Now this is what I am talking about. There’s a new type of home furnace which not only provids heat, but also generates electricity!
There’s a new fad starting, which might eventually prove to be more a revolution than a fad: an efficient furnace that also generates electricity.The “micro-combined-heat-and-power” units, or CHPs, turns natural gas into hot water and generates up to $800 a year in electricity, the Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday.
They seem kinda pricey at $20,000. But estimates are that these will pay for each other within 3-7 years. I wonder if they qualify for tax rebates, too, for people who live in an area that provides alternative energy tax breaks? All I know is that, when our furnace finally kicks the bucket (and I’m hoping that’s at least a decade away), I’m signing up for one of these puppies!
I am pretty sick and tired of hearing people say, “Democrats don’t have any ideas! They don’t have any plans for how to make things better. All they can do is bash Republicans.” This is patently false; the Democratic Party has a Six-Point plan for 2006:
The Democratic Party is committed to keeping our nation safe and expanding opportunity for every American. That commitment is reflected in an agenda that emphasizes the security of our nation, strong economic growth, affordable health care for all Americans, retirement security, honest government, and civil rights.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much media coverage about the Six Point Plan. Media, both mainstream and left-leaning, have been ignoring this for some reason. And it is important! These are good points, this is a good platform from which the Democrats should work. Everyone needs to read this plan, to understand what is in store for us now that the House and Senate are under Democratic control.
Things are going to get better!
I am going to repeat this post for everyone coming to my blog after this series of posts:
Every election year, I spend a lot of time researching the local
ballot issues. But I almost never share that research with anyone
except for my wife. I figured that I need to start sharing my hard work
with others, so I present you with my first ever Colorado Voting Guide.
This isn’t going to be an unbiased guide, however. If you want one of those, there are plenty available on the web.
Instead, I am going to point out how I am voting, and why. I will be
spreading this guide out into seperate posts for each issue, to make it
easy for you to skip to the issue that you are most interested in.
Good luck, everyone! Be sure to vote! Vote early, or vote on Tuesday. But no matter what, VOTE!
This probably won’t be a surprise, but I’ll be voting (and recommend everyone votes) a straight Democratic ticket:
Governor: Bill Ritter
Congress (CD6): Bill Winter
Secretary of State: Ken Gordon
State Treasurer: Cary Kennedy
Attorney General: Fern O’Brien
CU Regent: Stephen Ludwig
State Senate: Shelly Tokerud
State Representative: Allen Dreher
Douglas Co. Commisioner: Jerri Hill
Douglas Co. Clerk & Recorder: Barbara Horan
Douglas Co. Treasurer: Kimberly Steenhoek
Douglas Co. Assessor: Maritza Carrera
Douglas Co. Sherriff: Laura Haper O’Donnell
Douglas Co. Coroner: Karen Yankus
Another result of this year’s special session on immigration, this referndum would have the State of Colorado sue Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asking that Gonzales start enforcing the current federal immigration laws. This lawsuit will almost definitely go nowhere, but it will increase public awareness of the fact that the federal government is not doing its job.
YES!
Referendum I is the spiritual opposite of the horrid Amendment 43. Referendum I would legally recognize civil unions in Colorado, regardless of the gender of the members of the civil union. Voting for this amendment should be a no-brainer. It’s the only fair thing to do.
YES!
Referendum H is a response to the special session on immigration that Bill Owens called this summer. The result of the special session was to target the cause of illegal immigration, not the illegal immigrants themselves. Since most people come to our country illegally seeking jobs, that means the root cause are the employers who hire them. This referendum requires businesses to disclose the wages paid to illegal immigrants and then claimed on its federal income tax return (source: Colorado Blue Book). This would then be added to the business’s Colorado taxable income.
This is mainly a statement referendum, and ties in nicely with Referendum K.
YES!
Referendum G is another housekeeping referendum. It proposes cleaning up obsolete language from the constitution, and elminiating gender-specific terms in the constitution. This is all necessary and uneventful.
YES!
Referendum F is a housekeeping referendum to change/remove deadlines for recall petitions. In a way, it’s antithetical to Amendment 38. This Referndum allows more time to protest signatures on petitions, get signatures to replace invalidated signatures, and holding recall elections. It makes the recall process more flexible, which is a good thing (IMO).
YES!
Referendum E is a tough one. My first instinct would be to vote for it, since it provides disabled veterans with a tax break for their primary residence. But after digging into the details of the Referendum, I have to vote against it. First of all, there’s no financial qualifications. Someone making $100 billion a year would get this tax reduction.
And, on the other hand, the veterans who most could use a tax break are those who cannot afford a home. This referendum would not help these veterans.
I say NO! and we should be pressuring the Federal government to provide more support for veterans.
Since I wrote that bit, I have changed my mind on this. Pretty much every tax break or program has the ability to be abused by those who want to do so. That shouldn’t be used as an excuse to take this away from those who could really use it. I now say YES! on this one.
