Coyote Gulch

Monday, January 29, 2007

Internet campaign
Political Wire: "The Politico looks at the 2008 presidential campaign on the Web: 'Political Internet strategists are now in a fevered race to make their sites faster, smarter and better. This is one medium where stealing your opponents' ideas is not only encouraged, it is also a necessity. Even Edwards' Web site, widely touted as the most advanced presidential online presence, is an amalgamation of YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, taking from the best of each. His site maintains links to those sites and others...A campaign could be setting itself up for failure if it does not have the online resources available.'"
"denver 2007"
6:48:00 PM

Western primary?
Western Democrat: "A little while back I wrote about how Illinois moving up to February 5th could nuke the entire Western Primary. That's nothing compared to what will happen if California moves up their primary from June to February 5...

"If the entire interior West were to vote on February 5 (which isn't a done deal, but is getting more likely each week) it would put 178 delegates up for grabs, Illinois would put up 133, California would have 322. Talk about making the Western Primary irrelevant fast."
"2008 pres"
6:50:49 AM

Iraq
Juan Cole: "Well, a big battle took place at the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Saturday night into Sunday, but there are several contradictory narratives about its significance. Iraqi authorities, claimed that the Iraqi army killed a lot of the militants (250) but only took 25 casualties itself. The Shiite governor of Najaf implied that the guerrillas were Sunni Arabs and had several foreign Sunni fundamentalist fighters ('Afghans') among them. He said that they based themselves in an orchard recently purchased by Baathists. Other sources said that the militants were Shiites. I'd take the claim of numbers killed with a large grain of salt, though the Iraqi forces did have US close air support. I infer that the guerrillas shot down one US helicopter."
"2008 pres"
6:46:03 AM

? for president?
Ed Cone: "NYT says the quickly-debunked double smear of Obama and Hillary 'illustrates how easily dubious and politically charged information can spread through the constant chatter of cable news commentary, talk radio programs and political Web sites.'"

The Right's Field: "Filmmaker Robert Greenwald and political strategist qua blogger Cliff Schecter have joined together to launch The REAL McCain. The REAL McCain is an incredible new site that combines a blog authored by Schecter and short films by Greenwald to be a clearinghouse for those wanting an education on who John McCain is and why he needs to be recognized as the fraud that he is."

Captain's Quarters: "Attempting to defuse a controversy that threatened his claim to Republican conservatism, Governor Mitt Romney acknowledged that his views on abortion had changed during his years of public service. At the National Review's Conservative Summit, he gave his explanation of his transformation."

The Bill Richardson Blog: "Gov. Richardson wasn't kidding when he said he would out-work anyone and make the most of his status as the race's only Westerner. He's started campaigning in newly-important Nevada, whose primary moved up for '08. He[base ']s the first candidate to announce campaign staff in the Silver State, too, and the first to accept invitations to two candidate forums there."
"2008 pres"
6:29:10 AM

Johnson for Council District 5?

Councilwoman Marcia Johnson announced yesterday that she will stand for re-election in May, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Denver City Councilwoman Marcia Johnson announced Sunday that she will be running for re-election to represent District 5. Johnson made public her decision to run for a second term at a reception in a Park Hill home surrounded by about 50 of her supporters, Johnson's campaign chairwoman, Dianna Vigil, said. 'I have unfinished business,' Johnson said, referring to two projects she has been working on during her first term - the revitalization of Colfax Avenue east of Colorado Boulevard and the Westerly Creek Connection Project."
"denver 2007"
6:23:02 AM

Vote!

You can still drop off your ballot for the special election, according to DenverGov. They write, "The following locations will be available to drop off ballots: Monday January 29th ; 10:00 am to 7:00 PM . Election Day, Tuesday January 30; 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. The locations are: Athmar Recreation Center, Barnum Recreation Center, District 3 Police Station, Eisenhower Recreation Center, Harvey Park Recreation Center, Montbello Recreation Center, Montclair Recreation Center, Scheitler Recreation Center, Tattered Cover Bookstore, Downtown and on E. Colfax Ave. Wellington Webb Municipal Office Building. In addition, voters can drop their ballots off at: Denver Election Commission, 303 West Colfax Ave. Weekdays beginning Jan 16, 8:00 am to 7:00 PM and 7:00 am to 7:00 PM on Election Day. The Election Commission will also have curbside drop-off on Court Place between Colfax Ave. and 14th Street on Election Day."
"denver 2007"
6:15:15 AM

Immigration
The Colorado Latinos: Forging the Future conference was held over the weekend in Denver, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said Sunday that several immigration bills passed during a special legislative session last year are having unintended consequences, which he vowed to fix during the current session. But Romanoff, speaking at the start of a two-day gathering of Latino activists from across the state, reaffirmed his belief that passing the measures - which are designed to crack down on illegal immigration - was the right thing to do...

"Several speakers touched on what they said were the harmful consequences of the new laws. One - which requires law enforcement officers to notify federal authorities of suspected illegal immigrants - has led to increased incidents of racial profiling, said Lisa Duran, the executive director of Rights for All People. Another law - requiring some state agencies to deny services to adults who cannot prove their legal status - has hurt some of Colorado's poorest and caused headaches for legal immigrants and U.S. citizens who have trouble producing one of the types of identification used to verify legal status, Duran said. As a result, some parents have given up on seeking services for their children, even though the law applies only to adults. 'This system is broken,' she said of America's immigration policies, 'and it needs to be fixed. But not on the backs of the most vulnerable in the system.'"

Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News.
"2008 pres"
6:07:57 AM

1,4-dioxane at Lowry

Officials are wondering how a plume of 1,4-dioxane in the groundwater near the Lowry Landfill came to be, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "No one is certain why a probable human carcinogen is ending up in the groundwater near Arapahoe County's Lowry Landfill - Colorado's largest Superfund toxic-waste site. The chemical 1,4-dioxane is used to stabilize industrial solvents and has caused cancer in lab animals at high levels. In the fall of 2003, 1,4-dioxane was detected in a monitoring well a mile from the old landfill. That set off a three-year investigation, in which 13 wells were drilled into private property, and a plume of 1,4-dioxane was discovered in groundwater as far north as the Murphy Creek Golf Course - about 2.5 miles from the landfill. The matter likely will be part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's five- year review of the site, which is expected to be released within a week. The release has been delayed four months because it has been through a heavy vetting process, say EPA officials. Levels in the wells have ranged from undetectable to 42 parts per billion. The state standard for 1,4-dioxane in groundwater and surface water is 6.1 parts per billion. Officials say the chemical has not been found in drinking water, but a plume in groundwater is a concern - especially to a community watchdog group. 'To date, everyone is saying no one is dying and no one is sick,' said Bonnie Rader of Citizens for Lowry Landfill Environmental Action Now. 'We are saying it doesn't belong there,' Rader said. 'The people in Murphy Creek should be concerned that the chemicals are there at all.' State and federal regulators disagree about why 1,4-dioxane is in the groundwater. Federal regulators speculate the chemical is left over from when treated wastewater from the site was pumped into the ground instead of being sent to the metro area wastewater treatment facility, as it is now. That water wasn't required to be treated for 1,4-dioxane, said Bonnie Lavelle, EPA project manager. It is now."
"colorado water"
5:50:14 AM

Global warming?

According to Fox News, "Later this week in Paris, climate scientists will issue a dire forecast for the planet that warns of slowly rising sea levels and higher temperatures. But that may be the sugarcoated version. Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers. Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations: They 'don't take into account the gorillas - Greenland and Antarctica,' said Ohio State University earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson, a polar ice specialist. 'I think there are unpleasant surprises as we move into the 21st century.' Michael MacCracken, who until 2001 coordinated the official U.S. government reviews of the international climate report on global warming, has fired off a letter of protest over the omission. The melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are a fairly recent development that has taken scientists by surprise. They don't know how to predict its effects in their computer models. But many fear it will mean the world's coastlines are swamped much earlier than most predict.

"Others believe the ice melt is temporary and won't play such a dramatic role. That debate may be the central one as scientists and bureaucrats from around the world gather in Paris to finish the first of four major global warming reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel was created by the United Nations in 1988. After four days of secret word-by-word editing, the final report will be issued Friday. The early versions of the report predict that by 2100 the sea level will rise anywhere between 5 and 23 inches. That's far lower than the 20 to 55 inches forecast by 2100 in a study published in the peer-review journal Science this month. Other climate experts, including NASA's James Hansen, predict sea level rise that can be measured by feet more than inches. The report is also expected to include some kind of proviso that says things could be much worse if ice sheets continue to melt. The prediction being considered this week by the IPCC is 'obviously not the full story because ice sheet decay is something we cannot model right now, but we know it's happening,' said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate panel lead author from Germany who made the larger prediction of up to 55 inches of sea level rise. 'A document like that tends to underestimate the risk,' he said."
"2008 pres"
5:35:39 AM

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