I know that I'm always talking about how this or that gives me heartburn or a headache, and you're probably getting sick of hearing about my ailments.  You'll be glad to hear then, that today's topic isn't just focused on my health. 

It could literally make us all sick.

The New York Times reported this past Sunday that a couple of Supreme Court cases have set a precedent for exclusion of some waterways from protection under the Clean Water Act.  Here's the gist: the 1972 Clean Water Act regulates waste discharge into "navigable" waterways.  But the Supreme Court ruled, in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States Army Corps of Engineers in 2001 and Rapanos v. United States in 2006, that the term "navigable" excludes isolated water, certain kinds of small streams and wetlands, and waterways that sometimes run dry.  If they're not navigable, they may not be protected under the Clean Water Act.

Here's why you should care.

Last week I wrote about the far-reaching economic impact of Governor Brewer’s proposal to cut healthcare spending by $1 billion. I can imagine that you asked yourself at the end, “Okay, Gary, so show me a better way to cut $1 billion out of the state’s $2.6 billion deficit.” To that I don’t have a nicely packaged, ready-to-ship answer. I do have some ideas.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the fact that the news gives me heartburn.  But Arizona’s fiscal crisis gives me heartburn and a bad headache.  The bad keeps getting worse, it seems.  Yesterday’s headline at AZCentral.com read: “Proposed state health-care cuts could cost billions, opponents say.”  The AP headline was “Ariz. hospitals rip plans for health program cuts.”

But those aren’t really fair assessments – nay, they’re completely unfair assessments. 

President Obama announced yesterday an $8.3 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors in Georgia.  It’s got people asking: Is nuclear back?

Thomas Friedman wrote a column today titled “Global Weirding.”  The world has become a strange, strange place – a lot of what we thought we knew has been turned upside down.  For instance: until recently, the gradual warming of the earth (and our role in it) was known.  Nuclear power was, for many, a relic of the 1970s and 80s – construction on the last new U.S. nuclear power plant began in the 70s.

But now it’s snowing like crazy in Washington D.C., raining in British Columbia, and the federal government is guaranteeing $8.3 billion (or more) in loans for the construction of new nuclear power reactors.  Even a Greenpeace founder is lobbying for nuclear energy.  Maybe this is Fringe and I’ve travelled to the “other side.”