The Election Process of Candidates Who Have Vacated One Position for Another Public Office

When we look at the horrendous process for selecting the vacated seat of the senator who took over Ken Salazar's position and the equally baffling selection process for other seats nationally, it is no wonder that seldom do we choose representatives who look after the affairs of the public.

Senate District 32, recently vacated by Chris Romer, who was just reelected, is a case in point. 150 people representing a geographic area that is a jagged, diagonal slice of South Denver are choosing the next state senator from Denver. The incumbent is running for mayor. Their challenge is to represent the interests of 100's of 1,000's of voters and not party special interests as is usual and customary.

Mr. Romer's choice, in stepping down a month after he was elected in itself deprives the voters of making a choice, but the other reality is that party regulars will most likely prevail in choosing the candidate who most serves the party and not the people.

After more than a month of listening to diatribes and platitudes of candidates in parlors of homes and churches, we are all gathering together on Monday evening at South High School to go through interminable run offs until someone is fortunate enough to receive over fifty percent of the precinct committee people and official's endorsements. This is comparable to a kangaroo court where the possibilities are narrowed down to the person with the greatest opportunity to twist the arm of the favorite candidate to throw their votes for theirinevitable selection.

We seldom get anything more than what we are led to believe is the darling of the machine. Hopefully, this is not the case this time. What I receive on my answering machine, by regular mail and e-mail announces vociferously is that the candidates are giving lip service to a process that is both undemocratic and flawed.

Ishmael Reed Writing About President Obama and His Book, “Juice.”

Personally, President Obama wasn't ready to be president. My mother waxes more specifically about what this means and I am not interested in replaying what progressive whites say in depicting President Obama as being less than desirable. Whether that is true does not matter to me.

What matters to this progressive-conservative-conservationist is the truth. The words of Ismael Reed ring out as having significance regarding the stereotyping of ethnic minorities and militancy.

I think that there is a bigger picture that Ismael Reed missed and that has to do with most leaders wanting their own way and stuff the people. If a person who is not representing their financial constituents raises eyebrows with angry and brooding ideas and expectations, the person, any person is viewed as a crank or crack pot and is banished.

What is true about Ismael's thoughts is that President Obama has a tough situation to fulfill and that is to bring peace and at the same time stability to the world and in particular to the United States. As Ismael Reed clearly enunciates, " unemployed black and Latino people have learned to make do with less and most of the voting sector of the minorities support President Obama.

That observation is accurate but flawed because what we have come to expect is not much from anyone, such as peace, prosperity through jobs, stimulus that keeps a roof over our heads, access to health care, cheap and reliable energy that preserves the planet, safety from disturbances on our borders and in uprisings everywhere you turn, and then there are natural and human made disasters that impinge upon the quality of life of everyone.

President Obama has a task that ten leaders together would have a hard time grasping how to handle and some of the president's advisers have not been superlative in decision making. The bottom line is that the most marginal citizens are often asked to trust and to support politicians and economic leaders that are all the same, in that they look at the bottom line of financial gain for themselves and the burgeoning contributions financially of special interests that erode their opportunities to be considerate of everyone.

America needs a new triple bottom line: the workers are important, the environment must be improved and the money gained must be shared by all employees, men, women, families and the community. Investment in the community is the only means by which we have a chance of providing a legacy and a safety net for the future of our children.

Loving Trash

"Trash, human trash hurts, it feels pain. Trash may not know that feels anything but maybe anger Trash is confused, if you treat trash like trash it becomes convinced that is not human and there for tries hard not to feel.

We don’t like trash around so we look past it and pretend it’s not there, we keep in the alleys or jails or other dumps so we don’t have to see it or acknowledge it.

But trash learns, it learns that trash is trash and it starts acting like trash.It even treats it’s self and other trash like trash. It knows it is not wanted in our nice clean don’t bother me, Don’t make me feel world.

A 33 Year old piece of trash that I loved died the other day. I tried for many years to tell that she was human but it’s hard to break through generations of lies."

Memorial Service at the City and County Building of Denver, "We will Remember." A National Day of Mourning.

Please contribute to the fund to create a permanent state memorial for those who have been homeless who died here.

Memorial Vigil December 21, the First Evening of Winter East Steps of the City/Cty Bldg 5:30 p.m.

Where we stand we peer into the mouth of the gaping storm

swirling around and up like the vortex of a funnel cloud, we wait

standing below trembling, huddled together in prayer

calling for the Great Spirit

by my side a hand reaches to clasp my twisted shoulder

murmuring, "let us rise!"

We awaken from deep sleep to gaze into the furnace of the depth of longing and innocence that warms us and forgets that we have lost our step and poise.

Heartily the clad warrior revels in lifting us from the depth and makes a way for us, "Let us rise," she rejoins

We see the wisdom of this plaintive chorus. we know that we must stir or be swallowed in the torrent that washes away

Our feet are set on unsteady ground that shakes and loosens as we stumble forward

Voices murmuring on "Let us rise,

let us rise,

let us rise,

let us rise."

We hearken to the sound of this rhythm and press on holding one another up

realizing that all we ever had is here.

Thankfully, graciously, humbly we rise. We offer our shattered lives

We await an uncertain tomorrow peacefully resigned to remain in stillness

supplicating, resonating, carrying forth the blessing of those who came this way before.

We know that there is no end here and that we are safe, we are fixed in our awareness though we are held fast

we rise,

we rise,

we rise,

- Hide quoted text -
we rise

knowing that nothing, no walls, no storm, within withstands the clasp of a hand on a twisted shoulder of we,

the people, who are home no matter where and what may cross this way.

We rise and greet the day, scattering dark clouds

sanctify our home and presence in this churning sea with hope that dispels the losses and lives that passed.

Our spirits soar above the din of thunder and crackling, we are joined with all the ancestors and those unborn

we see herein that what we are is fertile and benefits all

mindfulness and presence offers stillness inside

arraying the world with light brilliant glowing for all

We know that our hearts will burst with the gift overflowing and spilling across the landscape

LET US RISE,

LET US RISE

let us rise

On Campaign Contributions and Citizenship


This perspective has a place in the guidelines for all public discourse on poverty, health and mental illness.

Many of the people who we see and who we serve are distressed in ways that we cannot grasp.

A lot of them are in the system, that is that they receive benefits and whether they utilize those services well or not depends on their general stability and case management.

I have listened intently to people who serve on the Health Care Policy and Finance Office State Disability Advisory Committee, and also people from CART, (Consumer Action Research and Training) and people who live marginally in many capacities.

I interact with people with profound illnesses and still participate in an analysis of the relationship from the stand point of a person who is ill, vulnerable, and who is capable of cutting across social and economic lines.


Fund raising is a necessary responsibility.

Most of those people who I listen to are excluded from the democratic process because of their personal perception, rightly or wrongly, that they do not belong. They are reverse stereotyped by themselves in to thinking that there is something wrong with them and they are not welcome participants in the democratic process.

There are many exceptions but for the most part, people with disabilities feel a profound sense of being excluded and this thwarts the concrete purpose of a republic to hear from and represent all voices. We might call this family voices, or voices of the extended family, or of the talking circle, where every single contributing person is welcomed, embraced and valued.

When democratic and social policies and politics represent all interests, for whatever means, we can expand our communal circle, than we are adhering to the principles of the sunshine laws and the gavel amendment. When people are recognized as inherently invaluable as citizens then people will not feel that they are left out and feel honored to be included as representatives for their convictions.

We can then emerge and listen attentively to each other for the best that we have to offer.

¡ö
"We Will Remember" Memorial Service for those who have died who have been homeless.

Dear Friends,

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless is hosting the annual Homeless Persons' Memorial Vigil on Tuesday, December 21st on the steps of the Denver City and County building at 5:30 p.m. A similiar service will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Bandshell in Boulder. Contatc Joy Eckstein at the Carriage House about the sermeony on Boulder.

Another service will be held in Colorado Springs. Across the nartion this is the day of remembrance for all of those who have died who were without a stable place to live.

¡ö Please help us honor those that lived on the streets and died in the past year by providing us with the names of anyone you may have worked with that should be recognized.
¡ö Please send all information to me via email at mcostello@coloradocoalition.org. Please provide as much of the following information as possible by Friday, December 17h.
¡ö Names submitted after December 17th will still be read at the event but likely will not be listed on the press release.
¡ö In your email, please include as much of the following information as possible: ¡¤
Name of Deceased¡¤

Age ¡¤

Date of Death¡¤

Location of Death¡¤

Cause of Death¡¤

Referring Source ¡¤

Additional Notes Feel free to forward this message to other homeless service providers. Please call or email me with any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Meg Costello Public Policy Analyst Colorado Coalition for the Homeless

303-285-5220

mcostello@coloradocoalition.org www.coloradocoalition.org

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What happened to Charles Rangel the distinguished leader of the Black Caucus, and the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, is one of the saddest and most profound testimonies of modern political turmoil. Unlike Jack Abramoff, the self appointed tsar of politics, Charles Rangel had a great impact on generations of leaders of the African American community and far beyond. He grew up in a time of austerity in a place that was reeling and witnessed the renaissance of Harlem in ways that were unimaginable to the community in the 1930's. What he achieved in civil and human rights is unparalleled. As he correctly determined, "His record will far out strip the pain that he has endured in this era at the eclipse of his career.

We were fortunate to have Charles Rangel as a leader and if we don't have compassion for his plight than we do not realise how alike we are when we look in the mirror. Thinking about the fallout from his decades of graft and deception, it is easy to dismiss him because he was caught and penalized. What he forged in the hard fought committees and inscrutable bastions of Washington, D.C. was of far more meaning. Charles Rangel stands as a champion of values that far out weigh his greed and lack of good judgement.

When it is said and done we are all culpable for the folly of twisted values of circumspect misuse of power and arrogance and we all bear the burden for the ill fated collapse of Charles Rangel's career. Not many people have served in the legislatures and stood the test of time. Too many leaders squandered the opportunity and did not represent the impoverished constituents for which they were elected. This cannot be said of Charles Rangel. He was a champion of the people and is one of us.