http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/category_rss/penalreform This letter is in regards to a grave injustice done by Adams County Colorado prosecutors, Adams County Sheriffs officers, a lab department manager of the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, who falsely presented drug test results that were negative as positive, to convict a 53 year old toddler teacher, pizza delivery driver of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs with a breathalyzer reading of 0.00. Diane Branthoover, the victim of this false arrest, trial and conviction has never been arrested prior to this incident. This is all documented testimony sworn under oath Mrs. Branthoover was a victim of snow covered roads, hypertension blood pressure of 202/108, and a county sheriff angry and determined to make an arrest, regardless of the cost. This is fully documented by drug test results that per federal laboratory mandates were to be reported as negative, perjured testimony under oath of arresting officer and State witness, more. Diane was also the victim of legal counsel that she hired that failed to present any defense what-so-ever during trial. The test results of Diane were never presented in court, just lab tech manager Cynthia Silva-BurBach testifying that she failed. When Diane received the actual lab results, researched the lab requirements to urine testing, she found that per federal law, they were to be reported as negative. The same test results could be presented to Department of Transportation for a commercial driver’s license. The same lab tech testified that the negative test results caused “uncontrollable eye and leg tremors” in Diane, as well as other unbelievable allegations. During the same trial, Adams County Sheriff Jason Gallegos testified that Diane crashed into concrete median and stop sign Highway 224 and York. There is not a stop sign or concrete median at that corner, it’s a traffic signaled intersection, as well as other perjured testimony as to Diane’s conduct. The same officer changed his testimony from an earlier hearing on the same incident. Her paid attorney Joe Lusk based his only defense on a label on the urine sample after Diane had given him everything he needed to get the case dismissed. He left her after trial crying uncontrollably, wondering what had happened. The same test results could be found by taking Advil, Nuprin, Motrin, Excedrin IB etc. Diane lost her job and reputation as a toddler teacher and delivery driver, lost the respect of her peers, her license, her vehicle, more. They charged her at the same time with careless driving or which she was also convicted causing 16 points on her driving record, and was refused a “red license” because she refused to admit alcohol use. Her husband lost his business because of this, and they have assumed a debt of over $11,000 – not including the home mortgage debt of over $220k. This is on appeal now before Adams County District court filed “pro se”, again all of this is documented and before the court awaiting decision. In the State’s response, they do not dispute the allegations describe here, except to say that the witnesses are beyond reproach. Because this is filed pro se, without attorney, she believes it will be brushed under the rug. Diane can provide all transcripts, drugs tests, pictures, etc., by contacting her or her husband at dyanfb@gmail.com or timthemechanic@gmail.com ; or by phone at 720 275-6985 or 720 338-7848. Sincerely, Tim and Diane Branthoover http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/timothybranthoover/CZhC http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/timothybranthoover/CZhC/commentary#comments Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:52:38 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/timothybranthoover/CZhC User from Denver, CO User from Denver, CO 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhC/ Today on DenverPost.com, Vincent Carroll wrote : "Shouldn't this country's experience after 9/11 reassure those who fear a backlash against Muslims?... The most recent data, from 2007...: Of 1,477 offenses motivated by religious bias, only 9 percent were directed at Muslims." Peter Boyles was echoing the "there has been no Anti-Muslim backlash" mantra.  They seems to be ignoring the rest of the FBI Religious Hate Crimes data : Year - % of Religious Hate Crimes that were Anti-Islamic 1995 - 2.3% 1996 - 1.9%  (page 11) 1997 - 2.0%  (page 10) 1998 - 1.5%  (page 10) 1999 - 2.3%  (page 9) 2000 - 1.9%  (page 11) 2001 - 26%   <-- I'd call this a "backlash" 2002 - 10.8%  (page 13) 2003 - 11%  (page 9) 2004 - 13% 2005 - 11.1% 2006 - 12% 2007 - 9.0%  (last year available) Muslims in America were 0.5% of total U.S. population in 2001 (Jewish was 1.4% ).  In 2007, Muslims made up 0.6% of total U.S. population (Jewish was 1.7% ).   http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/nowmds/CZRs http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/nowmds/CZRs/commentary#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:47:03 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/nowmds/CZRs NoWMDs http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/fb7bdc7167f99eb19d_h7xmv2a1w.gif NoWMDs 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRs/ 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 . Three Things You Can Do Right now 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. Forward this e-mail to 5 friends in Denver. 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 . http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRT/commentary#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:27:26 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRT Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRT/ 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." http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRz http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRz/commentary#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:14:32 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRz Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRz/ 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. What can you do? 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 . http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnR http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnR/commentary#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:34:37 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnR Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnR/ Could $292,000 pay for a college or trade school education, room and board?  Subsidize a young person until they could land a good job?  With the change left over, could it pay to make high school more hospitable to the poor? For public works projects? For more teachers? Research and development?  We ignore the needs of young people at a terrible cost. And yes, it does take a village.  What are the economic effects of 1.2 million high school dropouts per year?  At $7,300 per student, that amounts to $8.76 billion a year, year two adds another 1.2 million students and becomes $17.52 billion, ad infinitum. Can we solve the problem?  Can we afford not to? What can you buy with $8.76 billion?  How about 175,200 teachers at $50 K a pop, that's one teacher for every 7 dropouts.  MC "The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000. Mr. Sum said that figure took into account lost tax revenues, since dropouts earn less and therefore pay less in taxes than high school graduates. It also includes the costs of providing food stamps and other aid to dropouts and of incarcerating those who turn to crime." October 9, 2009 Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts By SAM DILLON On any given day, about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates, according to a new study of the effects of dropping out of school in an America where demand for low-skill workers is plunging. The picture is even bleaker for African-Americans, with nearly one in four young black male dropouts incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized on an average day, the study said. That compares with about one in 14 young, male, white, Asian or Hispanic dropouts. Researchers at Northeastern University used census and other government data to carry out the study, which tracks the employment, workplace, parenting and criminal justice experiences of young high school dropouts. "We’re trying to show what it means to be a dropout in the 21st century United States," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern, who headed a team of researchers that prepared the report. "It’s one of the country’s costliest problems. The unemployment, the incarceration rates — it’s scary." A coalition of civil rights and public education advocacy groups and a network of alternative schools in Chicago commissioned the report as part of a push for new educational opportunities for the nation’s 6.2 million high school dropouts. "The dropout rate is driving the nation’s increasing prison population, and it’s a drag on America’s economic competitiveness," said Marc H. Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who is president of the National Urban League, one of the groups in the coalition that commissioned the report. "This report makes it clear that every American pays a cost when a young person leaves school without a diploma." The report puts the collective cost to the nation over the working life of each high school dropout at $292,000. Mr. Sum said that figure took into account lost tax revenues, since dropouts earn less and therefore pay less in taxes than high school graduates. It also includes the costs of providing food stamps and other aid to dropouts and of incarcerating those who turn to crime. Continued at the: NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnn http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnn/commentary#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:25:13 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnn Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnn/ If one were consider the US financial industry as a threat to the welfare of the nation and an entity without constraint or regulation, being in effect outside the law of the US with many foreign investors in collusion might legally be considered "foreign" and a quasi government, fully capable of seriously injuring the host nation. One might also assume that given the conservative/capitalistic propensity that the 14th Ammendment gives corporations citizenship status, a conclusion might be drawn that the US government (of, by and for the people) has been overthrown and seriously injured without a shot being fired. As far as attracting "good people" and your belief that members of Congress work long hours, them making more money in the private sector, reasonable compensation, I find all to be extremely laughable. Assuming that most members of congress are lawyers and also taking into consideration their incompetence as law makers, I would be hard pressed to hire one of them: In May 2006, the median annual earnings of all wage-and-salaried lawyers were $102,470. The middle half of the occupation earned between $69,910 and $145,600. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of lawyers in May 2006 were: Management of companies and enterprises $128,610 Federal Government 119,240 Legal services 108,100 Local government 78,810 State government 75,840 "Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: "...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]." "Outside legal spheres, the word "traitor" may also be used to describe a person who betrays (or is accused of betraying) their own political party, nation, family, friends, ethnic group, team, religion, social class, or other group to which they may belong. Often, such accusations are controversial and disputed, as the person may not identify with the group of which they are a member, or may otherwise disagree with the group leaders making the charge." http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnC http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnC/commentary#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:51:01 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnC Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnC/ I've been a little depressed lately, the Michael Moore movie seems to have intensified the despair. Much has been said to marginalize the so called "left wing" of the Democrat Party. In reality, the left wing is the "right" wing, meaning that it is the segment of the party that is mostly correct in it's philosophies and promotes academic, logical introspection and solutions. Most of all they are somewhat unselfishly devoted to truth, justice and the idea that America is duty-bound to strive for a more perfect union. That liberty and justice for all applies to our law and most certainly to economic equity. I am afraid that conservative/blue dog Democrat thought implies no room for improvement or reflection and a preference for a balance that is in their favor. The Right Wing of the Democrat Party seems the most "Christian" in its opinions and deeds. However, they are less likely to belong to an organized religion, they carry within them the only law that matters when dealing with most human, animal and earthly interaction. The Golden Rule is at once logical and effortless, what else could qualify as "self-evident" if not the Golden Rule. Where are we as a nation? From the Declaration of Independence comes a profound clue, an indication that we are in fact sheep, the status quo is undemanding of social responsibility or activism: "accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." The Declaration of Independence "When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed............................." In the words of Ann Richards in answer to, "What must Democrats do in order to win" she answered, "You (All of us) must find the courage to talk to the people you don't know and tell them things they may not want to hear." Michael Moore has that kind of courage. I wish I had asked Governor Richards if there was a cure for complacency. MC CONFORMITY We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove. - Mark Twain's Autobiography Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect). Mark Twain- Notebook, 1904 Conformity-the natural instinct to passively yield to that vague something recognized as authority. Mark Twain- "Corn Pone Opinions" TREACHERY Gratitude and treachery are merely the two extremities of the same procession. You have seen all of it that is worth staying for when the band and the gaudy officials have gone by. Mark Twain- Pudd'nhead Wilson TRADITION ...scrap heap of unverifiable odds and ends which we call tradition. Mark Twain- Speech, 5/25/1908 JUSTICE The rain ...falls upon the just and the unjust alike; a thing which would not happen if I were superintending the rain's affairs. No, I would rain softly and sweetly on the just, but if I caught a sample of the unjust outdoors I would drown him. - Mark Twain, a Biography TRUTH Familiarity breeds contempt. How accurate that is. The reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it. Mark Twain- Notebook, 1898 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSY http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSY/commentary#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:58:31 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSY Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSY/ I saw the movie tonight at a special showing at Chez Artiste. Mr. Moore has done it again, he has taken pure, unadulterated truth and made it an art form. Moore expressed a desire to be a priest in his early days, I think he became one for all intents and purposes. Bravo, Mr. Moore, you are a priest in every sense of the word. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSP http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSP/commentary#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:08:48 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSP Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSP/ "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people" Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSN http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSN/commentary#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:59:05 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSN Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSN/ Sign me up, I'm a "Liberal" If your elected Democrat doesn't talk and think like this, you have a problem and perhaps you should encourage that "Centrist" to switch parties. I certainly wouldn't contribute my money or time to a person just because they use a "D" by their name. People who pretend to be liberal can get elected in Colorado, e.g. Ken Salazar, a liberal Hispanic, Bill Ritter, a liberal, law and order, Catholic kind of guy ("Law and Order" types scare me, they usually consider "prison building" a solution). Ben NightHorse Campbell, a liberal Native American. Liberals can get elected in Colorado, even if they are DINOs. MC "What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label 'Liberal'? If by 'Liberal' they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer’s dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of 'Liberal'. But if by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal', then I’m proud to say I’m a 'Liberal'." John F. Kennedy Wikipedia http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSM http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSM/commentary#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:04:19 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSM Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSM/ Not sure why there was not a concerted effort right after WWII, especially in Europe, where the resources/manpower were available and the flight logs accessible. There were more Airmen lost in Europe than the total number of Marines lost in the Pacific. A total of 78,750 (19%) almost one in five, of the 405,399 killed in action (KIA) were reported as missing in action (MIA). The Vietnam war produced a rate of 4% MIA, the lowest total for all American wars. There are no accurate figures that I can find for WWI, total US KIA were 116,000. For the world, it was not quite the grand daddy of all wars with some BATTLES like the Somme, equaling the total missing for the US in WWII. Assuming 20% of total WWI KIA's, 10 million, one could assume 2 million missing on both sides and approximately 20,000 US MIA's. In WWI there were well over 6 million civilian deaths. Figures for the grand daddy of them all, WWII, over 25 million military deaths and 47 MILLION Civilian deaths. Can you imagine the deaths among animals? In other words and the more I think about it, there is something bad, stinking wrong with humans that I'm not so sure can be fixed. I guess we have an equal in nature, bacteria? MC NY Times September 6, 2009 Teams Seeking Remains Dig Back to World War II By ELISABETH BUMILLER BAULER, Germany — At the start of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, an American bomber was shot down by German fighter planes and sent into a fiery, nose-first crash in a cow pasture here. The pilot’s body was never found. Almost 65 years later, on a recent late summer day, a 10-member Defense Department team was in the same pasture, searching through mounds of excavated mud for a trace of the airman. The group had already unearthed shreds of a parachute and part of a leather glove when one of the team’s forensic anthropologists, Allysha Powanda Winburn, found a crucial clue to the mystery: a small piece of what she called “possible osseous remains,” or potential human bone. The real mystery, at least to the 77-year-old farmer who witnessed the crash at the age of 13, Hermann Reuter, was the group of Americans who had turned up in the pasture near his home in search of the pilot. “Why after such a long time?” he asked, perplexed. Continued at the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/world/europe/06search.html?hp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZNg http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZNg/commentary#comments Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:34:40 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZNg Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZNg/ Let me see, "Win hearts and minds" "tiny village" "two hijacked fuel tankers" "free fuel" "No free lunches" "kill them all, let God sort them out" "collateral damage does not translate in Afghan" "Recruit more Taliban/insurgents/al Qaeda" "Come back, give them free NATO fuel" "win more hearts and minds" "Repeat as necessary" "Nation building R us" "No more Vietnams" MC ".............NATO officials acknowledged that coalition aircraft had destroyed two hijacked fuel tankers in the tiny village of Omar Kheil, 15 miles south of Kunduz. They said they were investigating reports of civilian deaths, but stressed that the attack was aimed at Taliban militants. "German forces in northern Afghanistan under NATO command called in the attack, news services reported. Afghan officials said that the strike had killed insurgents as well as civilians who had surrounded the trucks and were siphoning fuel when the strike occurred. There were differing accounts of how many civilians were killed.............." ..........The air attack exploded the tankers, and people close to the trucks were blown to bits. Some of those farther away died from severe burns, said the police chief of Kunduz Province, Gen. Razaq Yaqoobi..........." ".........A spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, took responsibility for the hijackings and claimed that the casualties were all civilians. He said that when the trucks couldn’t cross the river, the Taliban decided to bleed some of the fuel from the tanks, but when local villagers found out, hundreds rushed to collect the fuel........." NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?_r=1&hp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5k http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5k/commentary#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:24:32 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5k Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5k/ The thing I like least about "sports" ,other than the parents, are the glorification and incitement of violence and humiliation. After all, competition is another name for war; to win, to kill, to defeat is glorious. To lose is death, humiliation, shame and dishonor. Call hunting what you want, I call it the root evil of our civilization, an act that is extended to our militaristic impulses. Come on, an AK-47 vs. a smart 2000 pound bomb? Where's the sport in that? A high powered rifle against a wolf? How do you cook that "game"? Only a true coward kills with utter impunity. Kill or be killed, the ultimate irony, the mandate of the ignorant to the ignorant. MC NY Times Outposts September 1, 2009, 10:13 pm Hunting Wolves, and Men Timothy Egan They started hunting gray wolves in the high reaches of the Rocky Mountains on Tuesday, the first time in years that people have been allowed to shoot for sport this genetic cousin of man’s best friend. For those who hate wolves and long for the era when they were wiped off the map, and for those who welcomed back this call of the wild, the last few days have revealed some dark feelings in the changing West — and some strength of character as well. A Republican candidate for governor of Idaho, Rex Rammell, was at a political barbecue last week when somebody brought up the tags used by wolf hunters, and then made a reference to killing the president of the United States. “Obama tags?” Rammell replied, to laughter, according to an account in The Times-News of Twin Falls. “We’d buy some of those.” In the Idaho of the past, jokes about shooting a president could sometimes be dismissed without consequence. Indeed, the comment was buried in an initial news story about the gathering, and Rammell sloughed it off later, saying on his Web site that “Obama hunting tags was just a joke! Everyone knows Idaho has no jurisdiction to issue tags in Washington, D.C.” Continued: http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/hunting-wolves-and-men/ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5l http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5l/commentary#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:44:31 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5l Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5l/ I do love picking on this guy and just because he's a Marine and a Democrat doesn't mean he's not a war profiteer. Defense, the biggest con, attracts the biggest cons. MC Murthaville The city that pork built. One night last August, John Murtha, the U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania’s Twelfth Congressional District, paid a visit to the LBK Game Ranch, a private hunting camp in the hills above his home city of Johnstown. About 60 people had gathered in the ranch’s lodge--a luxury five-bedroom log cabin decorated with deer antlers and flat-screen televisions--to raise money for his 2008 campaign. Continued at the New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/murthaville http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5f http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5f/commentary#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:34:36 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5f Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5f/ For once, Mr. Cheney is absolutely and indisputably correct. He is obviously inviting prosecution. MC Political: Synonyms: governmental, administrative, civil, diplomatic, constitutional, electoral, doctrinal, ethical, civic NY Times August 31, 2009 Cheney Calls Interrogation Inquiry ‘Political’ By BRIAN KNOWLTON WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney asserted on Sunday that the Justice Department’s decision to review detainee interrogation practices by Central Intelligence Agency workers and contractors was “a political move” and that President Obama was trying to “duck the responsibility” by saying the choice was the attorney general’s. But the comments from Mr. Cheney, a constant, sharp critic of the Obama administration, drew an impassioned if partial dissent from a prominent fellow Republican, Senator John McCain, their party’s presidential candidate in 2008. Speaking on the television program “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Cheney called Attorney General Eric H. Holder’s decision to name a federal prosecutor to examine abuse of prisoners held by the C.I.A. “clearly a political move — I mean, there’s no other rationale for why they’re doing this.” Continued NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/us/politics/31cheney.html?hp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5L http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5L/commentary#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:42:27 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5L Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5L/ From the movie, "Devil's Advocate" John Milton is the Devil, Kevin Lomax is a hot shot lawyer employed by Milton's firm. He has just found out he is Milton's son. If you haven't seen the movie, by all means, do so. MC Kevin Lomax: "Why the law? Cut the shit, Dad! Why the lawyers? Why the law?" John Milton: "Because the law, my boy, puts us into everything. It's the ultimate backstage pass. It's the new priesthood, baby. Did you know there are more students in law school than lawyers walking the Earth?" Another quote from the movie, Milton telling Lomax about God: "Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow. Ahaha. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is He doing? He's laughin' His sick, fuckin' ass off. He's a tight-ass. He's a sadist. He's an absentee landlord. Worship that? Never." August 30, 2009 Supreme Court to Revisit ‘Hillary’ Documentary By ADAM LIPTAK WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will cut short its summer break in early September to hear a new argument in a momentous case that could transform the way political campaigns are conducted. The case, which arises from a minor political documentary called “Hillary: The Movie,” seemed an oddity when it was first argued in March. Just six months later, it has turned into a juggernaut with the potential to shatter a century-long understanding about the government’s ability to bar corporations from spending money to support political candidates. Continued at the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/us/30scotus.html?hp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ53 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ53/commentary#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:11:56 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ53 Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ53/ Might be the nudge you need to make a contribution to the ACLU. MC NY Times August 30, 2009 A.C.L.U. Lawyers Mine Secret Documents for Truth By SCOTT SHANE WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2003, long before Abu Ghraib or secret prisons became part of the American vocabulary, a pair of recently hired lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union noticed a handful of news reports about allegations of abuse of prisoners in American custody. The lawyers, Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh, wondered: Was there a broader pattern of abuse, and could a Freedom of Information Act request uncover it? Some of their colleagues, more experienced with the frustrations of such document demands, were skeptical. One made a tongue-in-cheek offer of $1 for every page they turned up. Six years later, the detention document request and subsequent lawsuit are among the most successful in the history of public disclosure, with 130,000 pages of previously secret documents released to date and the prospect of more. The case has produced revelation after revelation: battles between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the military over the treatment of detainees at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp; autopsy reports on prisoners who died in custody in Afghanistan and Iraq; the Justice Department’s long-secret memorandums justifying harsh interrogation methods; and day-by-day descriptions of what happened inside the Central Intelligence Agency’s overseas prisons. Continued NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/world/30intel.html?hp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5b http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5b/commentary#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 20:41:55 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5b Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5b/ The Secret Government By Christopher Hayes August 26, 2009 "It is now clear that we are facing an implacable enemy whose avowed objective is world domination by whatever means and at whatever cost. There are no rules in such a game. Hitherto acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply. If the United States is to survive, long-standing American concepts of "fair play" must be reconsidered. " Though these words echo his famous endorsement of working "the dark side" in order to triumph in the "war on terror," they were not, in fact, written by Dick Cheney. They come from the Doolittle Report, which was commissioned by President Eisenhower in 1954 to craft an intelligence strategy for winning the cold war. From a strategic perspective, the threat posed by global communism, headquartered in a massive, nuclear-armed superpower with almost 6 million men under arms, and Al Qaeda, a networked, globally distributed group of thousands of nonstate actors, could not be more different. But the national security state's understanding of each as an existential threat was, and continues to be, nearly identical. The enemy is ingenious, relentless and unencumbered by the procedural and moral niceties that hamstring the bureaucrats of a liberal democracy. Victory--indeed, survival--requires us to become more like them. And so: the CIA contracted a Mafia boss to murder Fidel Castro, sent biotoxins to the Republic of Congo with orders to poison Patrice Lumumba and tested LSD on unsuspecting citizens (one of whom jumped out of a window to his death). It fomented coups and bloodshed against democratically elected governments, while the National Security Agency, in coordination with the major telegram companies, read every single telegram coming in or going out of the country for three decades. The FBI infiltrated peaceful antiwar groups, breaking up marriages of activists with forged evidence of infidelity, while surveilling civil rights leaders with an assortment of bugs and break-ins. It even attempted to blackmail Martin Luther King Jr. into committing suicide, shipping him tapes of him midcoitus with a mistress and a note that said, "There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation." Continued at The Nation http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090914/hayes http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5W http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5W/commentary#comments Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:14:04 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5W Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5W/ "I say again, as I have before, if health insurance is good enough for the President, the Vice President and the Congress of the United States, then it is good enough for you and every family in America." Senator Edward Kennedy-Democrat National Convention August 12, 1980 Well, things worked out a little different from the way I thought, but let me tell you, I still love New York. My fellow Democrats and my fellow Americans, I have come here tonight not to argue as a candidate but to affirm a cause. I'm asking you--I am asking you to renew the commitment of the Democratic Party to economic justice. I am asking you to renew our commitment to a fair and lasting prosperity that can put America back to work. This is the cause that brought me into the campaign and that sustained me for nine months across 100,000 miles in 40 different states. We had our losses, but the pain of our defeats is far, far less than the pain of the people that I have met. We have learned that it is important to take issues seriously, but never to take ourselves too seriously. The serious issue before us tonight is the cause for which the Democratic Party has stood in its finest hours, the cause that keeps our Party young and makes it, in the second century of its age, the largest political party in this republic and the longest lasting political party on this planet. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5Z http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5Z/commentary#comments Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:26:56 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5Z Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5Z/