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Tuesday, May 1, 2007
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From the North Denver News, "Illinois Senator Barrack Obama leads New York Senator Hillary Clinton in a new national match-up, 32%-30%. John Edwards nets 17%, while the rest of the field languishes below 3% in Democratic presidential primary polling. Obama leads with voters under 40, and a stunning 19 point margin among independent voters likely to vote in Democratic primaries. Rassmussen notes that Edwards tests best against Republicans, an odd turn at best.
"2008 pres"
6:42:14 PM 
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Oliver Willis: "I still hate the word 'netroots' but it is what it is."
"2008 pres"
6:36:35 PM
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Josh Marshall: "Shock of the Day: Bush Interior Department appointee resigns rather than face an oversight committee hearing next week. It's Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at Interior. For your reference, she's the one who, in addition to sharing government reports with industry lobbyists, also shared confidential Interior Department documents with a 'virtual friend' she met on an internet chat site. MacDonald reportedly commisserated with said 'virtual friend' whose opinions she trusted over those of government scientists."
"2008 pres"
6:29:55 PM
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Josh Marshall: "Bush: Dem Iraq bill is 'prescription for chaos.' Look who's talking ..."
"2008 pres"
6:26:32 PM
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From Squarestate.net, "I just got back from the Immigration March that went through the streets of Denver. Compared to last year, the crowds were smaller. However, they were also younger and a bit more angry. This past year they have seen several raids in the local area that have severly impacted families and communities. The message again this year is for Congress to work on a Comprehensive Immigration Reform. In the meantime, ICE should halt the raids. To me, and the other marchers, it makes no sense to have raids while Congress sits on their butts and ignores the subject."
"2008 pres"
6:09:09 PM
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Immigrants plan to march today to protest recent ICE raids and other enforcement actions, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "When 75,000 people marched to the state Capitol last May 1, the objective was to give a human face to the immigration issue and to urge Congress to act. A year later, the level of urgency is much higher, yet Congress is no closer to confronting the dilemma of what to do with 12 million illegal immigrants who have made the U.S. their home. 'It's very, very important this year to march,' said Georgina, who nine years ago crossed the border from Mexico illegally to work in the U.S. 'This year it's very necessary because we have to stop the raids and stop the repression.' While progress on federal legislation has stalled, last December's Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on Swift meat-packing plants in Greeley and in five other cities have inflamed anxieties in an already vulnerable population. Julien Ross, a spokesman for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, said the march planned today in Denver will focus on the need for legislation to normalize life for the millions of workers already embedded in the economy...
"Somali refugees as well as representatives from the Muslim American Society, the Colorado Council of Churches and several other groups are participating in what has been called the Second Annual Pro-Immigrant National Day of Action beginning at 10 a.m. at Lincoln Park at 11th Avenue and Mariposa Street...
"While activists on both sides of the immigration debate remain furiously polarized, a USA Today/Gallup Poll released last month found growing support nationwide for measures that would allow immigrants to remain here. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said persons in the country illegally should be given an opportunity to become U.S. citizens. Former Denver Mayor Federico Peña said the American people are far ahead of their leaders in understanding the immigration issue...
"Peña said the only reasonable, economically feasible solution is for Congress to provide a path for those here illegally to achieve legal status or citizenship by demonstrating competency in English and an understanding of our governmental system, and paying some kind of fine for their illegal entry into the country. But then, he said, 'we have to draw a line in the sand' and stop illegal immigration. He proposed developing biometric identification systems for workers, hiring more inspectors to monitor worksites across the country and imposing severe penalties for any employer who hires people here illegally."
Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "enver and other cities across the nation will host another round of marches today to demonstrate that the campaign for immigration reform is still under way. Organizers don't expect the massive turnouts of last May 1, including an estimated 75,000 people in Denver. They say that fallout from highly publicized raids by immigration agents and Colorado's push to curb illegal immigration have combined to discourage public displays of dissent, particularly among people who crossed the border illegally...
"Besides street demonstrations, activists are employing other tactics, including letter campaigns, voter-registration drives and lobbying to promote a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S...
"At the same time, illegal immigration opponents have shifted their focus. Last year, their efforts led to the enactment of state laws aimed at curbing illegal immigration. This year, they are monitoring how the new immigration laws are being implemented statewide. Among the measures was HB 1023, which requires an identity check for those seeking state- funded benefits. It was touted as one of the toughest measures in the country...
"Some advocates are rallying around the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act, which would allow some to apply for legal permanent residency and eventually U.S. citizenship. It would require immigrants to pay a fine, go to the end of the visa line, clear criminal and security background checks, meet English and civic requirements and pay all taxes, among other things...
"Marchers will meet at 10 a.m. at Lincoln Park, West 11th Avenue and Mariposa Street. They'll start walking at 10:30 a.m., passing the Capitol, before arriving at City of Cuernavaca Park at 19th and Platte streets."
"2008 pres"
6:41:05 AM
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According to this article from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), "the Arctic's ice cover is retreating more rapidly than estimated by any of the 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in preparing its 2007 assessments.
"The study, Arctic Sea Ice Decline: Faster Than Forecast? [pdf] will appear tomorrow in the online edition of Geophysical Research Letters. It was led by Julienne Stroeve of the NSIDC and funded by the National Science Foundation, which is NCAR's principal sponsor, and by NASA. 'While the ice is disappearing faster than the computer models indicate, both observations and the models point in the same direction: the Arctic is losing ice at an increasingly rapid pace and the impact of greenhouse gases is growing,' says NCAR scientist Marika Holland, one of the study's co-authors. The authors compared model simulations of past climate with observations by satellites and other instruments. They found that, on average, the models simulated a loss in September ice cover of 2.5 percent per decade from 1953 to 2006. The fastest rate of September retreat in any individual model was 5.4 percent per decade. (September marks the yearly minimum of sea ice in the Arctic.) But newly available data sets, blending early aircraft and ship reports with more recent satellite measurements that are considered more reliable than the earlier records, show that the September ice actually declined at a rate of about 7.8 percent per decade during the 1953-2006 period...
"The study indicates that, because of the disparity between the computer models and actual observations, the shrinking of summertime ice is about 30 years ahead of the climate model projections. As a result, the Arctic could be seasonally free of sea ice earlier than the IPCC-projected timeframe of any time from 2050 to well beyond 2100. The authors speculate that the computer models may fail to capture the full impact of increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Whereas the models indicate that about half of the ice loss from 1979 to 2006 was due to increased greenhouse gases, and the other half due to natural variations in the climate system, the new study indicates that greenhouse gases may be playing a significantly greater role. There are a number of factors that may lead to the low rates of simulated sea ice loss. Several models overestimate the thickness of the present-day sea ice and the models may also fail to fully capture changes in atmospheric and oceanic circulation that transport heat to polar regions...
"Although the loss of ice for March is far less dramatic than the September loss, the models underestimate it by a wide margin as well. The study concludes that the actual rate of sea ice loss in March, which averaged about 1.8 percent per decade in the 1953 -2006 period, was three times larger than the mean from the computer models. March is typically the month when Arctic sea ice is at its most extensive. The Arctic is especially sensitive to climate change partly because regions of sea ice, which reflect sunlight back into space and provide a cooling impact, are disappearing. In contrast, darker areas of open water, which are expanding, absorb sunlight and increase temperatures. This feedback loop has played a role in the increasingly rapid loss of ice in recent years, which accelerated to 9.1 percent per decade from 1979 to 2006 according to satellite observations."
"2008 pres"
6:17:21 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 12:54:22 PM.
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