It's really quite impressive, the alacrity with which the financial oligarchs of corporate America are able to marshal the federal government into heavy duty action on their immediate behalf, while other pressing needs, like single payer health care for working families, just simply have to wait, as it always seems they must.

However, it's not at all surprising that these irresponsible and detached capitalist bosses are summarily relieved of any material responsibility for their financial malfeasances, since it's widely understood that they long ago acquired the U.S. government at auction prices.

It's their most valuable asset and protector, without which their corrupt and exhausted economic system would have long ago been democratized, if not overthrown.

President-elect Barack Obama says he seeks to "change" many things. Yet, tellingly, his economic team is dominated by orthodox neo-liberal hacks like Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, whose very own economic theories have been entirely discredited in the current ruins of their global implementation.

A publicly funded bailout of the nation's biggest banking and insurance houses, without imposing on them strict new government oversight and regulations, will only reward a venal system of corporate capitalism that will inevitably fail us again.

It will also confirm the political vacuity of our bourgeois democracy.

Cord MacGuire

Boulder

WATER SUPPLY DWINDLING

Boulder County's water supply is stretching to meet its needs.

According to the Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network, 40 percent of Boulder County's water supply is obtained from the Silver Lake watershed and Arapaho Glacier (now a dwindling snow mass).

Another 40 percent comes from Barker Reservoir in Nederland, and the remaining 20 percent comes from both the Boulder Feeder Canal (which pipes water through the Continental Divide from the Western slope) and the Boulder Reservoir (which is 80 percent to 90 percent water from the Boulder Feeder Canal).

Importing water does not only raise water prices, but the longer the distance the water has to travel, the larger the carbon footprint it leaves due to the energy required for pumping.

Water is often believed to be an abundant resource, but almost half of Boulder County's water supply is provided from a dwindling glacier. Not all the water in Boulder County is potable, so we must conserve our current potable supply while finding other means of providing Boulder County water while maintaining a small carbon footprint.

Boulder citizens can reduce their dependency on the limited water supply through simple actions such as recycling gray water, shortening showers and altering our landscape to minimize excess watering.

In addition, Boulder legislation must take a stand to provide rights to its citizens to collect their own rainwater (which is currently outlawed).

By conserving water usage to necessities rather than luxuries, the longevity of our water supply will increase, our greenhouse gas emissions will decrease and the price of water will remain at an affordable level.

Adam Bensman

Boulder