Yesterday Western Colorado Congress testified in front of the Senate Ag Committee in support of the Cottage Foods Act. Of the three speakers, Monica Wiitanen was probably the most forceful speaker, as she would be directly impacted by the bill. Monica is a farmer in the North Fork Valley, and also bakes breads in her wood-fired oven. This bill would allow her to sell her breads at farmers markets and roadside stands. This is a good thing! I’ve tasted Monica’s breads and they are worth driving to Paonia to buy!

As a representative from Wextern Colorado Congress of Mesa County, I testified about the importance of economic diversity, and how agri-tourism could help to fill the jobs gap for those who are still unemployed in Mesa County.

The bill passed out of committee on a 5-1 vote, with one Republican Senator voting against the bill. The two points of contention were the requirement for labeling and a mandate for producers to have liability insurance. The insurance requirement was placed in the bill in order to get the support of the Farmer’s Union, who were against the bill during the last session. Two of the GOP Senators expressed concern that producers were being required to purchase an insurance product that may not be affordable or available. The labeling requirements were placed in the bill to satisfy concerns of the health department.

Watching the hearing was amusing, in a black humor sort of way. The two GOP Senators who seemed to have most concern with the law began their attack with an assumption that a whole new layer of regulations were being imposed on small farmers. Nothing could be further from the truth—this bill was designed to exempt small producers from commercial kitchen and inspection requirements. Once they figured that out, they persisted in their anti-regulation rant, probably out of force of habit. In the end the one no vote was because of the requirement to put labels on these feeds.

Speaking strictly as a consumer, I’ve been trained to read labels for ingredients and nutritional values. I’m not sure I would buy a food that didn’t have at least the ingredients listed on a label. I’m sure there are many consumers just like me. Essentially, the Senator with the no vote was saying that it’s okay if sales can’t be made to consumers like me, thus limiting the business potential for these food producers. Dumb.

I know that my readers will be surprised that I didn’t watch the State of the Union speech by Obama until it was aired at about midnight, and then I slept through most of it. Fortunately I did receive the text from my Free Press editor, so I was able to respond to his comments in a piece that will be published Friday.

Instead of watching, I attended an oil shale forum at CMU. The Math and Science Center, who recently received a grant from Chevron, wanted to present a balanced look at oil shale. Presenters included Jeremy Boak, a Colorado School of Mines professor who hosts an annual oil shale conference at his university; Randy Udall, an expert on peak oil and investing in alternative fuels; and Jim Spehar, a local columnist and former Grand Junction mayor and county commissioner. They each had a very different look at the industry.

Boak, a geologist, spoke to the science of oil shale, including highlighting the difference between shale oil and oil shale. Udall spoke to the folly of expecting widespread commercialization, pointing out the fact that it is always just 10 years down the road, and will always be just 10 years down the road. Spehar discussed the impacts on communities of boom and bust cycles. Unfortunately Spehar assumed that his audience understood what the word “infrastructure” means to governments, and got pretty lost in the weeds of how tax revenues flow to cities and counties.

This forum was taped, and will be available within the next week at the math and Science Center’s website. If you watch the video you’ll never think of potatoes and oil shale in the same way again.

Homework

Math and Science Center

KREX Report on Oil Shale Forum

Romney finally released his tax returns yesterday. In an effort to prove that he’s more transparent than Romney, Gingrich released his contract with Freddie Mac. The release of documents by the two presidential campaigns proved several things: Only the rich need apply to the GOP; the rich don’t pay into Medicare; and the GOP doesn’t respect actual work.

We all knew that Romney is wealthy. The problem is that he doesn’t seem comfortable discussing his wealth, or hanging out with ordinary voters. He prefers discussing things like that in “quiet rooms.” He only released his tax returns after people like Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey told him it was the right thing to do. Before releasing them he said that he paid close to 15% of his income in taxes. The actual returns show that he paid 13.9% of his almost $22 million in income in 2010 and expects to pay 15.4% in 2011. Even more interesting is the fact that Romney doesn’t have to do a thing to get that $22 million. His assets are all in a “blind trust” where the trustee makes all decisions. Since he doesn’t have to work, he can do things like take six years out of his life indulging in his hobby of running for political office. The good news is that he probably can’t be bought.

Gingrich, on the other hand, actually had to work to get his millions in income. I’m not saying that he had to put on a hard hat and run a jack hammer in a coal mine, breathing in coal dust all the live long day. But he did have to exercise his dial finger, probably building quite the callus, calling all of the friends and acquaintances he accumulated as Speaker. No doubt the experience prepared him for a presidential run, since it was hard work urging the recipients of his calls to make sure that Freddie Mac continued to be viewed favorably in congress. The man who actually “worked” for a living paid 32% of his income into the U.S. Treasury. He avoided paying even more by using a tax loophole. He avoided paying into Medicare by setting himself up as a Sub S Corporation.

Gingrich claiming that he didn’t work as a lobbyist is a bunch of pious baloney.  Lobbying is the act of influencing legislators to vote in favor of an issue. Gingrich reported to the head lobbyist at Freddie Mac. He didn’t get that callus on his finger because he was discussing history with a bunch of guys on K-Street or in the capital. He got that callus because he was connected to people who could make decisions impacting the regulation and funding of Freddie Mac. That’s a lobbyist.

Homework

Romney Tax Returns

Gingrich Consulting Contract

Gingrich Tax Returns

Gingrich Tax Rate

I was awakened in the middle of the night with the sound of my dog barking his head off. That isn’t all that unusual because when he needs to get out he stands at the door and barks. What was unusual was him rushing through his doggie door, yelling at the top of his lungs. Lately Jackson has been demanding that the human door be opened for him. I have been teasing him about losing his mind, and becoming forgetful in his old age. I thought he had forgotten all about that doggie door.

It turns out there was a cat in the garage, and Jackson was more than a little irritated about having his space invaded. I don’t think Jackson has ever gotten close to a scared cat, one of which he quickly cornered. The tabby behaved exactly as a one would expect a cornered cat to behave. A cornered cat is dangerous. As soon as I was able to get my hands on Jackson, I removed him from the site, and opened the garage door to let the frightened invader back out into the night where he belonged.

Jackson got the worst of it. His ear was wet with cat slobber. His mouth was bleeding from a cat scratch, and he was favoring one paw. And he was mad at me for breaking up the fight.

Since I’m a political junkie, I was reminded of the fight between Romney and Gingrich. Even though dogs and dog lovers everywhere would ban Romney from their company, in my mind’s eye, he became the dog—a pampered dog who has spent his entire life sleeping on silk pillows and prancing at elite dog shows. Gingrich became the scrappy cat, cornered and fighting for his life, using every sharp tool at his disposal.

I hadn’t planned on watching the billionth GOP debate tonight, but I just may change my mind. Yesterday Gingrich made the round of morning talk shows, having licked his fur back into place after his most recent alley fight with a newscaster. He even wore the colors of a tabby, with a yellow silk tie neatly in place, disguising the ruffled fur of a seasoned fighter. The fangs were hidden, and the sharp claws had been placed in neutral position. It won’t take much to corner Newt, and the fur will fly again. He is feeling cocky because he won the most recent scrap. But it is Romney who has the owner with the means to send the invader back out into the night. Romney might have a few cat scratches, but the elitists aren’t interested in sharing their pampered space with a stinky old alley cat.

Internet

The people who love the wildness of the internet won a major battle this week, forcing legislators to rethink their approach to protecting the piracy of music and movies. The power of the internet was demonstrated to these legislators when Wikipedia and Google, just to name two, shut down their sites in protest. The resulting response from internet users was bipartisan and swift, as was the official reaction. This story isn’t over. Megaupload, a site that allows customers to store videos and photos in the clouds was shut down in an international criminal investigation. See the story linked below.

GOP Primary Race

There were about a billion more GOP debates, none of which I watched. I’m glad the Democrats have a sane candidate to run for President. Those in the GOP primaries are all loony tunes material.

There is Romney, who was the front runner until a day or two ago. But this week he learned that he didn’t really win the Iowa Caucus, that people don’t like candidates who abuse dogs, and that during times of high unemployment it isn’t a good thing to mention that $300,000 in income, ten times the average annual income of voters in the primary state, is a small percentage of your total annual income.

Newt got to play the race card and yell at the elitist media when they dared to question his character. Even though he isn’t holier than thou he got to sound like he was, and now a Southern state that still flies the Confederate Flag is poised to anoint him as the winner in their primary.

Perry the Barracuda dropped out of the race when it became apparent that he couldn’t effectively run with his foot in his mouth. In one final move, he threw all six of his supporters into the waiting arms of his previous rival.

After former drop-out Herman Cain resurfaced as a white man with a show on the Comedy network , my guy, Huntsman, dropped out.  Presumably he didn’t want to have results showing him losing to a joke.

Women’s Rights

Women won a round when Kathleen Sibelius announced that religious groups couldn’t discriminate against women who want to practice birth control.

Homework

Megaupload Shut Down

Bloomberg Discusses All the Fun in South Carolina

Framing Discrimination as Religious Freedom

The most important thing on the minds of Colorado’s GOP is repealing the Affordable Care Act. That was their first order of business yesterday, according to a report by Charles Ashby.  The vote passed along party lines, evidently for the purpose of getting Sal Pace on record as supporting Obama Care. (Please note that Obama said he didn’t mind having his name associated with caring.)

Then in a bizarre statement Pace went on to say, “ We look a little bit too much like Washington, D.C., and I’m reconsidering my future plans if this is what it’s going to be like.” So what does that mean? Pace hasn’t even been elected in one of the most watched races in the nation, and already he’s having second thoughts? Geez that gives me a lot of confidence.

Just to make this story even juicer, Laura Bradford was the only Republican who voted against the bill. She later said that it was a mistake.  We have a Representative who doesn’t know the difference between yes and no on a resolution? Oh, she said she was “distracted.” That makes me feel better! Not good.

But get this: the resolution went even further than calling for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. They want to hold a constitutional convention in order to repeal it. The last constitutional convention was in 1787 and we need another one now because a bill passed that was designed to stop abuses by the health insurance industry, and make health care more affordable for all? Or do we need a constitutional convention just in case Sal Pace figures out whether he wants to run against Scott Tipton?

We’ve got the picture. GOP politicians don’t like the Affordable Care Act. The constitutionality of the bill is already making its way through the courts, with Colorado signed on to the side that is claiming it is unconstitutional. We can’t wait for a court ruling, instead we want to throw out the U.S. Constitution and write a new one?

Homework

Grand Junction Sentinel Story About GOP & Health Care

Denver Post Story About GOP & Health Care

Constitutional Convention

I’ve previously mentioned that, as a board member of both Western Colorado Congress and Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County, I’ve been working on the issue of promoting local foods, and making it easier for farmers to make a living.

A bill has been introduced in the legislature to do just that. Senator Gail Schwartz, in the Senate, and Representative Don Coram, in the House, have introduced the Cottage Foods Act. A similar bill was introduced last year, but never came up for a vote.

What this bill does is reduce regulations for small family farmers and home based businesses that make jellies, jams, cakes and cookies and sell them locally at places like Farmer’s Markets or food stands. Authors of the bill believe that it will promote agritourism in Colorado communities, thus creating jobs. It should also provide better access to fresh healthy food in places like Grand Junction, where we have many orchards and farms capable of delivering product into our local markets.

Clearly some concerns with the 2011 bill have been addressed in the 2012 bill. It specifically exempts food kitchens from any liability from serving food produced in this lower regulation environment. It also exempts schools from any liability if the food is prepared in the schools’ kitchens.

For foods sold directly to the consumer, the Act limits the reduced regulations to foods that do not require refrigeration, such as nuts, honey, seeds, jams, jellies, spices, teas, dehydrated foods (think sun dried tomatoes!), candies and baked goods. However, these producers must be certified in the safe handling of food. Certification is to come from an entity like the USDA or the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Service. The pool of producers is further limited to vendors with annual net sales of $2,500 or less.

The Act goes on to describe the label requirements on each food item, which includes contact information for the producer. Finally the Act describes how eggs could be sold under this Act.

Please contact your representatives and ask them to support this bill. While you are at it, how about sending a note to the two  sponsors, and thank them for their work to make it easier to eat foods that are produced locally.

Homework:

Colorado Cottage Foods Act

Senator Gail Schwartz

Representative Don Coram

I’ve been spending time at two websites, State Bill Colorado and the legislative section of Colorado State Government. Both are good places to find the bills that are being considered in the current legislative session. The state website is all business, and lists information about each bill, including who is sponsoring, which committee is reviewing, and detail about votes. State Bill Colorado provides the same information with a little editorial comment and quotes from legislators. They also print the governor’s schedule and tips for dining.

Already the list is long, but one that caught my eye was a bill requiring drug testing as a condition of eligibility under the Colorado Works Progam. If the worker fails the drug test, they would be eligible to reapply in a year, 6-months if they go through a substance abuse program. This is HB 12-1046, and the sponsors are Rep. Sonnenberg in the House and Senator Brophy in the Senate. Jerry Sonnenberg is a rancher with experience in land and water issues.  Senator Brophy also represents a rural district. Both are Republicans.

I have to wonder if this legislation wasn’t handed to the two Republicans over the summer by ALEC. They have been trying to increase drug testing both in the workplace and for people on welfare. A similar bill was passed in Florida, where it became under attack for two reasons: The Governor owned a company that did drug testing and 96% of all people tested passed the test.

In Colorado, there is another wrinkle—medical marijuana. Does this mean that if someone has a medical marijuana card they need not ever apply for any assistance programs, because they will fail the drug test? Medical marijuana may not be legal under U.S. codes, but it is legal under the Colorado Constitution. The state has even been balancing its budget thanks to fees paid by cardholders and dispensaries.

The proposed bill tries to soften any blow to the innocent children of people who fail the drug test. Their benefits would be continued if there was someone who could pass the test and manage the family’s finances. And you thought the GOP was about small government? What have you been smoking?

Homework

State Bill Colorado

Legislature Home Page for the State of Colorado

HB 12-1046

Colorado Works Program

Blogger Writes About ALEC workforce drug testing legislation

Florida Newspaper Story About ALEC legislation supporting welfare drug testing

Nashville Blogger Reports on Results of Welfare Drug Testing in Florida

During the craziness of political seasons it is not unusual for politicians to attack regulatory agencies. It is part of the mantra of small-government Republicans, especially when regulations get in the way of big business. We’ve seen Wall Street lobbyists grousing at the Dodd Frank bill that was designed to rein in the excesses of the financial industry. We’ve seen the oil and gas industry lobbyists trying to play nice and be more transparent about fracking chemicals, while screaming for the death of the EPA, which has been studying the impacts of fracking on water.

But I’ve never heard a politician saying that the Center for Disease Control should be dismantled.  I think we can expect some arrows flying in that direction when the powerful oil and gas industry gets wind of what Christopher Portier, director of the National Center of Environmental Health at the CDC had to say recently.

“We do not have enough information to say with certainty whether shale gas drilling poses a threat to public health … More research is needed for us to understand public health impacts from natural gas drilling and new gas drilling technologies.”

Portier went on to say that there should be testing of water wells both before and after fracking, as well as studies to determine if it is safe to eat animals or fish that drink or swim in impacted surface water. He expressed concern that there are no scientific studies or medical standards to define symptoms caused by oil and gas activities.

Bringing it even closer to home, Dr. Portier’s agency consulted on the health studies conducted in Garfield County relative to breathing air close to oil and gas fields.

The involvement of the CDC in looking at fracking has not been widely reported, but the attacks on them surely won’t wait until the public knows about their concerns.

Homework

Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Story about CDC Concerns About Fracking

Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry

ATSDR Consulted on Garfield County Health Survey