Bob Morris May 23, 2012, 3:36 pm 
DoD and the VA have spent over $2 billion on drugs since 2001 to treat mental illness and PTSD, depsite evidence that such drugs can make things worse attempting to treat sharply higher rates of hospitalization. (In this, they are following the current and deplorable medical trend of treating everything with medication and not looking at root causes.) The hospitalization rate in the Army is 70%-100% higher than in other branches. An Army doctor said the “stunning growth in numbers and rates of mental health hospitalizations … is undeniable evidence of an unprecedented and arguably unmanageable epidemic that is now threatening the viability of the force.” What is causing this spike in mental health issues in the military? Does the unpopularity and unwinnability of our wars make morale worse and can that lead to illness? I don’t have any answers. One of my uncles is a retired Marine Colonel uncle who says medical treatment for soldiers now is a disgrace and this isn’t the Marines he spent 30 years in. Mental trauma and PTSD cannot be treated solely with drugs. Yes, drugs can help. But they cannot substitute for desperately needed therapy and rehabilitation. Bob Morris May 23, 2012, 9:30 am  Horseshoe Bend, Colorado River (Wikimedia Commons) The fantasy of market-based economics for water continues to intrude on the Colorado River, the most litigated river on the planet. The Colorado provides crucial water to seven states and Mexico. But the area is in a major drought and there isn’t enough water to go around. Some want to create a water market as is being successfully done in the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. But that area has a central authority. The Colorado does not. There are multiple entities governing the Colorado, plus a bewildering assortment of senior and junior water rights and the endless battle between Upper and Lower Basin states. The original agreement, the Colorado River Compact, reaches back to 1922 and while it is archaic, no one wants to change it for fear of losing water they get now. A market based water system would inevitably mean that big cities and Big Ag would outbid everyone else. Smaller municipalities would be the major losers, as their cost of water would be much higher and maybe not even available at all. Phoenix and Las Vegas currently get tiny portions of Colorado River water. Given the chance to bid, they would drive the price up substantially, as would that 800 pound gorilla called Los Angeles. Change will come to the Colorado River Compact. It will either be forced by drought or just maybe, smart people will change it before catastrophe hits. At some point, maybe in the next few years, maybe in the next few decades, a water-shortage crisis will hit the Colorado River Basin and the communities it supports. Whether change happens before then or in the midst of a chaotic and painful drought, I suppose it is at least comforting that smart people are thinking about ways the transition to this water-poor future can work. In the meantime, I’m just feeling lucky I live in an Upper Basin state. (neener neener)
Thomas Ware May 23, 2012, 7:21 am 
This? 
Or this? I propose a wager, like Pascal’s but for Climate Change Deniers: If I am wrong, I don’t lose a damned thing. If you are wrong, we all lose the only planet we know of capable of sustaining the human species, and all of our grand-children die. You want to take that bet, fool? (Ten Bears) Bob Morris May 23, 2012, 6:30 am The Stillwater geothermal plant in Nevada has added a solar array and now provides 59 MW of clean, steady power. Geothermal produces power 24/7 while the solar provides extra power during the day when it is most needed. Bob Morris May 22, 2012, 10:08 pm California governor Jerry Brown is full-tilt in favor of spending $68 billion on high speed rail and $14 billion on water projects, cheerfully ignoring that California can barely keep the lights on now. “You’ve got to build to accommodate the growth,” Brown said. “California is not stopping. We’re not some tired country in Europe.”
I completely agree. California certainly isn’t like Europe, where countries admit they have problems and are trying to solve them. California politicians like Jerry Brown would probably remain relentlessly and mindlessly perky even if a 9.0 quake dumped half the state into the Pacific Ocean. On the day of the Facebook public offering, Brown championed California as a place of innovation, saying, “This is where they invented Facebook…. This is still the Wild West.”
The governor was quickly reminded that Facebook was invented in Cambridge, MA. Bob Morris May 22, 2012, 6:26 pm And KPFK, a once great radio station, announces it with truly hideous graphics and layout. No Truther has ever been able to justify their huge leap from “there are some anomalies in the official 9/11 story” to “George Bush ordered it.” And now Ed Asner, a dedicated warrior for the left, has jumped down that rabbit hole too. Bob Morris May 22, 2012, 1:00 pm  sfgate.com Jill Stein is heavily favored to win the Green Party nomination for president. However, Roseanne Barr, famous for her 1980’s sitcom “Roseanne,” is also a candidate and her name recognition is bringing much needed attention and media focus to the race. This highlights a continuing problem that third parties and independents have. How do you get media attention and create buzz? Having a well-known actress like Roseanne Barr as a candidate certainly helps. The Green Party presidential debate last week in San Francisco was more of a joining together than a traditional debate. Roseanne Barr and Jill Stein agreed on most everything. Barr was controversial a few years back due to her radio show on Los Angeles radio station KPFK, a Pacifica affiliate, as some thought she focused far too much on conspiracy theories. She did not speak on those topics at the debate. Roseanne Barr is to be congratulated for playing this campaign straight and for bringing it welcome visibility. She isn’t really running against Jill Stein and will certainly support Stein in the general election. More about Roseanne Barr and her Green Party presidential run at IVN. Bob Morris May 22, 2012, 9:15 am The dirty secret of American politics is that, for most politicians, getting elected is just not that important. What matters is post-election employment. It’s all about staying in the elite political class.
Bill Clinton signed the Commodities Futures Modernization Act in 2000. It gutted oversight and repealed Glass-Steagall, greasing the way for the financial bubble and collapse. He immediately began getting huge fees for speaking and is now worth about $80 million, much of it from “speaking fees.” Barack Obama and his franchise are emulating the Clinton’s, and are speaking not to voters, but to potential post-election patrons. That’s what their policy goals are organized around. We don’t call it bribery, but that’s what it is. Bill Clinton made a lot of money when he signed the bill deregulating derivatives and repealed Glass-Steagall. The payout just came later, in the form of speaking fees from elite banks and their allies.
Obama probably doesn’t much care if he gets reelected. He’ll be worth many millions a few years after he leaves office, and has insured his future financial well-being by sending the banks hundreds of billions and doing about what ever they demand. Bob Morris May 22, 2012, 5:45 am 
The Independent Voter Network is looking for writers. Do you want to write about politics or build readership to your website? Maybe you’re a journalism student looking to build a portfolio. If so, we want you to write for the Independent Voter Network. IVN is part of a non-profit and focuses on high quality political content from all viewpoints with a view towards reforming a dysfunctional system. It was founded by two ex-members of the California legislature who wanted an end to gridlock and is expanding quickly nationwide. Possible topics include politics in your home state with a view towards independents, third parties and open primaries, national and foreign policy, environmental issues, labor, civil liberties, and much more. Let me know what you’d like to write about. Currently, we have a sizable readership which is growing substantially. IVN is indexed by Google News and ranks for a number of high traffic search terms. We are active across social media platforms and will be rolling out multimedia in the immediate future. Voices are amplified on the Independent Voter Network, as we appeal to a broad and growing range of the American electorate. There’s no quota for articles. Original content is preferred. Paraphrasing with a link back to an original article is fine too. There is a chance that new writers who publish regularly on IVN will be paid although they haven’t worked the details out yet. I’m the Western Rgional Editor. You can contact me at bob@ivn.us or here. Pat H May 22, 2012, 2:00 am  Shadowlight Theater poster, 1963. Milton Glaser The TSA keeps on keeping on. Between May 4th and 10th, 2012, here’s what they found on the roughly 10 million air passengers* in US airports during that period. - Firearms: 30 - 29 loaded; 1 unloaded
- 1 artfully concealed prohibited item found at checkpoints
TSA’s homepage posted this link to the story of one of their employees who helped thwart an abduction on his way to work at the Dallas/Ft Worth airport. Good on him. At the TSA Blog, the find of the week was a disassembled gun and ammunition found in a three of a child’s stuffed animals, one of which was Mickey Mouse. This is just another example that threats can appear anywhere and this is why our Officers take a closer look at everything. It’s also an example that shows that even though we’ve made changes to how we screen children 12 & under, the security process is still just as effective.
Meanwhile in Salt Lake City, a Savannah Barry, diabetic sixteen-year-old girl with her physician’s letter in her hand, was coerced into undergoing a full body scan which damaged the software in her $10,000 insulin pump. “I was like, ‘Are you sure that I can go through with this insulin pump? It’s not going to hurt the pump at all?’ And she was like, ‘No, no, you’re fine.’ So I went through with my pump. Some part of me knew that it wasn’t OK, but when someone in a position of authority is telling you it is, you think that it’s right,” said Barry.
Although TSA policy clearly states that diabetics can travel with their insulin and have the right to opt for a pat-down, there have been ongoing problems and according to a staff attorney for the American Diabetes Association training in the field has been lacking. Finally, Bruce Schneier explains what’s wrong with profiling people at airports. Any bureaucracy that processes 630 million people per year will generate stories like this. When people propose profiling, they are really asking for a security system that can apply judgment. Unfortunately, that’s really hard. Rules are easier to explain and train. Zero tolerance is easier to justify and defend. Judgment requires better-educated, more expert, and much-higher-paid screeners. And the personal career risks to a TSA agent of being wrong when exercising judgment far outweigh any benefits from being sensible. The proper reaction to screening horror stories isn’t to subject only “those people” to it; it’s to subject no one to it. (Can anyone even explain what hypothetical terrorist plot could successfully evade normal security, but would be discovered during secondary screening?) Invasive TSA screening is nothing more than security theater. It doesn’t make us safer, and it’s not worth the cost. Even more strongly, security isn’t our society’s only value. Do we really want the full power of government to act out our stereotypes and prejudices? Have we Americans ever done something like this and not been ashamed later? This is what we have a Constitution for: to help us live up to our values and not down to our fears.
*Note: My very conservative estimate based on number of passengers reported by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics for January 2012, the most recent month available. | Independent Voter NetworkArticles by Bob Morris on California and Arizona renewable energy, budget and border issues |
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