HeadingLeft

2008-05-21T09:58:00.001-07:00

2008-01-14T19:32:00.001-08:00

Image Hosting

2008-01-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

You should be reading my stuff over at SquareState.net

Just ignore the Google ads...

image hosting

2007-12-14T07:05:00.000-08:00

Image Hosting

2007-12-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

Anyone know what this tattoo is?

Image Hosting

2007-10-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

Image hosted so that I can use it in a post elsewhere without relying on original host to maintain it.

HeadingLeft

2007-02-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

If you wanted to start a blog that featured the best of the best of the leftwing Netroots, what would you call it?

Well, HeadingLeft of course!

Even though they are dragging my mud name through the good, I wish them well at their endevors.
If you are following a search engine here, you might be looking for my friends over there.

What you will find here is a picture of Tom Tancredo's face on an otter.
There is a reason for this, albeit not a very good one, to be found somewhere over at SquareState.net, the site that made me a hero to the informed voters of Colorado precinct 7212630016.

2006-12-03T12:55:00.000-08:00

If you came here from todays New York Times piece, or from DailyKos, I am flattered really, but I don't have much here for you to see.

A much better place to find my work is under the name "TakeBackTheHouse" at any number of good community blogging sites, particularly SquareState.net where I put up something of a reply to the Op-Ed piece.

big line

2006-10-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Just hosting an image I need to make a comment over at SquareState.net

Hosting pics for other posts

2006-09-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

A picture speaks some vicious words

2006-07-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

"You fucking assholes. Id like to beat your fucking skulls in with a ball pean hammer... That comment was directed to you anti Tancredo bastards"

Winterland

2006-07-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

A little soomething I am working on for a post on kos Kos.

* He actually proposed this.

Final Day to Vote

2006-06-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Bill Winter is competing in the Map Changer's contest.

If at the end of today he is in the top 5 in the West, he will get $5000 and be able to compete for a fundraising visit from Mark Warner.

Late last night he was at number 5, but this morning he dropped down to sixth place.

Vote! Send the link out to friends. Winning this contest is worth a lot more to Bill than 5k. He has already won the Feingold contest, and if he can win the Warner contest he will be able to show D.C. decision makers that he has the organization and support to win this race.

Denver: Where the Streets are Paved with Radium

2006-06-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

Underneath the roadways in parts of Denver are decaying slag piles of radioactive waste.

This is the story as told by the City.

In the early 1900s, Denver was an active radium-processing center.
Radium was used for medical, equipment and security efforts during World War I. The production process created huge amounts of waste materials called "tailings," which were left in piles near the processing plants.

In the 1920s, radium processing was discontinued in Denver due to overseas competition. The tailing piles were abandoned as the radium processors closed business.

Over the years some of these piles were moved around Denver and used as fill or in construction activities, including street construction. In the late 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) located the tailings and initiated a cleanup by identifying the tailings as a Superfund Site, including several Denver streets built using the materials.

Like our own little Chernobyl, the pavement keeps most of the radium tucked away, and it only occsionally contaminates ground water, soils, and seeps up into our homes in the form of cancer causing radon gas.

This map of the Superfund radioactive hazardous waste sites in and around Denver shows the hottest of the hotspots, but often we are just one road repair job away from having dumptrucks full of slag.

Over the past few years, the city piled up 350,000 tons of the junk in forty four heaps around the city and started putting it on a train to the US Ecology dump in Grandview, Idaho.

But this year, the Rocky Mountain Low Level Radioactive Waste Board has decided to put the breaks on the train. It has pulled the City's permit to ship the stuff out. With about 300,000 tons (aprox. 89,000 cubic yards) of the stuff still here, the plan is to plant it permanently in Adams County, giving the contracts to an East Coast firm doing business near the (appropriately named?) city of Last Chance.

The firm is 'Clean Harbors', and this is how the Denver Post covered the controversy.

The facility is the target of two lawsuits filed by Adams County. Adams County officials say the dump, owned by the Massachusetts-based Clean Harbors Environmental Services Inc., does not have a valid license to handle radioactive materials.

Clean Harbors officials, backed by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, insist they have the required permits.

"Frankly, we don't want to find out who's right," said Assistant City Attorney Shaun Sullivan. "We want to take it to Idaho and be done with it."

Members of the Rocky Mountain Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Board - which regulates low-level radioactive waste in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico - decided that Denver's request would deliver an undue economic blow to the Clean Harbors facility.

Company officials said they've already spent $3 million making sure the dump could receive Denver's radium waste and anticipated receiving $2.1 million for the transport and disposal of that material.

When the disposition of radioactive waste hinges on a governmental organization not wanting to cause an "undue economic blow" to a particular waste management company, I begin to wonder if there is something more going on.

I began looking into the story this week because I have been volunteering for Congressional Candidate Ed Perlmutter and I saw that his name appeared in a Commerce City Beacon article.

Ed Perlmutter, a Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional District, told the board he opposed turning Last Chance into a “nuclear waste dump”.

He reminded the board that in 1998, Gov. Owens stated, “My position is clear, I am absolutely opposed to moving any level of radioactive nuclear waste to any site anywhere in rural Colorado.”

Perlmutter said, “We are here today because the governor did not keep his pledge and his administration, specifically Doug Benevento, the former director of the Colorado health department sought to turn the Deer Trail facility into a regional nuclear waste dump.”

Perlmutter told the board, “Owens and Benevento have been using the City and County of Denver as an excuse to do so and now Denver has said they aren’t looking to ship their radium waste to Adams County, but to Idaho.”

Perlmutter concluded, “I do not believe there was ever a compelling reason to turn Adams County into a nuclear waste dump – the people of Adams County don’t want it, the Adams County Commissioners don’t want it, and the people of the 7th District don’t want it.”

Wait a minute?!? The Owens appointee who set the deal with Clean Harbors was Doug Benevento? Where have I heard that name before?

Rocky Mountain News

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency violated federal campaign laws by allowing his name and title to appear on an invitation to a fundraiser for Republican congressional candidate Rick O'Donnell, the chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party alleged Friday.

...

The subject line of an invitation e-mailed last week on behalf of former state health department Director Doug Benevento invited potential donors to a "Fundraiser with Administrator of EPA Stephen L. Johnson for Rick O'Donnell."

The attached invitation was titled, "Fundraiser with Administrator of EPA."

Benevento hosted the lunch at his Denver law firm, Greenberg Traurig, where he has practiced law since resigning from his state job Dec. 30.

If Dirty O'Donnell is getting radioactive, you know I am going to follow this story deeper.
Maybe I should start calling him Dirty-bomb O'Donnell?

Morgan Carroll's Volunteer Rally Notes

2006-05-31T00:28:00.000-07:00

(Photo: Marc A. Piscotty © Rocky Mountain News)

Morgan Carroll has ambitions.

The majority of the voters in her district are Republicans, and her message is quite progressive, yet last time she walked across it she was able to coax out 55% of the vote.

She is walking State House District 36 again this summer, and she doesn't just want to take it again, she wants to win by a large enough margin to keep challengers away from Aurora for years.

How large a margin? Campaign Director Bill Wolf is shooting for 60%. Staffer John Beckman is aiming even higher, quoting numbers in the stratosphere of 80%.

As for me, I think that given enough time she could get them all, but with the fast ticking clock of the election year, who knows?

Morgan herself isn't spending a lot of time talking about the numbers. If she has her eyes on a number, I am sure it is one from a different November. Sometime down the road there will be other elections where all 25,000 votes cast in Aurora will just be a fraction of the ones she needs.

For now, she is having fun reaching out to her neighbors, and finding the common ground that extends beyond the labels of party affiliation.

The people of her District all want more affordable health care. They all want their children to be educated. They all want a less wasteful government. She can speak sincerely to those issues, and she can listen. As it turns out, she lives in a fairly sensible community that would rather listen to her positions than look at her voter registration card.

She even gains a few converts by telling them what she believes rather than what they want to hear. She is for reproductive choice. Many of her constituents are against it. But they appreciate her being forthright, willing to explain her positions and willing to listen to theirs.

Montana Gov. Schweitzer once said that "issues divide, values unite." You can see how that is playing out in HD-36. She doesn't always match up to the voters on every issue, but she stands firmly with them in their shared values.

She was speaking in a church and someone asked a litmus test question about a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. She knew what position they wanted her to take, but she said what she felt in her heart. She spoke of how the Constitution should protect our rights, not restrict them. She spoke of how it was a matter of equal protection under the law. She spoke of how marriage was not a threat to marriage, but that things like infidelity were. By the time she was done speaking the congregation was on their feet. She got a standing ovation in a church for speaking in favor of gay marriage.

Tonight Morgan, her key staffers, and a number of volunteers, met at the Arapahoe Democratic Party HQ to discuss the coming election and what they will need to do to make sure they get some number above 50% + 1.

Joe Miklosi of Progressive Majority came and spoke to a room of about thirty people and gave them a quick background on field work, and how to be effective knocking on doors.

I won't talk too much about specific strategies. Republican infiltrators will just have to do their own research.

I will share a tangental, but interesting fact I learned: the backers of the immigration ballot initiative have been getting funding from the Michigan Millitia.

Miklosi was informative, and did a good job of speaking to a mixed crowd of novices and pros. The meeting lasted a short while, and then it was a flurry of sign up sheets, postcards, and mailing labels.

I wandered around the room, checked in with Lyn Mayo and her bodygaurd Colin, spoke to Pam Bennet and her mysterious friend Alexis, speculated with Rep. Carroll about the fate of the Lobby Reform Bill (HB-1149), and saw a press clipping that featured the fantastic photo you see on this page.

I also snuck a peek at one of the postcards.

They announce the Campaign Kick-Off Party on June 10th from 2-4 PM.

The party will be at the Lighthouse Clubhouse, 1011 S. Valentia St, Denver

If you would like to join the ice cream social and pool party, drop a RSVP to nickstasnopolis@comcast.net

I'll make sure to get all the details into the Soapblox Calendar.

Until then, everybody chant with me:

OWENS! SIGN! ELEVEN FOURTY NINE!

OWENS! SIGN! ELEVEN FOURTY NINE!

Bill Winter

2006-05-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of having gotten involved in politics is having had the opportunity to get to know Congressional candidate Bill Winter.

Go read the diary he posted tonight at DailyKos, and you will see why.

I want to quote it here, but I am not going to. I want you to go over there and see it for yourself.

Andy Kerr campaign kick-off party

2006-05-22T23:55:00.000-07:00

"In his short time, he has already proved to be one of the brightest, most thoughtful and compassionate people in an assembly that is short of each one of those qualities.

He is such a decent human being, it is unclear why he would want to be running for the Colorado House of Represntatives."

~Andrew Romanoff, Speaker of the House

Colorado State House District 26 Representative, Andy Kerr, hosted a kick-off tonight of his campaign to retain the seat vacated in March by Sen. Betty Boyd.

At the begining of the year Sen. Hanna, and Rep. Boyd both held their seats by comfortable margins. Hanna's resignation shuffled the cards, and vacancy committees moved Boyd and Kerr into their new offices. Both seats are now in play, and while the Democrats still should have the incumbency edge, the district is nearly evenly divided between Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters.

This session, Andy lived up to the Denver Post headline, and Hit the House Running both in the electoral sense, and as a legislator.

Tonight he announced his most recent success, the signing by Gov. Owens of HB-1392, which created a law regulating publicly funded drug treatment facillities.

The former teacher is a warm and engaging candidate, and the event was well attended and convivial.

Many of the party faithful turned out to support the Representative, including Hanna, Boyd, Romanoff, Gwen Green, Stan Davis, and veteran's advocate Bill Holen.

CD-7 candidate Herb Rubenstein was circulating his petition, and I spoke to him about his 'unbreakable pledge' mailing. He estimated the cost of the plastic infused paper as being around 45 cents a page plus postage, and said he sent out 14,650 pages. I asked if they were sent out with any sort of return envelope for donations, and he said that he was not attempting to raise money at this time. He explained that for the last six weeks he has just been building support and getting out information, and will begin fundraising in earnest after Thursday when he officially submits his petitions.

I congratulated Lynette Mayo on navigating the campaign of CU Regent candidate Steve Ludwig safely onto the ballot without a primary. There is still a possibility that Milt Rogers could circulate petitions, but in a statewide race, Rogers would need to collect a large number from every district, and that would be very difficult for a mostly self-funded campaign.

Mayo also shared good news from D.C. where she said that CD-6 candidate Bill Winter was well recieved and managed to secure many pledges of support and funds.

I spoke to Pam Feely, who was once a front runner for the HD-26 seat before removing herself from consideration. I asked her if she had an interest in running for office down the road. She assured me she was, but it might be some time from now because she valued the people we currently had in place.

EPA enforcement attorney, Karen Kellen and I spoke about her run last year for Lakewood City Council and about her boss, EPA Admin. Stephen Johnson.

Johnson, who likes to use copies of the Hatch Act as drink coasters while at illegal Rick O'Donnell fundraisers, seems to be even more unconscionable when he actually stays in Washington to work.

Ms. Kellen told me about the Jacksonville Florida, "Children’s Environmental Exposure Research Study."

The study, which paid low income residents for their participation provided they could demonstrate that their children were routinely exposed to toxins in the home, was put on hold a year ago so the EPA could further review the project and shore up their public relations effort. The horrific project, that goes by the Orwellian acronym (CHEERS), is due to be back up for consideration in June.

June 29, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Senate today put brakes on government-sponsored testing of pesticides on babies by approving an amendment to a spending bill that would bar such research for at least one year. The measure to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from conducting human pesticide experiments passed by a 60 to 37 margin

In case the emphasis I inserted did not emphasize it enough, let me quote again,

"GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED TESTING OF PESTICIDES ON BABIES!"

It takes more and more to shock me these days, but O'Donnell's friends really kick it up a notch.

It didn't take many stories like that to convince me that we needed to do something about the leadership in this country. If we can take the Governor's mansion, and keep our majorities in the Assembly, then we can at least pass the bill Owen killed that would have permitted State environmental standards to exceed the Federal ones.

That is why I am helping Andy Kerr's campaign in any way I can, lending him my skills, opening my wallet and sending him back to the House. This seat needs to be held by someone who will get the right bills onto the desk of Governor Ritter, and Andy Kerr has already proven to me that I can trust him to do be the one to do it.

Perlmutter endorses Winter for Netroots Page

2006-05-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to be a bit of a bridge between my two favorite candidates today when Ed Perlmuuter's campaign asked me to pass along a letter to Daily Kos about Bill Winter.

Friends,

I want to take a brief moment to recommend my good friend Bill Winter for the Netroots Act Blue Candidate endorsement. Bill would probably be embarrassed to know that I am doing this for him but at the end of the day I feel that there is not a more deserving candidate running for public office today.

Our country takes a giant step in the wrong direction when we refuse to stand up to the Tom Tancredo's of the world. Sadly, in politics today, there is an overabundance of weak-kneed opportunists who lack the courage and conviction to take on a challenge like Colorado's conservative 6th Congressional District. But I tell you what, adversity and Bill Winter are longtime foes, and more often than not Bill comes out on top. His story is that of an orphan born with a hole in his heart who overcame the long odds to become a Marine, Naval Officer, a U.S. Senate Staffer, a lawyer, a high school science teacher and a football coach. Time and time again, Bill has proven his love for our county with his genuine commitment to public service.

This is a race we can and will win with the Netroots help. If Bill can get the financing he needs to get his message out, it will resonate with Coloradans. The people of 6th District are ready for a Congressman who would rather talk about bringing our troops home safely and providing affordable and accessible healthcare to all Americans. I could go on but I will sum it up by saying, Tom Tancredo's constituents are hungry for change and the man who can bring about that change is Bill Winter.

Honesty and integrity are core values I hold dear, I know that Bill will never let me down in those regards when he is elected to Congress. He will serve the 6th Congressional District with honor and dignity. I ask the Netroots to join me in actively supporting Bill Winter for U.S. Congress!

Sincerely,

Ed Perlmutter

Candidate for Congress in Colorado's 7th Congressional District

Political Buzz : Drinking Liberally with Mason Tvert

2006-05-11T03:43:00.000-07:00

Early Wednesday, Congressional Candidate Herb Rubenstein was at a PTA meeting in Green Mountain. He listened as the principal crowed about how five canine units made a surprise visit to the High School. They locked down the classrooms while the dogs swept the school for the scent of marijuana. None was found, but that was never really the plan. "The goal was to scare the kids," said the proud administrator, and by all accounts they achieved that goal.

If you are a student in Colorado who smokes marijuana, there is a list of reasons you should be afraid. Mason Tvert came to Denver's Drinking Liberally to give us the facts on what things really were on that list, and what things never really have been.
For a full accounting on the medical benefits and legal hazards of marijuana, I will simply link to NORML, but in short, the damage done to our society by criminalizing the reasonable behavior of half our citizens far outweighs the negative effects of a drug that is far less damaging than alcohol or tobacco.

Mike Krause of the Independence Institute is concerned about the 85% of our drug task force money that is spent to enforce marijuana laws instead of targeting Meth, and Harvard Professor Jeffrey Miron shows that the state of Colorado could be drawing $85,000,000 dollars a year in tax revenue if we decided to legalize and regulate the sales.

Tvert also sited the danger of having a system where people ignore and disrespect an unrealistic law, and are forced to buy a product from vendors who have an interest in pushing truly damaging substances on the consumer. The real 'gateway' problem is not that doing one drug leads to harder ones, it is that breaking one law leads to breaking others. By creating a situation where 47% of the people have already crossed the line into illegality, you push them farther down that road. Use it as a reason to deny them a job, or rob them of educational funding, and you carve the damage deeper.

The ridiculous extent of our wasted resources can be seen at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Recently, as frequent readers of this blog know, the school took steps against drug reform protesters by closing a park where rallies were expected. When the rally occurred despite their attempts, undercover police officers walked through the crowd photographing students. These students, who had yet to be charged of anything, subsequently had their pictures posted on the internet with bounties offered for their identities. The chilling effect that this has had on political speech and the damage this has done to the education and careers of these students remains to be seen, but it pleased me to hear that a suit on behalf of a few of the students has been lodged against the State. Actually, it almost pleased me. As a Colorado taxpayer and a parent of a student at that university I was outraged that they would waste my money trying to harm his classmates for such a hypocritical reason. It is a mixed blessing to hear that more of my money will be wasted to defend my government from actions I would never have approved.

If Tvert and SAFER Colorado are successful in collecting the signatures they need to put marijuana regulation reform on the November ballot, our approval might finally be sought on this subject. Mason talked with us at length not only about the medical and legal questions, but gave us some insight into the politics of the issue as well. The topic is not fully partisan. It has strong Libertarian aspects, fiscal conservative and small government hooks, and from the other side a certain amount of resistance amongst Democratic leadership. Still, it may be an ideal mobilizing tool for young Democrats. Tvert posited that the referendum would energize young liberal voters in far greater numbers than it was likely to draw prohibitionists.

He argued that it could be a wedge in much the same way the Republicans use the gay marriage issue. But while showing how it favored the Dems, he made it clear that helping everyone with a (D) after their names was not his intention. He spoke approvingly of figures like Barney Frank, and acknowledged the vocal support of Rubenstein, but Tvert had no remorse about going after Democrats, like Gubenatorial Candidate Bill Ritter, who have opposed reform. When talking about the Mayor of Denver, Tvert stated, "We did use him as a foil," but went on to say that they would have left Hickenlooper alone if he had taken a more neutral position than the directly anti-reform stance he had chosen.

Much of Tvert's presentation was guided by good questions from Congressional Candidate Bill Winter. Winter, who like myself is one of those rare people who have never smoked marijuana, did not voice a position on the referendum tonight, but he did express a skepticism about the motives and consequences of our country's substance enforcement policies. He was concerned about how enforcement disproportionately burdens people of color. Most of his questions, however, were more about probing Tvert than anything about Winter. Bill asked about Mason's history, which included being a target in a multi-jurisdictional witch hunt back in college, and he tested Mason with, "what do you say about this argument..." queries.

One of my favorite answers;

Marijuana is illegal. We get that all the time. "But marijuana is illegal!"

Well, what the hell is an 18 year old drinking?

For a good laugh, look up the new ad campaign to discourage underage boozing at CU. I am told it recommends only monthly binge drinking.

Many of the questions evoked comparisons between marijuana and tobacco, or marijuana and drinking. Mason had arguments for why pot was the better option on everything from automobile accidents to military stress reduction. I think there are limits to the, 'it is not as bad as...' line of reasoning, but perhaps not so fully as Attorney General Suthers, who apparently spoke approvingly of prohibition of both pot and liquor in an April 19th interview.

Overall, the evening was enjoyable and informative. Tvert held the attention from the moderately sized crowd far longer than many of our visitors have, and gave no sign of flagging energy for as long as people had questions. It will be interesting to see how the referendum plays out, and if the Democrats are indeed able to capitalize on its presence to turn out the youth vote both statewide, and in districts with high collegiate populations like Angie Paccione's CD-4.

In your face, Latvia!

2006-05-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

According to CNN the US is way better than Latvia when it comes to our infant mortality rate.

We have only 5 deaths per thousand compared to Latvia's 6 deaths per thousand.

And guess who is better than us?...

Every other industrialized nation in the world.

Bill Winter for Congress

2006-05-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here is our chance to land the big fish. Help our candidates out.

I have put them name of Bill Winter into consideration.

I love Angie, Jay, and obviously more than anything I think Ed Perlmutter deserves the slot, but Markos' criteria looked to me like they were designed for Bill.

Go read the post and then search or scroll to the comment "Bill Winter and Colorado".

Lets all hit this one hard enough so they know that Winter deserves consideration on a dozen levels.

Poking Fun at Tenderfoot Beauprez

2006-05-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

I was looking at the front page of Bob Beauprez' official website.
When I moused over the photo I saw that the 'alt text' read "Congressman Beauprez in Iraq".
(Right click it if you are using Firefox.)

Now, I am no expert on uniforms, but is it possible that Flight Suit Beauprez is once again trying to pull a fast one on us? The two marines are dressed in desert gear, but what is that other soldier wearing? Is he Airforce or Navy? Maybe with his years of military ~~service~~ defferments, Bob can help identify the uniforms for us.

Steve Ludwig for CU Regent

2006-05-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Steve Ludwig kicked off his campaign for CU Regent at Large yesterday at Denver's Forest Room 5. The campaign to sit on the guiding board of Colorado's third largest employer is an interesting challenge. He will have to appeal to all the voters and constituencies that a statewide race requires, but will have to take it on with the limited dollars and resources of a 'down ticket' campaign.

He will have to navigate his way through a primary and a general election for this open seat, and he will have to both get out the vote and motivate voters to mark complete ballots. In off term elections voters often stop after declaring a preference on Governor and the referenda, and never get to the seemingly less important races.

This is not an unimportant race. The university is not only a large employer, and a two billion dollar organization, but a magnet for high technology buisness in Colorado, and with the growth of the Fitzsimmons Health Clinic it is a key research facillity for Alzheimer's, HIV, cancer, and diabetes. Steve Ludwig also envisions that it could be a hub of co-operation between UNC, CSU and the CU system in tackling issues surrounding improving K-12 education.

Ludwig sees a danger in a current administration that focuses too heavily on athletics, and that lets other nations take the lead in teaching the academics. He indicated that the Chinese are building a university that will educate 500,000 people, their graduates will dwarf the 50,000 total students of CU. Likewise, Indian universities will produce 300,000 high tech graduates this year, a number six times larger than what American schools will produce.

I asked the candidate if a diminished focus on athletics would draw revenues away from the school and impact tuition rates. He said that it was not, "a zero sum game." He felt that if the board hired a competent athletic director, then the athletic program would stay strong. The board could then put its focus on the larger academic picture. Under current leadership, the board, the media, and the athletics department all have a single topic of conversation. He felt that you could still have those conversations led by people empowered to do so, and rather than be an either-or situation, "this can be 'both-and'."

Mr. Ludwig is a man of obvious intelligence, and has a solid background with the University. He is a graduate of CU - Colorado Springs with a degree in Philosophy. He was the student Chair of the CU Intercampus Student Forum, and then later worked in the CU President's office. He was accessible and friendly and struck me as being very much qualified for the job.

The other declared Democrat in this race is former CU Buffalo football player and student athlete mentor, Milt Rogers. Mr. Rodgers, an IT consultant from Boulder who is running on a platform focused on cleaning up the athletic program and restoring pride in CU. I will write more on him if I have the chance to meet him, but at this point I find that Mr. Ludwig's message ressonates more with me. As a techie and political wonk, I find there is more possibility in a future where Colorado is as invested in laboratories as we are in stadiums.

The Republican in this race is Juli Steinhauer wife of CU Regent Pete Steinhauer.

The event was very upbeat, and there were a number of familiar faces in the room.

Rep. Mike Merrifield (D - El Paso) and I talked about the legislative session that is almost closed. He was disappointed that his bill to ban disruptive protests from millitary funerals failed in a 3-3 committee vote over first ammendment concerns. It was still possible for Joan Fitz-Gerald to call it back, but with so few days left in the session and so much left to cover, it most likely will not make it back on today.

Regent Michael Carrigan gave an introduction of the candidate that reflected a long friendship that included their time ten years ago in the Young Dems. Like the others I spoke to, he was certain that Ludwig would be a strong candidate and a solid Regent.

Other notables in the crowd were Tamara Ward from the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Bill Wolf from Morgan Carrol's campaign, State Board of Education member Karen Middleton, and Soapblox contributor and Ludwig campaign honcho Lynette Mayo.

Being set-up by the man today

2006-05-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

The Feds sent a white van with a lot of antennae out to my house a couple of days ago.
My housemate has had a cell phone amplifier on the roof for about seven months, and this week the Lakewood police have decided that it was interfering with their radio calls on a couple of channels.

We shut it off, and I am told the problem is solved. Nonetheless, the FCC wants to send a couple of agents over to the house today to take a look at our equipment and see who the manufacturer is, test our wifi nodes, and who knows what else.

Clearly the real intention is to try to sabotage my tin foil hat collection.

I am planning on going to Forest Room 5 at 2532 15th Street tonight to help kick off Steve Ludwig's race for CU Regent. Lyn, our favorite DL artist, is playing a key role in his campaign and I want to see why getting Ludwig elected was important enough to have her sign another lease in Denver. Unless I am hauled before a Kafkaesque secret tribunal, I will be there between 5:30 - 7:30 for some good local politics and happy hour.

If I disappear off the map someone please take care of my cat.

Vblog

2006-04-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

ColoradoLib has jumped Colorado political blogging into the 21.06th century by launching the first of his Video-Blog segments.

He was at Drinking Liberally when gubenatorial candidate Bill Ritter, and his pick for Lt. Governor, Barbara O'Brien, came and discussed their platform.

I will brazenly swipe one of the images from his page, because the rights to the image of that luddite sitting with the notebook is something I deserve some say over.

Meanwhile, Lyn made use of a different sort of imaging device:

Drinking Liberally with Gubenatorial Candidate Bill Ritter

2006-04-27T02:32:00.000-07:00

Because of your stance on abortion, because of your stance on gay marriage, because of your entire liberal laundry list of progressive issues, you should be working to get Bill Ritter elected Governor of Colorado.
In every race, in every district, we need to pull things farther to the left. In places where no seeds have been planted, we need to till the soil and get it ready. Campaigns like that of Keely Marrs in SD-9 break the first cracks into the pavement, and create space where other growth can follow. Candidates such as Bill Winter and Angie Paccione can bring their districts to the balancing point and perhaps even push us over to victories. And then when the time is ripe, candidates like Ed Perlmutter and Bill Ritter can bring in the new harvest, solidly winning the seats that our work has earned.

No precinct is blue enough. We will keep fighting to win back our Republic, and we will do it intelligently. We will replace an Owens with a Ritter, a Beauprez with a Perlmutter, and when the time comes an Allard with a Udall, and who knows? Maybe even eventually replace a Ritter with a Carroll. The important thing is that we establish the beginning of the upward spiral, and that rather than being divided because no single candidate meets all of our personal agenda issues, we unite behind the ones that move us another step closer towards an environment that supports our core values and common goals.

Bill Ritter moves us in the correct direction, but because he is not everything to every progressive voter, there is a very real chance that Denver will stay home on election day. If that happens what will become of your progressive agenda? The right to choose will be in radical Republican hands, homophobia will be made law, health care and education will be sacrificed on the altar of corporate profit.

The alternative is so bad, that I would be willing to accommodate someone a lot less appealing than the former U.S. Attorney, but tonight I found that Bill Ritter is a candidate I can feel quite comfortable supporting. He and his pick for Lt. Governor, Barbara O'Brien, were the featured guests at tonight's Denver Drinking Liberally.

In introducing Ms. O'Brien, Ritter quoted Dick Celeste, the former Governor of Ohio. It was a curious choice, as Ritter and Celeste seem to me to be of fairly different sensibilities on most issues. Perhaps there is some common ground in that Celeste was once Director of the Peace Corps, and Ritter spent three years managing a nutrition center in Zambia. But if there is little else I see in common between the two, there was certainly enough in common between Ritter and O'Brien so that the quote, "When you choose your running-mate you choose someone who shares your passions," was very apt.

Ritter and O'Brien both shared a commitment to providing better health care and stronger educational opportunities, and to reducing our countries dependence on foreign energy.

O'Brien helped create the Child Health Plan, and related a story about a child whose parents had no insurance, and who put off seeking medical attention for fear of establishing an impossible to pay for 'pre-existing condition.' Through O'Brien's initiative, they were able to identify and treat the benign tumor and save the child. In a theme that I think will be very successful for the Democrats, she did not end the story there as a tale of an act of charity towards a child, but helped the crowd understand it as an investment in a healthy and productive citizen of Colorado who will have an appreciation for the constructive possibility of appropriate government. The Republicans sell our children and future to their cronies, the Democrats invest in our citizens.

Ritter took on a question about gas prices, and called for Colorado to take a leadership position in the New Energy Economy. He spoke of the energy possibilities in wind and biofuels in terms much like those Angie Paccione used when she visited our group from her district on the Eastern Plains. He seemed more skeptical of the current efficiency of ethanol, but he felt that tax incentives should be used to encourage biofuel crops from our farmers. He spoke of how we are the ninth windiest and sixth sunniest state, and using words that echoed ones that I have heard from Ed Perlmutter, he explained how energy independence makes sense not just environmentally, but was equally good for our economy and important for our national defense.

It was one of several ideas that Ritter advanced for encouraging high technology jobs to come to our state. An important aspect of that plan was fleshed out for me by Colorado University Regent candidate, Steve Ludwig. The race for Regent is the sort that is easy to let slip beneath my radar, but consider how vital a strong university system is to draw high technology companies to our state. In fact every key issue in Ritter's platform, from public education through sensible health care, requires competent leadership at our Universities. As I said at the start, we have to build the party at all levels. Promoting a healthy CU system can easily produce results in the short term and far into the future. In fact hold on a second, I am going to go to his website and request they send me out a lawn sign... done.

Another way that technology investment can help our State was outlined by O'Brien who said that bringing the internet to small town Colorado will provide a way for their entrepreneurial spirit to flourish. She was preaching to the choir when it comes to me. I think that bringing the net to both our rural areas and to the schools and homes in our low income communities will tap into creativity and resources in powerful ways. I also look forward to getting invited to Drinking Liberally Poncha Springs.

Ritter was next asked a series of questions about the Electoral College, and stated his preference to keep it as it stands. Speaking to the Denver crowd, he defended Wyoming's right to a voice in our Federal system over a louder voice for the City of Denver. I appreciated getting an answer that was so clearly at odds with the political expediency of the moment. Paradoxically, not telling me what I want to hear is sometimes just the sort of thing I want to hear.

Ritter fielded a number of environmental questions, and answered them the ways that Colorado Democrats tend to. He supported tighter air and water quality controls, and spoke of preserving open space while allowing for 'wise growth'.

O'Brien and Ritter both answered questions about the No Child Left Behind act, without either giving a clear call for full Federal funding. O'Brien said we needed to keep a strong core of math and sciences in our schools, but also were "responsible for the whole being" of our students and had to meet the challenge of maintaining our Arts and Sports programs.

When asked where the future Governor planned on finding the funds for this and the other programs he was advocating, Ritter said he would begin with a top to bottom audit much like the ones that were carried out in Texas and other states. One place he saw room to trim was in the money the Department of Transportation was spending on environmental impact studies for the toll roads. As Ritter voiced several anti-toll statements, I assume he means to cut out the studies by curtailing the road plans themselves.

O'Brien also suggested that there may be funds already in the system that just were being tied up in red tape, such as the 2004 money from Amendment 35 that has just now started to find its way through the bureaucracy.

When asked by a self-described gay activist about GLBT issues, Ritter was somewhere between the middle of the road and the left curb. He supports same sex partnerships, opposes cluttering the constitution with anti-marriage amendments, and said he supported "starting a public policy conversation" about recognizing gay marriages.

The activist was interviewed by Valerie Richardson of the Washington Times about his feelings on Ritter, and while he would have preferred Hickenlooper, he said that he would ultimately vote for Ritter, but he was concerned that many of his circle would opt to stay home. Her story on the evening will probably be available on the web this weekend.

On the abortion issue, Ritter voiced his support for emergency contraception, his personal opposition to abortion, and his legislative stance for choice. He said that Roe v. Wade was the settled law of the land, and did not support Colorado making laws that conflicted with it, and certainly did not support South Dakota's laws that made no exception for rape or properly safeguarded the health of the mother. Ritter did not speculate as to what he would do if Roe v. Wade had been overturned on the Federal level.

He was asked about what policies he had in place to meet the needs of the African American community, and he broadened the question to consider all "communities of color." He pointed out that the central issues of his campaign, health care and education, were ones that spoke broadly to all of Colorado, but were also of direct interest to those least served by our current system. "This is a State with great promise that is not living up to it's promise."

In the end, I was left feeling that Ritter was a good candidate, and vastly superior to Holtzman or Beauprez. While some of his stances are more moderate than mine, I was glad to see that they stood where they did out of conviction and not out of weakness or timidity. Hopefully his reasoned positions will give more reason for the right wing to stay home than the left, but if we want to create change in this state, we better work very hard to get our voters to the polls this November. Guarding our Senate and House majorities will not mean much if we have Tom Delay's friend holding the veto pen.

"Inside the EPA Weekly Report" on O'Donnell and the EPA

2006-04-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Every paragraph in the story is gold, and there is no way to link to it, but I think copyright laws keep me from just posting the whole thing verbaitim.

You are just going to have to start subscribing to "Inside the EPA Weekly Report" to see Dawn Reeves' full story.

Johnson Campaign Appearance Bolsters Democrats In Key House Race

EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson's appearance at a controversial campaign fundraiser for a Colorado Republican congressional candidate last month may help Democrats in their effort to pick up the seat in what is considered one of the most competitive House races in the country.

...

We would do it again,” O’Donnell’s spokeswoman says, adding that Democrats will gain no traction because the complaints will be dismissed as groundless.

...

The fact that the event was held at the Denver office of Greenberg Traurig, the law firm where convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked, has helped Democrats keep their claims in play. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), for example, points to the Johnson controversy to show close Republican ties to industry.

In fact, when news of the event first broke, one GOP former appointee at EPA said that Johnson's appearance would help Democrats define O'Donnell. “Don't do anything that gives the other team grist for discussion," the source said.

As part of their effort to drive home their message, Democrats are calling for government investigations into the event. Earlier this month, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, joined the Colorado Democratic Party in asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the Hatch Act, to investigate whether Johnson violated the law.

“The potential violations of the Act could lead one to draw an inference that a political campaign was attempting to provide access to a government officials for donors whose businesses are regulated by that official. . . . While it has been reported that Mr. Johnson never approved the e-mails, I would appreciate your independent review of the circumstances under which the invitations were sent,” Conyers' April 6 letter says. “It also may be possible that Mr. Johnson violated federal prohibitions on solicitation of political contribution or participation,” Conyers adds.

A spokesman from the Office of Special Counsel acknowledges that the office is looking into the complaints but would not provide any more information.

...

Herb Rubenstein, one of three Democratic candidates vying for the seat, says Democrats may also have been helped in their bid to keep the story alive because the O'Donnell campaign refused to release a list of those who attended the event, creating the impression that the campaign had something to hide. “All Rick had to do was give out the names and this story would be over,” he says.

But when EPA eventually released the list in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, it prompted new allegations from Democrats of close ties between Republicans and industry. It is “very bizarre that environmental lawyers were allowed an hour in a closed-door session with the EPA administrator,” a DCCC source says.

...

Roy Palmer, the top lobbyist for Xcel Energy, also attended, according to O'Donnell's spokeswoman and Federal Election Commission records. While Xcel Energy has a current lawsuit against the agency in an effort to get its West Texas facilities exempted from the clean air interstate rule, O'Donnell's spokeswoman says Palmer and O’Donnell have been friends for years and that Palmer came to support the candidate, not to lobby the EPA administrator.

O’Donnell’s spokeswoman says she refused to release the attendees in an effort to protect their privacy. “The intent was not to keep a secret.”

...

But O'Donnell does not appear to be distancing himself from the Bush administration. O’Donnell's spokeswoman says the campaign has invited Colorado reporters to a fundraiser next week that will be headlined by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, in an effort to demonstrate that no lobbying occurs at O'Donnell fundraisers.

Redistricting the Cancer Map

2006-04-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

The good people over at Clean Air Watch have been doing what they can to educate me about the new national air quality standards for particle matter. About once every ten years or so, the EPA reviews the enforcement standards of the clean Air Act.

They say that it is the largest decision that EPA Administrator Johnson will be making this year, and he is under a court agreement to make the final decision by September 27.

The case for stronger clean air standards has been made by organizations like the American Lung Association, the American Medical Association, and even the EPA's own science advisors, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). In a letter sent to Stephen Johnson, the scientists officially asked Johnson to reconsider his plan to sell our air quality out to the Dirty Air lobby.

Dirty Air lobby? Who in the world would be for dirty air?

Let's ask Dirty O'Donnell, Republican candidate for Colorado's Seventh congressional district. O'Donnell invited Johnson to have drinks with him, the polluter's alliance, and member's of dirty lobbyist Jack Abramoff's old law firm.

This week was the close of the public comment period, and some of the fans of death and taxcuts sent the request to the EPA to keep the cancer rates as high as their profits.

The case they made for more fine particle matter in the air, and a total exemption for mining companies, began with these comforting words:

While the EPA is correct that there is important new information in recent studies about the association between ambient fine PM and adverse health effects, the Agency has largely ignored the implications of this information. The results of epidemiological studies indicate clearly that the association between air pollution and adverse health effects is complex and that the health effects cannot be attributed to any single component of the generalized air pollution mixture.

Yes, yes, and while it is clear that the firing squad killed the prisoner, it is shown that the wound pattern was complex and it is difficult to say that any single bullet was fully responsible for doing him in, therefore the barrage was essentially harmless.

What a great argument. Who signed this document? Among the dirty industry groups listed are quite a few of the same names that appeared on the donor list for the night of O'Donnell's potentially illegal lobbypalooza featuring Admin. Johnson. Two examples of people who signed checks to O'Donnell and whose organizations were engaged in lobbying the EPA are Stuart Sanderson, whose Colorado Mining Association is a member of the National Mining Association, and Stan Dempsy whose Colorado Petroleum Association states on it's website that it "is closely allied with the American Petroleum Institute." Both NMA and API were signatories.

And, of course, we can't forget our friends at Xcel, whose director of Governmental Affairs Roy Palmer was a suprise guest at the event. Xcel is a member of a group of utility companies that also sent in comment requesting continued weak soot standards.

Their argument was also fairly creative. It began by requesting that all the standards be based on current studies, and then requested criteria not covered by current studies. Having no data by which to measure their new criteria, they said their should be no real standards. Current regulations talk about how many bits of tiny junk in the air you are allowed. They insisted that we divide the tiny bits up into many groups, reasearch the toxicity of all of them, and then create new standards based on both size and toxicity. In science spin talk it sounds like this:

For example a January 2000 study by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria identified organic carbon particulates associated with vehicle emissions, especially diesel exhaust, as the major factor for adverse health effects. Acidic sulfates were identified, albiet to a lesser extent, as important factors related to health impacts.

Yes, yes, and while being shot with bullets is hurting the prisoner, we should not just say that using fewer bullets is the answer, but we first must consider the effects of the several different types of bullets we are using and decide which are the most deadly. Therefore we should just keep shooting him at our current rate for ten years, and then review the new literature to see which bullets need to be scaled back the farthest.

I love these people. Dirty Air. Dirty Companies. Dirty Money. Dirty O'Donnell

(And as a postscript, I have discovered that not all O'Donnells are dirty. I want to thank Frank O'Donnell of Clean Air Watch for all of the help he gave me with this post.)

Dirty O'Donnell

2006-04-19T03:19:00.000-07:00

I am reeling in another fish.
Making a donation the night of the EPA lobbypalooza was Tipperary Corporation CEO David Bradshaw. Tipperary is an oil and gas exploration company. Any guess what I am going to find there?

The Denver Post did a great job on following up on the Xcel scandal that I first broke here.

"This just reeks of buying access to federal regulators," said Danielle Radovich Piper, spokeswoman for one of O'Donnell's Democratic opponents, Ed Perlmutter. "You are talking about letting people at a fundraiser have access to a federal regulator when their very business ... is about being regulated by this person."

O'Donnell spokeswoman K.C. Jones said Palmer "did not open his mouth during the event."

The campaign had refused to give details
about the meeting. But last month, in response to a public records request, the EPA released the names of 10 people who attended the fundraiser. Palmer's name was not on the list.
Jones said Palmer's name was not on the list because "he just popped in" and did not R.S.V.P. She said Monday that 14 people attended the event. She said she had been withholding donors' names to protect their privacy.

The Post reported "O'Donnell's campaign said it did nothing wrong. The invitation for the event used Johnson's name but not his title - making it above board according to the federal Hatch Act, the campaign says."

But wait a minute now...

Rocky Mountain News

The subject line of Benevento's e-mail and the attached invitation included Johnson's title.

"Subject: Fundraiser with Administrator of EPA Stephen L. Johnson for Rick O'Donnell this Thursday," the e-mail read.

"Fundraiser with Administrator of EPA," read the invitation's title.

5 things you should know about ChoicePoint

2006-04-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

"What in heaven's name are we doing allowing someone as careless as ChoicePoint to be in control of our data?"
"I consider them the poster child for lax security protection."
~Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

1) They stacked the Florida election for Bush.
In the leadup to the 2000 elections, ChoicePoint wrongfully purged the Florida voter rolls of thousands of African Americans.
The disenfrachisement of 8000 people was referred to as a "minor glitch" by Choicepoint VP, L. Martin Fagan.

2) John "Let the Eagle Soar" Ashcroft is their lobbyist.

When John Ashcroft took his leave of public service, he went to work as a lobbyist for ChoicePoint. They have been pals at least as far back as when ChoicePoint landed the deal to screen airport employees and help out with the no-fly list.

3) They sold the personal information of as many as 400,000 Americans to a criminal ring engaged in identity theft.

This crime, that was uncovered only by California laws that require the reporting of such breaches, resulted in a $10 million fine and the establishment of a $5 million dollar restitution fund.

4) Their response to the penalty was to support Representatives like Florida election fraud figure, Rep. Katherine Harris, and Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette to enact a Federal law that would gut State laws like California's.

The "Data Protection Act" which has been called "the worst data security bill ever," is making its way through Congress, and if passed will not only soften the rules for reporting data theft to consumers, but will also only protect people after that stolen data has already been used to cause damages.

5) They would like to have Rick O'Donnell's vote in Congress.

The CEO, the Vice President, and the Chief Compliance Officer of ChoicePoint, have started a Political Action Committee called "Voice For Freedom"
According to his latest FEC disclosure Colorado CD-7 Republican Rick O'Donnell is the proud recipient of their checks.

While he is busy stuffing the bills in his pocket, Rubber Stamp Rick's website says...

Voters across this district are hungry for new blood, renewed energy and some fresh ideas in Congress.

Use the donation link on the right side of this page to support Democrat Ed Perlmutter, or go to ActBlue and send some money to the CD7 General Fund.

Help Herb, Ed, and Peggy raise what they need to fight Katherine Harris, John Ashcroft, and Rick O'Donnell.

And Bloggers, after you donate put a link to the fund on your page!

Trailhead

2006-04-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

If you are one of the Colorado readers, then you already know the latest on this story from Soapblox, but I would like to give a bit of background for those of you elsewhere.

Bill Owens, the Republican Governor is linked to a fairly shadowy organization called The Trailhead Group which funded a series of Robo-Calls that slandered targeted Democrats in their home districts.

The latest turn in the ugly story is that Attorney General John Suther's, an Owens appointee, has declined to investigate the matter. As ColoradoLib points out, it seems that Trailhead and Suthers both share a remarkably similar campaign donor list.

There are a lot of threads that the Colorado Blog community is chasing down on this one, and I am going to be jumping into the fray as well. Expect more to follow.

Drinking Liberally

2006-04-13T00:52:00.000-07:00

More tomorrow, but tonight you get Lynnette's take on the evening.

ACLU National Town Hall

2006-04-12T02:54:00.000-07:00

Nothing changed on 9/11.

Redact history like a FOIA document. With crossed out names and places, each age looks much like the last.

Once again, there is a Republic under siege. The fear of outer enemies does coarser damage than the enemies themselves. People feel safer without freedom. They wrap themselves so tightly in the flag it becomes a blindfold, and then a gag, and then a noose. Cutting them free is the worst treason, so how do you convince them to save themselves? How do you save the Republic?

I spent tonight at the Colorado History Museum, a fitting venue to hear a discussion of the NSA surveillance controversy by a panel well equipped to put it in a historical context.

Former Colorado First Lady, Dottie Lamm, moderated the second ACLU National Town Hall. The panel included Sen. Gary Hart, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, former Reagan Deputy Attorney General Bruce Fein, and ACLU Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein.

Sen. Hart talked from a perspective that included his service on the Church Committee (a Senate Committee set up after Watergate to investigate the abuses of power by the FBI and CIA) and his work on the Hart-Rudman Commission (which on Jan. 31, 2001 issued a report stating "Americans will die on American soil, possibly in large numbers.") He saw 9-11 more as an excuse than a turning point, and reminded the audience of how the Project for a New American Century had laid out the plan to seize the Iraqi oil fields long before a casus belli could be invented.

September 11 was a criminal act, he argued, and if we can put it into that context we should be able to curb some of the worst offenses of this administration. The problem began when Congress endorsed Bush's position that the hijacking was an act of war. By affixing that label, the President could claim emergency powers, and as this is an endless war the President can keep them forever.

Bruce Fein underlined this idea of 'permanent war', and the abdication of Congressional power. When he and I spoke, I used the term 'unitary executive' to describe the resulting situation, and he objected to the idea that vesting power in the Executive branch was what we were really observing. He felt that it was a collapse into a single undifferentiated branch of government that could be called the "monopoly of power."

Mr. Fein is a treat to listen to. He quotes Burke, Locke, and Rousseau, uses words like 'effete' and 'plucky' to describe things you wouldn't think of as either, and loves breaking into manic monologue. His style is energetic, condescending, and charming in a way you might expect if Matthew Lesko started channeling Lord Acton.

At the same time he was speaking in Denver, the Washington Post was running an Op Ed by him that could have been tonight's transcript.

He offered a number of ways we could reverse the damage caused by this President, but they all hinged on the US Congress stepping up and offering resistence. He did not give a lot of indications on how that would be possible; at least not in the near term. The problem, he felt, began with our failure to educate recent generations with a sense of civic duty. Hope for him lay on a horizon where people reclaimed their obligation to fight for a just and limited government. Still, when Anthony Remero referenced a future twenty years out, Fein objected saying we did not have that much time to save our freedoms.

Romero was talking about the length of time it may take for us to know the extent of the Bush-Cheney wiretapping. He stated that the truth would inevitably be revealed, but he also conceded it might be slow in coming. One thing he indicated might influence the time table is how well we can communicate that Civil Liberties are a nonpartisan issue. He was looking for people on both sides of the political aisle who were concerned about discarding the rule of law. People who hated seeing, as Fein put it, "a coronation not a inauguration." Here, Senator Hart was also in alignment with them. He said that we had a Congress that did not think they had sworn an oath to defend the constitution, but instead thought they had sworn to defend the President. He criticized the Republicans who had no love for the Republic, and the Democrats who put career ahead of Democracy, and how they interacted to create a situation where things like the NSA spying could be tolerated.

When discussing the wiretapping, Mr. Silverstein brought a number of recent cases to my attention. The first, involving the Denver Police Department, illustrated the power of the Freedom of Information Act, and he outlined how tugging on threads in that case had led the ACLU to understand how ready the FBI and other federal bodies are to cast a broad net when looking for 'terrorists' in peaceful domestic groups. He also referred to a disclosure by an ATT Worldnet employee that ATT without warrant or cause has channeled massive amounts of emails and phone calls into NSA databases.

The extent of this sort of shotgun approach to intelligence was something that several panel members wanted to uncover. Director Romero summed it up when he said, "NSA is not about connecting dots. It is about collecting more dots." He urged the audience to make demands on their government to disclose the extent of the spying and to make demands on the companies whose services they use.

Senator Hart also stressed how this was not targeted investigating. This is a technological approach that sucks up "tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions" of communications and then filters them for key words, and it is done by a government that cannot be trusted to choose its targets wisely. The former Senator told a story about when he was the least senior member of a commision looking into FBI surveillance and he suggested that all of the Senators on the commission should request to see their own FBI files. There was a pause, and then Barry Goldwater said, "Goddamnit, I don't want to know what they got on me." Ominously Hart added that their may be members of Congress whose timidity to confront this issue comes from being intimidated by the dangerous system itself.

This lack of courage reminds me of a story that Bruce Fein had told earlier in the evening. It was set in the moment when Benjamin Franklin had emerged from the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and he was asked, "Well, Doctor, what have we got? A Republic or a Monarchy?" Franklin replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."

It makes me wonder if we will find the courage to make the demands we need to make to keep our constitution whole. As one good historian said tonight, "You can loose a Republic on the installment plan as easy as by a coup d'état."

The Apprentice has become the Master

2006-04-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

Man, he learns quickly.

A few months ago, Ed Perlmutter was busy showing leadership in Colorado's seventh congressional district, but already he has started aiming higher and is taking over the internet as well.

In a move clearly designed to make me jealous, he gave a call to Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft and they sat down for a few hours in a coffee shop.

She wrote up the whole thing in a piece for 5280

Good stuff.

(Oh, and she added Ed to her ActBlue page. C'mon. All the cool kids are doing it. Click the happy link box on the right side of this page to join in the fun.)

And the blogrolls on

2006-04-05T23:24:00.000-07:00

I have been staring at the Colorado Luis link in my blogroll for almost two weeks now. I couldn't bring myself to remove it. He is still around, and still a great contributor to the group sites, but I am going to miss his little personal place on the net where he could stretch out and have a beer.

Tonight I found a clever way to make the transition, and still feel like I am moving towards something instead of just watching something slip away.

By tossing some extra letters around the name LUIS, I replaced his link with the one to ePluribus Media. The site is a great site, and they have been kind enough to add Heading Left to their blogroll. I can think of nobody better to fill the hole in my reading rotation.

Denver Transit Strike, the Media, and far too much else

2006-04-05T02:06:00.000-07:00

I was finishing up my shift at Scooter Joe’s coffee shop in Denver when Ric, a writer for Labor Notes came in with a request for a box of coffee. Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union were in their second day of a strike against the Denver Regional Transportation District ( RTD)
Ric wanted to show solidarity with the workers and had bought a box of donuts to take to the strikers. He asked my boss how much it would cost to bring a bunch of java out to the pickets, and she gave it for free. I grabbed a bag filled with cream and sugar and asked if I could tag along.

On the way to the site we picked up Ric’s friend Larry who was working on initiatives to arrange carpools for blue collar workers who were trapped by the strike. He explained how historically this was effective at keeping the community aligned behind the strikers.

There were about twenty bus drivers left at the site by the time I finally got to the offices of the RTD. They were in good spirits, but none of them wanted to be there. They all seemed to want to just get back to work, and felt that the impasse was squarely on the shoulders of the Department of Transportation.

A driver named Deb said…

They’re causing problems; friction in our families. We are on pins and needles to see if the public will support us. I am hopeful that Owens will see it… he has to see the safety issues. Look at that bus. It is full of people, and you know they are getting antsy in there. It’s frustrating for the Governor to be waiting for safety to be an issue. It already is.

I spoke to a driver named Carl…

TBTH: It sounds to me that nobody here really wanted a strike.

Carl: If they had come to us in the right way, none of this would have happened, but they came at us in the most degrading way possible.They acted like we had a sign on our heads that said, “I’m stupid. Kick me in the ass.”

TBTH: Still, you guys are being paid a lot more than I am.

Carl: These guys up here (points to RTD offices) who make the rules, they get paid a lot better than you too, a whole lot better than you or me, but think about what it is we do. I am in charge of people’s lives. I drive every day in the mountains. In rain. In fog. There are fifty people on my bus, and whether or not they like me, or whether or not they treat me well, I have to keep focused or I could run off the road, and these are people’s parents, people’s loved ones, and I have to take care of them and get them home, get them to work. If I want to go out one night and have some fun, I have to think first about what I am responsible for the next morning. It is stressful. People talk to you all day about religion, about politics, I mean these are topics that people die over, they are really important to people, but I have to keep my opinions in because I have to pay attention to what I am doing or people die or we all wind up on disability, and what is that going to do to their lives? What do you pay the man who when he gets spit on has to first think about your safety before anything else?

Just talking to me at all gave some of the driver’s reason to look over their shoulders. The RTD had just brought in ‘security’ from a company called IMAC; The International Management Assistance Corporation. I am told these guys had been hired when the supermarket chain King Soopers wanted to fire their striking workers and toss them off the property. I sat down with a couple of these rather large gentlemen and had this exchange…

TBTH: What’s that say, I.M.A.C.?
Goon: I-Mac, yeah.
TBTH: Is that a security company? I write a thing on the internet.
Goon: Security, yeah.
TBTH: That guy has a Wackenhut badge. I have heard of them. Are you guys part of that?
Goon: No, we’re a separate thing. They brought us in for this.
TBTH: Has there been trouble? Are they expecting trouble?
Goon: We’re here in case.
TBTH: So do you work mostly for the city, or all sorts of stuff?
Goon: Oh, we work everywhere.
TBTH: So how long do you think this is going to go?
Goon: (laughs)
TBTH: Yeah, I get that we aren’t the one’s making that decision but did they tell you to clear off a big block of time or is it a day to day thing?
Goon2: We never know.
Goon: They just tell us when it is time to go.
TBTH: Go to work? Or when the job is over?
Goon2: They let you know two hours before you fly.
TBTH: Before you fly? So you’re not from around here?
Goon: No, were from all over.
TBTH: Where you from?
Goon: I am from Miami.
TBTH: I am from Detroit.
Goon: He’s from there too.
Goon2: I’m from Flint.
TBTH: So they call you in from all over and you fly in and meet up and then they fly you back to wherever?
Goon: Yeah.
TBTH: That is a wild job you have. Is it a hassle?
Goon: No, it’s not a hassle. It depends on your lifestyle.

Goon and Goon2 were making $30 dollars an hour. I am told that IMAC has already charged the taxpayers $114,000 for whatever it is they have done so far. Inside at the RTD board meeting a proposal was being made to release a million dollars from the General Fund to pay the Goons for two months of work. This was pared back to a one month paycheck of $500,000. Reportedly, one of the selling points was that IMAC guards carried hand held video cameras to make it easier to find grounds upon which to fire the workers when the strike was over. None of the guards I saw had those cameras yet.

The money being paid sent a message to the workers, and they were hearing it. The RTD was willing to pay money to break the union that it was not willing to pay to keep wheels on the road. This baffled the drivers. They still thought that the other side might possibly be bargaining in good faith.

Inside, former Board Member, Jon Caldera had the floor. He was awarded the prize for Best Media Manipulator by Westword Magazine for his work on behalf of the Independence Institute. He came to the meeting to propose that with no contract in place and the workers on strike, now might be the perfect time to just privatize the whole thing. As it stands there is a law mandating that 50% of the routes must be outsourced to private contractors, and the board is permitted to raise that number right up to 100%. More than a few board members seemed happy to take that route. Sources told me that contractor, First Transit, has a top rate for its drivers around $15 or $16 an hour, which is several dollars lower than the union workers receive.

Labor had a few friends in the room, and one name that was mentioned very positively by the workers was that of Bill McMullen who repeatedly put public best interest ahead of other considerations. He tried to bring the RTD into arbitration, and he even announced he will be joining the pickets tomorrow.

On the other end of the spectrum was General Manager, Clarence “Cal” Marsella. He led the charge to replace budget for Denver bus drivers with budget for new luggage for out of town Rent-a-Goons with which to carry our tax dollars back to Miami.

The meeting went into closed executive session so that the board could discuss ‘strike preparedness strategy’ in private. During that time, I had a conversation with Jesse Brezzel who runs the private security firm BRT Investigations. He was in charge of people checking into the meeting, and when he is not doing security for RTD, he runs security for the local NBA team. He told me a number of things that had him looking over his shoulders and choosing his words carefully so as not to get himself into trouble with his very nervous clients.
Nothing he said was earth shaking. It was mostly about the debacle surrounding the RTD hiring Alvertis Simmons and how his company was brought in during the aftermath. Still, the fact he was talking to me at all was a source of concern for ‘the company’.

That sort of fear was pandemic tonight. I talked to a dozen people who shared with me very human and interesting stories, but if I write about them, bureaucratic over-reactions might get good people into bad situations. As a blogger, I have a unique position in the journalistic world. I don’t have to care what any editor or corporation wants me to write. I get to just tell my own truth. But in a way, by holding my loved ones hostage, the corporations are telling me what to write as well. I love the truth, and I love the human people behind the badges and picket signs and even the official board member name plates, but every last one of them is being held hostage and I do not want to cause them harm. It is a tough situation for me at times.

I was thinking about it while talking to Kevin Flynn of the Rocky Mountain News and Jeff Leib of the Denver Post. While impressing the hell out of me with their knowledge and ability, they also killed some time listening to me jabber about being a ‘citizen journalist’. “I forget; how do you make a living at that?” Yeah, bite me Leib.
I was talking to some journalists, maybe those two maybe not. It went something like this…

TBTH: You guys have a lot of access because of the power you have, but oddly I get a lot of access that you don’t precisely because I am ‘nobody’. It gives me some opportunities to do a different sort of writing.
Someone: And you can write about the rent-a-goons.
Someone else: You can even use the words rent-a-goons.
Someone: He can write about Ludlow.

Yes I can. I can write about the Ludlow Massacre where 20 Colorado coal miners were killed for striking in 1914. I can talk about the Baldwin-Felts detective agency, progenitor to firms like IMAC.

I can also write about how bright Someone and Someone Else are, but how both smart and hot AP writer Kim Ngyuen is. You see, they get paid. They are vastly talented. But I get to call people hot on the internet. Fair trade.

When the meeting came back into public session, the board looked like they were going to gavel things closed without any public comment from the union members. Dave Ruchman managed to keep the meeting open long enough so that one union member was allowed the floor. ATU officer, Tommy Mullins stepped to the microphone and asked that the Board empower their negotiators to bring the private security money to the table at tomorrow’s meeting with the Union. No motion was passed concerning that request and everybody was sent home.

Tomorrow the Union, the RTD and the Feds are going to sit down at a meeting ordered by the Federal Conciliation and Mediation Service. From tonight’s proceedings, I do not have very high hopes of this first meeting. It felt like the majority of the RTD Board has chosen a course for the next weeks, and are going to try intimidating the drivers into underplaying the union’s strong hand.

I started the long walk back to my car. The Sixteenth Street Mall was quiet with no ‘mall ride’ buses sliding by. It was just the pedestrians and the horse carriages. I lingered for a bit around the night time chess players, and arrived at Colfax and Broadway just in time to see the Fox News broadcast being taped. The reporter was practicing his lines, and I updated him on what I heard in the meeting. The lede for that segment was how Governor Owens had rejected a call for arbitration.

When an earlier contract negotiation was brought to arbitration, the union was granted 5 of the 7 points in dispute. Wanting to avoid a repeat of that, the State decided to open the doors to a strike rather than an arbitrated settlement. When the Union requested the Governor to intercede he told them to just accept the contract and get back to work.

I offered the reporter the information that there was a Federal mediation meeting in the morning. Now, while this is not the same as binding arbitration, it did mean that the workers and the RTD were not in a ‘take it or leave it’ situation and the Governor’s advice was unlikely to be heeded any time soon.

I talked for a long while with the reporter and his cameraman as people driving by shouted various nasty things. Both of them were genuinely decent people, and I would explain why but once again decent people who speak openly put themselves at great risk.

The cameraman, who was clearly more disenchanted with his employer than the reporter, did let me know that he was not worried about how the network might take his frankness, so I will quote at least part of what the techie said…

We can’t talk. That stuff you were saying is the reason a lot of us won’t be in this business for much longer. It’s just too fucking corporate. Too incorporated. Not just this network, but all over.

I was told that the local affiliate was not as biased as the parent company, but even at the local level things were not driven by what was important, but by media consultants who were being paid to tell the bosses what they wanted to hear. Things needed to be “Visual, compelling, and impactful” but somehow things like renewable energy were never going to be that, no matter how colorful the story's hook or how solid the research that showed monumental impact. It has gotten so bad that even local professional sports are considered to too pale to be of interest.

The reporter and I talked about his days in Democratic politics, before gerrymandering took him out of the game. He spoke of how hard it was communicating to people that their votes made an impact, and how eye opening and disappointing it was to see his community so disenfranchised.

Still, when a young man in a hoodie came up making the case to be put on the air to tell how when it came to the transit strike, “this shit is messing with my motion,” the reporter brushed him off and kept him disenfranchised. The reporter has my respect, but it was a bit disconcerting to hear a man of his integrity tell me that his victories consist of slipping in a code word here and there that let his listeners know that he too grew up “in the hood.”

They were kind enough to give me a lift in the FOX News van back to the coffee shop, and I spent the trip wondering about a world where the people in front of cameras can’t speak to their communities about the things that matter, where journalists with fantastic grasps of context and history have to just write about the ‘he said she said’ of the moment, where all sorts of government employees can see waste and corruption, but can only talk about it where it won’t be heard or repeated. I added it to my political experiences where people can only have an opinion until they take a job with the Party that tells them to keep their mouths officially shut. I took a look at this whole stupid ‘off the record’ world I have wandered into, where my decidedly ‘on the record’ outlook can do damage to decent people.

Meanwhile, there is a bus driver out there who just wants to do his job and feed his family. Of the millions of ways the government spends my tax dollars, there are few I appreciate as much as paying the guy who drives me to work. I just want to yell out a few truths in hopes it will help them.

But I am afraid.

Guest list to controversial meeting with EPA Admin

2006-04-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

More today on the Hatch Act violating appearance by EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson at a small closed meeting with lobbyists and industry leaders that was also a political fundraiser for CO-7 Republican candidate Rick O'Donnell

I have recieved back FOIA information from the EPA including the guest list that was mentioned in the Denver Post :

Nine of the 10 people listed as attending the event have or could have business before the EPA. (One person on the list says she actually didn't attend.) Johnson's appearance in such a tight-knit political setting compromises his impartiality in presiding over such matters.

Was it a fundraiser? Were there actual guests? Nearly everyone on this preliminary list is a "host". It seems likely that this list was a preliminary roster of invitees, and not the real attendees, but let's take a look anyhow...

The 'Hosts' are all members of the Greenberg Traurig law firm. Greenberg Traurig is the massive lobbying operation that is the fourth largest employer of lawyers in the U.S.
They were behind Jack Abramoff's Indian Casino deals and they funded the Bush Florida recount battle in 2000 to the tune of $314k in free services.

Six of the ten guests were G-T lawyers.

1) Doug Benevento
2) Larry Hudson
3) Brian Duffy
4) Jim Prochnow
5) Dave Palmer
6) Chris Neumann

Several of the six have interesting ties to the Owens administration and to clients who clearly have matters pending or possible before the EPA.
Doug Benevento was the Director of the Colorado Department of Health and Environment until he stepped down a few months ago to take the private sector position at Greenberg & Traurig.
Chris Newmann was on the Hazardous Waste Commission and was just appointed by Owens to the Colorado Air Quality Commission.

3 of the remaining 4 were industry leaders who paid for the off-the-record session with EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson:

7) Stuart Sanderson, Colorado Mining Association
8) Craig Richardson, El Paso Gas
9) Stan Dempsy, Colorado Petroleum Association & Colorado Oil and Gas Association

And mystery guest number 10, who told the Post she did not attend?

10) Shayne Madsen of the law firm McKenna, Long, & Aldridge.

One of Ms. Madsen's biggest accomplishments to date?

She represented the Colorado Secretary of State before the Colorado Supreme Court in connection with the 2003 Congressional Redistricting challenge.

That was the redistricting issue that created the Seventh Congressional district, and that the Republicans still hope will disolve the district.
Their case is still winding through the courts, and it is interesting, if somewhat unsuprising, that Rick is closely allied with the people who want to erase the district he seeks to represent.

Great Ad

2006-03-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

Chevy and the The Apprentice had a cross promotional online thing to create your own Chevy ad.

I don't know how long this link will work, but this is what a web ad should look like!

http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=1f3dce3c-1172-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7

(hat tip to jank2112)

#1 recommended post at Daily Kos

2006-03-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

Its a Saturday evening. Not much to do.
Oh hey, look.

The top rated post right now at Daily Kos is one I wrote about Ed Perlmutter.

Begging is good.

The cause is great.

Let's Take Back The House.

With Ed, Angie, Bill, and Jay we can make Colorado sky blue!

CO-7 Caucus

2006-03-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

I have been juggling work and politics quite a bit lately, and journalism has had to take a backseat for a few days.

I was elected the Democratic Party Precinct Committeeman for God's favorite precinct, #7212630025.

I will also be going to the County Assembly as a delegate in the bizaare and interesting caucus process. It is a labryinth, but it is a wonderful expression of grassroots Democracy. I love sitting at a table with my neighbors and deciding which candidates and policies we want to see move up the chain.

I met Andy Kerr who is my new State House Rep. He was appointed on the first ballot by a vacancy committee to replace Betty Boyd, who in turn has been elevated to be my new State Senator. Sen. Boyd replaced the outgoing Sen. Deanna Hanna, and both of them were in attendence as well.

Mr. Kerr came over and introduced himself to our precinct and I congratulated him and asked him to support Morgan Carroll's anti-lobbying bill. I think it will take him a few days to be up to speed on what I was talking about, but when he does I am sure he will represent us well, and when the voters get to transform his appointed position to an elected one, I will be energized in my efforts to help him maintain the seat.

Peggy Lamm came by our table and she and I engaged in a bit of theater. I don't have a recording, but I believe the script went something like this...

TBTH: Hello Peggy.
PL: Hello it is good to see you.
TBTH: Are you participating in the caucus tonight?
PL: As you see, I am here tonight.
TBTH: Yes, but are you participating in the caucus?
PL: I am participating in many caucuses tonight.
TBTH: But are you intending to become a candidate through the caucus process?
PL: I am certainly a candidate. I will be on the ballot. I am collecting petitions.
TBTH: So you are not participating in the caucus process?
PL: I am attending many caucuses tonight.
Mr. X.: I think he wants to make sure his notes are accurate, so he is trying to get a clear answer.
PL: I am collecting petitions and I will be on the ballot.
TBTH: But you are not seeking support through the caucus process.
PL: I am hoping to get everybody's support.
TBTH: But you have not voted in any caucus tonight and you do not intend to get on the ballot through our caucus process, right?
PL: That is right.
TBTH: Ok, I just wanted a straight answer.
PL: Well, I don't think I can be any more clear than the answer that I just gave you. A lot of good people have gotten on through petitioning. Mark Udall and Mike Feeley did. A lot of good people have. Ok. Well, it was good getting to see you. Everyone have a good night tonight.

Mr. X.: You are such a brat, Aaron.
TBTH: Yes. I am a brat, but she is going to get a lot worse from the Republicans.
Mr. Y.: She really didn't want to give you an answer there, did she?
TBTH: She doesn't handle it well when people call her on what she is doing. That is why I think O'Donnell would crush her. She has too many places where they can attack her and she can never seem to defend herself without making things worse.

We took a straw poll. 9 votes for Ed Perlmutter. 1 absention who said he is leaning towards Perlmutter but doesn't want to commit yet until he learns more about Herb Rubenstein. Nothing for Lamm.

The Underlying has Zero Intrinsic Value

2006-03-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I worked on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, and I have a pretty solid background when it comes to reading the charts of stocks and commodities.

When trading Options contracts, there are two things that go into deciding a price. The first is the actual value of the stuff you are buying, and the second is a premium you pay depending on how much time you have left before you have to excercize the option or let it go.

This is a classic example of how a chart looks if the thing you are trading has no real value at all, and as it gets closer to expiration the price goes to zero.

The dots are Bush's polling numbers, from a chart by Stuart Thiel.
The black line is the % time Bush had left in office.

Right now we have about 35% of his time left, and he is at about 35% in the polls.

News Flash [classified]

2006-03-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

Something happened today, but I don't know what.

Based on secret evidence a Federal judge made a classified ruling.
The defense was not permitted to see the evidence or get clearance to read the Judge's decision.

The defense made a motion. The Judge and the prosecution went behind closed doors. The Judge came out and told them their motion was denied for classified reasons.

Try and appeal that ruling, suckers.

I just wanted to host this photo somewhere

2006-03-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

I was just sent a copy of a photo that I took with another person's camera.
This is Fighting Dem Jay Fawcett, candidate for CO-5 shaking hands with Sen. John Kerry.

I am hosting it here so that his campaign and his supporters can use the image as they wish.

Drinking Liberally with Morgan Carroll CO-HD36

2006-03-09T02:48:00.000-08:00

I don't know if we have the political will to go in, and make the enemies we need to, to solve the problems.

There are Democrats and Republicans and then there is The System.
The parties compete like two children fighting over the leash of a very large dog; no matter who wins, the dog still runs where it pleases.

Morgan Carroll is the Democratic State Representative from Colorado House District 36. It was not at all an easy seat for a Democrat to win. It straddles the federal turf belonging to Tom Tancredo and Bob Beauprez, and takes up the part of Arapahoe County that is home to Raytheon and the Buckly Airforce Base. It is not exactly a hotbed of progressive activism, but Ms. Carroll got the job done and now sits with the majority party in the Colorado General Assembly; holding onto the leash of a very large dog.

After forty years of Republican tinkering, the system is no longer designed for the voters. For every legislator there are eleven lobbyists. Citizens can speak on the bills that arise, but more often than not, nobody does. In a single year a legislator may see 800 bills, most on specialized topics outside of even a well educated person's expertise. Decisions are made based on the information provided by the smiling friendly lobbyists. There are pharmaceutical company lobbyists, oil company lobbyists, mining lobbyists, but few lobbyists for the common voter. Even well intentioned lawmakers have to go with the information they have. Garbage in. Garbage out.

Morgan Carroll is trying to change the process, and while she may be a bit discouraged by what she has seen so far, she seems determined to stick with it and make a Democratic majority mean something worthwhile. I was lucky to have a chance to talk to her at tonight's Drinking Liberally meet up in Denver, where she shared some of her concerns about the state of Colorado politics.

It was refreshing to sit down and talk to a politician whose focus did not seem to be on winning the next election, but who was focused on doing her job well. She didn't use the campaign literature words that make for a pleasant brochure. She used the words you use when it is time to get the job done. I was sometimes frustrated to hear about the unnecessary obstacles being put in her way, but this woman knows kung fu (both literally and figuratively), so I think she is up to the task of removing those barriers.

We talked about her lobby reform bill. It had been drafted before influence peddling had become such a hot issue. Her first version was gutted by members of her own party. It seems that some took the whole concept of reform as an accusation that they were guilty of malfeasance. Some just didn't believe that the six and a half million dollars spent each day by lobbyists was having an influence on their votes. At least one Representative seems to have argued against the bill without reading it, saying that "what we really need is more transparency." The bill is all about transparency, and it has been revived. Carroll saved some parts of it, broke others off into a separate measure, and she is now navigating it through a vote at the end of this week. The big concern at this point is how her colleagues might amend it to death, weakening some parts and perhaps trying to poison it by overreaching and unconstitutional amendments that pull it too far in the other direction.

Exacerbating the problem are forty years of institutional lies that have begun to sound true through repetition. If a bill seeks to help consumers or help workers, then the chorus chants that it will hurt business and workers will get fired. Despite the Democratic Party needing the support of the average voter, the Democrats in office are led to side with the large corporations through the triple pull of lobbyists, fundraising, and a conventional wisdom that tells them over and over that any change in the system is unworkable.

Carroll used Health Care as an example. You can't make the employers pay because they will threaten to move away. You can't make the State pay because of deficits. You can't make the people pay because then you are left with legions of uninsured.

There are only so many options, but they are unwilling to be unpopular. The 'placate everybody and accomplish nothing' approach is ruining our party.

The result is status quo, or terrible laws spoon fed in by the health insurance industry. Did you know that waving a co-pay deductible is illegal in Colorado?

Health care is not the only place with stupid laws. Morgan Carroll shared a few other products of our broken system. With only two opposing votes, they completely deregulated dynamite in Colorado. For now there is still some protection under Federal law, but someone had the bright idea to deprive the state of the ability to bring action if they need to, or to maintain a level of safety in our state if the Federal government decides to loosen their rules. While we were busy deregulating high explosives, one of our Reps called for a regulation in a much more important area. He wants to restore the rule that requires a television and a bar in every limo. Maybe we should just fire them all.

I vote that we keep Morgan. She is doing something about it. She has been instrumental in setting up GRAPEVINE, a grass roots advocacy site to get people involved and aware, and she has been working to wake up the members of her party who seem not to have gotten the message that they were sent to get things done. She knows that many on our side of the aisle are just as driven to take on the hard work of reform as she is, but there are others she would like to awaken.

It is like after the Emancipation Proclamation. After people got their liberty some would not embrace independence after so long without a voice.

The Representative was asked to finish the sentence, "My 1st term will have been successful if...," and she replied, "...if I can force the dialog about these issues. If I can at least get them on the table."

She was asked about immigration, and she felt that while aspects of the issue were just "political messaging" it was at the same time a real issue with real "populist outcry" behind it. She decried the incentives we have created by slowing the process of legal immigration, by ignoring the profiteering of the employers, and by maintaining the economic imbalance between the countries.

After explaining that the problem was essentially Federal, she gave three points from the Democratic platform where the State could have an impact. The first was by pulling State contracts from illegal employers. The second was to enforce stronger wage, overtime, and safety regulations for all workers. And the third was to make it harder to forge state documents, and to crack down on identity theft.

Even though there are things the State could do, she seemed skeptical that there was much that this Governor would do. In a state where 7200 labor complaints were met with zero court action, it is unlikely that any regulations will be enforced.
We could check all Social Security numbers through the Federal Database, but the Republicans balk when they realize that it would require even the slightest burden on the businesses that profit from migrant labor.

The last part I want to mention about Rep. Carroll was her reply to a comment from one of the crowd. She was told that when the Republicans came after her trying to smear her, she had to hit back hard and go down to their level. Morgan replied that there were two kinds of negative. The first involves being amoral or making things up. She had no interest in meeting anyone on that road. But there was another kind of negative, and that was when you were telling the truth and that truth just happens to be negative.

I thought that summed up my impression of her. The entire time she was scrupulously speaking truth. There were times when they were not the happiest truths, but there were also times she spoke with a real joy. I believe she has the political will to solve the problems in front of her, even if that means making some enemies, and with that kind of integrity I know she made a few friends tonight.

What is wrong with this picture?

2006-03-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

This picture from the Ft. Collins newspaper The Coloradoan might start a court martial against the soldier that Musgrave is using as a backdrop.

The picture was taken while she was introducing him at the GOP Lincoln Day dinner.

Appearing in uniform at a partisan event is a violation of military regulations, and speaking at one is worse. (With the caveat that if this man is not on active duty, the law may be different.)

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo is following the story, and Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft tells me she will have a column up at 5280.com tomorrow and will then cross-post it at TalkLeft.

Update: A second photo that was at the Larimer County GOP website has now been deleted and scrubbed away. I am told it looked like this...

CO-7 Perlmutter, Lamm and Rubenstein for Congress

2006-03-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

The Democrats have a contested primary in the Seventh. As everyone here knows, I am supporting Ed Perlmutter, but in order to create a way to help people donate who may or may not prefer any specifc Democrat in this race, I have been setting up an ActBlue fundraising page where people can donate to each candidate individually, all the candidates equally, or even make a donation to the general election fund that will be held until a single candidate emerges as the nominee.

Check it out, and help me make it a better page with your suggestions, and of course... Donate!

(Of course, if you would just like to make sure your money goes to Ed, you can always use the handy button on the right side of this page just above the blogroll!)

Mmmm... this water tastes DuPonty

2006-02-26T17:26:00.000-08:00

Stories like this one make me realize that for many parts of our planet we are already too late to stop these criminals.
From the AP

DOVER, Del. -- Citing new safety assurances, the Environmental Protection Agency has dropped its objections to a plan to treat and dispose of chemical weapon wastewater at a DuPont Co. plant along the Delaware River.

DuPont, one of the world's leaders in killing us all through poisonous greed has also been given the right to do a bit of self-monitoring by the Bush administration and is now subject to looser oversight.

Acording to the EPA website they are now part of the "Performance Track" program that allows them to have fewer inspections, because Bush thinks they meet this description...

Performance Track is designed to recognize facilities that consistently meet their legal requirements and have implemented high-quality environmental management systems. Performance Track encourages facilities to continuously improve their environmental performance and to work closely with their community and employees.

Dumping nerve gas agents into the Delaware River with less regulatory controls. What could possibly go wrong?

Kerry and Perlmutter on CBS

2006-02-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

CBS4Denver.com has the feed.

CO-7 Hanging out with John Kerry

2006-02-25T01:37:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on my backpack and waiting for the number nine bus to take me downtown. I missed work the other day, and if I was late today my boss said I could kiss my seven dollars an hour plus tips goodbye. It was already one o'clock, and I worked at five. Adding in the travel time, that would leave me about two hours with Senator John Kerry. I guess that would be fine. I was trying to keep the dirt off my pants as best I could, and I thought, "this must be what they mean by grassroots Democracy." About fourty five minutes later in an opulent room surrounded the rich and powerful I was the only guy without a tie, but I was not feeling out of place one bit. I may not be powerful, and I am certainly not rich, but like the first timid mammals of the Triassic period, I know that fast little creatures like me are the future. To paraphrase Churchill; I know I will go down in history, because I intend to blog it.

I met John Kerry in the staggeringly beautiful home of Brooke and M.J. Banbury. They have the second floor of a highrise in LoDo, the lower downtown area of Denver. They are supporters of Ed Perlmutter, a former Colorado State Senator who is now a candidate for the House of Representatives for Colorado's seventh congressional district. This swing district in this swing state is considered by many to be the best chance the Democrats have to pick up a seat this cycle, and both parties are doing all they can to get the race to fall their way. Dick Cheney flew in to do a fundraiser for the Republican, and just a couple of days ago President Bush came by here as well. All told, I have heard that this race will consume five million dollars, and most of that will be spent on television. Still, as hard as it is to believe sometimes, politics isn't really all about money. It is about information and access, and for a very long time money has been the gatekeeper to both of those things. I guess that is why they waved the five hundred dollar a person ticket price for me. To them, I am the electronic crackle of the internet. I am information and access, and if they can figure me out, I might just be money too.

When I got to the room, one of the first hands I shook was that of former State Senate President Stan Matsunaka. In 2004 Stan was in a battle against Marilyn Musgrave for the congressional seat in CO-4. Musgrave had just authored a homophobic constitutional amendment and the netroots responded in force. He was chosen by the Daily Kos community as one of their DKos Dozen, and by the end of the campaign the blogosphere had sent him over $50,000. Matsunaka understands the growing power of web communities better than any candidate I have met, and today he spoke to me about some banner ads he was thinking of buying. I told him that I was skeptical about most ads. What he wants is buzz, and how to get that is by stepping into the community and making himself available. Information and access. Screw advertising just start communicating. Buy an intern a cell phone and a laptop, and you will reach more people than with a static website and all the banner ads in the world.

But it was time for me to shut up, the guest of honor was coming up the stairs, he stayed a long while in the stairwell talking in private with Perlmutter and a couple others. A Perlmutter staffer handed me a camera and asked me to play paparazzi, so I started getting shots of Kerry hugging Ed, and Kerry greeting Jay Fawcett the congressional candidate for CO5. Rollie Heath, the 2002 Democratic candidate for Governor was at the event, as were many other party officials and union and community leaders. I did my best to try to capture what I could in the small space and with the varied heights. John Kerry is just as tall up close as he seemed when I saw him on stage during his run for President. Aside from that, this was a different man. His voice had a better timber than when worn out on the campaign trail, and less arrogance than I remember from television. When I had first seen him live I remember thinking that I would rather he switch places on the ticket with John Edwards so we could have a candidate with some charisma. I was always very happy that I voted against Bush, but for the first time today I felt good about having voted for Kerry. He was relaxed. He was warm and friendly. He was intelligent and engaging. He was, dare I say it, human. I mentioned the change to Ed Perlmutter, and Ed nodded. "That is one of the drawbacks about running for office. I don't care who you are, it tightens you up."

Perlmutter had seen Kerry through many phases of his career. Kerry wasn't just flying in to put in a political good word for some stranger. When he was first thinking of running for President, Kerry came out to Colorado to measure his chances in the West. He and Ed got in a car and they spent the day driving around Denver seeing what there was to see. Ed made it a point to drive Kerry out to the Eastern edge of the city to show him how far the sprawl was encroaching into the open areas. "This is what we are facing. These are the challenges in our future." Kerry continued working with Ed and his wife Dena, and when the votes were counted, fifty two percent of Colorado's seventh district voted for Kerry, and that during a year when they sent a Republican to Congress. A lot of people wanted Ed to run that year, and perhaps if he had he could be the incumbent today, but he felt that it wasn't yet time. Now that it is time, Senator Kerry came back to stand beside his friend and strongly endorse him.

The Senator was asked about the PATRIOT Act, and his answer made me bristle. He said that it had been deeply flawed, but that the most troubling parts had been since removed. He said that as it stood now anyone who read it would have to agree that most of what was there were things we would want in there. He said it may not be the perfect piece of legislation that anyone of us in the room would most want, but that he thought he could live with it and he would probably vote for it when it next came up. I am sorry, but I do not want any law I am legally barred from reading. I don't care if a Senator tells me that if I could, I wouldn't object to most of it. That is just not good enough.

I preferred his answer to a question about the Dubai Ports purchase. The question began, "Is it possible that the President is so clueless that...", and Kerry didn't need to hear any more before saying, "The answer is Yes." After the room laughed, and the question was finished, Senator Kerry explained that while Bush is a hands off president, it still surprised him that so few people on any level seemed to give this any sort of inspection. Not even the Secretary of the Treasury who is required to chair the meeting that runs the mandated investigation even attended any meetings about the deal. It was another example of the Republicans dropping the ball on security issues. In fact, when asked to sum up the message of the Democratic Party he said he could do it in one word, "Security." He said ours was the party of national security, economic security, and personal security. Their party wanted to block the Department of Homeland Security. Their party damaged our security by over-extending in Iraq. He felt we must not yield the issue to the Republicans, but should rather get out the message that it is the Democratic Party that actually the defender of the security of our nation, and we should connect the dots for people so they can see that the funds pouring into the war are eroding every single other program back home and are endangering our country.

Senator Kerry shared his views on the last election. He admitted he had made some mistakes, particularly not spending enough money to push back against the lies they were telling about his military record. Still, he said that he was winning that election with just a few days to go when a recording of Osama surfaced. The media talked about nothing else for several days, and it flattened out his momentum. He felt that it cost him just enough votes in Ohio to save Karl Rove from looking like the poor strategist he really is. I have my own theory about Ohio, but then I have a theory about Florida too, if Al Gore ever wants to hear it.

He answered a few more questions, and then mingled through the room being introduced to some guests and already knowing others. He and I spoke briefly about his blogging, and he was very affable. I still am not sure if he actually writes it himself, but he certainly seemed to think so. Maybe he does, but I do not see how he could have time, his entourage seems to keep him moving at a fairly brisk pace, and it was already time to go down to the street and have a few words with the news cameras.

It was a perfect day out in Writer's Square, and Perlmutter and Kerry were all smiles in front of the wall of cameras. They each said their piece as I skirted the peripheries trying to get a picture that made either of the men look photogenic. Kerry is an imposing figure and Perlmutter has a certain intensity to him when speaking on issues that matter, but my camera was not particularly kind to either man. I kept catching Ed in the middle of the word 'future' with his lips pushed out like a goldfish. I was glad that tape was rolling, because he really is a great speaker when he gets moving, and I have even seen some good pictures of the man. I just regret that I don't have the skill to catch the right moments.

I circled around behind them to get a picture of them standing in front of the media. I was standing over by a candy store called the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The employees were speculating on who the men in suits were across the square. I told Chuck and Jen that it was Senator Kerry, and when Jen said she had guessed that, Chuck said, "You did not. You said they looked like Republicans."

When the press conference was over, Senator Kerry stayed and greeted everyone who came up to him. He signed autographs and he posed for countless cell phone photos.
A couple of ladies came up: "This is my friend, she is a Republican but she voted for you. I voted for you too, but I am a Democrat."
A man walked over and had this bizarre conversation with the Senator: "Who is that?" "I'm John Kerry." "I knew it was him."
Two other women wanted autographs: "I was standing over at that railing and I looked over and I knew it was you. I saw you from behind but I knew it was you." "I looked down from my office and saw your hair and I said I think that's John Kerry's hair."
The Senator took time with every person who came by and he listened when they wanted to speak and he spoke when they wanted to listen. In a way I thought it might not be such a bad thing that he was not the President. If he had been, I think our country would have been a better place, but there is some compensation in seeing him being able to be present in a community in a way that George Bush will never know. I am clear that George doesn't want to, but even if he did I am not sure he could. John Kerry seemed to enjoy his entire day, but he clearly was charged by the energy of these happy friendly people who wanted nothing more than to say hello and share their stories.

Kerry ran out of time, and had to run. He asked his people what was next on the agenda, "Do we have a meeting at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory?" "No Senator, we have to get going." "Are you sure? Check your schedule, I think there was some sort of event over at the Chocolate Factory." "Sorry Senator, we really don't have time."

As his staffers were whisking him away to other things I finally got the picture I wanted. He and Ed were away from the reporters and the fundraisers and did one of those rockstar handshakes where you punch your fists into each other's. "Run a good campaign my friend." And then Senator Kerry continued on his trip out West, while Ed Perlmutter went back to work winning a fight that he hopes will send him East to the real fight out there.

I shuffled off in my own direction walking a ways with Stan Matsunaka. He and I spoke about Angie Paccione, who is running for the same Congressional seat that he once did. He likes her, and he had some ideas about where she might be strong and which parts of her district she might find "a tougher nut to crack." His insight into the race was really worth hearing, and I hope to sit down with him again soon, but as I said at the start; today I had to get to a job, and in this Republican economy I can't afford to mess with that.

Preacher, Teacher, Coach and Politician : Drinking Liberally with Angie Paccione

2006-02-23T02:09:00.000-08:00

There is a conventional way of talking about American politics, with the Democrats on one side, Republicans at the other, and somewhere in the middle a scattering of the undecided. Maybe that's true somewhere, but that place isn't Colorado. The voters I have met do not fit any neat stereotypes, and it isn't because they are so nuanced or complex. They are straight forward basic people, not at all undecided just very independent. They take each issue and decide what makes sense to them, and if that has them fit under the tent of a particular party than so be it, if not then that's fine too. That is why I think Angie Paccione has an excellent chance to win the 4th Congressional district. She doesn't fit neatly into any of the usual boxes, but she makes a clean sort of sense and stands on her own terms.

"I was born a poor black child," she says quoting a Steve Martin movie, and she began a story about her childhood that was told with such an easy and engaging humor that the amazing challenges she had overcome did not fully hit me until I thought about them later. She grew up in the South Bronx. Her dad was Itallian and her mom was an African-American. Her family was poor, but she had a talent for basketball and she was smart. "And you know where smart basketball players go to college?", she asked. As it turns out, the answer almost was 'nowhere'. This was the '70s and smart basketball players who were also poor and female did not have much of a chance, but she graduated highschool as an All-American player on the US team in 1978. That was the year that Title 9 took effect, and so Stanford had a scholarship to offer her. She went, perfected her game, and picked up an honors degree in Political Science while she was at it.

After school she went pro, but the league shut down because, "none of you bought tickets," and she started to devote herself to spreading the word of Christ through an evangelical basketball program.

That's right, since an epiphany at nineteen she has been a "born again spirit filled evangelical," and when she says that she doesn't say it matter of factly. She says it with a lot of 'church' in her cadence, but then she adds, "I believe you should live your faith - not legislate it." In a way that falls nowhere into the middle of any spectrum she talks with equal passion about her faith,and her commitment to the seperation of Church and State. She clearly voices her determination to represent all of her district and not just those who attend her church.
It reminded me of people like Jimmy Carter who managed to hold the moral high ground and who were called to service by their faith before the religious right started using hypocritical sanctimony as a nightstick.
When asked if she felt that more Dems should be vocal about their religious beliefs she said that to call on others to do that would be mistake because to be a person of faith should never be the criteria for office.

"When the President called Dobson before nominating Myers, when the President called Robertson before putting Alito forward, that was not only unfortunate but dangerous. We are not a theocracy!"

After basketball, she became a highschool teacher, and eventually combined the two as a highschool basketball coach. There was more than a little halftime performance still showing through in her talk tonight.
In a nice demonstration of leadership, if we didn't applaud enough on a line that she felt deserved more, she would do it over until we got it right. And I found myself always agreeing. Each time she did that it was a line that I should have applauded louder. I put my pen down and clapped. My pen didn't do me much good anyhow. She spoke quickly and with fluidity. She generated a lot of energy, and she used her physical presence well; once making a short dash for the door upon discovering that none of the crowd were able to vote in her district.
Generously she returned and encouraged us to work in our districts to send a good team along with her to Washington, and to the capitol here back home. She believes strongly that there should be checks and balances, and that no single party should wield too much power, but she certainly has enjoyed being in a majority in our State House where she served as the Chair of the Democratic Majority Caucus.

After coaching she became Dr. Paccione worked for a while with troubled teens, and then took a job at CSU teaching Teacher Education and Diversity. She started a campaign in 2002 for Congress when no other Democrat was willing to take on Musgrave, but when Senate President Stan Matsunaka decided to enter the race, Angie stepped aside and ran for the State seat. Now she is looking at a race that she says she will win, "not by 55% but 50.2%," and she has been defying the nay sayers by raising $200,000 in the last quarter with half of her contributions being under $100.

CD-7 candidate Herb Rubenstein asked the first question from the audience. He asked Paccione how many volunteers she had, and how she intended to use them. She has an impressive 450 volunteers, and from a house in Ft. Collins they are pushing forward a strategy that despite her denials seemed to me to be focused on motavating and turning out the 85% of voters that are in the population centers of her district. She was not ignoring or conceding the rural areas, but Weld and Larimer counties can probably expect to see more of her than the others. Mike Weissman, Field Director of the Young Dems, was in the room and by the questions he was asking I could tell he had some ideas on how she could have her message reach the more rural areas of her district. I hope the two of them get together on making that happen.

Most of the other questions went to flesh out what she meant when she said that we needed to provide, "a compelling alternative, not just an alternative." When Coloradolib asked what the first piece of legislation she would put forward would be she said she would fight for full funding of No Child Left Behind, and if she could not get full funding she would at least ensure that special education programs were funded. This fit in consistantly with one of her pillar philosophies that seems to support the more specific answers she gave. She feels that we should protect the most vulnerable people in our society. This showed up in comments I heard her make throughout the evening about health care and other issues.

Marshal Collins asked her about the war in Iraq. She said it was a mistake to go in, we should get out as fast as we can, and that the administration drew us in on false pretenses. Going in to bring security to the region we just poured fuel on the fire. She summed her position up in two words; "exit strategy."

Asked if she would support impeachment she said she would if only we could impeach for incompetence, but still she would if she was certain that a crime could be proven. Personally, I would love to hear a candidate say they had the articles written up already, but perhaps that is just me.

Asked about the situation with farmers in her district, she pointed to the very high rate of foreclosures and the fact that ranchers have been borrowing off their equity. Saying that more needed to be done for them, she proposed something that really drew my interest. She said she had a vision for Colorado wherein we were energy independent and we showed the rest of the country how it was done. Harnessing the wind across the Southeast and the Eastern Plains, drawing on the high solar potential, and converting Agriwaste into biofuel sources, we could simultaneously create an energy independent Colorado and add energy revenues to the cash flows of the people engaged in food production.

On Superslab she implied that a deal has been struck that may have removed the issue from consideration, and that while she had originally thought it might be a good idea she grew to be against it as the truth of the project was made clear.

On Alito she said she would never have voted the nomination out of committee.

Asked about abortion law she said, "I am more than Pro-Choice, I am Pro-Privacy." Adding another examplpe, she took on the topic of 'the defense of marriage'.

Marriage is not a threat to marriage. Divorce is a threat to marriage. Infidelity is a threat to marriage. Domestic violence is a threat. Losing your job is a threat.

Asked about lobby reform she proposed that lobbyists be barred from contributing to campaigns, and she supported public campaign funding saying that, "it opens the door for everybody to participate." She wanted the 'aristocracy' to have to share access with the people who had "too much month, and not enough money."

When asked where the money for her social programs was going to be found, she said a place to start was by not making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and by targeting earmarks. This has been a common answer amongst the candidates that have spoken at Drinking Liberally. I think it might underestimate the financial trouble this country is in.

The one place where I was disappointed tonight was when Angie was asked about the War on Terror. Her answer was about the War in Iraq. I think that equivalence does a lot of harm to the truth and plays into the Republican narrative. As far as an answer about Iraq goes, her answer was solid. She said we needed leadership and that she supported the Murtha plan. She said that we needed to be rebuilding the respect that our country enjoyed prior to Bush taking office.

Then the birthday cake arrived. Yesterday was Angie's birthday and Johne made her a cake with a number 4 candle on it. Falling off the side of the cake was a pink marshmallow bunny. Johne said it was a woman in a pink suit being kicked out. Angie said, "I don't care about a pink suit. Let's just send her a pink slip."

I may write more later about the rest of the room, but I wanted to mention two quick things before I log off for the night.

The first was to share something that Herb Rubenstien pointed out to me. Just after Watergate, Jimmy Carter tried to clean up our government by establishing an oversight group called the Office of Government Ethics. Even now, under GWB, the office performs a vital job... or at least it might, if he bothered to appoint a Director or an Assistant Director. Turns out the jobs are both vacant.

The final thing I wanted to share was an invitation to the 10th anniversary of All American Vogue at 18 S. Broadway. Ronnie is holding the party on Fri. March 3rd, and is using it as a fundraiser for CD6 Congressional candidate Bill Winter. It is a great chance to get out and join the 'First Friday' art crowd and mobilize people in the fight against Tancredo.

BCCI, Bush, and the tangled history of everything

2006-02-21T22:59:00.000-08:00

I am going to confuse myself and try to hack my way through a thicket of history that might reveal layers of context for the purchase of the American ports by Dubai Ports World.

We will start this out with perhaps the only hat tip I will ever give to Michelle Malkin. She reports about the role of "sukuk" in Muslim finance. Under Sharia law, usery is prohibited, that means no interest in their banking system and they needed to have a vehicle that would act like a bond, to allow a return on passive investment.

Their finacial systems have been somewhat stunted by this limitation, but if you have a big enough cash cow, you can use it to back enough bonds to make a stock exchange and banking system viable. That is exactly what Dubai wants with the Dubai International Finance Exchange.

If the Emirate secures this deal, the huge new financial hub will start generating a lot of money for all the players involved and create a channel through which Arab assets can start flowing in some very European capitalist ways.

The president of the UAE is Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan. As his name implies, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed was the son of Sheikh Zayed, who he replaced as Emir of Abu Dhabi and the President of the UAE in 2001.

The elder Zayed was also interested in banking and in 1972 provided the investment capital to start the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) along with a 25% stake from Bank of America and according to some accounts, the CIA. It seems that the CIA may have wanted the Pakastani bank as a funding route for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. The founder of BCCI who approached Zayed with the deal was a Pakastani Oil Banker named Agha Hasan Abedi, who had made a great deal of money and many ties to the West by founding the Pakastani bank United Bank Ltd. which was nationalized the year before he chartered BCCI in Luxembourg. A fact I mention for the twin reasons of underscoring why the CIA might have wanted a presence in the new non-governmental financial institution and because this story didn't have enough Luxembourg in it.

BCCI was brought down in a financial and criminal scandal that was sparked in 1990 when an audit of their American branch showed hundreds of millions of dollars missing. By 1991, by which time drug trafficking, money laundering, gun running, prostitution and terrorism were all discovered to be nestled in their portfolio, Sheikh Zayed had amasssed a 78% stake in the organized crime syndicate.

Burned in the spiraling investigation were several people who had ties to the Carter campaign, most notably Bert Lance his director of OMB who was also involved in a banking scandal of his own involving mismanagement of the Calhoun National Bank. Lance had introduced Carter to BCCI figures, and the bank paid a $3.4 million loan for Lance in 1978.

BCCI maintained accounts for Abu Nidal and his organization Fatah RC. Nidal used the bank to set up a shell corporation that transported grenades, armored cars, night vision goggles, and other arms to be used in terrorist activities world wide. British Intelligence had the cooperation of an agent named Qassem in exposing the nature of the arms shipments, and Qassem signed an affidavit linking an American financier named Marc Rich to the transactions. Rich was later involved in other legal issues, including tax evasion, and illegal oil dealings with Iran during the hostage crisis, but by fleeing the country, and with the aid of his lawyer, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, he was eventually granted a pardon by his close friend Bill Clinton.

A Democrat who came out of this story looking fairly good was John Kerry. The Bank foundered after Kerry co-authored a report for the CFR called "The BCCI Affair" that linked the bank to the drug trafficking of Panamanian Manuel Noriega. Following that side trip would bury us much deeper in the CIA and Iran Contra and a slew of other Presidents, but let it suffice to say that the Bush family is not unfamiliar with the Emir of Dubai and BCCI. I suppose there is a chance that the blogging Senator will see my post on this at dailykos and correct the errors I probably have made and perhaps he can tie some of this information in tighter, because it was his work that brought down the whole house of cards. Work that also bought him a few enemies in both the major parties.

So now we are up to more recent history.

One of the directors of BCCI was James Bath. In the early seventies he started a real estate firm with Lan Bentsen, the son of Democratic VP nominee Lloyd Bentsen. But his real claim to infamy was with the son of another politician. After serving in the Texas Air National Guard with the son of George H.W. Bush, Bath and George W. were partners in Arbusto oil.

As made famous in the movie Farenheit 9/11, Bath channelled money from the Bin Laden family into GWB's new oil company, and also set up a bank in Houston. Bath then set up an aviation company that supplied jets to the Dubai National Oil Company, which was owned by his old collegue at BCCI, Sheikh Zayed.

Zayed's son now sits on the throne, and he and his father's advisors have started a new financial institution, and they are buying the American ports to make it work. Bush is standing up for the deal and threatening to veto any attempt to stop him. Somehow I can't help but feel that history, while perhaps not repeating itself, might be continuing on its tangled way.

Orin Hatch thinks you are a moron

2006-02-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

Repeating the lie until it becomes true, Orin Hatch said today...

"And, more importantly, we've stopped a mass murderer in Saddam Hussein. Nobody denies that he was supporting al-Qaida."

In a clear attack on Democrats, Hatch added, "Well, I shouldn't say nobody. Nobody with brains."

Hey, is he insulting both Bush and Blair?

[Adam Boulton, Sky News (London):] One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on September the 11th?

THE PRESIDENT: I can't make that claim.

THE PRIME MINISTER: That answers your question.

Or maybe Richard Clark wasn't clear enough.

"Rumsfeld was saying that we needed to bomb Iraq," Clarke said to Stahl. "And we all said ... no, no. Al-Qaeda is in Afghanistan. We need to bomb Afghanistan. And Rumsfeld said there aren't any good targets in Afghanistan. And there are lots of good targets in Iraq. I said, 'Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with it.

"Initially, I thought when he said, 'There aren't enough targets in-- in Afghanistan,' I thought he was joking.

"I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection, but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there saying we've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection."

Clarke says he and CIA Director George Tenet told that to Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Or maybe the 9/11 commision misspoke.

"The administration sold the connection (between Iraq and al-Qaida) to scare the pants off the American people and justify the war," said Cleland. "There's no connection, and that's been confirmed by some of bin Laden's terrorist followers ... What you've seen here is the manipulation of intelligence for political ends."

CO-7 Peggy made her bed, now has to find it.

2006-02-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

Congressional candidate Peggy Lamm is running into problems for having the wrong luggage tags on her carpetbag.
The lead story on the local ABC affiliate [video here] last night was about her failure to have a clear residence over the last year, and possible voter fraud arising from voting in her new district without actually having a qualifying residence there.

It seems she registered to vote at a Post Office box in the district in April, later claiming that her campaign HQ was an 'apartment' for the purposes of residence.
The Colorado Revised Statutes 1-2-102 states:

Rules for determining residence (c) The residence given for voting purposes shall be the same as the residence given for motor vehicle registration and for state income tax purposes.

Lamm, filed State income taxes in Boulder County where she still maintains her house, and she registered her Audi there as recently as September.
She admits in the Channel 7 interview that she lives in "both places", and when asked about her primary place of residence she responded, "I don’t know, I don’t know who would know."
Nevertheless, Lamm voted in Jefferson County during the November elections, and the Denver Post says the Jeffco District Attorney's office is investigating possible fraud.

There is nothing in Colorado law that would preclude Lamm from running for Congress from outside the district, but if her registration is invalid at this time she may face problems with Party rules that require valid registration 60 days before voting in an election. Lamm has been scheduled to face Democrat Ed Perlmutter in a caucus matchup in fourty days. [update: Party Rules require Democratic affiliation 60+ days out, not registration. Peggy is safe there.]

I am a volunteer on the Perlmutter campaign, and their campaign manager issued the following press release in response to the issue.

Perlmutter Campaign Responds to Lamm Report on 7NEWS
Lamm asked to ‘come clean’ on 7th congressional district residency

(Golden) – Responding to a 7News Exclusive, revealing that Peggy Lamm may have committed voter fraud, Ed Perlmutter’s campaign manager today asked Peggy Lamm to “come clean” on her questionable residency in the 7th congressional district.

“I watched the 10:00 pm news on KMGH Channel 7 with great alarm last night,” said Danielle Radovich Piper, Ed Perlmutter’s campaign manager. “Based on the records exposed by investigative reporter John Ferrugia, it appears that Peggy Lamm broke Colorado law. It’s time candidate Lamm comes clean on her shifting explanations for her questionable residency in the 7th congressional district.”

CRS 1-2-102, which governs residency and voting, states: Colorado Revised Statutes 1-2-102. Rules for determining residence (c) The residence given for voting purposes shall be the same as the residence given for motor vehicle registration and for state income tax purposes.

According to the 7NEWS report, Peggy Lamm admitted that she registered her 2003 Audi last September 2005 in Boulder County, even though she registered to vote in Jefferson County in April 2005. Additionally, she cast a mail ballot in Jefferson County in November 2005. Ms. Lamm also admitted that her address on her driver’s license was still in Boulder County and that she filed her income taxes from Boulder County all in apparent violation of the statute listed above.

Ms. Lamm listed her reason for this saying, “I live in both Arvada and Superior…I think you should vote in the county where you’re trying to represent.”

“Well we agree,” said Radovich Piper. “Unfortunately for Ms. Lamm the law is clear and it seems she broke it by trying to have it both ways with her back-and-forth residency and candidacy.”

When Lamm was asked by John Ferrugia where she lived, she replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know who would know.”

Perplexed by that response, Radovich Piper said, “If Ms. Lamm doesn’t even know where she lives, then how can she serve in Congress? We’re confident that law enforcement will thoroughly investigate this matter and bring it to a speedy conclusion.”

If it quacks like a lawyer

2006-02-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Chickenhawk Cheney shot a lawyer in the face. That'll shut up those Fighting Dems.

But oddly, the VP's office sat on the story for a day. It wasn't until the next day when the property owner had told a reporter, and the reporter called Cheney's office for confirmation, that news about the hunting accident broke.

This got my tinfoil hat buzzing, and I started to dig.

Why wait a day? Someone else on the trip that they wanted to get out of town? Someone needed to sober up? Who knows. What we do know is that Harry Whittington took some pellets in his cheek and upper body in what was described as a minor accident that sent him to the hospital for a day and a half of intensive care.

Who is Harry Whittington?

He is a Texas attorney, who has been winning his domain case against the City of Austin. He owns a piece of property that they want for the Civic Arena's parking structure. He isn't selling, and so far they can't make him.

In an interesting wrinkle, Whitting spent six years as the chairman of the Texas Public Finance Authority Board, a body that allocates the building funds for just that sort of project. No doubt there is more to that iceberg.

But this is the part that grabs my attention...

Just before running for President, GWB was entangled in an affair known as Funeralgate.
A woman named Eliza May was doing her job and investigating SCI; a funeral company which had been using unliscenced embalmers, and reusing graves by digging up corpses and leaving the bodies to rot in the woods.

The owners of the company were large contributors to Gov. Bush, and when Ms. May refused to back down from her inquiry, and after she levied a large fine on the company, Bush fired her.
She sued for wrongful termination, and the suit was settled for $210,000, but not before Bush apparently purjured himself in affidavits to aviod being called to testify.

The scandal would have taken down other politicians, but George was fated to move upwards instead of to jail, and so it was just tossed onto the dustbin of his resume along with the rest of the dirt.
As part of the fallout, Bush appointed a new chairman to the Texas Funeral Services Commission: Harry Whittington.

I don't have a conspiracy theory yet about this, but the conspiracy evidence is starting to pile up.

Catching up

2006-02-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a lot of posting over at SoapBlox Colorado about some issues that mostly would have been of interest to people in CD-7.
I took a certain amount of heat for my clearly biased reporting of Peggy Lamm's visit to Denver's Drinking Liberally. I am supporting her opponent Ed Perlmutter, and some of Peggy's supporters didn't like my take on the event. It seems that you just can't please some people, at least not when you are telling them why you feel they should lose.

In bigger CD-7 news our President is coming to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory here. He just cut the funding to about three dozen scientists who were researching biomass, geothermal, and solar energy. He wants to use the visit to underscore his stated priority of reducing our oil dependence. How does cutting funding do that? Well, he is reportedly planning to renew the funding some time in 2007, maybe. I am sure the scientists can be frugal until the money returns.
Interestingly, Ed Perlmutter is a trustee of the Midwest Research Institute, the primary operator of the Natl. Renewable Energy Lab. Restoring the funding has long been a key goal of his, and I will see if I can get comment from him on the developments.

One last thing, the Colorado Democratic Party has a link on it's mainsite to its Blog, DemNotes. Maintaining that blog is Party 1st Vice Chair, Dan Slater. I want to thank Dan for his encouragement, and for adding Heading Left to the DemNotes blog roll. Knowing that we are part of a community helps us to keep doing what we do.

CO-7 Adams Cnty Candidates Forum

2006-02-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

I spent the evening as the guest of the Adams County Democrats as they hosted a forum at their headquarters. Ed Perlmutter, Herb Rubenstein, and Peggy Lamm took questions from the crowd, and told why they each felt they should be the Democratic candidate for Colorado's 7th Congressional district.
It was a cozy affair held in conjunction with the AdDems regular meeting, and the candidates had to wait while motions were made to buy a new printer for the newsletter and to release funds for clog dancers at the St. Patrick's Day dinner.

Before the meeting was called to order, I had a chance to speak with Herb Rubenstein. There are more than a few people who think he has no chance at the nomination, but he is adamant that he is not amongst them. He has me convinced that his candidacy is the true test of the theory, because after all the thought and energy he has put into his attempt, if he fails to get the nomination it must indeed have been impossible. Quixotic or not, he is clearly fighting as hard as anyone could.

When I pointed out that his campaign had just over $900 cash on hand at the end of the last quarter, he shrugged and said that they had gotten another $20k on January 5th. He seems earnest in his intention to have his name on the primary ballot, either through the caucus or through petitions. When ColoradoLib used the word 'thoughtful' to describe what I thought was an excellently written piece by Washpark Prophet, Rubenstein was quick to offer a refutation to the story's suggestion that he was not a serious candidate. A refutation that Rubenstein was very pleased to see get prominent notice when he posted it. I am highly doubtful of his odds in this particular race, but his obvious joy at his interactions with the blogosphere made it clear that he has embraced and understands the new media like no other candidate. As the online community explores and builds the potential of netroots organizing, I expect that this race will give Rubenstein a number of great insights to share with us.

The discussion turned to Israel and Palestine. Herb says it is a topic that he is questioned about a lot lately. His son Jason is in a Yeshiva North of Jerusalem studying to become a rabbi. Herb felt that economic sanctions on Hamas were necessary and inevitable, but he was concerned that starving the Palestinian people could be as dangerous as funding their new violent leadership. His hope was that elements of Fatah could still influence the dynamic from within, and that the people's desire for stability could find expression. He said that if the United States did get involved in a solution, they should not try to do it through back channels. Rubenstein said that we should make use of modern technology and insist that any negotiations or peace brokering must be done out in the open on the internet where anyone could see exactly where people were standing. I am not sure that diplomacy is ready for such transparency, or if he has considered the peril it might create for moderates who tried to come to the table when extremists still wanted the destruction of Israel. It seems to me that if everyone had to maintain public faces, you would wind up with more posturing than progress. Many of Herb's ideas seem to me that way; innovative rather than implementable, but I suppose I have always liked ideas of that nature myself. They are the type that get us uprooted.

I sat with Ed, and we spoke about how long his days have been getting. He spent yesterday walking the precincts and today meeting with leaders of the African American community. He thanked me quickly for helping him maintain his blog, but then had to move up to the front of the room with Herb and Peggy.

Before the candidates spoke, Cary Kennedy addressed the room. She is the Democratic candidate for treasurer and is running against an appointee of Gov. Owens named Mark Hillman. Kennedy was a policy director for Colorado House Speaker Romanoff, and she worked on Amendment 23 that provided a boost to k-12 education funding, and also did technical work on Ref. C. She gets my vote.

Peggy Lamm gave her introduction first. She brought the flack jacket she has been showing around at her campaign stops. It was bought by her family when her brother was in the service, and she uses it to underscore her personal involvement in Defense issues and to underscore her condemnation of an administration that claims to support the troops, but leads them into needless peril. She shared the jarring findings of a Pentagon study that claimed if we had spent just $260 per US soldier in Iraq, 84% of the deaths of servicemen would have been avoided.

This was the one of the few times she used statistics, or pointed to a particular policy that she felt needed specific changes. Generally, she spoke in broad themes and repeated key words that seemed to have more emotional impact than substance. A number of times she spoke of how we needed people of 'moral courage' in Congress, but she just let the audience decide for themselves what that meant. In one of her answers she used the word 'Leadership' five times. This was unlike the last time I had seen her when the family anecdotes gave support to her points rather than replaced them entirely. If this had been the only time I had heard her speak, I would not have come away with any real sense of what she intended to do in Congress. Even here, where she was specific, I was not clear how she felt about the conflict in Iraq. If we had spent the extra $260 would it have been alright, or was there a deeper problem with our involvement?

I liked the broad themes she was expressing. It was clear she felt that there were promises that government makes to the citizens, and ours has been breaking those promises. She felt that we need leaders with 'spine'. She felt that representatives should serve the people and not special interests. I like those thoughts. I know what they mean to me. Tonight she didn't give me enough to know what they meant to her.

Ed Perlmutter started of with charm. He spoke of the recent State of the Union address and suggested that sitting through Bush's next one will be one of the toughest jobs any Democratic Congressman would face. He then gave an explanation for the purple mark that his golden retriever inflicted on his cheek, "I wish I could say I got this from mad passionate love, or I got in a fight, or Herb tried to bite my ear off..." He was casual and the crowd responded well.

Then, becoming more serious, he spoke of the American Dream that brought us all to that room that night. He acknowledged the value in things Peggy had said earlier, and it is important to note that all of the candidates were fundamentally supportive of one another. Earlier Peggy said we had "three good people running" and by remaining positive, they allowed me to feel that way to. Each at some point in the evening showed respect for the others.

Ed talked about how ties between the privileged, such as those between Bush and Enron, Cheney and Haliburton, Delay and Abramoff, were depriving Americans of living and fulfilling their dreams, and how he would work to change the focus to the middle.

Herb used his time to tell of his history and how he studied on scholarships and loans and worked his way out of his Louisiana childhood. He spoke of his father, who had worked against racism and for the unions. He spoke of his own work with the Carter administration. Like each of the three candidates, he was able to paint a very human portrait of himself, and give some insight to the formative experiences that shaped his politics.

On many of the questions, the candidates were in agreement. They reinforced one another's statements and took the fight to the Republicans. On one where they differed was in response to a question about how they would deal with the National Debt.

Peggy answered first, and while she did not provide any plan, she reminded everyone that under Clinton we had a surplus, but now under Bush it has all been squandered. While I am always up for a good post hoc argument at the Republican's expense, I would have liked to hear what steps she felt would bring us back to those surpluses.

Ed was next and advocated against making the Bush tax cuts permanent. He said we should look for those programs that were truly not working and trim them, and that if some moderate tax relief was needed it should benefit the "hard working middle" and stimulate small business through paring back the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Herb wanted to establish "very serious Estate Taxes". I think that the proposal, while it might make sense to actuaries and probability theorists, misses how deeply imbedded in the American psyche the idea of leaving an inheritance to our children really is.

On government eavesdropping there was an interesting contrast between Ed and Peggy. While both opposed the overreaching of our Imperial President. they put markedly different stresses on what supports the foundations of our freedoms.

Ed spoke of the 3rd amendment, that prohibits the quartering of troops in private homes in peacetime, and without congressional approval during wartime. He said that the right to privacy, expressed here and in the 4th amendment, was core to all our freedoms. He said the Founding Fathers saw that if you could not keep the armies of King George out of your house, then all of your other freedoms would be lost.

Peggy went in a direction that I think appeals more to those that prefer the USA PATRIOT Act over the Bill of Rights. She said, "I would suggest that if we are not a secure country than everything else is moot."

While I see more in common between Lamm and Perlmutter than I see difference, those two thoughts could not seem farther apart to me. Maybe I misunderstood her, but when she spoke I could not help but think of a quote from Benjamin Franklin, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

When asked about their job would be when they got to Congress, Peggy gave an answer I could not follow. There was a video camera at the event, and I will see if I can get a transcription. Ed's answer was straightforward, and Herb's answer contained one of the most entertaining lines of the evening.

Ed said his first job would be to vote for a Democratic Speaker of the House. After that, his job would be to create an office that was accessible and responsive to the people of our district so that he could serve the needs of the people he represents. And then his third duty would be to change the focus of government back to the people in the middle.

Herb agreed with those priorities but also added more. He said that he would "kick butts and make some noise." A representative should demand good committee posts and talk each day, "about what is wrong with our country." He said he would take chances and be a thorn in the side of the administration. He said the measure of effectiveness would be how many front pages he garnered. The line that made me grin was, "I'm tired of being overshadowed by this idiot in the 6th District."

There were quite a few other questions, and many nice moments. Herb managed to work lasers and crystals into one answer and carbon nano-tubes into another. Ed said, "with this bunch in Washington, if they can do wrong, they will do wrong. They can't help themselves." Peggy called herself the "lobbyist for the people." As always, I have pages of notes I haven't included, and there is still a lot to relate about what the candidates said, but the best moment of the evening was when at the very end, a man in the audience raised his hand and asked to speak.

He was old enough to be the father of any of the candidates, and was wrapped in a Pipefitter's Union jacket with the name Jim embroidered upon it. He wanted to say something about Social Security, and my assumption was it was going to be about how it affected the lives of Seniors, but it wasn't. He wanted to talk about how it changed families. He spoke of two girls whose fathers had died. He watched as Social Security saved the life and family of one of them, and how she grew to take advantage of the opportunities provided for her through that social safety net.

The other girl was the sister of this man's friend. This girl was raised before there was Social Security. She was a talented writer and poet and filled with hope, but when hard times came there was nothing to keep her family from crumbling and her life from heading in the wrong direction. The girl's name was Bonnie Parker, and she found infamy in the duo known as Bonnie and Clyde.

I think Jim's story summed up the candidates views. Government has a place, and it can provide chances where there are none for people to thrive. These chances are not charity, but they are an investment. What the society gains is always more than it gives, but this is only true when what it gives is invested broadly and fairly. By removing the concentrations of power that allow the short sighted blight of greed and corruption to take hold, we can restore our government to being a healthy system that can elevate us instead of be our oppressor.

Kerry coming to Denver

2006-01-31T22:19:00.000-08:00

On Feb. 24th, Alito filibustering blogger, Senator Kerry will be coming to Colorado, and in addition to a number of other stops in support of Democratic organizations and candidates, he will be helping Ed Perlmutter take CO-7 out of Republican hands.

I am happy to be helping out with the event, and was watching busy staffers doing the planning earlier today.

Meanwhile, those same staffers should be in good moods tonight despite the President's blather. Trying to hide behind the wall of other news, Peggy Lamm finally released her fundraising numbers from last quarter. They were remarkably low numbers.

Total contributions this quarter $62,905. Net increase in cash on hand, 17k.

Ed Perlmutter, who by comparison raised $199,023 for a net increase of 142k, is now the only viable Democratic candidate for CO-7.

CO-6 Drinking Liberally with Bill Winter

2006-01-26T01:49:00.000-08:00

If the Republicans want to continue the strategy of attacking their opponent’s strengths, then they better start attacking Bill Winter’s character.
There hasn’t been a story written about what it means to be an American that this guy hasn’t lived. His biography starts him out as an orphan and rides him through a busy lifetime of service, including serving in two branches of the military, before dropping him off as a somehow unlikely candidate for Congress. I say ‘unlikely’ because although he went to law school, and he worked as a science teacher, there is nothing legalistic or academic about his demeanor. When Bill Winter thinks something is bullshit, he doesn’t spend a lot of time looking for a prettier word. He still has the character of a marine, and displays all of the strength and rough edges that come with it.

I have been interested in his campaign for a while now, and even made a very brief post on his blog, but tonight at Drinking Liberally – Denver I was able to meet the candidate for Colorado’s sixth congressional district for the first time in person. He is a bit of a celebrity in internet circles, and is known for being one of the Fighting Dems that have been featured on Daily Kos and the Air America Majority Report, but for a lot of the people he meets he is still something of an unknown. He described it by saying,

I call people and say “I’m Bill Winter and I am running for Congress…” and then there is silence, and then I say, “… against Tom Tancredo.” And then they say “Oh! Ok!” and they want to talk.

I would want to talk too. Tom Tancredo panders to a bigoted xenophobia that has begun to wear thin in Colorado, but that still presses the buttons of hate that please some danker corners of the far right. National money flows in for Tancredo, and it will be hard for Bill to get the exposure he needs, but if the people of his district get a chance to hear his message, they will hear ideas that are far more compelling than Tancredo’s message of fear and racist hatred.

Johne has been growing our Drinking Liberally chapter, and there was quite a crowd tonight. I stood on the edge of it and talked to Bill for a short while about his experiences and how they shaped his politics. We discussed his childhood and how it effected his stance on reproductive rights, a stance that he characterized as “pro-freedom.” Later, when speaking to the room, he expanded on that quite a bit.

A woman has a right to choose what happens to her body in every circumstance.

He said that he felt that, “with the exception of the Bush White House, we are all pro-life. We are all anti-abortion.” But they “just wanted to pass a law and turn their backs and pretend it wasn’t happening.” Winter said it would happen, and people would die from having to turn to illegal means. If we really wanted to lower abortions, he stated, we should focus on what we already know works. “Work on poverty, prenatal health care, birth control, and reproductive education.”

We also discussed health insurance. He told me that after donating a kidney to his sister, he was unable to get coverage because he now had a disqualifying pre-existing condition. He said that any system that penalized people for giving their organs to people in need was a “screwed up” system.

When I wake up in the middle of the night with a pain in my side I don’t think “I should get to a doctor.” I have to think, “How am I going to pay for this?”

He turned to the crowd and held forth on many topics, and has clearly given a number of issues a good deal of thought, but the part that grabbed my attention had more to do with his commitment than his policies. He showed a set of dog-tags that he carries and told not only the story of this particular set, but also explained the way a marine wears them. He talked about the details of taping them so they would not make noise, and blackening them so they would not glint light, and then he told the more morbid details of why one wears a copy on both their torso and their feet. I won’t try to recreate the story here, but the memory the tags evoked for Bill was when he was 17 and had become a marine and he first made a commitment that he would sacrifice his life if he had to, for people he never met, to uphold an ideal and to fulfill an oath he had taken. As a young marine he swore to, “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and that even today he understands that there was no expiration date on that oath.

That oath has given him an acute sense of patriotism. He is insulted by an administration that claims people like Murtha are demoralizing our troops. He said that during his service he never cared about things like what some politician in Washington said. Like everyone else, what he cared about was getting home safely to his loved ones. If you want to demoralize troops, have them count down the days until their tour is ending, and then surprise them with an extension. Make them work for many days on end without a break because you have deployed too few to do the job. Send them to a war that you did not even have enough faith in to trust the American people to be willing to sacrifice and pay for, but one that you funded by selling the country to the Chinese.

Bill Winter said that his patriotism was for an America that was “not a place, not a rock, not a piece of land, but an idea, and it is a fragile idea.” He quoted Thomas Paine saying, “It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from his government,” and he likened his love of his country to the love a parent has for its child. He said that loving your children is not blindly obeying every command they issue. Loving them is standing firm and telling them they are wrong when they are wrong and helping them to grow to be right.

After he spoke, he fielded questions about Tancredo’s immigration stance, and pointed out how Tancredo really had no plan, just two vague ideas. The first is a wall that nobody can pay for, or at least (to the delight of the execs at Kellogg, Brown, and Root) nobody will ever be able to finish paying for. Tancredo’s second bad idea was to send troops we don’t have down to the border to do a job they aren’t trained to do.

I tell you what I was trained to do; shoot an M-16, shoot a howitzer and kill people. Now if they want to say that is what they want the military at the border to do, then that is one thing, but if they want them to be police officers, to be INS agents, then that is not what they were trained for.

He characterized the Republican plan as “*Terror Alert* Brown hordes coming across the Southern border,” and made a call to support the inscription on the Statue of Liberty rather than the Republican path of dividing us with “fear and hate”.

After the questions tapered off, he stayed for quite some time and mingled with the blogger filled crowd.

I went over and greeted Colorado 7th candidate, Herb Rubenstein, who had just added Gerald Arguello to his team as co-chair of Adams County. Herb teased me a bit about some things I had blogged about him, and about my involvement with the campaign of his opposition, candidate Ed Perlmutter. Later on, he and I spoke about the opportunity the caucus system can provide the Democratic Party in building a committed core, a conversation I want to go into in an upcoming post.

I have many pages of other things to relate that can wait for another day, but I wanted to be sure to mention having met Colorado Young Dems, Sara Lu-Hanley and Mike Weissman. I am too old to take a part in the voting, but I understand that Sara is running for the position of Outreach Director and Mike is running for Field Director in Monday’s balloting. I wish them both well, and encourage Colorado Democrats between the ages of 18 and 35 to check them out and get involved.

CO-7 Perlmutter gets himself a blogger

2006-01-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.perlmutter2006.com/blog.asp

I took on a new project.
For those who feel there just isn't enough me on the internet, you now have more me to enjoy.

Blogger Kerry

2006-01-21T00:22:00.000-08:00

I am not sure how to verify at this point that it is actually the Senator, but it seems that John Kerry has joined the blogosphere over at Daily Kos.

Welcome newbie.

CO-6 Bill Winter

2006-01-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

Fighting Dem Bill Winter (www.winterforcongress.org) will be throwing back a drink with me, and the other concerned citizens of the United States of Blogmerica, at next Wednesday's Drinking Liberally.

Come see why I have the man's campaign for Congress in my blogroll.

If you have no other reason to love this man and to want to buy him a round, I offer this damning quote from his opponent...

"Hello. I am Tom Tancredo."
~Anti-immigrant racist Tom Tancredo (R, CO-6)

CO-7 Rubenstein at Denver 'Drinking Liberally'

2006-01-12T01:16:00.000-08:00

When he was leaving tonight's 'Drinking Liberally' meet up in downtown Denver, I asked CO-7 candidate Herb Rubenstein what he would like the headline to read on my diary tonight. The one he chose was "Rubenstein Wins 2nd Debate," and although I did in fact use that over at SoapBlox Colorado, I hope he allows me the more descriptive but less entertaining one here.

He came in dressed in blue jeans, and only his Gin and Tonic set him at all apart from the couple of dozen beer drinkers who assembled for the semi-monthly gathering. He was friendly and sociable, and was quick to engage us with the question, "should the web come to Colorado politics, or should Colorado politics come to the web?"

I liked the open ended question, and I could tell that Herb had not just come to meet a few constituents, or to try to raise a few dollars, but that he was approaching this group for some real advice about how he could better tailor his campaign to the internet. He is running out of possible ways of pulling off a dark horse victory, and I felt he was hoping that the internet might hold some answers. He has a mass emailing coming up soon, and he wanted to know what would get us to open and read a two page email if he sent one. The consensus was to not bother with two pages if he wanted it read at all.

Before engaging people in smaller side conversations, he told the group a few anecdotes about listening to Bob Beauprez at a recent event. I enjoyed a moment when he was discussing the Republicans views of our economic situation, and Rubenstein remarked, "They made it look like the glass was flowing over when the glass is leaking. It's broken."

One person asked what he had heard from the DCCC, and Rubenstien said that when he met with them last month they told him they would be staying out of CO-7 until after the primary.

When discussing his campaign, Rubenstein mentioned that Arnie Grossman of SAFE (Sane Alternatives to the Firearms Epidemic) had joined his team.

Amendment 38 in Colorado would enable any person to bring a suit against the State to enforce a prohibition on State non-emergency services from being provided to non-documented aliens. To this Rubenstein suggested clogging the courts with thousands of suits protesting the use of libraries and public roadways by such individuals, as a way of illustrating the poverty of planning that would go into such a law.

I asked Herb to give us some ball park numbers on how his fundraising was going. He said he had somewhere around 60k, with about 50 of that being out of his own pocket. I asked specifically how this most recent quarter went, and he said that he did not have the full numbers yet, but it looked to him like it would be around $20,000. He also mentioned that Democratic consultant Terry Snyder, who in addition to other things managed Joel Judd's campaign for State House District 5, was now helping him to fundraise.

We had an extended exchange about the Rubenstein plan to put web enabled video cameras into public school classrooms as a tool to monitor the behavior of both teachers and students. I questioned him about the intrusive nature of government surveillance, and he claimed that the Broncos are under 'surveillance' every time they play, and that it enhances the performance of the players. I think there are some problems with that analogy, but I understand his point that there are currently too few tools that allow us to measure teacher performance.

My favorite part of the evening was when he strayed away from the bloggers, and had a conversation with a man whose ideas were either more cynical or more practical depending on your point of view. The one time of the night when I saw Herb looking uncomfortable and defensive was as the man explained to him, "Fuck issues. Nobody wants to hear issues. Give me principles you have that let me know where you stand. I don't want two pages. Nobody wants one page. People want bullet points; boom, boom, boom. If you can't do that you cant win. The number of words you use is inversely proportional to your chances of winning."

When the conversation turned to Herb's plan for high tariffs on China unless they clean up their worker safety issues, the man told him he was dreaming if he thought that there would ever be tariffs on China at all.

Watching Herb Rubenstein run into the bulwark of practicality that this man presented was very telling. I think the experience will be echoed as he takes his case to the voters of my district. He is a nice guy. He has ideas. Some of the ideas might even work. But to work, he will have to reach people with those ideas, convince them, and then get the ideas implemented. If anyone has any thoughts on how to do that, he seems open for suggestions.

If he had asked me six months ago, I would have suggested that he start smaller and closer to home, perhaps with Paccione's old seat. Tonight he commented that he decided to start with Congress, just like the sitting Republican Bob Beauprez did. I hope for his sake Democrats also vote based on who would make a decent drinking buddy, because I can vouch that it was an enjoyable night and I look forward to meeting again in two weeks.

Then again, I bet Ed Perlmutter is a beer drinker, and I wouldn't mind throwing a few back with him.

Happy Election Year

2006-01-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

I have been busy flipping over the calendar for a while, but I am back and ready to blog. Tomorrow is Drinking Liberally day in Denver, and I am hoping to get a chance to talk some more with CO-7 candidate Herb Rubenstein while I am there.

In the mean time, I think I will bathe in the wisdom of George W. Bush, whose remarks on Iraq today included...

"Compromise and consensus and power sharing are the only path to national unity and lasting democracy..."

"...successful free societies protect the rights of minorities against the tyranny of the majority."

"A country that divides into factions and dwells on old grievances cannot move forward and risks sliding back into tyranny..."

Why can't the Iraqi's learn from his leadership?

HeadingLeft scoops A.P. by nearly a week

2005-12-29T17:45:00.000-08:00

Daily Kos ran a story on the front page featuring an AP report released today.

A little-noticed holiday week executive order from President Bush moved the Pentagon's intelligence chief to the No. 3 spot in the succession hierarchy behind Mr. Rumsfeld. The second spot would be the deputy secretary of defense, but that position currently is vacant. The Army chief, which long held the No. 3 spot, was dropped to sixth.

The changes, announced last week, are the second in six months and mirror the administration's new emphasis on intelligence gathering versus combat in 21st century warfighting.

Maybe time just moves slower when you are sitting in the White House Press Room. I wonder how long it will take the Associated Press to figure out what this signals about Rumsfeld's tenure, and then how long it will take them to realize that the President is holding the announcement so they can dangle appointments at the negotiations to replace Tom Delay, and as a distraction for the next bad news cycle.

Oh wait, they will never get it. With pawns like them, even Rove and Bush can look like chess masters.

Rummy to be replaced by 9-11/Abu Ghraib figure?

2005-12-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

A new Executive Order may be another sign that changes are coming at Defense.
The White House has formulated a new order of succession within the Department of Defense.
If Rumsfeld should vacate his post, taking over would be the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
Who is the Deputy? Well, that leads us to some interesting possibilities...

Paul Wolfowitz resigned on May 13, and since then the spot has not been officially filled. The ~Acting~ Deputy Secretary is Secretary of the Navy Gordon England.
As acting Deputy, he might be next, but as he is fully the Secretary of the Navy, that puts him seventh in line.
If he is not considered the Deputy per the order of succession, the next in line is the Undersecretary of Defense for Intellegence, a position that did not exist until just two days before Wolfowitz resigned.

So far the only man to ever hold the office is Stephen Cambone. His job includes oversight of the NSA and of Defense Intelligence.
As his office is so new, I speculate that the purpose of the new order of succession was to insert him.

Cambone was discussed at length in this AmericanProgress.org article about the failures of 911 Intellegence.

It includes such passages as...

A name that we have not frequently heard mentioned, however, is Stephen Cambone. As the nation's first ever undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Cambone wields vast power within the intelligence community; yet, his only qualifications for the post are a fierce loyalty to Donald Rumsfeld and an unshakeable right wing ideology.

-------------
Cambone has since conceded that he was personally behind sending Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller to Iraq with orders to find more effective ways of interrogating prisoners.

--------------
When Sen. John Warner asked Cambone if his office had "overall responsibility for policy concerning the handling of detainees," Cambone coyly responded with, "Not precisely, sir." And when Cambone was pressed on the question of whether he and Rumsfeld believed that the prisoners in Iraq were protected by the Geneva Convention, he again ran for shelter beyond the shelter beyond the word "precise":
Sen. Levin: You this morning said, again, the Geneva Convention applies to our activities in Iraq, but not precisely.

Mr. Cambone: No, sir. I think what the secretary - I - let me tell you what the facts are. The Geneva Convention applies in Iraq.

Sen Levin: Precisely?

Mr. Cambone. Precisely.

Sen. Levin: (Inaudible) -

Mr. Cambone: They do not apply in the precise way that the secretary was talking about...

CO-7 A Poll

2005-12-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

Colorado Pols has a poll on the CO-7 race.
It is a site that is read by a bunch of the semi-computer-literate political insiders in Colorado and helps shape some of the conventional wisdom around here.
The sample is about as unrerpresentative as one could find for a poll, and it is more a test of which of the candidates is able to get their people around to the most computers. Still, in a caucus state, getting your people to vote at low turn out events is actually what it is about.

Do me a favor and click in with a vote.

Bill Winter and other Disclosures

2005-12-18T21:14:00.000-08:00

I have been invited to help Bill Winter's campaign with their netroots outreach during Bill's challenge of Tom Tancredo's Colorado Sixth district congressional seat.
Likewise, I have been invited by Ed Perlmutter to assist his campaign for the congressional seat in Colorado's Seventh district.
All that should really change around here is that I have added a link to Bill Winter's blog team's blog on the right, and now I might be less eligable for paid story placement from the Iraqi News service.

New Executive order on FOIA

2005-12-15T12:45:00.000-08:00

The Whitehouse has posted a new executive order about Freedom of Information Act requests.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051214-4.html

On a day where Bill Moyers is being quoted as saying "There has been nothing in our time like the Bush Administration's obsession with secrecy," the administration has set an order that on its surface looks like it creates some mechanism for review of governmental FOIA compliance.
A quick glance seems to indicate that this will improve the fulfilment of the public right to know. Does it merely insert a layer of Bush document shredders between any request and the public?

I am going to look this gift horse carefully in its Trojan mouth, but maybe someone more clever than I can find the worm in this apple of knowledge first... ow! I sprained my metaphor.

First Impressions

2005-12-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

When I saw that Bush was having Thaddeus DuBois answer the questions sent in this week to 'Ask the White House', I thought that Trent Lott must be back as Majority Leader.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/20051209.html

Turns out I just was misinterpreting the photo.

CO-7 Pancakes, Coffee, and Stump Speeches; two of my favorite things.

2005-12-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

There wasn't a lot of space to maneuver my plate of scrambled eggs at the American Legion Hall in Lakewood this morning. More than 140 of my neighbors in CO-7 packed the round tables to gulp down food and to listen to the three Democratic congressional candidates.
Ed Perlmutter, Peggy Lamm, and Herb Rubenstein mingled with the friendly and informal crowd. Each of them took the time to engage with me personally, and I had the experience that they were all there to listen as well as speak. Shortly after 9:00 they took their places on the small stage and gave opening remarks.
Peggy Lamm began with a series of stories that illustrated her personal connection to issues such as the welfare of our soldiers, the importance of Social Security, and the value of public education. She indulged in a grab for easy laughs by pointing out the doors in the front and the back of the room and then announcing we now had an exit strategy. I enjoyed the dig at Bush along with the rest of the crowd, but it made me wonder if she thought these things were really so casual and easy. If Herb Rubenstein had made the joke, I would be pretty sure that he had a book somewhere in which he had pointed out every possible exit from Iraq just as clearly. If Ed Perlmutter had said it, I would be certain that he had assembled a team of the best people, who had read Herb's book and a good number of others, and that he could work with them and create a plan that would lead our people to those exits. When Peggy Lamm said it, she said it with the vague charismatic ease and confidence that I find chillingly 'presidential'. When I laughed at the joke there was an anger and disdain for the Republicans lurking behind my smirk. I know where I have seen that smirk before, and I don't want it on my face. I want to be led forth by hope, and to her credit, many times when Peggy spoke of topics closer to her experience I felt hopeful. I am concerned about whose council she might wind up taking on the rest.
Next to speak was 'Hyperlinked' Herb Rubenstein. As a blogger, I enjoy a man who speaks in URLs. Herb is comfortable with this medium, and at his website he lays out positions on around fifty issues. With Quixotic energy he dove into them as best he could in the time provided. He pointed people to his website and to his books. He spoke of gay rights, union rights, tax law, Katrina, Murtha, National Health Care. He even leveled some criticism at the Colorado Democratic Party and made suggestions about how they could improve their own house. A critque, he told me later, that ruffled some feathers and earned him a vague warning. At no point, however, did he have any unkind words for his two opponents. He made efforts to differentiate himself from them while still marching forward in a united front. In a district that was tipped to the Republicans in 2002 by people who voted Green, the party would do well to find a way to be inclusive of people like Herb. The other candidates are right not to waste too many moments worrying about him as a serious challenger, but I hope they recognize him as a useful ally and knowledgeable constituent.
Ed Perlmutter took the floor to considerably more applause than the others. His opening remarks were the only ones interrupted by applause, and even garnered a small standing ovation. It is clear that he holds home court advantage in this district, and in a caucus state that can be a powerful thing. Money always gets you a long ways in politics, but being able to get people into the room wins Colorado primaries.
Perlmutter decried the consolidation of power on the Federal level, and the incompetence with which Bush wields it. He drew parallels between Washington today and Colorado five years ago when he and his colleagues in our State Senate broke the Republican stranglehold. He painted a self-portrait of a moderate man who preferred collaborative governance but who had been roused to fight by a deficit that mortgages our future, by Katrina, by Iraq, and by the rest of the wanton negligence of this administration.

After their opening remarks, the candidates gave answers to a series of five questions submitted by the gathering. The first of these was on the topic of Iraq.
Perlmutter said that Bush needed to elucidate what 'victory' meant. Saddam brought to trial? Elections? Iraq admitted as the 51st state? If we are going to stay the course until the job is done, we need to know exactly what that job is. Failing a clear explanation from the President, Perlmutter said we should not leave a vacuum, but we should withdraw "very very soon."
Rubenstein said that the key to finding an exit is international involvement, both in having a police force and in the allocation of contracts. He felt that we could most likely draw down half our troops in '06 and the other half in '07, but only if we engaged the international community, rebuilt their respect for us, and were replaced by a force that represented the interests of the Arab League, Europe, and Russia.
Lamm said we needed to find an exit strategy now. She wanted a time table immediately that preserved the good things we have created but also also allowed for a rapid exit of our forces. She then added that the Iraqi's, "might not be able to be a democracy", and that we, "need to look at other creative solutions."
When I spoke to her later, I read her back the quote, and I asked if she could clarify what she had meant. She explained that if US troops were to leave the country the result might be a civil war (a state I said seemed to be present today). She admitted she is no expert on the region, but stated that it seemed to her that after thousands of years of war that a three state solution might be the only resolution. After making sure the three divisions she was talking about were Shiite, Sunni, and Kurd, I asked her if she thought any of those groups were capable of individually forming a government that was democratic. She said while she was very hopeful that democracy might emerge in the region, and that if it did that would be the best possible outcome, the historical realities of the region might make that impossible.

The next question concerned immigration. All three were in fairly close agreement. Each felt that the existing 11 million undocumented workers in the country should have a path to take where their status could be decriminalized, and each called for sanctions against the companies that prey on migrant workers for cheap labor.
Rubenstein had a detailed plan that included amnesty for employees of companies that had more than 25 workers. Lamm suggested that working with Mexico to help them find ways to improve conditions and keep people working on that side of the border. Perlmutter said we should tighten our borders, but also create a track to naturalization for every current undocumented alien who paid their taxes, began learning English, and committed no crimes.
I asked Mr. Perlmutter later if 'committed no crimes' included the crime of entering the country illegally, or using forged documents to secure employment. He indicated to me that while those were certainly crimes, they would not be hurdles to later citizenship for those already living and working in the country.

The third question was about improvements on K-12 education. Here Ed and Peggy were in fairly close accord, and Herb saw things differently.
Both Perlmutter and Lamm cited the passing of Proposition C as evidence that things could be done properly. They both felt that the No Child Left Behind Act was a failure when just pushed on the States, but could be saved if it was federally funded. They both felt that funding Public Education and raising educator pay was a top priority. Both thought the defunding of Pell Grants was a stupid move. The only place I saw any difference was when Peggy Lamm announced that she would never vote for something like school vouchers, and then smirked over at Perlmutter to make sure the punch landed.
Herb came at things from another direction. He said the child is the customer of Public Education, and we needed to improve the product. He indicated that he has recently written a book on the topic, and told us how to get a copy. A few select quotes from his remarks were, "No Child Left Behind should have been No Teacher Left Behind," and "We just teach principals to manage. We should be teaching them to lead." He also voiced his support for home schools, charter schools, and his opposition to vouchers.

The next question was about the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
Peggy Lamm proudly declared herself a proponent of an 'America First' policy. She felt that a 'flat playing field' was inferior to a 'fair playing field.' She sees CAFTA as a threat to American jobs and stands opposed to it.
Herb Rubenstein suggested that tariffs should be part of our economic policy and designed to bring foreign countries in line with worker rights issues and environmental issues. He proposed tariffs as high as 500% on countries whose policies are antagonistic to unions. He said that China's 4000 annual coal mine deaths and terrible environmental record should be punished through our trade agreements.
Ed Perlmutter also opposed CAFTA for the reasons the rest of the panel did, and spoke about ways he would act to create jobs in CO-7 and keep the district competitive globally. As an example he cited how improving the budget of the National Renewable Energy Labs, whose biofuel funding was recently cut, could result in improvements in our environment, our economy, and our national security by lowering our dependence on foreign oil.

The final question was on gun control. All three were fairly middle of the road on this one.
Herb Rubenstein has one. He has a right to one. He has no right to a machine gun. He should face stiff penalties if he uses it improperly.
Ed Perlmutter thinks concealed weapons are fine, and has supported laws allowing them, but he does not support any law that allows them in a bar, a school, or a stadium.
Peggy Lamm sees women's physical stature as a reason they may sometimes need special protection, and while she supports safe storage laws, and advocates safety training and accountability for misuse, she sees no call to restrict lighter firearms. Like Herb and Ed, she does not think everyone has a second amendment right to a flamethrower, but does feel some gun ownership is agreeable.

They all made closing comments, and then stuck around and answered questions from all of us who cared to ask. The experience left me feeling nostalgic for a time in politics where one could always pick a favorite candidate, and still hold the other side in high regard. I felt I could do that today. I think that I am going to enjoy the race through the March 21st caucus. After that, it becomes the defiant stand against the forces of evil, and though it may be holy work it will still be drudgery.

I prepared to go and made one final circut of the room. Ed introduced me to his daughters. Peggy told me she had, "never met a real blogger before." Herb and I talked about moving the party forward, and his chances in the election. It was a nice day, and the eggs were really good.

Freedom Ride

2005-12-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be Deborah Davis' day in court. The Feds staged a tactical retreat and dropped the charges while insisting their unconstitutional policies would continue unabated.
Ms. Davis had been arrested for not showing proper deference to authority during a random check of her travel papers. On her way to work, a police officer requested to see her identification. She refused and was arrested. In the scramble to imagine a reason for this, she was charged with failure to obey signs requiring identification to be shown by visitors to the Denver Federal Center. She was not a visitor to the center, although the bus does transit the property on part of its route. To make the charges more worthy of ridicule, there was not even a sign.
Seeing this as an escape rather than a problem, the Feds dropped the charges citing "a technicality involving a problem with a sign at the Federal Center at the time Davis was ticketed." This 'technicality' now corrected, they have announced that they will continue to intimidate Ms. Davis, violate the rights of commuters, and drain the resources of the good people who help them prepare for a day in court that never comes.

Maybe someday, someone will bring the suit that asks them to pay for the costs and damages inflicted on Ms. Davis and others brave enough to say 'no' to tyranny. Maybe someday some court will serve justice and hand down a large enough fine to deter these crimes, but as the bill would just be passed along to you and me and never paid by the criminal officers, I am not holding my breath for that day either.

We need a constitutional amendment that requires the Goverment to obey the Constitution.

Imagine

2005-12-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

Twenty Five years ago, I was a kid and it was pretty late at night. I was watching the news and I found out that John Lennon had died. Without thinking, I picked up a phone and I called Sander. Sander was in bed, and his dad answered the phone. Sander's dad had already heard the news and he was concerned about how he was going to tell his son.
It is funny to think that a quarter of a century later, and a couple of time zones away from Eastern Standard, I would be typing a blog that was still so influenced by growing up around Sander, his Father, and a man who sang about hope for a more peaceful world.

Aaron's very solid response

2005-12-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

Or: Maybe we should find Aaron a job with the DNC instead of blogging here on this little corner of the internet(s)

I agree that getting the majority to the polls will be the key to reforming the landscape.
A meme I would like to crush as soon as possible, however, is the 'Dems don't have a clear message' story.
What is the Republican's clear message? "Jesus is coming soon so we better ban homosexuality, and abortion, and allow guns, and tigheten our borders, and provide work visas for immigrant workers, and give tax breaks to corporations, and defend the homeland, and protect Israel, and destabilize other countries, and bring democracy to other counteries in the form of the world bank, and eliminate judicial activism, and reinterpret the constitution to pass any laws we like that abridge the first and fourth amendments, and relax polution regulation, and increase the property rights of media corporations, and redistrict certain precincts, and........."

They have a bunch of messages, and because they are a confederacy of the Fundamentalists, the Stupid, the Greedy, and the Hateful, their message is more garbled and encoded than any the Dems put forward.

This is the Democratic Party message:

We believe in fostering a just society, where the rights of the individual are respected, where government works in an open way to provide for the common defense and an honest way to promote the general welfare, and where opportunities are available for all people, regardless of the circumstance of their births.

Or if you want the shortest version...

Freedom, Justice, Equality

(Contrast those words with Kellogg, Brown, and Root, and I think you have a campaign.)

Show Up or Shut Up!

2005-12-03T23:06:00.000-08:00

60% of people in Time Magazines new poll said they want our next president to be "completely different" than Bush.

Where the hell were these people when we needed them? Sure, I know, it does not help to denigrate those just joining us in our disdain for BushCo.... But seriously, where was the youth vote? Where were the outraged disaffected? Where were the 98% of African Americans that say they disapprove of Bush and his incompetent gang of wingnuts? Mostly absent.

So the question is.... How will we get these people to vote in '06 and beyond? What right wing cause will repubs fly up the flag to get wingers to show up for the midterm elections.... Mandatory life sentences for Flag burning?

Can we push the issue of morality and ethics all the way to a democratic landslide in '06? We should and we must. It is time to create a new values voter, one that actually values decency, human dignity and human life. We must reach out to those moderates that really believe a public servant should not cheat, lie or steal. Let's hope that Howard and the rest of the dems can stick together, get a message and stay on point.

Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant

2005-12-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

On a scale from one to doomsday, I think this idea ranks pretty much near the bottom of the pit. In fact, it is such a bad idea I can only assume it has already been implemented.
The AP via ABC News drew my attention to Senate Resolution S.1873, and its partner in the House HR.3970 which would create the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA), an agency the bill claims will "prepare and strengthen the biodefenses of the United States against deliberate, accidental, and natural outbreaks of illness, and for other purposes. "

The plan would exempt the agency from any oversight of FOIA or of the Federal Advisory Committee acts, give private sector companies immunity for participation, and would allow the company to secretly dole out funding for "development of treatments and vaccines to protect the United States from natural pandemics as well as chemical, biological and radiological agents."

Or maybe they will do something else with the money. Who knows? You won't. Without FOIA and FACA, this is Big Pharma saying, "Sign this form waving your rights, and then give me your money and close your eyes."

Apparently, science now works best when it is done in secret and need not worry about accountability. Welcome to the age of Faith Based Advanced Biochemical Research.

CO 7 - Matsunaka takes sides in Perlmutter v. Lamm

2005-12-01T15:49:00.000-08:00

The Perlmutter campaign is circulating a document in which former Dkos 8 honoree Stan Matsunaka takes a strong position for Ed Perlmutter and against Peggy Lamm, in the rivalry for the Colorado 7th District Democratic Congressional nomination

Matsunaka, who challenged Musgrave (R CO-4) for a congressional seat last cycle, comes out in support of his long time colleague...

"I strongly believe that Ed Perlmutter is the man who can take back the Seventh District. I also know first hand that Ed's credentials as a committed Democrat are beyond question. I served with Ed in the Colorado Senate for eight years and during that time I saw Ed fight for the things that we as Democrats hold dear like public education, civil rights, women's rights and the environment."

Matsunaka also raises questions about Lamm's dedication to party principles and party loyalty in a statement that begins...

"Whether you agree or not with every position Ed has taken in public life, he has always been honest about his record. I do not believe Peggy Lamm can say the same... "

I had asked the Perlmutter campaign for information about the charge that Lamm had supported Republican Governor Bill Owens in 2002, and in an encouraging sign that they take bloggers seriously they sprung for a bucks worth of postage to mail me out a pile of papers. I scanned Matsunaka's letter into a .pdf file for others who are interested.

CO - Bush rambles for Musgrave

2005-11-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

The Denver Post published a text of Bush's speech at yesterday's fundraiser for homophobe Musgrave.

Attrocities include...
"This is an enemy that has declared their intentions in Iraq. They've got one weapon, by the way -- their ideology is so dark, nobody believes in it except for a handful, but they've got the capacity to kill innocent people and have those images on the TV screens around the world, all attempting to shake our will and to get us to retreat. They have stated openly their desire to do to Iraq what they did to Afghanistan, to convert that country into a safe haven so they can plan, plot and attack. We will defeat the enemy in Iraq. We will do our job to protect the American people. (Applause.) "

Also in attendence was Delay's number one pawn Bob Beauprez. He was thanked by Bush for being in attendence. I will see Musgrave gets thanked for having him be there later on in the campaign when it becomes difficult for any of them to wash off the stench of one another.

[Meanwhile, thanks to maxentropy at kos for pointing me to the photo, whoever took the photo, and to the fine people at Soapblox Colorado for adding Heading Left to their 'what we read' blogroll. I read Soapblox every day and will add them to our links as soon as I can.]

CO - Bush Hearts Musgrave PHOTOBLOG

2005-11-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

President Bush is in Denver today, raising money for the Marilyn Musgrave (R CO-4) re-election campaign. Musgrave, trying to hold off a challenge from Angie Paccione, seems unconcerned about tying her ship to Bush's, and really she has no other option. She is notoriously the the Congressdemon who brought to the floor this homophobic constitutional amendment...
"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."

I was on Capitol Hill this morning with the early protesters. It was still a bit cool with temperatures bouncing around freezing, but the sun was bright and the weather was not going to be a problem for turn out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68403865/

As has been true throughout the day, the majority of the early protest signs were directed at Bush and his misadventures in Iraq. I saw one 'Gay Rights = Human Rights" sign, but other than that there was little to tie Bush to Musgrave or her policies. Around 10:45 that changed as a banner was unfurlled by Soulforce Denver. They were the first I saw that really drew the media's attention to the specific differentiating point of todays rally.
At 11:00, as I was talking to Michael Hetner and Alan Franklin of Progress Now their show stopping billboard slowly made its way up the Capital's drive. Making its way around a tiny roadway congested by building construction was this work of art...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68403873/

It was my second favorite sign of the day. Only losing top honors to my new hero...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68403869/

By this point, the main stream media was starting to arrive in force. ABC News had a truck at the site, and Noticicas Colorado had a clear presence. WB and FOX seemed to confine their reporting to the Hotel Site itself, but many members of the print media were out with their notebooks. Mine caused many people to ask "Who are you with?" I tried on many responses, but felt the best saying "the First Amendment."
Circling the block, Progress Now became part of an odd convoy, consisting of them and the bloody abortion truck of Operation Rescue.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68403876/

At 11:25 the protest began to move North on Broadway, and the crowd was upbeat and well behaved. (Is it an insult to call the crowd at a rally 'well behaved'? Back in Chicago it would have been.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68403879/

The crowd kept to the sidewalks, and obeyed the traffic signals. Police presence was very slight and the march, while uneventful, had some fine New Orleans Jazz playing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68403882/

There were not too many streets blocked around the Brown Palace Hotel, and the Progress Nowtruck made many circuits. Here you can see the billboard it displayed on the other side...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68405255/

Just around the corner the Mt. West Regional Council ofCarpenters were picketing Brookfield Properties, a large landlord in the area for using M.P. Interiors. I spoke to members of Local 1068 and found them to be good people. I was rather suprised when later in the day, I ran into a man wearing one of their jackets carrying one of the very few Pro-Bush signs in the gathering. People around me said he was a plant, but in our discussion he seemed sincere, and he was carrying a card that identified him as Council Representative Ken Sanchez. He felt that support for our Commander in Chief was the key issue, and he said that he supported Clinton when Clinton was in office, and supports Bush now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68405262/

There were some clear plants in the crowd. Three members of the Boulder Young Republicans showed up carrying signs that said "Free Saddam. He hasn't done anything to you." and they tried to pass themselves off as liberals to any media that would believe them. Yes, I have pictures of them, but I have mixed feelings at even putting lying stupid people into a place where someone might want to cause them harm. I keep going back and forth on this, as they were there expressly to draw the cameras upon themselves and were not acting in good faith. Someone convene a blogger ethics panel and let me know if it is ok for me to post their names and faces.
I spoke for a moment with Denver area activist Chris Bailey, and we discussed CO-7 politics. She is a stronger supporter of Peggy Lamm than I am, and we discussed the various merits of Peggy Lamm, Ed Perlmutter, or even throwing our support behind someone more independent and progressive. Bailey always makes good points, and someday I hope she runs for office herself. She and I didn't agree on everything, but she handed me a flyer on which I am in perfcect accord with her. As far as CO-4 is concerned, there is only one choice...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68405258/

I stood over at the entrance where Bush was supposed to enter. It was obviously misdirection, but I wanted to say hello to the Secret Service. The street was blocked by big buses that they kept running. Their engines added nice bass notes to the "No Blood for Oil" chant that rang around them. I asked Officer Church of the Denver Canine Unit why they had to keep the engines running, and he said "The driver is wearing shorts. He wants to keep warm."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68405261/

I decided to sprint over to the other side of the building, and snapped a pic of this two
Bush simulacra as I went.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68405260/

I saw the motorcade as it rounded the corner, and took this picture a moment before the Limo came close enough to see the flags. Of course, the batteries in my camera went out right then. Can the CIA do that? Do I need a tinfoil hat for my camera?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68405813/

The motorcade zipped through a bit faster than comfortable for someone at the side of the road. The motorcycles really had to lean into the turn. George did not stop to mingle. A little slower on the stick were the two Press buses that got stopped at an intersection by a crowd of protesters. It was the one moment of civil disobedience I witnessed. They held the press up for long enough to let them know that Denver was not welcoming Bush with open arms, and then the blue and red lights started flashing and motorcylces made it clear that freedom of the press corps trumps freedom to peaceably assemble in the middle of Broadway and 17th.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68405817/

With the main event behind me for the moment, I scampered off to find a wireless node so I could start typing this out and uploading. Along the way, I met Ruth, Ryan, and Nancy. They are all residents of the interweb, and I am waving hello at my screen in hopes they will see it soon. If not, I hope to run into them at Drinking Liberally when the Colorado chapter meets on the 14th.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68407008/

I also met the team handling Emma Hardy's fantastic body puppets...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29604781@N00/68407011/

You may have seen them anywhere from Madison to Burningman, and if not check out her site. One of the team was Jason of Argusfest who will be holding an event at the Mercury Cafe on Dec. 8th. The food is yummy there, and the people are great. I will be the guy looking for a plug so I can blog.

CO-7 Do you have your transit papers in order?

2005-11-25T16:08:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend was at this particular bus station the other day. It is about a mile from my house, and I use it all the time myself.
I am posting this so she knows that Lakewood, Colorado ain't no free country.

Woman arrested for refusing to show police ID during a random check on a public bus.

I think I might stop by the court on the 9th and watch this as it develops. Of course that means they will be watching me watch them, but then you will get to watch all that as it all happens. Let's call it all 'tyrannitainment'.

Fitzgerald's chess moves

2005-11-18T12:44:00.000-08:00

Fitzgerald is seeking a new grand jury.

I have read a lot about how this is spurred by the Woodward comments, but I think it has been the plan all along.

I think that while Woodward will be a centeral figure in what comes next, Fitzgerald really has had his eyes onthe grand jury rules concerning recantation.

18 U.S.C. § 1623(d),
"Where, in the same continuous court or grand jury proceeding in which a declaration is made, the person making the declaration admits such declaration to be false, such admission shall bar prosecution under this section if, at the time the admission is made, the declaration has not substantially affected the proceeding, or it has not become manifest that such falsity has been or will be exposed. "

The rules allow for a suspect about to be caught in a lie to pivot around and clarify his testimony. Once the door shut on the first grand jury, however, everything said is locked in. By just bringing the single indictment, Fitzgerald may have tightened the noose around all those who thought they would be able to wriggle free before it was too late.

CO-7 Perlmutter Campaign opens HQ.

2005-11-13T03:29:00.000-08:00

As this astute blogger reported, I made a post over at dKos.
To save you the trouble of following the link to the link that leads you to my post (a possibility I hope will bring a moment of joy to my Mom) I will reprint both that post, and another I made about the same event

--------------------------------------------------

Ed Perlmutter, candidate for Colorado's 7th Congressional district, hosted a grand opening party today at his new campaign headquarters.
The room was filled with a who's who of Colorado Democrats, including current and former State Senators Mike Feely, Mo Keller, Deanna Hanna, Polly Baca, and Stan Matsunaka, along with a panoply of labor figures, fire fighters, and mayors. I had an opportunity to discuss the netroots with Stan Matsunaka, and he was very present to the importance of Daily Kos and other internet communities during his fight with Marilyn 'Defense of Marriage' Musgrave, and he was looking for ways to broaden involvement of supporters on the political web. I also found that the Perlmutter campaign staff was very open to helping create a dialog with the distributed national constituency and were interested in working with me to reach out to everyone who wants to help pull this crucial congressional seat out of Tom Delay's pocket. Ed gave a speech that started by alluding to the atrocities of the current administration, in which he invoked the proverb "Lies lead to ruin." As he went on, his message turned to a more affirmative message that focused on the policies he would advance, and he spoke of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as an example of a way to simultaneously improve national security, the economy, and the environment. After he spoke, I passed along a question from a post on Soapblox Colorado. I asked how his stand on issues differed from his Democratic Primary opponent, Peggy Lamm. He first responded by indicating how he had grown up and worked in the district, and how he had helped build and support the party while she had done little for the Democrats in Colorado, he indicated Dave Thomas across the room, who had run last cycle for CO-7 and said I could ask Dave how much help she had been. He also underlined her support of Republican Governor Owens in '02 as an example of her questionable commitment to party values. I acknowledged that, but I asked him to go outside of history and find an example of where a vote from him might differ from one that Peggy might cast. As one example, he offered, "I won't vote for guns as much as she will." I will ask him for more examples as time goes forward, and I will share what I hear.

---------------------------------------

"Change begins in Colorado's Seventh District"That is what Ed Perlmutter said was his campaign's mantra, and it was a theme that resonated with both his old friends from the Colorado Senate, and with the rising talents who filled his new headquarters.

He had been introduced by Mike Feely, who had lost the seat in '02 to Bob Beauprez by 0.07%, a mere 121 votes in a race that gave 9,422 votes to third party candidates. Mike reported that he had always said the only reason he ran that year was that Ed wouldn't. That Ed was running this time seemed to give him a sense that vindication was at hand. He seemed confident that this time his side was going to win. There was muttering in the back of the room that there may even be icing on this cake. Beauprez' attempt at a step up might just be a step off a cliff. The Governor's mansion could just be a mirage on his horizon. Feely introduced many people around the room, glancing from time to time at a list he had made to make sure that everyone in the long litany was acknowledged and thanked for their support and the differences they had made to their communities. Afterwards, I asked him if I could copy the list for a political blog, and he handed me the list itself and happily dictated out a few late additions. He hesitated over giving me one name. It was a past member of the State Senate who had served with Mike and Ed and several others in the room. Mike wasn't sure if the gentleman would want his name associated with the campaign. The man was a colleague and a respected friend, but he was also a Republican, so it seemed inaccurate to call him a supporter. It was a strange paradox. Even people who don't support Ed, respect him, like him, and well... support him. Many of the names on the list are familiar to anyone who has followed Colorado Politics, Baca, Pascoe, Keller, Matsunaka, Martinez. I think it was Sen. Keller who said that if we had any more legislators there, we would risk violating the open meetings act. I looked over at Deputy Attorney General Renny Fagan to make sure he was laughing. Some of the names are the vanguard of the slow but visible transformation of this swing district in this swing state. People like Mayor Jerry Ditullio of Wheatridge who won by 51.5% of the vote, Aurora City Council Member Larry Beer who managed to win with a 47.2% plurality, and Sue Marinelli of the Jefferson County School Board who won a three way race with 38% of the vote.Change was starting in the 7th, and these people intended to keep it moving across the map. In fact, if they could stop the map itself from moving on them, they felt the Republicans had no hope. The Republicans are attempting a last minute gerrymander that could dissolve away the Democratic advantage in the seventh. The people around me were confident that the Supreme Court would not decide to load the dice, and they expressed it with an optimistic fire that too many years of Bush makes hard to kindle in my heart. But they were sure that the GOP would have to ultimately resort to their standby solution for electoral problems and try to drown them in dollars. The word was that this could be a very expensive race. Feely tossed out a guess of 1.5 to 2 million dollars. I heard that advertising might cost, "225 a point," a phrase that, while absolutely meaningless to me, strikes me as an incredibly high amount. Checkbooks fluttered open and donors stepped to the plate. I am a man of humble means, but I made it a point to give a little something to the fight. But I also started thinking about where my personal talents are, and I started thinking about grass roots, and I started thinking about how amazingly large of a lawn we share. I think there is a possibility that the real agent of change is not on the map at all. I think it can begin in the everyhere-and-here of the internet, and then leap from Blog to Ballot, and create change in the places that are ready to be leveraged. I think that Colorado's seventh is ready. I think there is a good team wanting to win the fight. I think we are the secret weapon.
Where do we go from here?

Mugabe Tells US Ambassador to go to hell

2005-11-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

On the surface of it, having the leader of your host country tell you to go to hell seems like poor diplomacy. But in this case, I have to say that career diplomat Christopher Dell deserves a handshake if he ever gets himself expelled from what has to be his least favorite job ever.

Reuters reports that Robert Mugabe got angry at our Ambassador when he gave a public statement critical of government land policies and human rights issues.
This was hardly Dell's first run in with his hosts. Not too long ago he was held at gunpoint for walking on their lawn, or trying to overthrow the government, depending on which side you believe.

Appropriate Entities

2005-11-06T23:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes, we love the USA-PATRIOT act.
Of course we understand the need for the 'National Security Letters' that allow law enforcement to collect information on citizens without judicial review of any kind.
It makes perfect sense that the Feds no longer have to destroy information collected through NSLs about individuals that are not involved in terrorism or any crime whatsoever.
We are thrilled to hear that Bush signed an order recently that allows the Feds to share this information with States and Local agencies.

But would it be too much to ask for a little more information about who exactly the "appropriate private sector agencies" are that also get to listen in on the arbitrary wiretaps and read the ad hoc files that the FBI gets to collect on a whim?

I speak of Executive Order 13388 Sec. 1 (a) (iii)

CO-7 Perlmutter opens office

2005-11-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

As I just told the Young Angry Liberal, and the DKos community, Ed Perlmutter is having the official opening of his campaign office.

Saturday November 12, 2005, from 2 until 4:30 p.m.
2545 Youngfield Street, Golden, 80401
RSVP: 303-459-4729 or Perlmutter2006@comcast.net

I will be there with my blog on.

Congressman Flake

2005-11-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

According to the Washington Times, Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona feels that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States," is probably a typo.
That pesky little line in the 14th Amendment needs some whitewashing according to some congressional Republicans, and they would like to pretend that certain children born in our country are really citizens of somewhere else.
I am not sure what rights they think citizens of this country still have, but it seems they feel it is still too much for some people, and that raising a few kids in an INS detention cell is just what the Constitution intended.
Of course, joining the other Flake was Tom Tancredo the Rep for CO-6. I guess that after his fine 'nuke mecca' suggestion, he should at least call for the firebombing of Brownsville, Texas.

Heh

2005-11-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

I like Fark.com's headlines all the time, but this one deserves a special nod...

"President Bush's approval rating falls to 35 percent, or one degree Celsius"

A small victory

2005-11-02T21:46:00.000-08:00

A quiet piece of jurisprudence that should be made to resound like trumpets is a 12th Judicial Circuit case that I have been following.

A guy in Florida failed a breathalizer test. He got a DUI charge. He demanded access to the breathalizer's source code. The prosecution refused, citing trade secrets and various governmental blah blah blah.
The defendant just won the right to see the code. (.pdf file)

There was a lot in this case that made it favorable to the defense. For instance, it turns out that the internal components of the State breathalizers all had their chips in different places, and that undercut the prosecutions assertion that they followed a consistent method of operation, but in the end some general statements are made by the bench.

One that catches my eye...
"An instrument or machine that if believed, establishes the guilt of an accused subjecting them to fines, loss of driving privileges and loss of freedom should be made available to the defense for open inspection. "

Let me remind you that this was in the State of Diebold Jeb Bush Florida!

Anyone want to take a vote on if this ruling can be expanded that extra inch to include other governmental machines? My Aaronmatic vote counting machine will determine the results.

CO - Election Day

2005-11-02T01:52:00.000-08:00

It was a day of referenda and local races in Colorado today. The big fight was over Ref. C and Ref. D. It looks like it was a split decision with C going up and D going down. I don't think it is of enough national interest to explain it all here, so instead I will just point you to this story that shows you what we like to spend our money on around here. You people probably spend yours on schools and fire protection. Not us.

(For those who want to follow this rabbit down the money hole, here is the first bread crumb for you to follow... Mobile Detect of Toronto.)

(Crumb two... that conference was in Colorado Springs and sponsored by the "National Homeland Defense Foundation" a "a group of Colorado civic leaders" who are "committed to promoting homeland defense partnerships".)

(Crumb three... As it turns out, Mobile Detect has offices in Toronto, Ottawa, and Colorado Springs.)

(Crumb four... Their own office in Colorado Springs? Not really. They have to share the address with a couple of folks including the Republican State Senator from Colorado Springs, Doug Lamborn. They get their own listing in the lobby though. If you follow this trail far enough, what do you think the odds are that the man who sits on the military Affairs committee also happens to sit in on their board meetings? Anyone want to bet me? Would it change things if I mentioned the trip he and his wife took to Canada last year that was a 'gift' from Suncor Energy?)

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

2005-10-28T19:40:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-22T00:48:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

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."

klan tv

2005-10-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Yes a public TV station in midland Michigan will be airing a new show produced by the klan. I hesitate to give it the remotest bit of publicity, but perhaps some discussion would help the US see that terrorism is terrorism, no matter what color the skin.

Shame on GWB for harboring terrorists.

CO-7 Politics by the numbers

2005-10-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

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.

Terrorists Seize Headlines As Bush Poll Numbers Fall

2005-10-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

The numbers are dropping, the support for the war is tanking, 20% of REPUBLICANS are unhappy with Bush. Oh gosh, what will we do? Sound the Terror alert of course. Super Mauve Elevated Risk Levels!

In the meantime, Bush has threatened to veto the anti-torture bill dems and repubs passed 90-9. The divide between republicans and bush is starting to widen. Since republicans running in '06 are going to distance themselves from the white house, I guess bushco wants to distance themselves from them.

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

2005-10-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-05T01:35:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

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

2005-10-04T03:28:00.000-07:00

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