GIVE FIREFIGHTERS HEALTH CARE
A Colorado resident has launched a new effort to begin providing wildland firefighters health care between wildfires.
Apparently, wildland firefighters are classified as seasonal employees and are not covered under the federal health care plan.
But John Lauer, a wildland firefighter himself, has started a petition on Change.org calling for coverage to be extended to wildland fire crew members.
“I’ve seen crew members’ families go into debt simply trying to start a family, because they have no coverage,” Lauer says.
The National Federation of Federal Employees delivered petition signatures to the federal Office of Personnel Management on June 15.
Considering the fact that, as former Gov. Bill Owens would say, “all of Colorado is burning,” this is a no-brainer. We need to take good care of our wildland firefighters, because at times like this, we need them to take good care of us.
GOD DOES NOT EXIST
A group called Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is rightfully coming to the defense of an Indonesian man who was attacked and arrested in January after having the gall to post “God does not exist” on Facebook.
Alexander Aan is accused of other heinous crimes as well, like posting articles and cartoons about Islam. Shocking, right?
But seriously, regardless of one’s beliefs about God, this is one guy who deserves to have the whole world come to his defense.
AAI is asking people to exercise their freedom of expression by tweeting messages of support for Aan with the hashtag #goddoesnotexist and posting “God does not exist” on their Facebook page.
To donate to a fund that AAI set up to help pay Aan’s legal expenses and support his family while he’s in jail, see www.atheistalliance.org/support-aai/donate.
HERE KITTY, KITTY
If you haven’t heard about the cool cats performing in Boulder this week, you should really check them out.
No, really. They are cats. The Amazing Acro-Cats, billed as one of only four purr-forming house-cat troupes in the country, are wowing audiences by pushing carts, riding skateboards, rolling barrels, walking tight ropes and jumping through hoops.
Oh, and they have a band. Seriously. The “Rock- Cats” feature Pinky on guitar, Dakota on drums, Nue on keyboards and a chicken named Hen-diana Jones on tambourine.
They’re only playing the Nomad Theatre until July 1, but after that they’ll be at the Bug Theatre in Denver if you miss their Boulder run.
For more information, see www.circuscats.com. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
