Category Archives: Political

environment, Law, Political

One small step for woman…

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One giant disregard for our nation’s environment.

Sarah Palin, besides being a relatively inexperienced candidate (she is running with a man who has a higher chance of dying in office than many who have come before, could she really run the country on her own?), is an enemy of the environmental movement. When I say environmental movement, I don’t mean the UberGreenies who want everyone to completely alter their lifestyles in order to save a few species. I mean anyone who actually believes in science, acknowledges that there are issues facing our environment, and wants to work to insure there is some planet left for living on any time in the near future. In other words, Sarah Palin is the enemy to anyone with a lick of common sense.

Ms. Palin’s husband works for British Petroleum and Ms. Palin has a track record of putting special interests above environmental health. The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund sent out a message today highlighting some of Palin’s failings:

In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

That’s right! McCain’s running mate has a history of being harder on the environment than the Bush administration. You have to give the lady credit, it takes a lot of work to rape and pillage the earth faster and more effectively than Dubya.

On the upside, maybe the rigors of the campaign trail will keep her resource greedy little mitts off Alaska’s oil reserves long enough to let some experienced and educated people make some sensible policy.

Law, Political

A little paint here, a homeless shelter there…

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We (Denver) welcome the Democratic National Convention to our illustrious state today and our preparations for the arrival of the 17000 odd media personnel and tens of thousands of attendees have been intense.

We distributed hundreds of thousands of daisy seeds to create a “unifying flower theme.” Sadly, few of the daisies came up, so there is really no unifying theme.

We passed “protest safety” ordinances prohibiting the carrying of bicycle locks and caribiners, in addition to various bodily fluids. (There was a lively city council debate discussing the necessity of prohibiting the carrying of bottles of urine and “feces bombs”.)

We painted the flower pots on the 16th street mall several shades of vibrant green, power washed the streets with our limited water supply, and cleaned up the streets.

Yes, we swept all the homeless into area shelters, and then into area emergency shelters, so we could limit the number of homeless on the streets during the convention. It would seem that tourists and conventioneers often complain about the homeless panhandlers in our fair city, so the city has decided to clear them away (for this convention at least.)

Colorado, with an average of 300 days of sun per year, is a popular place for the homeless, and a fairly easy place to survive outside (until winter, that is.). Denver and other area cities have passed increasingly restrictive panhandling laws, but the courts have ruled that panhandlers have the right to ask passersby for money, so the restrictions don’t get rid of the “problem.”

There have been a lot of criticisms about the various efforts being made to deal with Denver’s homeless, and many rumors about free movie and zoo passes. However, many of the programs are simply volunteer efforts to help, not city funded “sprucing up” schemes, and many of these volunteer efforts occurred prior to the convention, and will continue to occur after it.

The Co-Owner of Sly’s Salon commented on a recent Indecision 2008 article slamming a volunteer “haircuts for the homeless” effort: The fact is that the City of Denver is not giving out movie tickets, bus passes, museum tickets or zoo passes to Denver’s homeless residents. The “Homeless not Hopeless Cut-A-Thon” was conceived and created by Sly’s Salon and was in no way sponsored by the City of Denver. Tickets were distributed by Sly’s Salon and not from the City of Denver or Denver Human Services. All costs involved with having the Cut-A-Thon on the 18th were incurred entirely by Sly’s Salon and the stylists that agreed to donated their time and services for the event.

A Denver’s Road Home Employee clarified the clean up efforts as well:

I work for Denver’s Road Home and I would like to provide some clarification. Denver’s Road Home is a comprehensive, long-term plan designed to put people into housing while addressing the underlying causes of homelessness. In the first three years since implementation, Denver’s Road Home has reduced chronic homelessness by 36%.

The City and County of Denver is not giving out free haircuts. The owners of a private business, Sly’s Salon, distributed coupons and gave out free haircuts. We applaud this and other community efforts to help the homeless.

Denver’s Road Home is not aware of any zoo passes, museum tickets or other cultural activities being distributed to the homeless during the Democratic National Convention. A clarification to this point was issued by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.

We are not hiding the homeless; we are helping the homeless find housing. Ensuring the homeless have short and long-term housing has always been the priority of Denver’s Road Home. This is not new for the DNC. Service delivery will be “business as usual” with a few extras during the convention to make sure everyone wanting shelter has a place to go.

There is a hint of scandal surrounding the city’s decision to move the homeless off the streets and into housing during the convention, and I certainly think there is a desire to show a pretty Denver face to the national media. However, these homeless individuals won’t be able to escape the convention madness if the city doesn’t provide them with a place to go. I wouldn’t want to have the convention in my living room, I doubt they do either.

As for the actual treatment of the homeless during the convention, we will have to watch carefully to see what happens. I am hoping our city’s officials don’t use this event as an excuse to sweep this huge issue under the carpet.

Political

Goodnight sweetheart… it’s time to go.

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It is hard to let go of a dream, especially one that came so close to being realized.

I find myself mourning the loss of the first female president. It is a loss I feel deeply, within the marrow of my bones. It curls up inside me and grabs a hold of a lifetime of resentment, anger, and fear. My sorrow is fed by the myriad of sexist comments that came out of the woodwork during this debate, and by the calm reaction most of our society had to those remarks. There was no uproar really, we almost treated these comments like legitimate political concerns.

My sorrow wraps itself around my spirit like a confirmation. It reminds me that I am not crazy, that sexism is still ripe, real, and common.

Briefly my spirit had wings, it rose above decades of experience, it ignored the misogynist sallies tossed into the wind, it believed. It soared on her campaign, reveling in each accomplishment, and so did I.

Now it sits, quietly, and waits to see how bad the disappointment will be. Will she play a role? Will any woman be placed on the ticket? Will this barrier breaking candidate break two at once or will he be content with shattering his particular glass ceiling?

Goodnight Hillary, thank you for fighting. Your strength fed my spirit, your tenacity made me proud.