Omnibus Post

Sorry I haven't written anything in awhile. If you are expecting a blog that has regular updates you are probably going to be disappointed. I am going to put something on my Ipad so I can upload posts on that so you won't have to go so long without a post in the near future.

My co-worker Jeff asked before he went to Hawaii, when I am going to post about work because that is what he is excited to read. If you don't know I'm a lobbyist and to answer your questions: No I don't do oil and gas, cigarettes, firearms lobbying, No we don't get to sit in box seats of Bronco's games and entertain legislators with fine wine and sushi, Yes sometimes politics makes me sad.

I lobby at the state level and the Colorado General Assembly is getting ready to start up again in January. Right now my office is doing all the prep work before session; drafting bills, finding sponsors, cleaning out files. This session should be interesting, it is the session before an election which means a lot of "constituent pleasing" in the form of Legislation. Often that means we have to try and kill bad bills. I will probably do a "what to look forward to for 2012" blog post once I have some more intel on what bills are coming forward. I do want to talk about one recent event that I think is important, it's called Personhood.

Colorado is home to Personhood USA, a group that tries to create personhood for fertilized eggs. They are an extreme anti-choice group that has tried and failed at getting a Personhood amendment onto our state's Constitution. The amendment (48 in 2008 and 62 in 2010) sought to give rights to fertilized eggs which in turn would ban most forms of birth control, invitro-fertilization, and abortion (even in cases of rape, incest, or health of the mother). It would take away a women's right to plan her family. I don't care much to argue about whether you agree with abortion or not. I will argue about a woman's ability to make choices that affect her body. I will also argue about whether it is right to put things like this into our State's Constitution. But that is for another time. Right now I just want to make you aware that the Personhood USA group announced their campaign to put another initiative on the ballot for 2012. The language is different, but as they stated in their press conference, "It will do the same thing that the amendment in 2008 and 2010 sought to do".

That's really all I'm going to write at this moment. Shelley asked me to go get some soup for lunch and that sounds pretty good. I do plan on writing some more this week so stay tuned. Future topics include: CROSSFIT or as I call it concurring the 35lb bar, Why the Honda Fit is called the Honda Jazz in Norway, Favorite beers, and running.