Coyote Gulch

Saturday, September 2, 2006

Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
ToTheRight.org asks, of the gubernatorial race, "Is it over yet?" They go on to say, "Ritter is already eroding Republican support slightly more than Ken Salazar did in 2004, and Ritter is almost to where Ken Salazar was with independent voters and already has the Democratic base as solidified as Salazar did. There are supposedly still 15 percent of independent voters undecided, but even if Ritter and Beauprez split them evenly, which would be amazing in this climate, Ritter would still surpass Salazar's margin of victory."
"denver 2006"
8:45:13 AM

Internet neutrality
MyDD: "There's lots of very cool electoral, political, and organizational news on the net neutrality front, including more public humiliation of net neutrality opponents. The video above is just one local story from Save the Internet's nationwide set of rallies over the past few days. Here's where we are in the fight.

"In September and October, we're going to see a massive push by telecom companies on net neutrality. They've been doing quiet lobbying through astroturf groups, but it's going to heat up dramatically. Included in this PR campaign will be a push by the Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras to talk about the issue in a way that's favorable to telecom companies. Majoras is a Bush crony and comes from big business, a sort of Michael Brown of the internet, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of backlash this potential move from the Bush administration provokes. One thing to note is that the Bush administration is apparently going to unmask itself as a net neutrality opponent. I imagine the telecom companies don't realize what they're doing here, and that Deborah Platt Majoras doesn't understand that she's putting herself in a very very public spotlight. But then, political insight hasn't been a strong suit of the telecom lobby.

"On our side, there have been grassroots lobbying efforts throughout August. There were rallies around the country today and yesterday in front of Senate offices, and four Senators came out in favor of net neutrality (Schumer, Jeffords, Harkin, and Dayton) this week. Tim Karr runs down the rallies. There was great local coverage of the incredible events in Detroit, New York, Buffalo, Fayetteville, Denver, Boston, Newark, Providence, Baltimore, Portland (ME), Seattle, Eau Claire and Milwaukee, Montpelier, Wilmington, Orlando, Honolulu, Louisville, Columbus, Madison, Spokane, Charleston, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe. Our Senate tally is updated here, so you can see where your Senator stands. Note all the waffling by the R's. That's not an accident."

Thanks to the Daily Kos for the link.
"2008 pres"
8:43:32 AM

Political Wire: "Only 31.9% of Americans currently identify themselves as Republicans, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll. The number of self-identified Democrats has grown slightly to 37.3%, and 30.8% of Americans call themselves unaffiliated -- the highest percentage since Rasmussen began releasing this data in January 2004. One caveat: the poll measures all adults, not Likely Voters. Republicans tend to fare better among samples of Likely Voters."
"2008 pres"
8:40:58 AM

Legal Marijuana?
Colorado Confidential: "Beverly Kinard has been battling drugs for over a decade. She was president of the Christian Drug Education Center, the director of Drug Watch Colorado, and an 'international delegate' for Drug Watch International. And now, she's an agent with Guarding Our Children Against Marijuana (GOCAM), a group that, according to federal officials, was responsible for sending out an e-mail that was mistaken as being from the government. Does this move signal grassroots opposition to an initiative that would legalize marijuana? Or, is it just an attempt to appear that way?"
"denver 2006"
8:39:48 AM

Dem convention in Denver?

Organized labor in Denver have decided to end their opposition to the city's bid to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "n a unanimous vote this week, the Denver Area Labor Federation laid over' a resolution adopted in April opposing the bid, said Leslie Moody, the federation's president. The federation, which represents more than 70,000 members, raised objections to the bid over Denver's lack of unionized hotels. The group also contended that elected Democrats weren't doing enough to support workers forming unions in hotels and other businesses in the region. 'They had been very unresponsive to supporting workers organizing' at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center, Moody said. 'That was what really put this over the top initially.' But Moody said that Democratic leaders, including Bill McMullen, of the Regional Transportation District, and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, have reached out to the federation."
"2008 pres"
8:35:15 AM

Immigration
Rocky Mountain News: "Concern that undocumented immigrants are underreporting crime has grown since Colorado passed a package of anti-illegal immigration laws that are being touted as the nation's toughest. Immigrant advocates say the new laws have produced a climate of fear in Colorado...
"2008 pres"
8:30:23 AM

Drought news

It's hard to wake up on such a cool early fall morning in Denver and think about drought. Coyote Gulch feels a duty to remind all Coloradoans that we're not out of the woods yet. Most of Colorado is still ranging from abnormally dry to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

We can thank the Southwest Monsoon for reservoir levels holding pretty well up in the mountains. In fact New Mexico and Arizona reservoirs have recovered a good deal as a result of this summer's monsoon. Rodolfo sends us visual proof that the monsoon has also blessed Northern Mexico with summer stream flow.
"colorado water"
8:25:38 AM

Fort Lyons water to Lowry?

Pure Cycle Corp has sealed the deal with High Plains A&M, LLC for the purchase of 60,000 acre feet of water, according to Trading Markets.com. From the article, "Friday, morning, Pure Cycle Corp., a provider of water and wastewater reclamation systems, revealed the purchase of about 60,000 acre-feet of Arkansas River water from High Plains A&M, LLC on August 31.The company said it acquired the senior water rights through the purchase of over 21,600 shares of the Fort Lyon Canal along with over 17,500 acres of land in southeastern Colorado. The company had earlier announced this transaction on May 10, 2006. In connection with the acquired assets, the company stated that it issued 3,000,000 shares of restricted common stock to the seller. Further, the company granted the seller the right to receive 10% of tap fees the company receives on the sale of the next 40,000 water taps...

Here's an earlier post from Coyote Gulch.
"colorado water"
8:08:28 AM

Global Warming

Counter Currents India: "It is not just the state of California that is bypassing the authority of the US government to take action on global warming. The mayors of more than 300 cities across the country have signed a Climate Protection Agreement in which they have pledged to meet the emissions-cutting timetable laid down by the Kyoto Protocol - regardless of what the Bush administration decides. Some of those cities, such as Seattle, which took the lead on drafting and lobbying for the agreement, are bastions of liberal politics and environmentalism, acting out their ideological convictions. Others, though, such as the exclusive Colorado ski resorts Vail and Aspen, are also motivated by a powerful self-interest. If global warming continues unabated, the Rocky Mountain snowpack will melt and there will be no skiing in Vail, Aspen or anywhere else by the end of this century. Seattle's Mayor, Greg Nickels, proposed the mayors' agreement whenKyoto came into effect at the start of last year. By June 2005, he had 140 signatories, and the number has more than doubled since...

"The agreement also contains a 12-point action plan, urging signatory cities to discourage sprawl, promote public transport, car-pooling and bicycle lanes, turn to alternative energy sources including alternative fuels for the municipal vehicle and bus fleet, plant lots of trees and introduce environmental education programmes in schools and community colleges. Seattle, in the Pacific Northwest, is the perfect poster-child for many of these initiatives, since it sits between two heavily forested mountain ranges and is surrounded by water. Despite a long history of environmentalism and commitment to public transport, it has been struggling with smog problems in recent years because of heavy car commuter traffic from the ever-expanding suburbs. The Colorado ski resorts, meanwhile, have taken robust action to convert to renewable energy to power their ski lifts, shops, hotels and administrative buildings. Vail just signed a deal to buy more than 150,000 megawatt-hours of wind power per year - the greenhouse gas-saving equivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the roads. Aspen, meanwhile, commissioned a study in April that revealed the severe damage done to the environment by private jets landing at its airport. It is now working to curtail air traffic."
"2008 pres"
7:53:19 AM

Recreation to be part of Colorado-Big Thompson?

Should recreation be an officially recognized priority for the Colorado-Big Thompson project? Interested parties are wrestling with the issue, according to the North Forty News. From the article, "Politically speaking, the waters at Horsetooth Reservoir have been pretty choppy this summer. Demands on the resource have been high from all sides, and some feel that recreation is getting short shrift. On one side of the water war, officials claim that the reservoir was managed as well as possible this year, considering the weather and demands from its priority users - agriculture and municipalities. On the other side, a private marina operator and the county parks department are frustrated and looking for answers. This summer's discontent could lead to efforts to recognize recreation as an official priority of the Colorado-Big Thompson project, which includes Horsetooth and other reservoirs. When Congress approved the project in 1937, the defined purposes were to provide water for agriculture and municipal/industrial use and to generate power. 'Nowhere in that scenario is recreation,' said Kara Lamb, spokesperson for the Bureau of Reclamation which owns the C-BT facilities."
"colorado water"
7:48:10 AM

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