Coyote Gulch

Thursday, September 11, 2003

9-11
"Papa a plane hit the the World Trade Center building," was my son's statement as I sat at my computer the morning of September 11, 2001. I'm forever changed by that event. I had slid into a comfortable life, pounding code, and focusing on middle age minutia. 9-11 was a wake up call. Freedom is a fragile condition.
The events of that day led me into the world of weblogging. I started reading Dave Winer's Scripting News regularly. At the time he was pointing to people writing about the tragedy, in real time, in their own voices, and I was stunned by the effectiveness and quality of the reporting and opinion being published. Here's the 9/11/2001 DaveNet and Scripting News. No one got much work done that day. A couple of TV's were on in the building but people mostly sat around talking, working through the events, getting comfort from human conversation and interaction.
Josh Marshall's 9/11/2003 post.
7:03:17 AM

2004 Presidential Election
Update: Dave Winer has signed up Graham's main blogger for Bloggercon. So the main Presidential Bloggers, will be at a conference on weblogging at Harvard, blogging about learning how to blog while blogging for their respective campaign. I understand.
Update: This USAToday/CNN/Gallup national poll via Daily Kos is chock full of information on issues in the 2004 Presidential Election.
I missed the televised debate amongst Democratic candidates the other night. Will Parker points to an article covering some interesting items at the debate. From the article, "After the debate's testy exchange between Lieberman and Howard Dean over Israel policy, in the 'spin room' Howard Dean unveils a peace proposal that I hadn't heard from him before: The president needs to 'swallow his pride' and send 'the two men who have done more for Israel' over the past 50 years than any other Americans - Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter - to the Middle East to negotiate a peace settlement." More fodder for the "It's getting harder to write fiction" crowd.
Here's a link from Hellchild. She tells me that the website is the brainchild of the lead singer from NoFX (if my memory can be trusted). She also tells me that they were one of the bands I used to get to listen to when I was responsible for hauling those punk rocking snowboarders to the hills a few years back.
6:14:14 AM

Global Rich List
Ever wondered how your income compares to the rest of the world? Here's a link that'll show you where you stand on the global income scale.
5:47:04 AM

Denver November 2003 Election
My favorite ballot issue for November now has a name according to the Rocky Mountain News [September 11, 2003, "All initiative is saying is give peace a chad?"]. It's official now Peacefulness is Initiative 101. It really is getting harder to write fiction. From the article, "On Wednesday, the Denver Election Commission assigned the title to the ordinance, which would require the city to identify and implement 'scientifically proven programs' to reduce stress and increase peace." Councilman Charlie Brown is still unimpressed. The Rocky quotes him as saying, "If we could come up with something that would do this, I'd pass it. But I don't deal with fantasy. If you want fantasy, go to Disneyland."
The Denver Post [September 11, 2003, "Proponents rally for video lottery"] is reporting that proponents of Amendment 33 are trying to spin the Wembley executive indictments out of the discussion around the amendment. From the article, "The video lottery spin cycle moved into overdrive Wednesday following indictments against executives of the company pushing to allow the gaming machines at Colorado horse and dog tracks." Good luck people, early voting starts October 10th. Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News [September 11, 2003, "Supporters of 33 rally"].
The Post [September 11, 2003, "Red flag over Amendment 33"] editorial staff is convinced that Wembley is the wrong company to associate with and cites the recent indictment of Wembley officials in Rhode Island as proof. From the editorial, "In our own personal affairs, we'd be extremely hesitant to trust somebody who's been indicted where money is concerned, presumption of innocence notwithstanding. We might have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. And we're not so long off the farm that we no longer recognize a pig in a poke." The Post is consistent at least. They came out against Amendment 33 earlier this year. The Rocky [September 10, 2003, "The Stump, September 10"] reported yesterday that, "Jefferson County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously came out against the initiative, saying it was an 'attempt to expand gaming' and would create 'regulatory chaos."
4:46:48 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
It's way early to be talking about the election in November 2004 but state democrats are looking for someone to run against Ben Nighthorse Campbell so their polling to help their recruitment efforts. Here's an article from the Denver Post [September 11, 2003, "Dems tout poll saying 38% would re-elect Campbell"] citing a recent poll showing weak support for Campbell amongst state voters. Gary Hart is mentioned as one possible candidate. The Wozz is one of those who would like to see Hart enter the election.
4:42:06 AM

2003 Denver Mayoral Transition
Here's an article from the Denver Post [September 11, 2003, "Hickenlooper appoints three"] about Mayor Hickenlooper's three new appointees named yesterday. From the article, "Cole Finegan, 46, will become city attorney in early October, leaving a lucrative post at the politically connected Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber law firm. Jack Finlaw, 47, a former cable-company lawyer and most recently chairman of Opera Colorado, will take over the city's Department of Theaters and Arenas next week. Dana Bryson, 32, chief of staff for the city of Oakland, Calif., is returning to Denver to run the city's newly created Office of Accountability and Reform - a major Hickenlooper priority." Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News [September 11, 2003, "Finegan tapped for Cabinet"] and a short article from the Denver Business Journal [September 11, 2003, "Finegan named city attorney"].
4:30:13 AM

e-mail John: