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April 17, 2014 06:26 AM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 49 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"Delay always breeds danger; and to protract a great design is often to ruin it."

–Miguel de Cervantes

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49 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

  1. I was reading that the Dever Post allows or prints the Oil and Gas section which is written by the Oil and Gas group…is there something to this???

  2. The 'Energy and the Environment' 'section' of the Denver Post is not a 'section' of a newspaper in any sense of modern journalism.  It’s a paid advertorial from the in-aptly named 'CRED' industry bullshit machine, out to confuse and scare the electorate mocked up to look like a regular Denver Post section.  The once real and credible newspaper has finally, as they say, 'jumped the shark.'  It’s a circular now with occasional articles.  

  3. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/16/3425969/denver-post-sponsored-content/ 

    The Denver Post has two energy sections these days, but one isn’t like the other.

    The paper’s “Energy/Mining” section runs stories from Denver Post reporters and the Associated Press on local energy issues. The “Energy and Environment” section, which was created in February, runs what at first glance appear to be similar stories, but with one catch: the section is funded by Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development (CRED), a pro-natural gas group, and stories are written by outside writers.

    The Post makes clear on the Energy and Environment page that the section is sponsored by CRED; a banner across the top of the section reads “This Section is Sponsored by CRED” and the section also has a “Sponsored by CRED” disclaimer under its name in the drop-down menu for newspaper sections.

    Long time Post reporter Mark Jaffe apparently not happy about the continued degradation of his profession by the Deminished Post sending out a tweet about a week ago noting that it only looked like a legitimate section of his once worthy paper.

    Here is an action alert you can use to complain to the DP, in the hopes they have some integrity left and will abolish this practice.  bit.ly/QdPtkj 

     

  5. "Nothing sends a message like winning."  

    The repubs have two big wins, one local and one national,  and the week is not even over.  I will describe them separately.  The first was the stand down in the State Senate over the abortion rights bill.

    Andy Kerr (D Jeffco) sponsored the bill and it was scheduled for floor debate, yesterday.  Catholics and other pro-lifers (or anti-choicers, if you prefer) held a rally on the West Side of the Capital, led by the catholic archbishop and then packed the chamber’s gallery.  The dems withdrew the bill.  This is being touted as a big win for the repubs and their supporters or the pro-life people and their allies, the repubs.

     

    Kerr’s bill made a lot of sense.  His constituencies had expressed their concern that Colorado, particularly if the repubs win big in the Fall, might pass the kind of restrictive abortion legislation that other

    States have.  His bill was to make it more difficult for that to happen.

     

    However, again, politically, the strategy did not take into account the

    ability of the other side to mobilize. This is Holy Week for Christians and Palm Sunday is a big church-going day.  It made energizing the

    religious base easy.  Plus, the bill was a very general one.  Could it

    have made Catholic hospitals allow abortions?  What about parental

    notification?  What about conscience clauses?

     

    Now, this “defeat” might ultimately work to the dems favor if the general electorate feels that a repub win would allow more restrictions on abortion, and that this incidence is an other example of the “war on women.”  But, there are many nuances in the issue and Gardner and Coffman have muted the contraceptive issue and confused the whole personhood definition.

  6. The other win is the Brady Ranch standoff.  The ability of the republicans to control the public airwaves allows them to create a propaganda machine and/or to consistently get their message out.

    The standoff has been “branded” as citizens against the overreach of government, and the citizens won because they were armed. It is a classic Western movie plot and the staging couldn’t have been done better by John Houston.  Brady is the aging John Wayne.  The talking points include why citizens have to keep their guns and why the government is trying to take them away; this is a Second Amendment victory.

    There is a talking point that has gone ‘round the country, verbatium.  I heard it locally on Tuesday and this am on Bennet’s national show.

    “The government sent more armed men against an old white American than they did to defend our ambassador in Benghazi.

      1. @ct,

        To what?  MSNBC? I  listen all the time.  NYTIMEs? I am a subscriber.  I am on all the dem email lists…where I am addressed by my first name and begged for money…..NPR?  Like garrison Keller and "wait, wait, don't tell me"….news is repetative and non-local…..

        There is a game of peek-a-boo that parents start playing with babies around nine months….it is real important for babies to realize that just because the baby can not see a person, temporarily, the person has not gone away permanently…..very important concept for the kids

        There ought to be a version of "peek-a-boo" for those who are under the impression that if they don't listen to talk radio, it has gone away.    It has not.

         

        1. I have long ago learned it is impossible to challenge your gloom-and-doom glass-almost-effing-empty-we-are-all-going-to-die-of-thirst! outlook.  There is a sizable number of people who are wingnuts, but they are far from a majority.  You seldom post anything to demonstrate that many of these things you fear are huge GOP wins the the Dems must mobilize to fight, get any real traction outside of those circles.  

          1. "The ability of the republicans to control the public airwaves allows them to create a propaganda machine and/or to consistently get their message out, quickly."

             

             

          2. @ct

            fingers in the ears. close your eyes and wiggle your tongue….and then you don't have to read the list:

            Giron recall

            Morse recall

            Hudak resignation

            Defeat of #66

            JeffCo BOE takeover by conservatives

             

             

    2. The standoff is only a 'win' if you subscribe to the right wing noise machine.  Cliven Bundy hasn't paid his grazing fees in 20 years.  Even the conservaitive Nevada Cattleman's Association is backing the BLM position (something you won't hear on Fox).  John Boehner calls this freeloader a 'hero', while describing those who want an increase in the minimum wage 'moochers'.  Here's a good background on 'the facts'.

      1.  

        @MichaelBowman

        PROPAGANDA WIN-

        That is the whole point of my post.  How do you get out these facts? What is the medium you use? 

        It drives me crazy that any of you think that I believe this crap.  I don't.  But I know that those who do, VOTE.  I also know that failure to respond to the right wing contributes to the dangerous polarization in our country.

        2. Dwyer – I spread the message on the things I care about via social media outlets.  Like others on here, I use my Facebook page extensively; you won't find any pictures there of what I had for dinner or my kitty.  You will, however, find a lot of useful information on energy and the environment.  I'm about as popular as a turd in the Christmas punchbowl most mornings at the donuts and coffee gathering after Mass.  I don't tend to be a wallflower on the things I care about.

          1. @MichaelBowman,

            I have learned a lot from you.  My question was not meant to be directed to your efforts, personally.  Rather, what media access do opponents of the Brady "bunch" have to the kind of media…..wide spread reaching millions…at no cost….that  these supporters of armed standoffs with our government have.

            1. Thanks, Dwyer.  I have a couple of thoughts on this, the first one starts at the macro-level – but leads a micro-level activity.  I worry a lot less about the propoganda than I do about the mechanics of carrying out said propoganda.  I suffer through the Hannity Report from time to time at my parents home.  That crowd is a shrinking minority; I care a lot more about how that 'machine' manifests itself  at the local voting booth.  Voter suppression, gerrymandering, etc. 

              Using a specific Colorado example, I have to read editorials on a regular basis in my local newspaper from my soon-to-be-bike-riding senator and Mark Hillman with 'Capitol Updates'.  You wouldn't describe the submissions 'balanced'.  It would have taken rather small investments by the Democrats to give us at least symbolic support for 'counterpoints'.  Because, not everything the Democrats have accomplished legislatively has been detrimental to the rural regions.  That leaves any progressive outside of the five seven (that's for you, skinny) metro county area no choice but to fend for themselves.  Some of us are more willing to engage one-on-one than others.  It's a heavy lift, to say the least.

              But to even be more rural-specific (the deadbeat Cliven Bundy fake war aside) we have a real government assault on Colorado farmers and ranchers that gets zero press right under our nose: the conservation easement debacle that has destroyed the lives of many of the 600+ ranchers and farmers ensnared in this ugly scheme legislated some time ago. 

              We haven't heard the last from these multi-generational agriculturalists – they're a tough brood. 

              It's the reason I left the party.  If we couldn't be trusted to provide legitimate support for these families who engaged in a legitimate, lawful program – now the victims of rogue bureacrats and unconcerned leadership at the capitol – then it doesn't represent what I thought it did when I switched parties four years ago. 

              So propoganda plays it self out in many ways.  In some cases it's the overt, faux journalism ala Cliven Bundy.  In other cases it's silence, back room deals (bankrupting farmers and ranchers) or public fluff about the state of the local economy (one where the entirety of the recent gains went to the top 1% while chidhood poverty rates have now returned to pre-recession levels) that portends we're "making progress". 

              1. @Michael Bowman

                I would hope you could have  a forum to write about these issues with farm families.  I knew nothing about these problems.  You are right.  Urban dwellers are ignorant and urban dems are unconcerned and unresponsive.

                In terms of access to media, newspapers can print and censor whatever they want.  The First Amendment gives them that right.  However, the broadcast media…network and radio…is considered part of the "commons".  The public owns the airways and they are supposed to be operated for the common good.  Democrats are missing such an opportunity to simply prepare a media team to ask to speak on the radio to present the other side, rather than just conceding 100s of hours of free air time a week to the republicans. 

                 

                1. Dwyer – I do plan to write a forum on this in the near future and we're planning some events to bring some attention to their plight.  I don't believe the urban dwelleers are willfully ignorant about this issue.  By design and demand – there seems to be a concerted effort to keep this out of the urban media. If our policial leadership had taken a lead on resolving this travesty it wouldn't today be the best kept secret in town.  I believe that's about to change, but time will have to prove that out.

                  I do wish the non-RWNJ demographic had a similar slice of the airwaves as the tin foil hat crowd – but those kinds of acqistions take a lot of capital and commitment.  I listen to both public radio and other outlets – but the vast majority of the airwaves out east are a full buffet of crazy: Beck, Hannity, RushBo, O'Reilly and Coulter to name a few.  And the Huckabee report at noon is a 'must-not-miss'.  It's the media equivalent of 'waterboarding'.

                  1. I am sure that you will let us know when you post your writtings.

                    I agree there is no way to buy radio/tv stations, but if the dems consistently plan a rebuttal and ask to be on the same show that the lies occurred, it might work.  I say "dems" because the hosts champion the repubs and/or the teaparty consistently and I think that the "dems" might have some legal standing to get on the air.  But, it would have to be a deliberate, consistent effort with legal backup.  The Fairness Doctrine is dead.  But, there should be a window with the mandate to operate in the community interest.  However, as long as the dems pretend that nobody listens to the radio or that MSNBC is a good counterweight to Fox, nationally, nothing will happen…….IMHO.

                    1. There is a long, established tradition of know-nothingism in our national politics. 

                      History

                      The Know Nothing movement was an American political movement that operated on a national basis during the mid-1850s. It promised to purify American politics by limiting or ending the influence of Irish Catholics and other immigrants, thus reflecting nativism and anti-Catholic sentiment. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, whom they saw as hostile torepublican values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, but met with little success. Membership was limited to Protestant males. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middle-class membership fragmented over the issue of slavery.

                      The most prominent leaders were ex-President Millard Fillmore (the party's presidential nominee in 1856), Massachusetts Congressman Nathaniel P. Banks,[1] and former congressman Lewis C. Levin.

    3. Here is your assignment Troll.  Look up 'non sequitur' 

      Are you saying that when someone here fliered cars w/KKK fliers during the Bush administration, it was indication that the Bush administration was doing WHte Knight recruitment?  I still think yu read that IQ chart backwards.  I believe you mean you are in the 2% percentile.   

  10. Brain Dead Bureaucracy of the Week Award

    To: The Denver School of Science and Technology

    My granddaughter attends this DPS Charter school which, due to its charter status, is apparently exempt from common sense.

    My granddaughter has been a successful track athlete, despite a serious asthma condition.   She keeps an energency inhaler at the school, and her mother has repeatedly filed forms authorizing this inhaler's use.

    Today, we got a call from my granddaughter, gasping for breath.  She is suffering from an asthma attack.   The DSST bureaucracy is refusing to let her use her inhaler unless a member of our family goes over there to observe it.  

    So, my wife had to leave her work and go play mother may I with the brain-dead DSST Bureaucracy.   Their stupidity will cause my granddaughter to suffer a needless delay of at least half an hour.   She is lucky at that, not all victims of this policy will have relatives who can jump at the bureaucracy's call.   Of course, my wife will lose at least an hours work time for no reason except the stupidity of the DSST Bureauracy.

    Tell me again?   Why did I vote to give these idiots more money?

    3. @Voyageur-

      We have asthma in our family. Waiting to use an inhaler is outrageous as well as dangerous as well as terrifying for kid trying to catch their breath.  I don't think that JeffCo public schools has this kind of problem.  National Jewish should be involved with a protocol that protects your granddaughter.  Aren't there laws governing children with any kind of disability and giving them rights?

      Kudos to your granddaughter for being an athlete.  KIds with asthma are brave.  I am sorry that this happened.

    5. Her parents are going to the next school board meeting, right?  I'd raise some hell there with other parents present. With half of the kids in public schools on prescribed speed (at the recomendation of the teachers and administation) to make them more managable, this is outrageous. It's a lawsuit looking for a place to happen. If that was my kid, that's what I'd tell the school board.  

    1. Speaking of the Koch brothers —

      It is not widely known that David Koch was the Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate in 1980. He believed that Ronald Reagan was much too liberal. Despite Mr. Koch putting a substantial sum of money into the campaign, his ticket only received 1 percent of the vote. Most Americans thought the Libertarian Party platform of 1980 was extremist and way out of touch with what the American people wanted and needed.

      Fast-forward 34 years and the most significant reality of modern politics is how successful David Koch and like-minded billionaires have been in moving the Republican Party to the extreme right. Amazingly, much of what was considered "extremist" and "kooky" in 1980 has become part of today's mainstream Republican thinking.

      Oh, and this little jewel:

      According to Forbes Magazine, they saw their wealth increase last year from $68 billion to $80 billion. In other words, under the "anti-business", "socialist" and "oppressive" Obama administration, their wealth went up by $12 billion in one year.

      Apparently they won't be happy until the very last dollar out there is finally in it's rightful place in their bank account.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/who-are-the-koch-brothers_b_5165995.html

    2. Zap, I think you and Markos are wrong on this.

      Historically the 10-12% undecided break against the Incumbent.  An incumbent at 45% is hurting.

      Koch is spending money so that Gardner does not have to and so that Udall does not have a free pass while Gardner puts things together.

      1. Except that Gardner has all the baggage of incumbency himself. Worse, he's a member of the least liked caucus of the least liked party in the least liked branch of the least liked part of government. As a Tea Party supporting Republican Representative in Congress, he probably has more downward pressure from his incumbency in office than Udall does as a relatively liberal Democratic Senator.

  13. And just in case the latest PPP poll doesn't satisfy, Karl Rove just commissioned polls for each of the competitive Senate races. The outfit doing the polls, Harper Research, is apparently a new GOP friendly operation.

    Colorado: Democratic Sen. Mark Udall 45, GOP Rep. Cory Gardner 43, not sure 12. Udall approval rating: 38 percent approve, 46 percent disapprove; Gardner favorability: 30 percent favorable, 38 percent unfavorable. (Margin of error: ± 4.4 percentage points.)

  14. Polls means shit. Landlines are out of fashion. No-one calls on the cells.

     

    Therefore, the polls mean squat. If you want the real numbers from ANY GOP pollsters, add +9 D to the actual numbers, and you'll get the real thing – and it'll nail right in the mark.

     

     

    Angry voters won't tell you shit. They'll vote their wallet and kick out the GOP.

  15. A bit of an expansion on the report of strong fundraising by Romanoff this quarter… Here's a breakout comparison. Romanoff has a lead in Cash On Hand on top of his first place fundraising finish. Coffman still has a lead in fundraising to-date since he started earlier as the incumbent…

          Raised Self Fund Self loan Spent To-Date COH
    CO-06 Andrew Romanoff (D) $601 $0 $0 $173 $2,591 $2,099
    CO-06 Mike Coffman (R-inc) $590 $0 $0 $223 $2,563 $1,845

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