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Monday, August 27, 2007
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Northside Croquet Club Game 16 and the Croquet Ball '07
North Side Croquet Club: "A fun tournament [ed. the Croquet Ball], and probably the biggest one yet. The game winners were Jacob, Zach, Julie, Dom and Bergonz. Dom was the big winner, Bergonz took 2nd and Julie was 3rd.
Game 16: "The big winner was Dom, who destroyed everybody in one turn of the poison battle. His victims, many of whom never got a turn, were Mike G, Josh, Boyd, and Steph. I think. It's been a bit and we've played the tournament since then. Let me know if I remembered wrong. Zach and Mike also got wicket kills.
6:44:57 PM 
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Economic Policy: Housing
US News & World Report: "It's terrible luck for Republican candidates in 2008 that just as the Iraq war seems to be ever so slightly turning for the better, the economy seems to be taking a turn for the worse, thanks to the spreading mortgage credit crisis. The former might not be decisive enough to save the party in 2008, while the latter might be just damaging enough to do it in for sure."
"2008 pres"
6:09:46 PM
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Climate Change: The Earth is a beautifully complex system
Colorado Confidential: "Rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may be changing the makeup of Colorado's grasslands from grasses that are hospitable to livestock grazing to woody plants that cow don't eat but which some wildlife species do. Research by Colorado State University scientists indicates that rising CO2 levels may be responsible for the encroachment of fringed sage, Artemisia frigida, which is generally considered a weed.
"2008 pres"
5:56:47 PM
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Immigration
Oliver Willis: "If it's one thing I've learned about the right in the last sixteen years of watching politics it is this: they must be outraged about something. Conservatism thrives on outrage, mad howling upset people enraged at some injustice or indignity. Contrary to the propaganda pushing people like Ronald Reagan as "sunny optimists", Republicans must use blind, seething outrage to get the conservative base out to the polls.
More from Mr. Willis: At the formation of the modern conservative movement in the mid-1960s, it was sufficient to whip up a frenzy against blacks. Those voters who saw the decay of society in equal rights for blacks found a home in the Republican party as a barrier between their white middle-class America and the supposed hordes of poor inner-city blacks - especially the men who were coming for their daughters. As time marched on, the Republicans regularly used this issue to outrage their base, from Nixon talking about law and order to Reagan's welfare moms and of course George H. W. Bush and Willie Horton. In that time conservatives have also used to varying degrees the spectre of a nation under assault by gays, Jews, and blacks to spook their base into voting Republican. To many of their voters Republican leadership preserves leadership that looks like them and their families.
But things have changed. It's not okay anymore in America for that sort of blatant prejudice to be a part of acceptable discourse. The Republican strategy of bashing blacks, gays, and Jews has had to move underground and while still a part of the conservative movement, it is used sparingly so as not to attract attention. It isn't dead, but close to it.
So what to do? Who is left to demonize?
Soon after the 2004 election the decision was made to transform "immigration" as a major campaign issue. Clearly many conservative Republican leaders realized that the close concentration of gay marriage referendums that helped get the vote out in 2004 would not happen again, and even so Americans are increasingly libertarian on the issue of same sex unions. The "Christian" far right somewhat realizes that there's no way to get an amendment banning gay marriage through the government. So immigration is probably the last gasp of the conservative Republican strategy to divide America by race and get white voters out for Republicans.
"2008 pres"
6:57:39 AM
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Iraq
Daily Kos: "It was just over eight months ago that George Bush announced his latest strategy for victory in Iraq. And so he sent in an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to curb the unending violence so the Maliki government could have the 'breathing room' needed to pass key legislation, at which point Al-Qaeda would run for the hills and the Iraqi people would drop their guns, hold hands, and sing kumbaya. But as the violence continues unabated, with the Maliki government on the verge of collapse, and with the date of the Petraeus White House report on the progress of the 'surge' fast approaching, that fairy tale is getting a bit harder to peddle to an increasingly skeptical public, so naturally it's time for significant political developments."
Juan Cole: "Al-Maliki tells off US pols., threatens journalists with libel lawsuits. A hint to Mr. al-Maliki: This kind of shrillness does not look prime ministerial and just hurts your cause. Muzzling criticism in the press is a contradiction of your claim to legitimacy because of a democratic victory in the polls."
Juan Cole: "Who exactly is the US fighting in Iraq? Graphed by self-confessed identity of captives, it is largely Sunni Arab Iraqis, often motivated primarily by the opportunity to earn some money from the resistance leaders...he second largest group is Salafi Takfiris, i.e. fundamentalists who do not consider Shiites to be Muslims and who believe they may be harmed with impunity. The third group is Shiite militiamen (how many of these are non-ideological paid employees is not specified). Self-identified al-Qaeda are only 1800 of the 24000 in captivity, about 7 percent. Foreign fighters at 280 are about 1.1 percent. While it could be argued that it would take bold captives to declare themselves al-Qaeda, there would be no downside to telling the Americans one was a takfiri. There is no reason to think the over 11,000 unspecified Sunni Arabs is fundamentalists. Opinion polling still shows a majority of Sunnis favoring the separation of religion and state."
"2008 pres"
6:51:39 AM
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Corruption
From The Denver Post, "Bush administration officials say Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will announce his resignation today. The embattled attorney general has been under increasing pressure by lawmakers in both parties, amid accusations that the Justice Department has been used for political purposes."
"2008 pres"
6:48:39 AM
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Aurora City Council to review water rates
Aurora's City Council is taking up the issue of water rates tonight, according to The Denver Post. From the article:
Tonight the [Aurora] City Council will discuss lowering water rates for customers like Zang and a possible rebate program. "Obviously something is wrong with the new billing system and we need to take a hard look at it," said Councilman Bob Broom, who is pushing an ordinance to change the rate system. The city increased fees to generate 12 percent more revenue this year and next, in large part to pay for the new Prairie Waters project, an $800 million water purification facility under construction. Aside from raising water rates, the city in January implemented a tier system in which those who use the most water would see their fees jump the highest. The average customer uses 22,000 gallons of water a month in the summer and 7,000 gallons in the winter, city officials said. Residents in the upper tier average about 32,000 gallons of water a month. Melissa Elliott, spokeswoman for Aurora Water, said about 80 percent of residents fall into the first two tiers of the current rate structure. She said most have not seen huge increases because they are using less water.
"colorado water"
6:46:05 AM
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? for President?
Here's Part II of The Rocky Mountain News' series on the countdown to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. From the article:
When six Democratic presidential contenders took their turn addressing an Iowa labor group here this month, every one of them walked away recharged by audience applause. But there was attentive silence, too, when Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York got to the bottom line in her closing remarks. "I think we have to win this election," she said, the inflection of her voice stressing the words.
She rattled off things her party's faithful see in the balance - not only the war in Iraq, but health care, energy policy and economic issues. "Therefore, I'm running a campaign right now not just to win the nomination, but to win the general election and to beat whatever Republican they put up," she said. "And I think I know how to do that." That assertion - her ability to beat those other guys - has emerged as the single biggest point of contention in an accelerated contest to win the party's nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
The Moderate Voice: "Yet another poll is delivering the bad news to the Republican party that it's turning off an increasing number of young voters -- which isn't terrific news for the party in the long term: 'A Democracy Corps poll from the Washington firm of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner suggests voters ages 18 to 29 have undergone a striking political evolution in recent years. Young Americans have become so profoundly alienated from Republican ideals on issues including the war in Iraq, global warming, same-sex marriage and illegal immigration that their defections suggest a political setback that could haunt Republicans for many generations to come, the poll said.'"
"2008 pres"
6:38:44 AM
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Farm disaster on the South Platte
Here's an opinion piece about the farm disaster up on the South Platte River written by Dorothy Thomas Phelps in The Greeley Tribune "reg". From the article:
...today, many farms near the front range in Weld, Adams and Morgan counties -- including our family's farm -- are at the brink of disaster. Metering, gradual reduction and ultimate severance of our right to pump from our wells in May 2006 is consistent with the Water Rights Determination and Administration Act passed in 1969. Basically, the act demands a correlation between amounts drawn from wells and augmentation to the South Platte River. When the law first passed, the requirement for augmentation was only 5 percent. In 2006, that percentage suddenly rose abruptly. It's now 100 percent. The reasons for this abrupt change vary from drought to the need to deliver water to Nebraska and Wyoming. Whatever the reasons, the outcome is mass erosion of public and private assets. Already the domino effect has, because farmers aren't farming, brought hard times to municipal businesses.
The first to suffer are the farmers. Some people in cities say we deserve it. They point their fingers at farmers, claiming that we use too much water. Well, we're not using it for golf courses and big lawns. We're not using it for water parks or fountains or 30-minute showers or Jacuzzis. We're using it to grow food, food that everyone eats. Whereas we easily marginalized farmers are those griping now, people in cities will soon realize the impact of loss of farmland. Unplanted, unirrigated farms pose a terrible environmental problem. Intense dust storms have developed on windy days, blowing away precious and irreplaceable topsoil, which silts in and pollutes the waterways as well as compromising air quality. Fallow fields diminish air quality in other ways by decreasing the amount of oxygen and the filtration of pollutants. This contributes to global warming...
Present water law is killing Colorado. This wasn't the intent of our forefathers, nor the intent of those who drafted our water laws. Readers who value our Rocky Mountain air, our clean water, our food independence and their voice in our safety and health should recognize that farm issues are everyone's issues. We all eat. We need to demand laws that secure our future.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:29:08 AM
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Snake River fish kill
Here's a short article about a fish kill in the Snake River, from The Vail Daily News "reg". From the article:
...the water has a slight tinge to it, still milky green from two recent storms that may have sent a surge of toxic heavy metals, as well as a killer load of silt, rushing down the stream. "It doesn't look quite right," says local angling guide Dale Fields, pointing out where a layer of fine brown mud has settled on the gravely banks of the river. Fields, who has been fishing local waters for more than 20 years, thinks the rainstorms in early August unleashed a heavy load of sediment that choked most of the fish in this section of the Snake River. Hundreds of fish may have died following the pair of storms, Fields estimates, and biologists this week searched for survivors in a 500-foot section of the stream...
Several weeks ago, a similar survey in the same stretch of river yielded about 40 to 50 fish, Ewert says. But this week, only two small brook trout were found. Colorado Division of Wildlife aquatic biologist Jon Ewert said he thinks the toxic metals killed many of the fish. If the fish were already stressed from ongoing exposure to metals, a sudden spike could have been enough to kill, he said. But Fields says the fish died too fast -- within a few hours of the storm -- to pin the blame on pollution from abandoned mines upstream. Because the river turned brown as chocolate milk, a heavy load of silt is the more likely cause, he said. But at this point, it's almost impossible to know for sure, since none of the dead fish were recovered and sent to a lab for analysis, where a close examination could reveal concentrations of metals in fish tissue. Nor did local water quality officials take water samples during the runoff events, so there's no way to know for sure whether there was a sudden surge in the concentrations of metals.
"colorado water"
6:19:22 AM
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Colorado Water Congress annual summer meeting
Here's a short report about reservoir levels in Colorado from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
Reservoir levels throughout the state have recovered to pre-drought levels. "It's taken us five years to recover from the drought of 2002, but we've got a long way to go before we're back in the good old days of the early 1990s," Mike Gillespie of the Natural Resources Conservation Service told the Colorado Water Congress last week. Gillespie recapped the water year at the group's summer convention, replaying a winter that covered the Eastern Plains with snows from several blizzards, while leaving the mountains relatively dry. Still, there has been enough moisture to fill reservoirs to 99 percent of the 30-year state average...
Only the Rio Grande basin remains significantly below average in reservoir levels. Mountain snowpack was dismal most of the year, improving slightly in March. January's snow on the Eastern Plains left mountains largely below average, but snowpack improved in March. That was the best month...Statewide, the peak snow was only 78 percent of average. In Southwestern Colorado, the peak came up to a month earlier than average.
"colorado water"
6:07:53 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 9:31:43 PM.
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