Saturday, February 18, 2006

A Losers Guide for Democrats The Silverwood Institute has published A Losers guide for Democrats. Coyote Gulch especially likes, "Shun the innovative. Having been defined by your opponents as burned out purveyors of an outmoded New Deal, any genuinely new ideas for governing that you come up with will only confuse the voters." Thanks to The Moderate Voice for the link. Category: Denver November 2006 Election 9:03:15 AM    comment []

Beauprez for governor? Here's a speakout from the Rocky Mountain News authored by gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez. He writes, "Innovations in renewable energies like solar, wind, biomass and hydrogen fuel cell technologies have given us a peek into a future where our country can slowly let go of our dependence on fossil fuels and instead rely more heavily on renewable energy forms that are cheaper and friendlier to our environment. There is no place in the country where the promise of this new technology is more evident than NREL. "In the past two years, unfortunately, congressional earmarks have diverted precious resources away from NREL. The diversion of these funds into other institutions has served to undermine the mission at NREL and other national laboratories. I believe this is a mistake that must be corrected. "The president has declared research into renewable energy a national priority. I believe that means adequately funding the premier national laboratory tasked with developing renewable energy should also be a national priority. Therefore, I will be introducing legislation that will prohibit earmarks in the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program. I believe money appropriated by Congress for renewable energy research should be available to NREL, not siphoned off to fund political pet projects in other parts of the country. "Our country's access to affordable, clean and reliable energy is directly correlated to our economic, environmental and national security interests, and so it should be prioritized. If the president's Advanced Energy Initiative is to succeed - and I hope it does - then this is an important first step in securing the needed funds for our country's foremost renewable energy lab." Here's the link the the Beauprez weblog post. Coyote Gulch missed his article on the first pass through the Rocky online, the weblog RSS feed brought it to my attention. Are you listening candidates? Category: Denver November 2006 Election 8:57:34 AM    comment []

Salzman: What's the point? John Salzman takes the Denver Post to task for their poll last week about the November election. He writes, in his column in today's Rocky Mountain News, "A newspaper should conduct a poll to reflect public opinion, not formulate it. But that's what the The Denver Post did by publishing a front-page poll last week - fully eight months prior to the November election - creating a perception of public opinion that's shallow at best, meaningless at worst, and certainly a disservice to the public and campaigns of all political stripes. "I'm not saying the Post should avoid influencing voter opinion in an election campaign. "It's one thing if a newspaper does this by spotlighting issues, uncovering dirt, and exposing the candidates' strengths and weaknesses. "But it's another matter when the paper runs the results of a popularity contest before the candidates and issues have even been even partially presented to the public - both by the news media and the politicos themselves." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 8:36:38 AM    comment []

Immigration Former Colorado Governor, Dick Lamm, was in Aspen yesterday pitching the proposed Defend Colorado Now constitutional amendment to tighten up on immigration. They quote him as saying, "Folks, believe me, you do not want 16 to 20 million people living in Colorado by the end of the century. You do not have the water or the resources." "From the article, "Defend Colorado Now is collecting petition signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the November statewide ballot. The proposal seeks to prevent illegal immigrants living in Colorado from receiving public services not required by federal law. "The amendment would not bar children of illegal immigrants from attending public schools at the K-12 level. Nor would it restrict illegal immigrants or their families from access to police and fire protection or emergency medical care... "The state's average cost of educating a child at the K-12 level is $10,000 annually. Citing real-life examples, he said a Denver household with three illegal-immigrant families living under the same roof and 11 kids in the public-school system represents an annual burden of $110,000 in education costs alone. "'That's $110,000 just so someone can have cheap labor,' he said. 'But this isn't cheap labor. This is subsidized labor.'" Category: Denver November 2006 Election 8:02:37 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 3/2/06; 7:37:35 AM.