The votes are tallied..and 5 Potrero planners got the boot

From the San Diego Union Tribune:

EAST COUNTY – Five members of the Potrero planning group were voted off the panel Tuesday night in a recall election that served as a symbolic referendum on a controversial training camp proposed by Blackwater Worldwide.

Three other candidates who favor Blackwater’s proposal failed in their quest for a seat on the board: Anita Meneses, Brenda Wise and Edward Boryla.

Planning group member Jan Hedlun, who took office in January, is the only member who opposes Blackwater and was not a recall target.

The five incumbents all supported the proposed facility. The results:

Should Jerry Johnson be recalled?: Yes – 187; No – 93

Mary Johnson be recalled: Yes – 189; No – 91

Gordon Hammers be recalled: Yes – 196; No – 84

Janet Wright be recalled: Yes 186; No 94

Thell Fowler be recalled: Yes – 176; No – 104

Note: 280 were counted yesterday; 10 remain to be counted; 509 people in the community were eligible to vote.

Aha! The system worked in Potrero, didn’t it? Warms the cockles of my lil black heart don’t ya know 😉

Tags: Blackwater, Potrero, Recall election

The votes are in and counted in Turkey.

The ruling Party, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party maintained control but lost 10 seats in the Parlement. Erdogan is a heavy-duty Muslim. At a rally today he said, per AP:

“We will never make concessions over the values of people, the basic principles of our republic. This is our promise. We will embrace Turkey as a whole without discriminating,” he said at a rally in the capital Ankara.”–Erdogan, a devout Muslim, told supporters in his victory speech that he would preserve pluralistic democracy and work for national unity.

I haven’t formulated thoughts on how this affects the current situation in the Middle East. But I know it will affect it somehow, it’s inevitable. Turkey is a different type of Muslim Democratic structure.

It’s a whole different animal my dear reader. The TimesOnline has this pov:

The election will determine the nature of Turkish democracy, the identity of the Turkish state and whether a restless younger generation is prepared to defy the threats of a conservative military Establishment to launch the fifth coup since 1960.

The Guardian had this to say:

The election was called early to defuse a showdown with the military-backed, secular establishment, which contended that Erdogan and his allies were plotting to scrap Turkey’s secular traditions despite their openness to the West.

Erdogan raised concern with his efforts as prime minister to make adultery a crime and appoint former Islamists to key positions. Critics were also troubled by his calls for the lifting of restrictions on the wearing of Islamic headscarves

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I just know it isn’t going to be simple..and it will affect the Kurds and Iraq in general. Turkey is considering whether to stage an offensive into northern Iraq against separatist Kurdish rebels who rest, train and resupply at bases there.

Sigh….

Tags: Turkey elections, Iraq, Kurds, secular government

Crossposted at Sirens Chronicles