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Monday, February 12, 2007
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Regional primaries?
Political Wire: "'The scramble among states to move up their presidential primaries next year has renewed calls from a number of the nation's chief election officers to end the helter-skelter and move to a slower nominating process, such as by staging four regional primaries,' Stateline.org reports."
"2008 pres"
6:42:29 PM 
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Deficit
Andrew Sullivan: "The bipartisan approach outlined today in the NYT on deficit reduction seems to me to be exactly the right paradigm for practical reform. Politically, the only solution to the deficit will be concessions from both sides. If possible, those concessions should be as beneficial as possible to the existing economy, and as fair as possible. Taxing carbon and reining in entitlements for the wealthy seem eminently sensible things to do regardless of their positive impact on fiscal balance."
"2008 pres"
6:41:19 PM
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War on terror
Oliver Willis: "The Iran snowjob tour, with the help of a complicit press once again, marches on."
Talking Points Memo: "Good catch by Newshog blog. Today in Australia, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Peter Pace, declined to stand behind the assertions of that background Iranian IEDs briefing in Iraq."
"2008 pres"
6:13:13 PM
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? for president?
Political Wire: "'Barack Obama is off to a stellar start in Iowa,' writes the Des Moines Register's David Yepsen. 'The Illinois senator had what is likely to be the largest kickoff ever seen for any candidate in the history of the caucuses.
"'His crowds in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo were huge - two or three thousand per event. In Ames, about 5,000 people were at the Hilton Coliseum. Even a lowly house party in Iowa Falls attracted 200.'"
The Right's Field: "Mitt Romney launched a fire-storm today by announcing his decision to announce his presidential candidacy at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. Ford was a legendary anti-Semite and Romney's decision has already sparked condemnation by the National Jewish Democratic Council."
The Right's Field: "If there's a case to be made for Rudy Giuliani to be thought of as a conservative, I doubt it can be more comprehensive than this one put forward by Steven Malanga of City Journal. Malanga takes a close look at Giuliani's record on crime, welfare, tax policy, fiscal policy, and education as mayor and documents his hard-lined conservative policy stances in the face of loud opposition from liberal critics."
"2008 pres"
6:03:31 PM
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Immigration
TalkLeft: "Kudos to Bill Purcell, Nashville's mayor, for his veto of a mean-spirited and unnecessary ordinance that would have made English the 'official language' of Nashville. The ordinance would have required nearly all governmental communications to be in English -- as if the official business of Nashville's government is transacted in any other language."
"2008 pres"
5:59:53 PM
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Obama or Clinton for president?
Captain's Quarters: "The Democrats can forget about the 2008 primary being a love-in. The same weekend that Barack Obama threw his hat into the ring, he also aimed a few brickbats at the front-runner over her vote on the war in Iraq. Obama wants to make a clear delineation between himself and Hillary Clinton as the obvious standardbearer for the Left."
"2008 pres"
6:47:06 AM
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Grass roots
Here's a long article from the Atlantic about Tim Gill and the efforts of gay people around the country to effect local politics. From the article, "A tough loss can be hard to swallow, and plenty of defeated politicians have been known to grumble about sinister conspiracies. When they are rising stars like Danny Carroll, the Republican speaker pro tempore of Iowa's House of Representatives, and the loss is unexpected, the urge to blame unseen forces can be even stronger -- and in Carroll's case, it would have the additional distinction of being justified. Carroll was among the dozens of targets of a group of rich gay philanthropists who quietly joined forces last year, under the leadership of a reclusive Colorado technology mogul, to counter the tide of antigay politics in America that has generated, among other things, a succession of state ballot initiatives banning gay marriage. Carroll had sponsored such a bill in Iowa and guided it to passage in the state House of Representatives, the first step toward getting it on the ballot."
Read the whole article, there is a lot of good detail. Thanks to Colorado Lib for the link.
"2008 pres"
6:43:16 AM
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Dick Wadhams: A blogger is an absolutely essential part of a campaign staff
Here's a report on last weekend's Roots Camp from the Denver Post. From the article, "This past weekend, Fawcett was among a few hundred bloggers, politicians and political insiders who attended Rocky Mountain Roots Camp, a local gathering of Net-savvy progressives, to listen, learn and make connections. 'Netroots' - an amalgam of 'Internet' and 'grass roots' - also has momentum in other pockets throughout the country, notably New York, Ohio and Virginia, where bloggers are reshaping the tempo and tenor of political campaigns. With next year's Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado's netroots community is attracting national attention. 'I think Colorado is becoming a bellwether for emerging trends in the progressive blogosphere, and it's the result of the confluence of lots of developments,' said Nancy Watzman, investigative- projects director for Washington-based Public Campaign and a frequent poster on local blogs Colorado Confidential and Square State, the national blog Daily Kos and her own blog, Muckraking Mom. 'I joke that Colorado is the political center of the universe now, with all the changeover in the elections and eyes on the West,' she said. Western Democrat blogger Kari Chisholm called Colorado 'the linchpin of the entire Western strategy for the Democrats.'"
Coyote Gulch did not attend but we should have.
"denver 2008"
6:05:20 AM
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La Plata County to monitor mercury?
La Plata County is expected to start monitoring mercury levels in Vallecito Lake and the Los Pinos River, according to the Durango Herald. Form the article, "La Plata County Commissioners will decide whether to approve a $25,000 amendment to the county budget to fund a mercury-monitoring study at Vallecito Reservoir and in the Pine River. The commissioners are expected to formally approve the funds at their meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The state of Colorado posted warning signs last summer advising residents of dangerous mercury levels in the tissues of predatory fish caught in the river and reservoir. Those warnings drew the attention of the Pine River Watershed Group. The group, founded in 1997, is supported by the nonprofit San Juan Resource Conservation and Development Council. At a neighborhood meeting in September 2006, residents of the area raised suspicions that Four Corners-area power plants were harming air and water quality in the Upper Los Pinos River watershed. The county funds will be used to purchase monitoring equipment and construct a monitoring station at Vallecito, and the group will work to raise another $10,000 to operate the monitoring station later in 2007. The station also will include weather equipment to monitor wind speed and direction, temperature and precipitation."
"colorado water"
5:48:35 AM
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Vail Symposium hosting educational snowshoe hike
Hydrologist, Dr. Mark Williams, is leading a educational snowshoe hike. tomorrow in the Gore Range, according to the Vail Daily News "reg". From the article, "On Tuesday, the Vail Symposium and Gore Range Natural Science School will host a snowshoe hike with snow hydrologist Dr. Mark Williams. Simply put, Dr. Williams is a snow expert. He studies snow and considers all the implications changes in snow may have, from avalanche stability and release, to melt-water runoff and release of solutes from the snowpack...
"Dr. Williams also studies the interaction of snow and the ecosystem, particularly in high-elevation areas. He is Principal Investigator of the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (NWT LTER) program, which studies how climate changes may affect alpine tundra. Beginning in 1980, the program is the longest-running multidisciplinary, alpine and sub-alpine study on the continent. It is supported by the largest environmental science grant at the University of Colorado (to the tune of $1 million annually), funded by the National Science Foundation. According to Williams, so far research indicates that nitrogen pollution in rain and snow is effectively altering the alpine tundra. This may be interpreted as a warning from the ground, up. During Dr. Williams snowshoe tour, he will look at the ecology of snow-covered areas. He will guide participants 'inside snow,' and talk about how dynamic seasonal snowpack is. He will also interpret snowpack in terms of avalanche danger...
"Participants will leave from the Minturn Middle School parking lot at 10 a.m., and return at 1 p.m. Cost is $15 and includes snowshoes and a snack. Attendees are encouraged to bring a hand lens, crystal card, and packable snow shovel, if available. For more information and reservations, visit the Vail Symposium Web site at www.vailsymposium.org or call 476-0954."
"colorado water"
5:42:26 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 9:04:33 PM.
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