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.

This has been an extremely busy week for me, which has been filled with people trying to make a diffeence in our community and people that I love.

My mother had another six month check up following stage 3 breast cancer. Her doctor said she is doing well. I know she is doing well. The other day, at 82, she raked all the self-pruning branches from the globe willow tree in her yard. Go MOM!

Last night I saw a lot of my friends at an event designed to have members of different community not-for-profits come together with their officers and memebers and get to know and support each other, especially in issues that are important and the subject of legislation. We packed the gymnasium at the Center for Independence, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. One of the busiest tables was the one "manned' by WHO members. WHO is a group that grew out of the GOP war on women. WHO stands for Women Helping Others.  They are planning to march in Denver on April 28 to demonstrate to legislators that women will not sit quietly and be treated like second class citizens.

Benita Phillips, a Reasonable Republican, and I manned a booth for Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County. We focused on telling people why there should not be drilling in the North Fork Valley, and sending notes about it to our legislators. For those of you not in the know. the North Fork Valley is a beautiful agricultural area, sometimes described as the Provence of Colorado. It is populated with organic farms and wineries, which does not seem to be a good fit for a bunch of drilling rigs.

Tomorrow is the County Assembly for the Mesa County Democrats. I'll be playing two roles--as an officer of the party and as a campaign manager for candidate Dan Robinson. I think that Dan has the best chance of any Democrat to be elected in Mesa County, based on his long service to this community and his many friends who reach across party lines. The campaign treasurer is a well known Republican and Dan's own wife is registered as an Independent. Tomorrow we'll make sure that he gets on the ballot!

Yesterday members of Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County delivered a message to Scott Tipton’s office in the form of a check stamped “insufficient Funds.” For some reason people think that oil shale is simply a bunch of oil waiting around waiting to be pumped into our gas tanks. Republicans, looking for a way to pay for a highway and bridge repair bill, and to put American workers back to work, proposed to mandate commercial leasing of oil shale in Colorado in order to pay for the repairs and workers.

The only problem is that despite billions of dollars of federal subsidies already going into experimental leases in Colorado, nobody has discovered a commercially feasible way to turn a really heavy rock into a liquid that is usable in automobiles.  The recipe that actually produces oil from oil shale requires heating the rock to 700 degrees for four years. It can be mined and then heated, or heated in place. Industry has proven that it can be done. It can’t be done in an economically feasible way. And for sure it isn’t going to pay for any jobs bill that puts Americans to work in this century.

Randy Udall said it best at a recent Grand Junction forum on oil shale—oil shale is the energy of the future, and will always be the energy of the future.  It isn’t ready to use today, and it won’t be ready in 10 years, and it won’t be ready in 100 years. We need to stop thinking of Colorado as having oil reserves larger than Saudi Arabia. We do, but they will never be produced in our lifetimes. Instead of putting our future into a rock that happens to burn, we should be looking to support alternative energy solutions. Solutions that might be ready in THIS century.

Homework

KJCT Story About Protest

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 am appalled by two things this morning: A post to this blog by my favorite Troll, and the results of a survey taken by School District 51.

Troll first. There is a member of the Tea Party who seems to believe that he is well informed on issues. I don’t know much about this individual, other than he is angry, doesn’t know how to string a coherent thought together into a sentence, is incapable of articulating a logical argument, and is misinformed about all manner of things. His post yesterday was about the new Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County website. He calls it a “victim” website. A website that posts the actual oil and gas regulations and all manner of news articles on topics involving human health is the opposite of a “victim” website—not that I’m sure what he means by “victim” website.

How can someone, who is informed about opportunities to express their opinion during agency open comment periods, be a victim? Federal agencies, by law, must hold public hearings on new regulations before implementing those rules. That is the essence of “for the people, by the people.” The people get to weigh in before any regulation is published or enforced. The Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County gives people the tools they need in order to be informed on issues before commenting on them. It empowers people rather than victimizing them.

Kevin King, you should have actually read the Udall article before you assumed that fracking is safe. What Udall said is that it is safe IF wells are encased from top to bottom. An industry CEO is featured in a commercial (currently running every news cycle) stating that their wells are safe because they enclose them from top to bottom in steel and cement and the production zone is deep underground, with layers of impermeable rock between the zone and surface water. That particular company MAY do that on all wells. I know for a fact that Colorado’s regulations only require only a portion of a well to be fully encased. I learned that from a Williams Petroleum representative when I toured some of their rigs and other facilities near Rifle.  It is expensive to encase a well top to bottom in cement and steel. With profit the prime motivator for all business, as it should be, how likely is it that exploration companies enclose wells top to bottom in Colorado when it is not required that they do so? The largest local company doesn’t. They told me so.

I want clean water. I don’t want to be a victim. I want regulations on how wells are completed along the Colorado River. I want a river teeming with fish, nourishing local foods and wildlife, and clean enough to swim or boat in. Kevin, your ignorance makes you the victim, not me.

Along the same lines of willful ignorance and victimhood, the Board of School District 51 was presented with the results of a survey of local residents. Because of all of the recent cuts to budgets, the school district is toying with the idea of asking for a mill levy override so that they could hire more teachers, or more accurately hire some of the teachers they’ve had to eliminate. A majority (52%) of the respondents said they would support a mill levy override. But the consulting company concluded that such a bill would not pass in Happy Valley, primarily because of local economic concerns. Their opinion was that unless 58% of the population would support such an issue when first presented with the idea, it would not pass after idiots like Kevin King spewed forth their uninformed bile.

In the Wild West the first sign of civilization was when five or six families got together to bring a school teacher to their emerging community. They valued education, prioritized education, and paid for it even as they were barely eking out a living. What happened to that frontier spirit? When did we become so afraid of our own ability to create a civilization out of the wilderness? When did we decide to forgo investment in the future of our kids?

The Democrats of Mesa County recently sponsored a gun safety class for local school kids. In order to get a gun safety card, the kids have to pass a written test. A little less than one fourth of those kids would not have passed the test if someone did not read the test questions to them. They were unable to read the questions for themselves. That’s the definition of victim, Kevin, a kid who is functionally illiterate because our schools are failing them, and parents like you are unwilling to invest in anything that informs kids or citizens.

Homework

Results of School District 51 Survey

Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County

Links to Federal and State Drilling Regulations