Coyote Gulch

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Fire Season Photograph - Central Africa
Critical Section: "This is very cool - NASA's Earth Observatory has a satellite picture of fire season in Central Africa."
6:22:17 PM

2004 Presidential Election
The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff is advising President Bush to release all of the photos and video around the prison scandal in Iraq [May 11, 2004, "Release the images, no matter how awful"]. From the editorial, "Some of the images may have to be withheld to protect the rights of defendants and some, although this seems doubtful, may involve national security. But if the United States is to regain its credibility, it should do, to use another Washington term for dealing with scandal, a "document dump." The damage to U.S. moral authority is already done; it can't get much worse. But allowing the photos to dribble out in ones and twos, as they likely will in any case and surely will if they are turned over to Congress but not the public, will only prolong the agony. Moreover, there is a strong case to be made that Americans simply deserve to know how far some of their troops descended into barbaric behavior. Most of us are not about to judge the majority of U.S. soldiers in Iraq by the transgressions of a few, but we do want to know the full, ugly truth regarding that small minority."
Mike Littwin weighs in on the release of the photos in his column in today's Rocky [May 11, 2004, "Littwin: Forget Janet Jackson, real porn's in Iraq prison"]. Says Littwin, "Of course, this is an administration for which full disclosure is not exactly a familiar tactic. Start with the ban on photographing coffins coming home from Iraq. This is supposedly a privacy issue, as opposed to the real issue - dead Americans on the living room TV screen. Look at the reaction to Ted Koppel's decision to read the list of the dead. And we don't even concern ourselves counting Iraqis. There's no hiding behind privacy anymore. There are rules of scandal engagement, after all. As John McCain says, 'Look, one thing I know about scandals: They go on and on until the American people feel they have a full and complete picture of what happened.' And when we get that complete picture, we'll understand Paul Bremer's lesson on occupation: The only thing worse than being occupied is being the occupier."
President Bush is hitting the streets to defend his education initiatives, including No Child Left Behind, according to the Denver Post [May 11, 2004, "Bush begins 3-day education tour"]. From the article, "Signed in 2003, the No Child Left Behind education law was the centerpiece of Bush's domestic policy agenda. It mandated tough testing and gave all students until 2014 to become proficient in reading and math. The legislation had bipartisan backing but has run into opposition from Democrats who claim Bush is enforcing the law on the cheap. Teachers unions argue that the president is taking credit for actions by Congress, which increased funding levels for education over and above what the president requested the past few years. The law requires states to chart adequate yearly progress - not just for a school's overall population, but for groups such as minorities and students who speak little English. Sanctions grow by the year for schools receiving low-income aid that don't improve enough. Consequences range from letting students transfer to a better school within their districts to transferring control of a poor-performing school to the state."
5:59:52 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
Former presidential candidate, John Edwards, was in Denver yesterday stumping for Attorney General Ken Salazar, according to the Rocky Mountain News [May 11, 2004, "Edwards: Fire Rumsfeld"]. Edwards' appearance is another indicator that the Dems consider Colorado in play for both a majority in the U.S. Senate and in the presidential contest.
Rutt Bridges, one of the players in this year's U.S. Senate race, until Ken Salazar announced his candidacy, has donated $25,000 to help get FasTracks going, according to the Rocky Mountain News [May 11, 2004, "Bridges donates $25,000 to FasTracks"]. From the article, "The committee reported raising $61,115 in the period and spending $153,738. FasTracks is a $4.7 billion, 12-year program proposed by the Regional Transportation District that would build out nine rapid transit corridors and expand bus services. The package hinges on voter approval of a 0.4-cent increase in the metro area transit sales tax, to a full penny on the dollar."
Update: The Daily Kos is starting a fundraising effort. Colorado Luis writes in the comments, "I would nominate either Joanna Conti (taking on Tom Tancredo) in CO-6, or Dave Thomas (taking on Bob Beauprez) in CO-7. Thomas is facing one of the best funded and most vulnerable incumbents. Conti is facing one of the worst incumbents and someone who the conventional wisdom says can't be beaten, but who I think can be."
Update: Los Angeles Times: "More than 21 million single women -- almost half of those eligible -- did not cast ballots in the last presidential election." Thanks to Taegan Goddard for the link.
5:46:46 AM

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