U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

Governor See Full Big Line
(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line
(D) A. Gonzalez

(D) George Stern

(R) Sheri Davis

50%↑

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
April 01, 2014 06:29 AM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 89 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"As contagion of sickness makes sickness, contagion of trust can make trust."

–Marianne Moore

 

Tweet
Share

Comments

89 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

  1. I have a giant favor to ask of everyone here. My mom is in the most serious challenge of her career. Because of her support for gay marriage, she has a primary opponent who is the wife of the pastor at the local fundamentalist church.

    Please give her a donation. Even if it's just $5.00 ($25.00 is better)

    ps to BlueCat – there is no Democrat running for this seat so the winner of the primary wins the seat.

          1. Thank you. And for the ones in Hawaii, ask them to tell everyone they know in Kailua to vote the Republican primary. That is a gigantic help.

            FYI, when you got to vote in the primary in Hawaii you are given a ballot that has both party's primary. You then pick which one to vote. So it's not just getting your supporters to go vote, it's getting them to vote in my mom's primary rather than the US Senate primary.

    3. As State chairman of the Committee to Aid Republicans Who Don't Suck, I apologize for the long period of inactivity of our organization.   However, having finally found one who doesn't suck, we happily sent a donation to David's mom.   It's actually very important to keep a viable two-party system, but doing so requires candidates who don't suck.   May her tribe increase.cool

        1. I'm really sorry David. I just can't bring myself to make a donation to a Republican under present conditions. If you could get your mom to switch, I'd be happy to.  As it stands, I feel like good people shouldn't remain in what the GOTP has become. Besides, my late lefty grandpa's eternal rest would be seriously disturbed. And he was a very tough guy. Kept scabs from crossing picket lines. Don't want any ghost coming after me with a baseball bat.

          2. BC, I understand your angst, but I would be remiss if I didn't say one more time that if you ever had the opportunity to meet Cynthia in person she would win you over.  She is an absolutely delightful, wicked-smart visionary who has well-earned her position in Hawaii politics.  She's a rare find in Republican circles today. 

  2. Increasing Dependence on the State

    Yesterday's lovefest on Pols of the latest round of Obamacare "numbers" left me wondering.  If 2/3 of the people who signed up on the exchange previously had insurance and 3/4 of the people who did not and have now newly acquired insurance are being subsidized by the state, is that success?

    Seems to me the first number is like lining up people to be shot, taking the few survivors to the hospital and crowing about how many people you saved.

    The second number is  taking pride in the degradation of the human spirit. Look at how many handouts we gave out.

    Personally, I think teaching people to fish, rather than giving them the scraps off your plate is the way to go, but I am neither a Socialist or a Democrat.

    1. Personally, I think teaching people to fish, rather than giving them the scraps off your plate is the way to go, but I am neither a Socialist or a Democrat. 

      Me too! Let's start with:

      1. Eliminating corporate welfare.
      2. Pricing in externalities, starting with the oil companies paying for our military in the Middle East.
      3. Eliminate rent seeking.
      4. Require Wall St to pay the cost of addressing the great recession.

      I'd prefer to start with the above as that's where the big bucks are.

      1. David,

        1.  We should eliminate corporate and non-corporate welfare. Why are people who rent because they can't afford to buy subsidizing buyer's mortage deductions?  That can be a significant source of revenue and would have the desirable effect of depressing the cost of housing.

        2.  I favor pricing in externalities, but would not do that for national defense.

        3.  The problem is not corporations asking the government for free rent.  It is the system of government that gives them free rent.

        4.  Sometime after the Dems in Congress who required banks to loan money to people who did not have the means to pay it back get prosecuted, we should go after those that passed that fraud on to others.  

        I have not seen any great appetite by those in power to do either because the people they would need to prosecute are either themselves, their friends or the people that pay to get them reelected.

        1. You'd think all this lying would eventually take a toll on AC's sanity. Maybe the $5 per post from AFP CO helps with that. 

          Anyway, here's some refutation of andrew's provable lies:

          1. New enrollees won't end up paying their insurance bill: Given that the newest enrollees haven't even gotten bills yet, the only thing we can go on are payment rates earlier enrollees, and among them, 85-90 percent have paid on time.
          2. New enrollees already had insurance: There aren't reliable national statistics on this, but Kentucky and New York are both tracking stats to answer this question. Their findings? In Kentucky, 75 percent of new enrollees were uninsured. In New York it's 60 percent.
          3. Too few healthy young people are enrolling, which will cause a death spiral as insurance rates soar: The jury is still out on the number of young enrollees, but even if it stays at previous levels, it won't have a destabilizing effect on the system—in other words, no death spiral.
          4. More people were cancelled than enrolled: This is nothing more than a Ted Cruz applause line. No evidence suggests it's true. In fact, Hiltzik points to a Rand study showing at most 1 million policies were canceled and that insurers retained most of those customers by offering them better, ACA-compliant plans.
          5. The White House is cooking the books: This claim represents the distilled essence of the unskewers, but it's not only bogus (see 1-4) it's also absurd—as Hiltzik points out, the stats coming from states that ran their own exchanges are better than the stats coming from the Federal government. If the Feds were cooking the books, why would their numbers be worse than average?

          1. White House 'cooking the books'? What makes his claim laughable is that the most encouraging figures don't come from the federal government at all, but from states with their own enrollment programs.

            The eight states with the best records of signing up their eligible citizens in exchange plans (seven states plus DC), all have their own exchanges and websites. Vermont leads the parade at 83% enrolled. California, which leads all states in number of exchange enrollees at more than 1 million, ranks fourth with a 41% outreach rate.

            If the feds are cooking the books, they've cooked them to look worse, not better — the 36 states that dumped their enrollment responsibilities on the federal government are clustered at the bottom of the list, most of them with enrollment rates of 20% or less of eligible citizens. Many of these are states that actively discouraged or interfered with enrollments of their citizens in health insurance plans — behavior that should be grounds for impeachment or recall of their governors and legislators. [Los Angeles Times, 3/31/14]

          2. zapp, Let me help you.

            The way you get binding insurance coverage is to submit your first monthly payment.

            No payment = No insurance coverage.

            Insurance is not a have yours call mine kind of thing.

            You pay you have it.  You don't pay you don't have it.  It is really not very complicated, unless you have something to hide.

    2. Personally, I think teaching people to fish, rather than giving them the scraps off your plate is the way to go, but I am neither a Socialist or a Democrat.

      Personally, I, too, think teaching people to fish is the way to go, and I will also provide scraps if they fail to catch a fish, rather than seeing them stave. But I am neither a Fascist or a Republican, so that's not a big deal to me. 

      Btw – Poll: Obamacare Support Breaks Even For First Time. Looks like the "public opinion" of the overall bill is starting to shift, and not in your favor. Could it be that people are starting to wise up now that your doomsday talking points haven't come to fruition? 

      1. Orange,  This is pretty weak. You are really gropping for good new.  This is not it.

        The poll does not mention "Obamacare" or even the "ACA".

        Here is the question:

        Overall, do you support or oppose the federal law making changes to the health care system?

        25% strongly supported the federal law making changes.

        24% somewhat supported the federal law making changes.

        I support allowing kids to stay on their parents plans so that means I am part of the 24%.

        Don't count on me as supporting Obamacare and those that passed it when I get a chance to cast a ballot in November.

         

    4. First, a pretty ordinary middle income qualifies you for some credits.  My credit saved me a nice chunk and I don't feel degraded at all. I was previously uninsured because after the last time my company raised my rates it was no longer affordable to a self employed person in tough economic times. Hadn't been for quite some time and I was tired of struggling to keep it. My new rate is a little less than half what my old company wanted me to pay and the deductible is not higher.

      Incidentally, I was a great customer, no health problems, hardly ever cost my old insurance company a damn thing. After two years keeping my fingers crossed that nothing awful would happen I'm relieved that if I'm diagnosed with something serious I won't have to choose between dying and losing our house.

      My husband got on medicare over two years ago and that's much better coverage than any high deductible and much less expensive than coverage available to me. He doesn't feel degraded either.  Bet none of the corporate elite feel degraded by all the tax breaks and subsidies they get either. Does that answer any of your questions?

    5. Remember, if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day.  But if you teach him to fish, the lazy s.o.b.will never do another honest day's work, he'll just go fishing whenever the weather permits.sad

      1. Remember, if you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach that man to fish and you can bet the S.O.B will be standing in the middle of your favorite fishing hole the next time you hit that stream!!!

    6. Personally, I think teaching people to fish, rather than giving them the scraps off your plate is the way to go, but I am neither a Socialist or a Democrat. – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/56284/tuesday-open-thread-58#comment-544904

      You mean like those who pay their workers too little to live without welfare and teach them how to apply for all the assistance they'll need to make up for their low wages, the way they do at Walmart, McDonald's etc.? But I thought those folks were mainly Republicans.  I must have been misinformed.  So they're actually socialists? surprise

    2. " . . . young'uns . . . "???

      i wonder how All Cartoons is able to imagine President Obama ever using that term?  . . . Oh yeah, I'll bet it's because our previous president spoke like that?

  5. Republican Granny Starvers still can't balance the budget even counting the Magical Obamacare Repeal that Mr. Carnegie so fervently desires. (Would hate for those precious children to see a doctor when they're sick!). Paul Ryan's budget proves the continuing failure of "trickle down" to trickle anything but less opportunity, less government, less democracy to those who need it most. And never forget, Andrew achieved success all on his own, with no help from others, and never "taking" one cent of taxpayer money – he's a True Libertarian Hero!

    2. Phoning it in with an entire budget based on the premise of repealing a program he dosen't have votes for.  A budget based on Boehner farting fairy dust would be taken more seriously.  Another one for the round file for Ryan.

  6. Did you see Pat Steadman and Scott Gessler, Ryan Call and Rick Palacio are all backing the same candidate — Debra Johnson?  Must be an April Fool's Day prank…

        2. Not nearly as complicated.  Unlike Mittens & Co., who would prefer to put women back in "the alley" and stay there, Polis knows there are appropriate ways to regulate the oil and gas industry, requiring them to operate within a legal framwork, with oversight, that assures us environmental disasters will be 'rare'. 

        3. Regardless, my post wasn't about Polis but about Hobby Lobby.  The fact that instead of defending Hobby Lobby on the merits of its choices you chose to go straight to the old But Johnny Does It Too argument shows you've got nothing.

          For who knows how many hundreds of years, moms all over the world have decisively ruled the Johnny Does It Too excuse unacceptable due to lack of relevance.  Maybe you could use some of those nifty IQ points to formulate some defense of Hobby Lobby based on Hobby Lobby's own actions without reference to what any Johnny's may or may not have done?  Nah. Probably not.

            1. Ooh, look, a pun.  AC is branching out!!!  Now if he just can throw in a limerick and some slapstick, AC will have burdened us with all the lowest forms of humor.

    2. I heard one of the owners of Hobby Lobby say, during his diatribe about "the sanctity of life", that they "just couldn't be involved in any way with the taking of life". Did you ever vote for Dick Cheney, dude?  

  8. Some poll numbers from Real Clear Politics site that will make righties sad and maybe infuse some some cowardly Dem pols with a little backbone. Not silly puppy great but a pretty sugnificant step in a new and better for Dems direction:

    Race/Topic   (Click to Sort)

    Poll

    Results

    Spread

    President Obama Job Approval

    Rasmussen Reports

    Approve 48, Disapprove 51

    Disapprove +3

    Monday, March 31

    Race/Topic   (Click to Sort)

    Poll

    Results

    Spread

    President Obama Job Approval

    Gallup

    Approve 45, Disapprove 50

    Disapprove +5

    2014 Generic Congressional Vote

    Rasmussen Reports

    Democrats 39, Republicans 38

    Democrats +1

    Public Approval of Health Care Law

    ABC News/Wash Post

    For/Favor 48, Against/Oppose 50

    Against/Oppose +2

        1. And I'm sure you'll cherry pick those to not only be an accurate snapshot but to be set in stone proof of a 2014 GOTP takeover while you will choose to see no significance at all, even as a matter of mild interest, in these improved Obama and ACA numbers. Surprise, surprise. 

          Aren't you going to have puppy pop in to tell us that these polls mean it will be Dems in a landslide?  You know. So you can really crow about how silly libruls are? 

            1. If you didn't create puppy then it's a self created parody. Still avoiding addressing the significant changes in these polls, none of them PPP, like the plague.  

  10. As a follow-up to AC's "previously insured" comment…

    Only two states actually report this data – the media estimates AC used are from polling. In New York, 60% of exchange enrollees were previously uninsured. In Kentucky, that number is 75%. That's the exact opposite of AC's number.

    Following on to the 3.7 million cancelled policy number I quoted yesterday, RAND estimates that number is only 1 million, and that most of those were retained by the same insurance company by offering the enrollees better (i.e. compliant) insurance.

  11. It's been three years since the industry insiders referred to it as a Ponzi scheme.  The mad rush to prove reserves and flip the assets on Wall Street will leave few winners – and those on the losing side of the bracket will be many. 

    Why Shale Gas is Toast

    "In the context of surging renewable energy development, natural gas will become an expensive, marginalized fuel in the US domestic market, and Texas is a perfect example of how and why that will come about sooner rather than later."

    Jim Rogers, former CEO of Duke Energy, famously called natural gas the crack cocaine of the utility industry – you get hooked on it cheap… with wind and solar costs so low and going lower, and coming online so fast, it may be bringing shale gas into question.

     

     

    2. "with wind and solar costs so low and going lower"

      Are they low enough that they can compete without the tax credits and mandates?

      Not yet, huh?

      1. Well, AC what if solar and wind costs DO keep going lower ?  I tell you, look to the future young man ! 

        You guys need to start sabotaging alternative energy STAT, like you all so successfully did with Obamacare.

        Get on it !

      2. We're a friggin' rounding error to the subsidies permanently bestowed upon our competition.  We'd all enjoy (and benefit) from a grown-up conversation in Congress about all forms of enery subsidies and level the playing field. 

        The most efficient means of doing so would be a revenue-neutral carbon tax, like the one proposed by Reagan-era George Schultz.  Of course George isn't running for office so he's free to speak truth to the subject, something would you quell the future prospects of any current Republican seeking office.  To wit: our soon-to-be-ex-Senate Minority Leader (and not because he would be the new Harry Reid, because he's going to be put out to pasture).

        Your turn…

        1. On top of the carbon tax, the oil companies should be taxed for the cost of our military in the Middle East and the natural gas companies for the health costs and reduced environment of fracking.

          1. Agreed…the cost of all externalities should be in the matrix.  Here's the example for coal from a recent Harvard study. It's external costs amount to just over 15 cents/kilowatt hour that is born on society.  Yet, (we've all seen the propoganda by Tri-State / Touchstone Energy and Xcel – and those "War on Rural Colorado" ads that went on in ad nausea) talking about coal being "cheap and reliable". 

            On the other hand, our resident librarian seems unable to comprehend (and then calculate) that wind, even with the Production Tax Credit (PTC) @ 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour (one-sixth the cost of coal's externalities) somehow makes wind more expensive to society. 

          1. From National Geographic:

            Duke Energy chief executive Jim Rogers, who runs one of the largest utilities in the country, has called natural gas the “crack cocaine” of his industry.

            It’s a quick fix to expand electricity output, because the plants are relatively inexpensive, quick to build and raise few of the pollution concerns of coal. But many of those who have come to rely on this appealing fuel regret the habit when they’ve seen the dizzying price spikes–during the California energy crisis, after Hurricane Katrina and in tandem with the Gulf War oil price run-up.

          2. The key words are done right.  Unfortunately, we have a long way to go. 

            From Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute:

            At the point of combustion, natural gas is roughly half as carbon-intensive as coal. However, this comparison fails to account for upstream fugitive methane emissions. When used for electric power generation, natural gas is typically much more efficient than coal, but natural gas is not a more energy efficient fuel option for all uses—for example, in the case of vehicles. Also, if fugitive methane emissions exceed 3 percent of total gas production, natural gas’s climate advantage over coal disappears over a 20-year time horizon.

          3. …and a little something on 'water':

            Annual Water Requirements for Fracking in Colorado

            • 22,100 to 39,500 acre-feet (AF)
            • Enough water for 66,400 to 118,400 homes in Colorado
            • Could serve 166,000 to 296,100 people for a year
            • 166,000 is slightly more than the entire population of the City of Lakewood (Colorado's 4th largest city) or Fort Collins
            • 296,000 is similar to the entire populations of either Douglas, Boulder, Larimer or Weld counties

  12. When trolls claim they support 'costing externalities' then engage in knee-jerk boilerplate fossil fuel smoke screens about renewables depending on subsidies–while costly dirty energy externalities do not get costed into the the bottom line but shared socialistically by the collective, along with the outright subsidies, one can only conclude troll ain't too bright, self-proclaimed superior IQ notwithstanding.

    1. Amen. And then of course there's the legitimate concern with, you know, the coming food and water wars. The .01% (though if I weren't in the top .001% I wouldn't put too much faith in the continuing generosity of my betters) figure they'll be able to grab everything available and the rest can eat, what, gas and oil?  I wouldn't count on the masses respecting their walled compounds forever if I were them. I think I'd prefer to be surrounded by millions of losers who at least have enough to eat and drink to survive. For that we'll need to make some changes. ASAP.

  13. http://www.energypost.eu/interview-arthur-berman-shale-revolution-retirement-party/

    Interview Arthur Berman: “Shale is not a revolution, it’s a retirement party”

    Rig numbers change monthly, tracked by Baker Hughs, but 60 rigs operating year round, especially drilling multiple wells on one pad, can drill a lot of holes.  The fracking comes in stages after that during well 'completion'.   "Doing it right" is more a function of 'external affairs' than anything else from what I can tell, but in any case its an industrial activity that can and often does introduce toxins into the environment and not only when things go wrong, which they do with some regularity.   Some activities don't belong in the middle of our neighborhoods and water supplies, or in places the cause undue ecological damage.  

     

    1. ^ ^ ^  Hmmm. Format fart.  ^ ^ ^ That's the title of and link to an interesting article sans introduction: Shale–not a revolution a retirement party about the shale bubble and why its not th dawn of a new era and the death of Peak Oil, but a last push for the dregs of our addiction–an illusion of abundance even though it is the most expensive, hardest to get, with a rapid decline in production (the Red Queen Effect).

      And the rest is my comment.

  14. Thanks Michael and ct for covering for me. I got busy.

    @JBJK16…

    What they said.

    One of the most deceptive and onerous lies told by the American Petroleum Institute (or whoever is paying for their ads) is found in a commercial about a Florida  power plant that incorporates both solar and gas-generated electricity production. The lie comes in the way it is presented. They make no differentiation between the power from solar and the power from gas, grouping both into a claim of providing "clean" energy around the clock. That is a lie.

    Natural gas is cleaner than coal when you burn it…but ask the people who used to live south of Silt, Colorado what they think. If you really want to know what life in the gaspatch is like, there is ample documentation. The truth is NOT what you hear from API or CRED.

     

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Gabe Evans
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

50 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!