Happy Sunday everyone! This week the Dog had a request for a multi-grain bread, but one that was not too heavy on the rye. The Dark Grains bread is a perfect fit. The loaves come out a nice dark color and give a rich and complex taste. Mrs. Dog does not love this loaf, so the Dog is just going to give you the recipe, no pictures this time around. Sorry, but you don't really need pictures to make this bread. There are only one set of instructions, as it can not really be made in stand mixer, this bread is old school all the way.
Good morning, and it's glorious! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
It's still been quite cool here in Denver for the past week - midweek we were only in they mid-40s, but temperatures finally nudged up into the high 50s yesterday.
As luck would have it, the Bossman was out of town so I had an extra day off, and I spent it cleaning up the veggie patch, whacking back the rugosa hansa, and admiring the fine collection of crocus and rock garden iris blooming in the front yard. This one is Harmony, and I really love its clear, clear blues - as blue as the spring sky in Colorado.
The Republican Hate Machine has really cranked up against health care reform.
This says two things: it is obviously an excellent policy choice, despite some weak points in the legislation, and Republicans' primary policy goal is to stop any and all reform. Why do they hate Coloradans?
The Grand Junction Sentinel describes what happens when Republicans are worried about being on the wrong side of history:
Some Grand Junction residents were upset last week that they couldn't get through to anyone in U.S. Rep. John Salazar's offices either in town or Washington, D.C.
...
That's because all of his regional offices and the main office in D.C. have been inundated in the past week with telephone calls from around the nation on the controversial health care measure, said Gail Gnirk, one of his field representatives in the Grand Junction office.
"We have a voice mailbox specifically set up for people who want to leave comments for the congressman, but 95 percent of those have been from out of state. They spill over into everybody else's voice mail, but I try to go through those every 20 minutes. It's become impossible to do. I found six conservative Web sites that are telling people to call this office directly."
"Salazar and Betsy Markey are among several dozen members of Congress who also were getting numerous calls" reports the Sentinel.
Deep down, I'm sure Salazar and Markey know what's right on this issue, or they wouldn't have put a (D) behind their names. I'm not going to put their phone numbers here because their voicemail is already full of Tea Baggers who don't want the government to touch their Medicare.
If John Salazar and Betsy Markey can't figure out what's going on when 6 Republican groups try to intimidate them on their vote for an** historic piece of legislation like this, then they sure are going to listen to you or me.
Republicans are tightening the pressure on U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., trying to turn around his yes vote on the House health care measure.
The National Republican Congressional Committee started making "code-red alert" robo-calls Thursday to voters in Salazar's 3rd Congressional District, which includes most of the Western Slope.
SEIU officials were intent on sending a message to other House Dems that they risk losing the union's support if they don't vote for the bill - and said the union's rank and file membership strongly wanted reform to pass.
"We put an enormous amount of effort into electing Democrats," Fishman said. "This is the most important issue on everyone's plate. We're sending a message to Democrats: If you can't support this, we can't support you."
John Salazar likes to play that old-fashioned "independent" game with people:
Republicans will attack him and lie about whatever he does. He knows that. Dems will support him, and maybe go out of their way, if he does what he should on this issue.
John Salazar played coy with Mike Stark, but he ain't no independent.
The call of history beckons John Salazar, Democratic representative from Colorado.
Headlines today tell of Wall Street bailouts and banking abuses that have resulted in our usurious credit card hikes, heartless foreclosures, and the bankruptcy of Greece's entire economy. It seems that no person or institution is safe from corrupt banking practices.
While we might naively think that these practices are limited to Wall Street and large banking institutions, it has become clear that these practices have robbed our communities as well.
Big banks, along with politicians, have lured states and communities across the US to buy into banking derivatives or 'swaps' and all are paying the price.
And in each of these cases, well heeled politicians were paving the way for the banks at the people's expense.
Let's look at a few example, and find out why Bill Richardson had to withdraw his name for Commerce Secretary, and why Colorado Senator Michael Bennet has a lot to explain.
(hattip to JeffcoBlue)
In this installment, I am going to describe the visit to the attorney and talk about making the choice between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. If you are interested in the first part of this series, you can find it here. It is a description of how my wife and I worked ourselves into the position of needing to go bankrupt. Before I start, let me tell you all something I learned which everyone should know. Your 401K and other retirement accounts are exempt up to the first 1 million dollars. If you are in dire financial straights, do not raid these accounts to stay afloat. You will want that money later in life!
Appearing at a Tea Party-hosted Republican candidate forum on Tuesday, Norton was asked to name federal programs that she thought were unconstitutional, under the scope of the federal government's enumerated powers, and also whether it was constitutionally permissible for the government to run the Social Security program as it exists now, with the government controlling the money.
"The federal government is fundamentally out of control," Norton answered. "They are seizing control of things like car companies, banks, insurance companies. They're encroaching in areas of education, of the EPA and its endangerment finding, circumventing the rule of law, circumventing legislative processes. They are absolutely out of control. With regard to Social Security, it has turned into a Ponzi scheme. The money that people pay into it should be there for when they are ready to retire."
Today I'd like to announce the founding of a new people powered Political Action Committee, it is called Peanut Butter PAC. For full disclosure, I am part of the steering committee for this PAC. I am doing this because I believe in the goals of this new PAC and hope that you will come and join us.
This nation was founded on the idea that the people were the most important part of any government. They were the ones from which the powers of the government were borrowed, not the other way around. The Founders fought a revolution to make this point, but it is not a point that maintains itself, it requires the action of the people.
In the late 1800's it was time for the people to assert their power again. The power of business and the trusts were keeping the will of the people from being done. So, the Progressives came into being. Cleaning up politics, breaking up the old machines and bosses were the goal of this movement. The people, working together were successful.
Across 500 acres north of West Palm Beach, the FPL Group utility is assembling a life-size Erector Set of 190,000 shimmering mirrors and thousands of steel pylons that stretch as far as the eye can see. When it is completed by the end of the year, this vast project will be the world's second-largest solar plant.
But that is not its real novelty. The solar array is being grafted onto the back of the nation's largest fossil-fuel power plant, fired by natural gas. It is an experiment in whether conventional power generation can be married with renewable power in a way that lowers costs and spares the environment.
John Hickenlooper is bucking the trends that have Democrats trailing right now in most of the major races across the country, and that makes him the early favorite to be Colorado's next Governor.
Hickenlooper leads Scott McInnis 50-39. He's up 48-34 with independents, making this only the third race we've polled since November where the Democratic candidate had a lead with that group. And he also has Democratic voters more unified around him (85%) than Republican voters are around McInnis (77%). In the vast majority of races we've looked at recently GOP candidates are doing a better job of keeping their party lined up behind them than Democrats are.
There's absolutely no doubt Democrats are better off with Hickenlooper in the race than they would have been if Bill Ritter had tried for reelection. While Hickenlooper's favorability spread is a positive 51/27, Ritter's approval rating continues to be in negative territory as it has been for the last year at 38/50. That's a 36 point net improvement for Democrats by swapping Ritter for Hickenlooper and given that it's no wonder the party's in so much better shape now.
McInnis' favorability spread stands at 28/27, almost identical to his 30/25 standing when PPP last surveyed Colorado in August. McInnis led Ritter by 8 points then but it's clear now that had a whole lot more to do with Ritter than it did with McInnis, given the 19 point shift in the horse race we've seen since Hickenlooper entered.
There are two signs over the Dogs desk; one reads;
"The man that favors the ideal over the real learn to achieve not his salvation but his ruin"
the other reads
"Ideals must be defended with idealism".
Yes, they seem to contradict each other yet to me they are the essence of politics and policy.
On the one hand, when we are talking about policy, there is the need to get things done, to make progress on the issues, even if we don't finish them in this fight. If there is not a pressing need, then the issue should not be the focus of political and legislative policy, so by definition if an issue is being worked on it has a real world impact for real people. This generally means that doing nothing is unacceptable. Trying and failing often means that nothing will change, and the damage (whatever it may be) that is spurring the debate will continue.
The bigger the issue the more important it is likely to be and thus the need for progress is greater. However, the bigger the issue the more important the ideals one holds to become as well. When looking at a policy that would mean major change, there is always the chance that the change will go in a direction that you vehemently oppose. This can engage the ideals that guide your thinking in an immediate fashion.
Way back in 2004, Colorado voters approved the state's first Renewable Energy Standard: 10% by 2015. Xcel Energy was among the large group of critics of that measure, trotting out the usual arguments against any kind of standard or regulation - the industry would collapse, the standard couldn't be met by 2015, thousands of jobs would be lost, yada, yada, yada.
As proponents predicted, none of that happened. In fact, the industry is stronger and there are more jobs, thanks in part to the RES. Moreover, the RES was met years in advance of the goal, demonstrating how easy it is to begin moving away from dirty energy. In light of the early RES achievement, the state legislature in 2006 doubled the RES to 20% by 2020. Fewer critical voices were heard given the evidence in front of everybody. Still, some complained about the heavy hand of government and continued whining about lost jobs - all the while never offering solutions to generate new jobs, as frequently happens.
"I don't think that the scientific community has decided with certainty that climate change is as catastrophic as so many people think," said John Hickenlooper, a former geologist in the energy industry.
In a poll of 500 likely Colorado voters conducted March 4, former congressman McInnis led Denver Mayor Hickenlooper 48 to 42 percent. The automated poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.
It is easy to think of Members of Congress as corrupt, this is particularly true of the Republicans who seem hell bent on doing everything they can to go against what polls show time and again is the will of the people. Since they are the avowed party of business and they have so many multi-millionaires and billionaires in their ranks the circumstantial evidence is pretty strongly in favor of this idea.
However the Dog would like to offer an alternate theory; namely that a large percentage of Congressional Republicans are not evil or corrupt, they are merely sack-of-hammers-dumb. Call it the creeping Jethro Bodine-ism of the Republican Party.
On behalf of the Executive Committee of the El Paso County Democratic Party I am pleased to announce that Christy LeLait has accepted the position of Executive Director of our County Party. This marks the beginning of a new era for the EPCDP.
We are stepping up our efforts to move forward with a Democratic Party presence in what is perceived to be a Republican stronghold.
Having an Executive Director allows EPCDP to be represented in a more professional way and gives us visibility in a way we have never had before. We are grateful that Christy has joined us and are extremely proud to have someone with the experience in Democratic politics and organizations that she brings. I invite you to join us in welcoming her to our organization.
Carolyn Cathey
Secretary, EPCDP
El Paso County is not a gimme for R's like it used to be. It's still a tough nut to crack, but hiring a pro is just another step towards promoting liberal values and putting reasonable legislators in place.....and another way we can give nightmares to Dick Wadhams and James Dobson.
In January 2010, the 5th highest CO2 concentrations in recorded history were recorded: 388.63ppm. This value was higher than any recorded in all of 2008. Only four months in 2009 saw higher values: March through June. Monthly averages of atmospheric CO2 concentrations are released by NOAA.
AURORA - City officials are revisiting the current mandate that requires two police officers for every thousand residents.
Only this time, there seems to be some chance the requirement could go away - courtesy of the slumping economy.
Voters in 2003 approved a quarter-percent sales tax to fund the requirement.
Since then, the Aurora Police Department has added between 120 and 130 officers, all paid for by the tax. The city has about 620 police officers.
The tax raises about $9 million annually in this city of 310,000 residents, according to the police union.
However, facing another multi-million-dollar budget shortfall next year, city officials are considering all options.
Reminds me of this classic scene:
Aurora citizens responsibly voted in a minor tax to pay for those police. But their politicians have miscalculated in other areas and surely fell victim to anti-tax zealots who thrive both here and abroad:
This is the same Mayor and City Council that wants to give tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks to an Australian Company to build a residential/commercial complex in a pasture east of town. They want that company to build another library even though they closed four of them in town.
Bottom line is this: Si you don't want to pay no stinking taxes, you don't get no badges protecting you, hombre!
Okay the Dog has had it right up to here with Republicans saying that unemployment assistance keeps people from finding work. Only a party that is the refuge of scoundrels and the ultra-rich could possibly think this. As one of those folks who is trying (and failing) to get by on the unemployment benefits, let the Dog lay it out for you.
In the state of Colorado, you are entitled to 60% of your wages on unemployment. That is as long as you did not make too much money at your previous job. You see benefits are capped at $443 a week, so if you made any more than $38,400 you are out of luck for the rest of the 60%. This means that when middle class folks making around $50,000 a year become unemployed they are getting the shaft, twice. When the Dog was employed he was making $1,025 a week (not how they actually paid it but to compare apples to apples) so instead of getting 60% of that the hound is getting 43%.
Now is this better than nothing? Oh hell yes, it is but it is hardly enough to keep the Dog from desperately looking for work. Getting less than half of the income you used to get means that you have very little chance of actually being able to meet you living costs, let alone pay the debt that nearly every American family owes from the free borrowing and free spending that this nation is famous for.
The fact that they are that so freaked out about this thing is a pretty damned good reason to pass it if you ask me....and the fact that they don't want 30 Million Americans to have access to health care should not stop us.
HATCH (of course): Reconciliation "very, very dangerous." Yeah, to Professional Lying Republicans whose lies might just finally be put to rest by this bill.
Good morning, and it's glorious! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
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