So I thought, for just a moment, that I had figured out just how Colorado's Congressional delegation got expanded to upwards of 64 districts.  There are two parts to the report - who got the contract and where the work will actually be done.  So for this contract, the work is done at Ft. Drum, NY's CD-23.  And here, there's no Congressional District at all, I suppose.  But, alas, it turns out that Colorado's 23rd Congressional District isn't mentioned at all on the list, so that can't be it.  It would have made sense, them confusing our Bill Owens for their Bill Owens, but no.

So looking at the list of recipients, I see where Nederland Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, and Heating Corporation received $91,595.  I'm not even going to ask.

And about that $912 that the Teller County School District received, that was apparently part of a larger, $10,037 grant.  The $912 was for infrastructure, but the project description mentions none of that:

No jobs were created. Funding is being used to assist current employees in obtainining credentialing and improving educational background. Employees are also being trained to communicate with two Hispanic families moving into the area.

So no jobs were created.  Current employees are getting to go to enrichment programs, which I'm sure will no doubt raise their market value when they decide to move, and someday may help their young charges do better at school, but hardly counts as "stimulative."  Likewise the Rosetta Stone software they're getting for the new families moving in.  No reason at all to use the money teaching those families English, which is of far greater economic value in an English-speaking country, one would think.

Ah, the Stimulus, the gift that keeps on giving, although not quite in the way it was advertised.  Go look at the lists yourself!  It's hours of good, clean fun!

Sadly, Rocky Mountain Alliance Blogger Ben DeGrow has declined the chance to run in Colorado's 7th Congressional District.  Maybe he's angling for one of those jobs created in the Colorado 30th.

That's right.  At the bargain price of just of $1 million, the Federal Government has created or saved 14 jobs in CD-30.  Of course, the additional 14 jobs created in CD-64 came for only $33,000.  Of course, the folks down in Greenwood Village, who saw 650 jobs created, at a net loss of $111 million to that zip code, are positively steaming with jealousy.  And I'm sure that the New Energy Economy will benefit from the loss of $60 million locally by the National Science Foundation.  And, Teller County Schools, don't spend all $912 in one place.  Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Michelle.

Of course, we know this is all true, since Governor Ritter has signed a Statement of Transparency stating that he intends to ask for and spend the Stimulus money involved.

According to the Wall Street Journal, President Obama in China argued in favor of Internet freedom, with arguments that should apply to all First Amendment freedoms:

Speaking to a selected group of Chinese students at the beginning of his first visit to China, Mr. Obama said that the free flow of information makes societies stronger and holds political leaders accountable. People in positions of power may bristle at criticism, he said, but open criticism "makes our democracy stronger, and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear."

Mr. Obama's words, however, likely reached few Chinese. In contrast to visits by his two predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Mr. Obama's talk was not broadcast live on national television.

The Chinese typically respond to criticisms with charges of hypocrisy, and while I'm unsympathetic to them on that account, Americans might do well to pay attention to the charges this time.  Consider that this President has:

• Proposed that the rest of the world adopt pre-emptive "notice and termination" rules for Internet content, and done so in a secret clause in a new international copyright treaty
• Used the bully pulpit to browbeat press critics, including Fox News, Rick Santelli, and others
• Shielded official political advisers from press scrutiny by appointing them as unvetted "czars"
• Proposed that citizens inform the White House of fishy "opinions I don't want to hear" regarding health care
• Hinted broadly about "hitting back twice as hard" against administration critics
• Repeatedly told those critics to stop talking and that "the time for debate is over" - at the beginning of the legislative process
• Has first supported, now appears to be backing off, a UN resolution pushed by the Islamic Conference banning "blasphemy"
• Has appointed a "Diversity Czar" who openly admires Hugo Chavez's approach to the media and wants to bring racial politics to the FCC

Administration apologists will argue that such examples only prove the President's point - that a free press circumscribes presidential power.  But even if that were his point - and I don't think it was - it's not as though the President has been supportive of such a press.  Instead, he and his administration see it as an evil that needs to be suffered through and circumscribed, not a positive good.

As usual, universal principles are really about how they affect Obama: they make him hear opinions he doesn't want to hear.  That, of course, is only part of the value of a free press.  The people have the right to petition the government, which would produce the same effect.  Indeed, the open comment period that most federal bureaucracies have during their rule-making process produces the same effect, but it's hardly the core of the First Amendment.  Monarchies and autocracies throughout history have had mechanisms for wise rulers to take the temperature of their subjects and their various interest groups when forming policy.

No, freedom of speech is about letting people communicate with each other.  It's about organizing opposition and support in a pluralistic society, with a separation of powers and a federal system.  It's a key part of the process of self-government, where citizens debate each other about issues and policies and principles.  And while it's certainly a part of our elected leaders' exercise of power, it's much more often a check and a limitation on that power.

The President of a free people should know better.

UPDATE: Of course, I should have known better than to forget the process by which Congress has passed multi-thousand-page bills this year, in virtual secrecy, without decent public review of their content, and that in direct contravention to promised transparency.  Free and open debate works best when it disseminates actual information, something that the Democratic Congressional leadership has striven mightily to prevent.

It should be clear that the appropriate analogy to the filling station isn't the recharging station, it's the battery-swapping station, along the lines of a propane refill.  Now, an Israeli is trying to make this work in Israel and in Denmark:

Better Place proposes building a network of curbside charging stations where owners can top off their vehicle batteries. Agassi’s idea generated $300 million in venture capital and sparked international interest: Cities in Israel and Denmark hope to have the first robotic change stations running in 2011, and the company aspires to expand operations to Australia, Canada, Hawaii and California in 2012. In late September, Better Place signed a deal with Renault-Nissan to put 100,000 electric vehicles on the road in Israel and Denmark by 2016.

I've always believed that the only way we're going to get Americans into electric cars is to extend their range.  Especially out west, where I live, it's virtually impossible to imagine driving  your car for 100 miles, and then stopping for a few hours to recharge.  That might work for in-city commutes, but too many of us routinely make business or pleasure trips of well over 100 miles, and some even have commutes that long.

If this idea can work in high-density, short-trip areas like Israel and Europe, it ought to be able to substitute in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.  It'll be interesting to see what kind of business model he comes up with.  I'd suspect that franchising would be the fastest way to expand, with the quality control issue here being the quality of the battery, and making sure that the station owners weren't under-charging the batteries.

As with any technology, this isn't going to happen overnight.  You'd still want batteries that could make it 300 miles or so, a typical tank of gas.  The barriers to entry - read: capital investment - for swapping stations and cars alike remain high.  And, of course, barring nuclear plants, massive numbers of electric cars are going to mean hot summers and cold winters for a lot of people.

But this is clearly the operational model that can work. 

BREAKING: Former State Senator Tom Wiens has formally filed papers as a candidate for the US Senate race here in Colorado.

Quickly noted: Wiens appears to have great confidence in his ability to fundraise competitively with Jane Norton, and he has deep ties to the party activists who have been frequent caucus-goers and state Assembly delegates.  He has strength in El Paso and Douglas Counties, both Republican strongholds.  All of this helps him in the primary.

Whether or not the Dems can successfully portray him as "too conservative" is open to question, but I'm sure that will be their line of attack.

While lacking the national cache of N-23 or a govenor's race in a bellwether state (that comes next year), Colorado does have some election activity of its own this year.  With the usual caveats about off-year turnout, here are some of the more interesting races to keep an eye on.

• In Douglas County, the non-partisan school board race has turned partisan, as the teachers' unions try to seize control of that body in a heavily Republican county.  The local Republican party has responded by endorsing a slate of four candidates of its own.  Good luck to Dan Gerken,  Doug Benevento, Meghann Silverthorn and incumbent John Carson
• In Denver, voters will elect some of the new school board as well.  I'm personally supporting Mary Seawell, who's a big booster of Charter Schools.  She'll probably cruise to victory fairly easily.
• Denver will also decide whether or not to require police officers to impound the vehicle of someone found driving without a license.  Widely seen as targeting illegal immigrants, the law does provide an out for someone whom the officer can determine has a license and insurance, but that hasn't kept the so-called progressives from emailing energetically about the unfairness of it all.  The state auditor finally got around to reporting on this issue yesterday, as voting ends.  Look for this to fail.
• And last but not least, my friend Katie Witt is running for City Council up in Longmont, the more Republican area of Boulder County, and we're all looking forward to a win up there for her.

So while the Tea Party Express rolls into town, CCU has its Governor Canddiates' Forum, and the Mayor of Jerusalem speaks over at DU, we'll be watching New Jersey, Virginia, New York, Maine, and Washington State.

And a little action closer to home, too.