You think I'm kidding? It could have happened to me.

A few winters ago I let my new neighbor--a woman who had just escaped from an abusive relationship--borrow my car. She knocked on my door in the middle of the night, crying. Her newborn baby had a 105 degree fever, and she had to get to the emergency room.

Everything went fine until she was pulled over because one of the brake lights had burned out. As it turns out, her license had been suspended due to an unpaid ticket, and she didn't even know it. It was no big deal--the police called me, I put on my moon boots, and trudged half a mile to drive her and her baby home from the spot where she was pulled over. The police were nice, considering the circumstances: no tickets for her or for me.

If I-300 had been law, the police would have been required to impound my car, and I would have been forced to pay the $2,700 in bonds and fees to retrieve my car from the impound lot. And that doesn't even include the cost of towing.

That's why I'm asking you to vote No on Denver's Initiative 300 before 7:00 p.m. tomorrow.

It's deceptive. It's scary. It's expensive. And it's unnecessary.

Police officers already have the ability to impound vehicles if they are concerned about public safety. The Denver Post, Mayor Hickenlooper, ten members of the Denver City Council, House Speaker Terrance Carroll, and a long list of Denver community organizations and individuals oppose Initiative 300. And the proponents of this nightmare are counting on low turnout in an off-year election to sneak this one past us.

You can get more details on Initiative 300 by visiting http://www.VoteNoOnImpound.com.

1. Vote. Turn in your ballot by 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. You can drop it off at the Webb Building downtown (201 W Colfax) or do a drive-through dropoff at the Denver Elections Division office. (3888 E. Mexico Ave. at Colorado Blvd.). It's too late to mail it--you need to hand deliver it.
2. Forward this e-mail to 5 friends in Denver.
3. Share this information on Facebook status, Twitter, and other social networks to remind people to vote and vote no on I-300.

If you haven't received your ballot yet, or if you lost it or spoiled it, go to either the Webb Building or the Denver Elections Division before 6:00 p.m. today, or between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. If you have any questions about the process, dial 311 to contact the Denver Elections Division.

Wednesday, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill that has been championed mainly by Democratic members of Congress for over a decade in the face of largely Republican opposition based on hideous lies from legalizing pedophilia to canceling the free exercise clause.

Somewhat lost in the celebration and remembrance of Matthew Shepard, the bill's namesake, was the story of Angie Zapata, an 18 year-old transgender woman from Greeley. She was brutally beaten to death with a fire extinguisher and left for dead just over a year ago because, as the thug who murdered confessed, "gay things must die."

“It’s not like I went up to a school teacher and shot her in the head or killed a straight, law-abiding citizen," he boasted to his girlfriend in a jailhouse-recorded phone conversation. And if he were to ever encounter a gay person in prison, he proclaimed that he would kill that "pink-shirt wearing motherfucker."

There's an election on Tuesday! 

If you vote by mail and haven't turned your ballot in yet, hand-deliver your ballot to your County Clerk's office Monday or Tuesday to ensure that it's received in time for your vote to count. Your county may have more than one possible drop-off location for your convenience. If you haven't received your ballot yet, contact your county clerk to find out how to obtain a replacement ballot. Below, we've included some other information that may help.

Whether you're liberal, conservative, progressive, libertarian, or a completely unaffiliated free spirit, vote.

The elections in odd years involve local issues from school boards to city council to county commissioner. There may also be bond issues, initiatives, and referenda--all very local to your city or county. Although elections call to mind voting for President, Governor, and legislature, the fact is that most of what affects our daily lives happens locally. Our schools, our city streets, our zoning boards, even our trash collection are all local issues.

If you don't exercise your right to vote in these local elections, you will miss the best opportunity you will have this year to affect change for yourself and your family.

• According to the Secretary of State, there is an election in every Colorado county except Archuleta, Hinsdale, and Phillips.
• Most Colorado counties have an all-mail election this year. If you have not received a ballot or information on where to vote, contact your county clerk right away.
• Your ballot must be received by your county clerk no later than 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd for your vote to be counted. Postmarks don't count.
• If you already voted by mail, you can make sure your ballot was received on the Secretary of State's secure voter lookup website:
  https://www.sos.state.co.us/Voter/secuVoterHome.do
• If your county has a polling place election, your polling place may not be in the same location as last year. Contact your County Clerk if you are not sure where you should vote.
• If you need to contact your county clerk for any of the above reasons, you can find your county clerk's contact information here:
  http://www.elections.colorado.gov/Default.aspx?PageMenuID=1397

If Initiative 300 in Denver passes, and you forget your wallet and get pulled over, police officers will be forced to impound your car leaving you stranded.

Which is why we're asking for your help. We need you to vote No on Initiative 300 if you live in Denver County.

It's deceptive. It's scary. It's expensive. And it's unnecessary.

Police officers already have the ability to impound vehicles if they are concerned about public safety. The Denver Post, Mayor Hickenlooper, ten members of the Denver City Council, House Speaker Terrence Carroll, and a long list of Denver community organizations and individuals oppose Initiative 300. And the proponents of this nightmare are counting on low turnout in an off-year election to sneak this one past us.

• Send an e-mail to 5 friends in Denver and ask them to vote no.
• Talk to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers in person about how important it is for them to return their ballots, and ask them to vote no on Initiative 300.
• Sign up to volunteer.

As for voting, the 2009 Election will be Mail-In Ballot only. Voting couldn't be easier-- it just takes 2 stamps to return, or you can drop it off to the Denver Election Commission in person. So please Vote NO on Initiative 300 and help spread the word.

If you live in Denver, you should have received your ballot in the mail. To check on your voter registration and on the status of your ballot, click here to look it up at the Secretary of State:

http://www.sos.state.co.us/Voter

If you believe you are registered to vote and you have not received your ballot, call 311 today.

It is possible that the workers at King Soopers and Safeway may be forced to strike, or worse--they could get locked out soon. They have been negotiating hard for a new contract since this spring, but the highly profitable grocery corporations don't want to put enough money in the pension fund to cover the pensions the workers were promised.

If there is a strike, we want you to be ready to shop somewhere else to avoid crossing a picket line.

We've made this nifty map that you can use to shop responsibly. Check it out. And if there are locally-owned stores in your area that don't show on the map, use the link on the map page to submit those locations and we'll add them.

http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/ShopResponsibly

Senator Michael Bennet was one of 30 signatories on a letter to the Senate leadership demanding that the HELP Committee's optional public insurance plan be included in the final bill. The next day, Senator Bennet, Senator Udall (not ours, but his cousin from New Mexico), and others joined Senator Brown on the floor to press for the public option in person.

Yesterday I sent out an e-mail encouraging people to contact their congresspeople and encourage them to support the President's healthcare plan, including a public option. Predictably, the hate mail rolled in. Here's a best-of: [profanity warning...to say nothing of birther stupidity] [emphasis added]

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Udall Announces Support for Confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court

Washington, D.C. -- Today, U.S. Senator Mark Udall announced that he plans to vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor when the Senate considers her nomination to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"As a U.S. Senator I must give my advice and consent before any of the President's nominees to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court may be seated, and I take my responsibility seriously. I said I would take my time to study Judge Sotomayor's record and background and consider the Judiciary Committee hearings on her confirmation before making a decision. Now, as the Senate prepares to vote, I am announcing my support for her confirmation.

"Judge Sotomayor is an extremely accomplished jurist, and she has a very compelling personal story. This historic nomination is not only a source of pride for Hispanic Americans, but all Americans because we all take heart and feel pride when we see an individual overcome enormous obstacles and achieve great things through hard work and perseverance.

"But while her story is inspiring, what matters most are her qualifications for the job, her record, and her approach to the Constitution. And that is where I am most impressed.

"Judge Sotomayor navigated her Senate confirmation hearings with grace. Her years as a prosecutor and a sitting judge were evident. She took tough questions and gave clear and forthcoming answers. Her poise through hours of questioning is a testament to her strength of character. And my study of her record convinces me that she would be an unbiased judge.

"Sonia Sotomayor is a wise choice and a valuable addition to the Court. A generation after my father testified in the Senate in favor of Sandra Day O’Connor becoming the first female Supreme Court Justice, I am humbled and honored to support Judge Sonia Sotomayor."

Click here to thank him by Twitter

In each of our lives, we experience moments of shock that we will never forget. When Kennedy was shot in 1963. When the Challenger exploded over Florida in 1986.

For me, it was when 21 year-old Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead on a cold October night in 1998. Matt was killed because he was gay. It sent chills of terror through the gay and lesbian community because the message was clear: you're next.

Matt's murder sparked a national movement to amend the federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by sexual orientation, gender, or disability.

After ten years, that change in law is finally in sight. Tonight, the U.S. Senate will vote on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Both Senator Mark Udall and Senator Michael Bennet are cosponsors of this bill. The House version of the bill passed earlier this year with the support of six Colorado Representatives, and President Obama has committed to signing it.

Will you sign our virtual thank-you card to the members of the Colorado delegation who support this important law?

http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/HateCrimesThanks

Angie Zapata was an 18 year-old transgender woman from Greeley who had just moved into her first apartment on her own. She was murdered--in her killer's own words--because "all gay things need to die."

Part of ProgressNow Colorado's mission is to counter the right-wing message machine, and invariably that really ticks off the far-right and the unfortunate souls who actually believe the likes of the leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh.

Earlier this week, I sent out a message to our members in the 4th Congressional District that seems to have struck a nerve. We asked folks to sign our thank-you card to Representative Betsy Markey for her leadership and favorable vote on the House climate change bill known as "ACES."

Here's a sampling of the hate mail I received from the far right. Particularly interesting is the misogynistic tone many of them took. I wonder if they speak to their wives and mothers like this? Names and addresses removed to protect the moronic...spelling and grammar errors left intact.

New unemployment data came out showing the job market continues to worsen.

My Facebook friends reflect this. Four times this week, friends of mine have announced their availability in the job market via their Facebook statuses.

Colorado has lost almost 100,000 jobs in the past year according to the Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment.

Only a fraction of the stimulus money has been spent, and most of that has come in the form of food stamps and extended unemployment benefits, and other direct assistance programs as opposed to public infrastructure projects. There is wisdom in taking the time to ensure that projects are sound and the money is not wasted, but it is frustrating to see that money delayed.

Read this piece from Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic. It's pretty biting, and yet there's nothing I can see with it that is untrue. What's wrong with this picture?

Here we are, in the summer of 2009, with gay servicemembers still being fired for the fact of their orientation. Here we are, with marriage rights spreading through the country and world and a president who cannot bring himself even to acknowledge these breakthroughs in civil rights, and having no plan in any distant future to do anything about it at a federal level. Here I am, facing a looming deadline to be forced to leave my American husband for good, and relocate abroad because the HIV travel and immigration ban remains in force and I have slowly run out of options (unlike most non-Americans with HIV who have no options at all).

And what is Obama doing about any of these things? What is he even intending at some point to do about these things? So far as I can read the administration, the answer is: nada. We're firing Arab linguists? So sorry. We won't recognize in any way a tiny minority of legally married couples in several states because they're, ugh, gay? We had no idea. There's a ban on HIV-positive tourists and immigrants? Really? Thanks for letting us know. Would you like to join Joe Solmonese and John Berry for cocktails? The inside of the White House is fabulous these days.

Good.

Every session, somebody drops in a bill that makes suspicion of not wearing a seat belt a primary offense for cops to pull you over. Of course everyone should be wearing their seat belt. And in a perfect world, this might not be a bad idea for a law. But it's been shown time and time again around the country that blacks and latinos get stopped by police disproportionately, and this traffic law would only provide another excuse for law enforcement to pull someone over for the crime of DWB.

Even ignoring all the studies about racial bias in police stops, I don't want to be subject to this law. My car has an adjustable-height shoulder belt. You can not tell I am wearing my seat belt unless you're looking right in the driver's side window or through the front windshield. I could get pulled over every day for that reason.

So kudos to the legislature for once again killing this very stupid bill. Along with the dumb RIAA bill that comes up every year to forbid me from selling CDs of music that I myself composed, arranged, and performed, hopefully the DWB bill will continue to die annually like the weeds in my yard.

Editor's note: the roll-call vote shows that GOP Rep. Mike Coffman did in fact vote for the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We regret the error and thank Rep. Coffman for his support.

By a vote of 249 to 175, the House of Representatives just passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. All of Colorado's Democratic representatives voted for the bill.

Watch Representative Polis speak during the debate, it's very good:

Watch Representative Markey speak in favor of the bill (she rocks!)

The trial of Angie Zapata's accused murderer Allen Andrade has reached a milestone in that the prosecution has rested its case. So far we've heard all kinds of heinous testimony and evidence of hatred and violence in this case.

You can follow the rest of the trial on AngieZapata.com include live updates viw Twitter from the courtroom from Pam's House Blend blogger Autumn Sandeen and the Greeley Tribune, all aggregated on this site.

That's what it's all about, baby!

Just check out all of this patriotic merchandise. Get your "Got a birth certificate?" bumper sticker, or your "Obama bin Lyin" pro-impeachment sticker. What about "Rush is right"?

My favorite is the intro text, in which they are clearly bypassed by the double-entendre:

The Reagan.org / Patriot Depot duo has been invited to display our tea bags at the official tea party in Washington DC at the US Treasury Department (National Stage) 12:00pm-2:00pm and Lafayette Park (Grassroots Stage) 11:00am-3:00pm. The media has been invited to watch us unload the tea bags at 9:00 AM. The tea bags are going to serve as the back drop for the events at Lafayette Park. Later that day, we will be heading a short distance over to the Treasury department for an authorized protest with the tea bags. Major Media, including Fox News, will be there.

Pardon me while I adjust my teabags... In my Luzianne iced Arnold Palmer, of course--not the other thing.