Mar. 20, 2006 - 20:41 MST

DYSPEPTIC FIGURES

A few things that caught my jaded eye this morning while reading the Rocky Mountain News.

In the section "Earthweek: A diary of the planet" is an item, quote:

GREENHOUSE GAS RECORD

"Climate researchers in the United States said they have recorded a rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, pushing the amount of the greenhouse gas to its highest level. Data compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association reveals the rate at which CO2 levels are increasing has doubled from 30 years ago."

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Then in an article in that same paper by Mark Stevenson of the Associated Press, quote, in part:

WORLD'S WATER CRISIS DAUNTING

MEXICO CITY -- "The colossal numbers behind the world water crisis are daunting; 1.1 billion people don't have clean water, causing diseases that kill 3.1 million people a year; 1.7 million deaths could be prevented just with better sanitation."

"But some experts and activists at the fourth World Water Forum being held in Mexico City until Wednesday like to start with smaller numbers."

"Like six."

"That's the average number of kilometers (3.75 miles) that women in developing countries walk each day to fetch water."

"A World Bank project that moved water taps closer to villages in Morocco increased school attendance by girls by 20 percent over four years as time spent carrying water was reduced by 50 percent to 90 percent."

"But there are other small numbers -- like three. That's the percentage of Africa's hydropower potential that's taken advantage of -- compared with 75 percent in Europe."

"Anna Tibaijuka of the U.N. Habitat agency said some towns in Africa have so little electricity that they can't operate pumps to extract water from wells."

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Then there is an article by Martin Crutsinger of the Associate Press in the same paper today, in part, quote:

Foreign investors controlling bigger slices of American Pie

"Foreigners already own half of the U.S. government's publicly traded debt. As of January, some $2.19 trillion in Treasury securites was in the hands of central banks, including China and Japan, and private investors abroad."

"At the end of 2004, the total foreign direct investment in this country -- actual factories, office buildings, and other tangible assets as opposed to stocks and bods -- came to $1.53 trillion, 8.2 percent more than in 2003."

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Then Cokie and Steven V. Roberts come up with a column headed EXTREMISTS WORK HARD TO KEEP ABORTION ISSUE HOT, which deals with abortion but to my notion their concept can be applied to most any hot button issue of these days. In part then:

" On the issue of abortion, American politics is often plagued by the same self-righteous rigitity that is damaging democracy in Baghdad. Hard-line pro-life and pro-choice factions sound like Sunnis and Shiites -- firmly convinced of their own God-given mission."

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With all of those things the question in my mind is, "Is it too late to take corrective action ?"

Our Nucular Guru doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that global warming is going to overpower the world soon. So very long have foreign countries owned infrastructure here, what can be done about that ? Clean water and the attendant good health seems to be something that few nations in the world enjoy. That too could be pretty well cured.

Cokie and Steven V. Roberts make a very good point, "Hard-line pro-life and pro-choice sound like Sunnis and Shiites - firmly convinced of their own God-Given mission." To my mind one could plug in the pros and cons of most any hot-button issue of the day and see just how silly this is. And we have more hot-buttons than solutions than reasonable people could ever decontaminate. Our pres. seems to think that if we don't feel exactly as he does We Ain't Patriotic . . . . . . . .

Heck of a way to start a Monday, reading the animosity of the pros and cons for most anything and all those DYSPEPTIC FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . .

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