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Tuesday, June 12, 2007
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Colorado Pols: "Law enforcement types are quick to point out that the many protest groups who will self-converge on Denver next August will lack any kind of effective command and control (that's the point with anarchists as we understand it), making it doubtful that they would be able to keep their end of such a bargain anyway."
"2008 pres"
5:48:10 PM 
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Captain's Quarters: "In what appears to be a fatal blow to the Palestinian Authority, Hamas launched a large-scale attack on northern Gaza today. They claim to have captured key security positions from the PA and Fatah, and in response, Fatah has threatened to withdraw from the PA altogether."
Captain's Quarters: "Analysts have begun warning that Pervez Musharraf may not remain in power much longer, and that the American effort against Islamist terror groups may suffer as a result. The Pakistani strongman looks decidedly less strong at this point, and some question whether the Pakistani Army remains loyal at the moment, let alone in the future."
"2008 pres"
5:39:59 PM
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Andrew Sullivan calls out Neocons as to why they are not advocating a pullout from Iraq. He writes:
The raging and chaotic civil war in Gaza (and incipiently in the West Bank) is hard to deny. Marty Peretz sees the same pattern as Iraq. So here's a question for Marty: if Arab cultures are completely immune to democratic life, as he has long argued, why does he support the coercive democratization of Iraq with the blood of young Americans? By his own logic, isn't it doomed to abject failure? And isn't staying there therefore a fool's errand? This is one aspect of neoconservative thought on Iraq I still haven't fully understood (and I was exposed to and often impressed by the frankness of many neocons when it came to the limits of Arab-Muslim political culture). By neoconservative logic, the U.S. has undertaken about the least viable, most intractable, self-defeating task on Planet Earth. Why? Once the WMD rationale was exposed as a delusion, why haven't neoconservatives cited the pathologies of Arab culture to argue for withdrawal?
Blogs for Bush is running an old video of Al Gore delivering a speech on Iraq and the first President Bush.
"2008 pres"
5:37:59 PM
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Pollster.com: "Three different analyses in the last two days have looked at the demographic differences in recent presidential polls. While each has a different angle and emphasis, they collectively make intriguing and somewhat contradictory conclusions about Senator Hillary Clinton and her potential appeal to women."
Political Wire: "In New Hampshire, Mitt Romney "has jumped to the head of the pack" in the Republican presidential nomination race, according to a new CNN/WMUR poll. Romney drew 28% support with Giuliani and McCain tied for second at 20%. Fred Thompson is fourth with just 11%. The remainder of the GOP's presidential contenders were in the low single digits."
"2008 pres"
5:31:11 PM
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The Colorado Supreme Court ruled yesterday that counties can impose regulations on oil and gas development as long as the rules don't interfere with those set by the State Oil and Gas Commission, according to the Denver Post. From the article:
In declining to hear an appeal of a Gunnison County case, the court left standing a December appellate-court decision enabling counties to impose regulations that supplement those set by the state Oil and Gas Commission. Gunnison County has enacted rules on drainage and erosion, constructing access roads, traffic, wildlife, livestock grazing, recreation, surface water, wildfire and geologic hazards and emergency response, county officials said. "We can't usurp any of the state's authority, but there are areas that our local citizens have expressed concerns about that the state either doesn't regulate or doesn't regulate to folks' satisfaction," said Gunnison County Manager Matthew Birnie.
Industry officials, though, say oil and gas exploration already is regulated sufficiently, and they fear the ruling could result in a county-by-county "patchwork quilt" of rules that could hinder energy development. "It could very well discourage exploration in particular areas," said Greg Schnake, spokesman for the state oil and gas commission."[...]
"We want to get this mineral out of the ground, so these are not anti-oil-and-gas-operation regulations," said county attorney David Baumgarten. "They are really regulations to ameliorate the consequences." The decision probably won't discourage energy-exploration companies, but it could increase costs and approval time, said Andrew Bremner of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States.
More coverage from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. They write:
"In practical terms, it means industry and the state are completely mistaken in thinking that local governments cannot regulate the impact of oil and gas development," said Barbara Green, a Boulder attorney who assisted Gunnison County in the case, which began when the county sought to regulate drilling. The ruling doesn't mean that counties or other local governments can prohibit drilling, but it could allow them to deny certain drilling applications, Green said. The decision will drive some of the most vexing issues about oil and gas drilling into local hands, "the ones best equipped to deal with them," Rifle Mayor Keith Lambert said...
The appellate court ruling left standing recognizes eight areas in which local regulations might not be pre-empted by state or federal law: water quality, soil erosion, wildlife and vegetation, livestock, geologic hazards and cultural and historic resources, wildfire protection, recreation and permit duration. In each of those areas, the local government contemplating regulations would be required to seek court hearings to determine whether the regulations would conflict with state or federal goals by impeding or destroying them. Taking up those regulations could mean significant litigation," said Mesa County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca. "All it does is allow us to go to court and prove we have authority in one of" the eight areas in which counties can regulate, said Craig Meis, chairman of the Mesa County Commission. "Certainly if there is a piece maybe we need to adopt code in an area where we are not getting compliance, but it has got to be in one" of those areas.
District Judge Steven Patrick found that Gunnison County was preempted from requiring mitigation of the effects of drilling, financial guarantees and record-keeping exceeding state requirements. Patrick's ruling was upheld by the appellate court, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
"2008 pres"
5:52:25 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:01:50 PM.
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