Coyote Gulch

Thursday, October 7, 2004

Sun and Kodak settle for $92 Million
Groklaw: "It's a good thing I don't work for Sun. I'd be threatening to quit half the time. I was hoping they would appeal, but no doubt they are thinking of the bottom line, not the big picture, and that is exactly the problem with patents on software. No one can afford to lose a patent lawsuit, so everything is slowly shutting down. Jonathan Schwartz says that he did it for Java and OpenOffice users." Software Patents == Evil
8:45:56 PM

Rocky Mountain Blog Roundup
Walter In Denver: "It's time for another edition of the Rocky Mountain Blog Roundup."
7:08:43 AM

2004 Presidential Election
John Kerry is hunkered down south of Denver preparing for the Town Hall forum on Friday night, according to the Rocky Mountain News [October 7, 2004, "Kerry training hard at suburban hotel"]. The President will be in Colorado on Monday and Tuesday.
Electoral-vote.com: "Kerry's post-debate surge is continuing, with him taking the lead in Pennsylvania according to polls from West Chester University, Survey USA, and Franklin and Marshall college. Neither candidate now has the 270 electoral votes needed to win, and many of the states are statistical ties. Michigan and New Hampshire are exact ties. If Kerry wins Michigan and Bush wins New Hampshire, then Kerry wins the election 270-268."
Taegan Goddard: "Sen. John Kerry's strong performance in the first debate has helped him among likely voters in 16 battleground states, according to the latest Zogby Interactive poll. Kerry 'now holds leads, albeit some of them razor-thin, in 13 states, an improvement from the 11 he held three weeks ago. Notably, Mr. Kerry overtook President Bush in Ohio, a critical swing state where he had been trailing since mid-July.' Here are some notable state polls: Pennsylvania - Kerry 48, Bush 41 (Franklin and Marshall); Pennsylvania - Kerry 49, Bush 47 (Survey USA); Missouri: Bush 51, Kerry 45 (Rasmussen); Maine - Kerry 49, Bush 47 (Survey USA); Florida - Bush 48, Kerry 44 (Mason-Dixon)."
Update: Ed Fitzgerald: "Tempus fugit - Out with the old survey of Electoral College tracking / prediction / projection / forecast / scoreboard / map sites, and in with the new."
Update: Taegan Goddard: "Colorado is tied."
Update Josh Marshall: "Uh-oh ... Kerry over Bush 50% to 46% among likely voters in the new AP/Ipsos poll."
Update: Taegan Goddard: "By nearly all measures, the presidential race is tightening. An ABC News tracking poll shows Bush leading Kerry, 49% to 47%. The Rasmussen Tracking poll has the race tied at 47%."
6:49:52 AM

Colorado Water
Here's Part Five of the Rocky Mountain News' series on the effects of Front Range water diversions on mountain counties [October 7, 2004, "The Last Drop, part 5: Eagle County Highland vs. flatland"]. From the article, "They are working toward a landmark agreement to build what would become the largest cooperative water project in Colorado - Wolcott Reservoir. The project would transform a radical not-one-more-drop Western Slope county into a sort of demilitarized water zone. It could help keep a thriving resort county lush and moist, its wilderness areas intact, its future water supplies guaranteed. At the same time, Wolcott would bring some - not a lot, but some - new water to Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, among others. Rick Sackbauer, president of the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District, hopes Wolcott will provide enough that the Front Range will agree never to come back for more, to leave behind most of the water that dances through Gore Creek, Cross Creek, Homestake Creek and countless others."
The Rocky is also running a background article on Wolcott reservoir [October 7, 2004, "Another watering hole on tap?"]. From the article, "The premise behind Wolcott is that Denver would agree to permanently cap the amount of water it takes from the Eagle River Basin, in exchange for the right to build Wolcott and store a portion of the water that Denver controls in that river basin. Aurora, Eagle County and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which serves Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Boulder and Broomfield, would help pay for the project and would also store water there. If public support materializes, the project could be up and running in eight to 10 years, said Glenn Porzak, a water attorney representing Eagle River Basin water users."
6:41:08 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
Here's a background article about Amendment 37 from the Denver Post [October 7, 2004, "A win for Amendment 37 would mean hundreds more windmills"]. From the article, "If Amendment 37 passes, hundreds more will sprout across the landscape. The amendment on the statewide ballot requires Colorado utilities to increase renewable energy production dramatically, from about 2 percent of their power today to 10 percent by 2015."
The Rocky is running a roundtable discussion about Amendment 37 today [October 7, 2004, "Winds of change felt in energy proposal"].
Support for Referendum 4A (FasTracks) is solid according to the Rocky Mountain News [October 7, 2004, "FasTracks support rebounds, poll shows"]. From the article, "In a survey of 469 likely voters late last week, 68.6 percent supported FasTracks, according to the campaign. More than four out of five of those supporters said they were strongly in favor...A total of 19.2 percent were opposed, with three-fourths of them strongly opposed. The poll has a margin of error of 4.8 percent. Also on Wednesday, leaders of 14 black community organizations endorsed FasTracks, saying it would bring new employment and growth opportunities to minority neighborhoods. Beyond the opportunity to bid on contracts to build the system, they said, the new transit lines will bring added mobility for job seekers. The FasTracks Yes! campaign hadn't planned to release its new polling numbers until it learned that Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce would release its own poll today showing that support had dropped. FasTracks Yes! is doing weekly tracking polls on the issue, which asks voters to approve a 0.4 cent increase in the transit sales tax to help finance construction of six new rail corridors, a bus rapid-transit system on the Boulder Turnpike, expansion of three existing light-rail lines and expansion of suburban bus services."
6:31:33 AM

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