Sometimes the morning clips from the state Department of Water Resources are really something. The following articles add to our understanding of the Colorado River dispute. What reporters were too polite to mention is the Secretary of Interior Gail Norton is a former Colorado state official. Nevada offers money to end water impasse San Diego Union Tribune - 8/28/03 By Michael Gardner, staff writer, Copley News Service SACRAMENTO Nevada has quietly stepped in with a surprise offer of $82 million to help California seal an elusive landmark deal to share the Colorado River and bring a vast new supply of water to the San Diego region. The proposal is being touted in some circles as a possible breakthrough in the stalled talks.Patricia Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority that serves the Las Vegas region, said the offer was made to break the impasse and assure Nevada of water during drought. Talks have deadlocked since the Metropolitan Water District, the Los Angeles-based wholesaler, balked over paying $82 million to help restore the Salton Sea. MWD officials say it could gain more water at a cheaper price by tapping reserves, conservation and desalination. "Metropolitan may notneed the water but we sure do," Mulroy said. In return for the $82 million, Nevada could store up to 330,000 acre-feet of water cumulatively in California over the next 15 to 20 years. An acre-foot is enough water to supply two households for a year. "According to the parties, this is the only thing keeping us apart," Mulroy said.
Read More »August, 2003
Southland Scenario
Guest article by that superb prose stylist and truth speaker, Hakim of the Westside, who offers a more complete version of a recent subdivision deal in the region.
Southland scenario
Anaheim Bob, as he is affectionately know to the southlands developer community, was nearly in tears as he made his report about his visit with the Merced County planning department to the board of directors of the I-5 City project.
Im tellin you they didnt want to hear about this project. They didnt even look at our popsicle-stick model of I-5 City with the battery-powered fiberoptic street lights and the little cars parked along the streets. And they made me turn off the Its a Small World music that was suppose to go along with the Powerpoint presentation. All they wanted to know was where were gonna get water for 1,500 homes. They kept askin that over and over again, Where is your water source? Where is your water source? I felt like pissin in one of their in-baskets and sayin theres your damned water source.
Read More »Rove heads for the Dairy Lagoon
Evidence of growing panic in the White House, Oregons largest paper reports below how President Bushs top political advisor, Karl Rove, has entered into the Klamath Basin water dispute, to support the Republican "rural base."
The history: during a recent drought the federal Bureau of Reclamation cut irrigation water off to the basin to protect an endangered species of fish, known locally with extreme contempt as suckers, to distinguish them from commercial salmon species. But when Bushovites gained control of the Department of Interior, Sectretary Gail Norton opened up the gates again. Since then, resource agency dialectics have occurred.
The economics: Klamath Basins top crop is alfalfa, the thirstiest variety of hay, required by the exploding western dairy industry. California, the countrys largest dairy state, grew 58 percent since 1985 and Idaho, another prime Klamath County customer, doubled dairy production since 1992. Dairy prices are low but alfalfa production is down, driving feed costs up. Cows eat and produce milk whether the market pays a break-even price for it or not.
Read More »Water follies
Consider the latest totally unattributed rumor that a developer bought a large acreage, planned to build a new town on it for the west sides burgeoning bedroom community so well employed in Silicon Valley.
An anonymous source who seeks comic diversion from the tragedies of daily life on the west side, recently looked at a map of local water districts and noted that the proposed new town fell outside the boundaries of any district.
Cannibalism in public funding
Economics is nice but getting to the core of things, give me a lawsuit between two public agencies over money. Its well-known to reporters who cover government, that the real hatred of government is in government -- the hatred of one arm of it for another arm. When they get to fighting among themselves over money, its livelier than a King City dog fight. One lawyer warned that if this suit isnt heard by the state Supreme Court, "unintended consequences" could occur. What she meant was that the case is providing broad scope for legal arguments about which different judges have differed and if wisdom doesnt prevail, total anarchy in public finance is a distinct possibility.
Give me a lawsuit for getting to the bones of an issue, even if on occasion the bones get crushed in the process. They may start off slow and tentative but as they mature from court to court they pick up steam. Californians just love to argue about land, the environment, water, public safety and such. When the whole argument is publicly funded, anything can happen between different governments, except possibly communication.
Marina et al v.
Read More »We must not go back here again
March 16, 1968 came three years after the biggest American buildup of troops in Vietnam. Vietnamese began fighting for freedom from French colonialism more than 30 years earlier. It was 15 years after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (when the French left Vietnam). By March, 1968, nearly 40,000 American troops and an unestimated, but far, far greater number of Vietnamese had already died.
On that date, Charlie Company of the US Army entered a Vietnam village called My Lai 4 and killed several hundred civilians, including many women and children. The Unified Buddhist Congregation of Vietnam, reported 394 civilians killed, 176 missing and 23 wounded in what came to be known as the My Lai Massacre. The US Army reported about the same number killed.
A Vietnam vet, who wasnt in My Lai, heard about the massacre from a number of sources and after he was discharged wrote a letter to a number of congressmen about it. An army reporter had taken a number of photos of the massacre. When My Lai investigations became public in late 1969, newspapers published stories and some of the photos. Lt. William Calley, was tried in the early seventies for personally murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians and directing the larger massacre. He was convicted by military court and sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence was soon commuted to 10 years and he was released in 1974.
Seymour Hersch, who wrote a book about My Lai, devoted a chapter to some of the public reactions.
Read More »HMOs
Q. What does HMO stand for?
A. This is actually a variation of the phrase, 'HEY MOE.' Its roots go back to a concept pioneered by Moe of the Three Stooges, who discovered that a patient could be made to forget about the pain in his foot if he was poked hard enough in the eyes.
Q. I just joined an HMO. How difficult will it be to choose the doctor I want?
A. Just slightly more difficult than choosing your parents. Your insurer will provide you with a book listing all the doctors in the plan. These doctors basically fall into two categories -- those who are no longer accepting new patients, and those who will see you but are no longer participating in the plan. But don't worry; the remaining doctor who is still in the plan and accepting new patients has an office just a half-day's drive away, and a diploma from a Third World country.
Q. Do all diagnostic procedures require pre-certification?
A. No. Only those you need.
Q. Can I get coverage for my preexisting conditions?
A. Certainly, as long as they don't require any treatment.
Q. What happens if I want to try alternative forms of medicine?
A. You'll need to find alternative forms of payment.
Q. My pharmacy plan only covers generic drugs, but I need the name brand. I tried the Generic Medication, but it gave me a stomach ache. What should I do?
A. Poke yourself in the eye.
Q. What if I'm away from home and I get sick?
A. You really shouldn't do that.
