Wade Norris .: September 2008 Archives

Welcome back to another installment of UP News. The guys in this interview are indeed, card carrying liberals, and not only that, they are the ones coordinating events for the Big Tent event for Bloggers in Denver for the Convention. John Erhardt and Aaron Silverstein are my kind of activists. Both are Editors for Square State, which is one of the main blogs in Colorado. Additionally, Aaron is with Democrats Work and will be organizing the Delegates for Actions in Denver the week of the convention. John is the state coordinator of Living Liberally/Drinking Liberally and says if you want to be a CARD CARRYING LIBERAL! then visit the living liberally website here. i highly recommend coming to visit.

This past week, a coalition of progressive groups gathered in Columbus, Ohio to make the people's voices heard on the subject of affordable Healthcare. This group included SEIU,ACORN,Progress Ohio,UHCAN (Universal Health Care Action Network),SPAN (Single Payer Action Network),Justice for Janitors, and Gamaliel affiliates AMOS and NOAH Speakers: Bruce Colburn, SEIU Brian Rothenberg, ProgressOhio.org Stephanie Beck Borden, Gamaliel/AMOS Cathy Levine and Christine Conroy UHCAN Ohio. Hattip to Lorraine Bieber of Progress Ohio At the same time, the insurance industry's spokes people were placing the blame on the providers and the people were not buying it. AHIP (American's Health Insurance Plan) finally met with some frustrated citizens who have seen too many denials to healthcare claims. Keep reading, unless you have had been supported by government paid healthcare. This video, which is 3 minutes, is cut from a solid hour of loud chants and protests over the state of our healthcare. It starts with a march around the capitol of Ohio, up to the location of the AHIP meeting, and includes Brian Rothenberg of ProgressOhio.org, who points out that the health insurance companies are kicking off a national public relations tour, just as the oil companies are kicking off their new PR tours about how good they have been to us. Mr. Rothenberg, you do the Ohio Progressive community proud. AND Ohio Governor Ted Strickland rallies the troops While we rallied on the outside, here is what was happening on the inside - listen to this incredulous audio from the AHIP meeting courtesy nyceve Kim asks

"Why would Angela Braly (CEO of Wellpoint) make such a comment? Would she sacrifice on the 9 million dollars she made this year, would she sacrifice?" [Angela Braly is the CEO of Wellpoint. In April she told investors "we won't sacrifice profitability for membership". [applause]

Spin Answer of the year:

Ignagni: "You talk to a hospital, you talk to a doctor, you talk to any concerns, you talk to a profit or not-for profit industry, you hear no margin, no mission. So the question is, you rather be in the black not the red, to do anything in our society is very important."

rise up...

My guest today is Doug Vilsack, and he is here to tell us about a situation in Ecuador. What happened there and who did you meet? Doug Vilsack - I went to Ecuador where I met an amazing person, Pablo Fajardo. He grew up in Ecuador, and with much adversity, got his High School diploma, a rare thing there. Later he got a computer degree, then a law degree. In 2000, he got started working on his first case, the Chevron/Texaco case. This case had been tied up in the U.S. courts for years, and got transferred to Ecuador. So he was working on the case, and the lead lawyer quit. So basically a year out of law school he became the lead attorney taking on Chevron, which is a big case - the damage estimate is said to be 6 billion. This will be the biggest environmental case in the world, the first time that a big oil company will be held responsible for evironmental damages.

Question - Doug, what happened with the news coverage of this case, particularly CNN? A - So Pablo Fajardo is the lawyer and he got a CNN 'heroes' award this year, a humanitarian award. He was one of 7,000 nominated and won the award in the fighting for justice category, a process which included being voted on by a blue ribbon panel with folks like Lance Armstrong. He got to go to New York and accept the award and he got his story published on the website. Q - On CNN's Website? A - Yes on CNN's website, it got published on there for a few days then a few days later it disappeared. Turns out that Chevron had just kicked off this big ad campaign worth millions to try to sell Chevron as an environmentally friendly and supportive of sustainable energy, and it turned out, Chevron talked to CNN and got them to pull the story from the website. Question - So it is not like they bowed to the advertising about any story, but a story they made, for an award that they gave out !?! A - Yes, then Chevron put out press releases in Ecuador saying Pablo had somehow defrauded and tricked CNN into giving him the award. You know Lance Armstrong voted for him for this award - how would this guy in the Amazon Rainforest somehow trick Lance Armstrong? Question - So first they scrub the story up here, then do a PR campaign in Ecuador and, if you are living in a country with not as many good educational resources, and you've got some corporation spending millions of dollars or more defrauding this person...it is so unfair. A - Yes, there is a big difference in the resources Chevron has and the resources these people have, it is a David and Goliath Story. It almost works to their advantage, because Chevron is there in California with a team of lawyers, and they can't believe that this guy 1 year out of law school could beat them, so they underestimated him at every step. Its racism really, when you are looking at this guy who doesn't have the education and hasn't grown up with all the things these Harvard lawyers have had. They think they can beat him, and they are not, and that shows that the human spirit can triumph over those folks who think they can bully you around. One of the most important things to do is to think of these folks in Ecuador as your neighbor. You meet these people and they are like anyone else, they are struggling, they are trying to get by, and they are trying to make ends meet. They are just like anyone else in the world, trying to farm and survive and they are being harmed by the stuff we put in our cars, so we need to think about that. There is a great article in Vanity Fair - google it, it is called Jungle Law. And you can go to the website texacotoxico.org or chevrontoxico.com. Jungle Law

Some statistics that Doug and I discussed related to the condition of the land and water where these people live in Ecuador: The toxity rates for Benzene, a by product of sloppy oil drilling, is over 1000 times the EPA level in the states. *Chevron covered open oil pits with dirt as their 'clean up', resulting in the spoiling of the groundwater and land in general. *Childhood leukemia is at 3 times the national average in these homes. *In many homes, one or more of the family members is dying from rare forms of cancer from toxicity exposure from the oil extraction and by products. *Families that rely on cattle or livestock, as most do, have had many animals lose weight and die, and the females abort their offspring, leaving no new animals for food or income. All this is going on while Chevron is promoting their 'Human Energy' of their new PR campaign. Not only that, Chevron had this to say in the court hearing in Ecuador:

(from Vanity Fair, by William Langewiesche)Chevron ... denies that the judge is fair, denies that the plaintiffs have legitimate complaints, denies that their soil and water samples are meaningful, denies that the methods the company used to extract oil in the past were substandard, denies that it contaminated the forest, denies that the forest is contaminated, denies that there is a link between the drinking water and high rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and skin disease, denies that unusual health problems have been demonstrated--and, for added measure, denies that it bears responsibility for any environmental damage that might after all be found to exist. ... Over the 17 years that Texaco operated this conduit to the sea, until Petroecuador assumed control, in 1989, the pipeline suffered 27 major breaks and spilled nearly 17 million gallons of oil, much of which was not cleaned up. The volume of the spills has been widely reported. For comparison, the grounding of the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons....

But here is their PR campaign on how much they care. (Is that the voice of actor Scott Campbell from 'Singles' - the character that wanted a light rail in Seattle?) This ad is so slick, I almost believe them. Until I remember that they have attacked Pablo in his own country through an full on attack ad campaign, accusing him of defrauding CNN to win a humanitarian award. Not only that, but the methods that polluted Ecuador is now being exported to other countries. These other countries who are being polluted include Angola and other companies like Shell, polluting the Niger Delta. More here: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Africa/Bush_BlackGold_WAfrica.html credit to Chris Fagan

The Delta region, home to Nigeria's oil industry, is poor and polluted. The antiquated oil pipeline system is subject to regular spills and gas fires. The people are subject to routine savage repression by police and soldiers. In the 1990s, the government executed Ken Saro-Wiwa, a leader of the Ogoni people, along with seven others. Saro-Wiwa's brother revealed that Shell Oil, which controls 50 percent of oil operations in the Niger Delta, offered to halt the executions if Ken Saro-Wiwa agreed to call off the Ogoni people's demonstrations against Shell. The accounts are legion of oil companies, principally Shell and Chevron, hiring mercenaries or soldiers to kill political opponents or local activists.

Not only that, but these oil companies are located in the places that are also the home to some of the worst dictators, that the U.S. and Bushco has supported, not to mention that we are in Iraq for mainly oil revenues. I don't know if Barack Obama will do as much as I want on this subject, but he is our best chance. We must start demanding an all electric car sector. We know we have had the technology since they killed the electric car. We know that there is more than enough wind and solar power to supply our entire country with both electricity for businesses and homes, AND quote : we could put our entire auto fleet on wind generated electricity through these plug in hybrids. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/23/16450/5398/260/540786 We can't simply think of the impact of oil in terms of only hurting the environment, because we have naively trusted that the oil companies would not literally kill people in other countries through their oil drilling practices. I am tired of trusting big oil. I don't trust them, nor the Bush agenda and not even those who are looking for timid middling steps to change the way we address energy. We were lied to, yet we are still guilty of complicity in the damage that has been done and will keep being done until we end our dependence on all oil. In Oil We Trusted and in Oil we have killed. I say no more. We must stop this. Visit the website on Ecuador here texacotoxico.org or chevrontoxico.com

In parts 1-3 of this 'blogumentary' we covered the amount of renewable energy just waiting for us to tap, how local governments and people are getting involved, and how we need the federal government to change the laws to support renewable energy. (and a good bit of information from Dcoronata on Geothermal energy. Now for the bread and butter issue: jobs. With the economic forecast showing a continued housing slump and general signs of a recession, a decade long approach of offshoring jobs, bad unemployment numbers, and no real growth in any job sector except service jobs, there seems to be a lot wrong with our country's economic health. Fortunately, there is a solution for these problems, the emergence of green collar jobs. In this installment, we are going to be listening to Richard Eidlin from the Apollo Alliance, and Carmen Rhodes from FRESC.

Question - How do we get good jobs from Renewable energy and what does the Apollo alliance do? A- (Richard Eidlin) The Apollo alliance (whose slogan is: Good Jobs, Clean energy, Freedom from Foreign Oil) is a coalition of business, labor and environmental groups focused on growing the economy in a substainable prosperous way by investing in clean energy that will result in MILLIONS of good jobs across the United States. This includes jobs in the automotive industry, building and infrastructure, construction, engineering... that would impact electrical engineers, contractors, construction workers, marketing people, installation techs, bringing new jobs to the market.

(me) One of the tings you are hoping to do is to go into the urban sectors where jobs have been lost, and retrain and re-employ workers to make solar panels or intricate parts for wind turbines... (Richard Eidlin) Yes, particularly in the industrial midwest, there is a tremendous opportunity to create a manufacturing base once again. There are a lot of facilities lying dormant, many skilled workers - what we need now is the political will and capital to bring those jobs back. For instance, parts to wind turbines could be manufactured in parts of Ohio or Michigan if legislators would act on this.

Carmen, what is FRESC and what do you do? FRESC (whose slogan is Good Jobs, Good Communities) is a Colorado organization looking to create and retain good paying jobs, create and maintain low income housing with environmental sustainability in mind, and we really believe in connecting environmental sustainability with economic sustainability with workers. But, it is not going to 'just happen'. We have to be systematic and strategic about how that happens, so that people building things (like electric) light rail sysytems, that the work is done by construction workers who are making good wages and have health care. (me) you mentioned the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in Denver moving in this direction. (Carmen Rhodes) Organized labor, like the building trade, are really training the next generation of construction workers to have the skills necessary to build with environmental sustainability. Here at the IBEW, they have installed solar panels as a training opportunity for their workers and now have also saved hundreds of dollars in energy costs.

Remember Millions of new jobs, and not jobs serving coffee or mopping floors, but engineering and manufacturing jobs, jobs that have been outsourced and that took a lot of the middle class livelihood with them. Get in touch with these individuals at www.apolloalliance.org and www.fresc.org.

Ron Lehr of the American Wind Energy Association agrees, AWEA, there has got to be some movement on the National level by the Federal Government, if we are really going to embrace the change necessary to move our country forward quickly. Here is the interview:

If you put a 'V' on the country with the bottom of the V at Texas, all those plains states have enormous wind resources. If we can get transmission lines to the coast where the people live, we could put our entire auto fleet on wind generated electricity through these plug in hybrids. Question - why isn't this happening? A- People think "well, why doesn't the market just take care of this?"We don't have a free market in the energy sector. There is no aspect in energy that is near a free market. We subsidize the oil, coil and gas industry through our tax dollars. The nuclear industry is subsidized by the Price-Anderson Act (which subsidizes all clean up costs over $900 million dollars) without which the Nuclear industry could not insure itself and therefore, could not exist, so that is clearly a tax subsidy. (the only challenge to the Price Anderson Act was in my home state of NC, which went before the Supreme court and lost in the Duke Power vs. Environmental Study Group decision.)

In 1992, the Congress approved a subsidy for wind and other renewable energy, the Production Tax Credit, which equalizes the tax incentives that other energy industries get. Since then, the Production Tax Credit has gone out of existence 3 times. All of the other subsidies for the fossil industries are fixed in the tax code, they are all permanent. They must think we are stupid in Washington. We've got permanent subsidies for the things we don't want, and inconsistent subsidies for the things we do want. They need to hear from people about this. One way is to go to AWEA.org, and get on the action alert to fix this Production Tax Credit situation.

Indeed, the 'free market' has been controlled for the past 100 years through an oligarchy of a few companies all interconnected between oil, coal, gas, and of course, automobiles. These companies have gotten legislation for their tax subsidies from us, while stifling subsidies for renewable energy. We are now paying $4 a gallon, while the oil industry is still getting subsidized. Imagine, if our government was subsidizing Wind or Solar the way other governments are. For instance, it has been China, that is leading the way with their brand new MAGLEV Windmill Technology which actually uses wind power to generate a magnetic field to run the windmill blades with no moving machinery, or ball bearings, just a suspended magnetic field supporting the turbine. We need to go in a new direction to compete and to save the planet. It is true that the World's economy is shifting to renewables, and despite the 'smart people' saying it is a world that is going to be about getting control of the oil, I believe that the revitalization of America's job sector and restoring the middle class will be putting people to work in building electric light rails, solar panel factories and windmill factories. We can be the leader and put our eonconomy back on track:

Part 2: Local Energy Initiatives: This will cover some of the ways citizens have gotten involved in passing laws to change their options for energy use, effectively giving a level playing field fo renewable energy. Now, although this post seems to be Colorado focused, the fact is, in part due to the location of the National Renewable Energy lab in Golden,Colorado combined with an active progressive community, Colorado has been leading the nation in embracing renewable energy. Here to tell us more about this and the Clean Energy Progress Fund - an initiative to be voted on this fall in Colorado, is Professor Thomas McKinnon, a Chemical Engineer,who has worked both with the NREL and with the School of Mines and now heads up the drive to support the Clean Energy Progress Fund. Part 2: local energy initiatives

"we have cost effective solutions"

Question - Tell us, Professor McKinnon, what is the Clean Energy Progress Fund? A - The Clean Energy Progress Fund is a way to support Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and promote carbon sequestration in agricultural soils and forests. It is a triple win, it will help us with our economy, with our energy security, and will strengthen our environment. We really need to have a more secure energy source and the Clean Energy Progress Fund will promote solar power, especially Concentrating Solar Power, which focuses the sun through mirrors on a trough, like the one in Las Vegas, which generates 64 megawatts. Through Concentrating Solar Power, we could easily generate all the electricity for Colorado, just in the San Luis Valley, and at a cost that is competitive with a coal powered plant. Many of the things we are proposing,the only way for them to happen is for the government to get involved. For Transmission lines and other upgrades, that is where the Clean Energy Progress Fund would provide money from the people. We are also helping to create community action. For instance in Boulder, (first city in the U.S. to pass a carbon tax in November 2004) we have communities that are getting together to talk about how to save energy and the environment. Because we can see changes in the environment, and there are dangers, increased droughts, wildfires, new problems like beetle infestations, and so on. Global warming is a global issue, so Colorado could eliminate our heat trapping emissions to zero and there would still be an issue, but collectively through this Clean Energy Progress Fund, Colorado can be a leader, passing the first of bill of this kind nationally.

People all around the country should get involved in this bill. Just like in 2006, when Colorado passed the first law of its kind, the first time in the Nation's history that a renewable energy portfolio standard was put directly before voters rather than processed through a state's legislature there are the naysayers that say we can't do things like this. In that campaign, the 'smart people' said it would be impossible to make Xcel energy and other large utilities to commit to making at least 3% of their energy portfolio renewable energy by 2007 and 10% by 2015. Not only were they wrong, but Xcel reached 6% by 2007, and now leads the country in renewable energy. That makes ripples, that will effect everyone, and will put pressure on the other Utilities to follow suit. Clean Energy Progress Fund will take Colorado and the Nation to the next step by raising 200 million through this fall's ballot, for renewable energy in Colorado, and as an example for the Nation. They need your help to change our future. Get involved. Go to www.cleanenergyprogress.org and get involved, contribute and help (and tell Professor Thomas McKinnon where you heard of them) because this issue, and global warming, can't wait.

This past week there has been a lot of talk from both Bush and McCain about the necessity for the Congress to start permitting new drilling sites for Oil companies in the face of high oil prices, as seen in this video from the BBC, even though there is plenty of evidence that the real reason for the high prices are the insiders and speculators that Randi Rhodes first documented this week. If these revelations of inflated fuel prices anger you, then I hope you won't be fooled by the rhetoric to drill, drill, drill. Part 1 of 6: No new drilling: we have 25 times the renewable energy needed to run our country. That's right, while we are debating how much to drill, where to drill and if we should drill ANWR, we are sitting on untapped energy sources: in this case, solar and wind. First up: Coal, fossil fuels, and the untapped abundance... Nancy LaPlaca from Energy Justice:

Coal has the same CO2 emission rate as the entire transportation sector. Coal emits 40% of all CO2, 2/3rds of all sulfur dioxide, 1/3rd of all mercury. These fossil fuels have hidden costs in terms of CO2. Now fossil fuels like oil and natural gas are escalating at a rate of 15% a year. The exciting thing about renewable energy like wind and solar is that when we look at their costs in 2020, we don't have to think about what they will cost.

Costs of energy are felt by us in many ways, whether it is at the pump, or heating your house in the winter or the electricity to run your business. Each of our states uses the 'basket of energy' approaches, which as of now, is usually a basket of fossil fuels, like natural gas or oil or coal. These fossil fuels fill up the 'grid' for electricity for the nation, state by state, region by region, and grid by grid. Grid by grid, you say? Yes, the country is broken down into grids (more on that later) and each state has a grid capacity (remember Enron and California's grid fiasco that ultimately caused Gray Davis to be recalled. But that is another scandal... Colorado,for instance, uses a grid of 12 gigawatts of electricity. That is like needing to plan a trip for the summer and you know that you will always need 12 gallons of gas. So in peak moments in the hot of the summer sun or coldest of winter nights, the full capacity of 12 gigawatts is being supplied by oil, natural gas and oil. The trick is, what if we had a more plentiful source that was cheaper and had no harming effects to the earth. What if you knew that just in Colorado alone there is enough energy to run the entire state and many others as well, over 296 gigawatts of electricity from wind and solar resources. With other states in the west participating, we could achieve total energy independence for the entire nation. We could haved a completely electric automobile and transportation sector. Listen to this... Leslie Glustrom from Clean Energy: Just in Colorado alone, we have:

In Colorado, Colorado has 96 gigawatts of wind energy. In terms of Solar energy, Colorado has 200 gigawatts of energy. (me) enough to power the Midwest...? Yes more than enough. We have to give credit to Xcel who has made great gains to become a leader among utility companies.

Websites: Nancy LaPlaca nancy@energyjustice.net http://www.energyjustice.net/ Leslie Glustrom lglustrom@gmail.com http://www.cleanenergyaction.org/html/about_us.html For students and their teachers who want to get involved in renewable energy: www.ausra.com This first part is just to show you what is already here and waiting. There is no need to drill. none. whatsoever. It is time for our leaders to stop denying science and bowing to big oil pressures and embrace the future. This concludes part 1. Part 2 tomorrow - Local energy initiatives, how your town, city or state can start investing in renewable energy.

n many states around the country, voters are becoming all too acquainted with slickly worded ballot initiatives that have appealing names that often hide the true nature of their intent. It turns out that there are several agencies with Right Wing agendas that are behind these bad laws being passed, including laws like the recent "Personhood" initiative that if approved, would most likely become the first challenge to Roe Vs. Wade. But not so fast - it turns out that one group, Protect Colorado's Future has gathered enough information to prompt Reverend Daniel Klawitter and Reed Norwood to file a lawsuit as citizens against the Secretary of State, Mike Coffman to address the validity of the approval of this petition's place on the fall ballot. (Coffman, incidentally is running for Tom Tancredo's vacated seat). Through their lawsuit, they list over 29 instances of fraudulent activity in collecting signatures for the Right to Work initiative. In just one of these 29 instances, over 53,000 signatures that were not valid. These agencies circulating the petition also have been busy in many other states with their measures, in states like Nebraska, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The Oklahoma Secretary of State has said this about one such group, the National Ballot Access -

there was "an unprecedented situation where large numbers of duplicate names and addresses were discovered well into the signature counting process"

These agencies, National Ballot Access, Kennedy Enterprises, and Lamm Consulting, are being funded here by none other than Johnathan Coors - of the Coors family. A victory in this lawsuit could potentially lead to other petitions filed by these groups, including the Personhood initiative, the Anti-Affirmative Action initiative that is circulating in other states such as Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arizona, and many other extremist initiatives. Reporters have written already about how the GOP's hopes may well rely on these initiatives in the Fall election. You would think that in times with $4 per gallon gas, record mortgage foreclosures, and a recession, these conservative groups would hold off on trying to pass Right to Work laws, but they won't be satisfied until a new feudal society is created. Let's hope this lawsuit stops these groups from passing more of their deceptive laws in our states. A word from Martin Luther King Jr. on Right to Work

" In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right to work'. It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights...It's purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions for everyone...Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped. Our weapon is our vote."

The Colorado Corporate Fraud initiative would hold corporate criminals accountable for the fraud that happens in their companies. This means that accomplices to criminal fraud can't play dumb any more. This initiative, which is on its way to the ballot in 2008, would make Colorado a leader in the nation in cracking down on corporate crime. The corporate fraud initiative, proposed by former Qwest employee Lew Ellingson, would make CEOs and company executives criminally liable if they broke the law or stood by as others committed crimes. This means that accomplices to criminal fraud -- like Qwest's -- can't play dumb any more. The initiative would also allow any Colorado resident to sue the executives under such circumstances, with proceeds from successful suits going back to the state. More from the NY Times:

(Courtesty of DAN FROSCH) Published: April 1, 2008 DENVER -- For 30 years, Lew Ellingson loved being a telephone man. But by the time Mr. Ellingson retired from Qwest last year at 52, he had grown angry. An insider trading scandal had damaged the company's reputation, and the life savings of former colleagues had evaporated in the face of Qwest's stock troubles.

That's right, Lew saw his friends and collegues lose their jobs while Nacchio made out like a bandit. But instead of throwing up his hands, he did something about it....

Now, Mr. Ellingson is the public face of a proposed ballot measure in Colorado that seeks to create what supporters hope will be the nation's toughest corporate fraud law. The measure would make business executives criminally responsible if their companies run afoul of the law. "If nothing else, these folks in charge of the corporations and companies will think twice about cutting corners to make themselves look more profitable than they really are," he said. The plight of Mr. Ellingson's former employer, Qwest, based in Denver, was a motivation for the proposal, said Jess Knox, executive director of Protect Colorado's Future.

That motivation was partially due to the miscarriage of justice, where it seems once again, money, power and privilege seems to take precendence over justice...

Last April, a jury in Denver convicted Qwest's former chief executive, Joseph P. Nacchio, of 19 of 42 counts of insider trading. Mr. Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $19 million and forfeit $52 million in money he earned from stock sales in 2001. In March, however, a federal appeals court panel reversed the conviction on the grounds that a judge had improperly excluded expert defense testimony.

Now, with a law like this on the books, CEO's will no longer think of Ken Lay or Joe Nacchio and think they will get away with their crimes - and employees can rest assured that if someone robs their pensions through the illegal stock sell offs, cooking the books or overstating earnings, they will have a way to legally hold the persons involved responsible. Makes sense, and it is about time. More from Lew Ellingson and Jess Knox on this important ballot that can level the playing field for the employees of America. To get involved with this initiative - contact ProtectCOfuture@gmail.com

Warranty of Habitability is what in legalese is considered 'commonlaw' or common sense - that is implied - you know if you rent an apartment, it should be implied that the apartment is structurally livable. Well, apparently here in Colorado, in 1977 one of our 'activist' judges ruled that there is no implied Warranty of Habitability in our laws, and there would not be one without a Legislative ruling. Fast forward 31 years, and you will have seen numerous attempts to get a basic level of protection for tenants and rentors in this state, only to be blocked in one of the two chambers, or vetoed, as was done by our former governor in 2004. Why has this happened? Well apparently, this issue is a partisan one, and it seems that our Republican collegues view this as interference in the marketplace and oddly enough, don't think rentors need the basic guarantee of a livable space. They also have deffered to the lobbying wing of the Apartment Association on this issue and have sided with the owners of the buildings rather than the tenants, never mind that this puts us in the bottom 2 states in terms of tenant protections. And, I remind you, this bill does not target the 95% of landlords and property owners that are decent and run a respectable business (I am a landlord myself), but only targets those landlords who should be seen as serial 'slumlords' who prey on the most vulnerable tennants with little access to recourse - the elderly, disabled, impoverished rentors, and nowadays, those who have already been victims of the mortgage crisis and have lost their homes. For more on this subject, here are the folks who have been in the trenches working on this subject, Laurie Jaeckel and Paul Tygan of the D.U law school program, and Randall Loeb who has been the attorney donating his time and expertise for literally years on this subject.

Recently, SEIU had a phone bank to put voters in touch with their State House Representative and allow them to voice their support for the FAIR Act. This Act would allow Colorado's Insurance Commissioner to review rate hikes for individuals and small business owners. The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative started this action and gave voice to thousands of citizens across the state. Now, Rep. Morgan Carroll has introduced this Bill and the vote is THIS WEEK. Colorado has seen rate hikes as high as 60% in 4 years. It is time we stand up to the insurance industry and make sure our health is their bottom line. -Rep Morgan Carroll

In regards to calls for more deregulation in spite of a possible recession: I don't have to imagine what unregulated capitalism looks like, I know what the unchecked free market looks like, it looks like October 29, 1929. In regards to Free Trade Agreements: Inherently Regional Trade Agreements are good, The problem with the Trade Agreements we have engaged in, is that they did not come equipped with a floor, no floor on wages, no floor on safety standards, and no incentives for these multinational corporations (to enact standards) There is nothing wrong with saying we are not going to import goods that were made by slave labor, we are not going to import goods that don't meet safety standards. In terms of global development in China and India: We need to give China and India a hand to skip over the bad parts of the Industrial Revolution, because we know that pollution is not local, that global warming is not a local problem. On Iraq and the state of Colorado's infrastructure: We have a mindset that we have a limitless American Express (tm) card and spend a trillion and a half dollars with no rate of return and not hurt us. We (in Colorado) have no federal dollars for roads, no federal dollars for schools, and when we go to the Federal government with hat in hand, and their response is, 'build a toll road'. For building infrastructure, like new schools: There is a law on the books since 1996, that allows local school districts to borrow money from the state, that the state may lend to school districts, for the sole purpose of building new schools. That's not raising taxes, not asking for new mill levies, not passing the hat, just borrowing at a low interest loan. My thought is that if you have (an older school) bleeding energy, we could bulldoze that building, build a green building in its place...the savings could pay the mortgage on a new building. That's thinking out of the box. It would be equal to a 2 1/2 million dollar mortgage. (and when you provide) a good education, and attract new business to the area, teachers will come there as well. I want businesses to come to Colorado because we have the best and the brightest employees. Unlike Joe's opponent in this race, Shawn Mitchell, who opposed the necessary TABOR reforms and who still opposes Bill Ritter's executive order on behalf of state employees, That sounds like a candidate who knows what not only Colorado needs, but what America needs. Join me in getting Joe Whitcomb elected. www.electjoewhitcomb.com

Question: Why are you running for County Commissioner? Answer: The main reason I am running is to put an end to the corruption that has plagued this county for years. My opponent, Kevin McCaskey joined with Jim Congrove last year and they used taxpayer money to hire a private investigator to follow around Jefferson County citizens who were critical of the government. An Adams county District Attorney nearly indicted them - I tell people these stories and they can't believe me but they all have been reported in the Newspaper. Question: What is your vision for economic development in Jefferson County? Answer: We have the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, the School of the Mines, we have a Governor, Governor Ritter who is very pro-renewable energy. There is no reason that Jefferson County shouldn't be the epicenter of the renewable energy industry in this country. We've got the expertise, the resources, you could bring your company here to Jefferson County and have experts to real experts at NREL and the School of Mines and that is something that I am going to do if elected is to bring these companies here and bring these good jobs and that fits into the theme of responsible growth that preserves open space and growing this county with good jobs give back to the community and give back to the Earth with these renewable energy companies. Now that sounds like real leadership for Jefferson County, for our state, and for our nation. It is time that this part of the country, the place that has been the long neglected area of focus in our country - Renewable Energy, have new leadership, that is not Republican and is looking forward to a new era of Energy solutions. Visit Mr. Bane's website at http://www.votebane.com/ or www.jasonbane.org

Q - tell us what Mi Familia does? A - Mi Familia Vota is a civic engagement campaign, non-partisan, for the hispanic community in the State of Colorado. We register hispanic voters and educate them about what is going to be on the ballot. Q - (it seems like) every one to two generations there is a backlash against an immigrant community, whether it was the Irish, the Italian, or Eastern European, or the Chinese, the same source of attraction existed, for those workers as today - jobs and businesses that want cheap labor, and nothing has changed. We need to have a sensible comprehensive immigration reform program that is both humane and also works to get everyone on the same page. What are some of the things you try to educate the community on, to educate on the immigrant's positive impact on the community? A - Immigrants put in millions of dollars in our economy, social security, consumption taxes are paid in, they are putting money into the system and they are not withdrawing it. Our long term goals are to get 20,000 new hispanic voters, and that they have the (HAVA) Help America Vote Act voter protections. We are hoping also to build a movement and we are offering civic participation training to local groups around the state and getting their members more involved in civic participation and electoral work. Our website is www.mifamiliavota.net.

First, let's get into the fray right away. I really love it when the candidate is willing to take off the gloves and point out not only why they are better suited to be representing the constituents of a district, but how the other representative has failed to do their job. Question What is some of the dissatisfaction you are hearing from the constituents in the district about the representative currently in office, Marilyn Musgrave? A- I believe people are ready for a change. This is Congresswoman Musgrave's third term in office. There is a lot of media focus on her, that she is finally starting to do her job, that means it has taken her 5 years for her to wake up and realize 'well now that I am facing a real challenge, maybe I should start paying attention to the interests of my constituents.' You know, business doesn't work that way. You are not on the job for 5 years getting a free ride, an in this case, from the taxpayers, before you decide, 'oh hey, maybe I should start doing my job' People are tired of that. She hasn't been visible in her district, and hasn't been working on the legislation the people really care about, the legislation that addresses the issues that we are all concerned with, healthcare, the economy, the water issues on the eastern plains... she has just not been vocal on any of these issues. (this part is in part 2) On Musgrave's DOMA ammendment - It is not the role of government to enact far right social issues. People are ready for the type of leaders that will go to Washington, roll up their sleeves and start to work so that we can make progress on the issues that we all care about. On Trade Q- As for me, the problem I have with her is, for the beet farmers, she was one of the last votes for CAFTA. Talk about voting against your constituents, just like, in my interview with Candidate Larry Kissell, his opponent, Republican Robin Hayes of CD-8 in North Carolina, was the very last deciding vote on CAFTA. (good luck Larry - you can see his interview here and here http://www.larrykissell.com/) A - When I get in Congress, I am going to push for us to revisit all of our trade agreements, in terms of free and fair trade, and look at what have been the implications of these agreements and our trade deficits and who are they really benefiting? Our small farmers and ranchers, or the large farming conglomerates? What impact does it have on outsourcings our jobs? These are the issues with out Trade Agreements and we need to look at each and everyone of them. (and our responsibility as citizens) It is a conversation we need to have, we as Americans may have to look at our consumption habits. This is a world community and we are all going to have to pitch in to do the right thing. Part 2 Environment: "Whether or not you believe in global warming, which is something we need to be concerned about, we absolutely need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We can change the way we power this country through renewable energy initiatives, and I am very excited about our opportunities here in Northern and Eastern Colorado for Solar, Wind and Biodiesel energy solutions. I believe the government has a role to provide incentives for these companies to grow and prosper and make a dramatic difference. Also, the Green energy industry is good for economic development for us here in Colorado. We need to be active in courting these green energy companies. (additionally) 40% of our greenhouse gas is from our buildings. There are a lot of exciting possibilities in this sector. There is a school in Northeastern Colorado, Wray High School that got a grant from the federal government. Soon that school will be 100% wind powered and they are going to be able to put power on the grid for the town of Wray. We need people in congress, who will be leaders who will push for these technologies people who are visionaries and can see the potentials for economic development, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and for protecting our planet for our children and grandchildren.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

part 2 part 3