“Money without brains is always dangerous.”
–Napoleon Hill
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"No money and no brains" is even worse, unless you are a Kansas billionaire that owns your very own Governor…(the comment section is rich) Kansas is Colorado’s ‘East Berlin’
While Kansas burns under the leadership of a conservative Catholic (#kochcatholics), our previous Gov takes on climate, stewardship, social justice and the economy…
Ritter confirms role in Vatican encyclical on climate change
Gotta love that guy….his Holiness, I mean.
Michael, let me know the next time you are traveling this way. I have a friend who would like to meet you…a former state official I think you might like to get to know, as well. Also, I am wondering if "Willies Reserve" will be available in DeBeque anytime soon…? do you know those who might have that answer?
I hope all is well….
I do know who has that answer! I'll make sure you get to be an 'early adopter'…it's the least I can do! I have a lot of travel in the next couple of weeks but July is (purposely) slow…maybe we can make it happen then.
The Pope's encyclical is trending on Twitter today … a phenomena that Inhofe and his brood of #CarbonPharaohs won't understand. Francis has put a spark back in the eye of many fallen Catholics and non-Catholics alike – including myself. I'm pretty sure the American bishops could crack walnuts with their rear-ends right now. Life was just so much easier for them when they could cater and pamper the rich and powerful while giving lip service to the least amongst us. Let's hope someone has to sell their ruby slippers before long.
Duke – I've been thinking about this and I think we should have a CoPols gathering around this…maybe even name a strain or two for the retail market? Something that makes you really stupid in honor of, well…so many options. Something that makes you sharp and witty? Lots of options there, too. It would no doubt be epic!
I'm in….
Oh, I'll be there. Really, this time! I'm going down to Denver for Father's Day with the remaining fathers in my extended family… but that's probably too soon to call for a Pols get-together.
And I've got a new "strain name": The House Brand – for when things just don't smell right.
Plus, I suppose it doesn't have to be in Denver.
Bernie coming to Denver next Saturday.
Is he a crazy Socialist just trying to send Mike Rosen into cardiac arrhythmia? Nope. Most of his views fall in the mainstream of what Americans support.
Not sure? Go see him…….
If you think America's millionaires and billionaires are doing just fine, you'll like Bernie:
It's a moral issue. It's an issue of fairness. When many of Colorado's congressional delegation still unfailingly support banks and corporations over our neighbors and co-workers, there is a problem.
Site says over 2,200 people have already signed up to attend.
Site? What site?
The embed within the first line of Zappatero's post.
Now it's 3,145 people signed up to attend.
Over 5,100 at last count… Bernie's going to have to find a bigger venue or hire sound technicians for the overflow of 2,000 people who believe in Bernie.
But what you said about Rosen would be nice, too.
I signed up, but I tweeted and FB'ed Bernie asking if Bernie would be willing to provide sign language interpreters for the 20th, and haven't heard back yet…
Would love to have a email contact info to ask Bernie – I'm deaf, and would LOVE to hear him speak at DU!
Bernie Sanders in 2016 = George McGovern in 1972.
Are you kidding? McGovern was an actual nominee. Everybody including Bernie Sanders knows he's not getting anywhere near the ticket.
That's looking less and less certain. He's at 44-32 (Clinton-Sanders) now in New Hampshire after only a few weeks. I pretty much wrote him off at first, but he's firing up the base – and a lot of independents – to the point where he could very well win primaries and caucuses and become a real force.
Let's face it – most of us complain about some of the weak sauce we get from Democrats. Polis for his support of TPA/TAA, Hickenlooper for his support of O&G, Bennet for his support of crappy "reform" proposals – the list goes on and on.
Sanders doesn't have that problem. He's someone to support because he's unashamedly in favor of a lot of things we wish we as Democrats could do or have. He's not afraid to be against the corporate/megadonor purchase of Congress and many state legislatures, not afraid to say that the banks are getting away with crimes any of the rest of us would be jailed for, not afraid to say just how unbalanced our economy and society have become or how that is damaging our future.
I'm more than happy to hear it – and more than happy to hear Clinton taking the same basic tack, though more conservative and not as complete. Obama has taken one for the team – proven that, no matter how much we want it, Republicans aren't interested in being team players for the nation. We can take off the gloves and fight on our terms without shame, because the middle of the road once again should only ever be occupied by yellow lines and dead skunks.
Early polling in places like New Hampshire and Iowa are increasingly meaningless. Look at all the R nut bags who have had early stellar showings which didn't stop establishment nominations of McCain and Romney. Even Obama, the first serious non-white candidate, won as a down the line non-scary (except to the racist right) centrist.
I appreciate what you're saying but Bernie Sanders is not going to get the nomination. His campaign is serving as a valuable issues campaign and adding to the Warren generated pressure on HRC to move a little bit toward center left. If he did get the nomination he'd be soundly defeated, probably worse than McGovern, but that's a hypothetical that is never going to happen.
He's not Christian. He's a self proclaimed Socialist Dem, whatever that means. As we know, social safety net programs don't constitute socialism. Truly socialist medicine, for instance, would mean the state owning all the medical facilities and all the doctors being employees of the state, completely unlike the way present Medicare works or universal Medicare would work. But he chooses to call himself Socialist and that's not going to fly.
Despite the cute item going around the internet about how people doubting that a Socialist Jew can be elected President in this country should remember that we celebrate a Socialist Jew every Dec. 25th the fact is the premise is correct. There will be no Socialist Jew on the presidential ticket in 2016, much less in the WH in 2017.
First black? Done. First female? Probably. I'm not holding my breath at this point in time for the first Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Atheist or any indie who uses "Socialist" as part of his or her self identification to be selected for the top of the ticket.
Yeah buddy, PR+10!
Bernie Sanders and his followers are the left's version of the Tea Party.
So you're a die-hard Clinton follower?
Guilty as charged. I'm old enough to remember what works and what doesn't.
I remember folks back in 1980 saying that there wasn't a dime’s worth of difference between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Don't get me wrong, Carter was incompetent but Reagan was worse. As a gay man who watched a lot of my friends die throughout the 1980's and 1990's, I beg to differ with my left wing friends who saw no difference between Carter and Reagan. There was a difference.
And I remember my left wing friends thinking that if we vote for John Anderson, we'll reclaim our party and get a real liberal in the White House in 1984. Or in 1988. How did that work out?
BTW, the "not a dime’s worth of difference" was the way my left wing friends characterized the choice between Al Gore and G.W. Bush when they declared their affection for Ralph Nader. We saw how that worked out.
It wasn't until that conniving, philandering liar and his Lady MacBeth clone of wife won in 1992 that a Democrat – or as some might say, a DINO – got elected. But that DINO was still a hell of a lot better than Daddy Bush or Bob Dole.
I caucused for Hillary in 2008 because one thing that Clintons don't like to do is lose elections and after eight years of the Shrub, I wanted a Democrat (or even a DINO) elected. It wasn't a vote against Obama. I enthusiastically voted for him in the general and I was thrilled when he got elected. Frankly, I feel a little sorry for him as some of his most fanatical supporters during the primary campaign in '08 have turned on him.
Yeah, I'm ready for Hillary. Because she can raise the money necessary to be competitive (courtesy of Citizens United which is another after effect of the left's antipathy towards Al Gore) and will resort to anything necessary to win.
First line: good answer.
Of course, in the rest of your post you're comparing the Democratic presidential candidate with the Republican or Independent in the race.
I'll say this: it's my sincere hope that if Clinton is to be the nominee, she earns the nomination.
I take exception with comparing Bernie on the left to Tea Partiers on the right. Just because I believe he doesn't have a snowball's chance doesn't mean I think he's a wacko or that his ideas are awful .This strikes me asjust as false as those who say the right has Rush and the left has Maddow as if they're somehow mirror images. Not at all.
I concur. The problem is – the Democratic Party is center of right, and calling us mainstream Democrats fringe left? Are we tired of lurching to the right because we lose elections to actual right-winger?
Also I don't remember anyone saying there wasn't any difference between Reagan and Carter. If anyone did they were the same idiots who later went for Nader because there wasn't any difference between Gore and Bush and nobody with a higher IQ than a piece of a piece of toast paid attention. As for Carter, you don't have to be a rightie to view him as a pretty mediocre Prez. Much better x-Prez. Reagan was awful but nobody could consider the ways in which each wasn't very good at all similar.
Finally figured out what is going on in Craig:
Right-wing nutjobs are blowing a story out of proportion and calling for a boycott on New Belgium for supporting an environmental group that successfully sued to make sure the Department of Interior checks the environmental impact of the Colowyo mine.
The mine has until September to do the study and they will get it done by then and no jobs will be lost because of this. In fact, this is the way things work! By completing the assessment, the Colowyo mine will be able to say they care about the people and environment around Craig and go about their business.
That's the best case scenario, chickenheed. The environmental assessment will get done by September, no doubt, and people will not be laid off "overnight". However, the assessment has teeth in it – carbon gas and health impacts will be assessed for the mine. Tri State power will have to install new pollution-control equipment. Penalties for not meeting goals will be set and enforced, however lackadaisically, by the EPA.
That's what they don't want. They'd prefer to mine coal in a consequence-free environment, kind of like going to war in Iraq for ten years on a taxpayer-backed credit card This is the way it's always been done. This is the status quo that CO's congressional delegation, the right wing talkers, and the beer boycotters are fighting to keep in place.
They see Judge Jackson's ruling to keep to the letter of the law as a slippery slope, which may lead to accounting for the externalized costs of coal, which are around .18 a killowatt/hr higher. Even without making coal companies account for externalized costs, coal as a commodity is losing ground, around the world, and in the United States. Natural gas is cheaper for heating. Renewables, particularly wind, are cheaper for generating electricity.
The double whammy of pending environmental "teeth" and lower demand for coal generally, has impelled energy giant Peabody cut 200 jobs , even though it got an EPA award for its Seneca mine reclamation in 2005. Peabody still runs the twentymile mine in the area, and the Trapper mine, which decreased production for the second year in a row. That's the thing about global warming – it makes it warmer, mostly, so people heat their spaces less.
Here are the money quotes from a 2014 meeting in Craig about Tri-State:
The costs of coal, when environmental compliance is factored in, keep escalating.
European companies can't divest from coal fast enough. China. which infamously burned coal for decades, ruining its air and its urban population's lungs, is burning less coal, and moving towards renewables as fast as it possibly can.
I think the best case scenario for Moffat County would be to keep the mine open, but begin to build and bring on other renewable sources of energy and livelihood into the Moffat community. It does sound as if the people in Craig are working on that.
It's time to divest.
http://www.mercer.com.au/insights/focus/invest-in-climate-change.html
Yesterday, I posted a comment about the arcane procedures in the House of Representatives which were used for the votes Friday on Fasttrack. As I pointed out, Fasttrack is not dead yet. It being reported that the Republican leadership is planning to bring the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program up for a re-vote on Tuesday. TAA was the part that was resoundingly defeated and upset the apple cart for passage of Fasttrack on Friday. Therefore, the battle is not over yet. We need to work for the defeat of TAA again on Tuesday or Fasttrack will head to Obama's desk to be signed.
This brings me to the Colorado hook. I analyzed the Democratic representatives votes on the three sections. Polis is a lost cause. DeGette opposes Fasttrack and I think she gets that approval of TAA will result in the overall passage of Fasttrack. But, it wouldn't hurt if her constituents let her know that they are aware of the importance of a No vote on TAA if it comes uo on Tuesday.
Now, lets turn to Perlmutter. He voted in favor of TAA on Friday – bucking the rest of the Democratic caucus. Then, once TAA was defeated and Fasttrack had enough votes later on, he voted against Fasttrack. Neat trick. He can say he voted for TAA in a losing battle and against Fasttrack when his vote didn't matter. Don't be fooled.
If Perlmutter (or any Democrat for that matter) is really opposed to Fasttrack, he (or she – Yes, I looking at you Diana) will vote against TAA when it comes up on Tuesday. TAA is like putting a band-aid on a gushing wound. It can never makeup for the damage that Fasttrack and the trade deals it is intended to facilitate will do to American workers, the environment and our democracy.
Please, call, write, fax or email you representative and tell him/her to vote against TAA if the Republican leadership brings it up for a vote on Tuesday.
"I voted for it, before I voted against it." Hmm…where have I heard that before?
You're kidding, right – Napoleon Hill? For those of you who don't know him, here is a little something from Wikipedia:
Not the most progressive person. The first of the financial, self-help con-men.
There's still no way to squeeze more than 1% into the top 1% no matter how many inspirational self help books everybody reads. What matters is what kind of society we want for the general population.
Think and Grow Rich now has sold 70 million copies, according to Wiki…I took a number of sales training courses in the late 70s and early 80s. It was on the required reading list then…probably still is. Og Mandino was another of those guys…great name…don't you think?
Interesting there has been no mention of this here on Colorado Pols:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28296145/colorado-board-education-chair-marcia-neal-quits-slams
Actually long-time Polster Phoenix Rising's diary was front-paged here on Thursday, and Pols added the item to yesterday's "Get More Smarter" feature. You could almost say the Post was scooped!
So much going on, perhaps both mentions got pushed down before you got a chance to read them:
http://coloradopols.com/diary/72088/colorado-boe-chair-marcia-neal-resigns
I got it from a Post article, so not so much on the scooping.
Davos Democrats – Polis and Perlmutter continue blind support of Obama's bad trade bills:
I've always wondered why Polis is in the Progressive Caucus…….he does almost nothing with it or for it.
A vote against Fast Track is a vote in favor of Chinese economic dominance in the western Pacific.
Why Fast Track?
Why not make the case in the open andhave a public debate?
ps
If the sun continues to rise and set, Chinese economic dominance in the western Pacific.
'splain how that works, if you please, CHB…..otherwise, I will disregard it as trash talk……..
Seems to me if fear of China can drive us to screw American workers, treat slavers with kid gloves, surrender our right to control our own environmental and banking rules and regs or to set our own minimum wage then the Chinese dominance ship has already sailed.
We're still the world's last super power standing. There should be alternatives to curling up into fetal position for fear of China or anyone else. We should be able to get a better deal. We should be calling shots. And by "we" I don't mean the corporations who are not people, have no nationality or patriotic loyalties. I mean we the self governing people of the USA through our elected government. Apparently we're making enough noise that our elected reps are taking some notice.
This. +1.
HRC gave her big speech this weekend and never mentioned the trade deal. Media and internet blew up over how lame that was. On second try she explained that she would talk about it after it was final. More guffawing. Third try looks a little better. Oh and after her speech Chis Christie made a crack about how he thought Elizabeth Warren wasn't running. So the pressure from Warren and Bernie is nudging Clinton in a more liberal direction. If she's elected, guess we'll find out if that was just for the election or if her policy will actually reflect movement the teensiest bit toward center left.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/14/hillary-clinton-trade-deal_n_7580768.html
James Inhofe Lectures Pope Francis: Leave Climate Change To Us
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/2169973/james-inhofe-lectures-pope-francis-leave-climate-change-to-us/#tcBYUISFf3Rjp6PH.99
What can one say?
A good read from the Sunday Visitor: Unseemly Behavior
Maybe some of the bishops can organize an insurrection with Vlad, the Bad and depose our hero….Chuck and Dave would fund the deal, I betcha….A sort of “coup de pontiff”, if you will….
That a scientist who also happens to be Pope is a lot better qualified than a pol who knows nothing about science? That it's perfectly legit for the Pope to voice views on nurturing and protecting what he believes to be God's creation? They sure love it when Popes voice views on when life begins.
Michael, so many "Get more stupider" variations for strain names are possible, but they all would probably involve extensive litigation. "Lost Yer Marble", for that vacant stare. LimboBrain for "How Low Can You Go?"
Cory's OTC Cannabis Confections, that beg the question: "Did I say that, or just think it? Either way, it never happened!"
"Brophy's Trophy". I'll leave that one to your imagination.
Yup. I don't even smoke the stuff, and I'm having fun already. This should be a thread. Or a strain. Or something.
We are on to something here, MamaJ – this is going to be epic!
Pols, the spam in the "Recent Posts" is out of control. So many car parts and car nonsense crap posts, no one can see the real recent posts.
Wonder why I'm not seeing any of that?