The Denver Post's latest "Battleground Colorado" panel is stacked against Democrats, but Post Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard tells me that things will be fair in the end, as Dems will outnumber Republicans on a future panel.
The Post's "Super Tuesday" panel, the second in election-season series that promises to be interesting, in part because of the different levels of interaction with the community, features the following folks, according to The Post:
Former state chair Dick Wadhams, Jessica Peck of Henley Public Affairs and Arapahoe County Commissioner Susan Beckman for Republicans; Former House Speaker Terrance Carroll and political strategist Leticia Martinez of Project New West for Democrats; analyst Eric Sondermann of SE2 communications; and special guests former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo and Colorado College professor Tom Cronin.
Sometimes it takes me days of bean counting to show unfairness. But here, The Post does the counting for me. Two for the Dems. Three for the GOP. That's a stacked deck!
My progressive friends will hate me for it, but I'll accept Sondermann as a centrist here, as The Post defined him in its first panel Feb. 10. Cronin looks to be left-leaning. And Tancredo is way right, but overall a partisan Republican.
So what gives? Why create a panel with a 4-1-3 split in favor of the conservative agenda?
In response to that question, Post Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard emailed me:
Republican Richard Cebull, Montana's chief federal judge and Bush appointee, sent an anti-President Obama, racist email that was obtained by the Great Falls Tribune. It reads:
"Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine."
"A little boy said to his mother; 'Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white?' His mother replied, 'Don't even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!'"
Cebull forwarded the offensive email from his official court account to six "old buddies," who then forwarded to others.
And for those that say both sides do it, please know this: both sides don't do it. And if you intend to keep lazily repeating that falsehood, please find some evidence for your views and supply it to the public.
President Barack Obama gave a little speech yesterday.
In it, he reflected on the state of the auto industry and the trials and tribulations they've been through recently. He looked at Republicans' desire to let Detroit sink under the weight of a dead auto industry and Democrats' views that we need a Middle Class, we need (clean) heavy industry, and, for the success of this nation as a whole, we all had better be together in striving for our ultimate goals as the world's greatest democracy.
Here's a snippet of what the President told auto workers yesterday:
[...]It's been funny to watch some of these politicians completely rewrite history now that you're back on your feet. These are the folks who said if we went forward with our plan to rescue Detroit, "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye." Now they're saying they were right all along. Or worse, they're saying that the problem is that you, the workers, made out like bandits in all of this; that saving the American auto industry was just about paying back unions. Really? Even by the standards of this town, that's a load of you-know-what.
About 700,000 retirees saw a reduction in the health care benefits they had earned.
Many of you saw hours reduced, or pay and wages scaled back.
You gave up some of your rights as workers.
Promises were made to you over the years that you gave up for the sake and survival of this industry, its workers, and their families.
You want to talk about values? Hard work - that's a value. Looking out for one another - that's a value. The idea that we're all in it together - that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper - that is a value.
That last part set off Michael "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job" Brown's Republican Radar, and he prepared a little diatribe for his show later that evening. Here's a little of what "Heckuva Job" Brownie said last night on 850KOA after the president so clearly outlined some of America's most enduring ideals:
(No sooner was this posted, than I was contacted by Senator Evie Hudak (SB1 Sponsor) to let me know that the bill is not dead, in fact, the bill passed the first committee on a party line vote. But seejanelook still makes a good point. - promoted by KathrynCWallace)
I was enthusiastic when I heard there was a bill introduced in the Colorado legislature, SB 1, HIRE, (Helping Individuals Reach Employment). This bill would have allowed Colorado state contracts, financed by our Colorado tax dollars to give a 3% preference to companies bidding on Colorado contracts that employ at least 90% of their workforce from Colorado.
In opposition to this bill was an editorial in the Denver Post advocating that contracts procured with Colorado's tax dollars should always be awarded to the lowest bidder.
The bill was killed.
I'm disappointed that our elected representatives chose to be penny wise but pound foolish. If they were influenced by the Post's editorial view, then they failed to address the fact that contracts awarded to out-of-state employers with out-of-state employees export dollars out of Colorado. A low bid contract may seem like a bargain, but it really only shifts Colorado tax money out of Colorado. It also shifts opportunity out of Colorado. That money and that opportunity are gone. There is no mechanism that cycles it back into our Colorado economy.
Remember how Ross Perot once predicted "that giant sucking sound" when the 'smart' money convinced us that unfettered free trade would be so beneficial for us?
This morning, Monday, February 27, 2012, on page 12a in the Denver & The West section of the Denver Post, at the bottom of the page, I found Tim Hoover's article State's strict personnel rules may go to voters. This proposed legislation would refer a constitutional measure to the voters to amend the Colorado constitution as it relates to the Colorado employment system.
Based on Hoover's article, with voter approval, the measure would amend the state constitution as it relates to the state's personnel system. One of the provisions, in particular, caught my attention. It would "change the requirement that applicants for most jobs must be Colorado residents and give the state personnel director some discretion to alter the requirement."
Does there seem to be a trend emerging?
Who would benefit from entrenching a free-for-all employment system into the Colorado State Constitution?
Remembering TABOR, how easy is it to retract a mistake out of the constitution?
Colorado Voters - Be wary of legislation and legislators who dilute and pillage Colorado's people and resources.
The police are were natural allies of the Republican Party but since every Republican in the House Local Government Committee voted against the police bill 1062, there are some very angry peace officers who also identify as "far right" who admit that the Democrats are becoming their allies. Here's what Colorado Fraternal Order of Police have to say about it (I suggest reading the comments at that link):
The stock market has been flirting with 13,000 for days, a level at which it has not closed since 2008. As ThinkProgress' Scott Keyes reported, Republicans have been at pains to explain why President Obama deserves no credit for the Dow's rebound (even though the GOP was quite willing to blame Obama when the Dow tanked in 2008 and 2009).
But as it turns out, Obama is not the only Democratic President under whom the stock market has done well for investors. A Bloomberg Government report shows that since the 1960′s, stocks have done significantly better under Democratic administrations than under Republican ones:
The BGOV Barometer shows that, over the five decades since John F. Kennedy was inaugurated, $1,000 invested in a hypothetical fund that tracks the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) only when Democrats are in the White House would have been worth $10,920 at the close of trading yesterday.
That's more than nine times the dollar return an investor would have realized from following a similar strategy during Republican administrations. A $1,000 stake invested in a fund that followed the S&P; 500 under Republican presidents, starting with Richard Nixon, would have grown to $2,087 on the day George W. Bush left office.
For those that believe money does buy happiness (re: Economic Republicans), that should be proof enough. For those who lie about Democrats as their day gig, they'll continue to ignore the truth. The rest of us don't need to be told again....
Republicans have expressed their hatred of many segments of our society. Typically egged on by Conservative Media nutcases such as Limbaugh and Hannity, Rosen and Caldara - long may he be fired from radio, and any number of Mini-Limabaugh imitators both local and national, the list is too much for any one blogger to document. Women, Teachers, Union members, Firefighters, Police, Auto workers, soldiers, voters, Postal workers, the poor, the middle class, and on and on and on have all been the victims of their vitriol.
In what is looking like a coordinated attack on Girl Scouts of America, the latest salvo comes from Rep. Bob Morris, R-Fort Wayne. The lawmaker declined to sign a letter of resolution congratulating the Girl Scouts on their hundredth anniversary last week and thanking them "for the strong positive influence it has had on the American woman."
Not so fast. Morris explained couldn't sign because "he did some Web-based research and found allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, that they allow transgender females to join, 'just like any real girl,' and encourage sex."
ColoradoPols broke the news last month that congressional candidate Joe Coors gave $1,000 to Personhood Colorado, in support of its efforts to pass a personhood amendment in 2010.
So would Coors put his vote where his money is (and presumably where his mouth has also been) and co-sponsor federal personhood legislation?
Coors could join the 111 U.S. Representatives who've co-sponsored legislation that would define "person" under the 14th Amendment to include zygotes. If passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, any of these bills would make personhood national law--or at least set a court battle with an unknown outcome. (Due to unusual language in the 14th Amendment, a more complicated process, involving approval by state legislatures, is not required to amend the 14th Amendment.)
Reagan was likeable; Santorum looks dour. Reagan compromised to get legislation approved; Santorum hangs tough because he's a doctrinaire conservative. Reagan told self-deprecating jokes that disarmed opponents; Santorum lacks humor. Reagan flashed a winning smile; Santorum scolds those who oppose his anti-artificial contraception Roman Catholic belief. Reagan's demeanor was smooth without becoming slick; Santorum is neither smooth nor slick.
"Take things always by the smooth handle," Jefferson taught about forging effective government. Reagan agreed. Occasionally, he joined hands with Democrats on legislation both parties favored. Santorum grabs the handle of the stick, jabbing opponents with its sharp point until he draws blood.
Reagan's and Santorum's political styles differ as much as the ways Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier boxed. Reagan danced like a butterfly around opponents, reminding us of how Ali circled Frazier, constantly jabbing until Joe's face looked like raw hamburger. Frazier was a brawler like Santorum. He hunched over, punching at an opponent's midsection. Likewise, Santorum verbally belts those with whom he disagrees.
I love politicians who have guts to talk about their "messaging" in public. Everyone knows it chews up huge amounts of behind-the-scenes time (and money), but the insider debate about messages doesn't spill out much.
When it does, reporters should be all over it, not to play "gotcha," but to help real people (none of whom read this blog) understand how different communications "frames" illuminate competing worldviews about government and values.
For example, on KLZ's Grassroots Radio Colorado Feb. 17, the hosts and Colorado Rep. Robert Ramirez got into an honest discussion about how the GOP should talk about poor people and budget cuts.
Ramirez started off by saying, "The Democrats have a benefit. Everything they say makes somebody feel good about something in their life. When we say, 'we got to quit spending so much, we can't take any more money to pay for those poor kids,' it doesn't sound as good."
He has a point. This makes the GOP sound like they aren't very concerned about the poor.
Ramirez went on: "We have to say something more like, we need to spend the money responsibly to be able to help people the most, and not just waste dollars in places they aren't helping anyone."
So the frame here is that government is the bad guy. It's wasting money in useless dark places, some of which may sound like they're helping kids, but they're really not.
Ramirez continued:
But when somebody says, you're trying to kill children, you have to say, that's an interesting comment. Honestly, we have to spend the money the best way to help the most people. So it doesn't matter what they say, we have to, one, stay on message, and we have to keep the message in a positive arena, not negative against the other side. And that's the key, positive towards our message versus negative against them. Negative doesn't work.
Here, Ramirez presents a progressive counter "frame" that the GOP is "trying to kill children" by cutting government, whose programs (like generous children's health insurance) save lives and should not be axed if you care about giving impoverished kids in the world's richest nation the basic opportunity to succeed in life. (Okay, that's a dramatic rendition of this frame, but I'm just making a point.)
Parent refusals have increased every year since high-stakes testing began.
In 2011 there were 1,427 parent refusals for CSAP, 2,070 tests not completed, 594 students withdrew before completion, and 90 listed as incomplete due to extreme frustration.
In 2010 there were 324 parental refusals, 519 tests not completed, 157 students withdrew before completion, 20 were listed as incompleted due to extreme frustration.
There's a good chance someone is going to say something newsworthy (and stupid) when they preface it with, "some folks in my office cringed when I said this, but I'm going to say it again."
That's what Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler told a GOP group in January, as reported by the Colorado Statesman's Judy Hope Strogoff, prior to repeating his view that the mainstream media hates uppity Republicans. I wrote about it the first time he said it, calling on wimpy reporters to fight back and ask him for more evidence, but no enterprising reporter took the challenge.
Now journos have another chance. Gessler said:
Gessler:Â "Republicans who behave well, who the mainstream media can sort of pat on the head and say, "Good boy, that's a good job," Republicans who sort of toe the line and don't really want to make real change but you know, sort of will kick around the edges a little bit but buy into the mainstream media, the big money type framework - they're good, they're okay, they're the Republicans that they like. But God forbid someone would really want to shake things up, that's terrible. So they don't like that."
I wouldn't say I had to catch my breath after I read that, like Andrea Mitchell said after Foster Friess told her that "gals" should just keep their knees together.
But I was gasping as I read numerous other Gessler statements in the Statesman's Gessler interview, which is well worth taking a break from Twitter to read.
I'll stick to Gessler's media criticisms here, because they're so sophisticated, but, please, you'll love everything he has to say.
Gessler: "What I have found is, there is a status quo, there is a way of going about things in this state and oftentimes in this country, and there's a reason it's there. And if you look, probably the perfect embodiment of that is The Denver Post editorial board. I mean if you called up Central Casting and said, "I'd like a liberal mainstream media establishment, can you send one to me?" they would send you the Denver Post editorial board. And I think within my first three weeks they'd written six editorials against me, either about me or against me. None of them were favorable."
See what I mean about how sophisticated Gessler is when it comes to media criticism?
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up
because I was not a Catholic.
Then they came for me and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
~Martin Niemoller, Protestant Pastor and Social Activist, 1892-1984
If Martin Niemoller were alive today, I believe he would add gays and lesbians, as well as new immigrants, and people of color to this list. What happened in Nazi Germany can happen anywhere. What we are seeing in today's political landscape is what so many have feared -- with the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer, Americans have turned on each other. It's called scapegoating.
The New GOP has gotten more extreme every year, attempting to take away women's basic rights to health care, financial safety nets for the poor and the elderly, and our children's opportunity to succeed through public education. They blame our pain on us, and they target the most vulnerable among us -- gays and lesbians, American laborers, new immigrants, teachers and firefighters, people of color -- even minority children.
As we say in Judaism, "Enough!" "Dayenu!"
There is one antidote for scapegoating, and only one. It's when people of all stripes -- of all colors, all ages, all ethnic backgrounds, all religions, all sexual orientations, and all professions -- stand together and say, "This is our country. These are our bodies. These are our homes. This is our work. These are our beliefs. These are our choices. These are our friends. This is my life, and you are going to have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!"
I ask my straight friends and neighbors -- please stand with me on this year's Civil Unions Bill in Colorado. This bill is not just about giving compassionate equity to Coloradans who have been treated like second class citizens far too long, allowing them the same human dignities we enjoy and take for granted. It's not just about ensuring they can hold their loved one's hand at the end of life, or own a home together, or buy insurance policies together. It's not just about protecting their children's right to legal protections.
It's about holding tight to the America we love... the America that cares about every citizen, rich or poor, male or female, native or non-native, gay or straight. It's about fighting to hold onto what made this nation great -- it's diversity and it's compassion -- it's equality, it's dream, and it's potential.
As straight progressives, please stand with me every step of the way on the CO Civil Unions bill. Take a morning or afternoon off when it is time to testify. Bombard your legislators with phone calls, emails, letters, and faxes. Organize a rally. Start a letter, and get your neighbors to sign it with you.
Join me in speaking up, because when they come for us, we're going to wish someone's left to speak on our behalf.
When I was a little girl living three miles outside of Detroit in a small house with eleven residents (my parents and nine children), my Dad had regular poker games in our garage. The garage was a working garage with a grease pit to fix cars (a 6 foot deep rectangular hole), which he covered with several layers of plywood on weekend evenings, in order to have his regular poker game on top of it. (Ever seen the Roseanne show? It was just like that, only our kitchen was much smaller than theirs.)
Dad was deaf from a childhood accident, but he heard the language of the streets through beer, cigarettes, cars, and frequent "gut checks". Everyone from the shop was invited to poker night, no matter what their faith, color, ethnicity, language, bank account, religion, etc. The only rule to be invited to poker night was you couldn't drive a foreign car. (I talked a lot about that here.)
We had one television, one telephone, and ten people fighting over them, so I read often, and listened to Canadian public radio, where my liberal curiosity was nurtured. I loved meeting all my Dad's friends from "the shop" -- each had a different accent, a different smell, a different look. When I studied Native Americans, my Dad had a friend who was a Native American Chief, and my Dad asked him to teach us. Chief Red Bird, a local volunteer at a state park, brought his daughter and some friends, and had a mini-Pow-wow in our living room. He even made us leather slippers, which we wore when we visited him at Detroit Metropolitan State Park.
Dad didn't discriminate, at least not in the usual ways. Although my father quit school in the eighth grade and only later went back to finish the eleventh grade (there was no special education offered for poor deaf kids in the forties), he was an expert at people. Dad made friends with everyone -- literally everyone -- and he brought them all home for poker. Jewish friends, Italian friends, Greek friends, African-American friends, German friends, Asian friends -- didn't matter. As long as they didn't drive a foreign car, they were all his friends.
Thomas Jefferson's admirers covered his back, recounting how he dislocated his right wrist while strolling in Paris with Maria Cosway in the fall of 1786. Jefferson's infatuation with blond haired, violet-eyed Maria caused him to act like a giddy adolescent. Romantics believe he tried to impress Maria by leaping over a wall and falling on his wrist. Jefferson's daughter Martha She told inquirers the fracture occurred on a "ramble" [horsing around] her father had with a friend. Philip Mazzei, a wine connoisseur who befriended Jefferson, said the wrist snapped when TJ fell from a horse. Half-truths camouflage what actually occurred.
Jefferson's "explanation" of what happened sounds enigmatic. He coyly answered, "How the right hand became disabled would be a long story for the left to tell. It was by one of those follies from which good cannot come but ill may." Readers are left befuddled.
Similarly, do you feel confused by today's political rhetoric laced with half-truth? A half-truth is more dangerous than an outright lie. At its core what it justifies is wrong but at first hearing it sound right. Peel back layers of a sweet-smelling onion and find its core reeks because of rot. That's why half-truths survive. They sound good but stink because what's true is spoiled.
President Obama's critics spread half-truths about our nation's monetary policies. Notice how the following four half-truths become whole lies.
Small-government rabble-rouser and convicted tax evader Douglas Bruce received a sentence Monday of 180 days in jail followed by strict probation, and on the same day, prosecutors announced that the IRS requested copies of the evidence against him.
First Assistant Attorney General Robert Shapiro said he handed over the case file Monday but doesn't know whether federal authorities will launch their own investigation into Bruce and his now-defunct charity, Active Citizens Together (ACT).
Bruce's sentencing drew the curtain on a rare criminal tax-evasion case at the state level, and one Bruce could have potentially avoided had he cooperated with the Department of Revenue.
Denver District Judge Anne Mansfield commented on Bruce's "reprehensible" behavior during the trial and wondered aloud whether he could last six years on a strict form of probation that will lay bare for authorities every last detail of Bruce's finances.
"It was apparent during the trial itself, the defendant had absolutely no regard for the rule of law," Mansfield said. "His behavior is used to gauge his likelihood of success on probation. It requires abiding by strict rules. I have serious reservations Bruce can be successful."
Speaker of the House John Boehner is bringing his controversial highway bill (H.R. 7) to the floor this week. The Speaker has included Rep. Doug Lamborn's oil shale boondoggle (H.R. 3408) as one of his funding sources.
Since oil shale doesn't actually generate any money, we thought pointing out the truth behind Boehner's and Lamborn's bills was worth a new Checks and Balances Project video.
The Colorado Republican Party's selection of Rick Santorum as its choice to battle President Obama has given birth to a new element in Colorado politics: zombie delegates.
These are delegates born at the GOP caucuses last week when caucus goers voted for delegates to represent them at the GOP county and state conventions.
So Santorum supporters, for example, designated delegates to go forth and cast a vote for Santorum at the larger convention later.
But it turns out they're actually zombies, free and encouraged to roam from Santorum to Gingrich to whomever, just like the rest of the GOP voters of late.
