Lately it feels as though the air waves are full of ignorance and lies, which makes me both sad and frightened for our democracy. Democracy only thrives when people are using the same facts to find legislative solutions to problems identified by society. Our democracy has reached the point where facts are ignored and lies are promoted by both charlatans and respectable news sources.

One example is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The problems it was designed to solve include:

·         People with pre-existing conditions being unable to get health insurance.

·         People with chronic illness being dropped and/or exceeding life-time caps on insurance payments.

·         Women paying more for health care than men, because pregnancy is expensive. (Everyone knows men have nothing to do with a woman getting pregnant, so men should not pay for this female-only condition.)

·         Huge executive salaries and advertising expenditures by health care companies, while denying actual health care to people paying for insurance.

On Tuesday I attended a demonstration in favor of Obama Care. The demonstration was in response to a protest against Obama Care, which was organized by Kelly Sloan of Americans for Prosperity. The name of the organization is itself a lie. The only prosperity AFP is concerned about is the prosperity of the top 1% of wage earners, including the Koch brothers, who pay the AFP bills.

Colorado Peak Politics, a right wing blog, reported on the demonstration/protest. If the only report on the event was in Colorado Peak Politics, one would believe that all of the people on my side of the issue were nothing but a bunch of unwashed Occupy Grand Junction anarchists.  To be fair, some of us have attended Occupy Grand Junction protests, because we recognize that we are part of the 99%. But we live most of our lives outside of the Occupy movement.

I already said I was there. I am a retired banker. I write a column for the Free Press, which appears every other week alongside a column by Kelly Sloan. I ran for office against Steve King. I am involved in managing a campaign for Dan Robinson. I am the Treasurer of the local Democratic Party. I am the Treasurer of Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County(WCC-Mesa), a group that is concerned with both a healthy planet and healthy humans. I sit on the board of Western Colorado Congress (WCC), an umbrella organization that includes five community organizations across the western slope. I sit on the board of WORC, an organization in Montana that follows agricultural and environmental legislation at the federal level.

Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County (WCC-Mesa) was well represented at this demonstration/protest. Benita Phillips, a Registered Nurse who once managed whole floors of other nurses at VA hospitals both in Denver and in Grand Junction, is the President of WCC-Mesa. Joel Dyar, a graduate student with lots of community work under his belt, is the Vice-President of WCC-Mesa. Robyn Parker, an accomplished stay-at-home mom, who is busy organizing women to go to Denver on April 28 to demonstrate against the GOP war on woman, is the Secretary of WCC-Mesa.

Establishment of the Democratic Party was there. Rick Baer, who is Vice Chairman of the Mesa County Democratic Party and a retired union organizer, was one of the people quoted by the press. Tedi Gillespie, acting station manager of KAFM radio, and secretary of the Mesa County Democratic Party helped to hold up the banner. Troy Douglas, drummer for Desert Moon, Vietnam era veteran and Vice Chairman of the Mesa County Democratic Party, held up the banner. Dave Edwards, Democratic candidate for County Commissioner was quoted by the press in support of Obama Care.

Mike Burr, pastor of Koinonia Church in Grand Junction, and co-chair of the group that fought the evil three ballot issues, and won, in 2010 was quoted by the press in support of Obama Care, and helped hold up the banner.

Gil Fuller and his wife Susan were there. You may remember that name. Gil, a retired dentist, ran for the seat in Senate District 7 at the same time that I did. He ran as a Libertarian. Gil and Susan favor Obama Care and helped hold up the banner.

There were quite a few more very accomplished people holding up the banner in favor of Obama Care. The banner, handmade by Benita Phillips (a registered Republican and recent delegate to their County Assembly) was 50 feet long, and had one message to those protesting—read the actual bill so that you know what is in it and a link to both the Colorado website for information and another source. Those of us demonstrating in favor of the bill have all read the actual bill, and know what it says. Those demonstrating against the bill delight in mentioning how long it is, and how nobody has read it; their information is based on lies and willful ignorance.

Monument or National Park?

There was a luncheon meeting where staff from Senator Udall’s office informed attendees about possible legislation to make the Colorado National Monument into a National Park. The Senator hasn’t decided if he will draft a bill to make that happen; he’s still in the information gathering stage. I learned some interesting things at that meeting:

Before the park service had money to manage the monument, it was managed by Grand Junction’s Chamber of Commerce. At one time the Chamber was in favor of national park status, but so far they haven’t committed to supporting any legislation that would make it happen.

The two largest concerns for the people who are against the proposal are the air quality and possible traffic congestion if visits increased. The park service is already planning for increased visits, mostly because the local population is increasing. It seems the Chamber is hesitating to jump on the bandwagon because of their concerns that designation as a national park would make it more difficult for the oil and gas companies to belch toxins into our air. (Note: I said that. The Senator’s staff made no mention of oil and gas or the motives of the Chamber.)

FRAM, LLC

The owners of drilling leases near Whitewater, in conjunction with the BLM hosted an open house at the Double Tree Hotel.  There was no official presentation, just easels with maps and information scattered around the room. There is an open comment period for this project. (Information linked in the Homework section.)

Occupy GJ

The Occupy Grand Junction folks had protestors in the parking lot of the Double Tree Hotel to greet the oil and gas industry as it arrived. TV News cameras showed up, and were interviewing people. (I just waved as I drove by.) As I was leaving the FRAM event, I overheard two policemen talking to the local BLM head honcho about how inappropriate it was for the protestors to be there. The tone of the conversation seemed to indicate that the protestors should have stayed downtown, and weren’t welcome at the ritziest hotel in town.

When did the right to assemble get taken out of the U.S. Constitution?

Home Depot Customer Service

The check is in the mail, and I’ve agreed to stop bitching until Thursday. If the check doesn’t arrive then, all bets are off. In the meanwhile, the store manager gave me $25 worth of merchandise just so that I would go away.

Homework

Monument or National Park

Contact Mark Udall

2010 Fram LLC Proposal

2011 Proposed Plan

BLM Seeking Public Comments on Fram Proposal Deadline December 1

Occupy Grand Junction on Facebook

Today, in Washington, people are celebrating the dedication of a monument to Martin Luther King. Near the end of his life, after winning two major legislative battles guaranteeing civil rights and voting rights for his people, Martin Luther King said, “The Constitution assured the right to vote, but there is no such assurance of the right to adequate housing, or the right to an adequate income. And yet, in a nation which has a gross national product of 750 billion dollars a year, it is morally right to insist that every person has a decent house, an adequate education and enough money to provide basic necessities for one’s family. Achievement of these goals will be a lot more difficult and require much more discipline, understanding, organization and sacrifice.”

King’s method of protest was to occupy the public square in order to call attention to the issues of discrimination and economic inequality. He knew that solutions wouldn’t be created in the public square. He also knew that unless we were talking about the problem, there would never be any solutions offered. His strategy was to stand in public until people in power acknowledged that the problem existed, and started talking about it. He expected solutions to come from those discussions.

It is fitting that this celebration of King’s life is the day after Occupy Earth made international news. King was following in the footsteps of Gandhi, who stood up to British power, inventing non-violent techniques, in his quest for freedom for India. And now the protestors of Occupy Earth are following the paths left by Gandhi and King.  They are standing in the public square. They are willing to question the right of establishment to ban them from assembly in the square  which was paid for with taxes on their work. They are willing to go to jail to highlight the growing economic inequality and resulting alienation from political leaders.

I attended the Occupy Grand Junction event yesterday. The people who showed up were of all ages and from all walks of life. We all had the opportunity to speak into a bullhorn about what motivated us to be there. A young high school student said he came because he was learning about freedom of speech in an American History class. A World War II veteran came because he wanted the American Dream to be alive for his great-grand-children. A young teacher came because she was concerned that we weren’t providing an adequate education to our kids. A grandfather, who manages restaurants, came because he is concerned at the growing economic inequality. A councilor in a mental health clinic came because budget cuts are hurting the people in her care. A homeless man with mental illness came because he thought the power of love was more important than the love of power. A community organizer came to remind people that democracy works for people when they organize and stand up together to demand change.

I don’t know how many of those people stayed until the bewitching hour, when the space was supposed to be vacated, according to signs posted all around the courthouse lawn. I know that some planned to pitch their tents in the public square, and stay until government began to listen to them. They also planned to be arrested, without resistance. They had attorneys standing by to represent them. This middle-class lady left when her back pain got too great. Clearly she has a big mouth, but not the heart of a Gandhi or King.

Homework:

MLK Memorial

Martin Luther King May 4, 1966

Biography of Gandhi

Occupy Grand Junction