Fox, you and I agree on most issues, and here is no exception. The difference in our disputes isn't that water is a precious commodity, it is that certain folks here were trying to 'blame the government' as is the popular thing to do for those who aren't in understanding. I do, however, dispute certain points made in your above posts -

I hold the Saudis in very little esteem. If they choose to deny their own subjects the essential minerals necessary in common drinking water, then that means less Saudis for me to worry about.

I am more concerned with the draining/erosion of the mississippi delta and the destruction of the wetlands ecosystem there and in south florida than I am with someone's assenine idea of attempting to tow an iceberg - that's a bit Pippi Longstocking, wot?

I sat aboard my ship and looked down at the ocean and marvelled at it's magnificence, and marvelled still more that I could not drink from it's riches.... Then I learned about auxiliary machinery and water desalinization aboard ship, and smiled at man's conquering of the elements.

It's a simple matter to distill ocean water and make it potable. It's still more simple to add minerals to harden the water and make it good for drinking. It is, however, quite expensive to acquire and build the equipment necessary to do this on a large scale. We come back to the politics of it all - either foreign governments will learn economics and capitalism, and emulate, or they will ultimately fail. I do not dispute that we'll soon be seeing other nations dying of thirst on our nightly news, nor do I dispute that the reporters will fawn all over it and raise the liberals to goad our government to assist them, but I do submit that they should educate themselves instead of being so locked into their own personal mindsets.