September 2006 Archives

Next action for:
The Question Alliance
Saturday, October 7, 2006
10-11:30 AM
Corner of University & Highlands Ranch Parkway

Topic: U.S. Foreign Policy

Question: Is current U.S. policy spreading Hope or Hatred?

U.S. foreign policy has changed a great deal in the last 6 years. The United States used to symbolize hope- in and around the world. Let us ask our neighbors if they think that is still the case. Are we exporting hope or hate? It is distressing to have reached a point where we feel the need to ask such a question?

Please remember that it is important to have the same exact wording on your sign. The exact wording for the question on October 7th, is:

Is current U.S. policy spreading Hope or Hatred?

Please bring family and friends to join The Question Alliance. All are welcome!! Children need to be supervised.

This action will be postponed if the weather is too nasty. You might want to make sturdy signs. It can get windy!

We encourage others to participate in this action in your own neighborhood if you'd like. Just let us know your plans, make sure the question is worded exactly the same as above, and let us know how it goes. Remember we are a peaceful, respectful group that abides by local requirements. We'd like to expand The Question Alliance by having drivers read the same important question at multiple locations the same day!

Please contact us with any questions, etc.
TheQuestionAlliance@gmail.com
Thank you,
Jim and Diane Schrack

Here is what Ken Salazar has to say about his vote for the Military Commissions Act of 2006:

"The bill I voted for today was the best bill we could reasonably expect in this highly charged political environment. I am relieved that Senators McCain, Warner and Graham, former Secretary of State Collin Powell, and others helped preserve the fundamentals articulated in the Geneva Convention; a cornerstone to preserving America's moral high ground in the global efforts against terror.

"Due to the many controversial and far-reaching implications of this bill, I believe it would be appropriate to force Congressional review of this bill in five years. I have concerns with this bill, but on balance it meets my personal view of what America needs to get the job done."

Just saw a press release making its way around the Internet that has new poll numbers out of the 4th CD. The poll had Angie and Musgrave dead even at 42% each.

And this is after Musgrave's cronies have spent millions slinging mud in that district.

Looks like our favorite pink-clad hate monger is in deep trouble. Perhaps she'll start rethinking what the most important issues are to Coloradans.

That has to be what the headline writers were thinking as they wrote about George Bush coming to Denver to help Bob Beauprez.

Under ordinary circumstances a candidate like Beauprez wouldn't want anything to do with a president like Bush right now. Of course, under ordinary circumstances, a president like Bush wouldn't want anything to do with candidate Beauprez right now. But under these circumstances, neither one of them has much to lose.

Polls show both of them with support from voters stuck around 35 to 39 percent. They can form a Coalition of the Wallowing.

The most interesting thing about the whole story is the explanation from Beauprez's political consultant Katy Atkinson. She says Bush isn't coming here to support a good candidate with good ideas; he's coming in desperate attempt to keep Republicans in power.

If you remember back a couple of years, Republicans tried to use the redistricting process to give Beauprez a lock on the 7th district. Beauprez won his first election by just a few votes, so Republicans tried to rearrange the district to include a lot more people from their party. They apparently recognized that Beauprez wouldn't win again based on his politics, policy or popularity.

Their power grab didn't work because Republicans didn't get control of the state senate until the redistricting was done. Then their second attempt failed when the courts threw out their midnight attempt to revise the districts two years later.

That brings us back to Bush. And it brings Bush to Denver. Atkinson explains that the real reason Bush is coming to Colorado has less to do with Beauprez than with keeping control of Congress in 2010. Apparently their plan is to get control of as many states as possible, meaning Republican governors and Republican majorities in the state houses and senates. Then they can do in Colorado and other states what Tom DeLay did to Texas: change the boundaries of congressional districts so Republicans will have a lock on them for a decade.

It's an amazing plan. Try to elect unpopular candidates to state offices so they can help unpopular candidates win and hold federal offices.

In 1215 the Magna Carta was introduced which provided a number of groundbreaking (for that time) provisions. One was the concept of "due process" for every person brought before a court in a legal action. Later, the writ of habeas corpus was introduced in 1305 by King Edward I. It became part of the English Common Law and was eventually inherited into the US legal system.

Yesterday, both houses of Congress voted to approve a measure that:

* Allows Pres. Bush to determine who is a "enemy combatant".
* Allows Pres. Bush to determine what is & isn't torture.
* Redefines Article 3 of the Geneva Convention, retroactively.
* Denies enemy combatants habeas corpus protections.

In one day the Republicans with help from a very few Democrats, disolved 701 years worth of legal protections. This was done against the public admonisments of the various members of the service's JAGs, Collin Powell, and many others.

Today I am ashamed that this has happened with so little opposition. I am sad for our country. The US has always been the "shining light" on the hill for civil liberties. Our place on that hill was an intragal part of our security. We are now walking down the path of dictators (or should that be "deciders"?) and will be far less secure than any time in our past.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjimann Franklin

I woke up this morning to another disappointment from Ken Salazar. After announcing his opposition to the Military Commissions Act of 2006 on September 14, 2006, he ended up voting for S 3930 yesterday.

Now, I must add dishonesty to the his list of faults. When did he change his mind about the bill? Why did he change his mind? His website fails to explain his vote. Why won't he step up and explain himself?

I am at the point that I will work to replace him as the Democratic candidate in 2010 - ala Joe Liebermann. I am almost at the point where if he is nominated I will vote for anybody else.

Did you think nobody would notice or something?

Allard/Salazar squabble erupts
Link
A nasty and unusual Democrat vs. Republican split erupted today in Colorado's U.S. Congressional delegation, with junior Sen. Ken Salazar accusing senior Sen. Wayne Allard of repeatedly taking recognition for Salazar's work. Allard said that he couldn't understand Salazar's criticisms, and that they were untrue. The barbs came after Allard, along with Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan, introduced a bill to give Rocky Mountain National Park wilderness designation. If passed by Congress, wilderness designation would bar any new roads or buildings as well as cars, snow machines and other motorized vehicles. Salazar had introduced a bill in July 2005 offering the park wilderness designation. Rep. Mark Udall has offered similar bills in the U.S. House since 1999. Allard and Musgrave as recently as July resisted that designation, writing an editorial in the Fort Collins Coloradoan detailing their opposition...

The conservative Rocky Mountain News editorial board endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter this morning. Key paragraph follows.

Bill Ritter has the right stuff for governor
Link
For us, the tipping point between the two men has to do with their campaigns. To be blunt, Beauprez's performance during the past 15 months has not been reassuring. It began with his taking an unconvincing stand against Referendum C, one seemed designed to secure his right flank rather than satisfy personal conviction. It continued with his mysterious embrace and then repudiation of Amendment 38, and a couple of verbal gaffes. And for a long time it wasn't clear why Beauprez even wanted to be governor. Only recently - too late in our view - have his positions begun to gel into a focused, coherent message.

Here's what I call freedom:

Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to List of Dangers
Link
Under a broad new set of laws criminalizing speech that ridicules the government or its officials, some resurrected verbatim from Saddam Hussein's penal code, roughly a dozen Iraqi journalists have been charged with offending public officials in the past year.

Launch of www.DishonestDoug.org:
Petition to thank Rep. Hefley for standing up against sleazy campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 28, 2006
CONTACT: Michael Huttner
(303) 931-4547

Colorado: ProgressNowAction launched a new website www.DishonestDoug.org to highlight the "dishonest" and "sleazy" campaign by former state senator Doug Lamborn. PNA also launched a petition to over 30,000 voters in El Paso County and surrounding areas to thank Representative Joel Hefley for standing up against Lamborn.

Retiring Congressman Hefley--who this month was rated the most ethical person in Congress--recently described Doug Lamborn's campaign as "dishonest" and "sleazy". Congressman Hefley said he would not endorse Lamborn and did not rule out supporting Lt. Colonel Jay Fawcett. (Colorado Springs Gazette, August 29, 2006, and Denver Post, August 29, 2006)

"In this day and age of partisan politics, Congressman Hefley has provided a breath of fresh air with the stance he has taken against Doug Lamborn," stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNowAction. "We are asking the public to visit www.DishonestDoug.org and thank Rep. Hefley for standing up against Lamborn's sleazy and dishonest campaign."

This isn't the first time Congressman Hefley has taken a principled stand for ethics against members of his own party. Last year, Congressman Hefley sacrificed his chairmanship of the House Ethics Committee when he refused to weaken ethics rules to help Tom DeLay, the scandal-ridden Majority Leader.

This week the National Journal added Colorado's 5th Congressional District race between Lt. Colonel Jay Fawcett (D) and Doug Lamborn (R) to its list of the top 50 most competitive races in the country.

# # #

I read a short story by Ivan Moreno (Rocky Mountain News, September 27, 2006 - Veterans' plight is focus of rally) on a recent rally to raise awareness to the plight of homeless Veterans in Colorado and had two responses - the first being "duh" - it's only something Veteran Service Advocates have been saying for more than a decade! My second response was "Thank God" that someone is starting to listen!

Unfortunately, your article only touched the tip of the iceberg. Most people are unaware of the true deficit in services that exist for Veterans in our community. The general perception is that the Veterans' Administration is caring for the needs of vulnerable Veterans. Reality, however, is far from the truth. Consider the following:

 Almost one-half of the 2.7 million disabled U.S. Veterans receive $337 or less a month in benefits, which comes from the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration. Less than one-10th of disabled Veterans are rated 100-per-cent disabled. To an outsider, the VA benefit formulas can seem like a riddle. If, for instance, a vet is diagnosed as 70 percent physically disabled and 30 percent disabled as a result of post-traumatic stress, the total disability does not necessarily add up to 100 percent; it could amount to 80 per cent. And that means a monthly check of $1,277; $1,500 for a family of four - poverty level!

 The backlog of unprocessed claims has reached the astronomical count of 489,297, a number which is unfortunately increasing all of time. There are also currently 500,000 Compensation and Pension cases still pending. This means that close to a million Veterans and their families are at risk of financial ruin and homelessness, while the VA processes the paperwork!

 More than 1 million American soldiers serve in Iraq and according to a recent study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 15 to 17 percent of Iraq vets meet "the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety, or PTSD." Of those, only 23 to 40 percent are seeking help - in part because so many others fear the stigma of having a mental disorder. Those who do reach out often find long waiting lists for treatment within the Veterans' Service Network and a Civilian Service System that is ill-prepared to meet their needs.

 Over 1.7 million Veterans do not have any health insurance nor do they have access to health care through the Veterans' Administration. Another 3.9 million Veteran households do not have health insurance nor do they have access to Veterans' health care due to ineligibility.

 The Denver 2005 VA CHALENG Report acknowledges Colorado has 3,895 homeless veterans yet there are only 102 beds dedicated to meet their needs. The majority of these are operated by non-Veteran run organizations that may or may not have unique services for Veterans or even have Veterans on staff. In fact, while the growing body of research supports the fact that the most effective services for homeless Veterans are "Vet to Vet" - of the eight organizations listed by the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans to be providing services in Colorado, only three are Vet run organizations. .

 According to the Denver Metro Homeless Initiative Point in Time Survey conducted on January 23, 2006, 813 homeless individuals indicated they had served in the US Military yet only 110 (or 1 in 7) were collecting Veterans' Benefits. The true picture of homelessness among Veterans in Colorado cannot fully be known as the only question asked was whether the individual served in the US Military. There was no exploration as to whether Veterans are over represented among the chronically homeless, although given 85% of those identified as chronically homeless are men.

 The FY 2005 CHALENG Report (the VA equivalent to the Point in Time Survey) indicated that long-term permanent housing is among the top three unmet needs and has been consistently over the past five years. As the author of the very first CHALENG Report in 1997 in the Denver-metro area, I can tell you this has been true for the past 10 years!

Contrary to the perceptions that our nation's Veterans are well-supported, the fact is that many go without the services they require and are eligible to receive. Neither the VA, State, or County Departments of Veteran Affairs, or community-based and faith-based service providers are adequately resourced to respond to these veterans' health, housing and supportive services needs.

For example, the VA reports that its homeless treatment and community-based assistance network serves 100,000 Veterans annually. With an estimated 500,000 Veterans experiencing homelessness at some time during a year and the VA reaching only 20 percent of those in need, 400,000 Veterans remain without services from the department responsible for supporting them. Likewise, other federal, state, and local public agencies--notably housing and health departments--are not adequately responding to the housing, health care and supportive services needs of Veterans. Indeed, it appears that Veterans fail to register as a target group for these agencies.

It is disconcerting and difficult to reconcile the Nation's call to "support our troops" with the systematic denial of benefits to Veterans and their families created by administrative barriers. These barriers are failing to fully fund the programs or even honoring the most basic assurances of Veterans preferences in hiring and contracting work.

Even more disconcerting is the given the number of Veterans from WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War who are still fighting for recognition and benefits they earned. We are willing - as a Nation - to subject another generation of soldiers to the same fate. Already community-based organizations from across the Nation are seeing returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans in their shelters, soup kitchens and food banks.

After spending months in a war zone, many of the 170,000 soldiers who've returned home are struggling with their transition to back-to-civilian life. They are dealing with everything from coping with a maze of red tape and contradictory messages on healthcare to finding affordable housing and jobs with adequate incomes to accessing disability payments.

One of the biggest problems, according to advocates and a report by the Government Accountability Office, is a lack of resources to deal with battle fatigue, or posttraumatic stress disorder, as it's now called. Another is providing support for Reserve and National Guard troops, who make up 45 percent of the troops in Iraq.

"The bottom line is that the VA [Department of Veterans Affairs] wasn't prepared for the 33,000 troops that have come back and gone to the VA needing care," says Paul Rieckhoff of Operation Truth, a nonprofit advocacy group for Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. "They're definitely not ready for the flood that's going to come back next year."

Operation Truth and the Circle of Friends for American Veterans mentioned in your article are National efforts to bring justice to our Veterans. Locally, the River of Light Enterprise, Inc, Veterans Justice Alliance Project has joined in partnership with the American GI Forum, Veterans for Peace and Veterans Faith Based Village to raise the level of awareness and justice for Colorado Veterans.

The project will kick-off on October 4th from 7-9 pm with a lecture and book signing by local author John DeVore at the Tennyson Gallery in northwest Denver (44th & Tennyson). John, a combat Vietnam Veteran, will share his story from a soldier of war to a warrior of peace, in his lecture the "Myth and Reality of War". While the event is free, proceeds from the sale of John's book "Sitting in the Flames: Unleashing Fearlessness to Serve Others", will support services to homeless and incarcerated Veterans living in the Denver-metro area.

We encourage Veterans who are seeking their own journey back to a sense of peace as well as people who really want to both understand how to support Veterans in their lives to attend. To quote one Veteran I met recently: "If people really supported our troops they'd do more than throw a parade…they'd make sure Veterans received the benefits they were promised!"

Fooling nobody...

Beauprez on 'Dirty Dozen' list
Link
Conservation groups named Republican Bob Beauprez to their "Dirty Dozen" list Wednesday, the latest development in a Colorado governor's race in which the environment is playing a prominent role. Tony Massaro, of the Washington-based League of Conservation Voters, made the announcement during a news conference in Rifle, the heart of one of Colorado's natural gas fields where development is booming. The two-term congressman's endorsement of tax breaks and exemptions from certain environmental laws for the oil and gas industry were among the votes that earned him his latest placement on the list issued every election year, Massaro said. Beauprez, a former Lafayette dairy farmer, was on the 2004 list after getting a score of 10 percent out of a possible 100 percent based on his votes on environmental issues.

Rate increases and a pass to provide bad service? This is a joke.

Lower Xcel refunds get nod
Link
State regulators on Wednesday approved an agreement with Xcel Energy that would lower the amount the company must refund consumers for failing to meet service standards. The agreement between the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and Xcel would lower Xcel's maximum annual penalty payments to ratepayers for power outages and poor service from the current $26.8 million to $19.5 million. Xcel could also avoid paying some penalties unless it violates service-quality standards for two consecutive years. The current policy requires the utility to pay penalties each year that it exceeds state-mandated limits for complaints and outages.

As Democrats Look West, Colorado Budges
Link
The colors are changing this autumn in Colorado -- from solid Republican red to something approaching a strong tint of Democratic blue. A GOP stronghold from the mid-1990s through President Bush's first term, Colorado has emerged as one of the Democrats' principal prospects for gains in the 2006 election. Polls show Democrats holding an edge in most of the state's key contests, including an open House seat and the battle between Democrat Bill Ritter and Republican Rep. Bob Beauprez for the governorship. "Anything is possible, but if we were having this election today, the Democrats would be in control of Colorado, from the governorship to a majority of the congressional seats to both houses of the state Legislature," said Floyd Ciruli, a Denver-based independent pollster. If Democrats can maintain their advantages here, the results could not only tilt the local balance of power but reshape the national battlefield for the 2008 presidential campaign.

09/27/06
ProgressNow in the news

State by State: Ohio
The Hill
A new liberal advocacy organization is setting up in Ohio, where Republicans and Democrats are battling in competitive gubernatorial, Senate and House races. The group, ProgressOhio.org, has a half-million-dollar budget and its organizers claim that it has received $300,000 in commitments. Patterned after a progressnowcolorado.org, a Colorado-based group deemed a success by liberal strategists, ProgressOhio.org is essentially a public-relations organization set up to help small progressive groups around the Buckeye State work together and communicate to the public. "We're a public relations, marketing and communication arm, pro bono, for progressive groups in the state of Ohio," said Executive Director Brian Rothenberg, who along with the group's online director Eric Vessels, makes up the staff of ProgressOhio.org. "We help with the progressive agenda. We provide them with an online system and e-mail system that links progressive groups around the state."
RELATED: On The Download: Work In Progress
National Journal

Colorado Top Stories

Crowded jails, growing crisis
Colorado Springs Gazette
The prisons and jails are full, and the financial crisis it will cause in Colorado will be a "train wreck." Criminal-justice activists from around the state and nation, along with some local officials, met in Colorado Springs on Tuesday night to discuss the crowding problems facing the jails and prisons, and ways to avoid what even the conservatives on the panel predicted is a looming disaster. "The train wreck is here, and El Paso County is right in the middle of it," said El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, one of the participants, who runs a jail so crowded it no longer accepts nonviolent misdemeanor offenders.
RELATED: DOC may send 1,000 inmates to Oklahoma
Pueblo Chieftain

Ritter: Ad exploits victim
Denver Post
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter on Tuesday said he is bracing for future attacks on his record as Denver district attorney. During a lunch meeting of the City Club of Denver, Ritter said Republican operatives are exploiting victims to promote a political agenda. "We've heard soundings that there could be more of those type of same things," Ritter said of a television ad attacking a plea bargain he reached with a hit-and-run driver who killed a 4-year-old girl. "It is, I think, in one respect, unfortunate because its exploits their tragedy." Alan Philp, executive director of Coloradans for Justice, which sponsored the ad, said his group plans to run more ads about cases Ritter's office handled.
RELATED: Negative ads color race for governor
Colorado Springs Gazette

Emblem of the West Is Dying, and No One Can Figure Out Why
New York Times
The aspen, an emblematic tree of the West and the most widely distributed tree in North America, is rapidly and mysteriously dying. Its rapid decline is bewildering scientists and forest ecologists, who say they cannot pinpoint a cause. "What's causing the aspen to die?" asked Wayne Shepperd, a veteran researcher at the Rocky Mountain Research Center of the United States Forest Service. "We don't know. Maybe this has been there all along, and we haven't noticed it before, or maybe it's something new."

09/26/06
Colorado Top Stories

Officials urge Coloradans to vote by absentee ballot
Rocky Mountain News
Some Colorado counties stand ready to help voters cast their ballots by mail to alleviate concerns about potential tampering or other problems with computerized voting machines. In fact, Denver and Arapahoe counties are urging citizens to vote absentee with mailed paper ballots, simply because November's ballot is so long. A Denver judge ruled Friday that the computerized machines had not been tested sufficiently for security vulnerabilities.

O'Donnell on foreign turf
Rocky Mountain News
Republican congressional candidate Rick O'Donnell trudged through a political snake pit Monday night, fielding questions from a liberal panel and mostly liberal audience during the most lengthy debate to date with Democrat Ed Perlmutter. The rivals are sparring for control of suburban Denver's 7th Congressional District, left vacant by Republican Bob Beauprez, who is running for governor. In questions touching on topics from transportation to renewable energy to the Iraq war, Perlmutter drew the most applause, with O'Donnell at least twice suffering through hisses of disapproval in the packed American Mountaineering Center Auditorium. Said O'Donnell after the forum: "The difference between the Perlmutter supporters and the O'Donnell supporters? Mine don't hiss."
RELATED: 7th District rivals clash over change
Denver Post

Colo. payday lenders find business growing
Denver Post
The number of payday lenders and the amount they loaned continued to grow at double-digit rates last year, according to a report released Monday by the state attorney general's office. Payday lenders make money by offering quick cash loans with high interest rates. According to the report: Payday lenders made almost $500 million in loans last year to 250,000 Colorado consumers - an increase of 34 percent from 2004 and 101 percent from 2002. The average payday loan was just more than $300. It was to be repaid in 18 days, with an average annual interest rate of 345 percent. That compares with a 380 percent average annual rate in 2004. About 15 percent of borrowers had 13 or more payday loans, which means they were in debt to those lenders for at least six months of the year.
RELATED: Payday lending booms in state
Rocky Mountain News

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Click to watch the Beauprez for Sale video


Last week ProgressNowAction hosted the Colorado premiere of Robert Greenwald's film Iraq for Sale. At the premiere we showed our own video, Beauprez for Sale, which brings home to Colorado how government is selling out our troops to Big Business in Iraq.

Click below to watch Beauprez for Sale and then forward this video around to all your friends.
And don't forget to visit www.BothWaysBob.org for the latest on Bob Beauprez.

Watch Beauprez for Sale!
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Go to www.apple.com/quicktime to download this latest version.
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Will you sell your soul for political expediency, Dems? Again?

It's the Iraq war vote all over again. No, it's worse.

Democrats may come to regret not opposing Bush on torture

While it is almost certain that Congress will fail to enact a warrantless eavesdropping bill prior to Friday's adjournment, it appears equally certain that both houses of Congress will enact the president's torture and detention bill. On that issue, there seem to be only two unresolved questions at this point: 1) Exactly how draconian will the president's powers be under this bill? 2) How much Democratic support will this bill attract?

The willingness of Senate Democrats to vote for the torture bill appears substantial, at least if one listens to their leader, Sen. Harry Reid. From the New York Times this morning: "Democrats, who have found themselves on the losing end of the national security debate the past two national elections, said the changes to the bill had not yet reached a level that would cause them to try to block it altogether. To underscore the point, Reid said this about the bill: "We want to do this. And we want to do it in compliance with the direction from the Supreme Court. We want to do it in compliance with the Constitution."

The Times article repeatedly makes clear what Democrats have been conveying ever since the "compromise" between the White House and GOP senators was announced -- namely, that a Democratic filibuster of this bill is not going to happen. Sen. Lindsey Graham even claims that an amendment to provide habeas corpus rights to detainees -- a provision that could alleviate some of the bill's most tyrannical aspects -- "will be defeated, I think, in a bipartisan fashion, with a solid vote."

Whether or not Graham is right about Democratic opposition even to habeas corpus rights, it appears certain that not only will Senate Democrats fail to impede enactment, but at least some (perhaps even the majority of) Democrats will vote for the bill and enthusiastically praise it. Their Senate leader is already doing so...

Will it even work?

In 2002, substantial numbers of Democratic senators voted in favor of the resolution to authorize President Bush to use military force in Iraq. At the time, they argued that they had no choice politically but supporting that measure because their opposition would be used by Karl Rove to depict them as weak on terrorism. Despite support of the war resolution by a solid majority of Democrats (29-22), the centerpiece of the GOP campaign against Democrats nonetheless was the accusation that they were weak on terrorism. The GOP even ran commercials morphing the face of Max Cleland into Saddam Hussein's face even though Cleland had voted for the resolution.

That Rovian strategy -- luring Democrats into supporting Bush's terrorism policies and then accusing them anyway of being weak on national security -- is precisely what led to the 2002 GOP takeover of the Senate and historic midterm gains.

In 2004, Democrats rejected a candidate who unambiguously opposed the Iraq war (Howard Dean) in favor of a candidate who voted for the war resolution (John Kerry), only to watch as Republicans successfully depicted Democrats as being weak on terrorism. Over and over, Democrats allow Republicans to depict them as weak on terrorism because they are afraid to take a stand and to articulate the rationale behind that stand.

Reminds me of the now-generally accepted as disastrous immigration "special session" of the Colorado legislature this summer. It's the same question, anyway: what will you trade to be on the right side of the sound bite -- and will you still recognize yourself when you get there?

For awhile there, I thought he was just going to let Nayyera Haq twist in the wind for her brave words.

How happy to be wrong.

Rep. Salazar says he stands by Muslim staffer
Link
U.S. Rep. John Salazar on Tuesday said he stands behind his Muslim staffer who has been lambasted by his Republican opponent for using a personal e-mail to criticize comments about Islam made by Rep. Tom Tancredo. Nayyera Haq, Salazar's communications director for the past two years and currently a staffer on his re-election campaign, wrote in an e-mail in response to a question from a reporter at The Rocky Mountain News last week that Tancredo "has always been articulate in expressing his hatred of Islam and immigrants." The question, and Haq's answer, were related to Tancredo's recent letter to Pope Benedict XVI urging him not to apologize for remarks the pope made about Muslims.
RELATED: Salazar says press secretary used as scapegoat
Link

Another Iraq war myth shattered...

Most Iraqis Favor Immediate U.S. Pullout, Polls Show
Link
A strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence, according to new polls by the State Department and independent researchers. In Baghdad, for example, nearly three-quarters of residents polled said they would feel safer if U.S. and other foreign forces left Iraq, with 65 percent of those asked favoring an immediate pullout, according to State Department polling results obtained by The Washington Post.

Sent to thousands of CD-4 residents:

Dear Neighbor,

We are a group of mothers of Colorado soldiers who are currently serving, have served, or will soon serve in Iraq and we have a question for Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave.

On June 11, 2005, a soldier based in Colorado was killed outside Ramadi to the west of Baghdad after a bomb detonated underneath his Humvee. (Colorado Springs Gazette, 6/14/2005)

On July 5, 2005, a 14-year Army veteran, stationed in Colorado was killed in Baghdad, Iraq after an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated near his Humvee. (Clarion-Ledger, 7/17/2005)

On November 2, 2005 a 20 year old soldier from Evans, Colorado -- located in Musgrave's district -- was killed in Baghdad, Iraq of injuries after a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee. (Tennessean, 11/5/2005)

And on June 12, 2006, Musgrave was one of only 19 members of her party in Congress who voted against providing $480 million for safer up-armored Humvees and $2 billion to develop IED countermeasures. [HR 4939, Vote #257, 6/13/2006]

Why did Musgrave vote against a bill to protect the safety of our loved ones and other soldiers serving in Iraq?

Please click the petition below and join us in demanding that Musgrave apologize for her vote against a bill to protect our soldiers:

Link

Even staunch conservative Cliff Stearns, R-Florida stated: "It is imperative that we fully support our troops in the field as they wage the War on Terror. H.R. 4939 adds $480 million more for up-armored Humvees. It also provides nearly $2 billion for countermeasures against improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which are a major threat to our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan." (U.S. Fed. News, June 13, 2006)

Join us in asking Musgrave to apologize for her vote putting our soldiers at risk:

Link

We will send our petition to Rep. Musgrave and ask that she apologize for her vote.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Pamela Osborne
Anne Barton
Gaye Lowe
Susan Rouse
Vrnda Dasi

Colorado Top Stories

Colo. Judge Grudgingly Approves Machine Vote
Associated Press
A judge on Friday chastised state officials for botching efforts to ensure that electronic voting machines are tamper-proof, but he cleared them for use in the November election, saying it is too late now to change course. Denver County District Judge Lawrence A. Manzanares said the secretary of state's office had violated state law by failing to come up with minimum security standards for the machines. He added that the office had done an "abysmal" job documenting which tests were performed on the machines and should not have allowed computer manufacturers to vouch for the security of their own products.
RELATED: Vote ruling dims mood
Denver Post

Trailhead denies Beauprez collaboration in attack ads
Rocky Mountain News
The gloves came off in the governor's race Friday, as Bill Ritter fired off a TV ad claiming that Bob Beauprez had "distorted" and "twisted" his Denver district attorney record and Beauprez responded that Ritter's spot was "sleazy, dishonest." The dust-up comes a day after the Republican Trailhead Group unleashed a gripping ad in which a tearful mother accuses Ritter of lying about issuing a "slap on the wrist" plea bargain to the hit-and-run driver who killed her 4-year-old daughter. Democrat Ritter's response was a TV ad that begins with a narrator saying: "Newspapers call attacks on Bill Ritter's record as district attorney 'misleading,' 'distorted,' 'twisted.' So who should be held accountable for these negative attacks on Bill Ritter?" It cuts to Beauprez's own campaign ad, showing him standing in a barn saying: "I'm Bob Beauprez. I want you to hold me accountable." "The facts," the ad concludes, is that Ritter had a 95 percent conviction rate and locked up over 12,000 criminals during his 12 years as district attorney, keeping the community safe and helping victims "put their lives back together."

Red tape ensnares state's new ID law
Rocky Mountain News
When state Sen. Andy McElhany helped pass a tough anti-illegal immigration measure this summer, he never expected his family to get caught up in the red tape. Earlier this month, a Colorado Springs driver's license office refused to issue McElhany's 15-year- old daughter a learner's permit when she presented a passport to prove she is a bona fide Colorado resident and U.S. citizen. "Our daughter is a legal citizen with a legal passport," said McElhany, R-Colorado Springs. "There is no reason to believe a 15-year-old has a fake passport." But as of Sept. 6, U.S. passports, long believed to be a solid form of identification, are no longer being accepted without another document - such as a state-issued birth certificate or Social Security card - to get a driver's license or state ID.

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Musgrave declares protecting marriage America's top issue

You know, I think she really believes that.

Went once to the Dem caucus in a district where Dems are an endangered species - I found the range was from old time labor union types, through Berkeley 60's hippy - dippy types living in Tolkien land, to a few (like me) whom I have a hard time labeling except as "conservatives." By that I mean believing strongly in the Bill of Rights, privacy, a joint responsibility to care for the weakest in society and for the planet; that internationally, soft power based on doing and advocating the right thing, including enlightened national interest, is more powerful than military might, that government is "us" not "them," and who have a rebuttable presumption in favor of market forces except where they are shown to fail.
Trying to have a conversation with the other types of "liberals" was in some ways harder than having one with a wingnut. So what defines a "liberal?"

I am in a dialog with a friend who sent me an article from the LA Times, September 18, 2006 entitled "Head-in-the-Sand Liberals
Western civilization really is at risk from Muslim extremists." By Sam Harris. The article makes some serious claims, you can get the gist of it from my specific responses at the bottom or you can look it up. Here is my reply:

The article covers a lot of ground, and I won't try to address it all specifically. The author says he has written books on the various subjects and it is clear that almost every sentence is the conclusion at the end of a chapter. I don't want to write a book and you don't want to read one.

But the short answer is that I do not agree that liberals (as represented by me) are "soft on terrorism." (Funny how terrorism now refers only to muslims.) Instead I believe that generally, terrorism can be defeated only by addressing three factors: (1) the sense of overwhelming outrage and injustice against the west, especially the US. This has a lot of sources, only one of which is uncritical support for Israel. (This is a long discussion) (2) The sense of powerlessness and repression that make asymmetric warfare the only feasible tool, and (3) the hopelessness and despair that make suicide bombers willing to strap it on. (By the way, it is interesting to contrast suicide bombers with the motivations of Japanese kamikaze pilots, who were generally educated young men with a lot to live for. The similarities are a lot greater between them and the London and 9/11 bombers than the ones in Israel and Iraq.) My characterization of the opposing (conservative) view is that we can defeat them by killing them, often along with whoever is standing nearby. I don't think so. That just feeds the cycle.

But the article is about a lot more than that - it is about the role of religion. That is a complicated issue, and instead of dealing with the article directly, I will try to describe something else - I'm not sure what to call it, but it is a result from the combination of my studies, experiences and personal and family history that forms the way I look at the world.

1. What we are pleased to call "western civilization" is one which emerged in Europe as a result of the Norse invasions of the 8th and 9th centuries, and is based on the notion of the individual as the fundamental unit. Oriental societies before and since are based on the tribe as the fundamental unit. This view emerged from the quasi-religious based system of paternalistic families evolving into tribes, where the divine or divinely-sanctioned ruler is the father and the family members-subjects exist to preserve the family-tribe. The individual is unimportant. You can see the difference in the way "I" is formed in various languages. In European languages it is an explicit and separate word, but as one goes east, it runs into an ending on a verb and becomes indistinct, finally disappearing. The Norse and other barbarian languages which have a word for "I", gradually replaced Latin after the overthrow of the Roman Empire.
2. The fundamental psychological problem of humans - the price of the self-awareness that animals mostly seem to lack - is the knowledge of eventual death. The fear of death generates a psychological insistence on the existence of an afterlife, despite the total lack of any evidence for it - it is founded not on reason but on faith. And it is religion that provides the framework for that faith.
3. Reasoned judgment requires hard work - it requires thought, investigation and information. It requires constant questioning, because we are always acquiring new information as a result of experience, both personal and historic. And that means that one has to be open to changing ones mind and admitting being wrong. It's like a system of cogs and wheels that works to turn a system in one direction -if you add one more cog, the direction reverses. A statistician calls it the "missing variables" problem. It is much easier to check one's brain at the door of the church, allowing the priests to make the rules. Surrendering reason to faith is the easy path, because it does not require judgment.
4. In the West, individualism in the centuries after the end of the Viking wars over time generated a huge number of sects and churches in the various Protestant traditions. But in the Orient, that fragmentation is much less pronounced, with just a few large separations into Shia and Sunni. And that was based not on individual interpretation of dogma but on historical arguments about legitimacy of succession. It is Orientalism that guided the historical development of Islam, not the other way around. And that means at the extreme, that there is a willingness to sacrifice others and oneself for the benefit of the tribe and its ruler, and a view that it is the duty of the faithful to do so. A good example is the Assassin cult that arose during the Crusades. It is not Islam as a religion but Orientalism that has been cloaked in Islam that generates this.
5. Religion provides a story of divinity and a variety of myths that enable faith, but because faith is the easy way, it can overcome reason. And religion, by emphasizing the mysterious and unknowable and by introducing rituals and rites and secret knowledge, creates a gap between "us" and "them." This creates the opening used by politicians throughout history to use religion as a means of manipulation to achieve worldly ends that are cloaked with justification by religion. This is what Marx meant when he said that religion is the opiate of the masses. Much of the human - generated evil that has existed in the world has been justified in these ways.
6. It is interesting that the Romans never undertook religious wars. They were polytheists, and that necessarily generated tolerance of multiple gods. It was not until Akhenaten's, Abraham's, Moses', and later Mohammed's widespread monotheism that large scale religious persecution and wars justified by divine revelation began. The Albigensian Crusade in France, the Crusades to the "Holy Land", the various religious persecutions and religious wars throughout European history, all had "god on our side" and were positioned as a battle between good and the other - the evil - religion. My father and grandfather lived through the Armenian (Christian) massacres by Turkey (Muslim), and told me vivid stories of that time. My mother's family lived through the rise of the Nazis (state religion) in Germany and told me vivid stories of that time. Bush Senior fought in that war and lived through that history, and understood this, but his son, who is poorly educated and seems ignorant of almost everything except faith, has no clue.
7. The Enlightenment was at its core a separation of religion from the affairs of state. The Constitution is a product of the Enlightenment. The First Amendment was not put there just to protect religion from the state but also to protect the state from religion. For the divine right of kings, it substituted elections and a human-based system of checks and balances. It looks like religious "conservatives" want to return to the pre-Enlightenment structure. I don't.
8. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, in physics and in human society (where Hegel calls it dialectics). We tend to become our enemy. That is what is so infuriating about Bush. He is turning the US into a version of the enemy that he opposes, breaking down the separation of government from religion, with international aggression, police state tactics, and a belief that it's OK if we do it but not if others do. He seems prepared to thoughtlessly destroy the Constitution, which is what makes the United States exceptional, and that gives us a moral stature in the world that has almost totally evaporated. And we have nothing to show for it, even in Bush's own terms of reference.

So to come back to the article:
- I agree that religion should be kept out of public life.
- I share the view that there are many legitimate unanswered questions about 9/11, although my general rule is not to explain by malice what can be attributed to sheer incompetence.
- Neither the US nor the Israelis are innocent of killing civilians, and the view in the region is that neither we nor they try very hard to not do so. It is not so much that opponents are inhumanely using human shields, but that they are part of the fabric of their societies. Mao Tse Tung said that a guerilla must swim in the population like a fish swims in the ocean and Hamas and Hezbollah do. Anyway, Muslims live their religion at a level that a fundamentalist Christian would understand perfectly. But in the Middle East, everybody is that way, not just a minority as in the West.
- Israel does not hold the moral high ground against Hamas and Hezbollah as far as people in the region are concerned. The article is totally wrong on that. Israel's treatment of the Palestinians has put it into the same moral category as South Africa under apartheid. And if the US generally accepts and supports his view, which it does, then this puts the US also on the wrong moral side.
- Liberal tolerance is not the problem; it is part of the solution. The rest of the solution involves education, economic development, decent jobs, and an opportunity for the hope that the future will be better than the past. The problem is not whether there is life after death, but whether life after birth can be made tolerable, rewarding and hopeful. That's how you defeat terrorism.

Down here in southeastern Colorado, the Beauprez signs must be considered rare and valuable by the GOP folk. I guess this must be so, because they seem to be hoarding them, rather than putting them out where they could fade in the sun or get tatty in the wind.

There IS one I have personally seen, on the edge of town. And when I noticed the artist made a mistake with the arrows, I got out my trusty Photoshop and fixed it up for them.

We need your help.

On Thursday "Coloradans for Justice", the new front for the "Trailhead Group," the 527 political committee formed by Governor Owens, Pete Coors and Bruce Benson, began running a television attack ad smearing former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter.

Under Colorado law it's illegal to "broadcast" any "false statement designed to affect the vote" relating to "any candidate for election to public office." (CRS 1-13-109)

The Denver Sherriff's Department as well as KCNC, the Denver Post, and the Rocky Mountain News all have verified that this ad contains a false statement.

The ad involves a woman who's daughter was killed by a drunk driver six years ago. The driver, Sheila Towns, served a total of 15 months, as well as additional years in residential treatment. (KCNC, 9/21/2006; DP, 9/22/2006; RMN, 9/23/2006)

But the ad states: "For killing a four year old child, Towns served 8 months."

Click the link below to join our demand that the Denver stations immediately stop broadcasting this false ad that shamelessly uses the tragedy of a mother and appears to violate Colorado law:

Link

Please also contact these Denver station managers directly and respectfully request that they immediately stop broadcasting these false attack ads on Bill Ritter:

KCNC Channel 4
Walt DeHaven
wfdehaven@cbs.com
(303) 830-6490

KDVR Fox 31
Bill Schneider
Bschn603@foxtv.com
(303) 595-3131

KMGH Channel 7
Darrell Brown
Darrell_brown@kmgh.com
(303) 832-7777

KUSA Channel 9
Patti Dennis
Patti.dennis@9news.com
(303) 871-1822

Plenty of people to thank for our sold-out premiere of the new Robert Greenwald documentary Iraq for Sale Thursday night. Of course, we can start with everyone who attended: you're the best.


Thanks to the Mayan Theater for providing the fine venue (and the bar).


To Senator Gary Hart who warmed up the crowd for the movie with that effortless statesmanly command.


To our after-film panel, from left: Director Robert Greenwald, ProgressNowAction Executive Director Michael Huttner, and David Mann of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Also (right) is ProgressTV producer Jen Caltrider, who produced the after-movie short "Beauprez for Sale" -- watch it at bothwaysbob.org.

We had a great time -- those of you who couldn't get a DVD copy of Iraq for Sale after we sold out Thursday, take heart. More on order and we'll call back everyone who gave us their name.

9/22/06
Colorado Top Stories

Rocky election seen regardless of ruling on vote machines
Denver Post
Denver District Judge Lawrence Manzanares said he plans to rule today on a citizen lawsuit challenging the use of four brands of computerized voting machines because the state did not properly vet them. If Manzanares rules in favor of the plaintiffs and decertifies the machines - now in use in all Colorado counties - election officials said they'd be scrambling. County and state election officials said plans probably could not be put in place quickly enough to conduct a smooth and secure election. "Huge risk of failure," said Gary VandeStouwe, technical director for the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder's Office. If the judge rules for the defendant - the secretary of state - Coloradans will select candidates on machines vulnerable to fraud, plaintiffs argued.
RELATED: Vote machine tests skipped, expert says
Rocky Mountain News

Mom faces costly fight to stay after spouse deported
Denver Post
Martha Roscon left Buckley Air Force Base on Wednesday morning knowing she would have to tell her children that their father might never come home. Roscon's husband, Francisco Rios, 32, was one of 120 suspected illegal immigrants detained at a base construction site by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Later, she told their two children - Jazmin, 8, and Irving, 11 - what happened. "They cried," Roscon said. "I had to tell them that their father was being arrested and probably sent to Mexico." She said her children didn't want to go back to Mexico. "They told me I need to stay here and fight."
RELATED: Buckley security risk disputed
Rocky Mountain News

O'Donnell ad asks voters for forgiveness
Rocky Mountain News
Rick O'Donnell will launch a television ad today apologizing for writing that Social Security should be abolished when he was a 24-year-old "know-it-all kid." In the ad, he also tells voters that Ed Perlmutter has proposed cutting Social Security benefits and raising taxes - a claim Perlmutter called untruthful. "I was wrong years ago, but Ed Perlmutter is wrong today," O'Donnell says in the ad.
RELATED: O'Donnell counters with own Social Security defense
Denver Post

9/21/06
ProgressNow in the news

Between Iraq and a hard place
Westword
Former senator Gary Hart is the celebrity draw at the Colorado premiere of Robert Greenwald's Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, showing September 21 at the Mayan Theatre. (Hart's speaking at 7 p.m., with the movie following right after.) But there's another movie making its debut that night that's bound to be the real crowd-pleaser: Beauprez for Sale, a five-minute clip on how the Republican gubernatorial candidate "has basically sold out by voting for contractors in Iraq and actually taken money from contractors he's helped," says Michael Huttner, founder of ProgressNow, which is sponsoring the showing of both movies -- and made the second. If you miss the Beauprez short, you can catch it later at www.bothwaysbob.org.

Colorado Top Stories

Tancredo tells Pope to stand ground
Denver Post
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI today, asking him to resist calls to apologize for his recent remarks about Islam that offended many Muslims around the world. "It is not surprising that your statements prompted such a visceral reaction in much of the Islamic world, where the free exercise of religion is largely proscribed," said Tancredo, R-Littleton, in his letter. "Whether we want to admit it or not, the western world is locked in a struggle against radical Islam whose practitioners and adherents are inextricably linked to terrorism."
RELATED: Tancredo urges pope to stand his ground
Rocky Mountain News

State goes to bat for vote machines
Denver Post
State officials defended their approval of four brands of electronic voting machines for Colorado in district court Wednesday, saying that at least 18 other states have also approved the machines and that fears of hackers and fraud are overstated. The state is trying to fend off a lawsuit by 13 citizens claiming state officials improperly certified the machines without adequate documentation or attention to security. The state relied on security guarantees from the manufacturers, the plaintiffs said. Testifying for the plaintiffs, Doug Jones, a computer expert at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, said it would be easy to reprogram one of Colorado's electronic voting machines. "You could turn it into a Nintendo machine," Jones said.
RELATED: Court hears challenge to new voting machines
Rocky Mountain News

Bust spurs talk of fear, proper enforcement
Rocky Mountain News
The immigration raid Wednesday will worsen an already hostile environment toward immigrants and set off a new round of fear, immigrants and their advocates said. But supporters of stricter enforcement of the law say the raid is an example of what the government should be doing to stem illegal immigration. Gabriela Flora of the American Friends Service Committee said that every time there is a raid, "it creates a sense of panic that doesn't just hurt the immigrant community. It hurts all of us. "We're not moving toward improving our communities," she said. "We're instead moving toward further division within our communities." Pro-immigrant advocate Fidel "Butch" Montoya said the raids create an atmosphere of "fear and hate and chaos."
RELATED: High-profile raid is fourth
Rocky Mountain News

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Interior program failed to collect oil firms' royalties, 4 lawsuits allege
Link
The allegations surfaced in a year in which oil companies have been under scrutiny for rising prices and profits. Last week, the Interior Department's internal watchdog complained to Congress of an "anything goes" ethical culture at Interior.

I know many may disagree with me but the root of our problems in this country is spiritual. In Feb I am walking from Denver Colorado to Washington DC in order to call the evangelical church to repentance. In various polls 79% of evangelicals support the war in Iraq. The whole world has gone crazy.
I am also trying to raise awareness of the flaws and cover-up concerning the events prior to and after 9/11. It is the pretext to all of our current conflicts. We have a different audience than many of you who may view this site, but it is one who's convinced Bush is a good Christian man. I submit to the words of Jesus, you shall know them by their fruit. I see nothing but darkness from this current administration.
For more info go to beitshalomministries.org

He's...sorry...for being...exactly what he is today...

O'Donnell ad asks voters for forgiveness
Link
Rick O'Donnell will launch a television ad today apologizing for writing that Social Security should be abolished when he was a 24-year-old "know-it-all kid."

...

These guys just can't help themselves.

Mountjoy Campaign Misstated Navy Duty
Link
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mountjoy has claimed in his campaign biography that he served aboard the battleship Missouri during the Korean War, but his military record shows no assignment on the famous vessel, The Times has found...

At least he served at all, right? Puts him ahead of some others, no matter which deck he swabbed.

What? Stop invoking the Clinton rule on lying -- it's just not convenient for them these days.

That's so 1960s.

Anti-Americanism Is Providing a Glue
Link
The outpouring of anti-American rhetoric at the United Nations this week is demonstrating how anger at the United States is uniting the developing world in a way not seen since the 1980s, U.S. officials and analysts say...

Colorado Top Stories

Vote-machine fight in court
Denver Post
Just weeks before the November elections, a group of citizens and state election officials will battle in a Denver courtroom over whether four brands of electronic voting machines were illegally approved for use. The trial, scheduled for today and Thursday, could determine whether Coloradans return to the paper ballot or stick with electronic machines this Nov. 7. The voting machines at issue - made by Diebold Election Systems Inc., Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., Elections Systems & Software Inc. and Hart InterCivic Inc. - are vulnerable to fraud and error, the plaintiffs argue. The state's certification process was illegal and couldn't catch serious problems that might disrupt elections, according to Wheeler Trigg Kennedy LLP, the firm representing the 13 citizen plaintiffs.
RELATED: Suit targets voting machines
Rocky Mountain News

Minimum-wage proposal most popular item on ballot with voters
Rocky Mountain News
A proposal to increase the minimum wage in Colorado and embed future increases in the state constitution is the most popular item on the ballot at this point in the campaign. Of likely voters quizzed in a Rocky Mountain News/CBS 4 poll, 74 percent said they will "definitely" or "probably" support Amendment 42. The "definitely" camp includes 52 percent of voters. Just 20 percent of voters are on the no side, with 13 percent of respondents saying they "definitely" will vote against the measure. The support crosses party lines, with 61 percent of the supporters of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez in favor of Amendment 42. Backers of Democratic candidate Bill Ritter are 85 percent in support of the wage hike. "At first blush, voters' initial reaction is bordering on love," said Lori Weigel, of pollster Public Opinion Strategies. "It's past the 'like' stage."

Trailhead director: Group broke no laws
Rocky Mountain News
The director of the Trailhead Group says he's not worried about complaints filed against his GOP political group over campaign finance issues because no laws were broken. Director Alan Philp, former chairman of the state GOP, said today the reason "liberal Democrats" were able to track Trailhead's donations and contributions is because of open reporting by his group. The blog Colorado Confidential last week accused the influential GOP group of money laundering, saying donations and contributions to and from other GOP groups don't add up. In turn, complaints were filed with the IRS by Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government and with the secretary of state by the Democratic political group Colorado Clear Peak.

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Who's really trying to steal this thing?

House passes voter ID bill
Link
Republican sponsors of the voter identification bill said it was a commonsense way to stop fraud at the polls. People need photo IDs to board planes, buy alcohol or cash checks, said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Administration Committee. "This is not a new concept." "This is what Americans want," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., "They want safe borders and they want safe ballots." But Democrats assailed the legislation, saying it could hurt minorities, the poor and the elderly -- groups that tend to vote Democratic -- who might have trouble producing a photo identification. "This bill is tantamount to a 21st century poll tax," said Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "It will disenfranchise large number of legal voters."

These are being struck down as discriminatory in individual states, of course. Like Georgia, where entirely by coincidence they also fought renewal of the Voting Rights Act.

On second thought, maybe it's not a coincidence at all...

Colorado Top Stories

Election '06 may be at risk of error
Denver Post
A sharp thumbnail, a distracted poll worker or a determined hacker could undermine Colorado's 2006 election, according to two computer experts in a lawsuit challenging the state. The reports were done for the plaintiffs - 13 Colorado residents - and were released Monday. The lawsuit, which goes to trial Wednesday, alleges that four types of electronic voting machines used in the state are vulnerable to fraud and should not have been certified by the secretary of state's office. Douglas Jones, a computer-security expert at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and Dan Wallach, at Rice University in Houston, wrote that Colorado's election rules were carelessly drafted.
RELATED: Voting machine foes cite Net hacker threat
Rocky Mountain News

Waiver flood only a trickle
Denver Post
The department has rejected more than 500 applicants with invalid immigration documents who sought a driver's license or state ID card - because the records had expired or applicants required additional security checks, Cooke said. Many at the conference, sponsored by the Colorado Social Legislation Committee and the Colorado Nonprofit Association, said they resented being turned into "immigration cops" for the state. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, a Denver Democrat, said the legislature erred in pushing complex legislation during a special session convened by Gov. Bill Owens. "We've exposed the folly of trying to make legislation in five days," Romanoff said. "It was not our plan to turn nonprofits into immigration cops. I hope to clarify and fix the issues by the next session."
RELATED: Nonprofits mired in immigration law
Rocky Mountain News

Marriage line drawn
Link
More than half of Colorado voters support giving legal rights to gay couples, but an almost equal number don't want them to get married, according to a new Rocky Mountain News/CBS 4 poll. Fifty-eight percent of registered voters said in a recent survey that they support Referendum I, a measure that would allow gay couples to register as domestic partners and obtain many of the legal rights and responsibilities given to married couples, such as making medical decisions for a partner. At the same time, 52 percent of voters said they support Amendment 43, a measure that would effectively ban gay marriage by putting a one man-one woman definition of marriage in the state constitution.
RELATED: Gay unions, marriage limits on ballot
Colorado Springs Gazette

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Now you have a rejoinder when James Dobson tells you different:

Marriage line drawn

Fifty-eight percent of registered voters said in a recent survey that they support Referendum I, a measure that would allow gay couples to register as domestic partners and obtain many of the legal rights and responsibilities given to married couples, such as making medical decisions for a partner.

At the same time, 52 percent of voters said they support Amendment 43, a measure that would effectively ban gay marriage by putting a one man-one woman definition of marriage in the state constitution...

Whatever. Let 'em call it whatever they want: my wife and I don't feel the least bit threatened either way. It's just about letting people live out their lives. It's not "tearing down a 5000 year-old institution," or "attacking the family," it's just letting these people live out their lives like any other American. With somebody who can take care of them when they get old or get sick. What kind of a person opposes that?

Bottom line: a vote against Referendum I is a malicious act. A vote against Referendum I means only that there's a percentage of the population (11% is a number I read frequently) that you don't think should have equal opportunities in life. There's a word for that, but it's unnecessary to use on the great state of Colorado: 58% of the state agrees.

"I'm not opposed to (gay couples) having legal rights to deal with health insurance and life insurance and all those sorts of things that are important. Why would that be something that we would say no to?" the 42-year-old poll participant said.

VOTE!

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Check here

Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - LAST DAY to Register to Vote in the General Election

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Contribute to Democratic Candidates that are within striking distance:
Angie Paccione for Congres - Website
Jay Fawcett for Congress - Website
Bill Winter for Congress - Website
Ken Gordon for Secretary of State - Website
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www.NoWMDs.com

I'm so glad that unions can put their money where they want to now that the courts have stepped in and put a temporary lid on the Secretary of State's office. Hooray.

No, really. That particular ruling by Gigi "rhymes-with-Harris" Dennis was so partisan and abusive it was silly. Things being what they are shaping up to be, you can almost laugh at her weak-minded attempts to save her Republican cronies from their likely fate at the polls in a few weeks.

Almost.

I'm a little more worried, as you can imagine, about the untested voting machines and the "October Surprise of All Time" switchy-candidate rule. I don't know about you, but voting on demonstrably-hackable black boxes for Candidate A, not realizing I'm really voting for last-minute Candidate B (who for all Gigi Dennis knows I hate)...yeah. That would worry me.

If I hadn't already requested my paper ballot, that is. Now, I just worry...for all of you...

Now you have a rejoinder when Tom Tancredo tells you different:

Majority of voters back 'tough but fair' path to citizenship

Nearly two of every three Colorado voters think illegal immigrants should be allowed to become U.S. citizens if they pay taxes, learn English and meet other requirements, according to a new Rocky Mountain News/CBS 4 poll.

Only 15 percent of those polled favor mass deportations...

Colorado Top Stories

Concerns growing for use of Colorado voting machines
Associated Press
Some voting computers were certified for use in Colorado after only about 15 minutes of security checks by an official with no formal training in computer science, according to a newly released deposition. The deposition intensified criticism of the systems that will be used in next month's elections. The state Democratic Party on Thursday urged voters to use absentee ballots to avoid using the computers. Paul Hultin, an attorney seeking to bar the use of the systems, said the November election is "headed for a train wreck."
RELATED: Clerk rejects accusations of pressure on approving voting machines
Grand Junction Sentinel

McInnis: Beauprez team is weak
Rocky Mountain News
A former Republican congressman from Colorado criticized Bob Beauprez's gubernatorial campaign Friday, complaining that its top staffers don't have the skills or experience to run a successful statewide race. Scott McInnis, who represented Colorado's 3rd congressional district for 12 years until leaving office in 2004, said that Beauprez's sliding poll numbers are a reflection of a campaign staff that's not up to the task, and singled out two officials for failing to get the job done right. "Running for governor is big league, and big time, and it requires a lot of sophistication," McInnis said. But handing the race over to the people running Beauprez's campaign "is like putting a high school quarterback on the Denver Broncos and having him start the game."
RELATED: Beauprez made name as banker, GOP chairman
Colorado Springs Gazette

Poll: Immigration top issue for most
Rocky Mountain News
Nearly two of every three Colorado voters think illegal immigrants should be allowed to become U.S. citizens if they pay taxes, learn English and meet other requirements, according to a new Rocky Mountain News/CBS 4 poll. Only 15 percent of those polled favor mass deportations. "People want to be tough but fair," said pollster Lori Weigel. "It's like many issues. You tend to hear from extremes on both ends. Clearly, this data indicate that there's a silent majority that is supportive of a more middle-ground approach."

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Link.

It's been a one-sided race thus far. A strong rumor is circulating that Both Ways is about to fire his campaign manager.

Can you trust that your progressive neighbors will cast their votes in this election? Even if they do, can you trust that their votes and yours will count?

History as well as recent news say no. Off-year elections typically have low turnouts. And with Ritter flying ahead with a 17-point lead iin the most recent poll, progressives may become overconfident and think that they don't need to take the time to vote.

And now, thanks to recent revelations about Gigi Dennis cast doubt on whether your vote will even count, because it may not be cast on machines that meet state and federal requirements for security and voter-verifiable paper trails.

You can remedy all of these problems by contributing a couple of hours of your time to walking with progressive candidates and organizations to encourage progressive voters to vote by mail. There will be walks nearly every day from now through November 7th. Your help is most needed earlier rather than later, because mail ballots start going out in just a few weeks.

If you don't have the physical stamina to walk for two hours, you can phone bank. Phone banks are used to contact voters in areas that are difficult to walk--apartment buildings and rural neighborhoods for instance. And if you are not a "people person," you can do other tasks such as data entry that allows groups to track which voters have been contacted and envelope-stuffing to get those absentee ballot applications out to the voters who have requested them.

It's not that progressive voters aren't trustworthy. It's just that the people who tend to support progressive candidates are so busy working to make ends meet that they just don't pay much attention to politics. But voting is easy, and it can be done in a few minutes in the comfort of their own homes. Your help personally contacting these potential voters is crucial. Republicans and radical right-wing groups are famous for reserving some of their most vociferous spending until the last days of the election, when they will bus hundreds of get-out-the-vote workers in from out of state.

We can nip that in the bud by arming our supporters with mail ballots and reminding them kindly but firmly that they need to vote for the future of America.

To find a walk near you, contact your local candidates, the state democratic party, your county party office, and the events section of this site. You can make the difference. Elections are not just about TV ads and flashy mail pieces. They're about boots on the ground--your boots.

Colorado Confidential with something very, very interesting. More questions than answers, but the questions...

Trailhead to Nowhere

Trailhead receives large donations from political organizations, individuals and corporations. As of the end of July, Trailhead raised $1,825,708, or slightly less than each candidate for governor raised in their respective campaigns. The Republican State Leadership Committee was one of Trailhead's first donors ($290,000). Pete Coors gave $150,000, while Benson Mineral Group (Bruce Benson's company) gave a total of $75,000.

But in addition to receiving big money from a variety of donors, Trailhead has also contributed a large sum of money to other political organizations with Colorado ties.

Or has it?

Read the whole thing -- it'll pique your curiosity about the Trailhead Slush Fund for sure. And CoCo promises more is coming.

9/15/06
ProgressNow in the news

W. Slope paper puts Ritter plug on, off, on Web
Denver Post
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel was on-again, off-again, on-again Thursday with its endorsement of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter. The Western Slope's largest daily newspaper accidentally posted the endorsement on its website Thursday morning - and then pulled it down. "We have not officially endorsed anybody in the governor's race at this point," Bob Silbernagel, the paper's editorial page editor said Thursday afternoon. But many Internet surfers already knew that Ritter, not Republican U.S. Rep.Bob Beauprez, was the choice of the Sentinel, the hometown paper of Beauprez's running mate, Janet Rowland. That's because progressnowcolorado.org had included the link on its daily e-mail listing of news articles, a link that is sent to thousands of subscribers.
RELATED: An accidental endorsement
blogs.rockymountainnews.com

Colorado Top Stories

Voting machines missed mark
Denver Post
Under the gun to meet tight election deadlines, the secretary of state's office certified a voting machine for Jefferson and Mesa counties that failed to meet state requirements. The information comes from the deposition of John Gardner - the man appointed by Secretary of State Gigi Dennis as the expert charged with certifying which types of voting machines can be used in Colorado. But Gardner testified he has not been certified as an expert and confirmed he had no formal training in computer science, computer programing or evaluating the security of data-processing systems. State law requires expertise in data processing, mechanical engineering or public administration. Gardner said either he was not an expert in those areas or he did not know the definition of those requirements.
RELATED: Suit: Ban computer voting
Rocky Mountain News

Clergy decry Tancredo appearance
Rocky Mountain News
Minority religious leaders denounced Rep. Tom Tancredo on Thursday for his appearance last weekend before a group in South Carolina that included neo-Confederates. The Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance and the Latino clergy group Confianza said they were outraged that Tancredo spoke at an event Saturday at the South Carolina State Museum where the Confederate flag reportedly was on the podium and Tancredo joined the crowd in singing the Southern anthem Dixie. The controversy began when an anti-racism group, the Southern Poverty Law Center, posted an online article calling the gathering a "hate-group event."

Ritter tops in poll
Rocky Mountain News
Democrat Bill Ritter has a remarkable 17-point lead over Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez in the race for Colorado governor, according to a Rocky Mountain News/ CBS 4 poll of likely voters. Fifty percent of voters surveyed said they were likely to vote for Ritter, versus 33 percent for Beauprez. Eleven percent said they were undecided. The poll, conducted earlier this week, showed Ritter with a huge lead in metro Denver, earning 56 percent support to Beauprez's 32 percent. Even more surprising, Ritter is leading in some of the state's most conservative areas. He holds a 22-point lead over Beauprez on the eastern Plains and a 5-point lead in the Colorado Springs/Pueblo area. Pollster Lori Weigel said a wave of anti-Iraq war and anti-Washington sentiment is making things difficult for Beauprez, who has represented a suburban Denver district since 2002. "The mood of the country is really driven by Iraq," said Weigel. "It's a toxic stew for Republicans."

Coroner: Taser a factor in death
Denver Post
A Taser stun-gun blast, a weak coronary artery and extreme physical exertion killed a 22-year-old man who ran from Lafayette police last month, the Boulder County coroner said Thursday. But the father of Ryan Michael Wilson said he is skeptical of the coroner's report that concluded his son had a weak artery in his heart that contributed to his death. "He had never shown any kind of indication at all that there might be a problem with his heart, and he had numerous physical exams," Jack Wilson said. "I've heard of athletes who passed out on the basketball court and died from heart problems, but my son was hit by a Taser, and that's what killed him, in my opinion."
RELATED: Taser listed as factor in Louisville man's death
Rocky Mountain News

9/14/06
Colorado Top Stories

Weld Co. ranks No. 1 in foreclosures
Denver Post
Weld County, including Greeley, now has the highest rate of foreclosures in the country, according to RealtyTrac, a California firm that tracks foreclosures. Weld County ranked first among 252 metro areas for its rate of foreclosures in August. The Denver metro area, at fifth, wasn't far behind. More than one of every 136 households in Weld County was in some stage of foreclosure in August, more than seven times the national rate of one of every 1,003 households. One of every 196 households in metro Denver was in some stage of foreclosure in August.
RELATED: Colorado's foreclosure picture bleak, firms say
Rocky Mountain News

7th District foes spar over waste site
Denver Post
Congressional candidate Ed Perlmutter on Wednesday questioned his Republican opponent's stance on a controversial move to accept low-level radioactive waste at a site in Adams County. Perlmutter highlighted a Jan. 11 article quoting his 7th Congressional District opponent, Rick O'Donnell, as saying he did not have a problem with the move. "We're not talking about materials from Energy Department defense-grade weapons - there's no nuclear material, uranium or plutonium," O'Donnell was quoted as telling Environment and Energy Daily, an online publication based in Washington, D.C., that tracks energy and environmental policies. O'Donnell's campaign said he hadn't been fully aware of the issue when he spoke with the reporter. It said O'Donnell now opposes the dumping of low-level radioactive waste at the 250-acre Clean Harbors Deer Trail Facility near Last Chance.
RELATED: Dump to be radioactive waste site for 3 states
Rocky Mountain News

Applications for citizenship surge
Denver Post
A record number of applications for citizenship in Colorado and Wyoming indicates immigration debates, rallies and other outreach have spurred legal immigrants to apply for naturalization, experts say. Between last October and August, 7,227 people applied for citizenship, compared with 5,878 during the same period the year before in the region, according to figures released Wednesday. August saw the biggest uptick with 851 applications, an increase of 53 percent over the previous August. "I want to participate in the political aspect of this country. I want to be able to vote," said Javier Lora, originally of Mexico, who will be sworn in as a citizen Tuesday. "I am only one vote, but there are a lot of people like me who are residents who are also applying for U.S. citizenship."
RELATED: Seeking homes on the range
Colorado Springs Gazette

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The COPBA Networking Lunch

The purpose of this weekly lunch is to meet and get to know other progressive business people and develop our ability to refer business to each other. Whether you market to consumers or other businesses, the network of business people you cultivate can be a productive source of new clients. So join us this Wednesday and every Wednesday of the month. Marketing opportunities are prime right now because the progressive community is craving for blue business listings and referrals. Your only cost will be an affordable yet excellent lunch at The Egg & I.

TIME: 11:30 AM to 1 P.M.
LOCATION: The Egg & I
Address: Town Center, Highlands Ranch, 80129

Next action for:
The Question Alliance
Saturday, September 23, 2006
10-11:30 AM
Corner of University & Highlands Ranch Parkway

Topic: National Debt

Question: Is it moral to leave our children our $8.5 trillion National Debt?

This is the second time we will address the issue of our enormous National Debt. During our action last June, 2005 the debt was $7.7 trillion. That debt has now grown to $8.5 trillion. Every man, woman and child would have to pay $28,500 each in order to pay it off today. Let us ask our community if it is ethical to leave our children this amount of debt? Should our government exercise some fiscal responsibility? There is considerable concern about U.S. debt among international financial markets as well. The possible consequences of such debt are disturbing. Please google for more information.

We encourage others to participate in this action in your own neighborhood if you'd like. Just let us know your plans, make sure the question is worded exactly the same as above, and let us know how it goes.

Remember we are a peaceful, respectful group that abides by local requirements. We'd like to expand The Question Alliance by having drivers read the same important question at multiple locations the same day!

Please remember that it is important to have the same exact wording on your sign.
The exact wording for the question on September 23rd, is:

Is it moral to leave our children our $8.5 trillion National Debt?

Please bring family and friends to join The Question Alliance. All are welcome!! Children need to be supervised.
This action will be postponed if the weather is too nasty.
You might want to make sturdy signs. It can get windy!
Please contact us with any questions, etc.

TheQuestionAlliance@gmail.com
Thank you,
Jim and Diane Schrack

In case the papering over multi-million dollar fiascos, facilitating Beauprez's easy primary, enacting GOP lawyer briefs verbatim, and straight-up contempt for compliance with law didn't convince you,

Voting machines "expert" says he's not

Under the gun to meet tight election-day deadlines, the Secretary of State's office certified a kind of voting machine for Jefferson and Mesa Counties that does not meet state requirements.

The information comes from the deposition of John Gardner - the man appointed by Gigi Dennis as an expert and charged with certifying the machines.

But Gardner testified he is not an expert in the areas required by state law. He also admitted that the Secretary of State's office was under pressure to certify the voting machines because counties had already purchased them...

Last thing I needed to convince me an absentee ballot is mandatory this year.

It's a pretty serious thing we're dealing with here -- eye-popping abuse of power, every important function of her office in neglect (or worse), and no check on what she's doing since she's out in a few months and her only oversight is helping her pull it off. Positively Byzantine, friends.

Worst-case scenario is a pardon, right?

Earlier this week Congressman Bob Beauprez endorsed a plan for higher education in Colorado that would lead to large tuition increases. (Rocky Mountain News, September 13, 2006)

His plan included a vow to "deregulate" tuition at Colorado universities. Under current law, state institutions such as the University of Colorado and Colorado State University and community colleges can't hike tuitions beyond certain levels.

Such a move under the guise of "deregulation" would allow them to set unlimited tuition increases.

Click below to sign the petition to oppose this plan which could lead to tuition increases:

Link

Even Governor Bill Owens has been adamant that state colleges should not be allowed to make huge increases in tuition.

Click the petition below to oppose Beauprez's plan for tuition increases:

Link

Please share with your family, friends and neighbors to send a clear message to Beauprez.

We will share this petition with Beauprez and the statewide media next week.

Congressman Bob Beauprez is proposing a statewide sales tax increase from 2.9 percent to about 3.7 percent, which will hurt Coloradans in exchange for eliminating the state portion of the gas tax. (Rocky Mountain News, September 9, 2006)

As the Denver Post editorial board noted this morning "Beauprez's solution is patently unfair. We really doubt that struggling parents who drive fuel-efficient cars want to subsidize wealthy owners of gas-guzzling SUVs every time they buy a package of diapers or school supplies." (Denver Post, 9/14/2006)

Oppose the Beauprez sales tax increase:

Link

The Post also notes that Beauprez's plan would hurt retailers by spurring Coloradans to dodge the higher sales tax by shopping online and could also cost Coloradans jobs in the retail sector.

The Post concludes that "hiking sales taxes to cut fuel and income taxes could costs Colorado retail jobs, reduce highway funding, and unnecessarily subsidize gas guzzlers. It's a losing trifecta." (DP, Sept. 13, 2006)

Even David Owens, a Republican on the Join Budget Committee noted that this tax "would probably hurt the most vulnerable, the seniors and the poor people. A lot of them don't drive and they would have to pay more in sales tax." (RMN, Sept. 9, 2006)

Sign the petition to oppose the Beauprez sales tax:

Link

We will share your petition and comments with Beauprez and the statewide media next week.

Earlier this week Congressman Bob Beauprez launched his so-called "accountability pledge." In it Beauprez claimed that he was using the pledge "to get things done" on issues such as "healthcare."

At the same time Beauprez was preparing his 'accountability pledge,' he was missing key votes in Congress, such as recommending support for lowering pharmaceutical costs for veterans. (H.R. 5122, 9/7/2006)

Beauprez has already missed more than 10 votes this month in Congress while pursuing his own personal political ambitions in Colorado.

Call on Beauprez to pledge to not miss any more votes in Congress.

Link

Beauprez is more busy touting accountability than holding himself accountable for much needed lower retail drug prices for veterans. We have been asking our men and women in the armed services to put their life and health at risk for the last five years in Iraq, the very least, members of Congress owe them a vote on something that impacts so many of our bravest citizens.

Join our petition asking Beauprez to pledge to not skip any more votes in Congress.

Link

We will deliver the petition to Beauprez next week and ask that he commit to his responsibility as a US Representative.

Colorado Top Stories

Tancredo: Bigots didn't sponsor talk
Denver Post
Rep. Tom Tancredo found himself snared in controversy Tuesday over a speech he gave in South Carolina that attracted the attention of a neo-Confederate group, which falsely claimed to have sponsored the event. Tancredo's spokesman said the Littleton Republican has no connection to the South Carolina League of the South, which according to its website advocates "a free and independent Southern republic" and eschews racial equality. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League consider the organization a white-supremacist hate group. The South Carolina League of the South's website posted an announcement that Tancredo "will be our guest" at Saturday's event in Columbia, S.C., at the South Carolina State Museum.
RELATED: Tancredo camp denies 'hate group' accusation
Rocky Mountain News

Wage debate pits workers vs. businesses
USA Today
The 11 workers at Jim Noon's company, which makes cardboard boxes and packaging, earn well above the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Even so, the Denver businessman opposes -- "for all sorts of reasons" -- a Colorado ballot measure that would raise the state's minimum hourly wage to $6.85. Noon says the initiative to amend the state constitution would exert pressure to increase all salaries and signal the state is not business-friendly. On a philosophical level, he says, "the state constitution shouldn't have dollar figures; it should have concepts." In the western part of the state, in Delta, Traci Woodson's support for the initiative is personal. The 26-year-old single mother of two is a home-based child care provider who works at least 95 hours a week. She is paid an average of $5.77 an hour for looking after children from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and sometimes overnight. If the measure passes, her pay would rise because the amount the state pays for her low-income clients' child care needs is pegged to the minimum wage.
RELATED: Minimum wage laws multiply in states
USA Today

Taking reins off tuition hikes
Rocky Mountain News
Congressman Bob Beauprez endorsed a plan for higher education Tuesday that he said could lead to large tuition increases but also improve Colorado's colleges and universities. As part of his "Colorado Accountability Pledge," Beauprez said that if he is elected governor he would support the "deregulation" of Colorado's state universities. Under current law, state institutions such as the University of Colorado and Colorado State University and community colleges can't hike tuition beyond certain levels. CU, for example, was limited last year to a 2.5 percent tuition increase. Beauprez said higher education has been getting a smaller share of the state budget in recent years. In his view, allowing colleges the freedom to set their own budget, including tuition, would let them raise their standards.

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Today, I am pleased to unveil a new website for the Stem Cell Action Fund, a political action committee I started this spring. You can see this new site at: http://stemcellpac.com

The goal of this PAC is to elect federal candidates committed to expanding embryonic stem cell research and to overturn President Bush's veto of H.R. 810, Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. I am very excited about this new website and the potential it has to impact elections this fall. Please take a minute to visit and tell me what you think.

Thank you,

US Rep. Diana DeGette

Colorado Top Stories

In Unpredictable District, Some Say Bush Is Politicizing Terrorism
New York Times
Leaving services Sunday morning at Faith Bible Chapel [in Arvada], an evangelical megachurch, Jim McBride, a pilot who served in Vietnam, said he was not happy with President Bush's handling of Iraq. And he displayed little inclination to rethink his position despite the White House's new push to focus this year's Congressional elections on which party will keep the nation safer. "I do have a bit of mistrust," said Mr. McBride, who said that he twice voted for Mr. Bush but that he is now disappointed -- a sentiment he said is shared by many in his Bible study group. "The whole thing about W.M.D. and that Iraq is somehow tied to 9/11, I just don't believe it." Mr. Bush has plenty of supporters in this Denver suburb and the surrounding cities, an evenly divided swing district that is a bellwether in the battle for control of the House. But interviews over the last three days here found Republicans, Democrats and independents all expressing degrees of skepticism about Mr. Bush's motives in delivering a set of high-profile speeches on terrorism and the war in Iraq two months before Election Day.
RELATED: 7th District hopefuls spar
Denver Post

Replacement candidates now get dropout's votes
Rocky Mountain News
Votes cast for candidates who drop out of a race up to 18 days before an election now will go to the person chosen by their party to replace them on the ballot. The new rule, adopted Thursday by the Colorado secretary of state, will be in effect during the November general election. But at least one county clerk thinks it's a bad idea. "It seems un-American that any candidate can 'receive' votes that were actually cast for somebody else," Adams County Clerk Carol Snyder wrote in an e-mail to an elections official in the secretary of state's office.

Roadless areas worth saving, panel decides
Denver Post
A state task force recommended Monday that Gov. Bill Owens ask the federal government to set aside the bulk of the state's 4.1 million acres of roadless areas from most future development. The proposal approved Monday evening by the state roadless-area task force would restrict road construction for gas and mineral exploration, generally preclude logging and preserve large swaths of natural areas from most motorized vehicles. The long-awaited task-force recommendation, the latest step in a lengthy process to solve one of the nation's longest-running land- preservation conflicts, is part of a state-by-state effort to determine which plots of federal lands should be left free of a growing lattice of roads.
RELATED: Roadless group: Protect all state's 4.4 million acres
Grand Junction Sentinel

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Despite rising tuition costs in Colorado, Congressman Bob Beauprez voted in favor of a $12 billion cut to student loan programs and the Bush Administration's proposed 2007 budget is set to reduce key tuition assistance initiatives like Work-Study and Pell Grants that would deny thousands of students the assistance they need to pay for college. Speak up for the students and families struggling to afford higher education by signing this petition urging our elected representatives to expand access to higher education by reducing interest on student loans and fully funding tuition assistance programs that allow students to attend college and contribute to our economy.
Higher Education PetitionLink

Bob Beauprez recently proposed a new method of highway funding : increasing the sales tax and eliminating the gas tax. Mr. Both Ways needs to stop thinking everything's an either/or proposition.

Beauprez is right about one thing - the gas tax as it is currently formulated won't keep up with transportation demands. Colorado charges 22 cents for every gallon of gasoline. Eight years ago, that was 22% of the cost - today it's about 7%.

So, as our tax has been declining - the costs associated with transportation funding - concrete, steel, asphalt - have been growing exponentially. Add onto that the fact that Colorado is one of the fastest growing states in the country with increasingly complex transportation demands and you see the light at the end of the tunnel should be a train, but, since we can't afford it, it's just some guy walking in the tunnel with a flashlight.

So, why not eliminate the gas tax and increase the sales tax? Colorado is home to two primary interstates in the country - I-25 and I-70. Each of them hosts countless cross-country truckers who buy gas, but rarely stop for more than a bad cup of coffee and a burger. So, by moving the revenue stream for maintaining the highways from gas tax to sales tax, we shift the costs of transportation from these out of state taxpayers who have the highest impact on the roads to our citizens who may be riding a bike to work, for all we know.

Furthermore, the certainty of the funding source is brought into question with a sales-tax based revenue stream. Currently, our HUTF (Highway Users Tax Fund) is a dedicated cash fund that can only be used for transportation costs. By shifting the burden to sales-tax, that certainty is removed.

In a recent article in the Rocky - Dave Owen said "I think Beauprez's on the right track. You need some dedicated dollars for highways outside of general fund surplus, because in five years that's going to go away" (when the Ref C tax reprieve expires).

While I like Dave - he couldn't be more wrong.

First of all - we have "dedicated dollars for highways outside of the general fund surplus" now - IT'S CALLED THE GAS TAX! When Dave said "general fund surplus" what he really meant was "excess general fund" (believe it or not, there's a difference). If you eliminate the gas tax, you will ONLY have excess general fund dollars for transportation, because that's where our sales tax dollars are going. Finally, our excess general fund doesn't go away after the Ref C timeout because Referendum C resets the TABOR base to the highest revenue level during the 5 year timeout.

Until the next severe recession (such as 2001-2004) we will continue to have excess general fund (defined as revenues above our 6% General Fund spending cap). Then, when we recover from that recession, we will have them again because Ref C fixed the ratchet down effect in TABOR. We will be able to recover. That was the whole idea.

That's not to say transportation can't benefit from a variety of funding sources. It can. Most states enjoy both revenues from a gas tax and sales tax - Colorado does as well. Senate Bill 1 from 1994 set the process. If the state has sufficient revenues to meet our basic 6% general fund operating obligations (creating that "surplus" Dave Owen was talking about) then about 10% of sales tax revenues are dedicated to transportation. Ostensibly, 10% was chosen was because it was calculated that somewhere around that amount was probably what was being spent on transportation related purchases.

We know that our projected revenues for transportation are drastically below the amount we are going to need over the next 20 years. Some estimates say as much as $100 Billion (with a "B"!) less than the projected need. So, why not beef up the sales tax portion, and keep the gas tax? Or index the gas tax to the price of gas instead of by volume? Businesses cite "transportation infrastructure" as one of the most important considerations in establishing corporate headquarters in a state (along with K-12 and Higher Education) - so, how about addressing the corporate income tax rate in Colorado - one of the lowest in the country?

The state will have to come to terms with the transportation funding quagmire, but a shell game of revenues isn't going to do the trick. And shifting costs from out of state drivers to our Colorado residents isn't a very Colorado friendly solution either.

CNN's Pipeline rebroadcast of original 9/11 coverage. Sat down about two hours ago and just realized I was still watching it.

Wow, looks like I completely missed Bush's speech tonight. I guess you could say I prefer the President Bush who spoke on 9/11 -- he was just replayed here on Pipeline a few minutes ago. Back when I was a patriot who stood with Bush in outrage over an act of war committed against our country. Before I became a "terrorist appeaser" for asking why we invaded the wrong country or tortured people to "defend freedom." Before Bush became the greatest recruitment tool the terrorists could have ever hoped for, and turned the support we enjoyed around the world after 9/11 into alienation.

Five years from now -- without the Disney miniseries and the cheap j'accusations of disloyalty -- maybe then we'll do justice to what happened five years ago today with our remembrance. I'll offer no better eulogy while this tragedy is still being pissed on by right-wingers desperate to win elections.

Colorado Top Stories

Inspector: Access roads properly approved
Denver Post
The Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General has informed Sen. Ken Salazar that it found no evidence of improper conduct or pressure in connection with Forest Service decisions made on Texas billionaire Red McCombs' proposed Village at Wolf Creek in southwestern Colorado. Inspector General Phyllis Fong wrote Thursday to Salazar, D-Colo., who had asked for an investigation May 16. She said the office interviewed key participants and reviewed documents related to Forest Service deliberations on the high-mountain development that could include up to 2,172 residential units and 222,100 square feet of commercial space. McCombs' 287.5-acre parcel, adjacent to the Wolf Creek Ski Area, lacked year- round access to U.S. 160 and needed agency authorization to build roads through national forest land.
RELATED: Official says Wolf Creek access ruling proper
Puebli Chieftain

Ethics group says ads false, calls for probe
Pueblo Chieftain
A state ethics group is calling on Pueblo and Denver prosecutors - including Colorado Attorney General John Suthers - to investigate a GOP political group for allegedly making false statements in political ads. The Denver-based Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government has denounced The Trailhead Group for a series of radio, TV and print advertisements that it says make false statements about Reps. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter. "Trailhead has flagrantly caused false statements to be broadcast in an attempt to mislead voters, and improperly influence the election," said Chantell Taylor, director of the ethics group. "Law enforcement officials should immediately investigate Trailhead's actions and put a stop to this type of dirty campaigning."

Immigration law 'affects us all'
Telluride Daily Planet
During Thursday night's special meeting on immigration issues -- in which people packed into every bit of standing space in Rebekah Hall -- Telluride Town Council Member Justin Clifton posed a question to the largely hispanic audience. How many, he asked, will be affected by a new state law that requires applicants for subsidized housing to verify their legal place in the country. In other words, Clifton wanted to know how many people are in danger of losing their homes. The air in room filled with hands. Housing, welfare, business licenses, loans, some health care and post-secondary education. These public benefits were all made off-limits to undocumented citizens by state legislation passed this summer. And in Telluride, where immigrant workers both legal and not play and important role in the resort destination's economy, these restrictions, plus others imposed on private employers set the stage for some major changes.

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The "Eye of God"

I received the picture below in an e-mail recently. (Click here to view the picture)

The photo records a "one of a kind" event that occurs once every 3000 years or so. The phenomenon in the amazing image below is the Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula about 650 light-years from Earth.

We're only up to Ramzi Yousef so far in the Great 9/11 Disneyfication, but this is bad. As in amazingly crap acting. Like CSI:Reject. Even Harvey Keitel looks bad, which I wouldn't have believed was possible.

Seriously, the vast right-wing conspiracy couldn't afford HDTV? Michael Moore would have sprung for HDTV.

UPDATE: Oh God, here we go. Cue Lewinsky footage. And scary Arab guys. And a waffling fictional Sandy Berger. Wait a minute, didn't you guys say Clinton overreacted to the embassy bombings so he could distract from Monica Lewinsky? Didn't Rush Limbaugh say that? This...is...so...pathetic...

Now that global warming is official and it is clear that the republican leadership has been purposefully lying to everyone, I hope that you can now see that the liberals and progressives are not your enemies. The enemy is big business, especially big oil and big coal. There is no doubt now that the true purpose for attacking Iraq was all about big money and oil. The republican leadership, i.e. big oil, i.e. Bush and company, shamelessly used people's fear and pain after 9/11 to dupe us into attacking Iraq.

It is also clear that big oil has been lying to us about global warming, and the republican leadership has been editing the research findings of our scientists before it when to congress (in violation of the law). Twenty percent of the Arctic and Greenland have already melted and if another thirty percent melts the horrors of Katrina will look like child's play with millions of people being displaced by rising seas. This will include a huge portion of our own coastlines, the Florida Keys and the 9/11 memorial on Manhattan. There will be no more Vienna because it will be under water.

It is clear that short sighted, bottom line business is destroying our great nation. They have purposely divided us so that they can control us. Big business manipulates what we eat, wear, drink and drive. They are distorting our health and the health of our environment. A recent study showed that the poorest person in England is healthier than some of the richest people America. Who do you think pays for all of the conservative think tanks that trained and paid for Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly and the other SHOUT radio and TV shows that sow the seeds of religious and political intolerance? What better way to control us than to divide and conquer? They have purposely turned conservatives against liberals and liberals against conservatives, Christians against other faiths, and other faiths against Christians, making our nation more divided than ever in its history.

They purposely create religious intolerance by claiming that we were once a Christian nation and that the Christians need to take back the nation. Historically every one of our founding fathers was of different faiths and Thomas Paine was an agnostic. How can the liberals be as bad as the conservative radio talk show hosts make them out to be? Remember many of our founders were liberals. The very reason we have a separation of church and state is because our founding fathers agreed to disagree, about religion, in order to get down to the more important mission of forming a more perfect nation, one that would allow religious tolerance. We are losing this religious tolerance, and big business is promoting it. I am a very spiritual person and I feel constantly assaulted by the Christian right, who insult my faith and imply they are somehow better than me, because of their faith. Nonsense. In studies of near death experiences Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Atheists all went through the same tunnel of light, in just the same way, and reported feeling the same unconditional love from God. God does not care what faith you are. Stop letting hype from the shout media tell you anything different. Stop letting them play us for suckers. We are one nation under God and it is none of our business if some don't acknowledge God, that is God's business, and we should respect that.

Did you know that there is technology for an oil free electric car right now? That 800 people were driving electric cars by 1996, and the people that had them, loved them? But suddenly in 2003 GM, working with big oil, took them all back and ground them up into scrap metal. Why? A trillion dollars worth of oil is yet to be sold, that's why, and the people that are going to make that trillion do not care how many people die, or are driven from their homes by rising sea water. They don't care if millions and possibly billions of people die of famine caused by their oil and greenhouse gases that cause global warming. They are no different than cigarette companies who do not care for one second if their cigarettes kill you. We can solve global warming today, if we just stop fighting with each other and agree to disagree like our founding fathers did.

Colorado Top Stories

Drilling OK'd on Roan
Denver Post
"The plan is an innovative plan," said Sally Wisely, the state director for the federal Bureau of Land Management. "It's not going to please everyone." It drew mixed reviews after being outlined at a BLM news conference here Thursday. "Whatever good innovations might be in here - it's not what the citizens asked for. That is not to drill on the top of the Roan Plateau," said Steve Smith, a spokesman for the Wilderness Society. Colorado Oil and Gas Association officials said the proposed phased development over long periods of time might make the Roan's gas resources less economically attractive.
RELATED: BLM plan calls for drilling Roan
Grand Junction Sentinel

Calif. refutes O'Donnell claim
Denver Post
Republican congressional candidate Rick O'Donnell was wrong when he claimed his opponent had represented an insurance firm at the expense of that firm's "elderly and disabled policyholders," officials confirmed Thursday. Ed Perlmutter, Democratic candidate for Colorado's 7th Congressional District, actually helped recover money in 1991 for the policyholders of Los Angeles-based Executive Life Insurance Co. and preserved assets once the firm was placed into conservatorship, officials with the California insurance commissioner's office said Thursday. "He was doing his legal work on behalf of getting value for the policyholders, and he was doing that work on behalf of the California insurance commissioner," said Norman Williams, a spokesman for the commissioner.

Judge delays campaign finance rule
Denver Post
A Denver judge Thursday suspended part of controversial campaign-finance rules recently enacted by Secretary of State Gigi Dennis and set a two-day hearing on the entire matter for next week, according to court records. Denver District Judge R. Michael Mullins temporarily stopped enforcement of a rule that requires political committees to declare, under penalty of perjury, that all contributions - including union dues - came from permissible sources, such as legal residents. The hearing, slated to start Thursday, will address that issue as well as others raised by a group of individuals, unions and a state representative who filed suit against Dennis two weeks ago, accusing her of abusing her power in issuing the new rules. The regulations, which went into effect in early August, limit campaign activities of some traditionally Democratic groups, such as unions and small-donor committees.

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See Dead Guvs deconstruct something really stupid:

Rick O'Donnell Burned on California Insurance Claim

Everybody who's worked on a campaign knows if you get information that sounds incredible but hasn't already made the papers, it's best to check it and re-check it to make sure it's true.

Unless said campaign doesn't care if it's true, counting on the news break to get more attention than the inevitable retraction.

Congressional candidate Rick O'Donnell's staff apparently managed neither this week, as the Denver Post reports...

...you either examine this stuff thoroughly before you click 'send' or you calculate that the initial damage is worth more than the cost of it being disproven. This one tallies up with Perlmutter looking like a saint, and the O'Donnell camp looking like amateurs who don't check their facts.

What's this? Well, Rick O'Donnell's crack researchers saw black where the everybody else saw white. So they ran with "black" until the newspapers checked their facts for them. Or, as the anonymous Guv speculates, maybe they didn't care which was which...

It seems we ALL want the TV networks to produce historically accurate movies. However, when you are the first to cry 'foul' and then you turn around and criticize the other side when they cry foul, that makes you a hypocrite. Case in point:

[Guess who]..said the miniseries might have omissions, distortions and exaggerations that could cause Americans to "come away with a misunderstanding of the [historical event].

This was Republican National Committee Chariman Ed Gillespie in November 2003 writing to the head of CBS about the miniseries "The Reagans". [FOXNews.com]

It continues [CNN]:

The Republican National Committee Friday asked CBS to allow a team of historians and friends of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife to review a miniseries about the couple before it airs.

In a conference call with reporters, RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie said he sent the request to CBS Television President Leslie Moonves.

Gillespie said that if CBS denies the request, he will ask the network to run a note across the bottom of the screen every 10 minutes during the program's presentation informing viewers that the miniseries is not accurate.

Gillespie said that if CBS rejects both requests, the RNC would to sell tapes and DVDs on its Web site that would present "the real Reagan record."

Gillespie added that print and TV ads are being prepared to rebut the miniseries and that Republicans may try to buy time to run the ads during the miniseries.

Gillespie...acknowledged that he has not seen "The Reagans" and has formed his opinion of it based solely on news reports.

I'm not saying that Republicans and conservatives were wrong in their sucessful efforts to pull the Reagan miniseries from the air, but I hate it when they are hypocrites.

www.NoWMDs.com

Colorado Top Stories

Primary Creates GOP Rift in Colo.
Associated Press
A Colorado Republican retiring after 20 years in the House said Wednesday he would not endorse the GOP primary winner, accusing him of running a "sleazy" campaign. Rep. Joel Hefley said he hoped his decision didn't hurt other Republicans on the ticket in November, but he said he would not support the Republican nominee, Doug Lamborn. "I made this clear at the start of this campaign that I would never again support a Republican who ran a sleazy campaign against another Republican, and that's what Doug Lamborn did," Hefley said in an interview with the Associated Press. "It's not good when we have these angry, bitter campaigns [against Democrats]. It's sure not good when we have them within the party."
RELATED: Hefley slams 5th District GOP hopeful
Denver Post

Study cites "widened" race gap for college degrees in Colorado
Denver Post
Whites have greater educational opportunities than nonwhites in Colorado, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Whites aged 18-24 are more than twice as likely to attend college than nonwhites in that age group, a gap that has "widened substantially" over the past 12 years, according to the center. Whites are almost three times as likely as nonwhites to have a bachelor's degree - one of the largest gaps in the country, according to the center.
RELATED: Colorado's degrees of success
Rocky Mountain News

Watershed ordinance approved
Grand Junction Sentinel
The Grand Junction City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday night to adopt a comprehensive watershed ordinance, giving the city another tool to protect its drinking water from the potentially harmful effects of energy development. Most of the 50 or so people remaining at what was a crowded at City Hall auditorium earlier in the evening cheered and gave council members a standing ovation just after 10:30 p.m.

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I just received word today from the Secretary of State's office that they changed their voter registration drive form, so all of the forms I had for use for conducting voter registration efforts need to be tossed (into my recycle bin) and I need to pick up more forms from the county.

Normally, I would not mind, but this is September of an election year. Every voter registration effort across the state now has to make a special trip to the county office to pick up more forms, and who knows what happens to the forms people fill out today.

It was shocking to see the Secretary of State to change the rules once during an election season, but twice is unbelievable.

Invite your friends to watch the Ted Kopple Special on the Discovery Channel, "The Price of Security". It will air this Sunday, September 10th at 8 pm ET.

Ted Koppel explores the tension between the need to provide security and the need to protect individual liberties in a 90-minute documentary entitled "The Price of Security."

Also, this Sunday, ABC will air a "docudrama" called "The Path to 9/11″ which blames President Clinton for the 9/11 attacks while praising President Bush. The writer of the movie is an unabashed conservative named Cyrus Nowrasteh.
You can read reviews and take action at Media Matters for America, Think Progress, ActForChange and the DNC.
Check out: MSNBC, Keith Olbernamm (with 9/11 Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste - Video-WMP Video-QT).

www.NoWMDs.com

MoveOn.org has done a wonderful analysis of the costs of the Iraq war both in dollars and in foregone spending on other items. They have also calculated it by state and by electoral district. Here are their numbers for Colorado:
01 Colorado $568,916,557
02 Colorado $792,126,190
03 Colorado $516,308,377
04 Colorado $622,877,712
05 Colorado $652,625,139
06 Colorado $1,053,467,771
07 Colorado $662,540,296

You can see the full report at Link

Colorado Top Stories

Criticized, not condemned
Denver Post
A report released Tuesday in the death of Jamaal Bonner, who was shot three times in the back by police in 2003, questioned several police tactics but did not say the department was at fault. Instead of carrying a handgun, the report noted, the first SWAT officer who entered the motel room after Bonner had sold crack cocaine to an undercover officer was carrying an MP-5 submachine gun, which is a semi or fully automatic rifle. Also, police stopped taping the incident after Bonner sold the crack, so none of the events leading up to his death were recorded. The report, compiled by a tactical review board from the Aurora Police Department and a SWAT expert from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, urged that undercover prostitution and drug stings, from first contact to arrest, be videotaped to ensure police actions can be thoroughly reviewed as necessary.
RELATED: Aurora planning to record arrests
Rocky Mountain News

In Bellwether District, G.O.P. Runs on Immigration
New York Times
Here in the Seventh District, the Republican push brought a Senate subcommittee hearing the other day to explore the costs of illegal immigration. The taxpayer-financed, ostensibly nonpartisan meeting took on the air of political theater. "They are here in this district with this topic attempting to drum up support in a closely contested Congressional race," fumed Lisa Duran, director of an immigrant rights group. If that was the tactic, it may have worked. The angry confrontation thrust the session into the headlines, reminding residents that the issue remained a leading one in the House race between Rick O'Donnell, the Republican nominee, and Ed Perlmutter, the Democrat, who are running to fill a seat being vacated by Representative Bob Beauprez, a Republican seeking the governorship.

Housing slump deepens
Denver Post
Weld County homeowners saw their home values decline as the nation's housing market hit the brakes hard in the second quarter, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. Weld County home values fell 0.35 percent in the second quarter, compared with a year ago, a sharp downshift from a 3.7 percent annual gain seen in the first quarter. Elsewhere along the Front Range, existing homes continue to appreciate, but at a slower pace. Metro Denver home values rose at a 2.7 percent annual clip in the second quarter, down from a 3.4 percent pace in the first.

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The blogosphere is trying to figure out what is going on with Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice and Bush's new reference point linking their wars to 1939 and WW2 against the Nazis. (Interesting that this rhetoric seems to be a replacement for analogies to the Cold War against godless communism.) There are a lot of semiotics in that language:
1. The Nazis were bad people, therefore, our opponents are bad people.
2. The Nazis were the aggressors that started WW2, therefore our opponents are the aggressors in this war.
3. The Nazis were racists who persecuted the Jews, therefore the Arab opposition to Israel is racist.
4. The world was united (except for Italy, Japan and for a while the Soviet Union) against the Nazis.
5. Appeasement in 1939 encouraged the Nazis to invade Poland and begin WW2, therefore, "appeasement" (i.e. US withdrawal from Iraq) will encourage more attacks on us.
6. The legal climate of a formally declared war allowed FDR to do things that would never have been allowed otherwise - e.g. interning Japanese-American citizens in concentration camps, holding military tribunals, instituting a draft...

None of these associations are made explicit in the speeches, and they do not hold up to even the most superficial historical scrutiny, but the associations have power that shapes attitudes.

ABC-TV and Scholastic, Inc. have teamed up to teach school children that the Clinton Administration is to blame for 9/11. That and other misrepresentations are part of an ABC docudrama called The Path to 9/11. It's set to air next Sunday and Monday.

The network claims the show is based on the report of the official 9/11 Commission. People who served on the commission say it's not even close. Rush Limbaugh is bragging that a friend of his wrote the script. Some former members of the Clinton Administration say scenes involving them are entirely fabricated, or depicted as the opposite of what really happened.

For instance, the show reportedly says Clinton stopped CIA agents from capturing Osama bin Laden when they had him in their grasp. The 9/11 commission and former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger say it's a flat out lie.

The show accuses the Washington Post of tipping off bin Laden that the CIA was listening in on his satellite phone calls. Right-wing talk show hosts have also been spreading that lie. In fact, it was the conservative Washington Times that first reported the story.

You can read all about it in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

It's bad enough that ABC is pushing right-wing propaganda on America, but Scholastic, Inc. is doing even worse. The company is pushing teachers to use The Path to 9/11 in classrooms so students will think the fabricated propaganda is real history.

Here's part of Scholastic's Path to 9/11 Classroom Discussion Guide:

On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, The Path to 9/11 (an ABC miniseries that details the historical events leading up to 9/11, beginning with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) will air as a nationwide broadcast. This dramatization of events is based on The 9/11 Commission Report, published in July 2004. Created by Congress and President Bush, the 9/11 Commission was a bipartisan group charged with providing an account of the events surrounding 9/11 and recommendations for preventing future attacks.

The Path to 9/11 offers your students and their families important information regarding the causes of and events leading to that tragic day. Encourage your students and their families to watch The Path to 9/11 and use the accompanying Resources and Discussion Guide pages to:

* Track the historical time line of events before, during, and after 9/11
* Lead critical discussions about these events
* Use critical-thinking skills and analysis in classroom debate

It is important to look back over the past five years and consider the events that have occurred, what led to those events, and how they impact the future of our nation and the world.

Scholastic's role in this is just plain wrong. How about calling your school district and suggesting that it boot Scholastic out of the schools? Better yet, how about a petition parents can sign to banish Scholastic?

You know the Right-Wing Attack Machine would obliterate any organization that put lies about the Bush Administration in classrooms. Heck, they'd attack any group that put facts about the Bush Administration in classrooms.

There's the lying...

McFadyen ponders legal action over negative ads

Rep. Buffie McFadyen's campaign is considering filing a criminal complaint against a GOP political action group over a series of negative ads denouncing the Democratic legislator for voting for fee increases.

Trouble is, none of the measures actually do that, and at least one of the so-called fee increases that The Trailhead Group is citing actually was a penalty increase for motorists who exceed the speed limit in construction zones, the Pueblo West Democrat said...

The bill McFadyen was referring to, HB1151, doubled traffic fines for drivers who exceed the speed limit through construction zones as a way to protect Colorado Department of Transportation road crews.

The measure was approved on a bipartisan vote last year and signed by GOP Gov. Bill Owens, who created The Trailhead Group that is running the negative ads.

And the cheating...

Candidates assail secretary of state

All three candidates for secretary of state criticized the current officeholder Tuesday for making changes to campaign finance laws two months before the November election...

Cap it off with a little waffling...

Perlmutter accuses O'Donnell of dodging questions

The questions are part of a candidate questionnaire from the Rocky Mountain News.

Among the questions O'Donnell declined to answer were "Do you think the United States should have an immediate and orderly withdrawal of all troops from Iraq?" and "Do you support embryonic stem cell research?"

(at the risk of sounding a meme) Had enough?

You are invited to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of ProgressNow with the Colorado premiere screening of the film:

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers

Thursday, September 21, 2006

$100 VIP reception (per person)
6:30-7:00 p.m. with Gary Hart and the filmmakers of Iraq for Sale
(includes a Premier Pass)

$15 Premiere Pass (per person) includes:
7:00-9:00 p.m. Remarks from the Honorable Gary Hart and
screening of Iraq for Sale
9:00-9:30 p.m. Special presentation and panel discussion (optional)
(Discounted rate of $10 for a Premiere Pass for any non-profit employee, person with a disability, senior citizen, student, union member or veteran)

Where: Main Auditorium of the historic Mayan Theater
110 Broadway, Denver, CO (Free parking at 120 Lincoln Street)

Buy your ticket online here:

Link

For media or special accommodations e-mail us at info@progressnowcolorado.org or call us at 303-991-1900.

Home screenings: If you would like to host a screening at your home beginning the week of October 8th, click the link below:

Link

About Iraq for Sale: From acclaimed director Robert Greenwald, the producer of Outfoxed, this film will expose the hidden truth of rampant profiteering in Iraq through the stories of soldiers, whistleblowers, survivors, and families of loved ones lost to corporate greed. The film uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so. "Iraq for Sale" can trigger a vital debate on our country's priorities in Iraq just a few weeks before American votes.

About Senator Gary Hart: Gary Hart is currently Wirth Chair Professor at the University of Colorado and Distinguished Fellow at the New America Foundation. He was co‑chair of the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century. The Commission performed the most comprehensive review of national security since 1947, predicted the terrorist attacks on America, and proposed a sweeping overhaul of U.S. national security structures and policies for the post-Cold War new century and the age of terrorism.

He was co-chair of the Council task force that produced the report: "America Unprepared--America Still at Risk", in October, 2002. Hart represented the State of Colorado in the United States Senate from 1975 to 1987. In 1984 and 1988, he was a candidate for his party's nomination for President. Senator Hart resides with his family in Kittredge, Colorado.

About ProgressNowAction: ProgressNowAction has rapidly grown to become Colorado's largest state-based internet advocacy organization. Its mission is to build and empower a permanent progressive majority, challenge right-wing misinformation, and hold public leaders accountable. ProgressNowAction is a 501(c)(4) organization, donations are not tax-deductible.

Colorado Top Stories

Attacks on Ritter called misleading
Denver Post
Experts in criminal justice say Republican attacks on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter's record as Denver district attorney are inaccurate and misleading. For weeks, Republican nominee Bob Beauprez and the Trailhead Group - a committee backed by big-money Republicans - have been claiming Ritter let too many criminals avoid punishment. At the same time, Trailhead has begun running ads touting the experience of Republican Attorney General John Suthers when he was district attorney of El Paso and Teller counties. But records obtained from those counties indicate Suthers - at least during the final three years of his tenure - sent fewer felons to prison than Ritter. And Ritter's record for locking up felons exceeded the national average by nearly 3 percentage points, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.
RELATED: True or false? TV ad ripping Ritter on his record as DA
Rocky Mountain News

Rallying for minimum wage
Rocky Mountain News
Backers of a proposal to raise the minimum wage in Colorado used Labor Day, a city park and hot dogs to drive home their argument that it's time to increase the pay of the state's lowest-paid workers. Sponsored by the Boulder County Democratic Party and held before a friendly crowd of about 60 people, the rally late Monday afternoon kicked off the fall campaign on the issue. "We believe that everyone who puts in a hard day's work deserves to be paid for a hard day's work," said Angelique Espinoza of the Boulder County Democratic Party.
RELATED: Minimum wage hike in hands of voters
Fort Collins Coloradoan

Immigrants 'afraid' to report crimes
Rocky Mountain News
When Andrea Lopez's husband and son came home with red welts on their bodies after young thugs shot them with a BB gun in their southwest Denver neighborhood, the first thing she wanted to do was call police. But her husband quickly changed her mind. "He said he hadn't gotten a good look at the boys who shot him and my son, and that police would want him to identify them," she said. But Lopez said that wasn't the real reason they didn't want the cops involved.
RELATED: Immigrants often silent on family violence
Rocky Mountain News

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Denver, Colorado - September, 1 2006 - The River of Light Enterprise, Veterans Justice Alliance Project, with the gracious support of local Gallery Director Trina Hoefling and her staff, will be hosting local author John DeVore. The free event will be held Wednesday, October 4th from 7:00 to 9:30 at the Tennyson Street Gallery at 44th and Tennyson.

John DeVore, a decorated Viet Nam combat Veteran, will introduce his recently released work "Sitting in the Flames: Uncovering Fearlessness to Help Others" and will speak to the journey combat Veterans and the Nation must take to heal the wounds of war.

For 40 years, John Edwin DeVore carried the weight of war before finally removing the burden and looking closely at what it signified. "Sitting in the Flames" is a fascinating and thought provoking study of human character blinded by corporate greed, by the passion to consume, by the myth of armed conflict and by cultural conditioning that fosters what one believes, as opposed to how one behaves. DeVore has written a critically important and timely perspective of war, and he offers a very compelling and priceless message.

As reviewed by New York Times best selling author Ellen Tanner Marsh, "In clear, heartfelt prose, DeVore describes a brave and unflinching confrontation with his past, made necessary in order for him to have a more meaningful future. War, he realized, isn't just one man's experience-it's the sum total experience of an entire country. To stop wars, he argues, we must understand them and why we seem to need them. Beautifully told, DeVore's book is an important and unforgettable addition to the literature of Vietnam..."

The event is the first in a series of events that will be held throughout the fall to bring public attention to the critical gaps in services to vulnerable Veterans living in the Denver-metro area. Currently research indicates that nearly 35% of all homeless people in America are Veterans of US Military Services yet nearly 1 million Veterans across the Country are awaiting the benefits that will keep them out of poverty because the Veterans Administration hasn't finished processing their claims!

The River of Light Enterprise, Veterans Justice Alliance Project was established to raise funds and support "vet to vet" programs to address the long-term care needs of disabled Veterans. The River of Light Enterprise is working closely with Veterans for Peace, the American GI Forum, Veterans Faith Based Village and other Veterans Service Organizations to increase services to Veterans and their families throughout the Denver-metro area.

The thing about blogging is you can go back at any time and examine a whole body of a person's work with no effort. To some extent this is a function of internet archiving in general and not just blogging, meaning that newspaper columnists and other pundits are also easily held accountable for their prior statements. Of course, many newspapers drop articles behind the archive wall after a couple of weeks, which removes them from casual scrutiny. Those of us with access to Lexis-Nexis and other costly archives are still able to have some fun, it's true.

With that accountability comes a sense of responsibility -- you don't want to be the one who goes off half-cocked two days before you have to take it all back because it was totally wrong. It's important that what you say be defensible over the long term, or eventually you're discredited like any other bum with a sandwich board.

Examples of where I've screwed the pooch in this manner include a vociferous defense of Dan Rather's infamous "fake but accurate" memos in 2004. I stand by the "accurate" part of the statement, but the "fake" was a bit of a black eye. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one who bought the idea of a National Guard office possessing the very slickest typewriter possibly available at the time. It's not just enough to suck it up and drive on in this situation: you have to actually learn the lesson and be more careful next time.

With that in mind, I would like to assert something that I think is gonna hold up to scrutiny.

When people study history, especially the nasty parts, a natural thing to do is to compare those prior events to contemporary ones and identify parallels. Objective historians work hard to qualify these kinds of comparisons, while others are merely looking for whatever they can find to win the argument of the day. That's how, for example, stem cell medical research becomes a capital-H "Holocaust" in the mind of James Dobson.

The biggest reason people do this is because historical images are powerful. They amplify a new message with a common frame of reference that the audience can understand clearly. But when misapplied, they either make the speaker look ridiculous or dramatically escalate the vitriol over the issue in question. The latter is the desired outcome, of course, for people who knowingly distort the lessons of history for their own purposes.

In our lifetime, the ultimate historical invocation is and always will be "the Nazis." When one wants to conjure up images of total irredeemable evil, cue Nuremburg rally footage. The fact that the world has not faced a threat anything like Nazi Germany since they were defeated in 1945 means that the comparison is usually hyperbolic in nature. But that surer than hell doesn't stop people from irresponsibly making it.

Belated part 2 (I've been busy):



Little Bear Peak (14,037 ft.), part of the Blanca Group of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, drops to the floor of the San Luis Valley with nary a foothill. Colorado is full of views like this one, but for some reason this was particularly striking to me.



Volcanic breccia at a Wolf Creek Pass overlook. The San Juan Mountains are geologically distinct from all other ranges in Colorado, a volcanic group that rose up well after the Front Range.



Gossamer thread of Treasure Falls makes its way off Sheep Mountain (13,292 ft.) into Wolf Creek Pass.

Next up: the Great Pagosa Hot Spring and sunburn to kill a man.

Colorado Top Stories

Ski resorts champion skies and trees
Denver Post
Aspen Skiing Co. on Thursday joined a coalition of 16 states, several cities, two power companies and more than a dozen environmental groups in petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to force the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, Vail Resorts announced a conservation partnership with the National Forest Foundation. Aspen Skiing is the lone U.S. ski-resort company to file an amicus - friend of the court - brief in the Supreme Court case. "We think climate change is the leading threat to our business," said Auden Schendler, director of environmental affairs at Aspen Skiing. "I think this is by far the most important thing we're going to do all year."
RELATED: Skico goes all out on climate change
Aspen Times
RELATED: Vail Resorts raising money for forest projects
Vail Daily

Health-plan impasse may delay service
Denver Post
Some metro-area hospital patients can expect longer waits for surgeries and fewer hospital choices given that a contract-renewal deadline has expired between hospital operator HCA Inc. and insurer United Healthcare, industry experts said Thursday. Gov. Bill Owens on Thursday discussed the impasse with the Colorado chief executives of both organizations, urging them to continue to negotiate and work toward a resolution, an Owens spokesman said. U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., sent a letter Thursday to HCA and United executives, saying: "The consequences of failing to reach a contractual agreement endangers the health of over 850,000 Coloradans insured by United Healthcare, who could potentially be left without health care providers."
RELATED: Hospital contract void
Rocky Mountain News

TV ad pulled that candidate calls a "lie"
Denver Post
Comcast pulled a controversial political commercial Thursday, one day after an attorney for Republican state Senate candidate Matt Knoedler demanded the cable provider do so. A spokeswoman for Comcast said the company pulled the ad, which attacks Knoedler's record on illegal immigration, pending further review. Knoedler said he felt vindicated. "They knew what they were writing was a lie." The ad, funded by Democratic group Clear Peak Colorado, said Knoedler voted against House Bill 1023, which requires that the state verify most residents' legal status before providing services. Knoedler, of Lakewood, said he voted against the bill in the House because it was too weak, a criticism echoed by Gov. Bill Owens. After the bill was strengthened in the Senate, he said, he voted to support it.
RELATED: Comcast yanks political ad
Rocky Mountain News

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Our tireless volunteers producing hundreds of Bob Ways Bob flip-flops. We'll be shipping the current batch of orders next week.

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More than 100 years ago, the United States celebrated its first Labor Day. On September 4th, we come together again to honor the social progress and economic achievements brought about by working Americans throughout our history. American workers have generated increasingly higher levels of economic productivity which have given rise to higher standards of living. We credit our economic influence not only to our spirit of enterprise and innovation, but to those who have worked in the trenches to make big ideas a reality - - the American Worker.

Many years ago, the central proposition of the American labor movement was "a fair day's work for a fair day's pay." Given greater economic pressures from foreign competition and structural changes in the world economy, we are again faced with this proposition. The minimum wage has not been increased since 1997 and with inflation, thousands of our workers are living below the poverty line. In Denver, the cost of living has increased by nearly 10 percent since 2000. A full-time worker earning the current minimum wage makes less than $11,000 per year. Clearly, this is unacceptable and that's why more than 80 percent of Americans recognize the inequity and overwhelmingly support an increase in the minimum wage.

I have long supported legislation that would increase the federal minimum wage. In 2005 I co-sponsored the "Fair Minimum Wage Act," that would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. I voted against legislation that would have raised the minimum wage but only if we granted more tax-breaks to the rich. Increasing the minimum wage is key to the well-being of working families and American workers deserve more than cynical attempts to reward the rich at the expense of those who make them rich. With costs of living rising, we deserve better and we must do better.

Protecting workers means assuring people a livable wage. It also means protecting pensions. I have taken a firm stand against big businesses that break faith with their workers by ignoring their pension obligations and off-loading them on American taxpayers.

As a strong advocate of worker's rights, I pledge to continue the fight for the working men and women that fuel our economy. I will continue my efforts to assure a livable wage because American workers deserve a fair days' pay for a fair day's work. We must not allow political trickery to stifle genuine progress. Labor Day should not simply be a day to remember events in history, it must be a constant reminder of how important American labor is to our way of life.