Coyote Gulch

Friday, June 15, 2007

Green Mountain releases

From email from the Bureau of Reclamation (Kara Lamb): "As of this morning, we are bumping up incrementally every couple of hours. The schedule will continue in to tomorrow, as well...By Friday afternoon, flows in the Lower Blue should be around 900 cfs."
"colorado water"
7:44:57 AM

Women's rights
The Right's Field: "While campaigning in South Carolina, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) spoke out against abortion -- for rape victims. 'Rape is terrible. Rape is awful. Is it made any better by killing an innocent child? Does it solve the problem for the woman that's been raped? We need to protect innocent life. Period.'"
"2008 pres"
7:40:04 AM

? for President?
From ABCNews, "Within two months of his epiphany on this issue [Abortion], Romney appointed to a judgeship a Democrat who was an avowed supporter of abortion rights. In May 2005, Romney also declared his support for a House bill lifting President Bush's ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research -- a bill he now said he opposes."

eyeon08.com: "In light of the Kansas City National Right to Life convention, Sam Brownback has dropped the hammer on Mitt Romney. Brownback's political director says, "One would think that Mitt Romney is in training for an Olympic gold medal in verbal gymnastics, as his various political contortions on abortion are stunning in their timing and flexibility."

Talking Points Memo: "Rudy Giuliani takes indirect swipe at Bush, says we're lacking 'strong, bold, aggressive leadership.'"
"2008 pres"
7:17:03 AM

TalkLeft turns five
Happy 5th blogiversary to TalkLeft. Ms. Merritt writes, "I'm really amazed. I had no idea when I sat at the computer one weekend in June, 2002 to create TalkLeft that I'd still be doing this five years later. There's no turning back now."

7:03:12 AM

Immigration
Captain's Quarters: "It's baaaa-aaaaack. The immigration bill will return to the Senate floor next week after a a flurry of deals between Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, and the White House reinvigorated the compromise. Each party will get eleven amendments, and the White House has agreed to spend over $4 billion immediately to secure the border."
"2008 pres"
7:01:28 AM

Religion and politics
Andrew Sullivan: "The genius of America, it seems to me, is its capacity to include people of radically different worldviews within a loose, flexible and constantly adjusting constitutional system. Given the huge differences between, say, a born-again evangelical in Georgia and a pot-smoking post-boomer in Seattle, no single cultural strait-jacket can ever hold America together."

Sam Schulman (via Commentary Magazine), in a review of Christopher Hitchins new book, God is not Great, writes:

To our arsenal of defenses against future terrorist attacks, today's crop of professional atheists urge us to add a mistrust of religion in general, in whatever guise. Thus, according to books by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Daniel C. Dennett (Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon), and Sam Harris (Letter to a Christian Nation), responsibility for an event like 9/11 ought not to be assigned solely or at all to the small group of radical Islamists who perpetrated the attacks, much less to Islam as a whole, but rather ought to be shared among all religions, including the very moderate kinds of religion that exist in the United States and Europe.
"2008 pres"
6:58:56 AM

Arkansas River Basin Roundtable recap

Anglers are jumping into talks about managing storage and stream flows on the Arkansas River, according to The Mountain Mail. From the article:

Doug Krieger, Colorado Division of Wildlife senior aquatic biologist on the Arkansas River, Wednesday discussed qualities making a man-made body of water great for fishing. He spoke during a meeting of the Arkansas Basin Roundtable at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds. Krieger urged dam and reservoir builders to start thinking about fishing when creating water storage vessels. He acknowledged the primary purpose of the vessels is to provide irrigation water for farmers and municipal water for growing Colorado municipalities. "There are some aspects we know about fisheries we should consider when we are trying to diversify benefits we can get out of these projects," Krieger said...

Based on research commissioned by the Colorado Division of Wildlife in 2004, Krieger said the sport of fishing attracts about 6 million visitors to Colorado annually - about half of skiing, the biggest tourist attraction. Anglers from out of state spend an average of $141 a day in Colorado, he said, while in-state anglers spend $17 a day. Almost 70 percent of anglers use flat bodies of water - 75 percent of which are man-made reservoirs - rather than rivers, he added. "(Reservoirs) provide good habitat to work with in terms of providing a fishery," Krieger said.

As water managers push for government approval to build new reservoirs and enlarge existing ones on the Arkansas River, Krieger said there are several design and function considerations to take into account addressing needs of fishermen. Maximizing shorelines is one of the most important, he said. "Shorelines are really where it's at in terms of fisheries," he said. "That's where fish are feeding, that's where they are spawning." Another consideration is the depth and shape of the reservoir. Water bodies have photic zones where light penetrates and supports life, and aphotic zones where depth is too great for light penetration. Maximizing photic zones is a good rule of thumb to create lively fisheries, he said. After a reservoir is built, fishing can be taken into account during daily and seasonal operations. The amount of time water remains in a reservoir, placement of the outlet pipe, timing of releases and waterline fluctuations can all be managed to maximize fish health and angler access.
"colorado water"
6:49:36 AM

South Metro Water Supply Authority master plan

The Southeast Business Partnership is lauding the South Metro Water Supply Authority's new Regional Water Master Plan [pdf], according to YourHub.com. From the article:

The Southeast Business Partnership (SEBP) heralded the adoption of a regional water master plan by the South Metro Water Supply Authority (SMWSA), a regional water entity that plans, develops and sources renewable water for Douglas and Arapahoe Counties. SEBP also recognized the positive impacts the plan's adoption will have on the region's continued economic development opportunities. SMWSA's plan comes on the heels of a comprehensive effort on the part of south metro business and community leaders, including the Southeast Business Partnership, aimed at building the area's economic competitiveness and maintaining and improving the standard of living for the families living there. "The adoption of a comprehensive plan aimed at increasing the availability of sustainable water supplies is a crucial step in the evolution of economic opportunities in the south metro area," said John Lay, president of the Southeast Business Partnership. "We look forward to working with the South Metro Water Supply Authority as it implements this groundbreaking strategy.
"colorado water"
6:42:00 AM

? for President?
Here's an inside look at several of the candidates running for President, from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
"2008 pres"
6:24:21 AM

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