On Denver, UFOs and Byrds

Today as I sit sick as a dog I was delighted to be the recipient of a text message from my old friend Robyn, aka Byrd.  I last saw her in Denver for her wedding and I would like to say I have good memories of the evening but the night is very vague to me...from the accounts I've been able to gather I was the life of the party over a bottle of Red Breast Irish Whiskey and I think I still owe the Rabbi something for the mess I made.  But I digress.

Byrd told me of the Proposition in Denver to set up an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission and her comment was "this is what happens when pot becomes legal".

I gotta say, knowing Denver...this is about right :)

In Colorado, Flying-Saucer People Are at the Throats of Ghost Hunters - WSJ.com
Colorado Flying-Saucer Believers Have Ghost Hunters in Their Sights
Denver May Not Be Big Enough for Both; Earthlings to Decide on UFO Haven


DENVER—There has been plenty of partisan rancor across Colorado as Election Day approaches. Here in the capital, it's out of this world.


Ballot Initiative 300 would require the city to set up an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission, stocked with Ph.D. scientists, to "ensure the health, safety and cultural awareness of Denver residents" when it comes to future contact "with extraterrestrial intelligent beings or their vehicles."


Promoting the initiative: Jeff Peckman, a silver-haired entrepreneur who lives with his parents. "Low overhead," he explains. Mr. Peckman is a firm believer in intergalactic life, though he has never been personally contacted by an alien. That gives him more credibility, he says; it's harder to dismiss him as biased.


Mr. Peckman has recruited about 20 volunteers for his campaign.

But we do have opposition to the proposition.

They face an impassioned opposition led by Bryan Bonner, who dismisses the unidentified-flying-object buffs as delusional if not outright frauds.


One thing about Mr. Bonner: He spends his spare time crawling through spooky spaces, deploying remote digital thermometers, seismographs, infrared cameras, electromagnetic field detectors and Nerf balls in pursuit of evidence of the paranormal. He is, in short, a ghost hunter.


And he has rallied his colleagues at the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society to fight Initiative 300 as an embarrassment to science—and to Denver.

"This is about the reputation of the city," Mr. Bonner says.

Hey pal, you elected Pat Schroeder to Congress for years...UFOs and ghosts are minor glitches on your reputation conpared to that.

Initiative 300 made it to Tuesday's ballot on the strength of roughly 4,000 voter signatures. It starts from the premise that intelligent aliens have been visiting Earth for decades, but the federal government has conspired to keep that quiet.


"We need to get this out of the realm of the Tooth Fairy and into the realm of diplomatic protocol," says Ricky Butterfass, who works on the campaign.

I got another old friend Jerry who speaks semi-fluent Klingon...can he be a translator.  I know he will like that money.

..."I don't really believe in extraterrestrial life, but if we set something up like that, we'd be prepared for anything," said Brandon Coby, 23 years old, a biology major at the University of Colorado. "You can't go wrong with it."

Hey Brandon, in case you haven't heard, the UN took care of that.

That logic drives the ghost-hunters at Rocky Mountain Paranormal nuts. Mr. Bonner, a founder of the group, says he has no problem with anyone scanning the skies for UFOs. But he does object to giving the saucer seekers credibility by setting them up with an official commission and posting its findings on the city of Denver's website, as Initiative 300 requires.


Compared to that, he says, his profession is a model of discretion.


"The world is full of ghost-hunters," Mr. Bonner says, "but we're not trying to get ourselves affiliated with the city government."

Good point there Mr. Bonner...but what is worse, the Denver City Council or the United Nations?  Something to contemplate...
As I sit here with a fever and a good chuckle from reading this I have to say I can't wait to visit Denver again (probably by motorcycle this time) and among other things meet my old friend with my customary greeting:

Robyn, You Ignorant Slut!