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September 24, 2009 03:41 PM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.”

–Aristotle

Comments

22 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread

    1. Thanks for the link.  It should be noted that these are DPS stats.  The Denver Post asked for the data to be released so that an “independent analysis” could be done.”  DPS declined to release the data.

      But, Libertad, in so far as this is accurate, it certainly enhances Bennet’s resume.

      1. So what we know is that apparently some students are scoring higher on the CSAP tests.  Does that mean they are learning more, or becoming better equipped to lead successful and fulfilling lives?  No one really knows.

        Did we move students from worse schools to better schools?  Or did we close down schools that were trying creative ways of reaching and inspiring disadvantaged students, in favor of shipping them to the standardized test mills?

        CSAP data is just one small part of the answer to that question.

        1. I think those are provocative questions, cdsmith. They are just rhetorical, unless you can find someone to answer them.

          You tell me how how you are going to find the answers.



          Did we move students from worse schools to better schools?  Or did we close down schools that were trying creative ways of reaching and inspiring disadvantaged students, in favor of shipping them to the standardized test mills

          Not all innovation works.  Ask the poor kids who were at Manual High School in 2001 when the Gates Foundation, with its huge footprint, designed it wanted to “experiment” and broke Manual, with the okay of the then Board members, but not the parent/guardians of the kids,

          into three “smaller” schools.  The experiment was a dismal failure.  The school was closed in 2006 and the kids who were at Manual at the time were scattered to the four winds.  A Denver Post independent analysis last spring, found that those kids did even worse that they had been doing at the failing Manual,  How do you make those kids whole again?  Who pays???  Not Gates.

          My new rule is:  I am not playing rhetorical gamemanship where kids are concerned.  You got a fact, spit it out…if not.  I am not there.

          1. I’m still interested in these parents that scam the system, fail to validate their personal data (address), and butt-in-line because they think they are smarter then others and won’t get caught abusing the system.  

            Where is the accountablility on their part – why are they uncivil?

            This is the asertion of the Post you presented here and I’d be interested in hearing more from the candidates, you or The Post.

  1. Energy development requires substantial amounts of water, a scarce commodity in the West–and one that may be less available soon as climate change has it’s impacts on the area’s hydrology.

    Then there is contamination, from the regular–oft-unreported spills and mishaps, potentially from frac’cing contamination, and the like.

    Now a new study out indicates that that the wide-scale development–roads, well pads, compressor stations, pipelines and other industrial infrastructure may be impacting our snowpack too–the source not only of our water but over a dozen states that rely on rivers draining from both sides of the Divide.

    http://www.summitdaily.com/art

    Using satellite images and analyzing the dust, other researchers have been able to pinpoint specific sources, including off-road vehicle disturbances, livestock grazing and oil and gas development on the Colorado Plateau.

    “It’s profound,” said researcher Tom Painter, director of the snow optics laboratory at the University of Utah. “Areas that are actively disturbed release 1,000 times more dust,” Painter said, adding that dust layers in 2009 caused the snow pack to melt 45 to 48 days earlier than normal.

    Areas that haven’t been disturbed by human activities release very little dust, Painter said.

    “This has huge impacts on hydrology and snow cover,” Painter said, explaining that water managers have to account for changes in runoff as they plan the operation of reservoirs and diversions.

    “For us, the bottom line is, how much water are we going to get, and when do we get it,” said Grand Junction-based Dan Crabtree, water management group chief with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The federal agency manages most of the region’s major water projects.

    …Overall, the amount of dust being released since the advent of human disturbance is 500 times greater than prior to the disturbance of the West, Painter said.

    A more detailed examination of the past eight years shows a relatively stable level of dust until 2006, when there was a big jump, as oil and gas drilling activities on the Colorado Plateau increased exponentially.

    In 2009, the amount of dust falling on the snow increased 20-fold, he said.

    Painter tied the dust issue to larger concerns about climate change. Earlier snowmelt caused by the dust could trigger a spiraling effect of warmer temperatures. If the mountain snowpack melts earlier, the darker mountain surfaces will likely absorb more heat, potentially causing temperatures to climb even faster than predicted.

    The U.S. Geological Survey maintains web site with updated information on western dust storms, including photos and satellite videos: http://bit.ly/3mnF2S

    1. Simply drive on I-70 between Rifle and De Beque and note the mud on the pavement left by vehicles leaving the gas fields.

      When that mud dries, it becomes dust.

      But there’s no air samplers there.  Why?

    2. on the Western Slope should be required to take a drive over there!  This is a good article by a very good writer at the Summit Daily News.  Sounds as if important research is being done in this area, but may be too little too late.

      1. Pols I don’t know if you have terms of use, but pretending to be another real person would seem to be a problem.

        Ralphie’s concerns seem justified.  This person is trading on the name ID Ralphie has built up through his Grand Junction (and now HuffPo) blog.

  2. to the tune of $21 million.

    http://www.denverpost.com/head

    GAO: Natural-gas fees fall $21 million short

    WASHINGTON – The Interior Department has missed out on about $21 million in net natural-gas drilling fees because of inaccurate accounting in its royalty-in-kind program, a government report shows.

    …Interior’s Minerals Management Service lacks the ability to track and adequately audit production, the Government Accountability Office said in an Aug. 14 report made public Monday.

    The Royalty-In-Kind program is set for termination pushed by DOI Sect. Salazar.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/na

    Reporting from Washington –  The Interior Department is ending a controversial oil-and-gas royalty program that was the centerpiece of a drug and sex scandal in the federal Minerals Management Service, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said this morning.

    Testifying before the House Natural Resources Committee, Salazar said he would phase out the program, which allows energy companies drilling on federal land to pay royalties in the form of oil or gas, instead of cash.

    The program has been rocked by scandal, and auditors have questioned its effectiveness.

    The Interior Department inspector general issued a report last year detailing “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity,” including alleged cocaine use and sex with industry contacts, over a five-year period at the Denver-based office of the MMS that deals with royalty-in-kind payments.

    The oil and gas industry–which apparently is OK with the ‘hookers and blow’ pay out that helped grease the wheels of this scam, is fighting reform efforts in Congress, according to the LA Times article linked above:

    The lobbying arm of the oil industry, the American Petroleum Institute, immediately criticized the decision, saying it would create new bureaucracy and cost taxpayers money.

    “The program is an effective means of ensuring that the American people receive fair compensation for development of federal resources,” API President Jack Gerard said in the release.

    …We urge Secretary Salazar to carefully weigh the impacts his ‘fundamental restricting’ of the royalty system could have on U.S. production of oil and gas, American jobs and revenue to the government.”

  3. “Where the law is subject to some other authority and has none of its own, the collapse of the state, in my view, is not far off; but if law is the master of the government and the government is its slave, then the situation is full of promise and men enjoy all the blessings that the gods shower on a state.”

    Plato circa 350 BC

    Likewise, Aristotle endorsed the rule of law, writing that “law should govern”, and those in power should be “servants of the laws.” The ancient concept of rule of law is to be distinguished from rule by law, according to political science professor Li Shuguang: “The difference….is that under the rule of law the law is preeminent and can serve as a check against the abuse of power. Under rule by law, the law can serve as a mere tool for a government that suppresses in a legalistic fashion.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R

  4. Sentinel ‘Breaking News’

    Rollover in Plateau Canyon

    LeRoy Standish

    Just before 3 p.m. a tanker, owned by Marsh Trucking, rolled onto its side coming down Colorado Highway 65. Driver Lenn Barney, who was not injured, said: “I flet the left side of the front end give way. I don’t know what happened.”The tanker was a carrying 122 barrels, about 78,000 pounds of drilling fluid, Barney said. Nothing spilled into Plateau Creek, said Trooper Don Moseman, from the Colorado State Patrol.

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