Category: politics

Consumer advocacy, Diane Schwenke, Economics, Elections, Ethics, Grand Junction Chamber, Hunger, politics, Poverty, Propaganda, Stupid Republicans, Worker advocacy

Costco vs. Sam’s Club: Busting the G.J. Chamber’s Minimum Wage Myths

by Anne Landman • September 25, 2016 • 11 Comments

screen-shot-2016-09-25-at-11-38-08-am Colorado’s Amendment 70, if it passes this November, will gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $12.00 an hour by 2020. Some people wonder, if we pay people a higher minimum wage, where will the money come from?

The money comes from either a businesses’ profits, or its debts. But raising the minimum wage doesn’t necessarily mean customers will pay higher prices for goods and services. To the contrary, a number of real-life examples show that rock-bottom pay and benefits don’t necessarily translate into lower prices. In fact, stingy wages often prove even more costly.

Turnout Low at Trump Junior Event

by Anne Landman • September 22, 2016 • 4 Comments

Photo taken inside the Mahindra Arena at the Mesa County Fairgrounds during the Donald Trump Junior rally shows plenty of empty seats.

Photo taken at the Donald Trump Junior rally inside the Mahindra Arena at the Mesa County Fairgrounds when it was in full swing shows plenty of empty seats.

KKCO reported on tonight’s news that “thousands” of people turned out for Donald Trump Junior’s rally at the Mesa County Fairgrounds this evening, but an observer inside the Mahindra Arena took a photograph of the rally that showed barely over half the seats filled. People inside the scene estimated about 200 people in attendance, a low figure given the county’s large Republican majority. KKCO later revised their estimate on their website to “nearly a thousand” supporters, but according to photographic evidence, they’re still far off the mark. One African American protester who went into the event said he was the only person of color in attendance at the rally, yet in his talk Trump Junior reportedly praised all the “diversity” he said he saw in the crowd at the arena.

Protesters hold signs outside the Trump Junior rally in Grand Junction

animal abuse, Ethics, Extremism, politics

Donald Trump Jr. to Appear in Grand Junction

by Anne Landman • September 21, 2016 • 4 Comments

Donald Trump Jr. poses with an elephant he killed. He holds the hacked-off tail of the elephant in his left hand.

Donald Trump’s sons pose with a leopard they killed on a trophy hunt.

Tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. Donald Trump Jr. will appear in Grand Junction at the Mesa County Fairgrounds, nominally to talk to sportsmen.

Donald Jr. likes to kill rare and endangered animals in expensive trophy hunts overseas. He is supposed to be speaking about “wildlife conservation.”

Anyone who can stand to be in the presence of a human being like this, or who can manage to do it without losing their stomach, is invited to attend.

Consumer advocacy, Corporations, Corruption, Diane Schwenke, Education, Elections, Grand Junction Chamber, Health care, Lobbying, politics

Why Average People Shouldn’t Listen to the Grand Junction Area Chamber

by Anne Landman • September 19, 2016 • 24 Comments

chamber It’s election time again, and soon the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce will issue it’s “2016 Voter Guide” in an attempt to try and influence how people in Mesa County vote on ballot measures and local elected offices.

If you’re an average, hard-working working citizen in Mesa County, there is only one thing you need to know about the chamber’s voter guide: ignore it.

Why?

Because the chamber doesn’t represent Mesa County’s working population. It exists solely to promote the financial interests of the few Mesa County businesses who pay its dues, and nothing more. What’s more, most businesses oppose measures aimed at helping workers and their families, so the chamber reflexively opposes any ballot measures that would benefit the thousands of workers and residents who spend money locally and really keep this area humming.

What’s REALLY Up With the Grand Valley Drainage District’s New Fee?

by Anne Landman • August 31, 2016 • 28 Comments

Recent flooding at First and Grand in Grand Junction, after 1/2 inch of rain fell in an hour

Flooding at the intersection of First and Grand in Grand Junction, after just 1/2 inch of rain fell in one hour in a summer 2016 rain storm

Grand Valley residents were hit this year with an additional $36 annual fee to help fund improvements within the Grand Valley Drainage District. But why, and why so out of the blue?

The fee came as a surprise to homeowners because the Drainage District sent notices of the fee only to business owners in an effort to try to save their already-scarce funds. The District regrets this now and they believe they should have done more outreach to residents about the fee, no matter the cost.

That said, many of the problems leading up to this extra fee being necessary are traceable to the actions of the Mesa County Commissioners.

Western Slope Workers’ Public Enemy #1: The Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce

by Anne Landman • August 11, 2016 • 8 Comments

The U.S. Department of Labor says that in 2014, the Wall Street bonus pool was roughly twice as much as all minimum wage workers' pay

The U.S. Department of Labor says that in 2014, the Wall Street bonus pool was roughly twice as much as all U.S. minimum wage workers’ pay combined

On August 1, 2016 the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce announced its opposition to a ballot initiative to raise Colorado’s minimum wage to $12/hour. The main reason the chamber gives for opposing the higher wage is a claim by Economics International Corporation — a company located in Portland, Oregon — that raising the minimum wage in Colorado will put 90,000 Coloradans out of work, mostly younger people.

Consider the Source

So who is “Economics International Corporation”?

It is a one-person consultancy run by a man named Eric Fruits, who hires himself out as an expert witness in economics and statistics. The official registered business location of Economics International Corporation is “4318 NE Royal Court, Portland, Oregon 97213,” a four bedroom, three bathroom home. Fruits is the sole registered officer, agent, president and secretary of the corporation.

Economics International Corp headquarters

The official registered headquarters of the Chamber’s expert on Colorado economic issues, is this 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in Portland, Oregon

Fruits specializes in “litigation support” for businesses, meaning he hires himself out to say whatever his paymasters need him to say, much like independent scientists did for the tobacco industry in the 1970s-1990s.

Organized Effort to Undermine Mulder for Commissioner’s Campaign?

by Anne Landman • July 26, 2016 • 1 Comment

Some low-life is stealing Mel Mulder's hand-made campaign signs. Turn them in for a reward!

Some low-life has been stealing Mel Mulder’s hand-made campaign signs. Know who it is? Turn them in for a reward!

The race for Mesa County Commissioner in District 1 is heating up, and someone in Happy Valley is playing dirty.

Some unknown person has been stealing County Commissioner District 1 candidate Mel Mulder’s hand-made campaign signs. Mel, his wife, Vera, their friends and high school students painstakingly hand-made each sign in the summer heat to try to stretch the money Mel has raised for his campaign. Mel has raised about $1,385 so far, a fairly normal amount for a campaign for local office in the Grand Valley. By comparison, the incumbent Commissioner in District 1, John Justman has over $46,000 in his campaign fund, most of which — $31,500 — came from Justman’s own wife, Frances. According to KREX, Justman’s similar-sized, professionally-made signs cost about $500 each. Mel’s hand-made signs cost only about $100 each, showing that Mel knows how to do more with less.

What it’s Like to be a Student with a Brain in the Delta County School District

by Anne Landman • July 10, 2016 • 211 Comments

Cidney Fisk, first row on the right, in red tennies, with a group of Delta High students last April, who were recognized by the Delta County Independent for displaying "exceptional leadership, service, academic excellence, and are outstanding citizens in their school and community."

Cidney Fisk, front row on the left in red sleeved shirt and red tennies, shown with other Delta High students last April who the Delta County Independent recognized for displaying “exceptional leadership, service, academic excellence, and [for being] outstanding citizens in their school and community.”

No one disputes that Cidney Fisk, 18, of Delta, Colorado, is among the most accomplished graduates ever turned out by the Delta County School District. But some of Cidney’s personal characteristics, including her atheism, apparently rubbed Delta High School (DHS) officials the wrong way, and she has paid dearly for it.

Why Western Slope Republicans are Useless Anachronisms

by Anne Landman • July 5, 2016 • 9 Comments

Colorado House Rep. Ray Scott (R-Grand Junction) continues to promote drilling for methane gas — the most potent greenhouse gas — as an “incredibly clean fossil fuel” that “reduces emissions.”

Western slope Republicans constantly point to a “war on coal” or a “war” on drilling and fracking as the cause of massive job loss. They scapegoat western slope residents who are concerned about degradation of the environment and global climate change, while clinging to tired, predictable responses like boosting extractive energy industries that are technologically on the way out.

Republicans’ hand-wringing and finger-pointing reveals their narrow view of what is happening in our world.

Blaming Obama and environmentalists for job loss is like looking at the Grand Canyon through a toilet paper tube and saying you know everything about what’s there.

Mesa County Blocks Access to Food Assistance Program, Loses Out on Critical Economic Benefits

by Anne Landman • June 27, 2016 • 11 Comments

Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese, who oversees the county’s human services and food assistance programs

Half of Mesa County residents who are eligible for food stamps get them, while the other half who apply are routinely turned away.

Rose Pugliese, the Mesa County Commissioner who leads the Department of Human Services (DHS) commission in charge of managing food stamp programs in Mesa County, has picked nasty public fights with county DHS management (video) and follows her predecessor, Janet Rowland, in trying to restrict Mesa County residents from participating in federal food assistance programs.

Republican Kook Runs for Mesa County Commissioner Against Justman

by Anne Landman • May 9, 2016 • 5 Comments

Mesa County Commissioner District 1 candidate John Davis ran for President of the United States in 2012

Mesa County Commissioner District 1 candidate John Davis in front of his eponymously-painted motorcoach when he ran for President of the United States in 2012

Another doozy of a Republican candidate is running for local office, this time against Mesa County Commissioner District 1 incumbent John Justman.

It’s John Davis.

The local Republican Party just keeps them coming, don’t they?

Delta County School Board Rips Off Kids

by Anne Landman • April 9, 2016 • 28 Comments

A slide from Shelly Donahue's "WAIT" program shown at Delta High School

Crucifixes in a slide from Shelly Donahue’s “WAIT” program at Delta High School

The Delta County School Board is violating state and federal laws in order to keep students from getting medically-accurate sex education information, and it seems to be by design.

Last October, the school district hired controversial abstinence-only-before-marriage pontificator Shelly Donahue as a sex education speaker for students. According to students, this was the only “sex education” the Delta County School District provided them, and the school board and district administration apparently consider this an adequate sex education.

Far from it.

For those who aren’t familiar with Shelly Donahue, she is an evangelistic Christian abstinence-only speaker who rakes in government grant funds by giving “WAIT” (“Why Am I Tempted”) training in public schools. Donahue’s website says

“She is passionately committed to Jesus Christ as the ultimate answer to the teen sexual activity problem in America. As a motivational speaker and a leading sex education expert, she is making a significant impact for the Kingdom of God!”

The leading “T” in Donahue’s business logo is a flaming crucifix; the logo and cross appeared in every slide in her presentations at Delta schools

In her talks, Donahue dishes out vast amounts of medically inaccurate information to kids and uses broad, simplistic analogies that convey stereotypical images of what boys’ and girls’ personalities are like. She includes liberal doses of religiously-based, guilt-and-shame to frighten students out of having sex before marriage.

Democrats Growing Faster than Republicans in Mesa County

by Anne Landman • March 29, 2016 • 0 Comments

Dems

The above article from the March 27, 2016 issue of the Grand Junction, CO Daily Sentinel says that the increase in registered Democrats is happening without any kind of organized registration drive being put on by Mesa County Democrats, while at the same time, the Mesa County Republican Party is actively working to register new members and is even meeting their goals. The growth in Democrats is coming from people switching parties, as well as from new registrants.

More Info Surfaces on Delta County School District’s Promotion of Religious Ideology

by Anne Landman • March 22, 2016 • 12 Comments

Shelly Donahue, an abstinence-only teacher from Elevate Youth, a religious ministry based in Plano, Texas, who was hired to give trainings to Delta County School District Students last October. The sole funder of the program was a religious ministry.

News about the pending distribution of atheist and Satanic literature in Delta County schools April 1 is encouraging more students, parents and even teachers to come forward with information about what they say is a persistent pattern of state/church violations, religiously-based discrimination and even outright bigotry, harassment and demeaning of atheist and non-believing students occurring within the Delta County School system.

Parents from Delta County contacted Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers (WCAF) Tuesday morning (3/22/16) to alert the group to what they feel is pervasive Christian proselytizing occurring in Delta County Schools. They say they and their child have suffered to a great extent from the school district’s persistent embrace of religious promotion.

Mel Mulder for Mesa County Commissioner, District 1

by Anne Landman • March 18, 2016 • 3 Comments

"It's Okay Little Buddy" - Mel Mulder was a featured subject in this famous local painting by his artist wife, Vera

“It’s Okay Little Buddy” – Mel Mulder and his super-cute little friend are featured in this famous local painting by his wife, artist and art teacher Vera Mulder

Longtime Grand Valley resident and Fruita City Council member Mel Mulder is running for Mesa County Commissioner in District 1. He is easily of the most qualified candidates for this office that Mesa County has seen in the last 35 years, and certainly the best artistically-rendered candidate. (See picture above.)

Video Posted by Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California

by Anne Landman • March 5, 2016 • 2 Comments

This video was posted to YouTube and Facebook on March 3, 2016 by Gavin Newsom, the current Lieutanant Governor of California, to warn people about the leading Republican candidate for U.S. President, Donald J. Trump and the danger he poses to the country. Newsom wrote,

“I hope you’ll share this video as it illustrates exactly who Donald J. Trump is: a racist, insane man who uses threats and intimidation to get his way. We are better than this. We are so much better than this.”

Accordingly, I am sharing the video with readers.

politics

Mesa County Democrats Turn Out in Huge Numbers for Caucuses

by Anne Landman • March 1, 2016 • 1 Comment

Half of the crowd of Democrats at a caucus at Pomona Elementary School cafeteria

People talk about how Republicans are energized by the primary elections this year, but enthusiastic Mesa County Democrats also flocked to caucuses in far larger numbers than in past years Tuesday night to choose between Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders for nomination for President.

A Democratic caucus held at Pomona Elementary School at Patterson and 25 1/2 Roads in Grand Junction was almost standing room only, a sharp contrast to a few years ago when hardly anyone turned out.

Mulder and Edwards Announce Candidacies for Mesa County Commissioner in Districts 1 and 3

by Anne Landman • February 29, 2016 • 0 Comments

Dave Edwards of Palisade (yellow shirt) and Mel Mulder of Fruita (plaid shirt) announce their candidacies for Mesa County Commissioner today at the Mesa County Workforce Center, to draw attention to the high unemployment rate and dire need for economic development in Mesa County

Two intelligent, hard-working and civic-minded citizens, Mel Mulder and Dave Edwards, today announced they are entering the 2016 race for County Commissioner to replace incumbents in District 1 and District 3, respectively. Mulder is challenging District 1 incumbent John Justman and Edwards intends to replace incumbent Rose Pugliese.

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