U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Michael Bennet
(D) Phil Weiser
60%↑
50%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Jena Griswold
60%↑
40%↑
Sec. of State
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(D) A. Gonzalez
(D) J. Danielson
(R) Sheri Davis
50%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(D) Jeff Bridges
(R) Kevin Grantham
40%
40%
30%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Manny Rutinel
(D) Yadira Caraveo
45%↓
40%↑
30%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
March 24, 2009 08:21 PM UTC
11 Comments
Before we hit Nallen’s, of course…
except I’ll be busy doing my thang (okay, just hanging out in a suit, really) at the capitol. I really enjoy target practice, and have often thought about taking about archery. Very Zen, you know.
…and we’ll set it up (the Guinness).
hereard@gmail.com
state, nation and world:
My vision includes a world with less suffering and more tolerance. There are organizations and individuals who are participating in some wonderful philanthropic programs but we must do more. One lesson we have learned from the failed policies of the Bush Administration is that we cannot go it alone. We must try to build long lasting relationships internationally working on common goals like reducing human suffering (starvation, genocide ect….)
We can also use this lesson locally and in our state. We must start facing problems regionally NOT in a bubble. Let’s stop making policy and making priorities that are only in our best interest and is to the detriment of someone else. An example of this is city vs. city. Our cities fight eachother for sales tax revenue (most of the money our cities use to provide services come from sales tax in Colorado). We must use more intergovernmental agreements that benefit many cities. When we fight over sales tax revenue, ie.. Big Boxes like Walmart, some cities end up giving huge incentives to the Walmart’s of the world who do not need the incentives. We can use those tax dollars to improve the quality of life of our residents instead of inflating Walmart’s bottom line with millions of dollars of incentives. IGA’s are the key to our cities future success. Another example is FasTracks. We must work together to ensure the entire passenger rail system is built on time. All lines. The entire nation is watching us. We cannot fail by having a couple winners and several losers. We need to think regionally not just selfishly locally only. The only way all of us win is for the entire system to be built by 2017. We must find a way to buildout the entire system. (whether the RTD passenger rail ballot question passes or fails this November)
We must find a way to embrace our individualism and privacy and simultaniously strengthen our neighborhoods. Neighbors working together to solve the challenges on your street. Meet with one another monthly and talk about what we can do to improve our block. It could be anything. Have a monthly trash pick up followed by a barbecue in the front yard inviting everyone in the neighborhood. From there you can start talking about what other neighborhood issues need to be addressed.
A nation and state of citizens who are dedicated and determined to live by the Golden Rule. A nation that once and for all decides we will not discriminate against anyone. When will we learn to sincerely love all people and learn to live and let live acknowledging that I should not impose my values on you and vice versa. Gay marriage comes to mind. Let’s find a way to improve our young country by encouraging continuous improvement. Let’s find a way to reward hard work without rewarding greed. Wall Street and investment firms have absolutely ruined families dreams and destroyed life savings. Many of us have to start from scratch while CEO’s of failed companies, Bank Executives and greedy investment firm management continue to live high on the hog on our taxes (bailout,TARP) lost 401k’s and lost investments that were pushed by these investment firms. We need serious oversight and guidelines enforced by common sense national laws and regulations that protect individuals from these greedy basta… Let’s stop just giving lip service to “green” sustainable, renewable energy and make some radical changes that will make our nation FAR less dependent on foriegn oil and carbon fuels. I’m not saying shut down all the coal mines and oil rigs tomorrow. In fact we need those energy sources right now (although, oil companies should start paying a reasonable severance tax like in Wyoming) but we must make sound energy policy that moves us toward a majority of energy production that is based on sustainable, renewables. Let’s live and let live. Let’s continue to embrace civil liberties and individual rights like the 2nd amendment. Find a way to educate rather than dictate. I watched a program today on the History channel. They were interviewing a woman in 1991 who was eating with her mother and father in a local restaraunt in Texas. A madman came in the restaraunt and started shooting people. I think 20 people were killed. The woman lost her mother and her father. She had been taught gun safety and knew how to shoot a hand gun very proficiently. At the time, you were allowed to own weapons, but, concealed weapons were still banned at that point in Texas. She told the interviewer that if she would have had her hand gun in her purse she would have been able to save most of those innocent victims including her father and mother. The madman,unfortunately, who did the shooting would have been able to purchase a weapon on the black market regardless of what gun laws would have been on the books. It’s tragic that Texas put in place their Concealed weapons law after this shooting. More publicly owned guns and concealed weapons in the hands of law abiding citizens will save lives and reduce innocent suffering.
We need to embrace policy that is good for workers and their families. Large Corporations should start working together with Unions to form collective bargaining agreements with their workers that will ensure a living wage that families can actually live on. Large Corporations must start looking at the big picture not only the bottom line.
Always be mindful and respectful of others opinions and positions. Good people can disagree.
This is a start. I’m getting alittle tired tonight. What do you think Steve H.?
The challenge is to align more local and immediate interests (down to what I want now) with more global and long term interests (what’s good for everyone as far into the future as we can envision). The one thing I disagree with, of course, is the argument about the advantages of individuals being armed, in order to prevent other armed individuals from doing harm. While it is true that this can sometimes stop an act of horrible violence, I remain convinced (and believe that the evidence and logic lead to such a conviction) that it is a local optimum, a situation that is preferable only in the context of a heavily armed and violent society, not an optimal social institutional framework toward which we should set out highest sights. Successfuly removing from circulation, first by making them inoperable by banning bullets, would lead to a far greater reduction in the violent suffering than that women potentially could have accomplished had she had a gun.
Much of what you wrote identifies the prisoners dilemma, the ways in which each individual (or community) rationally pursuing his (its) own self-interest leads to outcomes that hurt all of the members of a larger community, and that everyone could have faired better had they arrived at an institutional arrangement that better committed them to collective action for mutual benefit (eg, not giving incentives to Walmart). Gun ownership is similar: It is individually rational to want to be armed for self-protection in a heavily armed society, but it is collectively rational to get guns out of circulation altogether. The argument that it can’t be accomplished is belied by the fact that it has been accomplished in other societies, that have far lower rates of deadly violence than our own. If the goal is to prevent the horrendous event that you described, logic and evidence do not point toward individual gun ownership as the most effective way to accomplish it. Quite the contrary.
your goal of reducing violence I do not agree with this one issue with you. Why not place, and in most cases we do this,place thoughtful restrictions on the purchasing of guns without punishing law abiding citizens. Motorcycle accidents have killed thousands. Largely because motorcycles do not provide the protection (seat belts, air bags, metal protective shell ect…) and other safety devices that a car or even NEV can provide. Should we outlaw motorcycles because some say they are dangerous and deadly? No. We require motorcycle riders to take a specific test that qualifies individuals to ride motorcycles. Similarly, if one wants to carry a concealed weapon there are classes and CBI background checks that are mandatory that the citizen pays for. Also, baseball bats have been widely used to go gay bashing and bum bashing and have historically been a choice weapon for thugs. Should we outlaw baseball bats? No. We outlaw bad behavior with baseball bats and allow people to play baseball. Not only are privately owned hand guns protected under the 2nd amandment and case law has reaffirmed this right, we should not punish law abiding citizens who want private guns to protect their family and also use their guns for target practice and hunting. I enjoy target practice, I enjoy baseball and I enjoy riding my motorcycle. We probably should just agree to disagree on this one issue. I honestly believe that it is in the long term interest of private citizens and good for the larger community as a whole to continue to allow privately owned guns.
Because it is a proven failure. We are by far the most violent developed nation on the face of the Earth. Let me repeat that, We are by far the most violent developed nation on the face of the Earth. We have had stronger and weaker regulations, but all within the context of a perceived (and now Supreme Court defined) constitutional right to individual ownership of firearms, which has proven to be a costly anachronism that other countries, encumbered with histories different from our own, do not suffer, with no loss of liberty to their people (other than the liberty to own and fire guns).
See my “shit happnes” post on the thread with the original debate. Guns aren’t motorcycles, and they aren’t bats. They are unique devices which dramatically increase the ability of humans to prey on one another, the probability (and thus frequency) of tragic accidents, the rapidity and thus frequency with which one can exercise deadly force in a moment of rage or fear that takes hold faster than judgment. All of these externalities are real, evident, and of the highest degree of severity. The benefits of being able to engage in target practice for private amusement do not even begin to counterbalance these costs. And the benefits of being able to defend oneself against armed predators is a surrender to a social institutional failure rather than a commitment to a superior (ie, more conducive to aggreagate and justly distibuted human welfare) social institutional arrangement. I consider it (as does the rest of the developed world) to be an expression of American parochialism rather than of rational social analysis that the majority of Americans are blind to these obvious truths.
Private gun ownership is illegal in almost the entirety of the rest of the developed world. Baseball bats are not. Violence exists everywhere. Far less elsewhere than here. These are the facts, not speculation. Baseball bats are not comparable to guns: They require more strength, more courage (one must be within a bat’s length of their victim), wield less deadly force on average (can be blocked with hands, struggled against, move at a slower velocity than a bullet, etc.). Those differences are highly salient. Guns are unique. They have one real purpose: To kill or injure. And they do so with amazing efficiency.
You are right: We should agree to disagree. Your arguments cannot persuade me of what all evidence and logic militate against.
Breaking News!!!!!!!
Denver- Colorado Pols contributor Steve Harvey joined Democratic and Republican Senators and Representatives at the state capital this morning to announce a newly formed task force whose charge is to create new innovative ways to widely expand the number of concealed weapon permits that will as Harvey stated, “reduce human suffering and violence”.
It is not my intent to offend you with this, which is why I posted it here instead of another thread. Obviously we are both very serious in our positions. Just wanted to keep it light on April fools day. I read your post regarding your time spent at the senior living facility. These are the kind of experiences that help shape who we are as individuals. More folks should spend time at assisted living facilities. It humbles us and inspires us at the same time I think.
I considered posting something similar on the April Fools thread.
One thing I will admit: The political costs of tackling this issue (dramatically increased gun regulation) may simply outweigh the benefits, given the current cultural zeitgeist in the nation. While I do consider our current gun culture one of the most serious obstacles to human welfare in the United States today, if the populace is too resistant to the idea, and trying to change it interferes with all other progressive agenda items, then it may simply be prudent to accept the status quo for the time being, as virtually all national-level politicians have done to one extent or another (falling over each other to prove how much they love guns).
Would not make sense for some to use up political capital on this issue when there are other issues that may be more pressing (like the economy; new energy policy; create federal restrictions and oversight on Wall Street, banking and investment firms; healthcare; Iraq; Afghanistan ect……) that are politically feasible and acceptable to the majority of Americans.
just that even the most pressing issue might not survive the cut in a comprehensive political calculation (that is, if the popular will would not permit any headway to be made in any case, and attempting to do so would undermine the ability to make headway on issues that are more yielding).