Coyote Gulch

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Climate change

Say hello to Climate Science: Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group Weblog. They discuss and debate climate change. From the weblog, "Humans are significantly altering the global climate, but in a variety of diverse ways beyond the radiative effect of carbon dioxide. The IPCC assessments have been too conservative in recognizing the importance of these human climate forcings as they alter regional and global climate. These assessments have also not communicated the inability of the models to accurately forecast the spread of possibilities of future climate. The forecasts, therefore, do not provide any skill in quantifying the impact of different mitigation strategies on the actual climate response that would occur."

Thanks to Colorado Musings for the link.
"colorado water"
7:22:21 AM

Beauprez for governor?
Elevated Voices: "The [Denver] Post didn't bother to contact us when preparing the article (or in the week since its publication). If they had, we would have happily shared [the] transcript from Max Potter's interview with Beauprez."

They quote Beauprez as saying, "Sure, I'd be glad to explain. I don't pretend to understand the homosexuality thing. And plainly I don't have a huge problem with it. I've hired, at my [bank], there's been a number of gays, lesbians. I didn't know when I hired them. I mean, how do you know? You find out afterward. To the person, they've been great employees. Wonderful employees. I've given three eulogies in my life: my dad, my mother in law, and a dear friend of mine who happened to be gay and happened to die of HIV-AIDs. A very good friend of mine. I'm gonna leave that whole thing to a bigger judge than me."
"denver 2006"
7:08:42 AM

Negative campaigns
Fred Brown looks at negative campaigning and 527s in his column in yesterday's Denver Post. He writes, "The 527 season opened early this year, in mid-August, with a dark and clumsy 'Both Ways Bob' TV ad in the governor's campaign. It was two to three weeks earlier than the traditional Labor Day start of mud wrestling. This is only the beginning. Between now and the Nov. 7 election, 527s will be responsible for most of the edgiest, nastiest political advertising on television. And it will be aired, as usual, so frequently that viewers will be tempted to turn their TVs into aquariums. (Even earlier, in July, a Republican 527, the Trailhead Group, aired a radio ad attacking Democratic candidate Bill Ritter's record as Denver district attorney.) Here's a naïve idea: Why don't 527s try running ads that support the candidates they like instead of attacking the ones they don't? The easy answer is that, under election laws and section 527 of the IRS Code (thus the name), these independent political organizations aren't allowed to communicate with candidates. If they do, they and the candidate can get in trouble."
"denver 2006"
6:39:08 AM

Small-mouth bass fishery on the Colorado?

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: "A two-step program is needed to get local anglers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop fighting about the controversial removal of smallmouth bass and other non-native fish from the Colorado River. The removal program is part of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program and is reducing competition and predation on native fish by exotic species, in this case smallmouth bass. Anglers aren't happy about losing a potential fishing opportunity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and by extension the Colorado Division of Wildlife, doesn't appear interested in involving anglers in the project. But the project isn't going to stop, no matter how often a small handful of anglers revert to diatribes, inane disquisitions and personal attacks on Service and DOW employees who merely are doing their assigned jobs. We're not sure if there is a viable smallmouth sportfishery on the Colorado, but the feds don't help by acting as if it's a secret where the smallmouth are.

"Because the recovery program doesn't allow smallmouth bass to be re-stocked in the Grand Valley, any smallmouth caught are killed and then tested by a DOW researcher looking for specific isotope in an attempt to trace the fish's origins, said Pat Nelson, non-native fish removal coordinator from the Fish and Wildlife Service. The theory is that if you know what pond or ponds the fish are coming from, you can put stop the fish from escaping by putting a net across the opening or simply poisoning the fish before they escape. While the poison route is the least-expensive path and the one often followed by the DOW and the feds in recent years, it's ineffective if the ponds are fed by irrigation return ditches, which are chock full of catfish, suckers, and yes, bass. Poison a pond and the minute the water comes on, the fish are back."
"colorado water"
6:25:46 AM

Energy policy
Gary Hart was is Aspen yesterday talking about the U.S. and it's dependence on foreign oil, according to the Aspen Daily News. From the article, "The nation's reliance on foreign oil not only has environmental ramifications, but it also threatens the country's national security, former Sen. Gary Hart said in a speech in Aspen on Saturday. 'Our foreign policy is totally controlled by our dependence on foreign oil -- to our detriment,' Hart said. The former Democratic senator and one-time presidential candidate was speaking at Aspen Renewable Energy Day, an annual event that focuses on reducing fossil fuel dependence in favor of alternative fuels like solar and wind power. Hart warned that the nation's dependence on oil was driving wars like the current Iraq war and fueling a new generation of terrorists resentful of American occupation there. Reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil is key to increasing national security, he said."
"2008 pres"
6:13:33 AM

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