Happy “Civic Holiday” to our friends in Canada; don’t gorge yourselves on that big traditional Canadian meal. Let’s Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).
► Fox News has long scheduled the first major debate among Republican Presidential candidates for Thursday, Aug. 6, but they might get leapfrogged in the history books. From The Hill:
C-SPAN is partnering with a handful of regional newspapers in early-voting states for a nationally televised forum with the Republican presidential candidates just days before Fox News Channel’s first scheduled debate.
The network has invited all 17 of the GOP presidential hopefuls to the Aug. 3 Voters First Forum in New Hampshire.
Publishers at the New Hampshire Union Leader, The Post and Courier of South Carolina, and Iowa’s The Gazette say the forum was prompted in part by Fox’s controversial decision to cap the number of candidates in its Aug. 6 debate at 10.
“Fox says only the ‘top’ 10 candidates, as judged solely by national polling, will be allowed on its stage,” the publishers said in a joint statement. “That may be understandable later, but the first votes are half a year away and there are a lot more than 10 viable candidates.”
► Governor John Hickenlooper is promoting a change to TABOR — the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights — that would allow Colorado to retain funds from the “hospital provider fee” that would free up millions of dollars for much-needed infrastructure projects.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will make her first official 2016 campaign stop in Denver on Tuesday, as the Denver Business Journal reports:
The Democrat is slated to attend an organizing event at 6 p.m. at Denver’s La Rumba nightclub, 99 W. Ninth Avenue.
Clinton will be asking supporters to pledge to vote for her at Colorado’s presidential caucuses early next year, her campaign said.
Clinton has spent much of her time lately courting voters in early-primary-and-caucus states; her campaign calls the Denver stop her first non-early state organizing event of the presidential campaign.
Colorado rules!!! We get the first “non-early state organizing event” of Hillary’s campaign!!!
► The Greeley Tribune takes a look at Congressional legislation — sponsored by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner — that seeks to loosen federal regulations that otherwise prohibit marijuana businesses from having access to banking services.
► Many new Colorado laws and regulations take effect on Aug. 5, as Ivan Moreno reports for the Associated Press:
Colorado will begin punishing habitual drunken drivers with felonies and longer prison sentences, one of dozens of new laws taking effect next week.
Law enforcement agencies will also have access to records of misconduct for officers they want to hire, part of a package of measures in response to allegations of wrongdoing by police nationally and in the state. Sometimes disciplinary records are sealed as part of resignation agreements and hiring agencies may never know when a prospective employee has a history of misbehavior.
Another measure begins phasing out microbeads by 2020. The tiny plastic particles found in soaps and cosmetic products are too fine to be caught in wastewater treatment plants and can pollute lakes and rivers.
► Colorado’s Congressional delegation is split on whether to support a proposal to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Plans to cut funding could run into trouble, however, over complications with Medicaid laws.
► John Frank of the Denver Post circles back to take a look at the impact from a decision by Colorado Republican lawmakers to stop funding the incredibly successful Colorado Family Planning Initiative:
A push to use state taxpayer dollars to continue the program failed in the Republican-led state Senate earlier this year, killed by ideological and fiscal objections.
Now, a month after the money ceased, the county clinics that administer the program are starting to see the effects, as limited federal and state funding fail to meet high demand in some areas.
► Restaurant inspections in Colorado are declining significantly due to a lack of state funding.
► President Obama’s clean power plan is being hailed by corporations around the world as the strongest in U.S. History.
► Things just keep getting worser and worser for Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt.
► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) was among many prominent Republicans who attended Summer Camp with the Koch Brothers over the weekend.
► Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of 16 Republican candidates for President, says that “the data and facts” don’t support claims of Global Warming. Science is for Communists!
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Michael Bennet is "undecided" about whether to support netanyahu or President Obama on the Iran deal.. He is such a spineless man.
So is Schumer. Dems are under a lot of pressure from the big loud old school ultra-hawk Jewish lobbies. Bennet is, incidentally, the descendant of Holocaust survivors on his mother's side. These lawmakers are getting hammered with coordinated call campaigns.
The fact is, regardless of spending the most money and making the most noise, the ultra hard line Jewish organizations no longer represent the majority of American Jews.
Please, everyone, call the fence sitting Dems including Bennet, high ranking Schumer and as many others as possible in the Senate and House, point out to them that polls show the majority of American Jews support the deal, that the Pentagon does not believe bombing would be effective in delaying Iran's attaining the bomb, that there is no alternative on offer from opponents, that maintaining sanctions will do no good if our allies refuse to maintain those sanctions and that this is the strictest inspection regime ever devised and if the Iranians don't comply all options are still on the table.
If you are Jewish, say so. It's the old guard Jewish lobbies they're afraid of, especially Schumer in New York. They are getting an earful from everyone who wants to stop the deal. Let them hear from all those, especially Jewish Dems, who support it just as strongly. Remind them that Obama, not McCain or Romney, got two thirds of the Jewish vote and still has the support of the majority of American Jews no matter what they're hearing from the old guard die hards.
With all of Israel's enemies knowing that Israel has the bomb, I also think the hysteria over the existential threat Iran represents to Israel is overblown to say the least. You might mention that too.
Agree on Schumer. The question is are there Jewish dems who support the Iran agreement. Strangely I have seen very few polls covering the issue. What I can say, is that I'm really really tired of Israel setting US foreign policy.
Well, despite the best efforts of the right, most American Jews are still Dems, went for Obama by large majorities both times and polls show most American Jews do support the deal, though not by such large majorities. You can bet that almost all of those who do are Dems. So it's increasingly silly for Dems to let the present horrible Israeli government and a strident hard line minority among American Jews bully them.
Centrism I:
They also call themselves "radical centrists" so they can pretend they are radical.
Centrism II:
Complaining "both sides do it" is the worst dodge for these politicians
Cruz might be saying that the facts don’t support global warming, but Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is apparently a believer. He just doesn’t think the President’s plan will do much to help the problem. In fact, he think it might make things worse…
By exporting energy production to China and India.