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Sunday, August 14, 2005
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Interview with Tim Berners-Lee
Here's an interview with Tim Berners-Lee from the BBC. According to Berners-Lee, "Well in some ways. The idea was that anybody who used the web would have a space where they could write and so the first browser was an editor, it was a writer as well as a reader. Every person who used the web had the ability to write something. It was very easy to make a new web page and comment on what somebody else had written, which is very much what blogging is about."
Thanks to Ed Cone: for the link.
6:39:51 PM 
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Andrews on Referendum C
Former State Senator John Andrews is being accused of flip-flopping with regard to TABOR refunds, according to the Rocky Mountain News [August 9, 2005, "Ex-Sen. denies flip-flop on Ref C"]. From the article, "Meet John Andrews, who as state Senate president voted in 2004 to eliminate TABOR tax refunds for eight straight years. Meet John Andrews, private citizen, who today is working around the clock to defeat Referendum C, a November ballot issue that would eliminate the tax refunds for only five years."
Here's an article from the Denver Post about the Piglet Project [August 7, 2005, "Tax foes roasting the pork"]. From the article, "(Jon) Caldara is collecting tidbits like that one for something he calls "The Piglet Book" - the joke-book version of what Caldara's crowd thinks is wrong with government today, to be published later this year. It follows what he calls a more serious and comprehensive Independence Institute white paper, 'Priority Colorado.' Released in February, it called for massive cuts and efficiency improvements in state government."
5280 Weblog: "The New York Times Sunday has a major article on Colorado's fight over the Colorado Economic Recovery Act , also known as Referendum C and D. The trouble began in 1992 when Colorado voters passed the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights to curb excessive government spending. Gov. Bill Owens is backing the proposal to suspend TABOR for five years, so that we can find the money to fund programs that are crucial to the well-being of our citizens. The radical right is up in arms, and bringing in their outside guns, like former Texas Congressman Dick Armey, to fight him. Others fighting Owens include Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and Jon Caldera of the Independence Institute."
Category: Denver November 2005 Election
11:06:51 AM
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Animas-La Plata
Construction of the dam for the Animas-La Plata project started last week, according to the Denver Post [August 13, 2005, "A-LP dam's "promise" begins to take shape"]. From the article, "Just two miles south of town Friday morning, a big truck growled and whined its way across Ridges Basin and dumped the first load of clay where a dam will rise 275 feet to hold back the waters of the future Lake Nighthorse...More than 100 invited guests attended a celebration held by the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes to mark the start of construction of the A-LP's single biggest feature, the dam. It was a day decades in the making."
If you've been conserving water since the recent drought started you'll be happy to hear that Denver Water is planning to raise your rates to make up for a shortfall in revenues. Here's a story from the Rocky Mountain News [August 8, 2005, "8% water-rate hike may be floated"]. From the article, "Denver Water is eyeing an 8 percent rate increase for 2006 that's designed to help the agency cope with an ongoing, drought-related drop in revenue. The utility, the state's largest municipal water provider, enacted a similar rate increase for 2005 to help offset an $11 million cash shortfall. It has also cut $14.7 million from its budget and tapped its cash reserves, according to Finance Director David LaFrance."
Category: Colorado Water
10:59:22 AM
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Local Netroots
Atrios: "I get far far less of this kind of thing than I imagine Kos does (very little, in fact, which is fine by me), but the best way for candidates to reach out to the netroots now is to begin by reaching out to local bloggers. No matter how much research I do I can't possibly have any decent sense of the 470 odd federal races that will happen in '06. More importantly, local races require local press and as we've seen local press will pay attention to local blogs in these kinds of things.
"The real value of the netroots to campaigns won't really be, for the most part, their ability to raise money. Sure, campaigns are always trying to get donations from anywhere they can and I can certainly understand that. I'm happy to suggest candidates for the Eschaton community to support. But, an email or phone call from a campaign manager isn't going to do squat to encourage me to do that.
"The buzz about campaigns, and the 'infiltrating' into the netroots, is for the most part going to come from the ground up now. Reach out to local bloggers."
Thanks to Ed Cone for the link.
New Politics Institute: "Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere: A New Force in American Politics"
This is old news but Rutt Bridges is out is out as a candidate for governor. That leaves a very narrow field for the Democratic primary season.
Here's a story from the Rocky Mountain News about the governor's race on the Democratic side now that Bridges is out [August 13, 2005, "Ritter remains Dems' lone candidate"]. From the article, "Key Democrats were scrambling Friday, but none were ready to say whether they'll run for governor in 2006 now that businessman and think tank founder Rutt Bridges has dropped out of the race. Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald says she's focused on helping pass Referendums C and D in November, but added that it wouldn't be too late after that to consider a run."
Peter Blake has a short rundown on the non-gubernatorial candidates in yesterday's Rocky [August 13, 2005, "Blake: Here's what the noncandidates will likely do - or won't"].
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
10:49:15 AM
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Walken for President?
DemNotes: "The future of Democrats in the West."
Christopher Walken: "Our great country is in a terrible downward spiral. We're outsourcing jobs, bankrupting social security, and losing lives at war. We need to focus on what's important-- paying attention to our children, our citizens, our future. We need to think about improving our failing educational system, making better use of our resources, and helping to promote a stable, safe, and tolerant global society. It's time to be smart about our politics. It's time to get America back on track."
Coyote Gulch doesn't believe this announcement. A real campaign would let you donate dough online. I hope they didn't harvest my email address for spam.
New West: "Los Angeles Times political writer Mark Z. Barabak weighs in today with a long profile of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. The very fact that the LA Times would do such a story suggests that Richardson's assumed run for the White House in 2008 is being taken seriously among people who worry about such things, and the headline-hunting Democrat is undoubtedly pleased. Beyond that, though, the story doesn't add much for those even a little familiar with the avuncular Richardson. He's down-to-earth charming, he's ambitious, he's experienced, he's part Latino, he's mean to those who cross him - and as part of the Brian Schweitzer/ Janet Napolitano Western Democrat axis, he espouses the kind of common-sense political philosophy that Democrats rightly see as their ticket back to power. But Presidential timber?"
Tom Tancredo spoke about immigration at a forum near San Diego last Thursday, according to the Rocky Mountain News [August 12, 2005, "Tancredo a hit at Calif. forum"]. From the article, "On Thursday evening, he attended a town hall-style forum in the northern San Diego County town of Carlsbad, where he poked fun at President Bush and derided plans for what he called 'disguised amnesty' for the millions of people who have entered the United States illegally."
According to the Rocky Mountain News Tom Tancredo is polling at 1% in New Hampshire [August 12, 2008, "Tancredo makes 'dent' in N.H."]. They write, "It's official: Rep. Tom Tancredo is a blip on the 2008 presidential radar. A new poll shows Tancredo, a Littleton Republican, pulling 1 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, home of the traditional first-in-the-nation presidential primary election."
Average Joe for President? From the Cortez Journal article, "Move over Hillary and Rudy - Joe Schriner's going to give you both a run for your money in 2008. Schriner, 50, is on the road to the White House as a stand-alone independent candidate for president, trekking across the nation in a 1971 Dodge Xplorer van with his wife and three children in tow."
Political Wire: "Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) plans to speak at 'a major gathering of Michigan Republicans next month, in his third trip since March to an early primary state that would be crucial for him if he runs for president in 2008,' according to the Boston Globe. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) 'is also scheduled to appear at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, where more than 1,000 elected officials, campaign contributors, conservative advocates, and candidates for a wide range of Michigan political posts will be gathering.'"
Political Wire: "Newt Gingrich's 'planned return to Iowa on Friday has more the look of an early presidential campaign than the book tour that brought him here in May,' the Des Moines Register reports."
Dean's World: "I begin to think there is a strong possibility that 2008 will see Giuliani/Rice running against Clinton/Obama. That would certainly be interesting, wouldn't it?"
Oval Office 2008: "They have a lot in common - moderate Midwesterners who've won solid blue majorities in traditionally red states. The Des Moines Register makes an attempt here to work out how to tell Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh apart."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
10:40:36 AM
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Referendums C and D
Here's the link (pdf) to the endorsement of Referendums C and D by the Colorado Water Conservation District. They write, "The Board of Directors of the Colorado River Water
Conservation District put its unanimous support behind two ballot measures up for voter
approval this November. Referenda C and D are supported by the Board as reasonable
and responsible measures to address the state's current fiscal troubles and prevent further
erosion of state programs, including those affecting water management and water quality.
Noting that 'water rights are only as good as their administration,' the Board expressed
its concern over the more than $1 billion in state budget cuts from 2001to 2003 and the
effect it has had on state agencies that administer water resources and are in charge of
ensuring the quality of the water we consume. The combination of earlier voter-approved
measures, state legislative actions and economic conditions has conspired to create
Colorado's current budget crisis."
Mt Virtus: "The luxury campaign for C & D has struck the proverbial iceberg, and the forward compartments are filling with frigid ocean water. So when do the supporters start scrambling for the lifeboats?"
Category: Denver November 2005 Election
9:09:12 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 7:42:51 PM.
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