Coyote Gulch

Monday, January 9, 2006

Think twice before clicking
TalkLeft: "We all better learn to think twice before clicking our mouses. A new law signed by President Bush last week makes sending annoying anonymous e-mails or posting annoying messages on websites a federal crime."

The feds need only send email to Coyote Gulch and we'll gladly define 'annoying' for them.

6:17:13 PM

Hickenlooper for Governor?
Elevated Voices: "Colorado Politics reports today that the pro-choice group NARAL is attempting to persuade Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to run for Governor. Here's a copy of the e-mail the group sent out. A snippet:

"'Mayor John Hickenlooper recently stated that he has not found a compelling reason to run for Governor, so please let him know that his support for women's reproductive rights and health care is a compelling reason.'

"There are many issues to consider in choosing a Governor. I would urge people not to make a decision based only on one. Reproductive freedom is very important. But, if we continue to elect a Democrat-dominated legislature, even if the Supreme Court limits or overturns Roe v. Wade in the future, the likelihood of a state law creating further restrictions is remote."

Category: Denver November 2006 Election

6:12:55 PM

Scalito update
The Moderate Voice has a bunch of links up relating to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings today.

Opinion Journal: "It's fitting that Rep. Tom DeLay is returning to his seat on the Appropriations Committee now that he is gone for good as House majority leader. It was his years serving in that 'favor factory' that gradually turned him into a purveyor of pork who last fall claimed there was no more budget fat to cut. His departure gives Republicans a chance to return to first principles. If they don't, they may face a political drubbing."

Mt. Virtus, commenting on the article above: "Self-interested Congressional Republicans need to wake up to first principles and their own political future, and they need to heed the words of John Fund in today's Opinion Journal." Self-interested - sounds like it's from Galt's speech.

Political Wire: "If anyone questioned whether New York Gov. George Pataki (R) 'is exploring a White House bid in 2008, those doubts evaporated last week when he delivered a State of the State address littered with the hallmarks of a national platform,' Newsday reports."

Political Wire: "Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D) met Friday in Washington, D.C., with his national political advisors to 'talk about strategy for the year that could position him to formally explore a presidential campaign next year,' according to the Des Moines Register. Among the key challenges Vilsack will in 2006 is ensuring that a Democrat succeeds in the governor's mansion."

Soablox Colorado: "Alito hearings begin today, will Salazar come through?"

Category: 2008 Presidential Election

6:04:01 PM

Alito hearing today
beSpacific: "The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for Monday, January 9, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. in the Senate Hart Office Building Room 216. Chairman Specter will preside."

TalkLeft: "Time Magazine reports the White House intends to play up the debate over Judge Sam Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court -- hoping it will distract us from the Washington scandals of Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff."

Category: 2008 Presidential Election

6:59:09 AM

Dolores - San Juan water roundtable

Here's an article about the Dolores-San Juan basin water rountable from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "Nearly 40 years ago, a plan to provide water to farms and growing cities in Southwestern Colorado was hatched.

"Since then, the Animas-LaPlata Project has changed to serve the needs of the environment and two Indian tribes.

"What a difference a few decades can make.

"The $500 million project is finally under construction after years of efforts in Congress to build it. The 120,000 acre-foot reservoir will serve two emerging needs not even envisioned when the project was first proposed.

"Taking a page from history, one of the first orders of business for the Dolores-San Juan Basin roundtable was to invite the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes to join the group...

"On the other hand, the district is geographically separate from the other parts of the state. Five small ditches send water across the Continental Divide to the Rio Grande Basin, but it is unlikely more diversions would ever be built.

"Rather than a network of rivers that converges into a mainstem, the Southwest corner of the state is a series of four main basins that flow out of the state. Because of the mountain topography, most of the streams in the basin are protected by an instream flow right."

Category: Colorado Water

6:48:21 AM

Colorado River Basin

The Colorado River Basin is the subject of this article from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "Enough water to support more than 3 million city dwellers moves from the west side of the Continental Divide to the Front Range in Colorado each year. Nearly all of it comes from the Colorado River Basin. It's a big reason why that part of the state is watching carefully as regional roundtables work toward forming an Interbasin Compact Committee."

Category: Colorado Water

6:34:46 AM

Runoff from oil and gas drilling

The State Water Quality board hearing about jurisdiction over storm runoff from oil and gas wells is this morning, according to the Rocky Mountain News [January 9, 2006, "Storm over drilling site water"]. From the article, "The booming oil and gas industry is fighting a proposal that would give state health regulators a role in protecting water threatened by road building and clearing of land for drilling sites. At a hearing scheduled for this morning, a state water quality board will decide whether inspectors for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment should have oversight of the oil and gas industry's storm-water controls. Environmentalists and more than 30 local governments argue that health regulators should oversee the industry, which must disturb land in preparation for drilling. That, in turn, makes the landscape more susceptible to erosion during rainstorms and can send stream- choking sediments into local waterways, harming aquatic life and water quality. While many oil and gas companies take the matter seriously, not all do, activists say. So, having the health department participate in supervising storm-water controls during construction of the sites would add a layer of protection for streams and for local governments that have to treat the water for residents."

Category: Colorado Water

6:01:09 AM

State GOP aims at regaining control of State House
Regaining control of the State House is a priority for Republicans, according to the Rocky Mountain News [January 9, 2006, "GOP aims to regain House"]. From the article, "But Republicans believe they have regained the edge because they aren't faced with the dynamics that undid them in 2004: A controversial presidential race turned out unlikely Democratic and left-leaning independent voters, diluting the GOP registration advantage; Weak candidates and GOP gaffes gave victories to Democrats in seats traditionally held by Republicans; The budget crisis is over for now, with the passage in November of Referendum C. Democrats had successfully hammered the message that Republicans failed to deal with catastrophic budget cuts; Four wealthy Democrats helped fund attack ads against Republicans, who were caught napping when it came to fundraising."

Here's a story from today's Denver Post about a petition drive for a state constitutional amendment to limit governments from taking private property [January 9, 2006, "Petition targets eminent domain"]. From the article, "Colorado Citizens for Property Rights aims to collect 100,000 signatures by June 4 to get the issue on the November ballot. On the stock show's first day, 600 voters signed the petition...[Marsha] Looper said the proposal would block 'land grabs' for private uses, such as 'big box' retail developments or toll roads. The proposed amendment would allow acquisition of property by eminent domain if the property is occupied by a public entity or a public utility such as a highway or school. The initiative would go against last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision that expanded eminent domain for economic development, Looper said. The court ruling said states could enact stricter property rights laws."

Jim Spencer weighs in on the proposed constitutional amendment limiting late term abortions in his column in today's Denver Post [January 9, 2006, "Proposal's flawed premise: a problem"]. He writes, "To read the newly proposed state initiative banning late-term abortions, you'd think there was an epidemic of evil in Colorado. You'd think heartless, money-grubbing doctors were killing healthy babies by digging them out of greedy, self-absorbed women. Why else would voters be asked to make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion on a 'viable fetus'? You don't revise the law unless there's a serious, persistent crisis that you can't address any other way. So as holier-than-you abortion foes tell voters they must turn physicians into criminals and take away women's control over their bodies, look for the problem. There is no epidemic of late-term abortions here. In 2002, doctors performed 7,757 legal abortions in Colorado, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just 184 of those involved women who were more than 20 weeks pregnant. No evidence exists that the few late-term abortions that took place were matters of convenience."

Colorado Luis: "Why not a pro-choice initiative?"

Category: Denver November 2006 Election

5:55:50 AM

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