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Thursday, November 1, 2007
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Colorado Confidential: "The U.S. spends twice per capita what other developed countries spend on health care, but its residents actually receive less of it, according to a survey published Thursday on the Web site of Health Affairs, a peer-reviewed journal in Washington, D.C. The study of 12,000 adults in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the U.S. was conducted by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund, a private health-care policy foundation."
"2008 pres"
7:09:06 PM 
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Captain's Quarters: "As the casualty rates in Iraq for American and Iraqi soldiers continue to decline, the focus shifts to civilian casualties. In order to stabilize the country, the security forces have to drive attacks and deaths down to the point where native security forces can take control and allow the US to concentrate on rebuilding efforts. In October, the Coalition showed continued progress towards that goal, with civilian casualties dropping to a level not seen since 2005."
"2008 pres"
6:50:58 PM
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New West: "The House voted 244-166 to reform a 135-year-old mining law Thursday afternoon, and force the hardrock mining industry to pay royalties on minerals extracted from public lands - just like the coal, oil and gas industries. The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act (HR 2262) requires miners on federal lands to pay royalties of 8 percent of gross income on new mining operations, four percent on existing operations. Republicans like Rep. Bill Sali of Idaho, predicted that the bill will destroy the American mining industry, exporting jobs and the industry to overseas countries that have little or no environmental regulations and have child labor in the mines. The White House has threatened a veto, saying that placement of royalties on existing mining operations invites lawsuits. The House vote is not big enough to override the threatened veto."
"2008 pres"
6:41:57 PM
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Jesus' General: "[S]tatistics can be used to justify ANYTHING. All you have to do is cherry-pick, ignore confounding factors, etc. I have been writing on another thread regarding all the misconceptions Rudy's misuse of these numbers is bringing up. First, the parameters must be the same. Rudy is using a set of figures from Britain that comes from their version of the CDC. The US numbers are from a right-wing think-tank paper that doesn't even claim to use actual numbers to justify the result. Apples to hand grenades anyone?"
Andrew Sullivan: "McCain goes back to Woodstock to battle Clinton. He has a small point about pork-barrel spending. But do we really have to re-fight the 1960s every four years?"
"2008 pres"
6:39:01 PM
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Here's a article looking at support for the H.R. 2242 [pdf], the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007, from The Rocky Mountain Chronicle. From the article:
By mid-October, the Cache la Poudre River had dribbled to a practically dry and motionless stream twice in less than one week because of water diversions for cities and irrigators. It was the sixth month over the past year that the Poudre had flatlined to a trickle through Fort Collins. The ecological and biological damage caused by the episodes have alarmed local river advocates, who say the dry-ups will happen more frequently if Glade Reservoir is built. But the depressed flows are also a stark reminder of another threat: The Poudre is not considered a navigable river, so its surrounding wetlands are vulnerable to development and pollution because of rollbacks to the Clean Water Act. "This has pretty big consequences," says Becky Long of the Colorado Environmental Coalition, an advocacy group based in Denver. "We're talking about drinking water here." Originally passed in 1972, the Clean Water Act is the country's landmark water legislation. The law establishes the framework for regulating pollutants released into the nation's waters, and it gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to set up and enforce pollution-control programs and industry wastewater standards. But Long says two U.S. Supreme Court decisions and a legal guideline, enacted by the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clarify those rulings, gut the Clean Water Act.
The first Supreme Court decision, from 2001, has been interpreted as a way to abolish protection of isolated wetlands regardless of their ecological value. The second decision, from last year, restricts Clean Water Act protections to navigable waters, permanently flowing streams and neighboring wetlands. In June, the EPA and Army Corps adopted what's known as a "joint guidance" to follow both decisions. "Most of Colorado's streams are not considered navigable streams and therefore would fall outside of the protections," Long says. "Legislation that's been around for three decades has been turned inside out, and this does not bode well for Colorado.[per thou]
"colorado water"
5:57:27 AM
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Some of U.S. Representative Marilyn Musgrave's constituents are calling for her to vote for H.R. 2262 [pdf], the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, according to The Fort Collins Coloradoan. From the article:
Colorado conservationists hope U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave will take the same stance toward hard-rock mining as she's taken on a proposed uranium mine in Weld County. If the Fort Morgan Republican is concerned about protecting water supplies - as she has stated regarding a uranium project west of Nunn proposed by Powertech (USA) Inc. - she should vote for the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, said Gina Janett of the Colorado Conservation Alliance. "We think she should show consistency when it comes to water-quality issues," said Janett, a longtime Fort Collins activist. "Her concerns should carry over to uranium mining on public lands."
Under existing law, the federal government receives no royalties for the value of the minerals as it does for oil and gas production. The reform legislation would mandate royalty payments and require mining companies to clean up contamination from current and abandoned mining operations. In a prepared statement, Musgrave said she still is reviewing the bill and its many provisions. Musgrave said mining companies should pay royalties. But the bill likely is to be heavily amended by the time it comes up for a vote, she said. "Congress needs to get this bill right because good paying American jobs could be lost to overseas workers," Musgrave said. "Also, there are very serious national security issues at hand because of mandates on the materials used for things such as armor for our troops." Federal law mandates that materials used to make armor for the military be mined in the United States, said Aaron Johnson, communications director for Musgrave's office. An issue surrounding the bill is whether it would lead to decreased mining and limit the availability of materials, he said.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
5:31:39 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:39:26 PM.
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