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Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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Joan McCarter (via New West): "The polls keep coming in on immigration, and the polls keep showing that the message the GOP Presidential candidates (as noted by Richard Martin at New West yesterday) is far harsher than American attitudes on the issue, and the GOP is losing Hispanic voters in droves. Could Republican voters in Iowa really be so concerned by the 3.7 percent of their population that's Hispanic really running everyone else off?"
"2008 pres"
7:10:47 PM 
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Newsweek is running an article about the drought in the southeastern U.S.
"2008 pres"
7:09:03 PM
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We plan to ask Andrea Robinson about green efforts by the convention committe when we get a chance. Here's a story about their urging vendors to go green for the convention, from Colorado Confidential. They write: "A new 'green' designation for businesses listed in the 2008 Denver Host Committee's vendor directory will help companies highlight their sustainable practices to tens of thousands of delegates and visitors to the city next August."
"2008 pres"
6:36:39 PM
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Ezra Klein: "[Ron] Paul's candidacy is an indictment of the system, not an argument for who would best administer it."
Political Wire: "A new Field Poll in California finds Sen. Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic presidential race with 36% support, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 22%, and John Edwards at 13%."
"2008 pres"
6:27:10 PM
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Brent Budowsky (via The Hill): "As I write these words on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 19, high- and low-level officials of the Bush administration involved in torture, and the destruction of the torture tapes, are consulting their criminal lawyers as The New York Times reports that highest-level lawyers in the administration had discussed the destruction of the tapes. I predict there will soon be new stories about more torture tapes that were destroyed and new stories about more high-level officials that were either tainted or corrupted by this scandal, and others who opposed this travesty who will ultimately testify about who they approached to attempt to prevent it. Washington and America will momentarily ask once again: What did the president and vice president know, and when did they know it?"
Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for the link.
Daily Kos: "There was an important development on Tuesday at Guantánamo. A ruling by the judge in Salim Hamdan's military commission appears to require entirely new hearings for any prisoners who claim to be POWs. Hamdan had appealed for a POW status hearing under Article 5 of the Third Geneva Convention. The ruling by Navy Captain Keith Allred went strongly in his favor."
"2008 pres"
5:58:45 PM
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From The Denver Post: "Rep. Tom Tancredo plans to withdraw from the GOP presidential field tomorrow, the Denver Post has learned. Sources close to the Tancredo campaign confirmed this afternoon that the Littleton Republican intends to officially announce his exit from the race at a Thursday press conference in Des Moines, Iowa."
The Right's Field: " Once every candidate started to sound as over-the-top crazy on immigration as he has, Tom Tancredo decided that there was no longer any need for him, and tomorrow he'll drop out of the race. But it should give pause to these Republicans who think smugly that a fierce anti-immigrant line will lead them to victory in November, that Tancredo never got out of the blocks. If his message is so important, and he's so pure on what is considered the signature issue, how come he never had a chance?"
"2008 pres"
5:53:52 PM
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The ACLU and Denver are arguing over proposed rule changes for renting facilities at parks, according to The Denver Post. From the article:
If they wished, Denver officials could lock up reservations at prime city parks and deny requests from protesters or other groups during the 2008 Democratic National Convention. City permitting-rule changes being considered by the City Council would create a structure that gives governments first dibs. The revamped permitting process is meant to resolve disputes with protest groups and the American Civil Liberties Union. But if resolving disputes is the goal, the new city-empowering language seemed destined to fail Tuesday.
"It's a serious concern," said Taylor Pendergrass, a Denver staff attorney for the ACLU. "Suffice it to say that we find those (provisions) troublesome on a constitutional basis." The ACLU and another protest group are expected to provide their comments on the proposals Friday. The City Council is to take up the issue again Jan. 2. Currently, applicants for parades or marches and for use of city parks for the kinds of free-speech events popular at political conventions follow a first-come, first-served application process. The new permitting process would establish a lottery to award permits in cases where more than one group applied for the same parade route or park at the same time [~] with two exceptions. If a group had been accustomed to using the route or park for five consecutive years, such as A Taste of Colorado event or Columbus Day parade, it would get priority. That's not likely to pose a serious issue during the convention, Aug. 25-28. But events "planned, organized or presented by state, federal, or city governmental entities or their agents" would get top priority over any competing claims.
"2008 pres"
7:07:25 AM
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Here's an article about the Guidelines for the operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead [pdf] signed last week by Dirk Kempthorne from The Ouray News. From the article:
On Dec. 13 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, without the filing of a single lawsuit, seven southwestern states signed a sweeping agreement to update the 85-year-old Colorado River Compact to reflect new demands and lower water levels. Since the Town of Ridgway (and the City of Ouray) are top-feeders on a waterway that starts in on our mountain peaks and ends in the Gulf of Mexico, we don't much get involved in downstream water politics. But perhaps we should, given this new-day, climate change affected environment in which we live. Last week's agreement was truly significant, the most important changes since the first compact was drafted in 1922. And the manner in which it came about -- no real winners or losers, but a cooperative regional effort to solve problems -- was as surprising as it was refreshing...
Here at the headwaters of the San Juans, water has been historically plentiful and cheap, though those days are evolving into ones where a conservation mindset prevails. (Ironically, the town has a water treatment plant expansion coming on line, meaning that the frequent lawn watering restrictions imposed during dry months in recent years could be unnecessary going forward.) So from our perch atop this grand water system (and it was in the drafting of the 1922 pact that the Grand River was changed in name to Colorado), we can take the Interior secretary's advice and celebrate a collective and smart way to handle today's water conditions.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"colorado water"
6:11:54 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:52:55 PM.
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