Coyote Gulch

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Edwards for president?
Yahoo!: "Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race Wednesday a day earlier than he'd planned, prodded by an Internet glitch to launch a candidacy focused on health care, taxes and other domestic issues. The North Carolina Democrat's campaign accidentally went live with his election Web site a day before an announcement Thursday that was supposed to use hurricane-ravaged New Orleans as a backdrop."
"2008 pres"
6:49:06 PM

Patents
Joseph E Stiglitz (via BMJ.com): "Drug companies spend more on advertising and marketing than on research, more on research on lifestyle drugs than on life saving drugs, and almost nothing on diseases that affect developing countries only. This is not surprising. Poor people cannot afford drugs, and drug companies make investments that yield the highest returns. The chief executive of Novartis, a drug company with a history of social responsibility, said 'We have no model which would [meet] the need for new drugs in a sustainable way ... You can't expect for-profit organizations to do this on a large scale.'"

Thanks to Doc Searls for the link.
"2008 pres"
6:46:42 PM

McCain for president?
Political Wire: "The latest Evans-Novak Political Report suggests the Iraq war is becoming a burden to at least one 2008 Republican presidential candidate. 'The decline in the polls of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), as measured against Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), reflects more than declining Republican popularity nationally in the weeks after the election. It connotes public disenchantment with McCain's aggressive advocacy of a surge of up to 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq. Unless the additional troops show immediate benefits, President George W. Bush's determination to put more boots on the ground is feared by Republicans as another political burden to bear.'"
"2008 pres"
6:37:23 PM

It's quite a fishery down there now

Here's a background piece about the issues around Black Canyon National Park from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. They write, "The dams eliminated the Gunnison River's natural hydrograph through the canyon, evening out flows during spring runoff, when the river should be raging with floodwater, said Ken Stahlnecker, chief of resource stewardship and science at Black Canyon. The gorge used to be the Gunnison's transition zone between warm water and cold water, but the dams cooled the river at the expense of native fish species. 'Now we see more of the trout species, rainbow and brown primarily, and it's quite a fishery down there now,' he said. The natural hydrograph needs to be maintained because it's the signal for fish to spawn, and it flushes the river channel of debris, said Wendy McDermott, executive director of the High Country Citizens Alliance.

Thanks to the Ditch and Reservoir Company Alliance for the link.
"colorado water"
6:30:24 PM

Energy policy: Green fracing

The Denver Post is reporting that the oil company planning to drill on Grand Mesa in the Grand Junction and Palisade watersheds plans to go green. From the article, "The company planning to drill for oil and gas on the slopes that hold the drinking-water source for Palisade and Grand Junction has promised not to use the toxic substances that are generally pumped into the ground to fracture rock formations. Instead, Genesis Oil & Gas will put a 'green' slurry into the watershed on the Grand Mesa. It will be a mix of more innocuous substances such as citrus oils and other organic materials. What is being called 'green fracing' is an attempt to push more environmentally friendly fluids into the ground under high pressure to fracture the rock and allow oil and gas to reach wells. More companies are switching to green frac fluids on Colorado's Western Slope, especially in areas close to residents or drinking-water supplies."
"2008 pres"
6:34:13 AM