Taking the high ground, and the rest of it too.

Citing 'eminent domain' Jersey City has decided to seize a few more feet of our rights and turn them over to others.
A man's business and backroom apartment is being taken so the city can give the land to a Catholic School that wants a few more yards for its football field.
It looks like the slippery slope we started down a few months ago has been fully claimed by the government and turned over to private interests.
This not only trespasses on a few amendments, but it also tiptoes into the yard of at least one "covet thy neighbor" commandment.

It is nice that in this country you can be rendered by Caesar and the Lord all at the same time, ain't it?

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks died today at the age of 92.

92 is a pretty good run, but I always hate to see the good ones go.
Clear a space in the front row on the bus to heaven. She deserves a comfortable ride.

CO 7 - His Dark Majesty Arrives

How important is my little district to the forces of evil? According to ColoradoPols, Cheney is coming to town for a fundraiser on Monday to 'benefit' Rick O'Donnell.

As far as I am concerned, I have no problem with Perlmutter's opponent being known as the guy who hugged Cheney the week the indictments started rolling in.

Retirement Planning

Sen. Judd Gregg, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and the man who brought the Republican plan to dismantle Social Security to the table just embezzeled had a nifty stroke of good fortune.
He won the New Hampshire lottery. Although he rarely plays, he had the good fortune to choose the winning numbers that paid him $853,492.

And when I say he chose the numbers... I mean... well lets just say some guys have all the luck.

Judy Redux...dy

Judith Miller wrote a long piece today telling the story of her telling of stories. I would like to note she asserted the Plame name did not come from Libby, nor can she remember where she actually heard it.
Now why would someone go to jail to protect a source whose name had been forgotten anyhow? Could it be that she only emerged from jail to deny it was Libby, then refuse to disclose the source's name, and then run out the clock and... oh wait... I made this post already.

My method for predicting Republicans is the same as the one described by Nicholson's character in "As Good as it Gets" when the secretary asked him how he wrote women so well.

"I think of a man, and then I take away reason and accountability."

CO-7 Politics by the numbers

Is it news? Not really. Is it analysis? No. It is just politics this time.
Peggy Lamm waited until what the folks on the TV show, 'The West Wing', used to call, "Take out the trash Friday" to announce her Q3 fundraising numbers.
She raised $89,084 compared to her fellow Democrat Ed Perlmutter's $105,000.
That leaves her with $121,000 cash on hand to Ed's $259,000.
I have no huge gripe against Peggy, and I wouldn't mind her pro-choice credentials bringing a large Emily's List contribution her way, but I also must admit some optimism that the painful primary races might all be on the Republican side of the fence this year.

These numbers were almost my favorite ones tonight, except for the suprising NBC/WSJ poll that showed Bush getting a 2% job approval rating from African-Americans. I say suprising, because I figure that somehow both Condaleeza Rice and Clarence Thomas must have found their way into the same polling sample or the numbers would have been worse.

CO - (where the CO stands for COncentration camp.)

Today's Denver Post carries this story.

"A group of immigration activists wants Gov. Bill Owens to declare a state of emergency and develop a plan that includes sending illegal immigrants to "overflow holding areas" such as Coors Field and the former Lowry Air Force Base to await deportation. "
...
"Owens 'has seen the petition and he has forwarded it to his legal counsel asking for an opinion as to whether or not the governor has the ability to do the things they're asking for in the petition,' said spokesman Mark Salley. "

Now of course, it is silly to use Coors Field for such a plan, when we already have a FEMA constructed internment camp so nearby, but with the Rockies at the bottom of the National League Western Division, it is nice to know that somebody is thinking about how to fill the seats.

CO-7 Why you should care about Colorado

I use words like ‘local’ and ‘Colorado’ and I expect that makes some people think I am talking about a narrow topic of minor interest. It is time to transform that impression.
The future of our planet will, in large part, be shaped by the decisions of the American empire. Our unicameral government is unlikely to make sustainable choices. With a judiciary that is increasingly drawn from the personal inner circle of the President, and a Congress that values party discipline over public good, we are slipping more and more into a single-branch single-party system.
We have already lost every fight to preserve our national system. Every right that protected me in my childhood has been accosted. Not a single one of the institutions that guarded my health, my safety, my prosperity, my right to monitor my government, or that shielded my privacy from that government’s invasions, has remained uncorrupted. The landscape of politics has shifted so violently that the banner of the Left has been pulled from true Progressives and placed in the hands of the most crass and impotent centrists, while the banner of Right has been stolen from true Conservatives and taken up by the crony power brokers, the biggest no-bid contract whores, and the most shrill Pharisee champions of big government intrusion.
In my lifetime I watched as the word ‘liberal’ became an insult and I witnessed the ‘Reagan revolution’ erode into just another status quo intent on squeezing personal power out of our private lives and pocketbooks. I saw Democracy die. It was a bi-partisan slaying.
It is too late to save the freedoms and protections of my childhood, but if we begin now, we may be able to win them again. There may be opportunities to plant a better future before they salt the earth. Here is what we must do…
There are swing states and there are swing districts. Every so often, when the baton of power is passed from one greasy hand to another, there is an opportunity to knock it free. That is exactly the opportunity available this year in Colorado. One year into his second term, Bob Beauprez is leaving Congress to continue his rise in Republican politics. Soon the country will see how national these ‘local’ fights really are. In 2002, we could have kept him a private citizen by securing just 121 more votes out of the 173,000 that were cast. Instead, he will most likely be the next Governor, and will be in a position to make things very favorable for Jeb Bush, Rudy Guiliani, or whatever atrocity slouches towards Washington in 2008.
His time in Congress has been spent as a rubber stamp of the Republican National Committee. He voted with Bush 98% of the time, and he was funded by Tom Delay’s money laundering scheme to the tune of $30,000.
The people who fed us Beauprez want to do it again. They know that 121 votes in Colorado’s 7th District are worth as much to them as every vote cast in yours. By all means, support your local races with your time, your money, and your vote, but also remember that CO-7 is one of your local races regardless of where you are. It might well be where you can make your most leveraged impact.
As we get closer to the spring caucus I will keep this site updated on opportunities to make a difference in this crucial district. Today I was on the phone with Ed Perlmutter’s fledgling campaign office (http://www.perlmutter2006.com). I am going to do what I can to help them get off the ground and I will keep a diary of my work here.
If anyone wants to help me bring the message to the campaign that the netroots are well worth their attention, make a contribution at their site in an amount that ends in six cents. If it is a donation of $1.06 or $100.06 those six cents will be my way of initiating a conversation with them about how the key to the ’06 race will be recognizing the national scope of their constituency. If you decide to join me on this, drop me a line after you contribute so I can keep track of our impact. I know that this blog does not yet have the reach of many well established sites, but this is not the only place where I will be making the case for better representation in CO-7 and how that will bring us towards the goal of restoring the checks and balances of our government.

CO - Armed Republicans

After all this talk about needing to defend their profits country with the lives of other people, some Colorado Republicans are finally taking up arms and standing a post.
US Marines in Falluja? no. US Army in Bagdhad? hardly.

These brave State Representatives are strapping on the ammo belts in the fight to defend Arizona from the brown people of the Spanish speaking variety with the Minutemen Civil Defense of Racism Corps.

News Article via AZCentral.com

Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) earlier sponsored a bill to ban State services to illegal immigrants, and now is down in Arizona with Bill Crane (R-Arvada) and Jim Welker (R-Loveland) 'trying to learn about that state's illegal immigration legislation.'

When they hear the word immigration, our legislators reach for their Winchesters.

CO 7 - Holzman wants Beauprez to be charged

For you out of towners, here is your quick intro to Colorado's 7th Congressional District:
In a close race, first term incumbent Bob Beauprez (R) beat challenger Dave Thomas (D), after Mr. Thomas was tied to a mishandling of the Columbine School shooting. Beauprez' future in this evenly divided district looks uncertain, and he rode the surge from the win by immediately announcing he was running for statewide office. He has been a flawless rubber stamp for Bush administration policies and a loyal minion of Delay. That he could win in a 'purple' district has many Republicans excited about his chances of filling the Governor's office when Bill Owens (R) vacates it next year.
Before he can get there, he has what should be an easy primary fight against Marc Holzman. While I look forward to having the Republicans scramble about to find someone who can fill his shoes in CO-7, I would like to see his road to Denver be a bumpy one.
Today he hit his first bump. Holzman alleges that Beauprez stole his Rolodex and wants criminal charges filed.
Link via Associated Press

Bush needs to rewrite Delay's pardon to include new charges

Seriously, I am not going to be distracted by every little thing that oozes out of this administration's pipeline. I really intend to pick and choose my atrocities with some care.
The fact that Delay waited until the judge was out of the country on vacation, and then shopped around for a different judge who might step in and dismiss the case, might speak volumes about his ability to mount a defense, but someone else will have to take that on.
The money laundering charge is interesting, but until it looks like he is really trading K-Street for KY-Street, all of this sound and fury signifies nothing.
Link via Yahoo! News