the dominos fall

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Today “we” find that once again “we” are about to be crushed as the dominos the consequence of our latest series of choices - fall.

In these moments when chaos and confusion are rampant “we” wish for our own St. George – Slayer of Dragons – on his white steed to honorably and steadfastly lead us from the terror of our making. In his stead “we” longingly beseech anyone, even pretenders, who will take up this mantle, whether legitimate or not, and mouth words designed to placate us in these moments of – fear – which they cleverly and deliberately induced.

The efficacy of this most recent debacle has been in the cauldron stewing for more than 30 years and though many have attempted to raise our awareness to the maelstrom it portends “we” choose to give our allegiance to those espousing “free-enterprise-capitalism-for-profit-corporate-interest-government-dominated-by-the-Midas-creed” of unprecedented individualism and greed. It is written in a book many choose on propitious moments to quote … “as ye sow, so shall ye reap” … quoting in the hope of proving a point or attaining a concession.

Pointing our finger, individually and/or collectively at others, blaming, shaming, screaming, shouting, stomping, orating will not – in the context of fear - permit us to discover and uncover the root or the source for these debacles we are encountering, if that is truly our intent…? It might be that what “we” really want in this moment in time is another “band-aide” to be placed over a festering and unhealed wound eating, still, at our core….?

For the past 30 plus years, we, especially in America, have bought into the belief that mankind’s highest and most noble good is served when “we” vigorously strive to attain “things” creating a distinctive demarcation between us and them. The pentacle of this belief manifested following the pain inflicted as the result of Sept. 11th, when our St. George, prohibits the playing of any ‘60’s era peace music on radio or other sources over air waves that “we” own, their solution instead was that we go forth and buy and purchase – stuff and things.

Like contented – sheep – Americans frolic with the “stuff and things” we have been educated to believe define the measure of mankind. Like – hogs – Americans wallow in the belief our leader speaks directly with God therefore America is entitled to unilaterally, and without justifiable cause invade a sovereign nation which did absolutely nothing illegal to us and bomb, kill, maim, destroy and reduce to mere ash. When in like kind, the leadership of the invaded nation and its neighbors declare their own jihad against America, we term them - terrorist.

Our compliancy over these last 30 plus years allows the few to take both overt and covert control of all aspects of our government – executive – legislative – judiciary – manipulating it, with the able assistance of “for-profit-corporations” into the divine essence of their choosing and to which we willing and obediently capitulate.
In these moments of chaos and confusion “we” run around like chickens with our heads cut off as “we” do not know how to think for ourselves so content have “we” become to having the few, the chosen to save us from this most recent debacle the result of our choices and decisions. There are a few individuals termed misguided by American corporate media who have dared to look, as did Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, noting how pathetic and how weasel like this wizard we so obediently follow truly is. Others have seen through the false “matrix” these wizard helpers choose to have us see as reality. While others have come to comprehend the wisdom in the words of “V” … “people should not fear their government, their government should fear the people” …

We are drawing close to the end of another presidential campaign and while my heart leans in favor of Mr. Obama, my head urges caution, and my “whisper voice” weeps as with the passing of each day the leadership for which I yearn and thought I saw in Mr. Obama remain unresolved. Unfortunately today there is absolutely - NO - fundamental difference in the execution of governing philosophy between the Democrats or the Republicans they are all beholding to the same master – “for-profit-corporate-interests.” “We” are not willing to call either candidate and hold the accountable or responsible for anything they say. And, why not … because that implies they have the right to hold you and me accountable and responsible and we will not permit that, will we…? George Orwell wrote … “Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” To expect any politician to speak the truth in these perilous of times is asking of them to be a revolutionist.

You and I are not accountable or responsible, they are…? That “we” elected them and then chose to sit on the side lines and did nothing all the while watching as they played games with our liberties, freedom, equivocate our habeas corpus laws, illegitimately and capriciously label individuals or groups as malcontents or worse as the “T” word (terrorist) again without any provocation or proof.

In our stead, “we” permit the leaders we elect to utilize …" Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - which is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. " …George Orwell

And with over 30 years of “ostrich” like education, we willingly believe… and then we wonder why the dominos continue to fall – on us.

MINES DON’T AGREE …WOW …THAT’S A SURPRISE….?

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

MINES DON’T AGREE …WOW …THAT’S A SURPRISE….?

Group urges valley fever, mining study…by Jeffrey Javier - Sept. 16, 2008 12:00 AM…excerpt…The Arizona Republic …Pleas from northwest Valley residents have narrowly persuaded the Maricopa County Mining District Recommendation Committee to pass a motion recommending a study of whether mining operations have contributed to valley- fever cases near the Agua Fria River bed. …All the mining-industry members of the panel voted against the recommendation, referring to the Arizona Department of Health Services' position that mining isn't associated with the respiratory illness.

IT will be fixed when all of us making a profit from whatever our endeavors are take full accountability and responsibility for all the “externalities” associated with our choices.

The mining operations, in this case the sand and gravel and concrete producers in the area are not evil. They are simply – greedy. That their lobbyists, attorneys, PR and front men would vote to exclude them as being liable or contributing to valley-fever is quite understandable. After all if the mines were liable or contributory to the cause or spread of valley-fever it could significantly reduce their master’s profit - $$$ - the paramount symbol of the Midas era in which we live.

what are they trying to hide and why….?

The Arizona Republic 9/19/08 article entitled …. GENETICALLY ALTERED MEAT CLOSER TO YOUR TABLE … is one that could easily invite overtones of Chicken Little evoking the …sky is falling …

While my own belief runs contrary to that espoused in this article what is of greater concern to me is the degree to which government regulators appears to be leaning to protect the for-profit corporations at the expense of the public’s right to full disclosure. That any governmental agency would NOT seek to have any food product genetically altered to be so labeled is incomprehensible, disingenuous and shows a callous disregard for the public’s right to know.

This raises for me the question … what are they trying to hide and why….? If as alleged by some federal government food oversight agencies like FDA, EPA, USDA, and others there is NOTHING harmful in genetically altered food products, why then are they choosing to fall on the sword to keep such food from being labeled – GENETICALLY ALTERED …?

One should not fear what one can prove. So if these governmental agencies can prove the safety of these genetically altered food products there is no need to fear the public will rebuke or refuse to consume these products, is there…?

One submits to fear, haranguing, pleading, disinformation and propaganda, along with myth building on those occasions when the truth proves elusive or unattainable to support the favored position. One need look no further than the positions being postured by our current federal leaders respecting the debacle surrounding the Bush/Wall Street/Federal Reserve (private for-profit corporation)/Housing Mortgage fiasco to witness the ruse being perpetrated upon an unsuspecting public…. ?

While I may be personally opposed to consuming these genetically altered food products, I do not intend to deny others from knowingly choosing to consume these products. The operative word is – knowingly – which specifies that the public be given full unabridged disclosure on all aspects of the food they consume. There need be NO secrets about what is in the food mankind consumes.

we really are lost on the other side of the looking glass …

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?
Elizabeth Cutright’s editorial in the Water Efficiency magazine – www.waterefficienty.net. - Sept/Oct 2008 issue – is a worthy read and I invite you to make the time to consider it.

The collage of actions taken by governmental regulators to enforce “water” rules and regulations adopted in various locales is I think, when you read her article indicative of the Mad Hatter run amok.

The actions to which she makes reference reflect overzealousness of the regulators, whereas in our State of Arizona, the overzealousness of our regulators reflects a joining at the hip of government regulators and the developers and their minions.

The zealousness in Arizona is NOT to conserve – water – but rather to USE all the water we have or to which we are entitled by act of commerce. Our leadership is not aligned to support honest state-wide education leading to a consensus based voluntary compliance to the honest conservation and protection of water.

Ms. Cutright does an admirable job of noting the absurd paradox in the rules, regulations, laws and ordinances we permit to be enacted governing the use to water none of which are clear, concise or understandable.

She ends with this … so when we find ourselves in a situation where a homeowner is harassed for conserving water well … then we really are lost on the other side of the looking glass …

The real tragedy and travesty could very well be that neither of them is aware or even cares…?

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?
EPA Toxic Chemical Testing is Flawed and Kept Out of Election…Written by Amanda Peterka …Published on September 20th, 2008…The EPA’s system for deciding whether or not some chemicals we use on an everyday basis are toxic and can cause cancer is severely flawed, and the agency isn’t really doing anything about it. It’s gone buried under all the talk about the election and the environment - neither of the candidates making any fuss about these EPA procedures.
Yikes! This means that we could have been using dangerous chemicals with health risks for NINE years, and we wouldn’t know it. This fact alone sets those alarm bells ringing, but the report goes on, narrowing down its findings into a few key points.
1. Too much emphasis on backlogs…A dedication to backlogged chemicals means those 540 chemicals aren’t kept up to date, and that new chemicals take a long time to merely get into the process, much less get processed.
2. Assessments take too long to complete…The average chemical takes EIGHT years to be assessed. Basically, allow a whopping six years for a chemical to go through the EPA system, and another two for findings to be reviewed by outside parties. Which would be OK if the assessments were actually completed at that time, but…
3. Assessments become outdated before they are even completed…Because the process takes so long, by the time a chemical nears finish, the whole process may have to start all over again! Take the chemical naphthalene - the EPA has been examining this chemical for more than six years for a possible connection to cancer, but in 2006, it went back to the drawing board because the assessment became outdated. And this is a common chemical found in jet fuel, moth balls, dyes and insecticides.
4. Third-party changes to the assessments aren’t disclosed…The report cites transparency, or lack thereof, as another flaw within the system. After an assessment is completed, the findings are sent out to be reviewed, but those comments are then kept closed.
5. Decisions take into account political motives…It used to be that science drove the whole operation. Now it’s a combination of science and political policy - which is a little scary considering it’s the science part that can affect our health, not the political part….And how do politics play a role in all this? According to an investigative report by CBS, it’s the White House that’s built up the review process that takes years to complete. Agencies from the Energy Department to the Defense Department are allowed into the process, and the Office of Management and Budget is cited directly in the report as trying to hush up the names of toxic chemicals.
With something this important to the everyday health of Americans, it seems this should enter the election arena, and definitely at a higher priority than the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom.
IT is fixed when …. “something this important to the everyday health of Americans, it seems this should enter the election arena, and definitely at a higher priority than the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom” …
Neither candidate campaigning to serve and protect us as the next President of the United States of America is choosing to make us aware of the potentially diabolical long term health implications in current EPA policy.
The real tragedy and travesty could very well be that neither of them is aware or even cares…?

governor your actions dishonor us

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?
State spat becomes environmental debate …By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services …Saturday, September 20, 2008…PHOENIX – excerpted … A spat between two state officials over use of a $1 million penalty against a polluter has erupted into a full-blown debate over global warming and whether Arizona should impose new - and potentially expensive -- greenhouse gas emission limits. …Gary Pierce, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, said the Department of Environmental Quality is pursuing an agenda that ultimately would force Arizona companies to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Pierce said the move, being done at the behest of Gov. Janet Napolitano, could ruin the state's economy on the basis of an unproven theory. …But DEQ Director Steve Owens said global warming is a fact, calling it a "no brainer' that reducing carbon dioxide emissions will help prevent further warming.
Napolitano's office is refusing to release details, with gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer saying all they have is a draft even though Owens is co-chair of WCI. Even the "stakeholders' who the governor said were being consulted, including affected industries, said no information has been shared with them.
Ed Fox, who is (currently) in charge of environmental affairs for Arizona Public Service, (and a former Director of ADEQ) said he can't say yet how much his company's power-generating costs might go up. He said the governor's office, while inviting input from affected industries and environmental groups, has not been forthcoming with drafts and details…..There also is the question of whether Napolitano can impose limits on her own….
Governor Napolitano your actions around this topic are most deceptive and show a definite lack of any transparency. You are being most dishonest and we have the right to ask – why…? What are you choosing to hide and why…?
Respectfully Governor, I have been a stakeholder in other ADEQ actions where information was deliberately withheld though the resultant document was ultimately presented to the public as a consensus endeavor.

As the titular head of the OBAMA for President 2008 in Arizona, I shutter to think your actions in this regard mirror the transparency he advocates. Arizona expected better from you and is dishonored by your current choice of actions.

the message of these five insipid men to you is be afraid be very afraid

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Unfortunately based solely on the childish “dance” these five insipid gentlemen are performing I conclude:

 Don’t look at us, we don’t have a clue of what the hell is going on
 We do know what’s going on, but we’re not going to tell you the truth
 We don’t really care what happens to you, we’re going to take care of me, myself, and I, Oh, yea, my true friends, which you unfortunately are not.
 You can trust us, look at how magnificently we have lead you these past eight years
 Don’t look behind the curtain, because we don’t have a clue who is actually staging this show
 This Wall Street crisis happened solely because of terrorism
 What don’t you understand, we tell you what to believe, this is a red alert

IT - is fixed when we no longer give these utterances any more credibility than we do to the words and action of any child…….. There is nothing to fear, save what we choose to believe is to be feared … our future is in the most capable hands possible, our own.

they fiddle while Rome burns

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Looking at these highlighted articles I find the childish posturing of our Governor and the 90 mental dwarfs comprising our State Legislature offensive. To quote a phrase … “fiddling while Rome burns” … these elected leaders posture to see who calls who first, what the hell kind of game are “we” paying you to play solely at our expense…?

On the other hand, we seem most willing to now take to task, Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, McCain and Obama for their reputed part in the most recent Wall Street bailout fiasco, but unwilling to hold our own Governor and those we elected to “serve & protect” us from their meager and childish gamesmanship with our most recent budget. In our ever watchful eyes we permitted them to play the age old shell game of hide the truth and we will pretend not to see…? Silently we sat as our Governor and our State Legislature “cooked” the books before our ever eyes and we said – NOTHING. We raised NOT our voices we did not seek to hold them accountable NO we did NOTHING. And guess what, we got NOTHING.

So rather than do the work to which we elected them – to serve and protect – us, they will clown around until after the election in November and then they will meet. In the meantime Rome continues to burn.

Let’s be honest, “we” have the government we want and they are performing exactly in the manner we find acceptable. If not, we have the power to change it. In this instance the only thing stopping us is FEAR.

IT – is fixed when we hold all those we elect accountable and responsible from the get-go.

Let's get to work
The Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2008/09/25/20080925thur1-25.html

Our Opinion: Arizona's budget deficit grows, and there's no consensus in sight:
Tucson Citizen
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/all_headlines/97644

New laws take effect; some big, some small
Arizona Daily Star
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/259204.php

Governor, lawmakers to meet for budget talks after election
The Arizona Republic... Mary Jo Pitzl
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/25/20080925B1-update0925.html

Napolitano looks to Legislature for budget help — later
Tribune, Arizona Daily Sun and Arizona Daily Star... Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/259277

Governor, lawmakers to meet on budget crunch in November
Tucson Citizen... Associated Press
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/all_headlines/97643

AWPCA

EDITOR …. AWPCA NEWSLETTER…. I want to give you the opportunity to reply before I forwarded this along with Mr. Bale’s article to my several thousand email list ………. Respectfully,

Greetings:

I write in response to an article submitted by Jack Bale, of WilsonBale Consulting, LLC which appears in the September 2008 issue, on page 50/51, entitled … On-Site Wastewater Treatment in Arizona. Before I begin I sincerely invite everyone to make the time to read Mr. Bale’s article and digest its implications. It is well worth your time. I have attached Mr. Bale’s article in a “pdf” format, see above.

I have known Mr. Bale for a number of years beginning when he was an active part of ADEQ management when they were still on Central Ave. And more recently when he was an active part of the formation of what was to evolve into AzOWRA.

As for my own bona-fides, I have been an active “player” in the Arizona On-site Industry for more than 30 years beginning in the early 1970’s. I have been part of the public “stakeholder” constituency at the rule development forums whenever these forums have been open to the public. I was co-chairman of the citizens Ad-Hoc group which met unpaid for approx. 2 years prior to ADEQ implementing its Unified Permit Rule in Jan. 2000..

Before writing this I made email contact with Mr. Bale, who noted to me his writing was submitted to AWPCA about two years ago. Reviewing the membership of AWPCA your membership, from my perspective, has a built in bias as it is comprised largely of those associated with “big-pipe” solutions and major municipalities and their utility personnel. It would not be surprising to find that most likely unknown to many in your organization, the tone and tenor of the rules and regulations governing the design, installation, O&M and other aspects of all residential onsite wastewater treatment and effluent disposal systems in Arizona has “morphed” appreciably and do not reflect the tidy package presented to the public by ADEQ or delegated county environmental dept personnel. Given my “anti-big-pipe” bias I want to thank AWPCA for publishing Mr. Bale’s article.

I write not to “mock” all – big pipe – solutions but rather to offer they have not in all circumstances been honestly nor fairly presented to the voters and the public. For example both Bullhead City and Lake Havasu are still today – 2008 – up to their eye-balls in alligators wrestling with the aftermath of disinformation by ADEQ personnel and “big-pipe” consulting engineers and contractors. I invite anyone to make the time to drive to either community and talk to the man in the street the one who has to pay the bill – the same people who will pay the bill for the Bush/Wall Street/Federal Reserve//Housing Mortgage debacle reputed as a WAG (wild ass guess) to be currently more than $700,000,000 dollars.

The real tragedy of the rules initially promulgated in 2000, is either by design or by fatal error far too many of those aspects affecting the design, construction and O&M of any residential onsite wastewater treatment and effluent disposal system was specified in rule. Once in rule, this language is treated by government as sacrosanct – though the regulators are by slight of hand permitted to interpret any rule specification in whatever manner they feel they need in that moment to force compliance as they solely deem appropriate. That same ability and latitude is not afforded to the designer, contractor, homeowner or John Q Public, who is mandated by law and rule to submit to the arbitrary and often capricious directives of these few self-anointed governmental regulators and/or their contract minions.

As Mr. Bale notes today in 2008, there are over 500,000 individual on-site wastewater treatment and effluent disposal systems, more affectionately known as – SEPTIC SYSTEM – and as Mr. Bale also notes an unknown, but significant, percentage of these 500,000 septic systems are well beyond the 20 year life expectancy initially intended for these types of systems. I can attest to a number of systems which I personally installed in the early 1970’s which are still in operation today and most of them, I suspect, have never had any formal O&M attention. That septic systems, or for that matter any system, with 20 years of age, operated without any formal O&M, could be the source of some form of water pollution is understandable, is it not…?

For me at this point the discussion gets cloudy and muddy as “politics” enter and define the conversation and direct the outcome. During the time ADEQ was promulgating its 2000 rule package a group of unpaid citizens – stakeholders – met for about 2 years prior attempting to develop clear, concise and understandable cradle to the grave guidelines for all residential septic systems. We, or more accurately, I did not understand the politics and was quite cleverly maneuvered to walk off the cliff not realizing it until hitting bottom. The work product of these folks was swept aside once ADEQ received word from the 9th floor of the State Capitol from then Gov Jane Hull that GRRC was prepared to vote in favor of their rule as they behind closed doors promulgated. ADEQ can no doubt note they followed relevant public disclosure protocol in the formation of their 2000 Unified Permit Rule, aware of how to manipulate them so as to produce the document they wanted without final public oversight. And ADEQ was able to follow this same format when they revised their rule in Nov 2005, gaining GRRC approval to implement a grossly flawed program.

I have always wondered why it is that – “we” – that’s you and me – are so afraid of actually making any owner of a septic system accountable and responsible for its care, custody, use and control….? The answer it appears to me to be that were “we” to choose to hold an owner of a septic system accountable and responsible, then logically those operating all municipal and quasi-municipal wastewater systems would also be accountable and responsible and organizations like AWPCA would not tolerate that…? As it stands all municipal and quasi-municipal wastewater treatment operators are able to “pass-the-buck” and “point-the-finger” of accountability and responsibility to others and that is and remains sacrosanct.

Moreover the playing field overseen by “lady justice” is deliberate skewed as the membership of organizations like AWPCA have their heavy hand on that balance beam whereby funds are always available to support and fund “big-pipe” solutions, while little or no funding is made available to support residential on-site industry needs.

Until “we” – John Q Public – choose to see through the smoke and mirrors and the shell game being deliberately perpetrated nothing will change and the “big-pipe” will remain as the regulators solution of choice for any water quality pollution and contamination issues Arizona encounters.

In a world environment in which many learned and scholarly individuals are advocating directing our attention towards those endeavors which honestly promote - “green” – Arizona stands firmly entrenched along a path adding only to the Midas creed and greed the economic mantra of our state’s leadership unrestrained and unsustainable growth.

On-site residential wastewater treatment and effluent disposal in Arizona has been set up to deliberately fail and “we” – that’s you and me – are the only ones who can do anything to change it. Current government rules and policies regulating on-site residential wastewater treatment and effluent disposal in Arizona are deliberately designed not to hold anyone accountable or responsible. Current reality is – if one has the tenacity, they can design, install and operate any form of on-site wastewater treatment and effluent disposal system (septic system) they choose (i.e. translates into cheapest with no accountability tail) and then we wonder why each day new reports surface detailing the most recently disclosed incidence of water contamination and pollution in Arizona…?

As Sir Issac Newton noted so long ago … “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” …

Yes, taking positive and corrective action will most definitely result in frustration, anger, displacement, in the end if that be the route we choose, our water will honestly be – safe – but the choice is one each of us is required to make.

And this will not occur until – “we” – devise clear, concise and understandable rules honorably promulgated in an atmosphere of consensus buy-in which is a process current governmental rule-making provisions clearly deny.

It is your water and if you want to control it, you have to make that decision and commit to a plan to achieve it. Understand this is not a path for the faint of heart.

Respectfully submitted,

perchlorate ... drink it ... it's safe ...?

The article entitled … EPA: Toxic fuel in water is not a public threat appears in the 9-23-08 issue of the Az Republic … whereas the article below appears in the 9-33-08 issue of the Washington Post … both explore the tentacles associated with PERCHLORATE a cacogenic ingredient which EPA under George W Bush, in particular, declares is not a public health threat.

I want to take this opportunity to encourage and invite everyone to read this document as it may prove to be an eye opener for you – my input follows this document - …. EPA UNLIKELY TO LIMIT PERCHLORATE IN TAP WATER … By Juliet Eilperin…Washington Post Staff Writer …Monday, September 22, 2008… excerpted …. The Environmental Protection Agency, under pressure from the White House and the Pentagon, is poised to rule as early as today that it will not set a drinking-water safety standard for perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel that has been linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women, newborns and young children across the nation.
According to a near-final document obtained by The Washington Post, the EPA's "preliminary regulatory determination" -- which was extensively edited by White House officials -- marks the final step in a six-year-old battle between career EPA scientists who advocate regulating the chemical and White House and Pentagon officials who oppose it. The document estimates that up to 16.6 million Americans are exposed to perchlorate at a level many scientists consider unsafe; independent researchers, using federal and state data, put the number at 20 million to 40 million.

Some perchlorate occurs naturally, but most perchlorate contamination in U.S. drinking water stems from improper disposal by rocket test sites, military bases and chemical plants. A nationwide cleanup could cost hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars, and several defense contractors have threatened to sue the Defense Department to help pay for it if one is required.

The new EPA proposal -- which assumes the maximum allowable perchlorate contamination level is 15 times what the EPA had suggested in 2002 -- was heavily edited by officials of the White House Office of Management and Budget. They eliminated key passages and asked the EPA to use a new computer modeling approach to calculate the chemical's risks.
Under a process the OMB initiated in 2004, federal agencies with an interest in chemicals such as perchlorate, such as the Defense Department, have opportunities to weigh in on the EPA's regulatory decisions before they become final: The Government Accountability Office reported this spring that the Pentagon had pressured the EPA for several years not to regulate perchlorate.
"They have distorted the science to such an extent that they can justify not regulating" the chemical, said Robert Zoeller, a University of Massachusetts professor who specializes in thyroid hormone and brain development and has a copy of the EPA proposal. "Infants and children will continue to be damaged, and that damage is significant."

A reference to those studies in the EPA's proposal was deleted by OMB officials. The document states that establishing a drinking-water standard for perchlorate "would not present a 'meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems,' " but it also reveals that many Americans will be exposed to the compound at levels higher than recommended if nothing is done to remove it. Perchlorate impedes the functioning of the thyroid gland, which produces hormones that foster mental and physical development and control metabolism. The notice indicates that the agency plans to finalize its decision by Dec. 1.
The EPA's assistant administrator for water, Benjamin H. Grumbles, said in a statement yesterday, "Science, not the politics of fear in an election year, will drive our final decision."

"Until then, final numbers and strategies are mere speculation," Grumbles added. "We know perchlorate in drinking water presents some degree of risk and we're committed to working with states and scientists to ensure public health is protected and meaningful opportunities for reducing risk are fully considered."
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), has endorsed legislation requiring the EPA to set a standard for the chemical and to monitor perchlorate in tap water. Yesterday, Boxer lambasted the agency for refusing to establish a federal exposure standard.
"Perchlorate has been a serious, persistent and widespread problem which threatens the health of our families, especially our children," Boxer said. "For the Bush EPA to walk away from this problem and shrug off this danger is, in my view, unforgivable and immoral."

Federal, state and independent scientists have differed over the years as to what represents an acceptable dose of perchlorate in drinking water, though all have set the bar higher than the non-mandatory level in the EPA's new proposal. In January 2002, the EPA issued a draft risk assessment finding that 1 part per billion should be considered safe; in March 2006, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection set a maximum contaminant level of 2 ppb; last year, California adopted a standard of 6 ppb.
A National Academy of Sciences panel prepared a risk analysis in 2005 that, according to the EPA's traditional models, would produce a protective standard of 1 to 6 ppb. The academy's study came under attack because two of the committee's members had financial ties to defense contractors that face legal liability because of perchlorate disposal.

In the EPA's proposed rule, the administration assumes that perchlorate contamination of 15 ppb is safe. But its regulatory document states that "between 16,000 and 28,000 pregnant women" and 900,000 to 2 million Americans could be exposed to higher levels.
The EPA document also finds that bottle-fed infants would be exposed to more than five times the level the National Academy of Sciences deemed safe -- 700 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day -- if parents mix formula with drinking water containing perchlorate levels of 15 ppb.

OMB officials said during the drafting process that there was "no need" for detailed data to flesh out a table suggesting that infants would be exposed to perchlorate levels above the academy's recommendation.
To determine safe levels of exposure, the administration opted not to use the academy's "reference dose," a formula that includes a tenfold safety factor to protect children and vulnerable populations, and instead used a computer model developed by the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. EPA officials initially inserted language in the document calling this a "novel approach," but the OMB deleted that language.

Federal officials have yet to determine the extent of perchlorate contamination nationwide, but it is known to be widespread. The GAO, which produced a 2005 report calling for a better federal tracking system for perchlorate, found that limited EPA data show the chemical compound has polluted the soil, groundwater and drinking water in 35 states and the District and has contaminated 153 public water systems in 26 states.
So how does perchlorate play out in Arizona…? Well under the leadership of Governor Napolitano and her ADEQ Director, Steve Owens, we’re going to study this some more in the meantime taking NO action.

Perchlorate has been discovered in drinking wells north of the Az Canal on Tatum while these two have huddled, yet Arizona is NOT prepared to establish a perchlorate quality standard for potable (drinking) water…?

That perchlorate levels exceeding 480 ppb are found in Lake Mead, one of the principal water storage reservoirs for the potable (drinking) water serving metro Phoenix and Tucson and still Arizona under this team sworn to serve and to protect us, they are NOT prepared to establish a perchlorate quality standard for potable (drinking) water…?

As both Napolitano and Owens are attorneys, perhaps they are waiting for the Arizona Supreme Court to make some determination which they can then hide behind…? Or maybe they require a more overt form of proof on the cacogenic qualities of perchlorate, like carcasses of dead, dying, disease, disabled men, women and children…?
It is unconscionably for Arizona’s Governor and her Director of Environmental Quality do nothing on the one hand, while proclaiming to the world at large our water is - safe - and we have all the water we need. The two of you, indeed have learned well the mantra about lying… “If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough and often enough, the people will believe it” … Adolph Hitler

EPA must limit bulders pollution of water

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?
EPA must limit builders' water pollution …U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a California suit by the Natural Resources Defense Council…By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer …September 19, 2008 …excerpted…The Environmental Protection Agency is obliged by the Clean Water Act to protect the nation's waterways, beaches and drinking water from pollution caused by real estate development and should set standards for limiting construction runoff by the end of next year, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
A further appeal is possible, but environmentalists applauded the decision, saying it was likely to spur the EPA to take steps to ensure that development of shopping malls, housing subdivisions and other construction doesn't lead to beach closures, waterborne diseases, flooding, fish deaths or contaminated drinking water.

The EPA began work nine years ago on setting limits for building-site runoff after conceding that it can carry high levels of nutrients and metals into rivers and streams. But the agency then reversed course, eliminating construction from the list of activities it regulates to protect surface waters for consumption, navigation and recreation.
In 2004, the Natural Resources Defense Council sued the EPA for failing to set effluent limits for builders. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled in favor of the environmental group in 2006 and ordered the EPA to establish standards for the construction industry by December 2009.

In upholding the district court ruling, the appeals court noted that there is nothing in the Clean Water Act allowing the EPA to remove a category of polluter from the federal law's application.

How EPA writes regulation affecting water pollution caused by real estate development will have a significant impact in Arizona. In Arizona aspects surrounding real estate development are acclaimed by all level of politicians as the foundational lynchpins of our economy.

The Great Seal of the State of Arizona depicts the 5 – C’s – those legacy aspects comprising the foundation of our state … copper, cotton, cattle, citrus, climate … today they have all been supplanted by real estate development which enjoys unprecedented power and influence with all levels of city, county and state government.

What I envision is an EPA document portending to take proactive positions on controlling and/or eliminating the pollution of our water sources by real estate development in the preface and in the first pages. When one reads the entire document, we will find weasel language afforded to every governmental oversight agency to permit real estate development to continue as usual, with an occasion fine or headline here and there. But for the most part it will be business as usual.

To except a different document entails that “we” make those writing these regulations aware of our thoughts. Interestingly “we” have no idea who these folks are, where they meet, or if their actions are even subject to “public” input and oversight…? When the proposed regulations are published for comment, they will be in “governmentese” language designed to confuse, confound, obfuscate, conceal and so disguise the real intent so as to make it highly improbable that “we” are able to ask meaningful questions. Writing regulations in clear, concise and understandable language is dangerous as it permits “us” to discern the truth, the one thing these rule writers most desperately want us never to see.

IT - is fixed when all government rules, laws, regulations are transparent and clear, concise and understandable.

corporate profits always, always trump human health

EPA BID TO EASE FARM-WASTE RULE FOUGHT …reports Associated Press, WOW, that is suppose to be a surprise…?

What part of corporate profit$ always$, always$ trump all aspects of human health, don’t you understand…?

And this applies not only to the giant AG producers, slaughter houses, growers, but in Arizona we extend this courtesy to land developers encouraging them to pillage and rape our fragile environment’s air and water resources as we obediently embrace our political leaders belief in unsustainable growth.

IT - is fixed when WE demand and accept nothing less than a seat at head of every negotiating table and are willing to defend for the benefit of mankind our environment and in doing so serve and protect ourselves.

our water footprint

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Environmental News Network … http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/37997 ...Water Footprints Make A Splash …If the full water requirements of a morning roast are calculated - farm irrigation, bean transportation, and the serving of the coffee - one cup requires 140 liters of water. This notion of a product's "water footprint" is gaining traction. Defined as the total volume of freshwater required to produce a nation's goods and services, the tool tracks domestic water demand and the impact of consumption on water resources across the globe. As world water availability begins to decline as the result of population growth, overconsumption, and climate change, more water advocates are encouraging governments and consumers to internalize the true cost of water through an account of their water footprint.
What IT would look like, for me, when it’s fixed … is individually we would be aware of our “water-footprint” honestly endeavoring to remember our impact upon all others occupying our planet. At the moment this seems like a very tall order and a notion outside the probability of many, if not most Americans.

Depending upon where one lives in the US, it really does not take much effort to be aware of the fragile nature of water in many communities around our nation, including those along mighty rivers or lakes. Our population increases coupled with our desire for new “stuff” contribute to increase demands upon our water resources. In idle moments many of us are aware, though we possess the innate ability to summarily disregard our own impact upon our collective dwindling water resource. How long we can continue to live this fairy tale is an unknown, though most assuredly a day of reckoning is dawning.

Economists have an interesting term for denoting the true cost of anything – EXTERNALITIES – which incorporates all the costs associated with everything beginning with its birth and creation ending with its final demise. Consider for a moment the externalities associated with cigarettes. Land cost, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, fuel, seed, harvesting, storage, transportation, processing into cigarettes, paper, electricity, manpower, more fuel and transportation for distribution, vending machines, cabinets to display these goods, sanitation personnel to clean up after we toss the cigarette butts on the floor or out the window, those needed to fight the fire unintentionally created by errant smoldering cigarette butts. The doctors and medical personnel, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals required to treat folks for cancer and other debilitating health conditions the result of smoking. The educational institution created to educate folks not to smoke or to stop smoking, ad-infinitum. The reality is “we” choose to pay only a fraction of the real cost of any of the “stuff” we purchase, use, consume and discard.

There is a cost to create clean, pristine, safe water for ingestion by all living things. That cost includes the time to create honest awareness. And if one subscribes to the notion championed by Mother Teresa awareness is attained as follows … do not wait for leaders, do it alone, one person at a time …

buying a pig in a poke

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Scientists question comparing nuclear waste storage costs … Senate Yucca Mountain foes seek figures … Sep. 12, 2008 … Las Vegas Review-Journal…by Steve Tetreault Stephens …WASHINGTON …EXCERPTED… Government analysts are undertaking a study to compare the costs of building a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain against the costs of leaving the waste at power plants, where it is now stored. One thing that is not known is how those economics stack up against Yucca Mountain, which the Department of Energy estimated earlier this summer could cost $96.2 billion to build and operate. Kevin Crowley, the board's executive director, told the analysts. "It reminds me of the discussion that has been going on the last couple of days involving cosmetics and certain farm animals," Crowley said in a reference to debate in the presidential campaign over the phrase "lipstick on a pig."

You “gota” love politics, don’t you…? The aspirant’s words provide us with so many ways to interject their words out of context into any discussion. The … lipstick on a pig…remark is now part of the dialog on the Yucca Mt. Nuclear Storage facility to be built some 90 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada.

I must admit I find the pig reference to be quite applicable when discussing the long term applicability of this proposed nuclear storage facility. I would invite us to look at this discussion as one would discussions about a “white-elephant” or “buying-a-pig-in-a-poke”…?

This topic invites the use of the idiom made famous by Mark Twain … figures don’t lie, but liars, figure … and you know what, he was correct. As a way for anyone of us to verify for ourselves the salient truth behind his words, simply ask your self when was the last time or the time when any government funded project was not over budget and extremely more costly than originally projected. And secondly, how much over budget, twice, four times, or ever greater…? So, let’s be generous and say the projected current $97 billion dollar price tag for Yucca Mt. Nuclear storage is only 300% over budget. Now “your” initial financial burden is approx. $300 Billion dollars and this does not include the unknown long term expenses associated with the maintenance of this facility. And we have not even begun to discuss any – safety – aspects applicable to a project of this nature.

Overlaying the Yucca Mt Nuclear Storage Facility discussion is a plethora of conflicting data, cost estimates, scientific opinions, think tank studies, legal opinions, financial analysis, political considerations, transportation studies, population extrapolations, weather data, geologic studies, water migration patterns and much more. It is remarkable, I think to note that in his autobiography Mark Twain succinctly encapsulated this dilemma when he wrote…”figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

I am assuredly NOT expert in the storage of any form of nuclear waste of any nature. I am capable, though, of asking questions, expecting and demanding clear, concise and understandable answers and so should you. The usual and customary “double-talk-governmentese-gobble-de-gook” will not pass muster. Here is but a few of the litany of questions I have respecting this proposed Nuclear Waste Storage Facility:
 The area chosen for this Nuclear Waste Storage Facility has since I was a kid been home base for the testing of atomic/nuclear bombs. Since the early 1940’s many thousands of bombs, above and below ground, have been detonated creating what on the surface and underground resembles – Swiss cheese. In this area, we are choosing to build an underground Nuclear Waste Storage Facility even though no one can provide us assurance leaks or other accidents which happen there will not migrate into the potable (drinking) water supply serving more than 25 million American citizens…?

 It is reported that many of our current “interim” nuclear and weapon storage facilities have been allowed to deteriorate to the point where the contents in many of them can no longer be safely removed, nor in same cases the doors even opened. I refer you to the internet suggesting you Google nuclear and weapon storage facilities, Dugway, Utah, Toole, Utah, Hawthorne, Nevada, Hanover, Washington, etc. Our track record on oversight of these types of facilities is abysmal leaving those living in proximity to them – at extreme risk – and often totally and deliberately unaware.

 It is reported to transport spend nuclear waste now stored in multiple locations throughout our county the current US interstate highway and rail train tracks will be utilized. Against the insufferable backdrop of fear promulgated to support a war against – terrorism – of an unknown and unnamed foe, utilizing such modes of transport only increases the probability of some terrorist act with potentially horrific consequences. Reports have surfaced that the actual trucks and rail cars would be indistinguishable from normal traffic as one consideration to lessen the potential for violent acts. Hello, though I am not a scientist or nuclear expert, it really doesn’t take many brains to watch and scan passing freight with a Geiger counter or any number of far more sophisticated devices to determine the probability there is something out of the ordinary aboard. Moreover, and again I am not a nuclear expert, it would seem quite probably the actual vehicles and rail cars transporting this spent nuclear material would need to have a potentially different physical characteristic, weight, etc. than the more conventional transport giving those in the know something to look for.

 What preparations, if any, are being made when an accident of consequence occurs at this Nuclear Waste Storage Facility…? Please note I intentionally did not say IF, but when an accident occurs…? Trusting that FEMA will step to the plate, as they did so well in the wake of Katrina, or hoping the American Red Cross will be there is a source of little value when one is exposed to the potentially devastating consequences of nuclear waste in the drinking water your water purveyor is providing to you. Moreover, accidents can and will happen – in route – in the middle of Chicago while a train is switching or maneuvering. On a truck as it passes over the Golden Gate bridge. On a truck passing along Interstate 15 through LV in route to this new Nuclear Waste Storage Facility.

Since America has been educated and drank the “kool-aid” provided we are no longer able to think outside the box. That other nations around our globe have resolutions for spend nuclear waste different from that proposed by giant corporate engineering/construction conglomerates, pontificated by their highly paid and skilled lobbyists and RP shill$, who stand to greedily profit at the public trough funding this Nuclear Waste Storage Facility, why do we summarily reject these other options out of hand…? The questions I pose have implications stretching across our nation touching every village and hamlet and they are but a few of the host of questions to which we should be demanding full open complete unabridged answers.

Bottom line, it’s not just our money, it’s our life, they’re playing Russian roulette with.

our dragon slayer is paid for my other means

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Our dragon-slayer is paid for by other means …

As I toyed with the first letter of the last name of each of the four individuals prancing about the nation each hopefully creating a positive myth and mirage about them to solicit us to elect their team to the highest office of leadership for our nation I discovered with the assistance of the internet the following:
Acronym… Definition
 PBOM…Paid by other means
 PBOM…Priced Bill of Material
 PBOM…Preliminary Bill of Materials
 PBOM…Performance Budgeting Operations Manual

I must confess I chuckled a bit at how plausible these acronyms are to these candidates. On second thought they are plausible and applicable to most politicians running for office. The one acronym which jumped out as demonstrably applicable to anyone competing for the office of president today is … paid by other means … Do “we” really choose to believe that to fund the war chest needed to campaign almost daily for over a year that deals and promises are not made which the victor is obligated to repay.

We appear to have the need to initially place our mythical “dragon-slayer” on a pedestal, forgetting they, like us, have feet of clay. Then in stealth mode we delight as they are summarily knocked from that prodigiously high realm upon which we chose to place them.

For Presidential election 2008 we are genuinely blessed to have candidates whose peccadilloes cover the water front offering more than sufficient tantalizing fodder for our nightly enjoyment we passively accept as bona-fide news. Couple their alleged peccadilloes with their individual diversity and a plethora of options open for our voyeur enjoyment. We have the “race” issue which can be played both overtly as well as covertly, then there’s the sex issue, male, female, abortion, no abortion, reproductive rights, who is the better more sincere patriot, who is the better advocate for guns, who is for gun-control, who can promise us the greatest health and environmental benefits without there being the need for a substantive change in the way we live, who is a “pork-barrel-advocate,” who is the more noble “greener” environmentalist, who is the best ______ and you fill in the blank…?

Against this backdrop and barrage of 24/7 “noise” bombardment upon what do we rely for guidance to determine what, is the truth…? For the last nearly 8 years, we have been skillfully lead down a path of fear. The prevailing American peccadillo is “you” tell us what to do as, individually; we are incapable of thinking or acting in our own accord.

It strikes me the “boys-in-the-back-rooms” contemplate how to extract the most minute advantage from the most scintillating disclosure of the day and make sure it’s lead story on today’s 6 PM National TV news. Just make damn sure it is damaging to them, our enemy - the other camp. And remember we only have 30 seconds to get the mullet’s (that’s you and me) attention so make sure there’s color, sound effects, drama and all that. Don’t be concerned about facts we can CYA that later, just make sure we punch them in the gut hard and fast.
The name of this game is getting us to bob and wave every day and every time any candidate shows his face, but especially getting us to bob and weave when the enemy’s face appears anywhere. Get us sufficiently shell shocked about what “they” (the enemy) allegedly will do, so that you and I immediately see red, get angry and find fault with them. Can’t trust them you know, they lie about everything. Now my man is as pure and clean as a new borne babe and you can believe that.

The 2008 Presidential contest can be likened to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, discovering when she took the chance and risked looking behind the curtain, the wizard is nothing more than a rather pathetic little man whose voice and mannerisms are enhanced artificially projecting him to be far, far greater and menacing than he truly is. In the moment the wizards of Presidential PR are holding us all hostages to their slight of hand. We wait to see if a Dorothy arrives on the scene with guts enough to pull the curtain back and expose the underbelly of this travesty.

Then might the question truly be … do “we” honestly want to see the truth about our candidate of choice…? Or are “we” quite content to allow the PR wizards to manipulate words, circumstances, situations, to present the best “face” they can for their man as we, through our education obediently profess we are not aware…?

mining - watchdog - in stealth we watch

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Summit cyanide ban challenged …Bob Berwyn…Summit Daily News…Summit County, Colorado… excerpted … A local ban on cyanide mining would prevent mining companies from revisiting old mine sites and using a potentially risky open-pit method to try and extract gold from piles of tailings and waste rock….The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday took on the question of whether a Summit County ban on cyanide-based gold mining is constitutional, probing the boundary between state and county authority.

The article referenced notes action being considered by our neighbors to the Northeast in Colorado. Arizona mining is replete with copious amounts of toxic chemicals such as cyanide being used as part of leaching operations in the extraction of gold and copper.

ADEQ, the state agency formed and mandated to be our “watch-dog” - to serve and to protect us - has become instead that lap-dog which licks its master’s hand and sits idyllically at their feet.

Hourly our water – both surface and subsurface – is subject to receiving the residuals from the cauldron of chemicals mines use to extract and process their particular metal of profit.

As “we” choose not to rise and with clarity speak out and denounce this type of action can “we” honestly choose to call or paint the mines as wrong and bad…? Would not our silence be logically interpreted by the mines that we care not what they do or how their actions affect our health…? And the health of those yet unborn…?

It will not change and it will not be fixed until each of us chooses to honestly take full accountability and responsibility for all of our actions and yes, our inactions, too.

the fault dear brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?
State files lawsuit against Far West…September 10, 2008 - 7:20PM…BY JOYCE LOBECK, Yuma Sun…excerpted…A major environmental lawsuit has been filed against Far West Water and Sewer Co. and H and S Developers, seeking penalties for numerous alleged water and air quality violations dating back to the early 1990s that could amount to a judgment of millions of dollars. The lawsuit was filed by Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the state's attorney general, ADEQ Director Steve Owens announced during a news conference Wednesday in Yuma. "These were very serious violations that put the community potentially at risk," Owens said. "There were repeated and long-standing violations of wastewater, drinking water and air quality standards.” The violations were multiple and occurred repeatedly over many years, he said. They range from not having required permits and exceeding discharge limits from wastewater treatment plants, to failure to sample and report contaminant levels in drinking water. The air quality violations are related to complaints by area residents of a septic odor. Owens said Far West currently is in compliance except for a lack of aquifer protection permits for some of the company's seven wastewater treatment plants. Fortunately, Owens said, there were no reports of health issues as a result of the violations and gave assurances that Foothills residents today are not at risk. "I'm confident the drinking water is safe based on the inspections we've performed." he said. "There's no reason to think the drinking water wasn't safe. We just didn't have any reports."…Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.
Let’s see 18 years after the fact and now ADEQ Director Steve Owens takes action…! But not to worry, his department assures the folks being served by this alleged water purveyor violator the water they are being sold and ingest is – SAFE – though there are NO records or reports…? Say, what… trust me I’m from the government, I’m here to protect you…? WOW, Steve that’s an awful lot you’re asking. Your water is - safe - because Director Steve Owens says it is, not because there are any verifiable third party reports or inspections.

I feel I must apologize to you, Director Owens as I certainly did not realize you possessed such clairvoyant ability so as not to need any outside assurance before pronouncing any source of water – safe…?

I know not whether to laugh up my sleeve or cry in my beer as I find your words, Director Owens, most disturbing. Are you honestly asking the citizens of Arizona to believe that 18 years can pass before your department sees fit to even begin to ask questions and take a stand on issues so vital to our health…? Is this how your department exercises its mission statement … to serve and to protect …?

Equally when I look into that mirror, I see that “we,” and that most assuredly includes, moi, chose to passively submit and go along, mainly to get along, not to ruffle any feathers. We allowed your agency to play that game of inviting the public to the table when water is a topic only have enjoined those “back-room-folks” where the decision is made out of sight.

Though I would like to make you Director Owens solely wrong and bad, that is not the truth as “we” did not rise to speak, to demand our voice be heard, we chose to continue to elect those who support unrestricted growth without honorable and holistic attention to our state’s environment.

I trust Shakespeare will forgive me, but it appears to me, Director Owens … The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves … Julius Caesar…

drinking water for 41 million Americans contaminated

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Drinking Water of 41 Million Americans Contaminated with Pharmaceuticals
Environmental News Network... Organic Consumers Association …http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/38022 …An investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed that the drinking water of at least 41 million people in the United States is contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs…EXCERPTED …It has long been known that drugs are not wholly absorbed or broken down by the human body. Significant amounts of any medication taken eventually pass out of the body, primarily through the urine. …"People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that's not the case," EPA scientist Christian Daughton said. …While sewage is treated before being released back into the environment, and water from reservoirs or rivers is also treated before being funneled back into the drinking water supply, these treatments are not able to remove all traces of medications. And so far, the EPA has not regulated the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, meaning that there are no laws in existence today that protect consumers from this increasingly dangerous chemical contaminant of the water supply….Medications for animals also contaminating the water supply…Drugs given to animals are also entering the water supply. One study found that 10 percent of the steroids given to cattle pass directly through their bodies, while another study found that steroid concentrations in the water downstream of a Nebraska feedlot were four times as high as the water upstream. Male fish downstream of the feedlot were found to have depressed levels of testosterone and smaller than normal heads, most likely due to the pharmaceutical contamination in their water…."It brings a question to people's minds that if the fish were affected ... might there be a potential problem for humans?" … While the concentration of drugs in drinking water tends to be low, some medications, such as hormones, are able to operate potently even at concentrations of one part per billion. To make matters worse, there is evidence that the chlorine commonly used to treat drinking water may make some pharmaceutical chemicals more toxic. Thus, the typical claim that "pharmaceuticals are only present in very low concentrations, and therefore could not be dangerous" holds no water (pardon the pun). Not only are some chemicals potentiated (made more toxic) by other chemicals in the water, but to date, there have been absolutely no studies looking at the increased danger posed by combinations of pharmaceuticals now being found.

For me “IT” will be fixed when headlines like this no longer appear anywhere in the world and when without question we feel absolutely safe to drink any water presented to us for our consumption. And, moreover when the water we use on all forms of agriculture is equally as safe.

I have come to ask, what is the purpose for these types of “hyper” headlines…? Is it easy to make up it is merely to cause fear…? Or is there another more benign purpose in mind…? I propose the formal education we receive about water goes like this. Water is a chemical formula consisting of H2O, the end. In our formal education we are taught that water is inexhaustible can be used again and again without any consideration of what we choose to expose it to. And finally our science says, trust us, you can drink it, don’t be concerned about the smell or that odd taste, it’s good for you, we’ve done double blind studies, you have nothing to fear.

Pioneers like Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, and the French scientist, Jacques Benveniste, who dared say … water has memory … took positions about our environment, especially water that caused them to become pariah summarily denounced by the politically correct medical and scientific community world wide of their time. Interesting how things are correlated as Sir Issac Newton noted, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and it applies equally to all we say and all we do. In America, we believe firmly entrenched in the infallibility of science while every day all around our globe folks, like you and me, shred this belief to shreds. Intentionally activated energy is moving mountain, healing the sick, clearing the mind, finding ways to clean our air and our water, while many of us choose to remain fixed and locked on to the formal education we received. And, you are free to remain, believing as you choose. There are other paths and directions in which you might look…?

All paths leading to awareness requires each of us to take accountability and responsibility for what we choose to accept as the truth. The underlying premise of the … Clean Water Act … was noble, though man’s greed has unquestioningly corrupted its lofty intent. The economist’s concept of “externalities” most assuredly rears its head when we ponder the implications polluted/contaminated water has on all forms of life, especially mankind.

Without question we accept the bottled water in that designer/decorator plastic bottle is not only safe but healthy and beneficial to you, all the while not aware it often begins its life from the same facet from which you drew water this morning to wash your face. This water, according to this article appears to be laden with microscopic pieces of “stuff” which is not really healthy for us. So, what can we do, (a) nothing, but that’s a choice, (b) scream, cuss, yell, complain and condemn, and that’s a choice too, (c) begin to ask those providing water to you, to explain completely in clear, concise and understandable terms how are they preparing the water they provide to you. And, begin to own that when we take accountability and responsibility for our water, it will be safe. Find that incredible, don’t you…? But that’s what IT looks like to me when it’s fixed.

trust us your water is safe

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

More fencing, but no cleanup…Federal officials tell Hopi villagers that the $38 million price tag to remove uranium waste threatening local springs and wells is too steep to win congressional approval. …By CYNDY COLE …Sun Staff Reporter …Sunday, September 07, 2008 …EXCERPTED … VILLAGE OF UPPER MOENKOPI -- Hopi residents and tribal leaders demanded on Wednesday that federal agencies clean up radioactive waste threatening the water supply for at least one Hopi village. But federal agents attending an informational meeting here on the water contamination committed only to more planning and fencing off the area, but not the cleanup sought by the tribe, citing the expense of up to $38 million. Tribal employees and a hydrogeologist working for the tribe said uranium waste left in an unlined dump outside Tuba City threatened the shallow, spring-fed drinking water system for about 1,000 residents in the nearby village of Lower Moencopi. "There is an imminent and substantial threat to human health and the environment," said Nat Nutongla, director of the Hopi Tribe's water office, on Wednesday night. "... We can't just continue to look at more studies, more passing the buck, because that is what created this problem to begin with." … The water is currently deemed safe to drink by the EPA. "There is an immediate need to alleviate the potential threat to water sources from that landfill," said Carl Warren, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's manager for this project. The tribe was justified in being upset and distrustful of the federal government, Warren said, recounting a story.
"There have been nine-plus years where nothing has been done," he said. The plan is to somehow close the dump, which is on the Navajo-Hopi border, by 2012.

For more than 9 years now EPA has done NOTHING to prevent or clean up the radioactive waste threatening the water supply for one Hopi village. On the other hand for nearly 8 years now your ADEQ has done NOTHING to take a pro-active position respecting the safety of the water you ingest here in “metro” Phoenix.

In both instances EPA and ADEQ want to apply some cursory “band-aide” while a cancer festers beneath the surface, just out of your sight.

In both cases the EPA and ADEQ are lead by individuals who came into office promising to “serve & protect” but we never sought to ask whom…? Obviously it is not you or me, but rather corporate interests who have so generously funded the political campaigns of George W. Bush and Janet Napolitano.

The fact is it is highly unlikely either will be in office in 2012, it’s your life they’re playing Russian roulette with today, but apparently you don’t mind…?

guilty we throw away 96 billion

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Headline – 9 Sept 08 – Arizona Republic … 2 arrested in theft of copper wire … Police: Pair aimed to sell scrap for food …

IT is fixed when Americans no longer throw away more than NINETY- SIX BILLION (96,000,000,000) pounds of edible food every year… !

Are “we” truly unable to see and feel the dichotomy and hypocrisy when assessing these two quite diverse statements about what we view as ethical, justified and honorable…?

Theft of anything is not acceptable, however, when “we” deliberately allow the elite and the select to tilt the economic and financial playing field for their own greed over the need of the many, is there not also a theft being perpetrated…?

When “we” permit us to promise delivery of an adequate and fair education to all on the one hand, while on the other denying funds to correct basic needs like proper sewage, is that not also – theft…?

When “we” permit the elite and select few to feed at the financial trough “we” underwrite (Fannie May and Freddie Mac most recently) is that not also – theft…?

When “we” allow giant corporations to reap financial rewards through our extension of generous tax benefits while deliberately closing the door on anyone choosing to “get-off-the-grid” is that not a form of theft…?

When “we” knowingly and continuous allow governmental agencies to camouflage and pull the wool over our eyes respecting the safety of the water we ingest is that not a form of theft…?

In a book flaunted by both preacher and daemon it is written… let he who is without sin cast the first stone … be my guest as I most assuredly don’t qualify…perhaps you do…?

proactive water policies, conservation, say what

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?
. ARIZONA FIGHTS SUIT OVER DENIAL OF WATER TRANSFER …. Arizona is trying to fend off a lawsuit in which a company is suing the state over its refusal to allow ground water to be piped to neighboring Nevada to support new development. The lawsuit pending in federal court in Las Vegas contends, among other things, that the denial interfered with interstate commerce and that Arizona officials violated a federal racketeering law by conspiring with project opponents and by purposely stringing out consideration of the application to "throw up numerous costly bureaucratic hurdles." The state's alleged intentional mishandling of Wind River Resources LLC's application left then-majority owner Erika Van Alstine financially insolvent, forcing her to sell a majority stake in the Arizona-based company, according to the lawsuit. Lawyers for the state Department of Water Resources have yet to respond to the lawsuit's charges, instead asking that the lawsuit be thrown out on jurisdiction and other legal grounds, including Wind River's failure to appeal administratively. If the case isn't dismissed, it should at least be transferred to federal court in Arizona, the state's lawyers contend. Wind River, whose lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, sought to pump water from the Muddy Creek aquifer in the Mormon Wells area north of Beaver Dam and transport it to the Virgin Valley Water District in nearby Mesquite, Nev. The March 15, 2005, application was the first submitted to the Department of Water Resources for a decision under a 1989 state law that set criteria for transporting water out of Arizona. The law was enacted seven years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that groundwater is subject to the U.S. Constitution's protections for interstate commerce. Wind River's application called for exporting up to 14,000 acre-feet of water annually. An acre-foot of water is about 325,000 gallons, enough to supply two average families of four for a year. Many Beaver Dam and Littlefield residents opposed the application, expressing concerns that the project could leave their wells dry. Following the recommendation of an administrative law judge, state Water Resources Director Herb Guenther rejected Wind River's application on Nov. 28. In a Nov. 1 report that Guenther adopted with only a few changes, Judge Thomas Shedden recommended that Wind River's application be denied because the company failed to update key aspects, provided inaccurate information and did not submit hydrological studies on the pumping's probable impact on the Mormon Wells area. That left the department without enough information to decide whether Wind River had satisfied the Arizona law's requirements, including whether the exported water would be used for a "reasonable and beneficial" use in another state, Shedden said. Wind River contended it submitted all the necessary documentation to support its application and that its project would not harm existing water users in the lower Virgin River basin. Wind River also has argued that the state law requiring it to get Arizona's permission to export water was unconstitutional.

This report above is the first in a series of wild-west-skirmishes ushering in what will be a long arduous pejorative battle over water. This is but the very tip of an iceberg respecting how – water – in all of its many forms will be fought over. Water is the life-blood of any area in the West, and ownership or control of water in the West elicits a response one has power, authority and dominion. Arizona enters these battles a bit beleaguered as our water rights are subservient and “junior” to the rights enjoyed by – Nevada – California – New Mexico – Utah - Colorado our closest neighbors with “senior” rights as adjudicated under the Compact of the River. It strikes me that Arizona has absolutely no choice but to defend any action from any source which threatens to take in any form what Arizona chooses to believe is its water.

Not only is Nevada taking this shot at Arizona’s water, but our neighbor to the North – Utah – has made application to withdraw significant amounts of water from Lake Powell to provide water to support its unprecedented growth in St. George and Cedar City. Our friends in New Mexico are making plans to take more the water to which they are entitled from the Colorado River, while that 900# gorilla – California – appears to be a bit in a stealth mode at the moment.

Were all those states signature to the Compact of the River to actually withdraw all the water to which they are by contract entitled – no – water would reach Phoenix, or damn little, certainly not enough to support our current population let alone our appetite for future growth.

And this short discussion does not even remotely address what does the Compact of the River do about the legitimate claims of the sovereign nation/state of Mexico…?

Might it be time for Arizona to get honest and real about the water is actually has and develop proactive plans to conserve it for the benefit of the many…?

beginning to ask some pertinent questions

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

About Sewers, Septics and Water Pollution…Prescott News... EXCERPTED… Lauren Millette … http://prescottenews.com/news/current-news/about-sewers-septics-and-water-pollution.html ... First, I invite everyone to make the time to view Ms. Millette’s article available on line at the site noted.
Secondly, The question still remains as to who will pay for sewering unsewered Prescott areas. There are 610 units on the outskirts of Prescott on septic tanks and 1,822 water meters in the city not linked to sewers. Although Prescott City Councils have dodged this issue for decades, water pollution complaints have percolated it to the top of main stream conversation at city hall and in north Prescott homes. City staff and members of the Prescott Mayor's Advisory Committee on Unsewered Areas met twice this summer since the topic packed council chambers and spurred hours of public outcry at several council sessions when Prescott Mayor Jack Wilson presented the concept that residents in these unsewered north Prescott neighborhoods foot the bill.
Although city staff initially associated the spillage with leaking septic units, residents on septic complained to council their septic tanks are maintained regularly and they should not have to fork out money for a city sewer line when they believe the sewage is coming from old, corroding sewer pipes the city has needed to replace for decades.
What about enforcing health code violations? Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials relegated responsibility over environmental concerns to the county for this region even in areas annexed into various cities and towns. City staff reports they contacted ADEQ regarding the leaking sewage and were told the issue needs to be addressed by the county health department until the point where the pollution it is out of control and complaints are filed with ADEQ that no steps are being taken toward mitigation.
I want to rise and salute the folks in Prescott who are at least choosing to begin to ask some of those pertinent questions which government regulators and bureaucrats have for years summarily hidden from public view.

The process to design, install, utilize and maintain (O&M) any residential onsite wastewater treatment and effluent disposal system (SEPTIC SYSTEM) is one deliberately fraught with misinformation, misdirection and outright deception. And let me be even a bit bolder, I am willing to present my case before any audience in Arizona.

We have deliberately made the design, installation, utilization and O&M of all SEPTIC SYSTEMS merely a function of promoting and sustaining growth at the expense of water quality. Not, true, you say…? In the approx 18 months prior to the implementation of the initial ADEQ Unified Permit Rule approved by GRRC for Jan 2001, a number of citizens, regulators, engineers, contractors, homeowners voluntarily met to promulgate a rule which we endeavored to be clear, concise and understandable. Being novices, we were out “politic” by ADEQ and its minions and were trumped at GRRC by the then Governor of Arizona – Jane Hull. The Unified Permit Rule fostered by ADEQ, implemented in Jan 2001, sold out to the interests of the developers, the mines, the municipalities, the utilities choosing to summarily turn its back on overt protection of all forms of your water. Harsh and untrue, please ask ADEQ to come to the table prepared to honestly answer all your questions, without the need to play hide and seek with you…? Their game is you seek answers and ADEQ hides all the evidence and the truth from you.

But the bottom lines is “we” and most assuredly includes moi, are unwilling to HOLD the owner and user of any SEPTIC SYSTEM accountable and responsible. The HOMEOWNER is in Arizona the sacred cow, the untouchable.

This harkens to the legacy truth of Sir Issac Newton … for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction … as it pertains to SEPTIC SYSTEMS is there is no such thing as a free-lunch. We have steadfastly absolutely refused to hold the HOMEOWNER accountable and/or responsible for the care, custody and control of the SEPTIC SYSTEM he utilizes. And then with timidity we ask why our water is being polluted…?

We allowed ADEQ to implement a program which could have set the initial bar in establishing accountability and responsibility of HOMEOWNERS for the current operating state of the SEPTIC SYSTEM on their property, the mandatory RESALE SEPTIC INSPECTION & CERTIFICATION PROCESS, only to see them bastardize the process by making sure to legally holding no one in the process accountable save the buyer – caveat emptor.

Enter today a new economic factor challenging cities, towns, municipalities, etc to control all forms of water including and especially wastewater. Today’s wastewater is tomorrow’s potable water for you and yours, make no mistake about it. There is $$$ for those who can control and have dominion over how wastewater is collected, treated and utilized in the future. One need only take a cursory look on the internet and Google topics like, water privatization, Bechtel, Suez, Veolia Environment and RWE for starters, to get a glimpse of the extent these and other multinational corporations are moving to take control and dominion over all forms of water.

Here is a most telling fact … Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials relegated responsibility over environmental concerns to the county for this region even in areas annexed into various cities and towns. City staff reports they contacted ADEQ regarding the leaking sewage and were told the issue needs to be addressed by the county health department until the point where the pollution it is out of control and complaints are filed with ADEQ that no steps are being taken toward mitigation. I invite you to ask Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City what ADEQ’s solution to this condition was for them…? Answer … the big pipe … yup, sewer it and built reputed state of the art sewage treatment facilities and you pick up the tab. Oh, yea, these same politicians are not unwilling to sell your tax paid facility to a private firm like Suez or enter into a “sweetheart” deal at the get-go and have them build the facility granting to them total care, custody and control over all aspects of operating the systems – including – what they charge you.

Hey it’s your water, your health, your life, so perhaps you want to have more than a passive voice in how others make decisions over all aspects of your water.

are we bought and paid for too

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

McCain chooses Palin . . . Whether intended or not the McCain camp’s decision to choose Sarah Palin, the current Republican Governor of Alaska as the choice for the VP spot on the Republican Presidential ticket has produced a hail storm of discussion. This topic dominates national and local talk radio, TV news, newspaper headlines, internet discussion groups, weekly supermarket tabloids and coffee shop conversation.

What I find utterly fascinating is the speed at which reputed “valid” information was made available to the public, especially via the internet. No sooner had her name been mentioned and the internet was alive with “documentation” of all sorts, sizes, colors, descriptions about Ms. Palin. The barrage of so-called information was literally overwhelming, so much so, as to prevent anyone from standing back and taking a breath and questioning the validity of the information.

What “peaks” and tantalizes our interest is those reputed juicy tidbits about her personal life, her sex life, her personal drama/trauma stuff. The “stuff” our more popular TV shows portray week after week, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat to see what new provocatively stimulating “stuff” will be revealed in the next episode. Americans are voyeurs who choose to live vicariously through the lives of others.

This is for me a most interesting dichotomy as Americans yearn for the next revealing episode on the one hand while secretly maintaining a Puritan perspective about the human body, sex, nudity and human reproduction on the other. Enter on the American political scene a young woman, of reproductive age, not unattractive, with enough “baggage” for which motion picture executives salivate over, and presto the seeds exist to engage America in a prolonged love affair with her alleged proclivities.

Not a minute goes by that some new piece of “evidence” does not appear on the Internet about Ms. Palin as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. These range from photos showing her cradling a rifle with a scope on it in a bathing suit around a swimming pool. What inference are you to conjure up as you look at this photo…? And there are the ones of her daughter holding a child, but whose we are asked…? Might it be…? And she lied about that “bridge to nowhere,” say what, are you really asking me to believe that McCain, Biden or Obama have not done similarly…? This is politics folks, they can’t tell you and me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, because if they did, we really would not vote for any of them.

American politics is getting you and me to believe the myth, to see truth in the mirage our candidate of choice presents, while on the other hand we are asked to look past the myth and mirage the enemy camp presents and see their ugly truth disclosed. Running for the office of President of the United States of America has been reduced to creating the greatest stage production of all time orchestrated to culminate at precisely the right moment in time reaching a heightened crescendo we willing take with us to the poll when we vote. We’re bought and paid for too.

america's royals

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

This is Washington DC belt-way reality so brilliantly depicted in Grin & Bear cartoon…in the Sunday – 9-7-08 – Arizona Republic.

The real tragedy is we just laugh about it accepting this nonsense. Why do we so obediently acquiesce and feel inclined to accept as reality these statements from those we elected to “serve & protect” us…? Living in a cocoon environment within the “belt-way” separate and apart from those who elected them to actually serve and protect and part of an unaccountable elite of some 535 individuals holding sway over a nation of some 300 million one could see “reality” differently.

Though unintended these are America’s – “royals” – to which we hold to different standard of honesty and ethics, often in stark contrast to that to which we hold family, friends and those with whom we work. Why…?

IT is fixed when we hold everyone, including I/you/me/us to the same standard.

another bail-out but not for you

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

When the “press” does not see the need to turn its headlights on shenanigans like the Fannie and Freddie debacle it will be fixed.

This will not occur until we choose to hold those we elect to serve and to protect us fully accountable and responsible.

This implies that we take full accountability and responsibility for all of our own actions too. Blindly pointing and wagging our finger at the outrageous action “they” take is not a step towards honest personal accountability.

There will be another huge financial “bail-out” which you and I will pay for in spite of any claim any politician or candidate make. The current financial system of our nation is designed to benefit the corporation and those comprising the financial elite of our nation, fewer than 3% of the 300 million populating our nation.

There is not a week that passes into history which does not reveal another rip and tare in the economic fabric of our country. On the sidelines we stand seemingly immobilized unable or unwilling to take any action. We are not at all unlike the emaciated starving children with protruding eyes meekly standing awaiting a handout from “them.”

Looking to any form of “government” to do for us what we are unwilling to do for ourselves is foolish and will only meet with inevitable disaster. Government is a reflection of our collective will and for the past many years it has been our will to be complacent, lackadaisical and progressively more mentally and emotionally lazy.

It will change when we choose a different path individually and collectively but not until then. And all the rhetoric in the world from the mouths of any politician will not bring about the required change. They can, if they choose, provide the catalyst and the inspiration for change, but only by our individual and collective action will it manifest.

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

FUNDS FALL SHORT FOR SCHOOL REPAIRS … headline in 9-8-08, issue of Arizona Republic … so what does this say about our honesty and commitment to educating our children…?

I ask you, Governor Janet Napolitano, how can you expect our school aged youngsters to trust your word…? You made bold and proud statements to our State Legislature, to our state’s teachers, to our state’s student that YOU were their champion. YOU promised to “serve & protect” them. Is this the example of the noble manner in which you are choosing to honor your word…?

You ask to be looked upon as the inspirational leader of our State, the one to whom our school aged youngsters revere and hold in a place of honor. And when the going gets tough, you choose to “gut” them as a fisherman would the mullet he uses for bait. You and your advisors should have a better handle on the economy of our state than it appears you actually have…?

You chose to be that knight on the white horse championing the education of our youth no one forced that task upon you. You saw an opportunity to stake out a legacy position and took it. There it is, Governor, along with the obligation to live up to your commitments. Attempting to pass the buck to the 90 mental midgets, acting in behalf of special interests, masquerading in their capacity as members of our State Legislature doesn’t cut it you wear the mantle as champion.

When “we” – that’s you and me – choose to judge the future acts of these now school aged youngsters, let us remember that “we” did not live up to our collective commitment to them. When their actions and words brand us and cut us to the core emotionally, let us remember that shoe was on our foot and we too, in kind cut them to the core – you can't trust us…?

There is as Sir Issac Newton so eloquently pointed out many, many centuries past … for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction …

IT is fixed when the words we speak match the actions we take.

BUSH CAN BLOCK MAD-COW TESTING

Perspective for your consideration …What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

The Associated Press reports … BUSH CAN BLOCK MAD-COW TESTING…

This is one of those occasions when I truly need your assistance. Please explain to me who benefits when President George W. Bush can summarily block a privately owned business from providing more testing than is required by any regulatory rule or law and at that business’s own expense…? Our federal governmental agencies are not negatively impacted in any way nor are they required to contribute any funds to support this business’s testing activity…? Why then would President George W. Bush logically block and prohibit a private business from engaging in any activity which does not negatively impact our national defense, our environment, our air or our water…? Why indeed…?

The article suggests the rationale is that other meat packing companies will have to conduct the reputed costly testing for … mad-cow disease …? No they do not, it’s simply a matter of choice on the part of every meat packing company. Or is this merely the tip of an iceberg industry does not want to see the light of day…? What is the meat packing industry trying to hide…?

Were in implications not so horrific, this is a total laugher, our President intercedes to prevent a privately owned business from attempting to provide a “better” and safer product to consumers. Is this what the vaunted American free-enterprise system has come to…?

What “IT” looks like when fixed for me is, a President of the United States would never choose to intercede into any action where health of his citizens was being given honest consideration, NO, he would take every legitimate means to support such endeavors.

exploiting the ocean for Arizona water

The Arizona Republic headlines note…ARIZONA MULLS NEW WATER SOURCE: OCEAN … As we ponder exploiting the oceans as one of the primary sources of potable (drinking) water in Arizona’s future, might we consider the long term implications this action will have on our single source ecosystem…? I invite us to consider and make part of our discovery process how we honorable deal with the increased salinity issue such desalination will have on the ecosystem of the ocean from which we choose to extract this water. I invite us to multiply Arizona’s pending action by a factor of 10 or 100 or 100 or more times as cities far closer to the worlds oceans rush head long towards a similar solution. I invite us to consider the horrific energy cost on worldwide scale desalination will have and from where do we anticipate obtaining this needed energy – fossil fuel…?

We love numbers and it is noted the world’s oceans contain approx. 97% of all the water available on our planet. These same oceans provide home to teeming millions upon millions of life forms all designed to live within a specific salinity range. Our increase desalination efforts will only serve to inexorably exacerbate already declining ocean life forms. That all “life forms” share one inexorably intertwined ecosystem somehow does not resonate with the degree of prominence that it should. Sir Isaac Newton noted long ago … that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction … and I do not believe mankind can long endure by thumbing our nose at Mother Nature’s consistent warnings, can you…?

It may be that desalination can be a factor in providing a portion of the potable (drinking) water that mankind world wide requires today and will require tomorrow, but only if we choose to address this in an honorable and holistic manner. Choosing to run rough shod over Mother Nature will only end in utter disaster for mankind.

When “IT’S” fixed we will have honorably taken into consideration the holistic implications of Sir Issac Newton’s … that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction …

just because we can, should we

“IT” is fixed when the question becomes …. Just because we can, should we…?

In the photo above appearing in the Thursday 9-5-08 -issue of the Arizona Republic – Tiger Wood is reported to be reviewing his most recent and most ambitious commercial venture. Along with his Dubai investors, Tiger Wood is developing a 1.1 billion dollar golf course in Dubai. This venture will require copious amounts of water to grow and maintain over 5 million square feet of grass along with the growing and maintenance of over 30,000 full-grown imported trees.

Fresh potable water resources in Dubai are limited the majority of potable (drinking and crop growing) water is processed through desalinization of the ocean’s water. I am not aware there are any water experts who refute that as a result of desalinization the water returned to either the ocean or land has a significantly higher saline content and it deleterious to most all life forms.

Might there be something just a bit out of balance here…? I am fully cognizant it is not possible to legislate or demand or force anyone to take, foster or adhere to any specific moral or ethical path. I have difficulty integrating how on the one hand we – Americans – prop up folks like – Tiger Wood – as champions, heroes who win under medically challenging circumstance, while on the other hand, we can summarily watch as his commercial action degrade our sole source single ecosphere all for the sake of personal glory and a few measly dollars. Are these really the actions a hero takes…? Are not heroes the one who stand tall in the face of adversity, like Gary Cooper in High Noon…? Heroes are not in it, just for the buck, are they…? Tiger Wood, because of his public persona is an easy target, but he is not the only target. Is not each of us equally accountable and responsible for contributing to this imbalance…?

Our local newspapers report our “leaders” want to tie Arizona’s future to desalinization of the ocean’s water from the area around Rocky Point, Mexico. A - “WAG” – that’s an economically scientific term for “wild ass guess” was tossed out at $250 billion dollars as the cost for this project. What we should all know by now is that any figure that government provides is totally fictitious as the true and ultimate cost is normally from 2 to 10 times greater.

Desalinization requires enormous amounts of energy. Where is this energy to come from for the Tiger Wood’s Dubai golf course project and for the desalinization project envisioned by Arizona’s leaders….? Greater reliance on fossil fuel…?

If folks seeking public exposure as benefactors of our environment truly want to champion projects which can have universal application, let them put their “charitable-tax-free-funds” into sponsoring totally “out-of-the-box-thinking” about solar, wind, wave, algae conversion, etc, as well as applying this thinking to cleaning up our water and our air…?

Surely there are folks around our globe, many of them from indigenous aboriginal cultures who posses as Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D. - a psychologist and medical anthropologist, notes … “Knowledge is wisdom. Information is knowing that water is H2O. Knowledge is being able to make it rain.” Knowledge we express through our beliefs in our economic, political, social, and educational systems. Even our medical practices are, by their very nature, hostile, masculine, and aggressive. These paradigms hold that we can rape, loot, and pillage as we wish, we can spoil the earth and postpone the price of clean-up to future generations. Tiger Wood’s Dubai golf course is merely emblematic of this contemporary American paradigm. Tiger Wood is not to be judged as bad or wrong, he is merely reacting within the confines of our American capitalistic greed based economic model. Do not we, though we see ourselves as farther down that ladder, equally climbing and adhering to that same greed based economic model…?

Getting one’s head and heart outside our contemporary economic model is extremely difficult. We can get there in the moment only to fall quickly back into alignment with the politically correct thinking of the day. Don’t beat yourself up, when you become aware of where you are in the moment you have an opportunity to make a choice. Every action and move you make is by choice. Most of us have been operation on “auto-pilot” for so long we do not know how to grip the steering wheel with our own hands. That’s the first step. Only when I/you/me/us shall accept and assume sole responsibility for all of our actions are we truly and honestly free.

That’s what IT looks like when it’s fixed for me. What’s your position, I’d really like to know and learn and be open to discussing it with you…?

Respectfully,