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June 10, 2009 03:27 PM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 58 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

–Mark Twain

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58 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

  1. After being called out by Colorado Polsters, and letters to the editor, the GJ Sentinel has published a follow up article to the National Assoc of Royalty Owners meeting.

    Energy worker weathers criticism for remarks at royalty owners meeting

    A Grand Junction man says he had no obligation to reveal his oil and gas industry ties when he criticized a lawmaker over new state rules at a meeting Saturday.

    But Tom Rutledge said he wishes he hadn’t attended the meeting.

    “All it did was cause me a bunch of grief,” he said.

    The article gives (indirect) props to posters here:

    …That fact emerged later, including on blog sites and in comments posted on The Daily Sentinel Web site, GJSentinel.com, following its story on the meeting. Rutledge also was accused in Web postings of serving as a meeting “plant” for the industry and not even owning ranch land in North Park.

    Apparently although happy to dish it out, Mr. Rutledge cannot take it very well:

    He said the concerns he raised Saturday had nothing to do with Laramie, and the blog postings about him have been “very upsetting.”

    “I’m simply trying to protect my property rights,” he said.

    But, as Rep. Curry noted in the article, an exemption exists in the rules that allow drilling if the minerals cannot be developed via extended-reach (aka ‘directional’) drilling from less sensitive places nearby.

    …Curry said she has since verified that rules designed to restrict drilling activities on some lands to protect wildlife allow for exemptions when directional drilling from nearby land isn’t technically or economically feasible.

    Rutledge’s property is 320 acres, according to the article.  That’s half a section, or a half-mile square.  Directional drilling technology utilized in Colorado can extend at least a couple of thousand of feet, meaning that it is quite likely the resource CAN be targeted from somewhere nearby, and if not–as Rep. Curry noted–the exemption exists.  So the question remains…is Mr. Rutledge (who claims decades of experience) really that uninformed about his business?  Or is he attending these meetings to foment anger and agitate?

    Leslie Robinson, a Democratic activist in Garfield County, also is upset, but because of Rutledge’s failure to mention his industry ties and the tone of his persistent questioning of Curry Saturday.

    “I’m very concerned that this is setting the tone for the kind of tactics that some members of the industry are going to use during the 2010 election, that we are not going to be able to have civil public debate without somebody getting up and agitating the crowd like that,” she said.

    Laramie Energy, predictably, denies any such motive.

    “He wasn’t there to represent or cause disruption from Laramie’s standpoint or the industry’s standpoint. I think it was a matter of him voicing his concern about his mineral rights,” [Laramie executive] Leis said.

    But we can all recall the shrill fear-mongering that the Chicken-Little Overblown Gaseous Agitators (COGA) used during the rulemaking and failed A58 fight.  Buckle your seat belts kids, 2010 will be a wild, hyperbolic ride.

    2. Rutledge’s property is 320 acres, according to the article.  That’s half a section, or a half-mile square.

      320 acres is indeed half a section.  But that’s half a square mile not half-mile square.  If square, it would be 3,734 feet on a side, or .707 mile.

      1. and I would correct it in the diary I just posted based on this comment but I’m afraid it will go away again and thus I may incur the wrath of the Colorado Pols gods…

        Can you post your ‘pedantic nitpick’ in the comments of the diary itself?  

        I love having fact checkers…

    3. I was talking with my friends who live at the Tiara Rado golf course a few days ago.  They told me how course management was very pissed after COGA held their annual golf tournament there.  It seems Josh Penry’s COGA buddies tore up equipment and the course right and left.  But that is was most people have come to expect from the COGA crews.  The out-of-state controlled hydrocarbon companies don’t give a rats ass what they do to our roads or environment, as long as they can make a buck doing it.

  2. sorry, I caught and corrected a typo, and thus it went off the front page.

    Sorry to be so uniformed about this soapblox stuff, and apparently poor at my avocation…

  4. Last week there was a thought that this site might be given an interview with the governor. Didn’t happen, at least not in the traditional way (sit down, chat, ask questions politely, “sorry I have a meeting,” etc.). But hey, who needs the conventional way when we have a blog and a new way, wherein we engage in Time Shifting and Transparency?

    Thus, my interview with Governor Ritter, largely redundant from my questions last week, in which I invite him or his minions to sit at their keyboards at their leisure and tell the world what Inquiring Minds want to know. To wit:

    1. Governor, I think we take it for granted that you at least glance at one or more newspapers each day. Do you also peruse political blogs focused on Colorado matters? Do you think blogs that allow a free exchange of ideas and opinions are an emerging source of information and dialogue with the public that at least supplements, if not replaces, newspapers?

    2. When you ran for office in 2006, promoting clean, green energy in Colorado was one of your main campaign platforms. Now that you are running for reelection as an incumbent, I’d like to try to quantify your success in this area:

    2A.: What percentage of Colorado’s electricity consumption is provided by wind power today as opposed to when you took office?

    2B: Has the increase in electricity from renewable, non-polluting sources kept pace with population growth–i.e., has wind power eliminated the need to burn more coal?

    2C: What is the dollar value of new investments in renewable energy production to the Colorado economy, and how does that compare to investments in exploiting oil shale?

    2D: How many new jobs have these investments brought to the state?

    2E: Look ahead, what role do you see for yourself as governor in the period 2011-2015 in promoting clean energy, like wind, as opposed to alternative sources of carbon-based energy, like oil shale?

    3. Focusing for a minute on the other side of the energy equation–saving energy–Colorado is a big place and the physical structure of the Front Range practically mandates widespread use of personal automobiles. Do you think the state has a role to play in changing this pattern?

    3A. What has your administration done, specifically, to reduce consumption of carbon-based energy?

    3A. Given the state’s important role in both physical  transportation–that is, roads and highways– and Does the Internet represent a next wave in development, as railroads and highways once did?

    3B: Would you favor a movement to exert government regulation of Internet access providers, contrary to current FCC regulations? If that isn’t feasible, what about government-financed in-the-air-everywhere free WiFi services for all areas of the state, including small towns and even remote farms? Or should this be left to private providers?

    3C: If you think this is solely in the realm of the private companies, how would you distinguish Internet access from the state’s role in providing education?

    3D. Do state laws governing workplace conditions need to be changed to encourage telecommuting?

    3E: Should state workers be allowed to work from home, via the Internet, for say, 20% of the time in order to reduce energy consumption?

    4. What is your proudest achievement in improving public education in Colorado during your administration? Your biggest disappointment?

    4A: Should the State of Colorado guarantee every child over 8 a laptop computer of her own as a fundamental part of public education?education, along with broadband access to the Internet at home?

    5. Tourism is an important element in Colorado’s economy. Does the state have a role in discouraging, or even banning, concealed handguns in tourist-intensive areas like national parks?

    5A: Do you think the knowledge that the person ahead of you on the trail may be carrying a concealed weapon makes families more likely or less likely to go hiking in these parks?

    5B: What do you say to people who believe that increased drilling or digging for oil shale on the Western Slope may diminish the attraction of that area to tourists, including skiers?

    6. Would you sign legislation or a favor a constitutional amendment to allow same-sex marriage in Colorado?

    6A. Some politicians, not necessarily you, have cited their personal beliefs on this issue as the basis for their positions. In some cases, those beliefs may be based on their religious backgrounds. What role does religion play in your position on gay marriage? And if it does play a role, how do you reconcile that with the principle of separation of church and state?

    6B. Regardless of your personal feelings on the subject. do you think the Catholic hierarchy in Colorado stepped over the line in trying to impose the Church’s teachings on the government?

    7. Can you share with us your personal involvement in attracting companies to invest in Colorado? How does that usually work–meeting with CEOs?

    8. Do you think TABOR has worked to the advantage of Coloradoans, or to their disadvantage, on balance?

    9. Several states, notably Massachusetts, have taken health care reform into their hands without waiting for federal legislation. Do you have any plans to move in this direction? And if so, what shape do you think such reform ought to take?

    We’re running out of time, so I feel obligated to ask you at least some questions relating to your reelection campaign.

    10. You recently took a good deal of flak over two vetoes, one of a bill to allow unemployment pay to people locked out of their jobs during a labor dispute, and one that would make it easier for firefighters to form unions. Both of these vetoes have been characterized as contrary to the interests, or at least the desires, of unions. Since we were just talking about attracting investment, how important is it in attracting new companies for Colorado to be perceived as a state mildly…and I emphasize mildly…hostile to unions?

    10A. What is your response to critics who say your recent vetoes were a case of cynically kow-towing to the Chamber of Commerce in order to peel off some meaningful portion of the Republican and “conservative” “unaffiliated” vote?

    10B. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “critical” and 5 being “not terribly important,” how would you rank the support of organized labor to your reelection chances?

    11. Thinking back on 2008, Barack Obama carried Colorado by a wide margin thanks in part to his ability to persuade ordinary people that the “old order, old way” of politics could be changed with lots of grassroots involvement. Are you hoping, or expecting, to plug into the enthusiasm of those Obama organizers and campaigners for your campaign? How are you going about that?

    12. If you could wave a wand and accomplish One Big Thing, what would that be?

    Governor, it seems reasonable to limit this interview to a dozen questions. Thanks in advance for your answers!

    1. Now see, if Ritter or his supporters were routinely available on talk radio, more than one hour a month, and you were not screened out, you could begin to ask those questions, and open up a dialogue or a discussion on the public airwaves.

      Let’s wait and see what kind of responses you get here. It should be interesting.

    4. Not sure what to make of this:

      1. Governor, I think we take it for granted that you at least glance at one or more newspapers each day. Do you also peruse political blogs focused on Colorado matters? Do you think blogs that allow a free exchange of ideas and opinions are an emerging source of information and dialogue with the public that at least supplements, if not replaces, newspapers?

      I have an opinion, but I’m not going to tell you what it is.

      2. When you ran for office in 2006, promoting clean, green energy in Colorado was one of your main campaign platforms. Now that you are running for reelection as an incumbent, I’d like to try to quantify your success in this area:

      2A.: What percentage of Colorado’s electricity consumption is provided by wind power today as opposed to when you took office?

      I have an opinion, but I’m not going to tell you what it is.

  5. http://www.cologop.org/NewsBac…

    Bennett continues to dig his political grave on this union stuff, wanting their support but knowing that supporting something as extreme as card check would hurt his chances in the general.  Not having a position after 5 months in office is truly embarassing.

    1. If he makes a quick decision, he’s damned.

      If he makes a slow decision (forthcoming), he’s damned.

      What will you say if, and that’s a big if, he votes against the card check?

      May we all follow you to your polling place and watch you vote for Bennett?

    2. I was wondering when DickWad Hams and the Colorado GOP were going to apologize for calling me (and many others) “phony veterans?”

      I was hoping to have that before my 3rd foot surgery (Joint replacement for arthritis) at the VA hospital this summer.  

      1. Actually, in a poll several years ago it seems that the 100% government owned and run VA system had the most happy clients.

        Medicare (ANOTHER Gummint system)came in second.

        HMO private care down in the polling to last place. (Although I was always very happy with Kaiser.  I think one difference is that they are non-profit, unlike most of the HMO’s out there.)

        1. …we HATE the Veterans Benefit Administration.

          In other words, we love our health care provider, and hate our insurance.

          VBA just reached another horrible milestone – 1 MILLION claims in review. I wonder if any Iraq or Afghanistan vet is going to get their disability approved.

      2. .

        Was that something several months back ?  

        Was “Blood and Guts” Wadhams referring to me, or to Rick “just got out of jail” Duncan Strandlof ?

        .

        1. …Dickwad Hams called for Mark Udall to apologize for using phony veterans to attack Bob Schaffer.

          I believe the quote was that the Democrats were “as credible as their fake veterans that they trotted out.”

          If we’re referring to the ad that Udall made justifiably attacking Schaffer’s ass-tastic record on Vets, there were NO phony vets in that ad. The Vets for Udall people (myself included) vetting everyone that appeared. When Rick “Asshat” Strandlof tried to get into the shoot, he was kicked downrange.

          If we’re referring to the VoteVets ad, Rick was the only phony vet in that ad. The others are all local vets, with DD214’s and real service.

          Again, waiting for the apology…

          1. .

            I guess he figured that one phony vet then tainted the whole bunch.  

            I’m sure this matter was covered here at ColoradoPols, but my Oldz-heimers disease is showing more and more.

            .

  6. I remember some time ago (maybe years) every once in a while folks would post good book recommendations. I’m looking for a quality read. Anything come to mind?

    1. Absolutely the best book out there for marketing and understanding how people receive news now. (And campaigning is marketing.)

      Also Lords of Finance for a good understanding of what led to the great depression.

      Both are very very readable and hard to put down.

    4. “Blocking the Court House Door” by Mencimer

      Its a few years old, but I just got around to reading it.

      The attacks on Sotomayor got me thinking about the broader attack on the court system by Corporations and their allies.

      1. by Jeffrey Toobin, to get a great understanding of how this court is arrayed. Follow with Toobin’s profile of Roberts in the New Yorker of a few weeks ago.

  7. June 10, 2009

    PRINCETON, NJ — Asked to name the “main person who speaks for the Republican Party today,” Republicans across the country are most likely to name three men: Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and Dick Cheney. Democrats are most likely to say Limbaugh speaks for the GOP, followed by Cheney. Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly say Barack Obama is the main person who speaks for the Democratic Party, although Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats to mention Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

    For details: http://www.gallup.com/poll/120…

    R support for all choices decidedly underwhelming

    1. What about Sarah Palin? Isn’t she all the rage?

      Was Joe the Plumber an option? Ron Paul? John McCain? Bobby Jindal? The Boehner? Eric Cantor? Mittens?

      Just writing all those names down makes you realize how pathetic the GOP is right now.

        1. .

          she’s not a very good worker.

          Doesn’t like to get up early; doesn’t like to go to county fairs.  

          I don’t see the connection to “teh gayz,” but maybe if you explain it by typing r-e-a-l- s-l-o-w I will get it.  Then again, maybe not.  

          She’s entitled to her religious beliefs.  She’s just so bad at explaining what they are.

          .

          1. Which the link proves and which is why your comment made no sense. I guess it was just crappy snark, huh?

            Was that slow enough for ya?  

    3. Why do I know about this, as well as about the American Idol runner up guy being gay, no matter how hard I try not to? No matter that I’ve never watched a single minute of a single Idol episode?  I’ve heard Brian Williams announce the winner on the evening news for God’s sake. Is no place safe? I’m thinking of marching on Washington for my right not to know this stuff.  

    1. The security guard shot in the incident has died.

      It has been reported that von Brunn is in critical condition and is not expected to live, but this information may be incorrect as only one of the two injured were reported as “critical”.

      1. von Brunn’s activities since the 1970s’. This guy has a long and ugly history of being involved with hate groups, white supremacists and anti-gov’t groups.

        “Hard core NeoNazi” is how he is being described on CNN by the SPLC rep. Has published profoundly disturbing publications about Jews and Blacks, worked for a Holocaust Denial Bookstore, convicted in NH for attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board.

        This is one very nasty man. Dying from his injuries is a far more merciful end than he deserves.

         

        1. he was a lone gunman without a shred of institutional support from far-right extremists. So we can lay to rest any buzz about this being domestic terrorism. Right, Karate Kid?

          1. The yahoo news article I read pointed out that it was very recently that Obama had visited a death camp in Europe and decried Holocaust deniers there. Bet that’s what set this loon off.

            Wonder what would have happened if W had made such a clear condemnation of Holocaust deniers when he was Prez? I suppose he had other things on his plate and couldn’t be bothered.

      2. If that terrorist shooter lives, there’s no way we could possibly ask any Americans to tolerate his dangerous presence in an American prison! Gee I hope they aren’t keeping him in an American hospital! GOP talking heads need to get on this right now.  Obama wants to put this terrorist in YOUR neighborhood…you know the drill.

        1. .

          Don’t bother me right now, I’m downloading the first 6 chapters of “Tob Shebbe Goyim Harog” for free

          http://www.holywesternempire.o…

          A new, hard-hitting exposГ© of

          the JEW CONSPIRACY to

          destroy the White gene-pool

          Finally I’m going to find out who’s responsible for my problems.  

          I’m lookin’ at you, Blue Cat and Steve Harvey.

          ……..

          Seriously, this was a suicide attempt.  The guy intended to get himself killed, going up against 6 guards with sidearms, armed himself with only two chambered shotgun rounds.  I’m guessing he had terminal cancer and a fat life insurance policy.  I’ll bet he picked out a person of color, or someone who looked “Jewish,” for his victim.

          Then after shooting, I’ll bet he aimed his empty shotgun at other guards to provoke them to shoot him, as if that was even needed.    

          I don’t want to reopen the debate over what constitutes “terrorism,” but this guy belonged to a definable culture, if not a specific group, that somehow linked “whiteness” and Christianity.  

          Do these folks understand what religion Jesus belonged to, and what skin color He wore, and how big His nose must have been ?  

          .

          1. Although we trade opinions all the time here on Pols, our opinions rarely make pronouncements such as “this was a suicide attempt” or “the guy intended to get himself killed.”  If you know that to be a fact, you should be talking to the FBI, not posting to a political web site.

            I’ve always respected you as a level-headed person, but it gets harder to do that when you make statements that aren’t backed by a single shred of evidence.

            Be careful about psychoanalyzing people you don’t know.

              2. From today’s Washington Post:

                In one of his e-mail blasts expressing his white supremacist views, the man police sources say shot and killed a security guard yesterday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum told readers that they shouldn’t expect to hear from him again. Von Brunn was shot and critically wounded by museum guards.

                He was about to give away his computer, his primary connection to the fringe world of radical racists. He was living hand to mouth.

                1. .

                  I was out of line speculating.  There is enough falsehood and treachery in this story; I didn’t need to possibly compound that.  

                  From the WaPo:

                  De Nugent called von Brunn a genius but described the shooting as the act of “a loner and a hothead.”

                  “The responsible white separatist community condemns this,” he said. “It makes us look bad.”

                  Now that’s really saying something: he was able to make “The responsible white separatist community” look bad.

                  .

          2. The issue of mental stability and political/social behavior is an old one (dates at least to the 30s). In today’s case, the shooter was 88 years old! Might that not in itself be a prima facie case for mental instability?

            It’s a serious issue, and I don’t mean to make light of what happened in Washington in the least. Still, the mind wanders…

            What about the case of the shooter in Kansas the other day? Or types arming themselves and roaming the woods of Idaho? Guy on TeeVee has a special this week on Branch Davidian couches, complete with a psychoanalyst for 90 days, no extra charge!

            Drawing the line between mental illness and political/social dissent becomes trickier when, say, you start reading a blog… drivin’ thru Colorado Springs … listening to Republicans rant… etc. (Sorry, Barron, couldn’t help it; The Voices made me type it.)

            One thing for sure: I’m on the sane side of the line, wherever it is, especially since I have my God-given right to carry a concealed weapon jes’ ’bout anywhar I feel like! All them Commies in Rocky Mountain National Park and Shooting Range jes better watch it!

  10. in the latest edition of the Colorado Statesman, Ernie Duran goes after Ritter.

    What is most interesting is he brings up the lack of truthfulness thing.

    He has included answers that Ritter gave on the 2006 labor questionaire which are completely at odds with his post veto statements regarding what he promised and what he said he would do.

    Ritter’s problems have less to do with any vetos he may have issued but in his constant revision of the ‘truth’.

    http://www.coloradostatesman.c…

    Becoming known as untrustworthy and a liar is far worse than any policy or issue difference.

    I doubt very seriously if there are any Democratic legislators (okay, maybe a couple) that will trust him.

    He may or may not be reelected (depends on whether he actually gets a primary) but he will have great difficulty garnering support for his proposals in the legislature next year or beyond.

    “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”

  11. .

    after its percolated down through the system ?

    https://acquisition.army.mil/a…

    open the basic solicitation, the 5th hyperlink down, W91ZLK-09-R-0005 (.doc)  

    Note on page 2 that its worth $425.  Followed by 6 zeroes.

    Note on page 6 that the work must be performed in the District of one particular Congressman (Johnstown, PA,) even though the Government is not furnishing any facility at that location.  

    .

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