A single-engine plane flew over downtown Denver today towing a banner labeled “Salazar the Slaughter Czar,” presumably referring to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s plan for wild-horse reserves in the West.

View a wide-angle version here.

Anyone in the mood for a little boycotting this weekend might want to start with Wolf Motors. ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal activist group, is calling attention to the potentially offensive billboard the company has put up on its Wheat Ridge site.

The company seems to be in cahoots with local radio blowhard Peter Boyles, who has been promoting the often discredited but never silenced “tea party” and “birther” movements for months.

The often confounding, forever sublime First Amendment guarantees that Wolf, Boyles, and the rest of this curious brood are free to protest President Obama’s policies, of course. But the racially tinged caricatures of the president cross the line. It’s merely the latest and most localized evidence that certain people believe it’s okay to bring a little bigotry back now that an African-American has ascended to the highest job in the land. But it never was, nor will it ever be.

Maybe if these folks wised up and brought a little class to the debates they’d so dearly like to have, some common sense and common ground might rise above the noise.

A person in a chicken costume entered Durango’s city hall this week to address city council on the issue of backyard chicken farming.

The “chicken” entered, made a few moves and some noises, flapped its wings, held up a sign, then took a seat in the nearly empty gallery.

H/T Durango Herald.

Last year, U.S. spending to treat obesity hit $86 billion—a figure that could quadruple as America’s waistlines keep bulging in years to come, points out Medill News Service, which cites a study finding that almost half of U.S. adults are expected to be obese by 2018. But you can’t blame Boulder for the trend.

A federal analysis of obesity rates across the nation concludes that Boulder County is the nation’s thinnest, writes the Daily Camera. That’s according to 2007 data—the most recent available—showing that less than 13 percent of people in the county are obese and just four percent reported diabetes, a health problem closely linked to obesity. Meanwhile, some counties in Alabama and Mississippi are more than 40 percent obese. Denver’s rate is about 16.3 percent.

What’s President Barack Obama doing about the problem? Taking to the airwaves on Thanksgiving Day. In a public service announcement with the NFL, viewers will see New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees toss a pass to an unseen player. Wait! It’s Barack Obama—and he’s taking on Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. And they’re playing on the White House lawn (via USA Today).

The message: Get out and exercise, kids

Former Congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo made waves recently when he announced he “fully” intends to seek the Republican Party nomination for Colorado governor, putting his former congressional colleague Scott McInnis in the position of possibly facing Tancredo in a primary race. Tancredo’s now waffling on that “fully” quote, reconsidering his bid.

Apparently, it’s something he began pondering as he walked through a local mall. He tells Westword, “I know that for everybody who comes up and says, ‘Go, Tom, go!,’ there are probably five people who passed me by saying, ‘Go to hell, Tom Tancredo!’”

Tancredo says he might be convinced to stay out of the race if he can be assured by fellow Republicans, including McInnis, that a truly conservative agenda will be offered in the 2010 race. The Denver Post’s Mike Rosen highlights what that agenda—a platform of sorts—could look like, citing “recent meetings” between McInnis, Tancredo, GOP state Chairman Dick Wadhams, and others.

Among the subjects: a commitment to limit taxes and state spending, rescinding Governor Bill Ritter’s executive order unionizing state employees, appointing conservative judges “to balance the court and reign in judicial activism,” and “responsible development of renewable energy and Colorado’s abundant oil and natural gas resources, as well as nuclear energy.”

In Europe, skier Lindsey Vonn requires a five-bodyguard escort to leave a race, yet in the U.S., she can stand in relative anonymity at the base of a mountain without garnering as much as a “hello.”

Although Vonn has racked up a staggering number of overall World Cup titles and wins in individual races across the globe (recapped at lindseyvonn.com), she still feels a responsibility to help grow the sport on American soil.

Beyond adding more trophies to her already-stuffed shelves, Vonn tells the Vail Daily she wants to help make ski racing more mainstream in the United States. A good place to start would be next weekend’s slalom and GS races at Aspen’s Winternational World Cup Event. Vonn took fourth in both races last year and hopes to not only improve her individual performance, but to give American fans something exciting to watch in the only women’s World Cup race in the U.S. this year.

Nobody is going to hand Vonn the victory, though, and she faces stiff competition. The Associated Press reports that Germany’s Maria Riesch edged Vonn by .08 seconds at the opening women’s World Cup slalom event last weekend in Levi, Finland, with Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen coming in third. Vonn tells the AP it was nice to put the race behind her in preparation for the Aspen Winternational, an event that wasn’t confirmed until yesterday, reports The Aspen Times.

Winternational chief of race Jim Hancock assures International Ski Federation officials there’s enough snow for the race to proceed, despite the lower slopes of Aspen Mountain showing bare spots up to about a week ago. Several nights of snow-making and natural snowstorms fixed the problem, and the race will move forward November 28 and 29.

Last week I admitted to finally updating my house with CFLs. This week, my partner in Weekend Winterizing challenges, Susanna Donato, talks about a different type of energy-efficient light bulb: the tiny, colorful ones we like to hang for the holidays.

While my boyfriend and I share a rental and don’t have the freedom to decorate the outside of our house with lights, we do have an annual holiday tradition of picking out a plucky Charlie Brown tree and rigging it with lights. (We also make our ornaments out of old beer caps.)

Two years ago, Donato’s family bought LED lights for their Christmas tree. Although they weren’t the cheapest purchase, the Sierra Club estimates LED lights use just 10 percent of the energy of regular lights, an approximate $50 savings on electricity bills over the holiday season.

Donato notes that Consumer Reports has also done a comparison of LEDs versus traditional holiday lights, finding the electricity costs to be similar, though LEDs use less energy. She also points out that this week the Costco in Aurora (1471 S. Havana) has strings of 100 white LED holiday lights for close to $15—meaning more people should be able to afford making their trees both sparkly and energy efficient this year.

The foreclosure crisis isn’t over. It’s expected to persist into next year, as high unemployment will probably translate into more people losing their homes. And the crisis has now spread to homeowners with relatively manageable fixed-interest rates. Across the United States, 14 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on payments or in foreclosure as of the end of September, according to The Associated Press.

In Colorado, there were 12,468 foreclosure filings in the third quarter, setting an all-time quarterly record, reports the Denver Business Journal. That’s the fourth consecutive quarter in which foreclosures in Colorado have increased; foreclosure filings in the state for the period ending September 30 were up 18 percent from the same period last year.

“At the pace we’re going for this year, we’ll almost certainly have more than 40,000 for the year, probably up [to] more than 42,000, 43,000,” Ryan McMacken of the Colorado Division of Housing tells 9News. “So, there’s plenty of new people entering the foreclosure process right now.”

Patrick Dolan, a Re/Max of Boulder Inc. Realtor, tells the Boulder County Business Report that on the other side of the coin, homebuyers who were once happy with a 13 percent interest rate now complain if they get only five percent, expecting lower.

These days, street food is all the rage. And while Denver has fewer food trucks than other cities, the 16th Street Mall still has plenty of vendors that dish up the goods (think Biker Jim on Arapahoe, the Thai Food Cart on Stout, or the gyro stand on Market). Now, there’s a newcomer to seek out: The almost three-week-old Gastro Cart, which sits on the corner of 18th and Curtis streets.

Run by Bryan Hume and Mike Winston, former cooks at Table 6, this is a chef’s approach to street food: killer veggie tacos with a caramelized cabbage roll, whole grain rice, and smoked jalapeño aïoli; pulled pork sandwiches with smoked curry sauce, Granny Smith apples, and cabbage on a sesame roll; roast lamb gyros with tzatziki sauce, tomato guajillo, mint foam, and cabbage on grilled naan; and spicy chicken tacos with homemade kimchi and Thousand Island dressing on a caraway-corn tortilla.

Bonus: Street food is such a hot trend, look out for other local restaurateurs to get in on the act. To wit, Frank Bonanno is considering a food truck that’ll serve steamed buns and noodle bowls à la Bones.

Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Jeanne-Claude, one half of the art team that wrapped the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin and installed 7,503 vinyl gates with saffron-colored nylon panels in Central Park, died yesterday in Manhattan, where she lived with her husband, Christo.

Jeanne-Claude was 74. She met Christo Javacheff, a Bulgarian refugee, in Paris in 1958. Christo was already wrapping small objects at that time. Three years later, the two collaborated on a temporary installation in Cologne, Germany—oil drums and rolls of industrial paper wrapped in tarpaulin.

To establish an artistic brand, they used only Christo’s name, but in 1994 they retroactively applied the joint name “Christo and Jeanne-Claude” to their outdoor and large-scale temporary indoor works, according to The New York Times.

In an online statement, Christo says he is saddened by his wife’s death but remains “committed to honor the promise they made to each other many years ago: that the art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude would continue.” That means completing their controversial “Over The River” installation project on the Arkansas River in Colorado. But even with Christo’s determination to finish the $50 million project, it has many hurdles to clear.

The Bureau of Land Management is reviewing the artists’ proposal and is assessing the environmental impacts, the Colorado Springs Gazette points out, after Cañon City-based Rags Over the Arkansas River stated its opposition to the project. Christo and Jeanne-Claude first visited the Arkansas River Valley 14 years ago, notes The Pueblo Chieftain, which interviews the couple’s local independent consultant.

Emmylou Harris, Macky Auditorium
Friday, November 20 | Details | Read more | Watch and listen

Macky Auditorium, an elegant and intimate concert hall on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, is a fine venue for one of the most influential and angelic voices in American music. Emmylou Harris’ forte—interpreting country, pop, and folk songs with a rustic, heartrending beauty—will guide a set list that spans more than 40 years of recording.

More: Puscifer | Pink Mountaintops | Corb Lund | The Fiery Furnaces

The University of Colorado’s 31-28 loss to Oklahoma State last night encapsulates all the reasons it’s been such a frustrating season for those trying to support CU football. The Buffs took a 21-10 lead into the third quarter, but couldn’t capitalize on the many mistakes of the two inexperienced quarterbacks Oklahoma State put on the field, writes the Longmont Times-Call.

The loss puts CU at 3-8 this season and extends the team’s road-losing streak to 12 games, putting beleaguered CU head coach Dan Hawkins’ road record at 2-19 during his four-year stint in Boulder. It may have been easier to accept the loss to the number-12-ranked team in the nation had it been a blowout, but the Buffs could have easily won the game.

On one play late in the third quarter, Oklahoma State running back Keith Toston was left wide open in the middle of the field when Colorado rushed the quarterback, giving up a quick pass for a 47-yard score, notes Boulder’s Daily Camera. If the Buffaloes could have stopped just that one defensive blunder, they would have won the game.

But there were a couple of highlights: Brian Lockridge returned a kickoff for 98 yards in the second half, the first return touchdown for the Buffs since August 2008. And wide receiver Markques Simas seems to be settling into the top receiver role, falling just 10 yards short of his third consecutive, 100-yard receiving game. He tied a school record with 11 catches in the game and the record for most consecutive games with at least seven catches.

But it all comes back to Hawkins, and the writing is on the wall. The only place for Hawkins to go now is out the door, writes The Denver Post’s Mark Kiszla.

The quarterback situation for the Denver Broncos is apparently much worse than the team has been letting on since its humiliating 27-17 loss to the Washington Redskins last weekend.

Yahoo! Sports reports that Kyle Orton didn’t practice yesterday because of torn ligaments in his ankle, but that he’ll try to push through and play against the San Diego Chargers this weekend at Invesco Field at Mile High.

The Associated Press points out that Orton (left) has played through leg injuries before, most notably last year, when he led the Chicago Bears to a 6-2 record before getting hurt. After injuring his right ankle in a November 2, 2008, game against the Detroit Lions, he racked up interceptions and saw his passer ratings drop. The Bears eventually shipped Orton to Denver with a handful of draft picks in exchange for Jay Cutler.

Backup Broncos quarterback Chris Simms has been taking most of the snaps in practice this week, but after last week’s dismal performance in the second half against the Redskins, many fans would rather see a banged-up Orton play. Simms completed just three of 13 passes and was often wildly off the mark, but he tells AP that more practice time with the starting unit will help. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, Bleacher Report questions whether the team’s culture has actually changed, or if it’s all a mirage. Last year, the Broncos needed to win one of its last three games to make the playoffs and couldn’t find a way to do it, even though they played the woeful Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills—both at home. This year, the Broncos took a three-and-a-half game lead heading into November after beating the Chargers in San Diego, but they haven’t won a game since.

Usually, when Colorado Public Radio asks its listeners for cash, the station keeps it.

But between November 30 and December 2, CPR, known for its love of classical music, will conduct a rare, on-air fundraising drive with the Colorado Symphony that culminates in a live broadcast of cellist Yo-Yo Ma from Boettcher Concert Hall (via press statement).

In September, CSO musicians agreed to a 12.5 percent pay cut, as many as four weeks of unpaid vacation, and suspension of employer contributions to their retirement fund.

“Colorado Public Radio recognizes the CSO’s unique role as one of Colorado’s key cultural assets and petitioned the Federal Communications Corporation for permission to conduct a one-time-only, on-air fundraising drive to support its major classical music provider, the Colorado Symphony,” CPR President Max Wycisk says in a statement (via the Denver Business Journal).

Wycisk notes the FCC hasn’t authorized a broadcast station to run this sort of fundraiser for another group since 1993.

Popular Colorado photographer John Fielder is zig-zagging the state after spending a year with ranchers.

He’s touring to promote his latest book, “Ranches of Colorado,” which includes a stop for a slideshow and book signing tomorrow night on the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins—an event that will help support the Legacy Land Trust, a nonprofit land-conservation organization, notes the Northern Colorado Business Report.

Here’s his complete book promotion schedule.

The ornate book is Fielder’s “most beautiful innovation so far,” writes the Estes Park Trail Gazette, with 232 pages and 375 color photographs of working cattle ranches. The book is meant to bring attention to the rapid loss of ranchland in Colorado to development. As Senior Editor Luc Hatlestad wrote recently for 5280, Fielder has focused his lens on the outdoors for more than three decades. Now, he’s beginning to recognize the value of putting people into the frame.

Despite some kind of promotional relationship with that cute Esurance gal, the future of the Monolith festival is “very grim.” Those words come straight from the “Monolith team” that puts on the two-day indie-music festival at Red Rocks.

“A tough economic year and an opening day of chilling rain combined to put a serious dent in our humble operation,” the team writes in a note on Monolith’s Web site. “We have continued to pursue any and all options that would allow us to recover from this year and head into 2010 with full steam. At this point in time, we have been unable to secure any options.”

This year’s turnout seemed solid, as did the acts—which included the Mars Volta and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, among many others. But the outcome “unfortunately, seemed foreseeable, especially when organizers parted ways with AEG Live, the promoter who produced the 2008 installment of the festival and who opted out this year,” writes Westword.

There’s a glimmer of hope: The festival could go on if a new promoter who appreciates Monolith’s ear for great music can be found to provide the needed cash.

Beer enthusiasts extol the Cheeky Monk Belgian Beer Cafe, the two-year-old Colfax pub that serves up nearly all of its more than 40 Belgian beers in glasses meant to accentuate their flavors.

Besides providing the famous Belgian fruit ales (peche, kriek, and framboise), the bar lays claim to a $44 (750-milliliter) bottle of “sparkling divine drink,” also known as Deus-Brut de Flandres.

The distinct flavors of Belgian beers are a result of their origins (fruit, mixed cultures of yeast during fermentation, use of coriander instead of hops in certain beers, etc.) And while the Belgian monks knew how to make the beer (something they’d been doing since the Middle Ages), the Cheeky Monk knows how to serve it.

Tables, booths, and velvety red couches fill up fast. Beat the dinner rush by arriving by 5:30. p.m. Happy hour, which lasts from 3-7 p.m. and 10 p.m.-2 a.m., features $1 off draughts (drafts), bottles, wells, wine, and tower samples. They also offer half-off frites and other select appetizers.

By 6 p.m. on a recent evening, the place was packed with professionals and Capitol Hill rovers alike, all looking for a relaxing and sophisticated evening after work. The ambiance is cozy, with handsome brick walls glinting with candlelight and Northern Renaissance paintings.

534 E. Colfax Ave., 303-861-0347

As the U.S. Senate rolled out an $849 billion health-care-reform bill yesterday, you may have missed the other big policy story of the day. In an impassioned plea that fell on many deaf ears, Colorado Democrat Mark Udall argued that something needed to be done about credit card gouging. He asked his fellow senators to support a House bill meant to put the reforms of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act into place two months early.

“The last thing our families need are higher interest rates and extra fees, especially on consumers who are already playing by the rules,” Udall said (via the Fort Collins Coloradoan).

But his calls for a vote, which would have frozen credit card rates and fees until stricter regulations go into effect in February, were shot down by Republicans. Senator Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican, delivered the death blow “on behalf of several senators on this side of the aisle.”

Half of Americans report that their interest rates have been raised in the past six months while Congress has considered limits on them, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey (via Deseret News). A majority of Americans, 77 percent, think credit card companies are taking advantage of consumers with their interest charges. McClatchy Newspapers, meanwhile, tries to figure out what you can do about high credit card rates. The answer: “Not much.”

Leroux Creek Vineyards in Hotchkiss took home a Double Gold Medal in the Colorado Mountain Winefest for its 2005 Après Vous, a delicious port-style dessert wine. Made from French hybrid Chambourcin grapes, the wine is deep cherry in color, smells of dark plums and black currant, and is slightly sweet, but not overbearing like many ports.

Thinking it would provide a luxurious finish to the Thanksgiving meal, we taste-tested the Après Vous with several favorites and came up with recommendations to satisfy a fickle range of dessert lovers:

For foodies: Serve with a mixed plate of Stilton cheese, dark chocolate (no more than 70 percent cocoa), and dried cherries. The rich, tangy cheese is nicely offset by the dark fruit of the wine, which also stands up to the chocolate.

For traditionalists: Serve with a warm slice of cherry pie. The sweet fruit of each nicely complements the other.

For chocoholics: Serve with a thick slice of frosted chocolate cake. The lingering finish of the wine takes the edge off the cake.

For those who can’t possibly eat another bite after the main course: The Après Vous is gorgeous and satisfying on its own. Serve straight up in a sherry glass.

Leroux Creek Vineyards, 970-872-4746

Colorado Avalanche backup goalie Peter Budaj hasn’t had many opportunities in the net this season, thanks to the stellar play of goalie Craig Anderson. And last night, Budaj proved there’s been a good reason for that. The Avs lost to the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 after taking a 4-2 lead late into the second period. The Denver Post pins most of the blame on the hapless Budaj, with the caveat that the Avs wasted two five-on-three opportunities.

Those wasted chances are a big deal and could have been the difference in the game, but Budaj simply seems to lack the confidence of a successful NHL goalie. He gave up five goals on 32 shots, costing the Avs two points in the standings on a night when they had a chance to put more distance between Colorado and the rest of the Northwest Division.

A peek at goalie statistics at NHL.com shows Budaj has given up 10 goals on 69 shots for a less-than-mediocre .855 save percentage. That’s good enough to get him ranked 55th in the league out of 65 goalies. Anderson’s .927 save percentage, on the other hand, is tied for fourth-best in the NHL. Anderson has played 20 games so far this season, more than any other goalie in the NHL. Mile High Hockey calls Budaj one of the most divisive players on the squad.

Thankfully, the Avs are good despite their backup goalie. JustBet.com calls the team “officially the surprise of the 2009-10 NHL season,” adding that the Avs are a good bet for gamblers.