http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/category_rss/smartenergy ".........the crisis is still growing because we are continuing to dump 90 million tons of global-warming pollution every 24 hours into the atmosphere — as if it were an open sewer."   (Think of it this way, the world is launching 40 million two and one half ton SUV's or 45,000 space shuttles into the atmosphere every 24 hours. Can you hear him now? I personally think we are way beyond the "oh, shit" moment. mc)  NY Times February 28, 2010 Op-Ed Contributor We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change By AL GORE It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it. Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century. Continued: NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpn http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpn/commentary#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:32:54 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZpn Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZpn/ If anything pisses me off about that charlatan and wannabee Democrat/Green governor Bill Ritter is that he has not seen the virtue of slowing traffic in the metro area, a mere 20% savings at 55 mph vs.65, not to mention the real balls it would take to enforce it. He is obviously worried about those whiney, pissy pants, me generation socker moms and dads who vote Republican, love Jesus and especially white people, flipped their houses and donated the proceeds to their stock brokers. Raise your glass of Pinot Noir to the one eyed king in the country of the blind. MC NY Times February 17, 2010 Slow Trip Across Sea Aids Profit and Environment By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL It took more than a month for the container ship Ebba Maersk to steam from Germany to Guangdong, China, where it unloaded cargo on a recent Friday — a week longer than it did two years ago. But for the owner, the Danish shipping giant Maersk, that counts as progress. In a global culture dominated by speed, from overnight package delivery to bullet trains to fast-cash withdrawals, the company has seized on a sales pitch that may startle some hard-driving corporate customers: Slow is better. By halving its top cruising speed over the last two years, Maersk cut fuel consumption on major routes by as much as 30 percent, greatly reducing costs. But the company also achieved an equal cut in the ships’ emissions of greenhouse gases. Continued at the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/business/energy-environment/17speed.html?hp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJP http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJP/commentary#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:11:07 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJP Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZJP/ "It was primarily a symbolic gesture. Way back in 1979, in the midst of an energy crisis, Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. They were used to heat water for some White House staffers. “A generation from now,” said Mr. Carter, “this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken , or it can be a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people, harnessing the power of the sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil .” Ronald Reagan had the panels taken down............" Think the opposite of the Preamble of the Constitution and you have in a nut shell what modern day Republicans stand for.  Nanny state, indeed, someone has to watch these red state welfare queens.   Run, Sarah, Run.   MC "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union , establish Justice , insure domestic Tranquility , provide for the common defence,   promote the general Welfare , and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity , do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Democrats     Republicans                     ( Coal Mining Lobby last 20 years ) $4,659,133   $17,817,662     21% 79%   Democrats       Republicans                     (Electric Utilities Last 20 Years) $54,524,071  $83,199,434  39% 60% Democrats      Republicans                      (Gas and Oil Last 20 Years) $60,303,284   $184,561,353     24% 75% Source, OpenSecrets.Org New York Times February 13, 2010O p-Ed ColumnistWatching China Run By BOB HERBERT New York Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJd http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJd/commentary#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:31:31 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZJd Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZJd/ NY TimesJanuary 27, 2010, 10:15 am Storing Energy as Ice?By MATTHEW L. WALD Ice Energy A Colorado company says it has designed a better rooftop air conditioning system that effectively stores electricity. The Southern California Public Power Authority — a coalition of several public power agencies — and a seven-year-old Colorado company called Ice Energy have signed a contract to deploy rooftop units that use electricity at night, when demand is low, to make ice. The ice is then used to cool buildings during the day.............." "............ The total 24-hour efficiency improvement is 8 percent,” said Bill D. Carnahan, the executive director of the Southern California Public Power Authority......" NY Times Ice Energy, Inc . http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhs http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhs/commentary#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:51:42 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZhs Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhs/ 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/ Here’s a peek into a bit of geopolitical news that is not making much noise in the US press – Azerbaijan and Armenia are meeting in Munich to discuss settlement of their territorial dispute in Nagorno-Kharabagh, a piece of mountainous desolation occupied in the early 1990s by Armeni after a war when Armenia interceded when the mostly Armenian population of N-K sought to secede from Azerbaijan a couple of decades ago. (Think Kosovo.) Who cares, you say? Outside of the Armenians and Azeris, that is? Well, you should. And Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and most of Europe care. Here’s why. First, some geography: Armenia is a landlocked Christian country that sits between by Muslim Azerbaijan on its east, and Muslim Turkey on its west. Importantly, it is bounded to the south by Iran and to the north by Christian Georgia. If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that Russia and Georgia fought a war a while back, supposedly over some Russian-populated Georgian provinces that were being oppressed by Georgia. You may even remember that there are some important oil and gas pipelines that run across Georgia, right through that combat zone, that carry important energy supplies to Europe. The Russians were very careful that their extensive bombing raids all around it did not damage that pipeline, in effect saying, “We can cut this thing any time we want, and there is nothing you can do about it.” You may also remember that a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over a natural gas pipeline resulted in a Russian cutoff that left much of Europe freezing. So suddenly the spotlight shines on the need to get an alternative pipeline to carry oil and gas from fields around the Caspian Sea to Europe. Such a pipeline is planned – the Nabucco pipeline. And who produces a lot of that energy? Azerbaijan! The straightest shot from Azerbaijan to Turkey is across Armenia, but the N-K dispute has closed that border since the war. And in solidarity with their Muslim brethren, Turkey also closed its border on the western side of Armenia. Here is the map: Caucasus-political_en.svg‎ But now Turkey and Armenia have re-opened their border leaving the Azeris with a lukewarm ally. Armenia has had traditionally good relations with Russia as well as warm relations with the US. And Armenia finally has an American ambassador after years of a vacancy left unfilled by Bush. So it has a neutral and semi-trusted straight shot route. So all that is needed to get that pipeline plan moving is to get the Azeris to open their border with Armenia, and the gas (and money) will flow. And Iran also has a lot of gas and oil, as if you didn’t know. So that is what these obscure talks in Munich are about. They portend a major geo-political shift in an important and volatile region. Watch that space! http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CZhV http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CZhV/commentary#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 02:51:57 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CZhV Doc Martin Doc Martin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhV/ Waste not, want not.  Pee- the most abundant waste on Earth.Urine-Powered Cars: The Pros and Cons Bradford Plumer October 23, 2009 | 12:39 pm For reasons explained before [1], we'll likely all be driving electric cars long before we ever see mass-market vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, which was once the great clean-car hope. Still, the fuel-cell approach is obviously worth researching, and now researchers have lit upon [2] a particularly promising fuel source. Oh yes, urine: Using hydrogen to power cars has become an increasingly attractive transportation fuel, as the only emission produced is water - but a major stumbling block is the lack of a cheap, renewable source of the fuel. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University may now have found the answer, using an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine—the most abundant waste on Earth—at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water. Urine's major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule—importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte used electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive new nickel-based electrode to selectively and efficiently oxidise the urea. To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell—much less than the 1.23V needed to split water. Good to know! Meanwhile, there's an opposing school of thought that, while piss-powered cars are awfully promising, we should really be conserving our urine for other, more important ecological purposes: However, Logan does feel that it would be a good idea to start saving up our urine—although not for the hydrogen. 'You have to remember about the P [phosphorus] in pee—globally we need to start thinking about conserving phosphorus for fertiliser, because, just like oil, one day the deposits are all going to run out and we need to start building phosphorus recycling into our infrastructure,' he says. More on peak phosphorous here [3]. NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRD http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRD/commentary#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:13:20 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZRD Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRD/ Actually, we don't have enough and never will.  Conservation, conservation, conservation.  Solar, solar and more solar.  The earth is not disposable and we have nowhere else to go. Depending on the cooling technology utilized, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations. Denver Water Consumption Denver's 1.1 Million customers use 211 gallons per person per day for a daily total of 232.1 Million gallons per day .  One nuclear reactor's makeup water per day,  15 million gallons.   When both reactors at the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania operate in summer,  nearly 30 million gallons of makeup water per day (or nearly 21,000 gallons per minute) are needed from the river to compensate for cooling tower drift. Colorado Electricity Consumption 44,236 MW = About 37 nuclear reactors = 550 Million gallons of water per day = Over twice the daily consumption of water in Denver.  Cost of one reactor = $6 to $9 Billion = cost of 37 reactors =  $333 Billion @ $9 Billion each.  $333 Billion = 41,625,000 rooftop water heaters @ $8000 each.  Hot water for bathing, etc. accounts for 13% of household energy consumption = 5,750 MW = 4.8 nuclear reactors = $43.2 Billion = 5.4 Million rooftop water heaters. Is nuclear power renewable energy? Nuclear energy uses Uranium as fuel, which is a scarce resource. The supply of Uranium is expected to last only for the next 30 to 60 years (depending on the actual demand). Therefore nuclear energy is not a renewable energy. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnh http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnh/commentary#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:04:57 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZnh Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZnh/ Major bummer NY Times September 30, 2009 Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a Need for Water By TODD WOODY AMARGOSA VALLEY, Nev. — In a rural corner of Nevada reeling from the recession, a bit of salvation seemed to arrive last year. A German developer, Solar Millennium, announced plans to build two large solar farms here that would harness the sun to generate electricity, creating hundreds of jobs. But then things got messy. The company revealed that its preferred method of cooling the power plants would consume 1.3 billion gallons of water a year, about 20 percent of this desert valley’s available water. NY Times http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSm http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSm/commentary#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:54:06 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/ 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/ .....on another thread where I mentioned annual gasoline consumption in Colorado. 49,635,000 barrels or 2,084,670,000 gallons (2.084 billion gallons) Texas consumes 256,552,000 barrels of gasoline per year. A whopping 10.775 billion gallons. They are the number one state in the union for gasoline consumption, number two is Florida at 181 million barrels or 7.602 billion gallons. Sounds like Texas has too many cornfield Cadillacs. California uses less gasoline than Colorado coming in at 35 million barrels or 1.478 billion gallons. The population of California exceeds Texas by 12 million or two and half Colorados. Sounds like we need to Californicate Colorado. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSv http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSv/commentary#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:58:42 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSv Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 3 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSv/ A follow up to the "Real Men Tax Gas" Governor Ritter ran on a platform that very much included energy conservation. Reducing the speed limit to 55 mph in the metro area and increasing the gasoline tax would reduce consuption by 20%(a sin tax if ever there was one) Republicans have never seen a highway project they didn't like or for that matter an increase in Defense spending, with an increase of $1 in addition to the paltry 20 cents collected now would go a long way toward sustainable infrastructure as well as funding the CANG and CNG. The interstate highway system is for national defense, is it not? Much ado was made recently regarding the discovery of over three billion barrels of oil by BP in the Gulf, a whopping six month US supply. We ARE running out of US oil, sooner rather than later and our consumption of foreign oil is a huge problem and a national security issue. As far as the governors political will to do the right thing, may I use a recent quote by Governor Ritter regarding politically unpopular decisions. But, "that's just part of the life you live when you're in leadership," the governor said. 49,635,000 barrels of gasoline annual consumption in Colorado (49.635 million barrels 42 gallons per barrel) 2,084,670,000 gallons (2.084 billion gallons) $416,934,000 gasoline revenue @ $.20 per gallon $2,501,604,000 gasoline revenue@ $1.20 per gallon $500,320,800 reduction of revenue with 20% reduction in consumption if the governor reduces the speed limit to 55 mph in the metro area and people start using more fuel efficient automobiles. $2,001,283,200 ($2.001 billion) Projected total annual revenue $822,320,629 (2006 Transportation Budget) $1,178,962,571 (Transportation Surplus) ($1.178 billion) $6,200,000,000 (FasTracks Total Budget) ($6.2 billion) http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSW http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSW/commentary#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:19:59 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSW Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSW/ September 20, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist Real Men Tax Gas By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Do we owe the French and other Europeans a second look when it comes to their willingness to exercise power in today’s world? Was it really fair for some to call the French and other Europeans “cheese-eating surrender monkeys?” Is it time to restore the French in “French fries” at the Congressional dining room, and stop calling them “Freedom Fries?” Why do I ask these profound questions? Because we are once again having one of those big troop debates: Do we send more forces to Afghanistan, and are we ready to do what it takes to “win” there? This argument will be framed in many ways, but you can set your watch on these chest-thumpers: “toughness,” “grit,” “fortitude,” “willingness to do whatever it takes to realize big stakes” — all the qualities we tend to see in ourselves, with some justification, but not in Europeans. But are we really that tough? If the metric is a willingness to send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and consider the use of force against Iran, the answer is yes. And we should be eternally grateful to the Americans willing to go off and fight those fights. But in another way — when it comes to doing things that would actually weaken the people we are sending our boys and girls to fight — we are total wimps. We are, in fact, the wimps of the world. We are, in fact, so wimpy our politicians are afraid to even talk about how wimpy we are. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSZ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSZ/commentary#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:49:18 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSZ Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSZ/ "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/ Religious Leaders Urge Action on Climate Change, Clean Energy Jobs As leaders from Colorado’s faith communities, we call for dramatic action to avert the most drastic effects of global climate change as one of the dominant moral imperatives of our time. The earth, our home, is a gift—we did not create it or earn it, and we do not own it, but we do have a sacred responsibility to be good stewards of that gift. The earth's resources are finite, and with our technological prowess we have the ability to upset the ecological balance which supports our life on this earth. We must be attentive to the impacts of our activity on the environment, and not foolishly pretend that we are immune from those impacts. We believe that our planet is in great peril from the threat of climate change. We believe it is real, and that it is to a significant extent human-induced. We accept the vast body of scientific evidence which forecasts severe consequences for the Earth and all its inhabitants—including rising sea levels, increased drought and desertification, more frequent and more severe extreme weather events, ocean acidification, new disease epidemics, massive population relocation and attendant conflicts-- if we fail to act. Our thirst to consume the earth's natural resources, and our reliance on old energy sources which emit greenhouse gases, has led us to a both a spiritual and environmental crisis. In view of this, for us as spiritual leaders to remain silent would be an abdication of our responsibilities. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/nbock6552/CZSJ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/nbock6552/CZSJ/commentary#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:49:18 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/nbock6552/CZSJ Nelson Bock http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/4b519578d91f18752b_efm6b4e7n.jpg Nelson Bock 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSJ/ 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/ Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, et al., all DINOs. Anti-tax, anti-prosperity and anti-justice for all is anti-American. Look no further than the peamble of the US Constitution or the beauty of the concept, "E pluribus unum" "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. " NY Times September 9, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist Our One-Party Democracy By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today....................................... ...........................The G.O.P. used to be the party of business. Well, to compete and win in a globalized world, no one needs the burden of health insurance shifted from business to government more than American business. No one needs immigration reform — so the world’s best brainpower can come here without restrictions — more than American business. No one needs a push for clean-tech — the world’s next great global manufacturing industry — more than American business. Yet the G.O.P. today resists national health care, immigration reform and wants to just drill, baby, drill. “Globalization has neutered the Republican Party, leaving it to represent not the have-nots of the recession but the have-nots of globalized America, the people who have been left behind either in reality or in their fears,” said Edward Goldberg, a global trade consultant who teaches at Baruch College. “The need to compete in a globalized world has forced the meritocracy, the multinational corporate manager, the eastern financier and the technology entrepreneur to reconsider what the Republican Party has to offer. In principle, they have left the party, leaving behind not a pragmatic coalition but a group of ideological naysayers.......................” Continued at the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09friedman.html http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSx http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSx/commentary#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:01:04 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZSx Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSx/ It seems the Supreme Court is poised to rule that corporations are truly “people” under the law and as such, are protected by the First Amendment’s right to free speech. This will overturn over one hundred years of legal precedent and create a political imbalance of seismic proportions. The current ability of large corporate interests to influence legislators through their lobbyists will pale in comparison to the ability to directly participate in partisan politics that a Supreme Court ruling would allow. Literally billions of dollars could flow into efforts to defeat legislators who do not toe their line, thus drastically changing our nation’s political landscape. The voices of average citizens, non-profits and even labor unions would be buried under an avalanche of corporate cash. If the Supreme Court decides that a corporation has First Amendment rights, protected by the Constitution the same as a natural born person, then it follows that a corporation should be extended all other rights a person has under the Constitution. This should include the right to vote in local, state and federal elections, in addition to the individual voting rights of the officers and stockholders of the corporation. If and when the Supreme Court issues the expected ruling, a sympathetic corporation should attempt to register as a voter and when registration is denied, file a federal lawsuit. A creative mind could imagine many more rights that personhood would bestow upon corporations. Such actions would be viewed as frivolous by Federal Courts but would be newsworthy and serve to draw attention to the issue and hopefully spur an expanded debate. The time has come for a Constitutional Amendment that would redefine the status of corporations. A campaign to advance such an amendment would have the advantage of the simple sound bites and simple mantras that every voter could understand. After our near financial collapse caused partly by corporate greed, now may be the perfect time to introduce such a measure. Support may never be this high again. Something must be done quickly. Such a ruling would effectively usurp the current moderate, liberal, progressive voting majority in this country and replace it with a permanent right wing majority in Congress and a permanent “lock” on the White House…beginning as soon as 2010 and 2012... all bought and paid for by major corporate interests. The establishment of a corporate state was a central tenant of our enemies in WWII. The threat to our Representative Democracy should be apparent to all. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/DarrylEskin/CZNR http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/DarrylEskin/CZNR/commentary#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:00:29 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/DarrylEskin/CZNR Darryl Eskin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/078fe461d1d51def72_wwnmv2yq7.jpg Darryl Eskin 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZNR/ Those damned liberal intellectual elitists are at it again. Don't they know ignorance is bliss? If God didn't want us to rape the planet He wouldn't have given us dominion. ".....and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." con·ser·va·tive 1. reluctant to accept change: in favor of preserving the status quo and traditional values and customs, and against abrupt change MC NY Times September 4, 2009 Global Warming Could Forestall Ice Age By ANDREW C. REVKIN The human-driven buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere appears to have ended a slide, many millenniums in the making, toward cooler summer temperatures in the Arctic, the authors of a new study report. Scientists familiar with the work, to be published Friday in the journal Science, said it provided fresh evidence that human activity is not only warming the globe, particularly the Arctic, but could also even fend off what had been presumed to be an inevitable descent into a new ice age over the next few dozen millenniums. The reversal of the slow cooling trend in the Arctic, recorded in samples of layered lakebed mud, glacial ice and tree rings from Alaska to Siberia, has been swift and pronounced, the team writes. Continued NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/science/earth/04arctic.html?hpw http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5s http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5s/commentary#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:41:49 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5s Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5s/ FYI, the discovery is over Three Billion barrels, a whopping six month US supply :-((. You can bet this is not a serious article, but a paid advertisement. All is well, we found some more oil. Next thing you know we'll be declaring war on Belize or fill in the blank, over oil rights. LOL MC BP Discovers ‘Giant’ Oil Field in Gulf of Mexico ".......Further appraisal will be required to ascertain the volumes of oil present, BP said, but a spokesman said the find could be bigger than its Kaskida discovery, which had more than three billion barrels of oil........" NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/global/03oil.html?_r=1&hp http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5d http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5d/commentary#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:47:18 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CZ5d Mike Collins http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/bcdcfd97be4d93f8d2_izvrmv8p8.jpg Mike Collins 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5d/