FBI agents are on the ground in Colorado, conducting round-the-clock surveillance on five suspects - including a man who recently visited Queens, sources told The News.

New York authorities searched three Flushing apartments and detained several men - later released - after getting a warrant to look for bomb-making components, explosive powders and fuses.

"The FBI is seriously spooked about these guys planning another 9/11," a former senior counterterrorism official told the News. "This is not some ... FBI informant-driven case. This is the real thing."

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters it's an ongoing investigation with plenty of "substance."

The 24-7 counterterror operation included Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants used to intercept calls and e-mails, as well as overseas-linked wiretaps to eavesdrop on Arabic and Pashto-speaking targets.

The FISA warrants would explain why Congress was consulted with yesterday and explains the seriousness of the issues involved. Thus far, no arrests have been made and no explosives or other related materials were taken into possession by the FBI in the Queens raids.

The Daily News also reports that the FBI and NYPD aren't playing from the same playbook. The FBI wanted to grab the entire cell, while the NYPD wanted to scare off the terrorists.

These two organizations have got to get on the same page because our security depends on it. Part of the problem is philosophy. The FBI wanted to catch them in the act, while the NYPD wanted to stop them before they got too far along in the plot. There are dangers with both approaches.

Threshold Questions

There are a series of threshold questions that one should ask when examining all the budget documents coming out of various states when the FY 2009-2010 budgets are being discussed.

The first and foremost question should be: Is FY 2009-2010 larger or smaller than FY 2008-2009?

Many governors will claim that they're making painful cuts and that the budget will not be as large as expected, but the reality is that the budget is actually larger than the prior year, which means simply that these politicians are lying and that there aren't painful cuts at all. It's merely a spending plan that isn't as ambitious as they had hoped. This is a phenomenon common throughout the country, but one that takes on special relevance in New York and New Jersey.

Gov. Jon Corzine is making his budget address today, and it's expected he'll harp on the fact that he's proposing deep cuts and will raise certain taxes and fees, all while chopping the property tax rebate. He's proposing a $29.8 billion budget.

That leads to the second question: Are taxes and fees being raised to maintain the existing level of spending?

Invariably, the answer will be yes. Colorado has imposed fee surcharges on motor vehicle registrations to fund transportation safety projects. It may be for a worthy cause, but the net effect on taxpayers is that registration costs for vehicles will double.

New Jersey's looking to hike the payroll tax to fund unemployment benefits increase other fees and taxes including on tobacco, liquor, and wine. Also expect to see additional personal income taxes imposed on high income filers and the loss of property tax rebates for many people will be a net tax hike.

Property tax rebates would be preserved at current levels for seniors, the disabled and those making less than $50,000 a year. Households earning between $50,000 and $75,000 a year would get two-thirds of the rebate they received last year, officials said.

That would save about $500 million from the $1.7 billion spent last year on the popular program, which included staggered rebates for households making up to $150,000 a year. Those making less than $100,000 got an average of $1,115 back, while the elderly and disabled got $1,266.

Corzine is also expected to propose raising taxes on cigarettes, wine and liquor, as well as a one-year income tax increase on residents making more than $500,000 a year, officials said.

Never mind that the property tax rebate was funded by an increase in the sales and use tax. Now, taxpayers are going to continue paying higher sales tax and see less property tax relief because the state can't manage its books.

Spending isn't being cut, but rather taxes and fees increased to maintain an existing unsustainable level of spending. That, in a recessionary environment, is counterproductive and will only serve to further deepen the recession and make it more difficult for taxpayers and consumers to gain confidence in the marketplace because the government is taking a bigger bite out of their pocketbooks.

Then, there's the question of just how much money is coming from the federal porkfest/budget appropriations. In New Jersey's case, it's several billion dollars, which will go to fund Medicare and education.

Approximately half of the stimulus money goes to Medicaid, and much of the other $1 billion to education, according to two officials briefed on the plan. The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the governor's proposal.

Finally, are states actually moving to cut the size of bloated state workforces? In New Jersey's case, the answer is not really:

Corzine also wants to achieve up to $500 million in savings by asking state worker unions to agree to 12 days of unpaid furloughs and forgo a previously negotiated wage increase. The governor has also been laying the groundwork for layoffs of up to 7,000 people if no agreement is reached.

Bob Master, a spokesman for the Communications Workers of America, the largest state worker union, said Monday that negotiations are ongoing but "no agreements or compromises have been offered or made."

The unions have essentially a veto over the state budget because they will not give up their benefits or make concessions when there are taxes and fees that can be raised to maintain the status quo.

2008 Pre-Election Voter Registration Mess Continues

Who said that Chicago politics was boring (vote early, vote often, and bring out yer dead)? Six Alabama counties voter rolls exceed populations. How exactly is that possible?

Six Alabama counties have more people registered to vote than adults of voting age.

The Birmingham News compared the state's voter registration numbers with the Census Bureau's population estimates and found more registered voters than voting-age adults in Conecuh, Greene, Lowndes, Perry, Washington and Wilcox counties.

Statewide, the voter registration rolls equal 85% of Alabama's voting age population.

The News reported that the biggest variations were in Greene and Perry counties.

Greene County had 7,540 people on its voter rolls at the end of September, but the Census Bureau estimates its adult population at 6,834.

It's a mystery. At least the local papers there are trying to track down what's going on, and doing what the state election officials haven't - checking to see whether the numbers make sense. The Birmingham Press has an interesting observation:

The counties with 100 percent registration are some of Alabama's least populous, so an error in the population estimate or a few extra voters on the rolls would have a bigger impact statistically than in larger counties.

And that spells potential trouble.

Rinse and repeat around the nation and you get the idea of just how badly the election officials and politicians have failed voters since 2000. All of their claims that they would fix the broken system are empty promises - they've fixed the problem alright.

Ohio's Secretary of State managed to avoid statutory obligations to check voter rolls to ensure that they are valid because the Ohio GOP didn't have standing to sue. The Supreme Court ruling didn't address the question of whether Ohio's Secretary of State was fulfilling her obligations under the federal law because they adduced that only the Attorney General can bring suit (which begs the question as to why no one at the Justice Department has taken action).

The New York Times claims that six states, including Colorado, are not complying with that federal law - the 2002 HAVA, by trimming voter rolls within 90 days of the election.

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.

The six states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Some are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

Some of the states are improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters.

In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.

Under federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found on state databases, like those for driver's licenses or identification cards.

The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.

It's rather telling that even federal law admits that the Social Security lists are inaccurate. What does that say about the federal program when you can't rely on its databases? Did anyone consider that the state databases are themselves a source of concern and inaccuracy and may be no more accurate than the federal databases?

This is a mess of huge proportions, and the Times is more concerned about states who are actively trying to cull the rolls of those who are disallowed from voting (dead, felons, illegal aliens, etc.) than the efforts of groups like ACORN who put such individuals on voter registrations overwhelming election officials who have to put time and effort into sorting through registrations.

As I previously noted, all the problems open up ample opportunities for fraud, as in New Jersey, where if you are not on the voter rolls, you can not only get a provisional ballot, but you can insist on getting a judge to allow you to cast a ballot directly (with no way to check after the fact whether the person was actually legally able to vote).

Denver Giving DNC Gas Tax Breaks

Ah, the appearance of impropriety. Or illegality.

The City of Denver, which is hosting the Democratic National Convention next month was apparently providing DNC committee members with the ability to fill their gas tanks on taxpayer dime - by letting them skip paying state and federal gas taxes.

The practice, which began four months ago, may have ended hours after its disclosure. An aide to Mayor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday evening saying that Denver 2008 Host Committee members would pay market prices for fuel and would also be liable for all applicable taxes.

However, Public Works spokeswoman Christine Downs told City Council members just hours before that host committee members were fueling up at the city pumps. The city does not pay taxes on the fuel for its fleet, and Downs said the host committee would not either.

The disclosure brought immediate scrutiny. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said the practice "would seem" to be illegal and referred the matter to the state Department of Revenue.

Nonprofits, such as the host committee, are subject to state and federal gasoline taxes, according to the Department of Revenue.

The issue arose during the regular weekly meeting of Hickenlooper and City Council members. Downs requested authorization for a contract so the Public Works Department could be reimbursed by the host committee for use of "fueling facilities, fuel and car washes."

Downs said the contract with the host committee started in March and that $9,700 in fuel and services had been purchased from the city so far. But the committee has yet to be billed. The city anticipates $466,125 in total revenues from the contract, Downs said.

City Councilman Charlie Brown raised the question of whether the host committee would be paying fuel taxes, and Downs said it wouldn't.

"There's something there that just doesn't seem right to me because, in a sense, you're saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them," said Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz.

Hickenlooper said the practice isn't unique to Denver.

"I do know for a fact that they're doing the same exact thing in Minneapolis," Hickenlooper said, referring to the city that along with St. Paul is hosting the Republican National Convention.

The mayor's office is trying to play this off as though the RNC was getting a similar break, but the RNC is paying the tax on fuel just as any other taxpayer.

Nice.

So, what was the excuse given for the DNC using the city's tax-free gas pumps?

Wait for it:

The host committee, which is responsible for raising money to put on the convention, is using the city's pumps "for safety and security reasons," Lopez said.

"We know the gas is not tainted," he said. "We use it as a safety and security measure."

Oh really? Are you telling me that Denver residents are putting themselves in jeopardy by filling up at any of the privately owned gas stations? How many tainted gas stations have been found in the City? You would think that such news would get wider play in Denver, but a search of news for Denver and tainted gas found no records.

Lame.

First the DNC was toying with the idea of cutting the convention short because it couldn't make it's budget, and now we're finding that they've been shortchanging the state by not paying taxes on fuel purchases.

Lovely.

Colorado Heroes

One was an unarmed Vietnam veteran who exposed himself to fire from the Colorado shooter, while the other was an armed volunteer security guard who risked her own life to confront the violent shooter, who had already killed four other people in two separate incidents.

Together, they saved hundreds of people at the New Life Church.

Bourbannais was behind a pillar at the time, deciding what to do next.

“The only thing I could think to do was walk out from the pillar so the gunman would see me,” he said. “He was a man in black, but he sure wasn’t Johnny Cash.

“So I yelled, ‘Coward!’ stood out, and our eyes met and he lifted his rifle, fired, and I took a few fragments – very minor – in my left forearm.”

Bourbannais stepped behind the pillar again and repeated his demand that the security guard give him a gun so he could take the shooter out. When he got no response, Bourbannais stepped out from behind the pillar to confront Murray again.

At that point, another security guard, 42-year-old Jeanne Assam, arrived with her gun drawn. Unlike the male guard, she was using hers.

“They were engaged in a firefight. He was firing. She was firing,” Bourbannais said. “And she was completely exposed. I was in Vietnam for 14 months in combat, and it’s the bravest thing I’ve ever witnessed. She kept yelling, ‘Surrender,’ and returned fire the complete time.”

Bourbannais walked parallel to her toward Murray as Assam shot him.

“As he slumped down and his head tilted, I said to her, ‘That’s the calmest, bravest thing I‘ve ever seen. How did you do it?’ “ he said. “She said ‘I was praying and asking the Holy Spirit the entire time to guide me.’ ”

Vieira asked Bourbannais if he realized that he could have been killed.

“I figured my chances were 30 percent,” he said, as calm as if he were describing a trip to the corner store.

Larry Bourbannais and Jeanne Assam are heroes.

Thank you.

Your fellow congregants thank you for putting your lives on the line to save hundreds of others from injury or death at the hands of Matthew Murray.

Had they waited for the police to arrive, the carnage would have been unimaginable as Murray had hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Instead, their quick thinking averted the loss of even more life.

UPDATE:
A report indicates that the shooter died of a self inflicted gunshot wound after being hit four times by Assam. This doesn't diminish the heroism of Bourbannais or Assam because without their confrontation with Murray, he would have continued his shooting rampage until he was either cornered and killed or he ran out of bullets.

Links Between Colorado Christian Shootings?

Police are investigating whether there are links between the murder of two Christian missionairies in a Denver surburb and a shooting at a megachurch in Colorado Springs, which resulted in two more dead.

Police were searching a home in Englewood, about 15 miles south of Denver, early today in connection with the shootings. Even the bushes in front of the house were seen being scrutinized, The A.P. reported. The two shootings — at a missionary training center near Denver and at an evangelical megachurch in Colorado Springs — were 12 hours and 70 miles apart. They turned a quiet Sunday of fellowship into a day of high drama and gunfire, with bystanders running for cover, swarms of police officers rushing to the scenes, followed by lockdowns, evacuations and a manhunt for the gunman who got away after the first attack.

That shooting occurred about 12:30 a.m. in Arvada, 15 miles west of Denver, at a dormitory of Youth With a Mission, an interdenominational Christian organization with hundreds of centers around the country that train young people for short-term missionary service around the world.

Witnesses said the gunman, in his 20s and wearing a dark jacket and a dark skullcap, spoke to several staff members, insisting that he was not homeless and asking to spend the night. After a 30-minute discussion grew heated, he was turned away. When a staff member asked for help from others to usher him out, he drew a handgun, shot a woman and a man to death and wounded two other staff members.

He fled on foot into the snowy night, witnesses said. As ambulances rushed the wounded away, heavily armed police teams with dogs searched the snow-covered ground of surrounding neighborhoods while local residents locked their doors and windows. But no trace of the man was found in the area.

Just over 12 hours later in Colorado Springs, an hour’s drive to the south of Arvada, a gunman also clad in dark clothing invaded the grounds of the New Life Church, a 14,000-member institution founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who resigned in disgrace last year after acknowledging a three-year sexual relationship with a male prostitute.

Wearing combat boots and carrying an assault rifle and at least one pistol, the gunman, apparently without provocation, opened fire in a parking lot and shot four people, one of them fatally, as bystanders dashed for cover. There were about 7,000 worshipers inside the church when the shooting erupted, a church official said.

One of the victims injured in that attack died on Sunday night, said Amy Sufak, a spokeswoman for Penrose Community Hospital in Colorado Springs.

The Colorado Springs chief of police, Richard Myers, said that after the parking-lot shootings the assailant ran into the 10,000-seat church with his high-powered rifle, and was confronted by an armed church security guard, who shot and killed him. Neither the gunman nor the victims in Colorado Springs were immediately identified by the authorities.

A female security guard killed the shooter in Colorado Springs and saved countless others by her quick thinking and training. The Colorado Springs New Life Church beefed up security following the incident at the Youth With a Mission dormitory earlier that day. The decision to increase security was the right one.

The gunman was apparently wearing a tactical helmet and body armor.

UPDATE:
The identities of the victims at the New Life Church have been released, but the identity of the shooter remains a mystery.

UPDATE:
CNN is reporting that the alleged gunman in the shootings at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is 23-year-old Matthew Murray.

UPDATE:
Murray appears to have had links to the shooting at the missionary as well.

Local news organizations are reporting that the gunman has been identified as Matthew Murray. None of the reports cite a verifiable source for this information.

CNN says he worked on a mission with the first group that was targeted during yesterday's shooting sprees. The all-news station says he was carrying some 500 rounds of ammunition.

"Murray was home schooled and his last known address was at his parents' home in unincorporated Arapahoe County – the same home investigators searched Sunday night," KUSA-TV reports on its website.

UPDATE:
Still nothing definitive linking the two shootings, but there are some interesting bits coming out that suggest there was some kind of a link.

Although it's not known if the shootings are connected, New Life Church and Youth With A Mission are connected in several ways. There is a Youth With A Mission office on the New Life Church campus, and many members of New Life have completed the YWAM's school and discipleship programs. They have also worked together in local evangelical outreach programs.

UPDATE:
CNN is now reporting that Murray was the shooter in both incidents according to sources.

Developing: Four Shot At Denver Missionary

A gunman walked into a training center dormitory for young Christian missionaries in a Denver suburb early Sunday and opened fire, wounding at least four people.

The shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission center, Arvada Police spokeswoman Susan Medina said. About 45 people were evacuated from the dormitory.

The extent of the injuries was not clear, and the gunman was still at large Sunday morning.

Witnesses told police that the gunman was a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap. He may have glasses or a beard.

Police searched through the night with several dogs and nearby houses were notified via 911 to be on the lookout. Medina said residents should look out their windows to see if the snow had been disturbed overnight.

About four inches of snow had fallen in the area in the past day.

The dormitory is on the campus of the Faith Bible Chapel. People bundled up against subfreezing cold trickled into the sanctuary for Sunday services as detectives conducted their investigation at the dormitory, about 300 yards away.

Darv Smith, director of a Youth With a Mission center in Boulder, said people ranging from their late teens to their 70s undergo a 12-week discipleship course that prepares them to be missionaries.

UPDATE:
Sadly, two of those shot were killed.

The shooter entered a dormitory on the campus of Youth with a Mission, a training facility for Christian missionaries, in Arvada, Colo., a Denver suburb, at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Two people were killed and two were wounded and being treated at local hospitals.

Fire the Fraud

Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor who plagiarized texts and made obnoxious comments about the 9/11 attacks and their victims should be fired.

The president of the University of Colorado has recommended that a professor who likened some September 11 victims to a Nazi should be fired, according to the professor and the school.

Ward Churchill, a tenured professor of ethnic studies, has denied the allegations and threatened a lawsuit if he is dismissed.

CU President Hank Brown made the recommendation in a 10-page letter sent to the chair of the committee that handles tenure issues. University spokeswoman Michele McKinney confirmed published reports about the recommendation Monday but said the school would not make the letter public.

The university's governing Board of Regents would have the final say on whether Churchill is fired or disciplined. It could be several weeks before the case ends up in its hands; the tenure panel must review it first.

Churchill touched off a firestorm with an essay likening some victims in the World Trade Center to Adolf Eichmann, who helped carry out the Holocaust.

University officials concluded he could not be fired for his comments because they were protected by the First Amendment, but they launched an investigation into allegations that he fabricated or falsified his research and plagiarized.

To me, it isn't the 9/11 comments that should get him fired. It's the academic fraud he's engaged in for years that form the basis for firing him.

As the earlier investigation determined:

Another committee found Churchill guilty of research misconduct and another panel recommended that he be fired because of "repeated and deliberate" infractions of scholarship rules.

Such conduct cannot be tolerated at an academic institution since intellecutal honesty and academic pursuits are based upon the honesty and veracity of the researchers and academics. Allowing Churchill to remain at the University undermines the University's goals, mission, and credibility.

UPDATE:
Hot Air wonders what it will actually take to get him fired considering that this isn't the first call by those associated with the University for him to be fired.

Developing: Colorado School Lockdown

A high school was locked down Thursday amid unconfirmed reports that two masked men were seen entering the building.

Officers from various law enforcement agencies could be seen outside Boulder High School, and the entrances to the parking lot and the building were blocked off.

Boulder Police spokeswoman Julie Brooks confirmed that the school was locked down and that authorities were on the scene, but she released no further details. She would not confirm a report by KOA Radio that a school staff member had seen masked men entering the building.

Hopefully this was just a misunderstanding and that the staff member was mistaken in what they had seen, but law enforcement is not taking any chances.

UPDATE:
Still no new news on the situation, but I found an article showing that the school had been subject to threats last month in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech murder spree:

Seventy percent of Boulder High School students were absent Thursday, in part because of graffiti found in March in a bathroom saying, "Everybody dies April 19."

Right now, there's no way to know if there's any connection or whether this is simply a wild goose chase.

UPDATE:
Classes were cancelled for the day, but nothing out of the ordinary was found in a sweep of the school's grounds.

Going, Going...Gone?

Ward Churchill, he of the anti-Semitic comments, inane commentary about 9/11, and plagarism and other acts of academic dishonesty, has been terminated.

He has 10 days to appeal.

As I've noted before:

Churchill is free to speak freely and make a complete and utter ass of himself. However, he doesn't have the right to plagarize, and commit other acts of academic misconduct. Those are fireable offenses - and the panel properly concluded as such.

The University of Colorado correctly determined that Churchill's academic misconduct and plagarism were actionable offenses worthy of termination. Churchill's going to try and throw all sorts of smokescreens out there, but note that he's not addressing the issue of plagarism, but instead seeking to frame the matter as one of free speech.

Churchill has 10 days to appeal, which entails making a request to have the university president or chancellor forward the recommendation to the faculty senate Committee on Privilege and Tenure. A special panel will then conduct hearings on the matter and make a recommendation to the president on whether grounds for dismissal are supported.

Another committee found Churchill guilty of research misconduct and another panel recommended that he be fired because of "repeated and deliberate" infractions of scholarship rules.

Churchill's attorney promptly called a news conference Monday afternoon to announce that his client does intend to appeal to the tenure committee. He also mentioned going to court.

Churchill, who ignited a firestorm by calling some of the World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns" in an essay he wrote after Sept. 11, 2001, has vowed to sue the school if he was fired.

"We're going to a real court because we can trust juries to do the right thing," said Churchill's attorney David Lane. "Churchill says this all completely bogus. Let's see if a jury and a Federal District Court agrees with the committee. Or see if everything that's happened here is retaliation for Ward Churchill's First Amendment free speech relating to 9/11."

The 9/11 related comments brought scrutiny, which led to the questions about his scholarship. It was those questions that led to the conclusion that he committed acts of plagarism and other academic misconduct.

Panel: Churchill Should Be Fired

This is not a surprise. There were serious questions about Churchill's conduct, including plagarism and other misconduct. The panel voted 6-3 to recommend firing Churchill from the University of Colorado for the misconduct.

A University of Colorado committee says the professor who called some of the World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns" should be fired for repeated and deliberate infractions of scholarship rules.

The school's Standing Committee on Research Misconduct made the recommendation on a 6 to 3 vote in its final report, which now goes to university officials for a final decision.

Churchill is a tenured professor of ethnic studies who has said he would sue if officials tried to fire him. The committee's report asks school officials to reassure other faculty members that CU still values academic freedom.

Churchill has repeatedly denied misconduct. He says the report is "baloney." Churchill says the call for his termination is based on an illegitimate investigation.

The school's investigation focused on allegations that Churchill committed research misconduct and plagiarism. It didn't address his comments about the terrorism victims. School officials in the past have said those comments were protected under the First Amendment.

Truth is an absolute defense, and I'm looking forward to any kind of lawsuit filed here - because it will show Churchill to be an academic fraud who also happened to make a bunch of truly outrageous statements, including the one about how the 9/11 victims at the WTC were nothing but a bunch of "little Eichmanns."

UPDATE:
The Denver Post notes the panel did not address the "little Eichmann's' comment and instead focused completely on the academic misconduct. That's as it should be. Churchill is free to speak freely and make a complete and utter ass of himself. However, he doesn't have the right to plagarize, and commit other acts of academic misconduct. Those are fireable offenses - and the panel properly concluded as such.

Of course Churchill and his supporters will try and claim that this is crimping his free speech rights, but that's nothing but empty rhetoric.

QandO hopes that the panel looks at the academic misconduct and not the comments. I concur.

Others blogging: LGF, Blue Crab Boulevard, Coalition of the Swilling, Hot Air, Dangerous Professors, and Sweetness and Light.

Can't Change Stripes

It isn't much of a surprise that imprisoned terrorists at a SuperMax facility in Colorado were communicating with terrorists on the outside and never stopped advocating terrorism. These particular terrorists happened to be among those represented by former New York lawyer, Lynne Stewart, who was convicted for violating an agreement with the federal government not to pass conversations to third parties.

So the men were sent to America's most secure federal prisons, eventually ending up at Supermax in Colorado, supposedly unable to do further harm.

Or so we thought. Letters and articles obtained by NBC News show that while behind bars, the 1993 bombers continued their terrorist activities. They wrote letters to other suspected terrorists and brazenly praised Osama bin Laden in Arabic newspapers.

According to confidential Spanish court documents obtained by NBC, at least 14 letters went back and forth between the World Trade Center bombers and a Spanish terror cell.

What is surprising is that the federal government did nothing to stop the communications as soon as they became aware of this. Terrorists will trade tactics, receive encouragement and solicit advice on how to act and behave.

This is a colossal failure on the part of the Justice Department to underestimate the lengths to which these terrorists would go to initiate terrorist attacks around the world and domestically. We have no idea what else was spawned by this group of convicted terrorists, but we must demand that these individuals do not have any contact with the outside world that even hints at the possibility of terrorism.