Winter Sun

We are still dry -- there is still a statewide ban on outdoor fires, including campfires. Our rain deficit for the year is almost 20 inches now. Add that to the shortage last year and it's clear why Polk County is so dry. The drought has, however, got our county commissioners off their leather chairs and into water supply discussions. The Green River flows through the county and there has been talk among some forward-looking people for years to tap into the river for future water supply. Now the commissioners have realized someone else -- such as Greenville or Spartanburg, SC just to the south, might get the same idea. The Comish is also talking about restricting lot size in future developments to seven acres in order to preserve the rural nature of the county and to save water. No decision on any of this stuff yet.

Bolivian Tango

My friend John Virtue is just back from Bolivia, where he was doing seminars and workshops on journalism ethics. He says friends there say the country is on the edge of civil war. We are so inwardly focused in the United States that you don't see that kind of stuff on the evening news until the civil war is in full bloom. What's going on with President Evo Morales and his opponents is a true social struggle, pitting class against class and society against society, all fired by fuel shortages in a country floating on petroleum and gas reserves.
Morales is from Bolivia's indigenous population, the historically oppressed Indian culture.

Morales, who has the solid support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is shown in traditional dress in this picture.
The class struggle was heightened by the draft version of a new constitution which would allow Morales to be reelected permanently. And to add more confusion: Bolivia has two capitol cities, Sucre and La Paz. Most of the governing is actually done from La Paz. Sucre has the Supreme Court and justice department. But Sucre is the site of the constituent assembly convened to draft the new constitution. Sucre once had all the Bolivian government. Some of those who live in Sucre want that again, so they barricaded the people drafting the constitution. Pretty soon people were fighting in the streets all over the country.

A good place to read about this kind of on-going Bolivian drama is at the Democracy Center blog. The BBC also keeps a good eye on Bolivia, such as this story about the death of British reporter en route to cover the latest events in Sucre. Other journalists in Bolivia have run into trouble recently. The Committee to Protect Journalists keeps pretty close tabs on that situation.