Right now, however, the forecast is for western Alaska and North Slope communities to enjoy a relatively early summer, with ice-free shipping lanes opening up a couple weeks earlier than last year, National Weather Service ice forecaster Kathleen Cole said Friday.
...
[T]hat's good news for northern Alaskans. A longer ice-free season means barges can reach Kotzebue and Barrow earlier and later in the summer, thus eliminating the high cost of receiving food and supplies by air that much longer. And summer seismic crews employed by oil companies won't be hampered as much by ice. Said Cole: "I think everybody is going to be happy about that."
Since then, some academicians have been busy mapping out the apportionment of the Arctic Ocean floor:
Death by 1000 cuts. I always mean to write about science and nature topics, but too often put it off. Today, I'm gonna throw a few stories together. The full court press is on for offshore oil drilling, as if there were no global warming. But on Canada's Baffin Island, the Auyuittuq Arctic Park is closed. In a bit of sardonic irony, its name translates to English as The Land that Never Melts:
Most visitors enter the park via the Akshayuk Pass, a traditional travel corridor used by the Inuit for thousands of years. Now the pass has been closed as the glacier moraine that blocks Crater Lake from spilling into the pass is severely eroded, Ms Scott says, and threatens to create a flash flood.
And, too, nearly half the world's primate species now face extinction.
So, I'm taking all these foot pix. And out at the Howard Dean bus launch, Thursday, I see George Lakoff. "Can I photograph your feet?" Done, but he says "You better photograph her feet, too." Pretty woman in a dress? Sure, why not? "What's your name?" Debbie Cook! OK. I like candidates as subjects. And whups!
Turning to move on, a voice behind me says, "Hey! Aren't you gonna photograph my feet?" If ya wanna know who it was, you're gonna hafta click again...
If you think that's the question you have to answer, think again! The question we all should ask ourselves is:
Obama or McCain?
This time next year, one of these two men is gonna reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
From time to time, one encounters a pundit who says that the Republican strategy is to make this Presidential campaign a referendum on Obama. Is he good enough or not? Leaving McCain out of the picture entirely as much as possible. Looks like they've been having a pretty good success at it, too. A lot of users here on Daily Kos - who should know better - have been acting as if that Republican approach is what they've adopted, too.
Since so many of us will be heading to Austin in but a few days, it makes sense to get in a Texas state of mind. Just last week, I rented the new DVD release Under the Same Moon, about a woman who leaves her son with her mother to work in Los Angeles. When the grandmother dies, the kid goes in search of her, crossing the border in Texas. There's a great commercial for it which includes the copy:
TIME Magazine raves that 'Adrian Alonso could melt Lou Dobbs' heart, if he had one.'
And there’s lots more movies set, in whole or in part, in what was long the nation’s largest state.
Gordon Smith (R, OR-Sen) is advertising as being in line with Obama in Oregon. Lincoln Chafee (who lost his Republican RI Senate seat in the 2006 midterm) has left his party. Today he published a short piece on TPM today which got me thinking of 1980.
Democrats in Congress developed their "Stockholm Syndrome" after Reagan swept to power, caving to him on issue after issue. It was infuriating. Chafee's got me thinking that maybe that pendulum is swinging the other way. President Obama's gonna get bipartisan votes passed in Congress. The Republicans are going to get thrashed with Obama's coattails. Mitch McConnell's not going to get iron-fisted discipline out of his caucus any more. Even if he's still got 42 or 43, I'm thinking filibusters are going to decline dramatically.
I think we've got signs of some really good news here.
Back in 2005-2006, I put a lot of effort into blogging against Richard Pombo (R, CA-11). Kossacks who came on board after the midterms might not be familiar with his name. Suffice it to say that his vanquishment (thanks to Pete McCloskey & Jerry McNerney and thousands upon thousands of donors and volunteers) was one of the sweetest victories in the Democratic wave that retook the House.
Pombo's a lobbyist now, and is busy trying to promote new oil development. He's turned up again, now associated with some misleading astroturf. That's not new for him: what's new is the fresh chorus for new oil development on all fronts. This time, oil shale in Colorado. As if there weren't tons of new drilling and despoilment going on already under Cheney's energy plan.
Yeah, I know it's called a scholarship program, but "Scholarship Recipients" didn't look good for the title. And scholar isn't a name that applies to all all of these wonderful activists, writers and researchers.
We made it to 30 scholarships! I can't imagine 21 of these good people having to stay home. Thanks so much to DFA and all the many generous donors who made this happen. It takes 30 seconds to get to the happy dance in this YouTube - Picked because I couldn't resist the costumes.
Here's the link to the DFA announcement of the awards. And my own listing and comments below the fold. And, isn't it grand that we weren't limited to just nine of them! Looking forward to seeing you all in Austin a month from now.
Today, Democracy for America will be making decisions on awardees for their Netroots Nation Scholarship program. In the end, 121 applications submitted, not 128. (There were a few duplicates.) I don't know how many scholarships will be awarded yet, for two reasons.
DFA hasn't told me what the totals from over the weekend donations is yet.
There's still time to donate this morning. This is the last call for that. (Donate here.)
To that end, OPOL says he's throwing a last $100 in the pot, and challenges others to do the same. And John Cusack? If you are reading this? Send me an email that you are sorry you can't attend, but would love to sponsor someone else. (Just like other Kossacks with a lot less discretionary income than you have already done.)
By any means possible, I'd like to still add one more to the total scholarships to be awarded. And right now is the absolute last chance
Tomorrow, DFA will be making decisions about the applicants for the Netroots Nation Scholarships. Friday, it was confirmed that we had raised enough money to cover 25. With what's come in since then, I think 30 scholarships might be within reach. That's a great improvement over the initial nine offered.
I've been looking at the applications, and one of the many things I've discovered is that the President of the College Democrats at Idaho State University is a Kossack. You ever wondered what's up in Pocatello? Check out dianamarie13's diaries. One is a report on making the arguments to her Republican father against voting for McCain.
You can still vote on the applications, but it probably won't change anything. The best way to effect the outcome it to toss in a few more bucks. And I'm offering match this evening, up to $100, towards that end.
It's only a little more than a month until the Netroots Nation confab in Texas. All kinds of getting ready is underway. The organizers are sending their program to the printer at the end of the week, so everyone with a panel is busy polishing up their copy text; travel arrangements are being made. There's much to learn, and much fun to be had. And many friends to finally meet face to face. Last year, I photographed people's feet, to give a sense of the person, while still keeping the mystery of how we know each other at a distance.
STOP THE PRESSES!!!DFA has extended the deadline to the end of this week. Yup, till Friday the 13th. (Donations will be accepted for at week or so after that.)
And if you're going to Netroots Nation, check in in the comments. Maybe there's rides to arrange or hotel rooms to share or drinks to buy.
I'm combining two things here. One is the ongoing effort to beg, cajole and solicit support for the Netroots Nation scholarship program. I'll say more about it below the fold.
But it is still Friday Night at the Movies, so we need movies. This week's topic is about movies with travel in them. Bob Hope & Bing Crosby made a bunch of "Road to ****" movies - this from one of them:
I read through Hunter's latest on McCain's slogans, and clicked through to his campaign website to take a look at the new, improved, retooled version. By default, I keep scripts disabled, adding (usually temporary) permissions except for regularly visited sites like Daily Kos.
With scrips disabled, this is the first thing you see upon going to John McCain's website. (Well, captured and cropped, anyhow...)
I have a few things I want to cover in this diary.
Elections results in yesterday's New Mexico primary
My experience as a poll worker in that primary
The Netroots Nation Scholarship program
Perhaps the single most interesting result is that ethically challenged Republican Heather Wilson failed in her attempt to win a nomination to the US Senate. (That's the "woman scorned" of my title.) She is well known in the blogosphere for her tearful "nipplegate" outrage:
Another week has passed, and there hasn't been a whole lot happen on the add-on superdelegate front. The four undeclared add-ons remain so (list below the fold). The biggest news comes from yesterday's Rules Committee result regarding Florida and Michigan. The five add-ons from those two states will each get half a vote, bringing the total number of add-on superdelegate votes to 78.5 instead of 76, with 29 left to be chosen. (31 including two Michigan half-votes already pledged to Obama as part of this weekend's Rules Committee deal. Here's where the add-on superdelegate count stood at the beginning of the week:
Last year, our own kid oakland singlehandedly organized a scholarship program for Yearly Kos in Chicago. All told, 19 people were able to attend who would not have otherwise been able to afford it. I was lucky enough to benefit from one of those scholarships, and vowed that I wanted to help make something similar happen this year.
It's taken a whole big organization to fill k/o's extraordinary shoes. Democracy for America (DFA) has launched a scholarship program for Netroots Nation in Austin this coming July. Many Kossacks have probably already gotten an email about this from DFA, in fact. There are a few ways to participate in this program I'd like to tell you about.
If you've been to Yearly Kos in the past, I don't need to explain to you how valuable and fun and satisfying it was (testimonials welcome). If not, think seriously about it - it's a great supplement to all our online connections and cooperation. And, please, Rec this diary to help maximize visibility for this program.
I've been searching for the latest superdelegate endorsements, especially the add-ons I've been writing diaries about. I've come across several profiles of superdelegates along the way, and decided to share a bit of what I've found. With the Rules Committee coming up, let's start with Rules committeeman and superdelegate Jaime Gonzalez, Jr. from McAllen, in south Texas. His district went overwhelmingly for Clinton, and he endorsed her as a superdelegate - but not until 2 months after the primary. And:
The Democratic nomination could hinge on 30 party activists who meet Saturday to determine whether to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida. And the sole Texan on the rules committee – a Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter – made clear Tuesday that he'll put the party interests above hers.... "There will be more election cycles. Protecting the integrity of the system is of the most importance."
That's good news. It's exactly what we want from the Rules Committe - a commitment to principles, rather than candidate partisanship.
The only add-on superdelegate to be chosen this week is on June 1 (Maine, already promised to Obama who won the caucus there by 19.6%.) Unless more undeclared add-ons speak up, this is it until after Saturday's DNC Rules Committee meeting. To date, 46 of the 76 add-on superdelegates have been chosen.
At the beginning of this week, Obama was leading in add-on superdelegates:
