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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
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Andrew Sullivan: "About That Warrantless Wiretapping: My best bet is that Republicans will start worrying about it the minute the Clintons get their hands back on the reins of executive power." 
"2008 pres"
6:34:07 PM 
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Political Wire: "A new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows Fred Thompson's support dropping a dramatic 8 points in the last month. Rudy Giuliani still leads the GOP presidential race with 27%, with Thompson now at 19% running just slightly ahead of Sen. John McCain at 17%. Mitt Romney is in fourth place at 13%.
In the Democratic race, Sen. Hillary Clinton runs way ahead of her rivals with 51% support, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 21% and John Edwards at 15%."
We wonder if Barack Obama will ask Dick Cheney for an endorsement. They're distant cousins it seems. Lynn Cheney (via Think Progress): "One of the things I discovered was that Dick and Barack Obama are eighth cousins. Is that an amazing thing? If you go back eight generations, we have a common ancestor."
Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
"2008 pres"
6:03:17 PM
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Here's an Op-ed written by 10 army captains about conditions in Iraq from The Washington Post. They write:
Today marks five years since the authorization of military force in Iraq, setting Operation Iraqi Freedom in motion. Five years on, the Iraq war is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start. And, five years on, Iraq is in shambles.
As Army captains who served in Baghdad and beyond, we've seen the corruption and the sectarian division. We understand what it's like to be stretched too thin. And we know when it's time to get out.
What does Iraq look like on the ground? It's certainly far from being a modern, self-sustaining country. Many roads, bridges, schools and hospitals are in deplorable condition. Fewer people have access to drinking water or sewage systems than before the war. And Baghdad is averaging less than eight hours of electricity a day.
Iraq's institutional infrastructure, too, is sorely wanting. Even if the Iraqis wanted to work together and accept the national identity foisted upon them in 1920s, the ministries do not have enough trained administrators or technicians to coordinate themselves. At the local level, most communities are still controlled by the same autocratic sheiks that ruled under Saddam. There is no reliable postal system. No effective banking system. No registration system to monitor the population and its needs.
"2008 pres"
7:07:09 AM
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Captain's Quarters: "Condoleezza Rice told reporters this morning that the time has arrived for a Palestinian state. She defended the launch of the latest American-sponsored peace conference by asserting that the administration had "better things to do than invite people to Annapolis for a photo op," and that the conference could make real progress towards resolving the decades-long standoff."
"2008 pres"
6:54:20 AM
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Political Wire: "The latest American Research Group national poll on the presidential race shows Sen. Hillary Clinton continuing to dominate the Democratic field with 45% support, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 20% and John Edwards at 13%. On the GOP side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 24%, followed by Fred Thompson at 16%, Mitt Romney at 15% and Sen. John McCain at 14%."
Political Wire: "A new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll in Nevada shows Sen. Hillary Clinton dominating the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton leads with 39%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 21% and John Edwards at 9%. Among Republicans, Rudy Giuliani leads with 31%, followed by Mitt Romney at 30%, Fred Thompson at 18% and Sen. John McCain at 8%."
Political Wire: "A memo by Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, 'contends that women will be the deciding force in the 2008 elections, and says the campaign's internal polling shows that 94 percent of women under 35 said they would be more likely to vote in the November election if the first woman nominee is on the ballot,' according to the Boston Globe. 'Women represented 54 percent of the voters in 2004, but if Clinton is on the ticket, she can boost that majority by another point or two.'"
Political Wire: "A new Marist College poll in New Hampshire 'shows a Democratic contest that has a clear front-runner and a Republican race that doesn't.' Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton now holds a 21-percentage point lead. Clinton gets 41%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 20% and John Edwards at 11%. But among Republicans, Mitt Romney 'has an edge that seems increasingly precarious,' while Sen. John McCain 'has rebounded to a strong third.' Romney was backed by 26%, followed by Rudy Giuliani at 20%, McCain at 17% and Fred Thompson had 10%."
"2008 pres"
6:51:09 AM
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Here's a report about the proposed upgrade to Colorado's mining laws spurred on by Powertech's proposed uranium mining operation in Weld County, from The Greeley Tribune "reg". From the article:
State Representatives Randy Fischer (D- Fort Collins) and John Kefalas (D-Ft. Collins) announced they are co-sponsoring a bill to be introduced into legislation in January that will protect groundwater, unveil secrecy around prospecting activities and protect landowners rights, Fischer said. While the legislation is not aimed to shut down the proposed mining project, it will raise mining safety standards that are out of date and could prove harmful to residents of Colorado, Fischer said. "The legislation we're proposing will meet new challenges and concerns posed by industrial mining technologies that were not anticipated by past legislatures," Fischer said. One of those, the In-situ mining technique used by Powertech, would be the first of its kind in Colorado. It employs high-pressured chemicals and water to remove uranium from the ground. The widest criticism of this mining technique has been the contamination of the surrounding groundwater and soil...
Senator Steve Johnson (R-Fort Collins) said the 30 other places where this technique has been used were damaged by the procedure. "In almost all of those areas, if not all of those areas, there has been serious contamination of the aquifer, of the water supply and of the environment," Johnson said. Cory Carroll, president of the Larimer County Medical Society, said the proposed mine would be a major hazard to residents of Colorado. The society has already passed a resolution opposing uranium mining. "Powertech, the company that is filing for permission to mine uranium, states candidly they will do no harm," Carroll said. "This is a fantasy. They will do harm. How much and the extent is the only unknown."
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Andrew Sullivan: "We're counting on it to tackle climate change and keep our energy supplies intact. The politicians hype it. But the industry itself is not as confident - and deeply reliant on foreign supplies.
"2008 pres"
6:13:45 AM
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The Modesto Bee: "It seemed pretty simple at first. If the federal government doesn't solve the problems brought on by a broken immigration system, then the cities themselves would take the law into their own hands by passing local ordinances that would make life so miserable for undocumented immigrants that they would just get out of town. That is how dozens of municipalities across the country attempted to unravel the mess. Now some of those cities are rethinking their strategy."
"2008 pres"
6:07:30 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:34:59 PM.
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