Last week, you sent me an impassioned plea for a donation because you are anticipating lots of money coming in from out of state organizations to support your Republican opponent in 2016, whomever that might be.

While this may be true, I cannot in good conscience give you a dime, since you voted to fast track the Trans Pacific Partnership. This odious ‘free trade’ agreement has been kept secret from the American people, and Senators have not even been allowed copies of it or even to take notes. Here in Colorado, we call that a pig in a poke and know that only suckers buy something they haven’t seen and examined.

So, here’s the deal Michael: unless you reverse your position on the TPP, actively and publicly oppose it, what you can count on is that I will be working with other Democrats in Colorado to find a candidate that will represent my interests in the U.S. Senate better than you have, and ‘primary’ you from the left. Because honestly, Michael, I’m TIRED of having the people I elect to supposedly represent my interests get to Washington and instead uphold the interests of big corporations. Make no mistake, Michael, what is good for these corporations is not necessarily good for the people you represent, and TPP is most assuredly NOT good for the people of Colorado.

So, Michael, no matter how much money you think you’ll lose from corporate donors if you don’t support TPP, you stand to lose much more if you continue to ignore the interests of those who elected you.

Lastly, Udall lost in 2014 because he ran such a lame campaign that no one really knew what he stood for. He didn’t really take any positions at all, and the result was that Democrats didn’t turn out, and Colorado’s large independent electorate voted for Gardner instead. Make no mistake, it wasn’t the Koch brothers and their insidious super PACs that led to Udall’s defeat, it was Udall’s seeming refusal to take any definitive positions on anything. Don’t count on having people turn out for you, Michael, just because you’re a Democrat, because it doesn’t work that way. You have to ACT like a Democrat.

Sincerely...

I've been thinking about this meme that is going out there about how Bernie Sanders really doesn't have a lot of 'name recognition' minorities. According to this meme, this means that he's somehow 'not going to get' the minority vote.

There are two points here I'd like to make:
1. I know and work with quite a few people who happen to be racial or ethnic minorities. What I'm noticing, just in my own little neck of the woods (Denver metro area in Colorado) is that many of these folks like and are talking about Bernie. Seems like they haven't heard this meme about Bernie not 'reaching' minorities...

Which brings us to my second point:
2. It seems to me to do a disservice to people who happen to be racial and/or ethnic minorities to imply that somehow they aren't going to 'hear' Bernie Sanders' message. I very much don't think this is true because we cannot treat the voting populace as consisting of somehow monolithic segments. People like Bernie's message and when they look at his record they see he's been about social and economic justice for half a century...consistently!

Just my opinion, but the bottom line here is that we'll have a hotly contested Democratic primary and Americans are going to listen to the candidates and then make their decision. I'm thinking Bernie will surprise a lot of pundits and will (happily for us) HORRIFY Wall Street and the big capitalists. AND, in the general I think he will capture a lot of independent votes.

People are fed up with the status quo, and Bernie's got a really compelling message. Call me Don Quixote and accuse me of 'tilting at windmills' but I think the guy can win! In fact, I'm so sure of it I'm donating to him regularly and when the time comes will help his campaign here in Colorado.

My wife and I have Comcast. We pay for the full subscription to all the premium and network channels as well as internet and land line. When I think about how much we pay, it makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, because it is over $2,500/yr. We also have Netflix streaming so my wife can have immediate access to anything she wants to watch, ever.

Now, imagine my dismay when she called up an NBC show, Hannibal, and NBC was trying to charge us $2.99 per episode ON TOP of the usurious amount I already pay Comcast.

I called up Comcast to complain, and was told that yes, NBC, CBS and Fox all have decided to charge fees for shows after the week or so they put it out for 'free' on Comcast. Comcast, in spite of the fact that I have a SUBSCRIPTION to their premium package chooses to pass on any extra cost from these networks, who already insert roughly 25 minutes of commercials in one hour of programming.

So, I went on the NBC site and complained, but I have only just begun. I will be writing the corporate offices of each of these firms and voicing my discontent with the idea that I will just quit Comcast if the issue isn't resolved. In addition, I will pay for ONE episode of Hannibal and then write the corporate offices of every company that has advertised during the show and tell THEM of my discontent. Because I think it's time I quit being an obedient consumer and began pushing back.

Yes, I am aware that in this neoliberal capitalist utopia, the shareholder has primacy over both the customers and the workers, but I'm TIRED of it. So I'm pushing back using the strategy of hitting them in the pocketbook. Yeah, I'm one guy, but if 500 or 5,000 people start doing this maybe we can fight this price creep.

Aren't you SICK of always having to pay MORE for LESS?