Man, is this wonderful or what? That's right, our pals at Dominion Virginia Power are hosting a reception ("featuring Western BBQ and music") for the Virginia delegation to the Democratic National Convention at Red Rocks, 15 miles west of Denver in the Rocky Mountain foothills. Here's a description from Dominion's invite:
...Red Rocks is a geologically formed, open-air Ampitheatre that is not duplicated anywhere in the world. With Mother Nature as the architect, the design of the Ampitheatre consists of two, three-hundred-foot monoliths (Ship Rock and Creation Rock) that provide acoustic perfection for any performance.The area of Red Rocks, originally known as the Garden of Angels, has attracted the attention of musical performers since before the turn of the century. The majestic setting of the Amphitheatre,
along with the panoramic view of Denver, makes for a breathtaking scene.
Now, here is some information on where Dominion gets the coal for its power plants, and what the coal companies like to do with Virginia's majestic mountains.
In 2005, a coal company named Glamorgan Properties LLC came to my community. Our community was a narrow valley sitting between two high lush green mountain ridges. They decapitated and rearranged one of those until it was not recognizable. What they left was heaps of rubble and a large barren hillside. On the face of these steep hillsides lie the boulders, rocks, and soil that are blasted from the top and then shoved downslope. Then, the company left abruptly and filed for bankruptcy in a federal courtroom in Texas, leaving their environmental disaster behind. Even today, after the permit has been revoked and the state is in supervision of the reclamation, the blasting continues.
Does anyone else note the not-so-subtle contrast between Dominion touting the beauty of Red Rocks in Colorado, while its coal suppliers blow the tops off Virginia's mountains (see photo)? And while we're on the subject of Dominion, I was just musing about how this company's lobbyists basically wrote their own reregulation bill and also how this company in general pushes our elected officials around. Gee, do you think it just MIGHT have anything to do with Dominion's sponsorship of events like this one? Yeah, and we wonder why our environment gets trashed, our politicians do nothing, and people hate politics? Hmmmmm.
#86. RELYING ON LOBBYISTSLike Bush, McCain relies on lobbyists to raise money for his campaign.
BUSH:
Lobbyists Raised Money and Competed To Influence Bush. "At the centre of this torrent of money lie the Pioneers and Rangers. Formed by four family friends in 1998 when Bush was still governor of Texas, they have grown into a nationwide network of influence. With its different levels, the aim is to make top donors compete for influence. 'When you do that, the sky is really the limit. They give more and more, but in the end it is all just gravy for the Bush train,' said Andrew Wheat, director of Texans for Public Justice, a group that monitors the network...The industries the network spans are also tightly knit. Almost 20 per cent of the elite donors come from the world of finance, while 18 per cent are lawyers and lobbyists." [The Observer, 5/23/04]
MCCAIN:
According to Public Citizen, McCain Has 76 Current and Former Lobbyist Bundlers. Public Citizen's WhiteHouseForSale website noted that 76 current and former lobbyists are McCain bundlers. [WhiteHouseForSale.org, Accessed: 8/8/08]
Bush's Lobbyist Fundraisers Supporting McCain. "President Bush's campaign finance machine crushed John McCain's upstart presidential campaign seven years ago. But in his second attempt to win the White House, the Republican senator from Arizona is picking off some of his former adversary's key players. McCain has wooed 66 former Bush Rangers and Pioneers to bundle checks for him, including more than a dozen prominent GOP lobbyists." [Politico, 5/23/07]