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Sunday, February 13, 2005
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 Lenten Roses
Lenten Roses (Helleborus Orientalis) are blooming in Mrs. Gulch's Moon Garden this weekend.
3:08:16 PM 
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Two Years ago on Coyote Gulch
.. I was trying to help the candidates in the Municipal election discover the power of the Internet and coaching them about getting the word out.
8:58:57 AM
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Social Security
Josh Marshall: "But, again, to ask this question is to assume that what we're having right now is a debate about shoring up Social Security. And we're not. The debate we're having right now is whether to keep Social Security or replace it with something else."
8:41:06 AM
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Colorado Water
South Metro water providers are hoping that the legislature will form a new water district to force coordination and area wide planning, according to the Rocky Mountain News [February 10, 2005, "South metro providers urge new water district"]. From the article, "South metro officials said they planned to introduce legislation creating such a district next week, a move Sen. Dan Grossman, D-Denver, said was critical to ensuring Douglas and Arapahoe counties have adequate water supplies."
McPhee reservoir is expected to fill and spill this year, according to the Cortez Journal. From the article, "The last year McPhee was full and provided a spill was in 1999. Spill management is recommended by a spill or advisory committee, consisting of BuRec, Dolores Water Conservancy District, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Division of Wildlife and Colorado River Outfitters Association officials, according to Harrell, who said a final decision on spill is made by Reclamation...The automated weather site at Lone Cone came in at 107 percent of average Friday with 13.4 inches of moisture; El Diente Peak was 126 percent of average and 13.2 inches of liquid; Lizard Head was calculated at 135 percent with 14.2 inches and a report from the Scotch Creek station was unavailable. Above Mancos at the new Sharkstooth station, the moisture amount was reported at 20.7 inches. The combined average of the San Miguel, Animas, San Juan and Dolores river basins was at 153 percent Friday afternoon."
8:27:05 AM
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Iraqi Election
Shiites were the big winners in the January 30th election, according to the AP via the Rocky Mountain News [February 13, 2005, "Shiites win nearly half of Iraqi votes"]. From the article, "Iraq's majority Shiite Muslims won nearly half the votes in the nation's landmark Jan. 30 election, giving the long-oppressed group significant power but not enough to form a government on its own. The Shiites likely will have to form a coalition in the 275-member National Assembly with the other top vote-getters - the Kurds and Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's list - to push through their agenda and select a president and prime minister. The president and two vice presidents must be elected by a two-thirds majority. The Shiite-dominated ticket received more than 4 million votes, or about 48 percent of the total cast, Iraqi election officials said. A Kurdish alliance was second with 2.175 million votes, or 26 percent, and Allawi's list was third with about 1.168 million, or 13.8 percent. Of Iraq's 14 million eligible voters, 8,456,266 cast ballots for 111 candidate lists, the commission said. That represents a turnout of about 60 percent, several points higher than the predicted 57 percent. The figures also indicate that many Sunni Arabs stayed at home on election day, with only 17,893 votes - or 2 percent - cast in the National Assembly race in Anbar province, a stronghold of the Sunni Muslim insurgency. In Ninevah province, which includes the third-largest city, Mosul, only 17 percent of the voters participated in the National Assembly race and 14 percent voted in the provincial council contests. A ticket headed by the country's president Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni Arab, won only about 150,000 votes - less than 2 percent. A list headed by Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi took only 12,000 votes - or 0.1 percent."
Juan Cole: "Although Allawi's list is among the three with more than two digits, in fact he lost big. Allawi had all the advantages of incumbency. He dominated the air waves in December and January. He went to Baghdad University and made all sorts of promises to the students there and it was dutifully broadcast, and there were lots of photo ops like that. Allawi's list also spent an enormouos amount on campaign advertising. The source of these millions is unknown, since Paul Bremer passed a law making disclosure of campaign contributions unnecessary (the Bush administration's further little contribution to "democracy" in the Middle East). Despite these enormous advantages, clear American backing, money, etc., Allawi's list came in a poor third and clearly lacks any substantial grass roots in most of the country. It seems to have been the refuge of what is left of the secular middle class."
Update: Juan Cole: "Al-Hayat [Arabic link] has printed the number of seats won by all the small parties in the Iraqi elections. The total number of seats is 275. What it shows is that the religious Shiites easily have a majority if they pull in a few small parties. I count 6 obvious Shiite seats that could be picked up by the UIA for most votes important to religious Shiites. That would give them 50.5 percent of the vote. They'd just need one or two other independents to win most votes."
8:18:24 AM
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2008 Presidential Election
Here's the AP coverage of Howard Dean's election as DNC Chair from the Denver Post [February 13, 2005, "Democrats pick Dean to renew their party"]. From the article, "Dean said his first task will be to start working with Democrats in conservative states in the South and West. 'I'll pretty much be living in red states in the South and West for quite a while,' Dean said. 'The way to get people not to be skeptical about you is to show up and say what you think.'"
Political Wire: "In a "very early look" at the 2008 presidential election, Rasmussen Reports finds Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) leads Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 47% to 40%."
8:03:19 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 7:19:51 PM.
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