A double shot of Polis' duplicity (along with the media forgetting what he says from one day to the next). And, because it's Friday, "there is always the rock": Kloefkorn's Farmer
Polis "talking" out of both sides of his mouth.
Let's start with a particularly apt question quoted out of the article below:
“'When you’re a board of directors of a company that’s 1,500 miles away in Boston, and you have a building in Denver that’s going to cost you millions of dollars in fines if you keep it open, or you can simply board up the building and close it because you’d owe nothing, what are you going to do? It doesn’t make sense,' he [Dennis Supple, facilities manager for a non profit whose offices are in downtown Denver] said."
This is something I want you to remember in rebuttal to the narrative that Polis and his merry band of Progressives are pro business and doing all they can to attract economic activity to this state.
Their policies, in fact, often have (as you see in the quote above which is from the article below about how laws and rules pushed by the party running this state for the last four years are raising the cost of a great many things here) the opposite effect.
So while Polis loudly celebrates laws that reduced the fee to file to open a business license, laws he welcomed and signed task the various unelected boards around the state with making and enforcing rules that put hammer businesses and landowners around this state with costly, one-size-fits-all regulations.
While he loudly proclaims that he wants to help small business, he's busily (through laws or more of his appointed boards) increasing the regulatory burden on them.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/08/08/colorado-greenhouse-gas-building-emissions-cuts/
The media's forgetfulness on regarding what Polis said about the repeal of the Gallagher amendment.
Polis said then that we had to stop Gallagher so we wouldn't have a huge jump in property taxes.
Polis is now saying the same about Prop HH.
Given how successful Gallagher's repeal was, how likely do you think it will be that Prop HH will do the trick?
And, why hasn't this been asked of the governor (at least that I know of, please correct me if you know of an instance by a mainstream outlet)?
The thing about career politicians like our governor, is that they never have to worry about the consistency of what they say. Provided they remember to stay away from the unfriendly media outlets and citizens who don't support them, they'll likely never be challenged.
To a certain degree, I can forgive some forgetfulness on the part of the media. Due to both age and a leaky mind, I struggle to remember what I had for dinner a day ago.
But, knowing this about myself, I'm careful to make notes and write things down in places that they can be saved. A most helpful thing with everyday life, but it's also served me well in dealing with students and/or their families. I'm not even talking entirely about acrimonious or contentious things either. Often I'm writing down what an advisee says so that when we meet again, I can check if this is still what they want.
Gosh, if only the mainstream media in this state would follow suit. Keep track of and re-read what you wrote about our elected officials (what am I saying here, we know they do this with Republicans plenty, so let's say "about our Democrat elected officials") and then ask how that fits with what they're saying now.
For example, let's step into the mists of time and revisit 2020 via an article I linked below. A time when our state was set to vote on repealing the Gallagher Amendment. What was floating in the air back then?
I pulled three quotes from the article and attached them as screenshots to save some space.
Quote #1 is from Polis himself, speaking in support of Gallagher's repeal.
Quote #2 is from Mr. Fields (a conservative activist) and it provides a quote in opposition to Gallagher's repeal. If you read it carefully you'll be struck by how prescient it is.
The other slice of bread on this quote sandwich (#3) is from the article and doesn't do a verbatim quote, but provides what the supporters of the repeal of Gallagher were saying. Anyone that has listened to the Democrats and their supporters who hate TABOR and/or any restraint on government spending will recognize this immediately.
Some version or another of "if you don't repeal this your children will be shivering in unheated buildings with raggedy old and inaccurate textbooks" and "our brave first responders will suffer!".
Look. It's the same playbook and it's the same rhetoric. Only the dates have changed. If you don't do like we want, we won't have money and first responders and children will suffer. If you don't do like we want your costs will go up.
Yeah, well, didn't buy it then. Not buying it now Polis.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2020-election/polis-joins-proponents-backing-gallagher-amendment-repeal/article_22bcd8e2-10bd-11eb-b617-f34f9f4ade75.html
Okay, well, I said double shot of Polis’ duplicity, but when it comes to our governor, it’s hard to stop at just two. There are so many to choose from. Here’s a bonus one.
Related:
A quote from the article below. As I said above, friendly media outlets may not be paying attention to Polis' duplicity, but be glad that some are.
“Polis plays this game with the national media because he harbors presidential ambitions, and he does not want to be seen as a doctrinaire Democrat,” Wadhams said. “He wants to be seen as a problem solver, someone who can bring people together, so he becomes a whole different person when he talks to national media.”
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/08/09/polis-tells-cnn-abortion-bad-colorado-safe-haven-for-procedure/
There is always the rock, but don’t worry, I won’t put up the more somber poems and bring down what I hope will be a good Friday..
Alvin Turner as Farmer
Finally arrived at the point in the week where it's the last post of the day on a Friday. It will also be the last post for a day or so as I'll be working away from my computer (still on my dad's semi--been deviled by fueling problems after rebuilding cylinders).
You know what this all means: something for fun and not related to politics.
I read a lot of prose and it's been a goal in the last two or three years to start reading more poetry. I was in my local library looking for the next book to read recently and in the poetry section I found one that caught my eye.
"Alvin Turner as Farmer" by William Kloefkorn.
Seemed pretty accessible (I don't have the background knowledge nor inclination to want it to read the poetry where I'd have to know or learn a bunch of classical Greek or Roman history to get the allusions).
Was written by someone who lived on the plains.
I took it home and read it. I wanted to recommend it to you whether you're already a poetry aficionado or wanting, like me, to dip your beak.
Not every poem is a home run. Some were kind of throwaways, but there were some good ones in there ranging from the whimsical (see the two screenshots I attached) to the more mournful.
Worth a read. After all, it was a book that got put out by some no name publishing house and took off like a rocket. Generally I find if something is popular or gets an award, it's worth a look. Not a guarantee of quality mind you, but worth a look.
Have a good Friday and Saturday. Back at it Sunday morning (with, I hope, a running 8V-71).