Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mothers Day Happy Mothers Day to all you mothers out there. You know who you are. Our task today is to get Mrs. Gulch to slow down a bit, enjoy the day, take a walk or ride around the neighborhood. Redbuds are in their prime around town and tulips are popping up everywhere. Click on the thumb for a virtual bouquet from Mrs. Gulch's Moon Garden. 8:21:25 AM

Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps There is a lot of sentiment from states around the Great Lakes to keep other states in the nation from raiding them as a source of fresh water. Despite the astronomical costs involved for energy, construction and permitting, some still think that we those of us west of the 100th meridian have our eyes on the lakes as a source for more growth. Here's an update on efforts to keep the Great Lakes Not for sale," embodied in a new book, Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps. From the review on The Water and Wastewater Blog: "In 'Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps,' Dave Dempsey makes a case for a regional effort to make sure these waters are not for sale to or controlled by interests outside the region. While a system holding 18 percent of the world's -- 95 percent of the US -- fresh surface water supply may never be pumped dry, Dempsey worries its water level could be tragically lowered by those who would export to thirsty neighbors, domestic and foreign." Coyote Gulch wonders if they'd be willing to pipe some water down here to process oil shale? It would be a way for them to share in Colorado's pain. Colorado and the Great Lakes states, sister national sacrifice zones. "colorado water" 7:38:50 AM

Iraq Juan Cole: "The al-Maliki government and the Sadrists pulled back from the brink in Sadr City on Saturday. PM Nuri al-Maliki had demanded that the Mahdi Army militia that serves as the Sadrist paramilitary give up its arms and dissolve itself. The compromise simply states that the Iraqi security forces would be allowed in to Sadr City to search for suspected medium and heavy weapons. The implication is that the Mahdi Army may continue to exist and may keep its light weapons (e.g. AK-47s), though it has to pledge not to walk with them in public." "2008 pres" 7:23:43 AM

Race and politics Here's a recap of opinion about Hillary Clinton's statement about being more popular than Barack Obama with white voters from The Moderate Voice. They write: 'But the barrage doesn't end just there. On newspaper op-ed pages from the U.S. to Great Britain Clinton is being denounced, usually on several key points: (a) her comments make her a more polarizing figure than ever, (b) her comments are unlikely to help her achieve her goals of winning the nomination and unifying the party and (c) her comments damage the Clinton's legacy of good ties with black voters -- a legacy already greatly strained by some of Bill Clinton's race-raising comments." "2008 pres" 7:09:32 AM

© Copyright 2009 John Orr. Last update: 3/15/09; 2:24:49 PM.