The National Republican Senatorial Committee will not be buying ads to support Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer during the last week of his campaign in Colorado, presumably because they’ve given up hope for a win. This decision comes after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee withdrew their funding from the Colorado race, presumably because they don’t […]
Politics
Posted inGoat
The polls on Prop 8
Ray Ring’s story on Rexburg, Idaho and how the Mormon Church is throwing huge amounts of money into the campaign to pass the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in California is fast on its way to becoming the most commented-upon article in the history of hcn.org. Meanwhile, Proposition 8 is fast on its way to becoming […]
Posted inWotr
I want my vote to count, but will it?
Just the other morning, I mailed off my absentee ballot. I’d carefully colored in all the ovals, signed it, smacked on a stamp and tossed that baby into the mailbox. Civic duty done? Maybe not. Last month, for example, New Mexico’s secretary of State had to admit that incorrect information had been mailed to more […]
Posted inOctober 27, 2008: Prophets and politics
Power to the first people
Native Americans are poised to swing some Western battleground states
Posted inOctober 27, 2008: Prophets and politics
Prophets and politics
Will the Mormon Church decide who gets married in California?
Posted inGoat
Unaccustomed attention
For a lifelong Coloradan, this has been a strange election year. We’re a “swing state” where the polls are close in the presidentail race, and that’s a novelty. In the past 60 years, the Democratic candidate has carried Colorado only three times: Harry Truman in 1948, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and Bill Clinton in 1992. […]
Posted inWotr
For many Americans, voting this November will be historic
Strange the things that come to you through your kids. A week ago my daughter, Ruby, came home with an eighth-grade social studies assignment on the civil rights movement of the 1960s. “You know,” I told her, “your grandparents were involved with civil rights when I was a kid. Maybe you should talk to them. […]
Posted inGoat
Endangered species meltdown
The Bush administration just won’t quit trying to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Big rewrites require Congressional approval, so instead they’re quietly revising the regulations that implement the act. In August, the administration proposed letting federal agencies decide for themselves if, say, a new dam or highway would harm any endangered or threatened species, rather […]
Posted inGoat
Drill here, drill now: the music video
Did you know that politicians don’t pay for their gas? Well, now you do. You’ll know even more — no, you’ll be a veritable expert in energy policy — after you watch this music video, which Joe Romm of climateprogress.org describes as “the first (and hopefully last) song ever inspired by Newt Gingrich.” Wow. Just […]
Posted inWotr
Scoundrels and scandals in the Interior Department
As the last vestiges of laissez-faire capitalism were being lowered into the ground on Wall Street last month, out on the Western edge of the high plains an administrative circus of a similar nature was unraveling. Its center was the Minerals Management Services (MMS) division of the Interior Department, in Lakewood, Colo. On Sept.10, Earl […]
Posted inGoat
GOP’s Acorn fixation is downright nutty
The McCain campaign — by now looking for any dirt they can get their hands on — has just released a web ad attacking Obama for his ties to Acorn, the progressive community organizing group. The ad tries to link Acorn to the mortgage crisis and accuses it of trying to steal the election by […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
The great giveaway
Utah BLM swings the door wide for ATVs and energy development
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
The invisible man
Name Ricardo Arriagada Age 30 Occupation Goat herder What herding means, day to day Four hours in the morning and two in the evening, filling water tanks and maintaining and moving the electric fence that keeps the goats corralled. The upside of living alone in a travel trailer on the Bay Area’s exurban fringes “Things […]
Posted inGoat
A guidebook we might use
We’ve got a tight U.S. Senate race in Colorado. The incumbent Republican, Wayne Allard, is stepping out after two terms. Competing to replace him are Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer. Udall’s environmental credentials seem pretty solid, given his voting record in the House, where he has represented Colorado’s second congressional district for the […]
Posted inPolitics map 2008
Battleground: an interactive map
No matter who wins in November, one thing is certain: the West has arrived.
Posted inGoat
Power to the people
The burning question in Sevier County, Utah, to build or not to build a new 270-megawatt coal-fired power plant, will be answered by voters in November. Sevier County citizens collected enough signatures to place Proposition 1, which would amend the county’s land use ordinance to require a vote before approving any permits for coal-fired plants, […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
Greenwashing, literally
In last issue’s “Two Weeks in the West” article concerning “clean” coal promotion at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, you misattributed the purveyors of “green coal” (coal painted green) to coal company “henchmen” at the DNC (HCN, 9/15 & 29/08). In reality, what was witnessed was an act of political theater by environmentally minded […]
Posted inGoat
Why Western Wildfires are getting larger
The October 1st edition of the radio science show “Earth and Sky” featured a US Forest Service official asserting that the acreage of individual wildfires has increased dramatically in just a decade. The Deschutes National Forest in Oregon was provided as an example and climate change was held up as the cause for the dramatic […]
Posted inWotr
What I will say to Americans once I am elected president
Jimmy Carter once opened an address to the nation with these words: “Tonight, I have some unpleasant news for you.” His chances of re-election vanished soon after. And so, I dedicate my acceptance speech as your new president to Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States and the last honest politician: My fellow […]