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Thursday, April 26, 2007
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Corruption
Josh Marshall: "Rep. Renzi (R-AZ): Two hundred grand here, two hundred grand there ... who can keep track?"
"2008 pres"
6:46:57 PM 
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Gay rights
Andrew Sullivan: "Another win for marriage equality in New England. Well, it isn't exactly civil marriage, but it is a form of 'spousal union' which gives all 'the same rights, responsibilities, and obligations as married couples'. The term 'spousal union' strikes me as a breakthrough - a euphemism that isn't really a euphemism."
"2008 pres"
6:40:44 PM
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Iraq
Riverbend pens a sad, sad, goodbye to Baghdad (and home).
Pew Research Center: "With battle lines drawn over legislation funding the Iraq war, the public is showing little appetite for compromise. Overall, a solid majority of Americans (59%) continue to say they want their representative to support a bill calling for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by August 2008, while just a third want their representative to vote against such legislation."
Colorado Confidential: "Colorado Senators [Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard] split their support for the Iraq-Afghanistan Emergency Supplemental bill today, which passed the Senate on a 51-48 vote, after passing the House of Representatives yesterday on a vote of 218-208.
"2008 pres"
6:13:13 PM
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? for President?
Mitt Romney (via the AP): "'It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person [Osama bin Laden],' Romney said.
Political Wire: "Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has already undergone a 'course correction' in the wake of Sen. Barack Obama's unexpected popularity, according to Time."
Political Wire: "Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign, 'becoming the most prominent Republican to desert the White House over the bungled firing of U.S. attorneys,' reports The Politico."
"2008 pres"
6:08:42 PM
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? for President?
Spot-on: "While most Republicans would rather support a candidate who opposed abortion rights and supported the Second Amendment, they also realize that, even after seven years of George W. Bush's religious-right mobilization efforts, Americans would be hard pressed to elect such a person. With notable exceptions, like the 2002 California governor's race, Republicans recognize that they, like the Democrats, are a minority party. So, yes, the Religious Right will vote for Rudy Giuliani just as it voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger in California in 2003 and again in 2006.
"Why? Republicans don't like being losers."
"2008 pres"
6:56:36 AM
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Corruption
Josh Marshall: "It's hard to get too surprised about this stuff anymore. But according to the Post, Karl Rove deputies gave GOP campaign briefings to top officials in at least 15 government agencies last year. Who's vulnerable, who's not and how you can use your agency's resources for the team effort -- that seems to have been the basic idea. Pretty much every department got a briefing. And oddly enough NASA too. That must have been an interesting one."
"2008 pres"
6:39:30 AM
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Iraq
Captain's Quarters: "The House rejected the message from General David Petraeus, the man the Senate sent just three months ago to command the American forces in Iraq, and voted for a supplemental spending bill that will require the start of an American withdrawal by October 1. It passed on the barest of majorities and has no hope of surviving a veto, but the Democrats insist that they will play this game of chicken all the way to its conclusion."
"2008 pres"
6:36:53 AM
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Snowpack
It's hard to sit here in waterlogged Denver and believe that much of Colorado is experiencing dry conditions, but that is the case, according to the Summit Daily News "reg". From the article, "The National Weather Service said more than 2 feet of snow fell in parts of the foothills west of Denver Tuesday, and some spots on the Eastern Plains got up to 5 inches of rain, more than the monthly average for April. But the statewide snowpack stood at only 76 percent of the 30-year average Wednesday, the same as a year ago. The total rose slightly from 73 percent from Monday. The South Platte and Arkansas river basins in eastern Colorado were at or slightly above 100 percent of average, but basins in western Colorado ranged from 57 percent to 82 percent. Colorado's mountain snowmelt provides much of the state's water and water for six other Western states...
"But the snowpack levels fell from early February to April. The culprit was drier-and warmer-than-normal weather in March. 'We saw a pretty significant decrease in snowpack in March,' said Mike Gillespie of the federal Natural Resource Conservation Service in Denver. Early runoff means the water may be gone by the time farmers need it later in the year. It also could bring rivers to their peak before rafters are ready to book their trips. The snow doesn't typically finish melting in the southwestern mountains until the first of July and mid-July in the northwestern mountains. Gillespie said the snow could be gone as early as the first of June in both areas this year."
Aspen Times: "Colorado snowpack figures as of April 25, with percentages of the 30-year average: Statewide - 76 percent; Gunnison Basin - 68 percent; Upper Rio Grande Basin - 83 percent; San Miguel/Dolores/Animas/San Juan Basin - 66 percent; Arkansas Basin - 101 percent; Colorado Basin - 82 percent; North Platte Basin - 76 percent; South Platte Basin - 110 percent; Yampa-White River Basin - 57 percent."
"colorado water"
5:49:13 AM
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Federal water grab on the Gunnison?
From the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, "Attorney General John Suthers has withdrawn the state's objections to stipulations created to resolve the dispute over the quantification of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park water right, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said Wednesday. The park has a federal reserve water right senior to the Blue Mesa Reservoir and other upstream water users on the Gunnison River. Some Western Slope legislators, including Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, are worried that the park's water right could curtail water use in the Upper Gunnison River Basin."
"colorado water"
5:40:19 AM
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South Platte 'running free'
The Central Colorado Water Conservancy District was busy yesterday hoping to store the extra water running down the South Platte River after Tuesday's storm, according to the Greeley Tribune "reg". From the article, "Rob Sakata of Sakata Farms in Brighton, one of the state's largest vegetable producers with operations in Adams and Weld counties, said water was backing into some of his fields along the river between Brighton and Fort Lupton. 'We just wish we had someplace to put all this water,' he said. That farming operation has been among those that have seen irrigation wells shut down the past two years because of a lack of water. Randy Ray, operations manager with the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District which administers those wells, said the South Platte was running free by mid-morning Wednesday, meaning there were no senior water right holders calling for water. That allowed the district to take water from the river and put it in storage for its recharge program. 'We've got people from Orchard to Windsor and down to Firestone filling everything we've got,' Ray said. He said most of the major reservoirs downstream on the river from Greeley were full or near capacity, which should help Central's position...
"Waterflow of the South Platte River is normally 300 to 400 cubic feet per second. Following are some of the measurements taken Wednesday along the river: Henderson: 8,000 cfs; Fort Lupton: 6,000 cfs; Kersey: 3,560 cfs."
Meanwhile out in Washington D.C. the U.S. Senate is debating the funding for the Platte River Recovery Program and Pathfinder Modification Authorization Act of 2007, also known as S. 752, according to the North Platte Bulletin. From the article, "A U.S. Senate committee is considering the money and the authority it will take to implement a three-state Platte River plan to benefit wildlife. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power heard testimony April 25 on the Platte River Recovery Program and Pathfinder Modification Authorization Act of 2007, also known as S. 752 -- another deliberate step in a process that began in 1997. 'We are pushing the Senate to act on it as soon as possible,' said Sen. Ben Nelson. 'Today's hearing...is an important first step and I'm pleased the committee leadership is giving the bill the attention it deserves.' S. 752 would authorize the Secretary of Interior to proceed, and it includes $157 million to carry out the plan. That cost would be shared 50/50 by the states and federal government. Through the program, the states would provide benefits for endangered and threatened wildlife species as well as scientific monitoring to evaluate the benefits. Sen. Chuck Hagel said the plan would not only improve wildlife habitat, but would protect both existing and future water users along the Platte."
More Coyote Gulch coverage of the Platte River Recovery program here.
"colorado water"
5:33:52 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 9:13:05 PM.
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