Franklin Sain, a 42-year-old Colorado Springs man, was arrested last Friday for threatening Colorado lawmaker Rep. Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora) over gun control legislation that she is currently sponsoring and that recently passed in the state House.

Franklin Sain is accused of threatening Fields and her daughter using racial and sexual slurs.

Fields told KOA Radio that she does not know Sain, and said "All I know is the kinds of things that he said were very inappropriate, and they're alarming, and they were very intimidating."

"It started last week around the 13th or the 14th," Fields told KOA. "And then the emails got worse; it started to escalate until it got to a letter that was sent to the Capitol. At first, I was really taken aback by the tone and the language in it, especially the racial overtones - I've just never seen something like that before. No one has ever said those things or written those things towards me in the last two-and-a-half years that I've been serving the state. So, I was like 'Wow, this is unbelievable.' And then they kept coming."

9News has obtained the arrest affidavit, and now the full scope of threats allegedly left by Sain over a nine day period are viewable. The threat of violence and use of racist language is prevalent throughout the messages, and they messages appear to escalate in tone by the ninth day. Caution: The language used is explicit and extremely offensive.

There are many misspelled words and incorrect grammar usage in the messages, and they appear as written in the affidavit, along with censoring of offensive words.

According to an affidavit, one of the letters alleged to have been written by the Colorado Springs man reads, "Rhonda Fields, mother of [Field's daughter]. Death to both." The letter goes on to say "There will be blood! I'm coming for you, N----- B----."

In one of the emails, Sain allegedly wrote, "hopefully somebody Gifords [sic] your asses with a gun."

The following is one of seven emails police say Sain sent to Fields:

"THANKS N----- C---! You really think passing nay more laws will stop gun violence? You and that other N----- OBAMA are living in fantasy land. Chicago and DC have the most strict gun laws in the nation and more people die from gun violence than anywhere. You f---ing c---s are pathetic excuse for civil servants. Hell, n-----s love shooting themselves with GATS, isn't that what your people call it. What you have done here is creater [sic] criminals out of law abiding citizens, and put yourself out of a job. You politicians have no idea what you are even doing anyway, do you know how long it takes some to change a magazine, less than a second, so what if some with experience decides to flip out and bring their gun in with 5 or so 10 round magazines, they can do the same amount of damage. Limiting magazine sizes is stupididty, [sic] and will not work..."

Then the most unhinged of Sain's messages also refers to Field's daughter:

Rhonda Fields, N----- C---, Mother of -----, Death to Both, All N----- Back to Africa, F--- you, F--- Your Laws, I Keep my 30 Round Magazines, There Will Be Blood!, I'm Coming For You, N----- B----

Sain told police that he didn't mean to threaten Fields, and regrets the language he used. He has no prior record, and is the chief operating officer at SofTec Solutions in Englewood, Colorado, where he does consulting work for the government and private organizations

House Speaker Mark Ferrandino and two other Democratic Reps also received similar threatening messages.

Tuesday afternoon, SofTec announced the suspension of Sain via Facebook:

"SofTec Solutions, Inc. has been informed of allegations against our employee, Mr. Frank Sain. We are shocked to learn of these allegations and are taking this matter very seriously. If true, these actions are highly inappropriate and will not be tolerated. Pending SofTec’s investigation into this matter, Mr. Sain has been suspended immediately from further duties at SofTec. SofTec Solutions is a minority-owned, small business and we employ a large diverse workforce. We will absolutely not tolerate any racial, sexual, gender-based slurs or threats of violence by employees."

The full arrest affidavit is available online here, but caution, as the language is explicit and offensive. Sain is scheduled to appear in court on March 8, 2013.

Four people were discovered dead Saturday inside a suburban Denver home following a barricade hostage situation, which drew in a team of 40 officers. One woman reportedly escaped the townhome, although it is unclear whether or not she sustained injuries. Officials first arrived on the scene close to 3 a.m. Saturday following reports that shots had been fired inside the home. The "armed and dangerous" man is reported to be among the deceased. The identities of the victims have yet to be released.

Via:

A SWAT team arrived in the area after a standoff took place between the gunman and police officers. Authorities said the gunman then shot at SWAT team members.

Police were initially unsure how many people were barricaded inside the home. Officers later confirmed that three people were found dead inside the home when SWAT moved in and shot the gunman.

Authorities said a fifth person managed to get out of the house. The identities of the victims and the suspect have not been released.

Tear gas was deployed into the home, according to police scanner traffic.

Police had evacuated several neighborhoods in the area for safety reasons.

Just last summer, a mass shooting occurred inside of the Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film "The Dark Knight Rises." A gunman, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. James Eagan Holmes, the lone suspect, was arrested outside of the theater just moments later.

It's staggering to think back on how much gun violence we've seen in 2012. Bill Moyers made this video essay after the Colorado movie theater shootings, and his message bears repeating.

In this web-exclusive video essay from July 2012, Bill says the deadly shooting in Colorado is yet another tragic indication that our society — and too many of our politicians — covet guns more than common sense or life itself. The National Rifle Association in particular, Bill says, “has turned the Second Amendment of the Constitution into a cruel and deadly hoax.”

"Every year there are 30,000 gun deaths and 300,000 gun-related assaults in the U.S. Firearm violence may cost our country as much as $100 billion a year. Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns than guns."

The full transcript of Moyers' video essay, "Living Under the Gun," follows:

"You might think Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of and spokesman for the mighty American gun lobby, The National Rifle Association, has an almost cosmic sense of timing. In 2007, at the NRA’s annual convention in St. Louis, he warned the crowd that, "Today, there is not one firearm owner whose freedom is secure."'

"Two days later, a young man opened fire on the campus of Virginia Tech, killing 32 students, staff and teachers. Just last week LaPierre showed up at the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty here in New York and spoke out against what he called "Anti-freedom policies that disregard American citizens’ right to self-defense."'

"Now at least 12 are dead in Aurora, Colorado, gunned down by a mad man at a showing of the new Batman movie filled with make-believe violence. One of the guns the shooter used was an AK-47 type assault weapon that was banned in 1994. The National Rifle Association saw to it that the ban expired in 2004. The NRA is the best friend a killer’s instinct ever had."

"Obviously, LaPierre’s timing isn’t cosmic, just coincidental; as Shakespeare famously wrote, “The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” In other words, people. People with guns. There are an estimated 300 million guns in the United States, one in four adult Americans owns at least one and most of them are men. The British newspaper The Guardian, reminds us that over the last 30 years, "The number of states with a law that automatically approves licenses to carry concealed weapons provided an applicant clears a criminal background check has risen from eight to 38."'

"Every year there are 30,000 gun deaths and 300,000 gun-related assaults in the U.S. Firearm violence may cost our country as much as $100 billion a year. Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns than guns."

"So why do we always act so surprised? Violence is alter ego, wired into our Stone Age brains, so intrinsic its toxic eruptions no longer shock, except momentarily when we hear of a mass shooting like this latest in Colorado. But this, too, will pass and the nation of the short attention span quickly finds the next thing to divert us from the hard realities of America in 2012."

"We are after all a country which began with the forced subjugation into slavery of millions of Africans and the reliance on arms against Native Americans for its Westward expansion. In truth, more settlers traveling the Oregon Trail died from accidental, self-inflicted gunshots wounds than from Indian attacks – we were not only bloodthirsty, we were also inept."

"Nonetheless, we have become so gun loving, so blasé about home-grown violence that in my lifetime alone, far more Americans have been casualties of domestic gunfire than have died in all our wars combined. In Arizona last year, just days after the Gabby Giffords shooting, sales of the weapon used in the slaughter – a 9-millimeter Glock semi-automatic pistol – doubled."

"We are fooling ourselves. That the law could allow even an inflamed lunatic to easily acquire murderous weapons and not expect murderous consequences. Fooling ourselves that the second amendment’s guarantee of a "well-regulated militia" be construed as a God-given right to purchase and own just about any weapon of destruction you like. That’s a license for murder and mayhem and it’s a great fraud that has entered our history."

"There’s a video of which I’d like to remind you. You can see it on YouTube. In it, Adam Gadahn, an American born member of al Qaeda, the first U.S. citizen charged with treason since 1952, urges terrorists to carry out attacks on the United States. Right before your eyes he says: "America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely, without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?"'

"The killer in Colorado waited only for an opportunity, and there you have it -- the arsenal of democracy transformed into the arsenal of death and the NRA -- the NRA is the enabler of death -- paranoid, delusional, and as venomous as a scorpion. With the weak-kneed acquiescence of our politicians, the National Rifle Association has turned the Second Amendment of the Constitution into a cruel hoax, a cruel and deadly hoax. I'm Bill Moyers."

On the morning after the first presidential debate, President Obama mocked the Mitt Romney he encountered last night as decidedly different from "the real Mitt Romney" on the campaign trail. During the chilly morning at Sloan’s Lake Park in Denver on Thursday, Obama touted his plan for restoring the middle class.G

Now, the reason I was in Denver obviously is to see all of you, and it’s always pretty, but we also had our first debate last night. And when I got on to the stage, I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney. But it couldn’t have been Mitt Romney because the real Mitt Romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. The fellow on stage last night said he didn’t know anything about that. The real Mitt Romney said we don’t need any more teachers in our classrooms, but -don't boo, vote – but the fellow on stage last night, he loves teachers, can’t get enough of them. The Mitt Romney we all know invested in companies that were called pioneers of outsourcing jobs to other countries, but the guy on stage last night, he said that he doesn’t even know that there are such laws that encourage outsourcing. He’s never heard of them. Never heard of them. Never heard of tax breaks for companies who ship jobs overseas. He said that if it’s true, he must need a new accountant.

Now, we know for sure it was not the real Mitt Romney because he seems to be doing just fine with his current accountant. So you see, the man on stage last night, he does not want to be held accountable for their real Mitt Romney’s decisions and what he’s been saying for the last year and that’s because he knows full well that we don’t want what he’s been selling for the last year. So Governor Romney may dance around his positions, but if you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth. So here’s the truth – Governor Romney cannot pay for his $5 trillion tax plan without blowing up the deficit or sticking it to the middle class. That’s the math. We can’t afford to go down that road again. We can’t afford another round of budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy. We can’t afford to gut out investments in education or clean energy or research and technology. We can’t afford to roll back regulations on Wall Street or on big oil companies or insurance companies. We cannot afford to double down on the same top-down economic policies that got us into this mess. That is not a plan to create jobs, that is not a plan to grow the economy, that is not change, that is a relapse. We don’t want to go back there. We’ve tried it, it didn’t work and we are not going back, we are going forward.

Now, I’ve got a different view about how we create jobs and prosperity. This country doesn’t succeed when we only see the rich getting richer. We succeed when the middle class gets bigger. We grow our economy not from the top down, but from the middle out. We don’t believe that anybody’s entitled to success in this country, but we do believe in something called opportunity. We believe in a country where hard work pays off and where responsibility is rewarded and everybody’s getting a fair shot and everybody’s doing their fair share and everybody plays by the same rules. That’s the country we believe in. That’s what I’m fighting for, that’s why I’m running for a second term as President of the United States, and that’s why I want your vote.

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Cheryl, a teacher from Colorado, was asked to participate in a roundtable with Mitt Romney. In this video she shares her impression after talking with him and how her views on education are different than Mitt Romney's:

When I was asked to speak with Mitt Romney, it seemed like a very important thing to me, and I wanted to put a lot of careful thought into what I would say. So I went to the roundtable discussion very optimistic and interested in hearing what he had to say.

When he sat down, one of the first questions he asked was "I understand there is a teacher here today, which one of you is a teacher?"

I raised my hand, thinking that's a good thing, he's interested in education. But it wasn't a good thing. I felt like his view was a little old-fashioned, and I was surprised by it. He went on to kind of lecture me about schools and how bad they are. He talked bad about the teacher's union. He was talking about the importance of private schools and voucher systems.

At one point, I said to him, "I have an answer for that." And he said, "I didn't ask you a question."

As usual, Mitt Romney only wants to hear himself speak. He doesn't even attempt to keep his contempt for the working class hidden behind closed doors, dismissing Cheryl as if she is his hired help and not allowed to speak until told to do so.

Anyone else wondering if Romney is deliberately trying to lose this election?

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to thousands of supporters at a campaign event at the Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa, September 1, 2012.[ REUTERS]

Thousands of supporters wait in Colorado to hear U.S. President Barack Obama speak at a campaign event on September 2, 2012. [REUTERS]

Part 1: 'What Is It About Us as Americans?'

Michael Moore on Piers Morgan Tuesday, 7/24/12

"I think that both conservatives and liberals are half right, each of them. The conservatives when they say guns don't kill people, I would alter that to guns don't kill people, Americans kill people. The left, liberals, believe that if we just have more gun control laws, all the problems are going to go away. Well, I don't think so. It won't really get rid of the larger problem. What is it about us that wants to do this?" -- Michael Moore

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Via OccupyWallSt.org:

Legendary punk rocker Jello Biafra has written a new anthem for the Occupy movement. We at OccupyWallSt.org wholly encourage supporting Jello's radical genius by paying what you can!

SHOCK-YOU-PY! is my own tribute about the Occupy movement. It's called SHOCK-YOU-PY! because I come from the side of resistance that has a soft-spot in my heart for pranks and creative sabotage of the non-violent variety. Not everyone involved will totally agree with that, but I like when protests incorporate theater. I realize not all resistance is going to be fun and games, but it should be (whenever possible) uplifting and a celebration of the fact that we are raising awareness and fighting against runaway dictatorship, looting by large corporations, and people who have so much money they can't figure out what to do with it all (which is Occupy's main goal.)

SHOCK-YOU-PY! is meant to be a sing-a-long song that can be played acoustically at protests, at least most of it can. I was torn between making it completely a sing-a-long song or the usual skull-crushing Guantanamo School Of Medicine type-song, so we mixed it and re-mixed it a lot. The forthcoming EP has the sing-a-long version on it. There is also the rock-a-long version where the electrified guitars are considerably louder which is exclusively available on bandcamp. I had trouble making up my mind between the two. I liked the warmth and the spirit of the sing-a-long version but the rock-a-long version - with the guitars really loud - sounded best in my car.

Since it takes a few weeks to get CDs and vinyl made especially before the Fall rush, we are throwing SHOCK-YOU-PY! up now before it's mastered. And for this download you have freedom of choice - weigh-in, pick your favorite, tell your friends. There will be a 3rd mix of SHOCK-YOU-PY! that is the best of both worlds which will be on the full-length album.

SHOCK-YOU-PY! is part of a larger project from the Guantanamo School Of Medicine's new album called White People and the Damage Done which is not going to be out in time before the election. It will probably be out in either November or in January, I'm not sure which yet. We thought we would throw SHOCK-YOU-PY! up immediately for people who are willing to help us out (please! please! please!) You can pay for the song otherwise it's going to be spread around anyway and it is meant to be spread around. Anyone who wants to put it on an Occupy comp can. I am way in debt trying to record this album and our label is struggling to survive so we are hoping that people will be willing to throw down to check out the song.

And what does this say about Occupy as a whole? It says that it is a ground-up movement that doesn't have central-planning and some people would think not enough planning. Who knows where Occupy will be in a year, it may even have a completely different name but what it means to me is the resurrection, rebooting, reigniting and strengthening of the spirit of Seattle which was the first outbreak of mass-protest against corporate rule and recognizing it as such in the mainstream media. That is going to go on because more and more people are losing their jobs while climate collapse gets even worse (witness all the droughts and fires, especially in my home state of Colorado.) I don't think the Occupy movement in spirit is going to go away, quite the opposite.

See below for lyrics:

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President Obama spoke from the University of Colorado Hospital Sunday evening after meeting with the families of the victims killed in the Aurora theater shooting.

“It was an opportunity for families to describe how wonderful their brother, or their son, or daughter was, and the lives that they have touched, and the dreams that they held for the future,” Obama said in a hallway of the hospital. “I confessed to them that words are always inadequate in these kinds of situations, but that my main task was to serve as a representative of the entire country and let them know that we are thinking about them at this moment and will continue to think about them each and every day, and that the awareness that not only all of America but much of the world is thinking about them might serve as some comfort.”

Reflecting on the victims’ stories, the president said the stories of recovery are a reminder that “even in the darkest of days, life continues, and people are strong and people bounce back and people are resilient.”

Obama said he was particularly moved by the stories of Allie Young and Stephanie Davies, two survivors of the shooting and spoke at length of their experiences.

The president said Allie, 19, was saved by her friend Stephanie, 21, after being shot in the neck. Obama said Davies pulled Young out of the line of fire, staying with her and applying pressure to her wound even as the gunman continued to fire into the theater.

“I don’t know how many people at any age would have the presence of mind that Stephanie did or the courage that Allie showed and so as tragic as the circumstances of what we’ve seen today are, as heartbreaking for the families, it’s worth us spending most of our time on young Americans like Allie and Stephanie because they represent what’s best in us and they assure us that out of this darkness a brighter day is going to come,” Obama said.

Full transcript of the President's remarks after the jump.

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Via:

Specialists set off a small, controlled detonation inside the apartment of mass shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes on Saturday after earlier disarming a trip wire and incendiary device set to kill, police said.

A siren and shouts of "Fire in the hole" preceded the blast, and a two-man team on a fire truck ladder later peered inside the third-story apartment. Live video showed the blast blowing out part of a window, but no smoke or fire resulted.

"The controlled detonation was successful," the Aurora Police Department said in a statement. "Still more work to be done in the apartment to include dealing with other devices. There is a possibility of more controlled detonations."