http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/category_rss/safeproductsandworkplace I've been laid off from work twice in the past 40 years, and both times i applied for, and received unemployment insurance. There are certain requirements, i.e., make job contacts, and confirm during each two week period that you are eligible for those two weeks of pay. I've discovered two bureaucratic hurdles that probably routinely deprive unemployed workers of funds which, by law, should rightfully be theirs. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/richardmyers/CZpv http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/richardmyers/CZpv/commentary#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:03:53 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/richardmyers/CZpv Richard Myers http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/d7a21bd1f5de483e15_fkshmvxwd.jpg Richard Myers 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZpv/ At a Be the Change candidate forum on February 13, U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff was asked the best way to health care reform. He responded, "Lower the age of eligibility for Medicare to '0'." He was pointing up the failure in Washington to make the best case for reform -- an improved Medicare-for-All single-payer model of insurance with full choice of private providers. To make Medicare Buy-in the public option, Rep. Alan Grayson on March 9 introduced HR 4789, the Public Option Act, a simple 4-page act that "lets any American buy into Medicare at cost. You want it, you pay for it, you're in. It adds nothing to the deficit; you pay what it costs." The bill provides a real option for those dissatisfied with current for-profit health insurances that continue to game the system. The top 5 health insurance companies increased their profits by 56 percent in 2009 ($12.2 billion combined), while imposing continued double-digit premium increases. Those who are satisfied with current coverage can keep it. Support Rep. Grayson's petition for the Public Option Act, signed by over 11,000 as of Friday. He is calling for 3 votes on health -- the Senate bill, the reconciliation amendments, and the Public Option Act. Fifty legislators had signed up as cosponsors for the bill within two days. Urge our legislators & House leadership to support this bill (Capitol switchboard 866-338-1015). It is the best way to salvage and simplify health care reform, expanding choice of providers, and providing true competition to for-profit private health insurers, where 94 percent of U.S. private health insurance markets are near-monopolies. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZpW http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZpW/commentary#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:40:09 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CZpW Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZpW/ Amendment 54 is dead . May it rest in peace, forever undisturbed. I think it is worth recalling what Amendment 54 was all about. While i don't often rely upon the mainstream media to explain issues related to work life and democratic process, i think their perception of this bill gives a good overview. There was one newspaper that approved of Amendment 54, the Aspen Times . Their entire editorial comment in support consisted of, Vote yes on Amendment 54.  http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20081008/DAILYCOMMENT/810079961&parentprofile=search Newspapers opposing Amendment 54 included the Rocky Mountain News , Denver Post , The Mountain Mail (Salida), P ueblo Chieftain , Longmont Times-Call , Grand Junction Sentinel , Loveland Reporter-Herald , Boulder Weekly , Cortez Journal , The Durango Telegraph , Yellow Scene Magazine , and the Steamboat Pilot & Today . Some of their comments, and a brief roundup of other labor issues after the fold. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/richardmyers/CZpx http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/richardmyers/CZpx/commentary#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:33:47 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/richardmyers/CZpx Richard Myers http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/d7a21bd1f5de483e15_fkshmvxwd.jpg Richard Myers 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZpx/ Not only are conservatives somewhat immoral about most things, they are Weak, Incompetent, Malingering, Pussies ( WIMP's )  Think Dick Cheney. MC "Conservatives may be more responsive to health reform, he suggested, if it is framed as a national security argument. For example, American companies complain about the difficulty of competing with foreign companies that don’t have to pay for employee medical coverage. In that sense, our existing health care system leaves us vulnerable." "That foreign threat might make conservatives sweat so much that maybe, just maybe, they’d consider revisiting the issue."  hahahahahaha NY TimesFebruary 14, 2010Op-Ed ColumnistOur Politics May Be All in Our Head By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF We all know that liberals and conservatives are far apart on health care. But in the way their brains work? Even in automatic reflexes, like blinking? Or the way their glands secrete moisture? That’s the suggestion of some recent research . It hints that the roots of political judgments may lie partly in fundamental personality types and even in the hard-wiring of our brains. Researchers have found, for example, that some humans are particularly alert to threats, particularly primed to feel vulnerable and perceive danger. Those people are more likely to be conservatives. One experiment used electrodes to measure the startle blink reflex, the way we flinch and blink when startled by a possible danger. A flash of noise was unexpectedly broadcast into the research subjects’ earphones, and the response was measured. Continued at the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/opinion/14kristof.html   http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJ8 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJ8/commentary#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 17:11:53 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJ8 Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZJ8/ And we export what? $6.4 Billion of war toys to Taiwan.  China could swat Taiwan like a gnat.  BTW, anyone checking the containers coming in from China?  No need to, you know you don't bite the hand that feeds you.  Considering that we prop up "monarchs" in the Middle East and their people live lives of desperation is it any wonder there are a lot of pissed off Arabs?  Take Iraq for instance, production of 3.5 million barrels a day @ $70 a barrel would provide an annual income for every man, woman and child of $3,726.   When you spend upwards of $18 Billion on weapons (Saudi total) and dole out $ Billions to sons, daughters, wives, uncles and cousins, it tends to cut into the $3,726.   BTW about those Iraqi chemical weapons: "THE US and Britain sold Saddam Hussein the technology and materials Iraq needed to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Reports by the US Senate's committee on banking, housing and urban affairs -- which oversees American exports policy -- reveal that the US, under the successive administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr, sold materials including anthrax, VX nerve gas, West Nile fever germs and botulism to Iraq right up until March 1992, as well as germs similar to tuberculosis and pneumonia. Other bacteria sold included brucella melitensis, which damages major organs, and clostridium perfringens, which causes gas gangrene." The Senate report also makes clear that: 'The United States provided the government of Iraq with 'dual use' licensed materials which assisted in the development of Iraqi chemical, biological and missile-system programs.' This assistance, according to the report, included 'chemical warfare-agent precursors, chemical warfare-agent production facility plans and technical drawings,........................... .............The Senate report also makes clear that: 'The United States provided the government of Iraq with 'dual use' licensed materials which assisted in the development of Iraqi chemical, biological and missile-system programs.' This assistance, according to the report, included 'chemical warfare-agent precursors, chemical warfare-agent production facility plans and technical drawings, *chemical warfare filling equipment , biological warfare-related materials, missile fabrication equipment and missile system guidance equipment'., biological warfare-related materials, missile fabrication equipment and missile system guidance equipment'.  (*You need filling equipment to load US 155 mm artillery projectiles) Source NY TimesJanuary 31, 2010China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy By KEITH BRADSHER TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines , and is poised to expand even further this year. China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants. These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China. “Most of the energy equipment will carry a brass plate, ‘Made in China,’ ” said K. K. Chan, the chief executive of Nature Elements Capital, a private equity fund in Beijing that focuses on renewable energy.  NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/energy-environment/31renew.html?hpw http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhP http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhP/commentary#comments Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:15:04 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhP Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhP/ For the $663 Billion we are spending this year on defense, we could build 2,652- 64 MW solar concentrators and produce a total of 169 GigaWatts of electricity. For $663 Billion you could install 82 million roof top photovoltaic panels @ $8000 each. There are 129 million housing units in the US. For $663 Billion you could erect 236,785 wind turbines with a capacity of 473 giga watts. For $663 Billion could pay a four year college tuition @ $16,000 for 41 million students. For $663 Billion you could build 1,326 Veterans Administration hospitals @ $500 million each. That works out to 26 new, state of the art hospitals per state. For $663 Billion you could build 2,882 L.A. Class high schools at $230 Million each. That works out to 57 per state. For Colorado that is almost one per county. For $663 Billion -16,575 miles of high speed rail line at $40 million per mile. About 331 miles per state. For $663 Billion 13,260 miles of light rail at $50 Million per mile. For the 50 largest cities in the US, that is 265 miles for each city. For $663 Billion -29 million Toyota Prius automobiles, 10 percent of registered autos in the US saving 37 million gallons per day of the 378 million gallons per day the US consumes. That works out to 13.8 Billion gallons a year or 776 million barrels of oil producing 18 gallons of gasoline per barrel. That represent 128 days of OPEC imports at 5.95 million barrels per day. That is $30 Billion is almost 5% of the $667 Billion annual trade deficit or another 1.3 million hybrids built right here in the US. For $663 Billion -442,000 miles of water pipe. For $663 Billion -66,300 waste water treatment plants capable of sustaining 45,000 people at $10 Million each. Total capacity 2.983 Billion people. For $663 Billion -3.07 Million housing units at the median price of $215,000 each For $663 Billion increasing the entire annual State Department budget, $13.2 Billion, 50 times. The mission of the State Department is peace keeping. For $663 Billion- 245,555 miles of new interstate highway at $2.7 million per mile. For $663 Billion - 221,000 miles of new rail road track at $3 million per mile For $663 Billion you could feed 363 million impoverished people for a year at $5 per day. There are 963 million malnourished people in the world. For $663 Billion you could build 1.326 million hybrid buses at $500,000 each. That works out to 26,520 buses per state. For $663 Billion you can purchase over 66 million top of the line, street legal golf carts at $10,000 each. 1.326 million for each of America's top 50 cities or all 50 states. For $663 Billion -2,833 Minneapolis I-35 Bridges at $234 Million each. 56 new bridges for every state in the union. For $663 Billion- 697 Sears Towers at $950 million each. That is 13 for every state in the union. For $663 Billion- 110 million water wells 500 feet deep at $12 a foot ($6000 each). Enough to supply a well for every nine people in Africa. Total population one billion people. The annual profit for Lockheed Martin in 2009, $32.665 Billion. Lockheed employs 140,000 people and represents 5% of the defense budget. Assuming that 140,000 employees represent 5% of the civilian defense labor force, that total would be 2.8 million and would represent almost 2% of the total US labor force. The total US labor force is 154 million. All things considered Ford Motor Company has twice the employees as Lockheed, three times the sales and a negative profit. I suspect Ford represents a capitalist enterprise and Lockheed is a government supported, monopolistic enterprise. Last, even though the list could be endless, $663 Billion a year is $2,195 annually for every man, woman and child in the US. For a family of four that amounts to an extra $731 a month. Enough to raise the standard of living substantially. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZh7 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZh7/commentary#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:12:10 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZh7 Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZh7/ Great op/ed by Frank Rich. MC "Last year the president pointedly studied J.F.K.’s decision-making process on Vietnam while seeking the way forward in Afghanistan. In the end, he didn’t emulate his predecessor and escalated the war. We’ll see how that turns out.   Meanwhile, Obama might look at another pivotal moment in the Kennedy presidency — and this time heed the example . The incident unfolded in April 1962 — some 15 months into the new president’s term — when J.F.K. was infuriated by the U.S. Steel chairman’s decision to break a White House-brokered labor-management contract agreement and raise the price of steel (but not wages). Kennedy was no radical. He hailed from the American elite — like Obama, a product of Harvard, but, unlike Obama, the patrician scion of a wealthy family. And yet he, like that other Harvard patrician, F.D.R., had no hang-ups about battling his own class. Kennedy didn’t settle for the generic populist rhetoric of Obama’s latest threats to “fight” unspecified bankers some indeterminate day. He instead took the strong action of dressing down U.S. Steel by name. As Richard Reeves writes in his book “President Kennedy,” reporters were left “literally gasping.” The young president called out big steel for threatening “economic recovery and stability” while Americans risked their lives in Southeast Asia. J.F.K. threatened to sic his brother’s Justice Department on corporate records and then held firm as his opponents likened his flex of muscle to the power grabs of Hitler and Mussolini. (Sound familiar?) U.S. Steel capitulated in two days. The Times soon reported on its front page that Kennedy was at “a high point in popular support.”" NY Times January 24, 2010 Op-Ed Columnist After the Massachusetts Massacre By FRANK RICH It was not a referendum on Barack Obama, who in every poll remains one of the most popular politicians in America. It was not a rejection of universal health care, which Massachusetts mandated (with Scott Brown’s State Senate vote) in 2006. It was not a harbinger of a resurgent G.O.P., whose numbers remain in the toilet. Brown had the good sense not to identify himself as a Republican in either his campaign advertising or his victory speech. Continued at the NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/opinion/24Rich.html http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhT/commentary#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:58:41 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhT Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhT/ From the Bob Herbert op/ed, "Igniting the Growth of Jobs" NY Times '40,000 teachers lost their jobs in the last year.  16 to 29 year olds, worst unemployment ever since national records have been kept.   One in four black men in Illinois between the ages of 20 and 24 has a job.' One of the regents of the University of Colorado, Michael Carrigan, told me that Colorado had a return on investment of 40 to 1 for each dollar invested in higher ed. The only figures I could find for Colorado was a 15.07 percent return.  New Jersey leads the nation with 42.32 percent, followed by Massachusetts 39.16, New York 37.82, California 36.53 percent.  All in all a substantial return on investment.  The lowest in the nation, predictably, was Mississippi at 6.49 percent.  Most surprisingly, Indiana is second from the bottom at 7.22 percent Higher Ed Return on Investment for States Most significantly, Herbert says this: ""The past," as William Faulkner told us, "is not dead. It’s not even past ." The lessons of the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s are right in front of us, ready to be studied, analyzed, updated and applied to the present-day needs of the country." I hate to say this, but we are a country of nepotism, in our unions, our military, in corporations, in government.  Because of this "inbreeding" and counterproductive behavior, we must import the brightest minds/strongest work ethics from around the world to carry our water and be used as if indentured servants.  It is all a vast pyramid scheme where the unqualified extinguish the flames of the most gifted and reap the rewards off the backs of the timid.  Their only qualification?  Being members of the lucky sperm club.  Here's something the "conservative revision" Bible will surely leave out, "As you have done to the least of these......."  The least very much includes the youthful poor, who have no say in the conditions they find themselves in and obviously don't have the attention of those that have the most.  While we argue about war, healthcare, social justice, gay rights, Obama's Nobel Prize, etc., no one considers our most precious asset nor what should be our greatest legacy to them, "Liberty and Justice for all .."  This is what is great about the idea of America, eloquently pronounced in the Preamble of the Constitution, not just to ourselves but to our Posterity,  the word was capitalized unlike the word "ourselves": http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnG http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnG/commentary#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:30:58 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/ 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. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnS http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnS/commentary#comments Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:19:14 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZnS Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnS/ 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/ Great writing and video clips What "Capitalism" Is Not By Terrance Heath Created 10/02/2009 - 11:26am If I were to summarize message Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story in one sentence, it would be this: Capitalism is not a form of government. That's the answer to the question posed at the beginning of the movie, via 1950s educational/propaganda films. Capitalism is not a form of government. It is a tool we've allowed to be used as a weapon. We threw out the instructions and rules for its usage, and it became a weapon — much like a hammer can be used to build a house or smash a skull, depending on whether it's wielded by a carpenter or a psychopath. Moore spends the rest of the movie showing us how we not only tossed out the rules, but junked every other tool in our collective toolbox, and left ourselves with the hammer. But everything is not a nail, and the hammer isn't suited to every aspect of the task in front of us. Moore gives us until the end of the movie to figure out what that seemingly abandoned task might be. Capitalism is populated by people whose names we know and people whose names we don't — all characters in what Michael Moore has subtitled "a love story." We know the speeches of the former, and the stories of the latter, because we've watched those same stories unfold in our own communities in the last couple of years. The speeches were intended to arouse our passions, by retelling part the most recent chapter in the story of how we got here — the part that happened on Wall Street and in Washington. Continued Campaign for America's Future http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSs http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSs/commentary#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:02:16 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSs Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSs/ 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/ "Democrats have been far too timid in taking on the right wing's arguments against government. They have been defensive when they should be going on offense by insisting that government can expand human freedom and give people options they would not otherwise have." The Centrist Public Option By E.J. Dionne Jr. Thursday, October 1, 2009 The strangest aspect of the debate over a public option for health coverage is that the centrists who oppose it should love it. It doesn't involve a government takeover of the health-care system. The idea is that only consumers who want to enroll in a government-run health plan would do so. Anyone who preferred private insurance could get it. The public option also uses government exactly as advocates of market economics say it should be deployed: not as a controlling entity but as a nudge toward greater competition. Fans of the market rightly oppose monopolies. But in many places, a small number of insurance companies -- sometimes only one -- dominates the market. The public option is a monopoly-buster. Centrists tell us they want to hold down spending and fight deficits. Strong versions of the public option, as the Congressional Budget Office showed in its scoring of Sen. Jay Rockefeller's proposal, cut the costs of insuring everyone. Unfortunately, the debate over the public option has rarely concentrated on the substance of the idea. Instead, it has been almost entirely ideological. Because opponents know from polling that the public wants the chance to choose a government plan, they move the discourse to abstract and often demagogic ground. The most revealing "argument" during the Senate Finance Committee's public-option debate on Tuesday came from Sen. Chuck Grassley. "The government is not a fair competitor," Grassley said. "It's a predator." Grassley was then forced to explain how he felt about Medicare. Is it predatory for government to pay health bills for the elderly? Is Social Security, which lives side by side with private pension and savings plans, predatory? Is it predatory for government to regulate, well, predatory lenders or stock swindlers or bank boodlers? Democrats have been far too timid in taking on the right wing's arguments against government. They have been defensive when they should be going on offense by insisting that government can expand human freedom and give people options they would not otherwise have. Continued at the Washington Post http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZS7 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZS7/commentary#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:07:25 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZS7 Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZS7/ The vehicles affected by the advisory were the: * 2007–10 Camry * 2005-10 Avalon * 2004-9 Prius * 2005-10 Tacoma * 2007-10 Tundra * 2007-10 ES350 * 2006-10 IS 250 and IS 350 http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/toyota-seeks-solution-to-floor-mat-issue/ Meanwhile, Toyota’s advice for handling a stuck accelerator includes how to shut off the engine in a vehicle with a starter button. When the vehicle is moving a single stab of the button won’t do it. The button must be held down for three seconds. Mr. Lyons said that was a safety feature to prevent the engine from being shut off accidentally if the button were brushed. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZST/commentary#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:22:48 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZST Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZST/ US firms quit Chamber of Commerce over climate change position Nike and Johnson & Johnson among corporations resigning from business organisation in protest over chamber's resistance to 'cap-and-trade' legislation The US Chamber of Commerce has been accused by Pacific Gas & Electric of 'extreme rhetoric and obstructionist tactics' for its opposition to action on climate change. The largest American business federation, the US Chamber of Commerce, has suffered a rash of high-profile walkouts as multinational companies become uncomfortable with the organisation's hard-line opposition to measures tackling climate change. Continued: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/sep/29/us-chamber-commerce-climate-change http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSk http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSk/commentary#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:50:49 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSk Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSk/ FYI, I sure am glad I finally figured out the html editor. :-)) They Say Trickle Down Economics is a good thing for business. What has worked even better for business-corporate welfare. The Democrats are mostly to blame, Democrat legislators recieve more money from the top 50 industries in every category except the automotive industry and by substantial margins. http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php Regarding Corporate Welfare  "According to the Cato Institute, the U.S. federal government spent $92 billion on corporate welfare during fiscal year 2006. Recipients included Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, Dow Chemical, and General Electric. Alan Peters and Peter Fisher have estimated that state and local governments provide $40-50 billion annually in economic development incentives, which many critics characterize as corporate welfare." "The U.S. Agricultural Department is required by law (various U.S. farm bills which are passed every few years) to subsidize over two dozen commodities. Between 1996 and 2002, an average of $16 billion/year was paid by programs authorized by various U.S. farm bills dating back to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, the Agricultural Act of 1949, and the Commodity Credit Corporation (created in 1933), among others. The beneficiaries of the subsidies have changed as agriculture in the United States has changed. In the 1930s, about 25% of the country's population resided on the nation's 6,000,000 small farms. By 1997, 157,000 large farms accounted for 72% of farm sales, with only 2% of the U.S. population residing on farms. " http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSH http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSH/commentary#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:51:04 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSH Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 5 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSH/ Starts Friday, October 2 at the Mayan Theatre and Greenwood Village In Capitalism: A Love Story, filmmaker Michael Moore (Sicko, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Roger & Me) tackles an issue he has been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world). Moore explores the root causes of the global economic meltdown and takes a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what he has described as the biggest robbery in the history of this country—the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSr http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSr/commentary#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:11:32 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSr Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSr/ "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/ I just had to throw this chart in. According to these statistics, 95 percent of all American wage earners are chumps for change, pocket change that is. And the point of the rat race is? Michael Moores email below the chart. MC For Tax Year 2007 Percentiles Ranked by AGI AGI Threshold on Percentiles Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid Top 1% $410,096 40.42 Top 5% $160,041 60.63 Top 10% $113,018 71.22 Top 25% $66,532 86.59 Top 50% $32,879 97.11 Bottom 50% http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSp/commentary#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:40:56 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/ Must be the Anschutz money, do you think? Read below and tell me who his master is. Better yet go to his site and read how many times he repeats his experience with big money. And because he understands complex financial and economic issues he's going to protect "working families" from the big bad wolf and has anyone asked him why things have to be so complex?. Not once does he mention using his law degree to uphold the Constitution and protect working families, organized labor and the poor from corporations run amok. MC "Michael was a Managing Director at the Anschutz Investment Company, where he managed the restructuring of over $3 billion in corporate debt. Representing Colorado as our state’s next U.S. Senator, Michael will use his understanding and leadership on complex financial and economic issues to be a voice for Colorado’s working families." Source Bennet's Website: http://bennet.senate.gov/about/ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSn http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSn/commentary#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:53:48 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/