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Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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American Library Association: "Ever-growing patron demand for computer and Internet services in U.S. public libraries has stretched existing Internet bandwidth, computer availability, and building infrastructure to capacity, according to a new study Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2006-2007, conducted by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at Florida State University (FSU)."
"2008 pres"
6:43:24 PM 
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Bill Richardson (via The Huffington Post): "Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have said that all the candidates have about the same position on Iraq. Well, that is just not true. I would pull all of our troops out as quickly as possible. I would not leave any combat troops behind. They all would leave troops behind indefinitely -- up to 75,000 by some estimates. That is a serious difference; American lives hang in the balance."
"2008 pres"
6:38:02 PM
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Talking Points Memo: "Rudy Guiliani has seen some of his poll numbers drop precipitously over the course of 2007."
Andrew Sullivan: "On Monday, John McCain gained four points in USA Today/Gallup; on Tuesday, he gained six points in CBS/NYT; today, the WPo finds McCain in second place with [Fred Thompson].
Political Wire: "Just five days after officially jumping into the Republican presidential race, Fred Thompson is in a statistical dead heat with Rudy Giuliani, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research poll. Giuliani leads Thompson, 28% to 27%, nationally among registered Republicans, well within the poll's 5 percentage point margin of error."
Political Wire: "A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina shows that Sen. Hillary Clinton maintains a strong lead in all three states. John Edwards is a close second in Iowa, tied for second with Sen. Barack Obama in New Hampshire and trailing Obama in South Carolina...In the Republican race, Mitt Romney holds a clear lead in Iowa and a slimmer lead in New Hampshire, while Fred Thompson is the leader in South Carolina."
"2008 pres"
6:08:33 PM
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Here's a look at new wilderness legislation, from Colorado Confidential. From the article:
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette's (D-Colo.) proposed Colorado Wilderness Act of 2007 will if passed follow some lightly legal trails by forcing the federal government to knuckle under to state water law in the areas covered by the legislation. DeGette is introducing a bill in Congress to designate 1.65 [million] new acres of mostly Bureau of Land Management land in Colorado as federally protected wilderness.
Previous federal wilderness legislation came armed with what are known as federal reserved water rights. This meant that if the federal government wanted to claim a water right from streams emerging in or flowing through a wilderness area, it dated those rights from the time of the creation of the federal land on which it was located. This was usually well before there were even states in the West to set aside water rights. Since state water law calls for "first-in-time, first-in-right," wilderness designation would give the federal government held a big hammer in the water-challenged region.
But, DeGette says: "The legislation features new water rights legislation adopting language similar to water language included in the establishment of the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The language states that the federal government must file all water rights claims within the state of Colorado water rights system and abide by all Colorado water laws and regulations."
More from Colorado Confidential: "U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) will introduce her omnibus Colorado Wilderness Bill next week to designate 62 areas of the state covering 1.65 million acres of public land as congressionally protected wilderness. The proposal would protect about 40,500 acres on the top and walls of the Roan Plateau, which is currently the focus of controversial oil and gas development. DeGette has been promoting a version of this proposal, which includes mostly lower elevation canyon lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management since 1999. But while the bill has languished, DeGette says that with the increased support within Colorado, along with the Democratic control of Congress, chances for passage are better now."
"colorado water"
6:06:30 PM
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Here's an update on the Center for Biological Diversity's lawsuit against the Department of Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over 55 endangered species, from The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
An Arizona-based environmental group intends to sue the federal government over alleged mismanagement of endangered species, including a small bird that makes its home in the San Luis Valley. At the end of last month, the Center for Biological Diversity filed notice stating the Department of Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have violated the listing and critical habitat provisions of the Endangered Species Act for 55 species. The southwestern willow flycatcher, one of the species in the notice, makes its home alongside rivers in Colorado and six other southwestern states. It was listed as an endangered species in 1995. The center claims that when the Fish and Wildlife Service issued its final ruling on critical habitat protection for the bird, Interior and White House officials ignored wildlife scientists and reduced the amount of territory necessary to protect the bird.
That 2005 ruling designated 737 miles of floodplain, or 120,000 acres, in five southwestern states as critical habitat for the bird. Critical habitat is designated by the Secretary of the Interior as habitat that is essential to the conservation of a species and may require special management considerations or protection. The 2005 ruling excluded the San Luis Valley from any such designation. The decision narrowed the habitat to be protected from a 2004 proposal that called for protecting 376,000 acres, including more than 68,000 acres in Colorado. The 2004 proposal would have designated critical habitat along an 87-mile segment of the Rio Grande and another 29 miles along the Conejos River. Kieran Suckling, the center's policy director, said he hoped a judge would have agency scientists reexamine the 2005 ruling. He said he expected the center to file in federal court in either Arizona, California or New Mexico.
"2008 pres"
6:33:22 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:25:25 PM.
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