Coyote Gulch

Monday, July 30, 2007

North American Monsoon

From email from the Bureau of Reclamation (Dan Crabtree): "The recent monsoonal moisture in the Upper Gunnison Basin has kept Blue Mesa Reservoir at a fairly stable elevation through July resulting in the need for increased releases from the Aspinall Unit. On Tuesday July 31st releases from Crystal Reservoir will increase by 100 cubic feet per second (cfs) making flows in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Gunnison Gorge about 700 cfs."

5:01:05 PM

Mesopotamia: The Champions of Asia
Iraq the Model: "I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said hat today has been as exciting as one of those election days in Baghdad. Our national soccer team is playing for the Asian cup for the first time in its history. By comparison this is as if the American team is playing for the cup of Copa America against the team of Brazil or Argentina! But of course here in Iraq we care way more about soccer than Americans do. No offense meant of course!"

Congratulations!

10:07:15 AM

? for President?
Political Wire: "North Carolina 'appears headed to becoming the third state in the nation to abandon the winner-take-all method for awarding its electoral votes as the House tentatively agreed Thursday to shelve the method,' reports the AP. 'In its place, according to the measure approved on a largely party-line vote, would be a more proportional method that would reward the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each of the state's congressional districts. The Senate already has passed the measure, which would take effect in 2008. A final House vote could come Friday, then the bill would go to Gov. Mike Easley, a Democrat, just like the majority in the Legislature, which has backed the change.'"

Political Wire: "According to Think Progress, the Republican CNN/YouTube debate, originally planned for September 17, is now being rescheduled after two leading Republicans, former Gov. Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, indicated they were not planning on participating because of 'scheduling conflicts.'"

Talking Points Memo:

In any presidential campaign, critical media narratives develop around candidates, which are often tough to break. Al Gore, for example, was labeled a "serial exaggerator." It was a bogus story, but it dogged Gore throughout 2000, and raised doubts about his veracity. Reporters haven't picked up on it yet, but Rudy Giuliani is offering his critics the exact same storyline. The New York Daily News, for example, reports today:

It is Rudy Giuliani's favorite boast on the presidential campaign trail: "I cut taxes 23 times" as mayor of New York, he says, a claim inevitably met by applause. The impressive-sounding stat stars in radio ads this week in New Hampshire and Iowa, where the voiceover asserts that Giuliani "cut or eliminated 23 taxes." Trouble is, it's not really true, say tax-cutting allies of the former mayor, as well as experts at the city's Independent Budget Office and elsewhere.

To arrive at the number he likes to cite on the stump, Giuliani has to claim credit for tax cuts initiated by others, tax cuts he opposed, and in one instance, he counts one tax cut twice. Best of all, Giuliani includes a scuttled tax increase on his list ("We don't consider not raising a tax a tax cut," said Charles Brescher of the city's Independent Budget Office).
"2008 pres"
10:00:57 AM

Iraq
Captain's Quarters: "Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack of the center-left Brookings Institution take to the pages of the solidly-left New York Times with an unusual mission. The pair have recently returned from Iraq to study the military effort by the US, and they have some bad news for the Gray Lady's readers. We really have turned the corner in Iraq."

Talking Points Memo: "The Washington Post's David Ignatius poses a reasonable question: "How to extricate ourselves [from Iraq] in a way that minimizes the damage to the United States, its allies and Iraq?" Unfortunately, his proposed solutions aren't nearly as sensible as his question."
"2008 pres"
9:50:30 AM

Healthcare
SquareState.org "Our current health care 'system' is in crisis. Colorado consumers have seen skyrocketing premiums (82% increase 2000 - 2004 for families, 140% increase 2000 - 2005 for small employers) and plummeting benefits. So what has changed over the decades? Profit. We've seen a corporate take-over of healthcare and most people don't know what hit them. Ever wonder what is really driving up the cost of our healthcare?
"2008 pres"
9:47:49 AM

Dams and levees in a changing climate

Here's an opinion piece about the effects of climate warming on flood control projects, from The San Francisco Chronicle. From the article:

A warming climate threatens New Orleans with increasingly intense hurricanes and a rising sea level. Similarly, Sacramento is witnessing a long-term trend of increasingly high floods washing down from the Sierra. The limitations of conventional flood control will become ever more apparent as global warming-induced super-storms test dams and levees far beyond their intended limits. Fortunately there is a better way to deal with floods -- the "soft path" of flood-risk management.

This approach assumes all anti-flood infrastructure can fail and that this failure must be planned for. Instead of spending billions of dollars vainly trying to eliminate flooding, we need to recognize that floods will happen and learn to live with them as best we can. This means reducing the speed, size and duration of floods by restoring river meanders and wetlands, and by improving drainage. It means doing all we can to get out of floods' destructive path with improved warning and evacuation measures. It means developing plans to help communities recover from flood disasters. And it means discouraging development in areas that will inevitably flood. It also means protecting our most valuable assets. Houses can be raised on stilts, as along the Russian River. By removing levees that protect relatively low-value land, we can help free up funds to maintain essential levees protecting urbanized areas, such as Sacramento.

Here's the link to the report Before the Deluge: Coping with Floods in a Changing Climate from the International Rivers Network.
"colorado water"
9:34:55 AM

Immigration
Here's a look at the effects of stricter immigration laws in Colorado, from The Rocky Mountain News. From the article:

The effects of immigration enforcement were first felt last fall when Weld County farmers complained that they were running short of workers. Earlier that year, the state legislature passed a package of bills to curb illegal immigration. In southern Colorado, farmers contracted for prison inmates to work their fields because they feared the state's strict new immigration laws were keeping migrant laborers away. Some employers were especially concerned about a law that went into effect Jan. 1 that requires employers to verify Social Security numbers and maintain proof that their workers are in the country legally. Farmers and contractors believe that the political climate in Colorado and other Western states is keeping away immigrant workers - both legal and illegal.

For Richard Falcon, owner of a satellite dish company on South Federal Boulevard in Denver, fewer workers means fewer customers. He said business is down by more than 60 percent.
About 90 percent of his business is done with Hispanics, he said, some of them in the country illegally. Several of his customers from Greeley were either deported in the Dec. 12 raid of the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant that netted 261 workers, or have fled the state, he said.
"2008 pres"
7:34:26 AM

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