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July 14, 2014 11:07 PM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 36 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

"On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points."

–Virginia Woolf

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36 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

  1. Another charming side effect of fracking:

    FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — States where hydraulic fracturing is taking place have seen a surge in earthquake activity, raising suspicions that the unconventional drilling method could be to blame, especially the wells where the industry disposes of its wastewater.

    Fracking generates vast amounts of wastewater, far more than traditional drilling methods. The water is pumped into injection wells, which send the waste thousands of feet underground. No one knows for certain exactly what happens to the liquids after that. Scientists wonder whether they could trigger quakes by increasing underground pressures and lubricating faults.

    Oklahoma has recorded nearly 250 small-to-medium earthquakes since January, according to statistics kept by the U.S. Geological Survey. That's close to half of all the magnitude 3 or higher earthquakes recorded this year in the continental United States.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/14/fracking-earthquake_n_5585892.html

    1. There is a strong possibility of a relationship between fracking and earthquakes. I'll crawl out on a limb and say it. It's not one on one causal, and probably won't do anything where underlying plates are done moving and geologically stable, but there is enough data out there to see a relationship. Now the geologist Polsters can jump all over my hypotheses.

      While you're jumping, please take a moment and reassure me that we are not about to fracking cause a gigantic crater in the middle of Wyoming (a la Celestine prophecies, which I 've mercilessly mocked ), or that may already be happening.

      Photo from Raw Story:Great Geyser at Yellowstone National Park via yellowstonenps on Flickr]

      2. The O&G industry will file this one under the same heading as global warming.  Another Al Gore inspired hoax to scare people into energy conservation.

  3. Criminal grifting investigation into Mesa County's next top cop widens, making Meis and Wright look more ethical each day.  

    Documents obtained by the Sentinel through the Colorado Open Records Act show King, who is running for Mesa County sheriff, made some requests for mileage and hotel reimbursements from the state on the same days he was working at Colorado Mesa University as its acting coordinator of campus safety and training.

    http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/king-probe-widens/

     

    1. Expanded probe the straw?  Hope so.

      The Sentinel compared King’s CMU time cards going back two years with his reimbursement reports with the Colorado General Assembly and a mini-political action committee campaign account that King controlled. The Sentinel also requested King’s time cards from the Sheriff’s Office but was denied access to them because of the investigation.

      In most cases when King claimed mileage, hotel and meal reimbursements as part of his duties with the Legislature, his CMU time cards show he was working long shifts at the Grand Junction campus. Some of those shifts were as long as 10 hours.

      While in those instances it’s possible that King worked those long shifts and then made the four-hour drive to or from Denver to attend various legislative meetings, it made for some very long days.

    2. Colorado Mesa University

      Shouldn't this investigation include CMU? Mr. King's time cards show they were signed by someone in the front office at CMU. Why would a part time instructor and part time security person have his time cards reviewed by a VP for the university? Since the Grand Junction Police Department provides the police force for the campus, wouldn't Mr. King report to them and they would oversee his hours as part of campus security and as a part time instructor wouldn't one of the academic departments oversee his time as one?

      The investigators should ask two simple question: Is it standard procedure for one of the vice presidents at CMU to sign the time cards for part time employees? If not, then why was it handled that way in Mr. King's case?

      Also, the investiogator should find out how many times Mr. King actually taught a class or appeared as a guest lecturor at CMU. Who scheduled his appearances? Usually someone in the academic departments schedules classes so student know when and if they can attend. Bottom line: Did Mr. King perform any real work at CMU? If not, why not, and why were his hours approved by CMU's front office?

    1. Also running a great boots on the ground campaign. I've already volunteered a few Saturday shifts, canvassing and calling, and get constant calls asking me to do more. Also get calls asking for volunteers from the Udall campaign.  

      Voter registration is already an important component of the volunteer efforts. The unpaid, local volunteer GOTV effort for Romanoff is coming on very strong in addition to the money raising. We can all tell the people we talk to that we're their neighbors, not paid outsiders. The strength of both the fund raising and local boots on the ground bode well. I'm sure their will also be an effective ad campaign gathering steam as the election season progresses. 

      CD6 activists are highly energized, seeing the first real opportunity we've ever head of pushing this thing over the top after years of soldiering on for candidates we knew could never win, hoping to just make a more respectable showing than the previous election and, until 2012, never even managing that.

      If we do break through this time (knock wood), we'll have to send a thank you note to Colorado Rs for refusing the deal the Dems in the Dem dominated legislature offered them during redistricting. We wound up with a better one. Maybe the O&G crowd will wind up wishing they'd taken note.

      1. You can thank Ms. Repella (Beauprez's Lt. Gov pick) for helping to nix that compromise. Apparently, she's been a backroom GOP power broker for years. Here is her blog, via "Clear the Bench Colorado", on the redistricting fight.

  5. The Post is reporting this morning that BWB has stepped in it again….this time on immigration by pointing to Jan Brewer and the AZ legislature as role models….. Tell me again why the establishment GOP was so relieved he won and Tanc lost?

      1. I don't see that.  Maybe they prefer BWB because, unlike Tanc, he really wants to win the race and be Governor. Everybody knows Tanc was just in it to reset, one more time, his 15 minutes of D list wacko rightie celeb fame. 

        Tanc knows he's now just an entertainer. BWB still thinks he's a serious pol but his ideas are every bit as crazy as Tanc's. Oh, and he never made pro-pot noises.

  6. Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence!

    The survey found that Udall was outpacing opponent U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, by a margin of 48 to 41 percent. Hickenlooper was up 49 to 43 percent over GOP nominee Bob Beauprez.

    Article on latest poll.

  7. Darth Cheney says all we should care about is the military.

    Cheney said the next president needs to "turn around the whole trend" of cutting defense dollars.

    "That ought to be our top priority for spending. Not food stamps, not highways or anything else," Cheney said. "Your No. 1 responsibility as president is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. [Obama] is the commander-in-chief and he's absolutely devastating the United States military today.”

    Since when are increasing the defense budget and supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States synonymous? I guess if that's Cheney's understanding of the Constitution, it might explain a thing or two. But, aside from the moral bankruptcy of his dismissal of feeding the hungry, let's talk logistics. Let's say you cease funding highways in order to buy more bombers and tanks. Do you then have to use the tanks' capacity for driving across rough ground to take them off-road from the factory to the military base? Do military recruits prove their mettle by hiking to boot camp? For that matter, let's get back to the food stamps for a second. Military food stamp use rose in 2013, and that doesn't even take into account all the veterans on food stamps. Except as we've had ample opportunity to observe, Dick Cheney doesn't give a single damn about the people who make up the American military. He just wants giant pallets of cash for defense contractors and an American political culture geared toward war rather than the economic strength of the nation and its people.

      1. OK. Plenty of Rs hate poor people and don't want to feed the children they don't want them to abort but roads? The universe of righties wealthy enough to get everywhere they need to go by helicopter is pretty small. This takes let them eat cake to a whole new level.  Apparently if you aren't in the top .001% you can just go screw yourself. Perpetual war is the only thing your tax dollars should go to, and, by the way, the tiny elite shouldn't have to pay taxes. That's what loopholes are for.

        Taxes are for the little people who are just going to have to do the best they can with no infrastructure, education or services. This guy and his equally evil daughter are like comic book villains come to life.

    3. Methinks Mr. Cheney forgets that the primary purpose of the Federal Highway System was to move military vehicles more quickly. Somehow I don't think President Eisenhower would have approved of letting the roadways that bear his name fall into such disrepair.

  8. damn, Pols, the auto formatting and the fact we can't edit comments are both pains in the a**. Can't the premier political blog site in our state do better?

  9. Ken Buck agrees to debate Vic Meyers in CD4.  Should be interesting. Meyers is much smarter, well-informed, and less likely to embarrass himself than Buck.

    It does seem that Buck's camp would like to be seen as ready to debate anywhere, anytime, but actually, they're in deep cover, and avoiding setting up a time and place.

    Cue AC (Buck Defender!)  in 4…3…2…1……..

     

  10. Join us for the No on 67 kickoff 
    Colorado State Capitol

     

    July 22 at noon

    Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 
    Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM 
    Address:
    200 E Colfax Ave
    Denver, CO 80203 
    United States

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