http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/group_rss/Evergreen Connect to other progressives in Evergreen. Click on the "Join Group" button near the top of the page. The dialogue around health care reform has been stifled and distorted by those who profit from the current system, so I wanted to share with you a piece I wrote for the Huffington Post -- Corporate Profit Continues to Define Health Care Reform & the U.S. Race to the Bottom . Please comment on the piece, if you like. I think that employers should certainly contribute to health care based on numbers of employees, but health care should not be tied to employment.  T.R. Reid, PBS journalist who made the documentary, Sick Around the World, is scheduled to show his documentary & comment to a joint session of the Senate-House Health & Human Services Committees this Thursday, Jan. 8 at 1:30pm- 3:30pm at the Legislative Services Building (across from the Capitol at 14th St. on Sherman) in Hearing Room A. The documentary has been shown a number of times on PBS Frontline. Reid lived in other countries, including England, where he found health care to be much more accessible and affordable than in the US. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQfg http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQfg/commentary#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:23:28 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQfg Michele S Michele S 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQfg/ Kopel, in his opinion piece today in the Rocky Mountain News KOPEL: Web, not bias, offing papers seems to put all the blame on CraigsList and all of we who use the world wide web. Who or what do you think has caused the probable demise of the Rocky and perhaps the Denver Post as well? Weigh in with your opinion on Kopel's article . Today. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDD http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDD/commentary#comments Sat, 13 Dec 2008 10:36:28 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDD John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQDD/ The head of the Congressional Oversight Panel that is overseeing the TARP program managed by the Treasury is just the latest to point out that the root of the financial problem lies in the residential mortgage market. Companies that service those loans by collecting loan payments from borrowers are not empowered to re-negotiate those loans that are at risk of default because they are not usually the underlying owners of the loan. In fact, a lawsuit has been filed by owners of securitized loans to prevent loan servicing companies from renegotiating those loans because that would require them to write down the value of their loan assets to market value. When the loan owner is a bank or insurance company, a write-down would require them to increase their capital. There are two potential approached to solving this - one is the carrot: provide loan servicing companies legal protection and some financial incentive to renegotiate mortgages with homeowners so that the loans can be refinanced at realistic market values. The other is the stick: Congress could revert to the legal protections afforded by adopting a bankruptcy law that restores the protections that were stripped away under the Bush Administration revisions done at the behest of the credit card industry. Either way, the loan would have to be written down, but TARP would provide access to the needed capital to preserve the investors from defaults on their obligations. But the reduced value of the assets would remain far greater than value that would appear after foreclosure and distressed sales, and homeowners would be able to remain in their homes. And the death spiral of declining home values that result from foreclosures could be slowed or stopped. It was the failure of the Japanese to undertake the required write-downs after the Japanese property bubble burst that dragged the Japanese economy into the gutter for a decade. The US must avoid imitating that error. The two approaches are not mutually exclusive. Both should be undertaken as rapidly as possible. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQDQ http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQDQ/commentary#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:33:13 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQDQ Doc Martin Doc Martin 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQDQ/ As of Wed. 11/26 at 6:00 am the responses to this Impeachment OpEd had grown to over 1,246 The right wingers of both the Democrats and Republican parties were doing their best to ruin the discussion and diss the Constitution. They posted garbage using fake names which kept the right wing Dem/GOP messages on top. For instance the message "Blah.. Blah... Blah... this gets old" repeated many times really got in the way of real discussion. Regardless this is a record for comments on that paper for an impeachment discussion. It is a marvel that the Editorial Board allowed the article to be published. Our thanks to everyone who read it and commented at the newspaper. ----------------------------------------------- PLEASE: FORWARD TO YOUR LISTS NOW ! Thanks e. Suggest we all read and comment on this Pro-Impeachment op-ed piece in the Detroit Free Press today. Earlier the better. Getting to 1,000+ comments might help. Interestingly it is placed high on the paper's website. Is the paper now getting behind impeachment??? The comments have tripled to over 500 in 2 hours. Please add your pro-impeachment hearings comment and forward to your lists asap. Thanks John John H Kennedy, Denver CO impeach Colorado Coalition For economy's sake, Pelosi needs to push for impeachment now BY ROCHELLE RILEY Nov. 25, 2008 For economy's sake, Pelosi needs to push for impeachment now Rep. Nancy Pelosi's ineffectiveness became clear the day she became Speaker of the House and immediately announced that there would be no impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney. Advertisement Guided by politics, she said leading investigations into just how much the Bush administration did - and did wrong - would be divisive. What she didn't express was her worry that too many Democrats faced elimination from the House if they took on the difficult task of proving who knew what, when. But Congress is running out of time to finally make the Bush administration own up to its actions for eight years. If Congress isn't careful, the president who already has issued 171 pardons could also pardon every appointee and employee he has ever had - and their dogs. And then Americans will never find out what happened to our country over the past eight years. Pelosi wouldn't have to start from scratch: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the bravest member of Congress, introduced legislation 11 months ago to impeach the president and vice president. Last January, the House gave a first reading of one of those articles of impeachment. Our own Rep. John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, joined 38 other representatives to sponsor HR 635, which would form a committee to look into whether there are grounds for impeachment. Revive that effort! Last week, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, submitted a resolution demanding that Bush stop issuing "pre-emptive pardons of senior officials in his administration during the final 90 days of office." Nadler said in news reports that he was moved to action by the president's "widespread abuses of power and potentially criminal transgressions against our Constitution" and that he wanted to prevent the "undeserved pardons of officials who may have been co-conspirators in the president's unconstitutional policies, such as torture, illegal surveillance and curtailing of due process for defendants." Nadler is storming the beach; others should join him. If Congress moves quickly and forces the president to focus on impeachment, then he won't have so much time to push through last-minute regulatory changes that will continue to hurt our country and our ideals. He already has pushed deregulation that would allow employers to talk directly with employees' doctors and allow power companies to build polluting facilities close to national parks. Anyone worried that our congressional representatives can't tie their shoes and chew gum at the same time, or cannot focus on the economic crisis and impeachment hearings at the same time, will find that many answers to our economic and global defense problems will come from those hearings. The only question I have for Nancy Pelosi is this: What are we waiting for? --------------- If the House Democrats fail to hold Bush and Cheney accountable, they are unlikely to get you Single payer Healthcare or anything else that will take courage to accomplish. --------------- http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDp http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDp/commentary#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:02:57 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQDp John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 233 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQDp/ For several years now the evidence of the Alberto Gonzales gang's manipulation of the Federal Civil Service within the Department of Justice has been well publicized. The fact that right-wing political ideologues were being approved for career professional positions based on social issue orthodoxy, rather than competence and qualifications, is yet another blight on the scandalous legacy of the current occupant of the White House. Today's report in the Washington Post reveals that this practice of burrowing right-wing political operatives into the Civil Service is also in-place in the scientific agencies. Perhaps this is the mis-administration's strategy for making permanent the Republican obsession for combating the truth of science with their twisted political and social priorities. The Center for Public Integrity is soon to release their "Broken Government" study. The fund-raising teaser release promises 120 specific cases. This kind of investigative effort to hold the Bushies accountable as the mis-administration fades into oblivion is crucial.  Revealing and acting on the depth and breadth of this conspiracy is vital to the success of any reforms and corrects to the offenses of the past eight years. The Obama-Biden Administration will be stretched and tested to uncover and flush-out these right-wing activists who have burrowed their way into the Civil Service like so many termites. The evidence of these infestations must be met with quick action. Executive appointees selected for positions above these people must be prepared to take every possible action within the laws and regulations of the Civil Service structure to either get them dismissed, or make it too hard for them to stay and accomplish their nefarious goals. Attention to the selection of the Administrator of the Office of Personnel Management will be a key to success in this area. Various Executive agency inspectors general must be supported in investigating these political opportunists. IF they are found to be substantially unqualified for the job description that they were hired to fill, then it should be clear grounds for dismissal as an unlawful appointment. The Obama-Biden appointees who are saddled with these burdens must enforce clear, precise and enforceable performance standards. When confronted with qualitative requirements to enforce and perform based upon laws and regulations that these infiltrators are likely to hold ambitions to undermine and avoid, could more easily force them to resign. Even in its demise the minions of the current mis-administration are appearing to be increasingly unwilling to follow the current occupant of the White House and the vice out of Washington. This certainly adds to the challenge and urgency of establishing the new administration's executive leadership. Too many months and too many acting, caretaker, leaders in the executive departments will make it all the harder to untangle the tentacles of the Bush parasites. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQDn http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQDn/commentary#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:53:14 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQDn Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 425 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQDn/ Failed U.S. health care is a major contributor to our systemic economic crisis. Indeed, the excesses of Wall St. and the subprime mortgage catastrophe mirror U.S. health care policy  – both are typified by privatized profit (for investors and insurers), and socialized risk (for taxpayers and consumers). Inflated U.S. health care costs – 16% of GDP and rising – are major contributors to an inflationary economy. Redress of this single aspect of an out-of-control U.S. economy would lift all boats. Comprehensive health care reform would improve the economic status of all, relieving health access concerns of families, individuals and businesses, large and small. So-called "legacy costs" alone, comprised largely of retiree health and pension benefits, have contributed significantly to General Motor’s negative cash flow, prompting yet another request for government bailout. In 2005, costs of health care coverage to GM amounted to $5.6 billion for 1.1 million employees, retirees and their dependents. In 2005 BusinessWeek reported that legacy costs added $1,600 to the cost of each GM vehicle. It’s time to confront the crippling economic effects of employment-linked health coverage that reduces competitiveness of businesses in the world marketplace, reduces effective employee take-home pay, and adds to the costs paid by all for goods and services (note above cost added to each U.S. -made car). State and city budgets, too, are depleted by escalating health costs for employees and retirees. Progressives leaders must do a better job of promoting civic discourse while clearly defining issues, like health care reform. Democrats shoud cease parroting right-wing framing and code words intended to distort the issue, e.g., "government health care" or "socialized medicine," as a couple of recent Colorado candidates have done. We need to refute Republican "free-market" advocacy that treats health care as a commodity to be exploited for maximum profit, with top-skimming of over 25% of health care dollars for private insurance shareholder profits, CEO salaries, excessive administrative costs, marketing, lobbying, etc. "Free-market" health care is as perverse an incentive as free-market police and fire protection would be, leaving everyone vulnerable, at the mercy of the marketplace. Barack Obama showed promise broaching issues during the campaign. He made a start at explaining the high cost of privatizing Medicare (13% higher than traditional Medicare), and the failure of Medicare prescription drug reform that prohibits negotiation of bulk drug rates, as the VA does to save money. The 2003 reform was a giveaway to insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies, with billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies and inflated costs to benefit their bottom lines. Now is the time to make the case for an improved Medicare for All - a public insurance with true free choice of providers and hospitals. By contrast, for-profit insurance choices are narrowly limited to "in-plan" providers, necessitating change of providers with change of insurance. Comprehensive health care reform shoud be part of a broad economic remedy. U.S. health costs are almost double those of all other industrialized nations, and growing; yet we still experience worse overall health outcomes. Increasing numbers of underinsured pay escalating costs for decreasing coverage. Taxpayers currently pay for over 60% of health care costs, including 70% of legislators’ health coverage. By many accounts, that is enough to provide single-risk-pool coverage for all. In fact, single-payer health care is the only model of reform that has demonstrated in over 20 federal and state studies the capacity to save money and provide comprehensive coverage for all. It is time for reform that benefits the worker as well as the CEO. First posted on Huffington Post 11-13-08 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQDV http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQDV/commentary#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:33:24 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQDV Michele S Michele S 2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQDV/ Obama advisers: Bush era war criminals will walk . No Accountability for Bush, CHENEY, Rumsfeld, Addington, and the rest of these scum. IF THAT PISSES YOU OFF Call 800-828-0498 Ask for each of Colorado's Congressmen in turn and tell them to file their own Impeachment Resolution and to do it THIS WEEK. (Hint: leave a voicemail at night) IF enough Congressmen file single crime impeachment resolutions during the same week (this week) it will get the attention of the Media. Yes the MEDIA got Obama elected, and now are much more likely to pay attention to impeachment. WE MUST GET PEOPLE RILED UP ENOUGH TO DEMAND IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS NOW John Kennedy Impeach Colorado Coalition ImpeachCO.com QUESTION: HOW MANY US SOLDIERS HAVE TO BE KILLED AND MAIMED FOR THE BUSH/CHENEY WMD LIES Before Colorado Voters (you and me) bother to call the state's US Congressmen and Demand Impeachment Hearings NOW? Hint: Over 4,197 Killed Over 30,000 Maimed (some reports say it's over 70K) .. .... http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQzh http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQzh/commentary#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:32:56 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/kennedyjohn/CQzh John H Kennedy http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/5e4c96e6db734362f3_l5hmv2v71.jpg John H Kennedy 453 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQzh/ The American Ambassador to Iraq and the Iraqi Foreign Minister have signed an agreement requiring US Forces to leave Iraq. No, this isn't another predictive "dream" story of the pending Obama Administration; the Bushies did (or, allowed) this. So much for all of the GOP talking points and faux news air-time devoted to "...no arbitrary deadlines." The current news sound-bites are full of controversy and contradiction from inside Iraq. But, the American conservatives are being surprisingly quiet. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQzp http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQzp/commentary#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:47:59 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQzp Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 214 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQzp/ As we hear the comparisons of the current economic crisis to the beginnings of the Great Depression, an accompanying warning is that all the economic actions of the New Deal were ineffective, and it was the entry of the US into World War II in 1941 that ended the Depression. For example here is George Will in today's (Nov 15) New York Times: "…The Depression, which FDR failed to end but which Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor did end…" There is a scary message for us today in that idea, but it ain't so. Here is some data: In 1930, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States was $91.2 billion dollars. By 1933, when FDR became President, GDP had fallen to its lowest annual value of $56.4 billion. Under FDR, the United States GDP rose steadily through 1940, the year before the US entered the war, to $101.4 billion. In fact, GDP had recovered to the level of 1930 by 1937; it did decline from that level in 1938 but by 1939 was back again to the 1930 level. It is true that the level of GDP did not EXCEED the 1929 level until 1941, but let's also remember that Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war did not come about until the end of that year. (http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2008/08%20August/0808_gdp_nipas.pdf) So it is not necessary to have a war in order to get out of a depression. Armageddon is not a policy tool for economic recovery. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQzn http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQzn/commentary#comments Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:16:34 MST http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQzn Doc Martin Doc Martin 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQzn/ The attacks by the McCain campaign, accusing Obama of being a Socialist, sound like a reversion back to something from the 1950s. That is the way the media portrays it, as an amusing and ridiculous jab being made by a desperate campaign that is on the ropes with nothing better to offer. Even Obama's dismissive response about sharing his toys as a child seems to regard it that way. But the attack is much more insidious and subtle than that. The fact that it is being rolled out in the last week of the campaign suggests to me that the Republicans think that this is the most powerful shot left in their arsenal, and could be the game-changer they rely on to win the election at the last minute. As McPalin describe it, the socialist accusation is a claim that Obama will take "your" hard earned money and give it to "them." Given the demographics of the group that is being targeted with this pitch - blue collar and middle class whites - it is not hard to see who "they" are. Just as George H.W Bush's Willie Horton ads were not about crime, and Ronald Reagan's railing on about welfare Cadillacs was not about welfare reform, this socialist line is not about economics or even ideology. Nor is it about painting Obama as outside the main stream. It is all about stoking the residual and ill- concealed racism that remains a powerful factor in America. It is designed to evoke stereotypes of lazy, shiftless, unemployed blacks in the south and Midwest, drunk Indians in the southwest, and illegal immigrants in big sombreros sleeping in the sun, all supported by the welfare funds taken from "your" hard earned dollars. The campaign is brilliantly indirect, but it is the nastiest attack yet on Obama. It is the McCain campaign playing the race card. Maybe it is right for us to treat the attack as a throwback to McCarthyism that merely reflects on the age of McCain. Maybe the attack is too subtle and the American people too dumb to respond as the Republicans intend. Maybe America is not as racist as they think. Maybe the fall of communism makes the whole thing irrelevant. But the Republicans would not be rolling it out as their dying gasp of the campaign if they believed that. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQ8r http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQ8r/commentary#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:29:37 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CQ8r Doc Martin Doc Martin 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQ8r/ The "right-to-life" movement that elevates embryonic life above women's lives is more accurately termed "right-to-prenatal-life." One of the most extreme 2008 anti-abortion, anti-contraceptive ballot measures is the so-called Colorado "Personhood" amendment - number 48 - defining fertilized eggs as "persons" with Fourteenth Amendment rights to "life, liberty and due process of law." Simultaneously, rightists have opposed the same rights for women as "reading feminism into the Constitution." Both Amendment 48 and a rule change proposed by the Bush administration Department of Health and Human Services would re-define pregnancy as the point of conception, disregarding the medical definition of pregnancy - "the implantation of a fertilized egg." They would effectively categorize as abortion any contraception (e.g., the pill, IUD, emergency contraception, contraceptive patch) that interferes with the implantation of a fertilized egg, thus outlawing most contraception - the primary means to reduce the need for abortion. In a slippery slope to 19th century status for women, rightists have promoted "conscience clauses" permitting pharmacists' and others' refusal to fill prescriptions or provide health care for women. The HHS proposal states, "[T]he conscience of the individual or institution should be paramount in determining what constitutes abortion..." - holding women's health hostage to anyone's professed religious/ideological beliefs. It is time to recognize that abortion serves as surrogate for a spectrum of unspoken issues related to female personhood and male entitlement. The anti-abortion political litmus test was introduced by Paul Weyrich, who dictated that women step aside and "make way for new life." It serves dual purposes - the marginalization of women and the lightning rod around which to mobilize political coalitions, notably, Evangelicals and Catholics. The elevation of fetal life over women's lives, coupled with conservative strategist Howard Phillips' euphemistically described goal of return to "one-family-one-vote," is calculated to marginalize and disenfranchise women, consistent with the ultraright tenet that ultimately, only select white Christian males should retain the right to vote or hold office. Rickie Solinger concluded from her historical research of women's health care that women's rights have often been held hostage by politicians and others with "political agendas hostile to female autonomy and racial equality" ( Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade , 1992). The criminalization of contraception and abortion, and the widespread U.S. adoption black market that assigned value to babies and punishment to women based on race, were some effects of pre- Roe efforts to control women's reproduction. At core, Weyrich's anti-abortion, anti-contraceptive and abstinence-only ideology serves as cornerstone of an anticipated male supremacist theocracy. It is the platform upon which the majority of Republican candidates continue to run in 2008. The greatest conceit - that pregnancy is not a health issue and women's lives are expendable - underlies the dual standards of Republican Party pronatalist policy demanding female submission to males who presume the right to hold women hostage to personal beliefs. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQ8R http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQ8R/commentary#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:42:59 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/micheleswenson/CQ8R Michele S Michele S 2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQ8R/ Bob Schaffer's out of touch, wrong on critical issues rap-sheet grows by the day. I found this latest charge in Ed Quillen's column in the Sunday Denver Post. Read the whole column online at http://www.denverpost.com/quillen/ci_10799075 or scroll down to the extended post text. The Referendum A test still carries a lot of weight with me.  Once again here's a case where Bob Schaffer sided with big-monied interests and against Colorado farmers, ranchers and communities. Hopefully, he'll be sliding into the dustbin of Colorado political history by 10:00 PM on November 4th.  Being too cozy with the "drill baby, drill" crowd of oilies is bad enough, but working on the wrong side of water policy is unforgiveable. PS - If you get a chance, drop a complimentary email to Ed (his email link at at the end of the Extended Post Text).  It is so hard to find something worthy of praise in the Denver Post these days that we should encourage Ed to continue his good work. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8p http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8p/commentary#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:59:31 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8p Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQ8p/ Reports are coming in that Barack Obama's Colorado appearances today were record breaking. One Democratic Party insider says that the Denver Rally pulled in over 100,000 supporters. I was within a softball toss of Barack in Fort Collins. One early estimate claims 45,000 attended; it sure looked like a lot more than that to me.  The Eastern half of the CSU Oval was filled with people, and more were crowded into the Southwest quarter of the Oval. If I were priviledged enough...I would paste in one of my low-res pictures of the crowd.  But, even Barack said that the setting was incredible.  The trees surrounding the Oval were in full color. Barack's message has evolved, even from the acceptance speach at Mile High.  Focused, positive and thoroughly inspiring. I was struck by several uses of "the future" today.  Each time was full of hope and desire for the best for all Americans.  Barack's comments were on-target for a number of topics:  the economy, healthcare, primary education, secondary education, jobs and how John McCain is out of touch. The program started with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and an a capella performance of the National Anthem.  Betsy Markey gave one of her best speaches as did Governor Bill Ritter. Other news organizations will have a full transcript of the speach.  The press contingent was impressive.  But, news coverag does not compare to being there...being there to see the future President. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8V http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8V/commentary#comments Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:40:01 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8V Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQ8V/ Two years ago I was fortunate to see Barbara O'Brien and Jeanne Ritter devote some of their campaign time to the cause of military families. It is so good to see that continue. Politico.com has posted a great story that is popping-up in several of my veterans e-newsletters. The example and precedent that Michelle Obama is setting is not only the right thing to do, but holds great promise for correcting a decades-old problem within the Democratic Party. Here's the link, and the full story is in the Extended Post Text. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14733.html I continue to see signs and symptoms of a Colorado Democratic Party that hasn't figured out how to get past the Vietnam-era paradigms of domination by anti-war activists. Perhaps with Michelle's example we'll see more Democratic Party officers who will behave as if they are not afraid of the Pledge of Allegiance or National Anthem, and will remember to include either/both of those in party functions. The barrier between Democratic events and spoken prayer is lowly crumbling. Releasing the anxiety for Democratic candidates to speak openly about religion. But, there are still too many occassions where a Democratic event will include a 10-foot tall American flag and silence on that final Patriotic step of including the Pledge or Anthem. Democrats who have served in the Armed Forces and would like to continue their service in political office are often dismayed and disappointed by this behavior. There are too many really nice renditions of the National Nathem available to not allow the 2-minutes it takes to play one on a tape deck or over the PA system. Yet every time a group meets, and the American flag is in the room, the failure to make this Patriotic effort will disappoint a veteran, offend a veteran's family member or friend, and the favorite charge by the opposition of Democrats being "un-patriotic" is perpetuated. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8B http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8B/commentary#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:15:47 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQ8B Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQ8B/ The Rocky Mountain News weighs-in this morning with a good report on the growing revelations of the GOP voter suppression agenda. Curiously, this shows in Colorado as a fight between the GOP Secretary of State and two strong GOP County Clerks. The County Clerks, Republicans Scott Doyle (Larimer) and Pam Anderson (Jefferson), are holding the line for what is right and just in the face of CD-6 Candidate and Secretary of State Coffman's fixation on a questionable policy. This year's election controversy is increasingly looking like valid charges of radicals in the GOP deliberately using technicalities and irrational procedural hoops to deny eligible citizens the right and opportunity to vote. The contemporary "voter fraud" cries of the GOP are a manufactured issue with the sole purpose of suppressing likely Democratic voters. There is no problem other than the radical conservatives seeing their political clout wither with each succeeding election. The facts of the miniscule number of REAL cases of Federal and State voter fraud charges and convictions in recent history defy the hysteria of the GOP. Doyle and Anderson are providing leadership and good public policy for all of Colorado. Too bad that there is some other influence keeping Mike Coffman from recognizing, and acting on, that good example. Maybe it is too much for him to run for Congress and be responsible for a fair election. Read the Rocky's full story online at: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/22/secretary-of-state-stands-by-registration-check/   http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQk2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQk2/commentary#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:16:34 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CQk2 Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQk2/ I was just listening to former Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder on a radio show. He made a critical and brilliant observation about John McCain. His evaluation of the Sarah Palin selection rests on that decision as an indicator of how McSame would later decide on the people to fill the other leadership positions in a supposed McSame mis-administration. This is a powerful indictment of a candidate for president of the US when the nation so despirately needs a clear change of direction. The specter of Sarah Palin equivalent appointments throughout the US Executive Branch shows no chance of reforming, and certainly not reversing, the criminal excesses of the past seven years. There will be no resolution to the US Attorney firings, and little hope of removing the fraudulently hired radical right-wingers who have been peppered throughout the Department of Justice to undermine, rather than enforce, the law. This demonstrated decision-making pattern by John McCain is a screaming warning to America. No other fact shines so brightly than the selection of Sarah Palin to confirm that McSame is the incarnation of a third, and perhaps more devastating, term for the G.W. Bush policies. Considering everything you find important, think your retired relatives who will be hurt if McCain succeeds and leads America down the path of more for the wealthiest and less for the rest. Victory in the race for the White House is critical, but top to bottom electoral victories on the ballot is equally important for our communities and state. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZB9 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZB9/commentary#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:22:03 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZB9 Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZB9/ This was not the one-word headline I expected to see in this morning's Foreign Policy magazine Morning Brief email.  Similarly, the Financial Times brought gloomy articles confirming the depth of the current fiscal decline.   "Falling by more than 20 percent over seven straight trading days, the U.S. stock market's recent performance now meets the standard definition of a crash."  - FP Morning Brief, 10 October 2008   this is the first attention grabbing fact from FP.  Realistically a seven point consecutively repeated 20% downward trend line is what I've always called a "death-slide."    It's a very effective way to get the attention of executive decision-makers and mid-level managers.  I've seen motivation and attention to detail factors show a marked increase.   "Investors have lost an estimated $8.4 trillion dollars so far this year, with the Dow Jones industrial average sinking another 678 points or 7.3 percent Thursday."  - FP Morning Brief, 10 October 2008  My proposal is to add this figure to the existing National Debt burden enacted by the current occupant of the White House.  In addition to being a condemning legacy of this presidency, it should be a lesson in who, and how, to elect the next president.   Personally, I'm watching the value of my supposedly solid Federal employee Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account in a similar decline.  Holding a large percentage of my shares in a Standard & Poors 500 fund isn’t such a happy place at the moment. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZBF http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZBF/commentary#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:22:20 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZBF Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZBF/ One of the most disagreable experiences I've had during this year's political campaign came when national, and local, groups viciously attacked the integrity, motivations and message of General Petraeus. Yet, on Wednesday the conservative Heritage Foundation heard policies and concepts from Petraeus that confirm the campaign platform of Barack Obama. The complete story from the "Washington Independent" is in the Extended Post Text (via Foreign Policy magazine's Daily Brief service). This is an online news outlet associated with Colorado Confidential. This can't stay a minor story. Petraeus' comments must be shared, and the Obama campaign should advertise these policies and tactics with enthusiasm. Part of the value in this this is seeing a competent national leader, Obama, openly discuss a strategic vision and mission for the US military.  Now we're seeing that a widely praised general is able to accept that mission and describe the operational policies and tactics to accomplish what is apparently Barack Obama's security policy in opposition to McCain's irrational Iraq fixation. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZBc http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZBc/commentary#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:33:58 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZBc Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 0 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZBc/ In a wonderful article, Peter W. Galbraith reviews the recent history and current status of the war in Iraq. He starts by looking at the definitions of victory used by President Bush - a unified, democratic and stable Iraq. McCain's definition is similar - an Iraq that is a "democratic ally." So the issue on the table is the path that makes democrats out of theocrats, sidelines Iran and "reconcile Kurds and Sunnis in Iraq's new order. According to Galbraith, the surge has not been the main reason for the decline in violence. Rather, it is the rise of the Sunni "Awakening" that, supported by the Americans, have driven out al-Qaeda from the Sunni areas and diminished the awful attacks on the Shiites. This enabled the Shiite Moqtada al-Sadr to order his Mahdi Army to stand down, thinking that the US presence was temporary, and keep his powder dry for a subsequent renewed civil war with the Sunni. But once the Shiite party most closely aligned with Iran assumed power in the central government under Maliki, the Shiite national army with American help was used to oust the Mahdi Army from most of Basra and reduced their power in Sadr City, Baghdad's Shiite slum. So in 2007 and 2008, according to Galbraith, Sunnis and Shiites fought civil wars, the Awakening (not the Americans) emerged to defeat al-Qaeda, the ruling Shiites undercut the Mahdi Army. So it was not the Shiite Iraqi army defeating insurgents but the Sunnis. Maliki wants the US to withdraw so that he can turn his forces against the Sunni and the Kurds because he leads a Shiite party that wants to turn Iraq into a Shiite Islamic state, allied with Iran. Until 2007, the Americans fought alongside the Shiite-led Iraqi army, but under General Petraeus backed the Sunni Awakening that is deeply hostile to the Shiite government. So Maliki want the US to get out. With Americans gone, the Iraqi army and police could attack the Awakening. And Iran would back them up. Meanwhile the Kurds in the north, who are secular, pro-western and democratic according to Galbraith, have been attacked by the central government forces at Khanaqin. Although the forces withdrew later, it was a danger sign to the Kurds, who have opposed us slaes of F-16s to Iraq because they fear they will be used against them. Meanwhile, the political reconciliation that was supposed to happen once the surge bought some time has not occurred. For Maliki, the Kurds and Sunni are obstacles to achieving a Shiite Islamic state. Iran, not the US, is his primary ally, and he is a hard lineShiite militant from the Dawa Party, having spent twenty years in Iran and Syria. John McCain says often that due to the surge, we are winning the Iraq war and that he wants to continue supporting a government and Iraqi factions that are Iran's closest allies in the Middle East. "He praises the Awakening and but [sic] seems not to have realized that the Iraqi government is intent on crushing it." His denunciations of Obama and Biden offer no protection to Iraq's Kurds. "George W. Bush has put the United States on the side of undemocratic Iraqis who are Iran's allies. John McCain would continue the same approach. It is hard to understand how this can be called a success - or a path to victory." http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CZBJ http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CZBJ/commentary#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:58:52 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/bullwinkle/CZBJ Doc Martin Doc Martin 1 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZBJ/ Sarah Palin's training and experience as a TV personality dominated her performance last night. It was a theatrical performance. She stuck to her script and provided no more than the kind of idle chatter expected of a small-market TV news sub-anchor. We now have the answer why she has been so distant and untouchable for the past few weeks. The McCain team has been prepping and coaching her at an unprecedented level. She did not demonstrate the depth and scope needed to rise to the level of serious consideration of filling the job of VP, and certainly not reach any level of assurance that she is competent to follow fragile John McCain into the Oval Office. The GOP is so off-course to continue to promote her presence on the ticket as qualified in any sense of the word. The dodge and weave she demonstrated throughout the night was infuriating. The WingNuts succeeded in their pre-emptive intimidation of Gwen Ifill. Necessary and justified follow-ups and clarifications were obviously by-passed by Ifill to avoid post-debate vilification by the Radical Right. Palin's few clear pronouncements on security and foreign policy issues were deplorable. The casual mention of moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is a toxic position that surely pleases the American Radical Religious Right (i.e., Talibangelist Mullah Dobson), but is an idea that has been known for decades to be immeasurably inflammatory to every Muslim influenced government in the world. By side-stepping the question on nuclear weapons and nuclear non-proliferation she definitively disqualified herself in this election. The balance between deterrence and pre-emption has been horrifically blurred by the current mis-adminstration. Sarah made it even murkier. Sarah Palin's performance last night was too close to the narrow, partisan message of the GOP Convention and totally devoid of any promise of potential to serve in the highest executive office. The best that could be offered is that she's now completed the crash course of study to be a good spokesperson for the McCain campaign. Competently reciting talking points with no further depth or capability. http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZGp http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZGp/commentary#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:48:32 MDT http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/ralphtrenary/CZGp Ralph T http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/profile_picture/22970b0cb82ab5861b_e6yymv1de.jpg Ralph T 2 http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZGp/