Friday, July 21, 2006

New Conservative Group Weblog: ToTheRight.org Say hello to ToTheRight.org. From email from the group, "Soapblox Colorado [now SquareState], Coloradopols. The left-wing has had a stranglehold on centralized political commentary in Colorado long enough. "ToTheRight.org is your one-stop source for news about all of the races in Colorado and all of the Republican primaries, from a Conservative/ Libertarian perspective. We have an entire team of bloggers publishing under the ToTheRight.org moniker from every corner of the state... "We are also attempting to link to all conservative blogs in Colorado that we can find and hope to help promote these blogs. If you are a blogger and have an entry you would like us to look at, feel free to send it to us." Welcome to the Blogosphere (and the conversation). Here's the link for their RSS Feed. "denver 2006" 6:57:39 AM

North Side Croquet Club: Game 14 North Side Croquet Club: "Has there ever been a quicker game? And since I'm not talking [stuff] anymore, I'll refrain from mentioning that Boyd seems to have 'enhanced' his performance, or that Boyd rhymes with roid. Did Dom leave his stash behind when he went on vacation perhaps? But anyhow, after winning his game in record time, Chris had a couple of hours to meditate in the beautiful gardens, and was thus extremely focused when it came time to do battle, and cleaned that one up nicely as well. With his two shiny new points, he now has 12 total and is within a game of catching Dom." 6:48:39 AM

Political corruption Josh Marshall: "Jim VandeHei has a piece this morning in the Post explaining that Ralph Reed's defeat Tuesday in Georgia has put political strategists in both parties on notice that the issue of political corruption has real traction, at least for candidates directly implicated in the on-going investigations." "2008 pres" 6:39:02 AM

Stem cell research Andrew Sullivan: "I feel obliged to come to the president's defense on his embryonic stem cell research veto. I find the absolutism of those who view a blastocyst as a human person to be morally unpersuasive, but I cannot see how it can be seen as anything other than human life. I know also that many of these superfluous blastocysts and embryos will be discarded anyway and so not using them for research does not protect them from extinction. Nevertheless, it is hard not to be troubled by the line this crosses. Human life is created and then experimented on to save other human lives." "2008 pres" 6:37:40 AM

Immigration Denver Business Journal: "The Federation of Employers and Workers of America (FEWA) will host a National Immigration Forum on Aug. 26 at the Pinnacle Dinner Theater in Littleton. Two sessions will be held: one for employers in English and another for employees in Spanish. The presentations will review pending legislation on immigration reform, update the status of federal guest worker programs, discuss Department of Homeland Security policies and announce FEWA programs for Employers of Immigrant Workers (EIW). Any business or worker who could be impacted by immigration reform may register for the forum by calling 303-893-0344 or visit www.h2b-fewa.org. Admission is free." "2008 pres" 6:36:26 AM

Edwards for president? Dave Winer: "Almost everyone missed the political significance of the Edwards endorsement (and use) of BitTorrent to distribute video. Aside from being an efficient use of technology, it is also a non-infringing use of BitTorrent. From a legal standpoint, the more non-infringing applications there are, the weaker the case of Hollywood as it goes after BitTorrent, as they have attacked other P2P technologies. Having a major national candidate using the technology for non-infringing purposes helps strengthen the case, and while I have not endorsed anyone for President in 2008, I do thank Edwards for stepping up for technology. This has a lot more impact than the kind of things bloggers usually ask candidates to do, like blogging their personal thoughts, or have video bloggers follow them into the bathroom (sorry, that's a small exaggeration). Use of BitTorrent, esp by a Democrat, is the kind of thing that politicians can actually do to help the Internet." "2008 pres" 6:33:06 AM

Unprecedented limitations on union political activity Wash Park Prophet: "The Colorado Court of Appeals held today that the Colorado Education Association and Poudre Education Association illegally contributed to the campaign of State Senate Candidate Bob Bacon in Senate District 14 by coordinating the efforts of union member volunteers to distribute his literature. An administrative hearing had exonorated the teacher's unions, based on an exemption for volunteer services in the campaign laws, but that decision was reversed in this appeal. The ruling imposes unprecedented limitations on union political activity." "denver 2006" 6:30:37 AM

Stem cell research Jim Spencer weighs in on H.R.810 and it's veto this week, in his column in the Denver Post. From the article, "Curt Freed directs the neurotransplantation program for Parkinson's disease at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He wants to put dopamine cells in the brains of patients to ease their suffering. He never thought of himself as an accessory to murder. He still doesn't. Presidential press secretary Tony Snow claims that George W. Bush had to veto increased federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research because the president is 'against murder.' Snow's was a very cheap shot in the fight over embryonic stem-cell research. The president's spokesman sounded like who he was before he came to the White House - a fill-in for Rush Limbaugh. Men and women like Freed, who use embryonic stem cells in their medicine, don't kill. They heal. "Snow smeared plenty of good people with his idiotic comment. But his boss injured a lot more with his veto. Folks like Doug McCulloch. McCulloch lives in Denver. He suffers from a degenerative nerve disease whose cure could lie in embryonic stem-cell research. McCulloch felt personally hurt by the president's veto. Congressman Bob Beauprez's vote to uphold the veto in an override attempt infuriated McCulloch, too. Beauprez may now kiss goodbye McCulloch's vote in Beauprez's bid for governor of Colorado. McCulloch doesn't condone murder. Like Freed, he condones science that might change the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids with diabetes or people with seizures or spinal cord injuries. Doing the bidding of a small cabal of anti-science, anti-abortion zealots in an election year, the president gave a figurative finger to millions of sick people." "2008 pres" 6:12:24 AM

Referred Question 1A Referred Question 1A is the subject of this article from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "Mayor John Hickenlooper calls a proposed 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy a 'better deal for Denver' that would help low-income families with utility bills, boost energy conservation and save the city tens of millions of dollars on utility relocation costs. Now, Denver residents have to decide whether the deal is good enough to add $9 a year to the average electricity and natural gas customer's bill. They will vote on the franchise agreement, called Measure 1A, on Aug. 8. It is the only city question on the primary ballot and has no known organized opposition. Unaffiliated voters, who typically don't vote in primary elections, will be able to vote on Measure 1A. "State law allows Denver to charge Xcel a franchise fee to use public lands for its gas and power lines. The utility passes on the cost to consumers. But residents get a return on the fee, which this year is expected to put around $22 million into the city's general fund. That helps pay for police, parks and recreation, snow plowing and other services. The cost to consumers would increase slightly under the proposed agreement because Denver would stop excluding the first $12.50 of gas and electricity bills from the 3 percent franchise fee. Denver began the exclusion decades ago under the premise that it would help poor customers proportionally more to exempt the first chunk of their bill. But the break applies to every ratepayer in the city - millionaires and poor people alike. Eliminating the exclusion would generate $2.1 million a year, which the city would use to help an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 low-income residents with their utility bills next year... "Xcel would partner with the city and the state on a pilot program to help poor residents buy energy-saving appliances and participate in home insulation programs. The utility also would share its expertise to help Denver harness fast-changing technologies and strategies to save on energy and water in existing facilities. In addition, Xcel would collaborate on Hickenlooper's recent promise to make new Denver facilities, like the planned Justice Center complex, more cutting-edge 'green buildings' that conserve energy, employ recycled materials and reuse waste water for irrigation. The next step is to encourage large commercial building owners to buy into the green building movement... "Xcel would pay the entire cost of utility relocations on city projects that are at least 50 percent government funded, including Regional Transportation District construction. Finegan said this alone would save the city tens of millions of dollars on construction of the $4.7 billion regional FasTracks transit project. Under the agreement, Xcel is committed to meeting new performance deadlines for fixing burned-out street lights, installing traffic signals and doing emergency repairs on critical facilities, as well as relocating facilities and burying utility lines. Measure 1A is that rare fee increase with no organized opposition. At a City Council meeting in May, business and environmental leaders, labor groups and advocates for low-income residents all endorsed the agreement... "Denver's proposed 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy by the numbers: $9: Average annual increase to residential electric and natural gas bills; $2.1 million: Amount the city would use to help low-income residents pay their utility bills; $22 million: Amount the franchise agreement fee raises for the city's general fund. "Under the deal, Xcel would be required to: Share its expertise to help Denver improve energy and water conservation in municipal facilities and construct cutting-edge 'green buildings' that save energy, employ recycled materials and reuse waste water for irrigation; Pay the cost of utility relocations on construction projects that are at least 50 percent government funded, saving the city tens of millions of dollars on major projects such as the regional FasTracks transit project; Commit to new deadlines for fixing burned-out street lights, installing traffic signals and making emergency repairs on critical facilities, as well as moving facilities and burying utility lines." Coyote Gulch wonders if Denver will be adding a "green review" to the already too long permitting process? Category: August 8th Ballot 6:03:29 AM

DLC to meet in Denver Here's an article from the New York Sun about this weekend's Democratic Leadership Council meeting here in Denver. From the article, "At a time when centrism has become a dirty word in some Democratic Party circles, hundreds of the party's avowed moderates are convening in Denver this weekend to discuss their agenda for this fall's election and the presidential contest in 2008. The annual meeting of the Democratic Leadership Council, a group that came to prominence in connection with President Clinton's electoral victory in 1992, takes place as the organization has become a lightning rod for criticism from liberal Web-based activists known as the netroots. The Denver gathering is scheduled to hear from the putative Democratic frontrunner for 2008, Senator Clinton, as well as other possible contenders such as Senator Bayh of Indiana, Governor Vilsack of Iowa, and Governor Richardson of New Mexico... "Since Mrs. [Hillary] Clinton took an official role overseeing the council's issues agenda, the group has tried to step back from the poisonous fight with the blogosphere. However, the DLC's president, Bruce Reed, said the group is still pressing the Democratic Party to reach out to the political center... "To an extent, the council is a victim of its own success.The group's talk of fiscal responsibility, while rare in Democratic circles two decades ago, is now commonplace even among the party's most liberal officeholders. Another polarizing issue the DLC championed in the 1990s, welfare reform, no longer causes much consternation among Democrats. However, two centerpieces of the council's agenda, a 'muscular' foreign policy and support for free-flowing international trade, are squarely in conflict with positions many political analysts believe could carry the Democrats to victory this fall and beyond. Most Democratic lawmakers who backed President Bush's invasion of Iraq have been steadily retreating from their support... "The bloggers' distaste for the DLC is not strictly ideological. 'I tend to think it's as much about elitism as about political philosophy,' a professor at the University of Virginia, Larry Sabato, said. 'They view the DLC as a bunch of insiders from Georgetown who try to control the party and it's nomination. The Web activists' struggle is a mirror image in many ways of the DLC's challenge to party orthodoxies two decades ago,' a Democratic strategist, Kenneth Baer, said. 'They would have been the DLC, when the DLC was founded,' Mr.Baer, co-editor of a new quarterly, 'Democracy: A Journal of Ideas' said. 'Their criticism that Washington insiders are calling the shots, it's exactly the DLC's critique,' he said." "2008 pres" 5:44:51 AM

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