Casida 2012 | Casida for Congress

Pueblo Chieftain Excludes Independent Woman from Debate – Casida Holds Protest

by tishacasida on October 10, 2012.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Steve Thompson
10 October 2012
Tel: (719) 369-0623
Email: contact@casida2012.com

Pueblo Chieftain Excludes Independent Woman from Debate – Casida Holds Protest

(Pueblo, CO) Tisha Casida, Unaffiliated (Independent) candidate for U.S. House, Colorado District 3, was excluded from the debate hosted by The Pueblo Chieftain in Pueblo on Wednesday, October 10th. This is the only candidate debate or candidate forum that Casida was excluded from in the entire district – she just recently returned from a 1,200 mile trip to candidate forums in Mesa County (League of Women Voters), Garfield County (Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association), and Montezuma County (League of Women Voters), as well as being a part of the Club 20 Debate (Grand Junction) and Action 22 Debate (Cripple Creek).

Casida plans on having a “Rally for Tisha Protest” outside of the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center at 6:30PM to protest the decision made by The Pueblo Chieftain. Supporters of Casida, and the general public who considers themselves to be registered Independents, as well as those who desire to hear from all legitimate candidates for the District’s race are invited to attend and participate. Casida says, “It doesn’t matter if people will vote for me or not – this is an issue of transparency in government and with media – I worked hard to be on the ballot and to be a legitimate candidate, and now I am being pushed aside by biased media”.

Casida also explained her frustration at Scott Tipton’s refusal to debate at Fort Lewis College in Durango, where she and Pace had been committed to debate this week, “I can’t believe the apathy that our Representative shows towards some parts of the district – doesn’t he understand that he represents all of us, and that young voters at the college would probably like to hear from him?”.

Casida said all are welcome to attend the rally, where campaign information will be available and where she will be shaking hands and meeting constituents. “We will never stop attempting to be available to our community,” she said, “that is what representatives are supposed to do”.

For more information, please visit: www.casida2012.com.

Tags: casida, CD3, CO, colorado, debate, debates, Independent, pace, protest, pueblo chieftain, tipton, tisha casida |

Tipton’s Tiptoeing Shows Apathy Towards District

by tishacasida on October 8, 2012.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Steve Thompson
09 October 2012
Tel: (719) 369-0623
Email: contact@casida2012.com

Tipton’s Tiptoeing Shows Apathy Towards District

(Durango, CO) Tisha Casida, Unaffiliated (Independent) candidate for U.S. House, Colorado District 3, released a statement about Scott Tipton’s (R) inability to commit to a debate in the southern part of the District – specifically the one that had been planned by the League of Women Voters and Fort Lewis College.

“Tipton and his campaign staff’s inability to ‘find the time’ to commit and show up to the debate organized by the League of Women Voters, hosted at Fort Lewis College, and broadcast state-wide by Rocky Mountain PBS, shows his lack of responsibility towards the citizens of Colorado’s third congressional district. By dodging this debate, and other events that have been organized by constituents – Representative Tipton has been M.I.A. and unaccountable to the voters and stakeholders of this district. I was invited and confirmed (as was Sal Pace) to go to this event months ago. But Representative Tipton delayed his response until it was too late to hold this debate. It was the only debate and candidate forum in that particular part of the District – the district is very large, and Tipton seems like he is only available in certain areas.

This important debate, held at both Tipton’s and Pace’s alma mater (they both graduated from Fort Lewis College) had been trying to pin down a date and time with the congressman and his staff (Michael Fortney) for months. How busy can he be? Isn’t Congress in recess, and shouldn’t Tipton want to reach out to this part of the State?

Tipton’s tiptoeing around the district does nothing to be available and accountable to all voters – not just Republicans, but Democrats, and Independents, and the like – why won’t he be available to all of us? Why does he pick and choose where he can be found and asked questions when he is a Congressman to all of us?

Representative Tipton should be ashamed of himself – by not participating in this college event, he stymies the opportunity for young voters to see our political process in action. This is the Republican machine, refusing to foster transparency and accountability with the next generation of voters.”

For more information, please visit: www.casida2012.com.

Tags: casida, colorado, debate, debates, fort lewis college, Independent, league of women voters, pace, Pace vs Tipton, PBS, tipton |

Is It Okay to Kill in the Name of Public Safety?

by tishacasida on September 30, 2012.

During the French Revolution, the King’s (King Louis XVI, dethroned – called Citizen Capet) fate was determined by Maximilien de Robespierre. Robespierre said that “Citizen Capet was a ‘criminal toward humanity’ and killing him merely ‘a measure of public safety’.”(Coulter, 2011) This was just one instance, of many, in the span of world history where the fate of one has been decided to protect the fate of many.

“The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants.” – Albert Camus

The ‘War on Terror’ will never end. You cannot extricate evil from humans. Humans’ will is subject to the whims and discretion of individual’s choices. You cannot control all of humanity – nor can you protect it. This is a question much greater than us – and I think that we should at least start having a conversation about recognizing that, so that we can attempt to protect the individual liberties and natural rights of Coloradans, and all of those people living in the respective States of this country. There are bad people all over the planet – and some of them do want to do harm to American people. You will not stop them by killing innocent people who live in those countries – with that approach, you create more enemies.

The recent study by Stanford and New York University, outlining the amount of innocent civilian’s deaths in Pakistan, should bring us to have a discussion about the executive powers of a President and the potential impact of wars not declared by Congress. Congress is who we can hold accountable for such atrocities, but they are not technically responsible since the ‘War on Terror’ was not officially declared by them. Also, by having a war on a subject, it will allow the powers to be to perpetuate that war for an infinite amount of time.

Wars on subjects, just like hatred towards factions of people – is a dangerous road that has serious consequences for the life, liberty, and property of citizens. The world is imperfect, and I do think there are bad people roaming around that we should defend ourselves against – but there is a fine line there that we should not cross when it comes to protecting the American people’s civil liberties – including their life and property. Indefinite detainment is real (suspension of habeus corpus is “okay” with provisions in Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)) – and just as we should have constitutional declaration of wars – we should have people in Congress that mean what they swear when then hold their hand over the Constitution. Remember – policy is interpreted by those with the opportunity to use force – could you be a threat to public safety?

In my lifetime, I want to make sure that we, as a country, never turn into a mob that decries that it is okay to kill people “in the name of public safety”. Remember – our actions overseas can soon reflect on our actions towards our own citizens. We are being terrorized into thinking that killing innocent people is okay if we are protecting public safety, and we have to understand that those human beings who have lost loved ones are full of pain and remorse from their losses – which we would have too if someone was flying drones over us day and night (oh wait, we do already have that, they just haven’t been outfitted with ammunition, yet).

There is a place for war – but there is also a place for peace. To truly protect our country, I think we should have a discussion of a more efficient means of implementing a smart and strong foreign policy that truly protects the borders and economy of this country.

If you like what I am saying, please help me to get to Congress by donating today! Every bit helps – will you contribute $25, $50, $100, even $250 today?

Resources:

Coulter, A. (2011). Demonic. Crown Forum. p.112

Greenwald, G. (September 25, 2012). New Stanford/NYU study documents the civilian terror from Obama’s drones. Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/25/study-obama-drone-deaths?newsfeed=true

To read the whole report: Living Under Drones: Death, Injury and Trauma to Civilians From US Drone Practices in Pakistan