$6 billion to save Salton Sea?

By LARRY STIRLING
Monday, April 2, 2007

California's Secretary of Resources, Michael Chrisman, has announced a $6 billion plan to "save the Salton Sea."

Secretary Chrisman proposes, among other things, taxpayers pay to construct a 40-mile long barrier to create a 34,000-acre "habitat" along the northern end of the "lake." Environmentalists are also proposing a diversion of fresh water into the Salton Sea to maintain its size.

What a waste of both money and precious water!

Trying to save the Salton Sea is an unnatural act. Its present existence is accidental. Its historic existence was seasonal only.

It should be allowed to return to its natural state as the "Salton Sink."

If necessary, use some of that money to buy out the land speculators around the edge of the Salton Sea who are apparently pushing this idea. For those who are not longtime Californians, you can find the polluted, degraded, accident of a run-off scum pond straddling the border between Riverside and Imperial Counties just north of Imperial Valley.

As a matter of history, the area was known for several thousand years as the "Salton Sink." At its lowest elevation, the Salton Sink is only 5 feet above than the lowest of all points in North America: the southerly end of the floor of Death Valley

The Salton Sink is no different than hundreds of other such land formations throughout the state. A "sink" is simply a relative low spot into which ambient floodwaters settle until evaporating, leaving behind a salty residue.

If the Salton Sea deserves $6 billion dollars, so does Serles Lake near Trona, West End and Argus as well as the "Bad Water" site in Death Valley south of Furnace Creek Inn. Ever since tectonic activity drained an inland sea by raising most of the North American plate above sea level, the Salton Sink received floodwaters during the rainy season -- only to have all moisture broiled away with the onset of the blazing Colorado Desert summers.

In 1905, heavy rainfall along with some railroad-construction mistakes resulted in seawater flooding in from the Gulf of California, thereby temporarily inundating much of the sink for a sustained period of time.

History reports it took two years of strenuous flood-control work to stem the onslaught of seawaters that could have eventually inundated everything in Imperial and Riverside counties below sea level, including some of the most productive agricultural land in the nation.

Before the tide was stopped, the town of Salton, a Southern Pacific Railroad siding, and much of Torres-Martinez "Indian" Reservation were submerged.

For a few decades, the clean seawater provided a fairly respectable recreation opportunity, and people flocked to build resorts and housing along the shore of the new "sea."

I remember water skiing there with my DeMolay Chapter as a mere "yout."

But once the flow of clean seawater stopped, inexorable evaporation continuously reduced the surface size of the salty lagoon stranding the recreational facilities. Reduced water volume resulted in increased salinity that became intolerable to all resident fish species, save the hardy tilapia.

To make matters worse, developments in Tijuana and other points in northern Mexico resulted in the penetration of a huge sewage flow euphemistically called "The New River."

That stream of filth is presently composed of agricultural and chemical run from the farm industry located in Mexico and the United States, plus sewage from Mexicali and the Maquiladore plants in Mexico not subject to anti-pollution laws as in the United States.

The New River "contains a stew of 100 contaminants: volatile organic compounds, heavy metals (including selenium, uranium, arsenic and mercury) and pesticides (including DDT and PCBs). It also includes pathogens for tuberculosis, polio, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid." Yuck!

From time to time, the news will show the dead bodies of animals and even people floating down the "New River." You get the point.

The Salton Sea would have long since dried up were it not for local agricultural runoff. For too many decades, the Imperial Irrigation District, enjoying a top priority right to cheap water from the Colorado River, distributed its irrigation water via a system of dirt-lined canals. This results in the saturation of the ground.

With the advent of the Richard Katz Water-Marketing Law, (which I coauthored) water policy in California was radically changed for the better. The prior law motivated a "use-it-or-lose-it" mentality. Richard's bill created a "save-it-and-sell-it" mindset.

As a result, San Diego was able make a deal with the IID to line its canals, thereby reducing wasteful seepage, thus conserving water for us to purchase.

Instead of building an unnatural barrier, available funds should be used to treat the "New River" sewage to protect Californians.

Let nature decide if it will be the Salton "Sea" or the Salton Sink.

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Stirling is a retired judge who authored the book "Leading at a Higher Level." He is a former Army officer, member of the San Diego City Council, the California State Assembly and the State Senate. Send comments to larry.stirling@sddt.com. Comments may be published as letters to the Editor.

ARTICLEL: "Silent Districts Speak Volumes On Sunnis' Fall: Insurgents Sever Area's Access to Life Basics," by Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times, 26 March 2007, p. A1.
We all know that Kurdistan is stable and flourishing (the good). Most of us know the not-so-bad story of the Shiites:
The contrast with Shiite neighborhoods is sharp. Markets there are in full swing, community projects are under way, and while electricity is scarce throughout the city, there is less trouble finding fuel for generators in those areas. When the government cannot provide services, civilian arms of the Shiite militias step in to try to fill the gap.
The implied contrast, of course, is to the ugly, or the Sunni areas:
The city-scape of Iraq's capital tells a stark story of the toll the past four years have taken on Iraq's once powerful Sunni Arabs.
Theirs is the world of ruined buildings, damaged mosques, streets pitted by mortar shells and so little electricity that many people have abandoned using refrigerators altogther.
We have successfully liberated Kurdistan, and if we weren't so bent out of shape on Iran, we could argue easily that our liberation of Shiite Iraq has also gone reasonably well.
Where we failed was in Sunni Iraq, and that failure was--in many ways--preordained.
Glass-half-full says we claim our victories where we find them by pulling most of our ground troops to safe Kurdistan, continue to hunt AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) with special ops throughout Iraq, and advise the central government on how to put down the insurgency based in Sunni areas (letting the Shiita militias do their thing as necessary).
You add that up and that's not a bad showing, despite all the pointless losses on our side due to poor planning, not enough numbers and poor resourcing and execution.
But we're so binary we can't accept any partial win, and we fret incessantly that Iran "wins" when it's really Riyadh that does (and stabs us in the back rhetorically at the worst moments--thank you King-I-Am!). So we fight Iranian presence in Shiite Iraq, for all the good that will do us and for all the harm such interaction would eventually do to the mullahs back in Tehran (just watch who changes whom more, as freedom tends to infect and spread by example). And we continue to act like the insurgency is our cross to bear and ours alone (thank you again, House of Saud, for your kind words).
McCain is very right in one aspect: resistance at home is all about casualties. Lower the casualties and no matter how nasty the fight, America will be happy.
Meanwhile, we focus on locking in our gains and limiting our future burdens by getting the locals to share more responsibility.
I know, I know, that's too risky. But again, do you think Americans dying in Iraq is going to foment necessary change in Riyadh and Tehran, or is forcing both capitals to put up or shut up on Iraq going to move those balls forward faster?
There is nothing sadder than watching a superpower make a war that's not its own become its own.
We won the war in Iraq in 2003. Our ownership of the postwar mess eluded our grasp a while ago. The ISG recognized this and suggested some of the logical remedies. America, in its binary mindset, either wants the "win" or wants to admit the "loss."
Neither make sense at this point

AP Exclusive: Kissinger says military victory not possible in Iraq

The Associated Press
Sunday, April 1, 2007

TOKYO: Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who helped engineer the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, said Sunday the problems in Iraq are more complex than that conflict, and military victory is no longer possible.

He also said he sympathizes with the troubles facing U.S. President George W. Bush.

"A 'military victory' in the sense of total control over the whole territory, imposed on the entire population, is not possible," Kissinger told The Associated Press in Tokyo, where he received an honorary degree from Waseda University.

The faceless, ubiquitous nature of Iraq's insurgency, as well as the religious divide between Shiite and Sunni rivals, makes negotiating peace more complex, he said.

"It is a more complicated problem," Kissinger said. "The Vietnam War involved states, and you could negotiate with leaders who controlled a defined area."

But Kissinger, an architect of the Vietnam War who has also advised Bush on Iraq, warned that a sudden pullout of U.S. troops or loss of influence could unleash chaos.

"I am basically sympathetic to President Bush," he said. "I am partly sympathetic to it because I have seen comparable situations."

During his tenure under President Richard Nixon, first as national security adviser and then as secretary of state, Kissinger faced a similar challenge in formulating policy for a Vietnam War that was increasingly unpopular at home.

He oversaw a gradual U.S. pullout from Vietnam through a strategy also planned for Iraq, where U.S. troops are training their Iraqi counterparts to take fuller control of security. He also negotiated directly with North Vietnamese leaders on ending the conflict.

Kissinger said the best way forward is to reconcile the differences between Iraq's warring sects with help from other countries. He applauded efforts to host an international conference bringing together the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's neighbors — including Iran, Washington's longtime rival in the region.

"That is the sort of framework out of which it is conceivable that an agreement should emerge," Kissinger said. "One needs to be prepared to negotiate with adversaries."

Kissinger said that fighting in Iraq is likely to continue for years, and that America's national interest requires an end to partisan bickering at home over war policy.

"The role of America in the world cannot be defined by our internal partisan quarrels," he said. "All the leaders, both Republican and Democratic, have to remember that it will go on for several more years and find some basis for common action."

April 01, 2007
Send Me to GITMO!
By Janet Ellen Levy

Whenever I hear of  rich people like Martha Stewart, Dennis Kozlowski or Leona Helmsley being convicted and sent to prison, I find myself wondering how these jet-setting sybarites withstand incarceration. In sympathetic identification, I project myself into their circumstances and embark on a mental sojourn of the accommodations and appointments found within the correctional facility. 

My quest for the perfect incarceration location was satisfied recently on a visit to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which truly rates an entry in the Michelin Guide to Correctional Facilities. I've informed my lawyer, family, close friends and associates that if I'm ever convicted, send me to GITMO!

"Why GITMO," you ask? 

The location is ideal, the climate sublime, food selection vast, the accommodations well ventilated, recreational opportunities abound and cultural sensitivity is king. Besides, I'd fit right in with the GITMO inhabitants. I'm a middle class college graduate, educated at a Western university. I'm not an explosives expert, but I did set off some illegal fireworks on the 4th of July once. All right, so I'm not a terrorist trainer, recruiter, aspiring martyr or financier, but my stint raising three boys has to count for something! 

Yes, GITMO is definitely the choice for me.  But I know my rights and have a few simple requests.

Let's start with my religious needs.  I won't be needing the Koran that's given to other inmates with a gloved hand to hang on the wall with a surgical mask. You can handle my Bible, the Old Testament, but you have to promise to kiss it if you accidentally drop it. Instead of an arrow on my bunk pointing toward Mecca, I'll need a mezuzah on the cell door and will be forwarding directions certified by my rabbi indicating the exact location, angle and required prayer for proper mezuzah installation. I won't require the customary prayer mat, skullcap and prayer beads. I'll be content with a yoga mat and a block to work on my downward-facing dogs and chatarangas. I also won't be needing the five times daily calls to prayer and the cone with the "P" on it that you place on the floor to enforce 20 minutes of quiet respect during each prayer session. On second thought, the "P" cone may come in handy right outside my cell during monthly cycles when I'm hormonal and dangerous.  

By the way, if you could tell the Muslims in adjoining cells that when they're loudly praying about what they're going to do to the "Yahoud" that I know that's the Arabic word for "Jew" and I'm grossly offended! I'm sure they'll understand and modify their incantations accordingly. Oh wait! That's part of the Koran, the holy word of Allah as told to Mohammed; it can't be changed! Well, life is certainly not a bowl full of ball bearings as my late father, PBUH (that's "peace be upon him"), used to say.  It just goes to prove that life isn't perfect, even in an idyllic setting like GITMO.

Here's some advice for GITMO soldiers attending to my care. You won't need plastic face shields as I don't plan to toss fecal cocktails in the honored tradition of GITMO detainees. Also, I'm friendly and harmless and won't visit their families upon my release. So, tell the staff that the Velcro® nametags can remain on their uniforms in my presence.

Let's move on to discuss food and dietary needs. I know you provide inmates with six choices per meal. But those meals - regular, vegetarian, vegetarian with fish, soft diet, bland diet and high fiber - won't cut it for me. I'm not going to be pushy and demand kosher food, but certainly you can put together a low-fat spa entrée. I know that you bake fresh bread daily and hope that you can pop a challah in the oven for me on Fridays for my Shabbat observance. No thanks on the baklava for Ramadan but if you requisition a box of matzoh and a jar of gefilte fish for Passover, I'll promise not to report you to the Center for Constitutional Rights for cultural insensitivity.

Let's talk about my recreational activity requirements. Instead of soccer and stints on the treadmill, I'll require an elliptical and a set of weights. The Pashto class won't work for me, but Spanish will. I'm from Los Angeles where Spanish is the unofficial language and will need to keep up my communication skills. You're going to need to add the Classics to your literary collection in anticipation of my arrival. Incidentally, these must be in English, as I don't read Urdu, Pashto, Arabic or Farsi. Sign me up for the gardening project. I've perfected the art of growing exotic herbs and can be a great asset here. 

I'm impressed with your 20-bed medical facility, your dental plan and your mental health services. Surely, I'll make good use of the facilities but have a few requests. As part of the twice-yearly dental cleanings, I'd like to schedule a whitening treatment and some Botox injections. I'll definitely require the psychotherapy sessions as I have issues with my mother, my father, my siblings, my husband, my colleagues, my kids, my neighbors, you name it! Don't despair about suicide attempts on my behalf. Unlike the other GITMO residents, my religion prohibits suicide; even homicide, for that matter. I must warn you that hunger strikes do not confer elevated status among my people and it is considered a sin to waste food. Where I come from, instead of psychological evaluations following nine missed meals, a rabbi makes home visits after three missed snacks! Please be advised that I might request an extra nosh now and then. While we're on the subject of hunger strikes, I'm horrified to hear that the average detainee weight gain is 18 pounds! That's worse than the poundage I put on during a recent cruise on the Mexican Riviera!   

I must confess that the yearly detainee review process and nine annual Red Cross visits don't work for me. Instead, I'll need an annual meeting with my astrologist to chart my horoscope for the coming year. After all, I hail from Southern California and expect the same cultural sensitivity for our customs that are so generously conferred on the current GITMO inhabitants. As for Red Cross visits, (frankly, I'm surprised it's not the Red Crescent), I'll be meeting with the Mogen David Alom. I know that the Red Cross is charged with mail delivery, detainee-to-family communication and Geneva Convention regulation, but the Mogen David Alom not only gets word to the mispocha, it arranges for a nightly turn down service and chicken soup deliveries when you're ill. 

In conclusion, if the occasion arises for an incarceration, I'll certainly look forward to an enjoyable stay at Guantanamo Bay. It certainly has all the amenities I'm looking for in a detention facility. The only downside I can see is that escape route choices are harsh. It's either hightail it through a minefield into the arms of a brutal Communist dictator or hijack a schooner or the GITMO ferry to brave the high seas to Jamaica.

Janet Levy is the founder of ESG Consulting, which provides conservative political causes with project management and development, event planning and promotion, and fundraising services.

Barnett: The prisons we build: the company we keep
By THOMAS P.M. BARNETT
April 1, 2007

In a famous experiment on sensory deprivation conducted years ago, a researcher sewed shut a newborn kitten's eye. Weeks later, when the scientist exposed the same eye, it was found to be useless. The profound lack of visual stimulation had permanently turned off that portion of the feline's brain.
Humans conduct such cruel experiments on one another all the time. Most of the horror stories we hear involve parents who abuse their children systematically over years, leaving them socially and mentally retarded in the worst way.

Such torture of innocents is easy to condemn, but when states engage in egregious acts in the name of security, rationalizations are a whole lot easier to come by.

America's get-tough penal system currently contains dozens of supermax-style prisons. In these hyper-secure correctional facilities, prisoners are kept in constant lockdown and deprived of almost all contact with other humans. No rehabilitation is pursued, no vocational outlets offered.

An extraordinarily high percentage of inmates held in supermax prisons, especially the younger ones, exhibit signs of mental illness. Among prisoners suffering illness prior to entry, symptoms are dramatically exacerbated by conditions routinely described by human rights groups as inhuman and degrading.

When the state of Wisconsin awarded my little hometown of Boscobel its supermax roughly a decade ago, most residents saw it as a godsend. My mother was convinced that it saved our town, despite the steady loss of regional manufacturing jobs.

So it came to pass that Boscobel, birthplace of the Gideon Bible and site of my Tom Sawyer-like childhood, is now routinely associated with such prisoner-abuse scandals as Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Unfair? Sure, but an inevitable outcome whenever smaller evils are sanctioned to prevent larger ones.

As a strategist who helps leaders and organizations think systematically about the future, one of my favorite questions is, "Where exactly are you going with this?" As a father of four, it's what I ask my kids whenever I see them engaging in behavior I know won't get them where they want to go in life.

What does our society achieve with this extreme incarceration? We create human time bombs that inevitably explode upon re-entry into society. These dead souls don't strap on a vest of dynamite, but their terrorizing impact is much the same.

My mother recently published an anguished letter in Boscobel's weekly newspaper in which she vehemently protested conditions at the supermax. Not surprisingly, she took some heat from the prison's many supporters in the community for pointing out some very uncomfortable truths.

I simply thanked Mom for speaking up when her faith offered her no choice but to protest.

Politicians don't want to get anywhere near such prison controversies for fear of being described as soft on crime. The same is true of our nation's leaders when America's allies go similarly overboard in response to domestic or transnational terrorism.

In a recent New York Times article, Steven Erlanger describes the lost generation of Palestinian youth who've grown up trapped in the increasingly prison-like environments of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, constantly exposed to violence and deprived of normal contact with the outside world.

A generation ago, Erlanger notes, "as many as 150,000 Palestinians came into Israel daily to work, study and shop." Today, the West Bank and Gaza are so hemmed in by checkpoints and barriers that males younger than 30 suffer close to lockdown conditions within these impoverished territories. For most Palestinians, the only Israelis they see regularly are armed soldiers and armed settlers.

This under-20 generation is huge, accounting for more than half of Palestine's population. According to numerous estimates, post-traumatic stress disorders and other mental illnesses occur at extraordinarily high rates.

We all know Israel's counter-argument that such harsh policies, including erecting a 21st-century Berlin wall, are necessary to prevent suicide bombers from reaching their targets. But one has to ask, where exactly is Israel going with this?

Former president and Nobel peace-prize winner Jimmy Carter recently penned his protest book, "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid," to register his anguished complaints concerning Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza. Not surprisingly, Carter took much heat from Israel's supporters in the United States for pointing out some very uncomfortable truths.

Like my mom, Carter's faith forced him to speak up.

And for that courageous act, I simply thank him.

Thomas P.M. Barnett is a distinguished strategist at the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies and the senior managing director of Enterra Solutions LLC. Contact him at tom@thomaspmbarnett.com.