James Woolsey, Al-Jazeera, Pinon Canyon, and more

Oct. 4 was one of those everything at once days. Producers from Al-Jazeera called at 6 a.m., wanting input for a "50 years after Sputnik" story. The results are below.

Meanwhile, former CIA Director James Woolsey was in town to speak at Colorado College and The Broadmoor on his new "going green" mission. While his intentions may be good, the man still works for Booz Allen Hamilton and such questionable organizations as Committee on the Present Danger and Project for a New American Century. Protesters were on hand at Shove Chapel to pass out these excellent "playing card" flyers designed by Eric Verlo. What was impressive is that the audience was happy to see the protests, and most of the protesters went into the speech (without being hassled by security), and let Woolsey make his points without shouting him down. No one was tasered. This is how freedom of speech was supposed to work. Woolsey made the predictable points about "tipping points" in climate change, but I kept thinking how the Oct. 2 finding on North Pole polar ice seems to indicate we already passed the tipping point.

Elsewhere on the CC campus, the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, which is challenging the US Army's desire to add several million acres to Fort Carson in southern Colorado, had an organizing meeting with a standing-room turnout, comprised mostly of students. Maybe CC is awakening from its slumber after all!

And speaking of standing room, we had a board meeting of First Steps Spirituality Center down the street, where Rev. Leanne Hadley and Fred Michel recounted their trip to the ESCAP conference in Florence, where their session on integrating spirituality with psychosocial models of child development got standing-room only crowds. Even the agnostic/atheist rationalists in the group were praising Leanne for developing models of spirituality to present at a scientific conference. This woman is not only amazing, her work is going to be cited for decades to come.

If all days were this overwhelming, I'd fall over.