From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

Yesterday was a pretty big day for those of us fighting for fairness from the state in dealing with the energy companies.

Ritter signs four bills into law in Glenwood
Three focus on oil and gas reform
By Donna Gray

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — Gov. Bill Ritter paid a visit to Glenwood Springs Tuesday to sign four bills, three of which provide more oversight for the oil and gas industry in western Colorado.

So let’s cut to the chase. Here are the bills and what they cover:

HB 1252 - requires oil and gas companies to use best practices, including underground directional drilling, to minimize surface impacts, and makes them liable for damages

HB 1341 – expands the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 7 to 9 members (which currently comprises primarily representatives of the energy industry), and ensures that the oil and gas industry is no longer guaranteed a majority of seats on the commission

HB 1298 - expands the policy of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to focus on public health and the environment, and makes protecting wildlife part of the COGCC’s mission and gives Colorado’s Division of Wildlife more say in how to insulate wildlife from the impacts of the fast-growing industry

HB 1180 - requires the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to establish rules by Jan. 1, 2008, to ensure the accuracy of gas volume measurement at the wellhead, and will also open county assessor records on oil and gas property taxes to the state Department of Revenue

HB 1139 - doubles the percentage of severance tax revenues that come directly to the communities affected by energy extraction. Currently, communities get 15% of the revenues and the state Department of Local Affairs gets 85%, which it awards to impacted communities in the form of energy impact grants.

This represents a huge legislative victory for those of us living with the impacts of energy development. All of the bills signed by Governor Ritter address important issues, and are the result of a lot of hard work. My main issues are air and water quality. We need regular air monitoring and water testing for the specific chemicals associated with gas well drilling. None of these bills assures that. Although HB 1298 comes the closest, by making health and the environmental concerns part of the mission of the COGCC, none of the bills specifically call for health or environmental impact studies. Maybe now local communities can put the pressure on the COGCC to address our concerns.

Cautiously optimistic is the best way to describe people’s feelings. As usual the legislation comes at a time when what we really need is action. So the struggle continues.

Currently gas is $3.45/gal. Can’t help but wonder if that’s the energy companies’ way of punishing us for clamping down.

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This month’s award goes to the GOP for the myth of

Voter Fraud

Project Vote released a study in March (2007), The Politics of Voter Fraud. Here’s a sampling of their press release:

New Report Examines “The Politics of Voter Fraud“

Washington, DC - Widespread “voter fraud” is a myth promulgated to suppress voter participation, according to a new Project Vote report released this week. “The Politics of Voter Fraud” finds that fraudulent voting, or the intentional corruption of the voting process by voters, is extremely rare. Yet, false or exaggerated claims of fraudulent voting are commonly made in close electoral contests, and later cited by proponents of laws that restrict voting. The report is authored by Lorraine Minnite, Ph.D., Barnard College, Columbia University.

“I set out to study what situations generated incidents of voter fraud and, after researching the laws and examining the existing evidence, I found that voter fraud did not occur with enough frequency or was enough of a significant factor in elections to model or study,” Minnite said. “Instead, in this report, I examined circumstances in which claims of voter fraud were made and how they came to receive widespread public attention.”

Analysis of federal government records concludes that only 24 people were convicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005, an average of eight people a year. The available state-level evidence of fraudulent voting, culled from interviews, reviews of newspaper coverage and court proceedings paints a similar picture.

“We shouldn’t base public policy on urban legends but on sound facts. It’s clear from this report that fraudulent voting isn’t threatening the integrity of our elections; we do know that erecting additional bureaucratic obstacles to voting discourages legitimate voters,” said Project Vote Deputy Director Michael Slater.

Voter Fraud is at the core of the recent US Attorney firings. Washington Post columnist Harold Myerson wrote this in The Cost of a GOP Myth:

By now, it’s abundantly clear that a number of the U.S. attorneys whom Gonzales’s minions sent packing didn’t live up to Karl Rove’s expectations in one crucial particular: They had failed to ring up convictions, or even mount prosecutions, for voter fraud. As Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein reported in Monday’s Post, five of the 12 federal prosecutors either sacked or considered for sacking last year had been singled out by Rove and other administration officials for nonperformance on voter fraud. Amazingly, all five came from states — Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington and Wisconsin — where Republicans were embroiled in tight election contests.

I am a vocal opponent of Voter ID because it disenfranchises minorities, college students, elderly, and the poor. Proponents of Voter ID – mainly Republicans – always cite Voter Fraud is the reason why Voter ID is necessary.

An article released this week shows how the DOJ ginned up the Voter Fraud propaganda.

Efforts to Stop “Voter Fraud” May Have Curbed Legitimate Voting
By Greg Gordon

Washington - During four years as a Justice Department civil rights lawyer, Hans von Spakovsky went so far in a crusade against voter fraud as to warn of its dangers under a pseudonym in a law journal article.

Writing as “Publius,” von Spakovsky contended that every voter should be required to produce a photo-identification card and that there was “no evidence” that such restrictions burden minority voters disproportionately.

Now, amid a scandal over politicization of the Justice Department, Congress is beginning to examine allegations that von Spakovsky was a key player in a Republican campaign to hang onto power in Washington by suppressing the votes of minority voters.

“Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration’s pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote,” charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him.

He and other former career department lawyers say that von Spakovsky steered the agency toward voting rights policies not seen before, pushing to curb minor instances of election fraud by imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for Democratic-leaning poor and minority voters to cast ballots.

So what’s going on here?

An Army of Rove-Bots Captain Iglesias, Obstruction of Justice, and the Theft of 2008, Greg Palast’s recent article about fired US Attorney David Iglesias, reveals the reason behind the GOP making an issue out of Voter Fraud:

The real crime is the one they are about to commit: The Theft of 2008.

Iglesias told me he was continually being pushed to bring “voter fraud” cases beginning in 2004. Unfortunately, Iglesias went along with the game, at least at the opening kick-off, holding a press conference just weeks before the Bush-Kerry race, announcing he was setting up a task force with the FBI to hunt down evil voters.

But there were none. “It was the old throwing pasta at the wall trick. Something’s got to stick. And it didn’t,” he said.

So Iglesias got the axe. “I didn’t help them out on their bogus voter fraud prosecutions.”

Notably, Iglesias has been signaling these cases were phony-baloney for two years. I got that word from his office in 2005 while reporting for BBC Television on what passes for elections in the USA. But the New Mexico and US press continued to hawk the Republican line that masses of illegal voters, especially illegal immigrants, were jamming the polling stations.

One thing the American media still has failed to do is to explain why the GOP wanted to bring these cases. In New Mexico, in Arizona, in Georgia and a dozen other states, Republicans were pushing laws requiring voters to have special ID. In 2004, at least a quarter million citizens lost their vote because they didn’t bring in the right ID. And which quarter million? Overwhelming, it was Black, Brown and “Blue” Americans.

Yet, despite this tidal wave of a quarter million “fraudulent” voters, not one was charged with a crime. Hmmm. Maybe they were innocent. If there’s no crime, there’s no need for a law to stop the crime. But Republicans don’t want to stop voter fraud — they want to stop voters. Iglesias wouldn’t help them do it. He did the PR stunt — but he wouldn’t handcuff the innocent. Was he fired for that? His termination was ordered by Tim Griffin, Karl Rove’s right-hand hitman. Were Griffin and Rove punishing Iglesias for not bringing the fake cases?

You see, it’s all about stealing the next election …

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Ema (she’s my daughter) blogged a photo essay featuring Zeus, Venus, Koho, and Isis at River Park – or Dogland – as we lovingly call it. Check it out and see why everyone – especially the dogs – loves it so much.

Thanks … or BARK BARK WOOF!!

About that Chicken Mom moniker … I’m always cooking. And we joke that the dogs either see me cooking or else I smell like food. Plus I’m always feeding them chicken. So to them I must be Chicken Mom. Other people’s dogs seem to love me, too. Must be the food thing. It’s truly an honor to be so beloved by dogs.

Also, a minor correction to Ema’s presumption that I saved the park forever. Nothing is forever. What the River Park Ordinance means is that the Board of Trustees can’t make changes to the park without public hearings and due process. I may have spearheaded the petition drive but the people made it happen by getting involved and signing the petition.

When town officials take it upon themselves to restrict access to land that belongs to the taxpayers, the people have a right to be heard. I guess the one thing that is forever is this victory belongs to the good people of Silt.

Here’s  a teaser photo of my boy, Zeus lovin him some Colorado River. I’nt he handsome?

Whozahappypuppy?

Go straight to Ema’s blog …

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Indulge me. Sunday was Mother’s Day. Here is my granddaughter, Hailey’s Puppet Show. 

It’s worth the 87 seconds to see her sweet little face at the end. Gotta love it.

Enjoy!

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Peggy Tibbetts for Letters to Juniper!

I entered the first 35 pages of my middle grade novel manuscript, Letters to Juniper in the YA Fiction.com middle grade novel contest last month and I WON!

YA Fiction.com’s Alison Kentta wrote: “Letters to Juniper was a pleasure to read, and the judges quickly became intrigued by and invested in Sarah’s story. In fact, we were quite disappointed when the first three chapters came to an end.”

Letters to Juniper has the distinction of having been almost published by Pelican AND Little, Brown. In fact, when LB backed away after 19 months, I was so crushed I filed the manuscript away. When I read about the contest, I thought why not? I’ve always loved this story. And now that I have an agent, I’m hoping this contest win will pique her interest in Juniper and she’ll ask to read it. What a perfect resurrection for this story!

I’m stoked. Nice way to start the week.

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This week The Stephanie Miller Show is temporarily replacing Don Imus on MSNBC (6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. EST) For clips and info go to The Stephanie Miller Show website. Tomorrow is the last day of their 3-day run, so catch it if you can. The show is high-larious. Both entertaining AND informative.

I have been a Stephanie Miller Show devotee for more than 2 years. Now the whole damn family listens. So natch, we set the DVR, which seemed like it would be so convenient to play in the background while I go about my normal morning routine – which may or may not involve email, laundry, nudity, yogurt, bill paying, tweezers, vitamins, and coffee.

But it’s TV. Not talk radio.

Like Stephanie, I’m just an elderly shut-in who hangs out with my dogs a lot – and in my case cats and a granddaughter, too. So, boy, The Stephanie Miller Show on MSNBC has turned my routine upside down and inside out.

Monday morning we were so excited to actually SEE the show we turned it on as soon as we got out of bed at 5:30 a.m.

I just stood there mesmerized. For the first 10 minutes I didn’t hear a word Steph, Jim and Chris said. It was so surreal to see and hear MY RADIO SHOW coming out of the TV.

The laundry piled up, the coffee was late, the vacuuming didn’t get done, no shower, no tweezers. I could not stop watching the TV.

I’m not an impartial critic of The Stephanie Miller Show. I LOVE it. I heart Stephanie. I heart Jim. I heart Chris. They’re my crew. They make me laugh. We’ve yucked it up together through some tragic times – the war, elections, Congressional indictments, Keith Richards falling out of tree, Britney’s breakdown, that whole Brad-Jen-Angelina thing, our pet deaths – you name it, we’ve been there for each other. In my world, they are BTTV – Better Than TV.

Talk radio is an intimate medium. It has made me a better listener. For me, listening to Steph, Jim, and Chris in the morning is like a laugh-in with three close friends.

However watching those same friends on the TV Monday morning was an unexpected jolt. I suspect other long-time listeners felt that same earthquake.

No more just me and my radio. Huh-uh. Suddenly it was Steph’s pit stains, Chris’s deer-caught-in-the-headlights-Cindy-Brady face, and Jim’s Jack Nicholson eyebrows and William F. Buckley stare that go with his dead-on impersonations. The head shots that look like mug shots. And wassup with those stiffs in the background ignoring the show? Do they not recognize geniuses in the house?

Not only am I an elderly shut-in but I’m also hearing impaired. The closed captioner’s futile attempts to keep up with the comedy added a whole nother dimension that most of the hearing world misses out on. I was rewinding and replaying all over the place making up my own jokes. Add to that the news crawler, and after 3 hours I was exhausted and had accomplished nada.

Yup, I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I was a mess yesterday. I burst into tears at the end of the show.

“They are going to be such a hit!” I wailed at Ema.

I am MORE THAN THRILLED for Steph and The Mooks. This is amazing opportunity. And I wish them all the best.

But this is not about them. I mean, well, that’s talk radio. It’s all about ME. For more than 2 years, Steph, Jim, and Chris were talking to ME. But this week on MSNBC it’s pretty obvious they’re talking to a whole bunch of OTHER PEOPLE, too. Because that’s, well, that’s TV.

Does this mean I don’t like The Stephanie Miller Show on the TV? Nope. I LOVE the show. Period. If MSNBC picks it up – and they’d be crazy not to – OF COURSE I’ll watch. Wouldn’t miss it. What with our history and all.

I can remember back when I first started listening to The Stephanie Miller Show. Steph is so smart and funny. Jim is an incredible impersonator. And Chris is a brilliant producer. I told Tod that one day this show will be an enormous hit. “It’s in a category all by itself. A whole new level of talk radio,” I said.

Yesterday and today it feels like my words have come to fruition. And it also feels like they’ve come to bite ME in the ass. You see, I swore off daytime TV years and years ago. And I will really miss talk radio.

Oh, I know. “Stop whining,” as Steph would say. Get over it.

If MSNBC picks up The Stephanie Miller Show – and they’d be crazy not to – I’ll make the necessary changes to my routine – as in getting nothing done for 3 hours a day – and my life will return to normal.

Concerned about my moodiness, Tod and Ema reminded me that I can always go back to listening to the radio show like I always did and skip the TV. But come on. Get real. I mean, there they are, right there. Who can NOT watch? I ask you.

After two days. Exactly 6 hours of The Stephanie Miller Show on MSNBC, I am hooked. But I was hooked before Monday. And fickle, cat-herding leftist that I am, I’ll ditch the whole talk radio scene for this new look in daytime TV.

This morning Steph said, “I think the ratings are going to be huge for yesterday. I think it was like watching a traffic accident.” That’s what I love about Steph, she always cuts right to the core of every issue in the first 20 minutes. She nailed the very thing that’s been nagging at me. I wonder if she thinks about it, too. One thing is for certain – TV changes EVERYTHING. If I have to, I can be persuaded to share Steph and The Mooks with the rest of the world. But I don’t want to see the video kill my RADIO STARS.

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