Last fall's initiative campaigns in Colorado saw an extraordinary change in the ballot at the last minute. Labor unions agreed to withdraw from the ballot a package of initiatives that targeted businesses in exchange for a promise by business groups to contribute to a labor effort to defeat three business-backed initiatives. The four labor-backed measures technically remained on the ballot, but under Colorado law, without the support of their labor sponsors, the initiatives were a dead letter. The votes cast on those initiatives didn't count.

To some, it looked like business groups were bribing the labor unions to pull the measures off the ballot. So two Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor to withdraw a ballot initiative in exchange for money or any promise of value. The bill was defeated in committee last week on a party line vote, the Rocky Mountain News reports.

Freda Poundstone, a Colorado politician and lobbyist best known as author of a constitutional amendment that limited Denver's ability to annex land, has filed a ballot initiative that would reduce state taxes on cars and income, bringing the latter down -- bit by bit -- from 4.5 to 3.5 percent. The initiative has received a less than friendly reception by state leaders who are trying to balance an out of whack budget, the Rocky Mountain News reports.

It appears that even those who believe in space aliens are optimistic about President Obama.

Readers of this blog know your blogger has been closely monitoring the effort to qualify a ballot initiative in the city of Denver to establish an extraterrestial commission. It's being pitched as a sort of civil defense thing--preparation for attack (and Denver is at some altitude, so the aliens would probably go their first).

Now the initiative's sponsor, Jeff Peckman, says he's putting the measure on hold. He tells the Rocky Mountain News that the initiative isn't needed because he's confident Obama will take the ET threat seriously. Perhaps this is part of the new Obama diplomatic strategy of engaging our adversaries.

Jeff Peckman, the author of the municipal ballot initiative to establish an extraterrestrial commission in Denver, has revised his initiative. The commission will have seven members, not 11, and members no longer have to be Denver residents. In the interests of recruiting those with UFO expertise, the ET commissioners can be from "anywhere in the universe." Peckman tells the Rocky Mountain News: "We've set the bar higher for the people that would be on the commission." Yes, but it says here it's not enough. Wouldn't limiting the commission to just "people" deprive us of alien expertise. Perhaps another revision is in order, Mr. Peckman.