Here's what I appended to a form letter an organization e-mailed around. Unfortunately, because the organization is trying to gank more contact information about me than I'm willing to give them, the organization "lost" the part of the letter that Congressman Griffith isn't getting from zillions of bots. I sometimes wonder about these form letters anyway. Why, when we sign them and personalize them, do they redirect to fundraising pages? Are they actually delivered to elected officials, or are they just used to enable pushy sales pests to annoy people who support their causes?
"
Dear Representative Griffith,
Yes, this e-mail was prompted by a form that's being circulated...but it's a real message from a real live Gate City voter.
I developed celiac sprue in 1995. The gene runs in my family, but celiac sprue used to develop in those who had the gene only in old age, and I was only about 30. Furthermore, several neighbors and relatives had similar symptoms but different diagnoses, and the local beekeeper burned his hives that year. At the time I thought it might be something in the water.
Over the years, I've become good at avoiding wheat gluten, staying active and healthy, "breaking the family curse" of unexplained disabilities...except when some (insert worst words you ever use) has sprayed glyphosate or other poison in the neighborhood.
Last summer, after utility workers repaired a damaged power line and mindlessly sprayed poison on the ground below, I lost a wren, a whole colony of threatened insects, and a pet kitten, while I myself was too sick to do yard work around my own home for several days.
Glyphosate has not been confirmed as a primary cause of a specific type of cancer. Big whoop. I frequently see glyphosate exposure affecting four or five members of one family in four or five different ways. Celiacs bleed heavily into the toilet after exposure, and may have other symptoms like hayfever or asthma. Other people exposed to glyphosate may suffer from general debility. Mental problems, mood disorders, or learning problems may be noticeably aggravated. People recovering from diseases or injuries may noticeably lose ground. I know a woman who really didn't want to notice a connection between using Roundup on her lawn and continuing to suffer from vertigo, sometimes even vomiting, months after having had that as a symptom of flu. Glyphosate has been passed off as harmless because it is, in fact, so insidious that it's hard to document exactly how much harm it does do humans--but it does a lot of harm.
Monsanto's most rich and famous stockholder happens to be a well-known genius of cybertechnology, and there's no reason why he's not leading his company to focus on non-poisonous micro-robot weeders instead of poisons that harm humans, pets, and wildlife.
I’m not pleased by the hearing the House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology held to “examine” the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) classification of glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. For ONE thing, I should have been invited to testify! Now, from reports of the hearing, it appears the committee used the opportunity to attack independent scientists.
Holding this hearing and attacking IARC indicated that Congress is following the direction of Monsanto, the manufacturer of glyphosate. Recent ligation revealed that a plan to question the International Agency for Research on Cancer was started three years ago after Monsanto predicted international cancer scientists would find its toxic pesticide is a probable carcinogen. Additional documents demonstrate that a month before the International Agency for Research released its determination, Monsanto took extensive measures to manipulate public perception about the agency and discredit IARC's scientists.
I’m concerned by these reports and the actions of the Committee because this indicates that Monsanto is doing whatever it takes to keep its toxic pesticide on the market -- and that Congress may be prioritizing the interests of the company over protecting the health and safety of the American public and our environment.
The impacts of glyphosate are clear. In early 2015, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) -- the cancer evaluation arm of the World Health Organization -- convened a meeting of 17 scientific experts from 11 countries to review the cancer data regarding glyphosate. The IARC experts unanimously voted to classify glyphosate as a probable (Group 2A) human carcinogen.
IARC is specifically qualified to conduct chemical cancer assessments like this one. IARC has been conducting such reviews for forty years, and has evaluated hundreds of chemicals. IARC is considered an authoritative body by governments around the world, and non-industry experts testify as to its integrity and scientific credibility, often in the face of harsh criticism from the industries whose products are being reviewed. Nonetheless, Monsanto and its sponsored consultants have relentlessly argued with IARC’s assessment since then.
Glyphosate is used in over 750 herbicide products and applied to fields in the U.S. at over 250 million pounds annually. Apart from significant risks to human health, the U.S. Geological Survey routinely finds glyphosate in U.S. waterways. Ecological data also reports that glyphosate and glyphosate-formulated products are toxic to aquatic organisms and are extremely lethal to amphibians. Independent studies have found concentrations of glyphosate in human urine and breast milk. Recent studies even indicate glyphosate has the potential to be even more harmful in combination with other chemicals.
In the past 19 years, glyphosate use in U.S. agriculture has increased 20-fold. Glyphosate’s long term impacts are just starting to be apparent, with monarch decline serving as just one example. Glyphosate is widely used along the monarch’s migration route -- virtually wiping out milkweed, the only food young monarchs eat. A recent report found monarch butterflies would need a 5-fold increase to recover from risk of quasi-extinction.
Monsanto's glyphosate is harming the environment we depend on for sustainable food production -- and it’s likely also harming our health.
The science is clear -- we need action now. I urge you to work with other members of Congress to protect independent scientists that are investigating the harms of this pesticide, not attack them. Congress should be holding the pesticide industry and EPA accountable by working to take glyphosate off the market, not serving as the mouthpiece for Monsanto.
Monsanto can do much better than this. And they should. And if they drag their feet when they could be making real progress, then Congress should apply a sharp stick to them.
Sincerely,
"
Showing posts with label chemical pollution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chemical pollution. Show all posts
Friday, February 23, 2018
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Morgan Griffith on How You Can Fight Global Warming
Well, color me tickled pink! Trump's threatening to ignore an international "climate agreement" that puts the U.S. at a disadvantage, and people are breaking out a (snark on) radical new (snark off) idea: we can fight global warming (the possibility), or even local warming (the easily verified FACT), all by ourselves!
I just tweeted a link to a full-length article by Simon Mainwaring ( http://simonmainwaring.com/sustainability/brand-can-participate-paris-climate-agreement/ ), and here's a quickie from U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):
"
Could it Be?
Bloomberg, Former Sierra Club Director, and Griffith Agree?The former executive director and chairman of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope, and former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, have a new book out, Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet First.
In their promotional materials it says, “In the years ahead, cities, businesses, and communities—not Washington or other national governments—can lead and win the battle against global warming.”
Their promotional website says “ ‘Cooler heads can produce a cooler world,’ write Bloomberg and Pope, who lower the temperature of the debate by showing that the changing climate is a series of discrete, manageable problems each with a solution that can make our society healthier and stronger. National governments, they argue, are not the best places to create these solutions.”*
Now mind you, I have not yet had the opportunity to read this book. I’m sure there will be parts of the book that I disagree with. But, from their promotions, it sure sounds like they are saying a one-size fits all solution mandated from Washington is not a good answer.
If indeed they lay out the argument that we can protect the environment without federal bureaucracy and job-killing regulations, and instead let innovation, entrepreneurs, private industry, and localities take the lead, then indeed I agree and I welcome them to the conservative movement!
"
I just tweeted a link to a full-length article by Simon Mainwaring ( http://simonmainwaring.com/sustainability/brand-can-participate-paris-climate-agreement/ ), and here's a quickie from U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):
"
Could it Be?
Bloomberg, Former Sierra Club Director, and Griffith Agree?The former executive director and chairman of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope, and former New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, have a new book out, Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet First.
In their promotional materials it says, “In the years ahead, cities, businesses, and communities—not Washington or other national governments—can lead and win the battle against global warming.”
Their promotional website says “ ‘Cooler heads can produce a cooler world,’ write Bloomberg and Pope, who lower the temperature of the debate by showing that the changing climate is a series of discrete, manageable problems each with a solution that can make our society healthier and stronger. National governments, they argue, are not the best places to create these solutions.”*
Now mind you, I have not yet had the opportunity to read this book. I’m sure there will be parts of the book that I disagree with. But, from their promotions, it sure sounds like they are saying a one-size fits all solution mandated from Washington is not a good answer.
If indeed they lay out the argument that we can protect the environment without federal bureaucracy and job-killing regulations, and instead let innovation, entrepreneurs, private industry, and localities take the lead, then indeed I agree and I welcome them to the conservative movement!
"
Friday, July 22, 2016
Remove Coal Ash...to Where?
Here's another petition I won't be signing, although it interests me, and some readers may want to sign it. Do you see what I see in these River Healers' petition?
"
We have a safer demand. Dominion Virginia Power should be required to move all of the coal ash from these old ponds to a location where it can be safely stored away from rivers and communities.
"
The problem I see is that there aren't a lot of locations that are truly "away from rivers and communities." If this petition had explained which locations are a little further away from the sources of Dominion Power users' drinking water, without being closer to anyone else's drinking water, I'd sign it. DP should clean up its own mess. The solution, however, is not just to pick up the trash in one's own yard and throw it over the fence into the neighbors' yard. The world is round. You can't go very far in Virginia without coming to a river--every one of which is valued by somebody or other--and, strangely enough, people in Maryland and North Carolina feel pretty much the same way about their rivers that people in Virginia feel about ours. And in places where there are fewer rivers, the feeling is even more intense.
Can the stuff safely be transferred to an uninhabited planet? I wish. Can anyone on this planet deserve to have to live with the coal ash residues more than the community in and for which the coal was burned?
"
Oppose Domion Power's current dewatering and solid waste permits. The permits as written would allow coal ash toxins to continue seeping into rivers and remain indefinitely on various floodplains. Permanently leaving coal ash waste sites in their current place through proposed "capping" methods removes the environmental responsibility that Dominion Virginia Power owes to the public.
We have a safer demand. Dominion Virginia Power should be required to move all of the coal ash from these old ponds to a location where it can be safely stored away from rivers and communities.
We demand that Dominion Virginia Power must dig up and remove all coal ash from power stations that are located next to valued Virginia communities and Virginia rivers. We demand that The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, The Virginia State Water Control Board, and Virginia State Legislators act accordingly to our rights and close these coal ash ponds appropriately, by digging them up. Hold Dominion Virginia Power accountable for properly closing coal ash waste sites at the Chesterfield Power Plant. Dig it up!
The problem I see is that there aren't a lot of locations that are truly "away from rivers and communities." If this petition had explained which locations are a little further away from the sources of Dominion Power users' drinking water, without being closer to anyone else's drinking water, I'd sign it. DP should clean up its own mess. The solution, however, is not just to pick up the trash in one's own yard and throw it over the fence into the neighbors' yard. The world is round. You can't go very far in Virginia without coming to a river--every one of which is valued by somebody or other--and, strangely enough, people in Maryland and North Carolina feel pretty much the same way about their rivers that people in Virginia feel about ours. And in places where there are fewer rivers, the feeling is even more intense.
Can the stuff safely be transferred to an uninhabited planet? I wish. Can anyone on this planet deserve to have to live with the coal ash residues more than the community in and for which the coal was burned?
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Flint Update (Nag?)
The e-mail from the Rising Mom known as Dream, below is about a time line. Gentle Readers, we in Virginia started hearing that Flint, Michigan, had a water problem...last year. Did everyone see Congressman Griffith's comments, posted here?
http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/01/morgan-griffiths-snow-days.html
(Riff on the old traditional pun about "denial is not just a river in Egypt" pre-deleted here. You're welcome.) The position of this web site is that Michigan can and should take care of its own one-time crisis, preferably without any new tax-and-spend schemes, because whenever government is authorized to raise taxes to address a crisis, the crisis may be resolved before the tax money can be collected, but the tax never, ever, goes away. We may be talking about some low-income neighborhoods, but we're still talking about one of the richest parts of one of the richest countries in all of human history. Michigan should be able to raise funds without raising taxes.
http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-in-flint-rant-followed-by.html
A city manager just "switched" from the existing water supply to a more polluted water supply...and, yes, this does sound as if it's time for the city to switch managers.
"
I wanted to make sure you saw the outrageous news coming out of my home state, Michigan. It was maddening to learn that emergency managers, appointed by Governor Snyder, sacrificed the health of children to slash costs. Until recent evidence, we believed state and city officials believed what they were saying when they told residents of Flint that their water was safe for drinking and bathing.
But while state and city officials were telling the general public to pour their children lead contaminated drinking water, they were buying themselves coolers of clean water. Elected and appointed officials told the families of Flint to use water they wouldn't consider drinking themselves. [1]
What happened in Flint, Michigan is disturbing, terrifying, and unacceptable to say the least. The people of Flint need us to stand with them during this time of crisis. They are telling us what they need: drinking stations, no barriers to relief—everyone, including undocumented families, should have access to the relief water being sent to Flint. But just as important, Flint residents deserve accountability and—finally—transparency.
We must continue to stand with them as they demand justice from the state legislature.
Please take a moment to add your name.
**When you click this link, you instantly sign on if we already have all your information.
http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Flint_2016/?t=2&akid=7573.1995681.4eO_6J
Families in Flint knew there was a problem but officials denied anything was wrong. We are outraged. It's time for urgent and comprehensive action on behalf of the families in Flint.
"
http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/01/morgan-griffiths-snow-days.html
(Riff on the old traditional pun about "denial is not just a river in Egypt" pre-deleted here. You're welcome.) The position of this web site is that Michigan can and should take care of its own one-time crisis, preferably without any new tax-and-spend schemes, because whenever government is authorized to raise taxes to address a crisis, the crisis may be resolved before the tax money can be collected, but the tax never, ever, goes away. We may be talking about some low-income neighborhoods, but we're still talking about one of the richest parts of one of the richest countries in all of human history. Michigan should be able to raise funds without raising taxes.
http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-in-flint-rant-followed-by.html
A city manager just "switched" from the existing water supply to a more polluted water supply...and, yes, this does sound as if it's time for the city to switch managers.
"
I wanted to make sure you saw the outrageous news coming out of my home state, Michigan. It was maddening to learn that emergency managers, appointed by Governor Snyder, sacrificed the health of children to slash costs. Until recent evidence, we believed state and city officials believed what they were saying when they told residents of Flint that their water was safe for drinking and bathing.
But while state and city officials were telling the general public to pour their children lead contaminated drinking water, they were buying themselves coolers of clean water. Elected and appointed officials told the families of Flint to use water they wouldn't consider drinking themselves. [1]
What happened in Flint, Michigan is disturbing, terrifying, and unacceptable to say the least. The people of Flint need us to stand with them during this time of crisis. They are telling us what they need: drinking stations, no barriers to relief—everyone, including undocumented families, should have access to the relief water being sent to Flint. But just as important, Flint residents deserve accountability and—finally—transparency.
We must continue to stand with them as they demand justice from the state legislature.
Please take a moment to add your name.
**When you click this link, you instantly sign on if we already have all your information.
http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Flint_2016/?t=2&akid=7573.1995681.4eO_6J
Families in Flint knew there was a problem but officials denied anything was wrong. We are outraged. It's time for urgent and comprehensive action on behalf of the families in Flint.
"
Friday, January 29, 2016
What in Flint...? (Rant Followed by Fundraising Links)
Flint, Michigan...it's a real place. (So is Hell, but Flint is bigger and, in some ways, more unpleasant; in real life I often say "What in Flint...") I didn't spend much time in Michigan and don't plan to go back there, but my emotional "heart" does contain a tiny glow of warmth toward this beleaguered, often benighted, horribly polluted State.
Home of Gerald Ford..."President Nice Guy" wasn't our most memorable President, but he was nice.
Home of Michael Moore...a lot of this web site's correspondents bash him, and there were a few years when he bought into a conspiracy theory and even my Democrat husband was saying "Don't support that kind of lunacy," but he's a good writer and I've always liked his work. Conspiracy theories apart.
And the home of some, not all, of the "Moms" in a nationwide organization called Moms Rising. As an aunt I support some of their efforts in aid of children. Some, not most, because there are too many left-wingers in the group. Left-wingers are really good at publicizing problems. At generating workable answers they're not so good.
I mean to say...take a look at the e-mail below. The problem is that these people are poor...so their idea of a solution is to spend more tax money...but tax money has to be collected from local folks, and the local folks don't have much, so they're basically talking about a boondoggle that's going to require a bailout. There are disaster areas, like New York in 2001 or New Orleans in 2005, where a bailout may seem like the only remaining way to help. That's not what Mom Dream is describing to me, though. What she's conveying to my mind is definitely a problem, but it looks, sounds, feels, whatever, more like a problem that might be better addressed by collecting and spending less tax money.
I want to know, if the following commonsense suggestions don't work for Flint, why they don't work better than the ones the left-wingers are proposing:
1. Flint's city water is polluted. Buy filters. Lots of filters, because the chances are that residents of Flint are going to go through them like toilet tissue this year. Take up a collection to buy filters for those who can't afford them.
2. The city manager switched the water supply? Well, then, the city manager should switch it back. (Whether the city should switch managers, and/or take a switch to the manager who switched to the polluted water supply, is up to them.)
3. After exposure, the body recovers from lead poisoning...slowly. Some people benefit from chelation therapy to speed up recovery; most don't need it. A clinic to help identify anyone who does need treatment, and advise other residents of Flint about nutrient supplements during the recovery process, would be a good thought. Should the state use tax money to set up the clinic...taxes collected from poor people...or offer private people and organizations whose image could use a boost, of which Michigan has plenty, the opportunity to get credit for funding it?
Not being from Flint, I can't claim to know, but I would think that in a place as rich as Michigan a good marketing campaign could get richies competing over which of them could chip in most. There's the Meijer store chain fortune, Amway, Little Caesar's, Quicken, Penske, Stryker, Henry Ford's heirs, Dan Gilbert, what's left of General Motors, the university built on the ruins of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, and that one's not even close to being the biggest university/hospital system in Michigan. By now, for pity's sake, never even mind Roger Smith, Michigan has Michael Moore
! Admit it, conservative readers--no matter how much you disagree with his politics, there are times when you have to like Michael Moore
:
http://michaelmoore.com/walk-with-mike
At the right point in the recovery process, walking helps people recover from lead poisoning, too.
So, Mike From Flint, this is for you, from the friendly-looking fair-skinned woman who dragged in the judgmental-looking dark-skinned man, and sat at the back and didn't buy a book, at the Arlington book party after 9/11. (Oh, of course, at a mob scene like that any writer would remember the people who didn't buy the book after fifteen years...all two of them? Maybe.) If I'd written a book that had earned as much as any of your books, even the one my husband hated, and if my home town had a crisis, would I sit back and let people raise taxes on working parents to salvage my town? Like the Pope would convert to Judaism, maybe. Like thunder! What are you going to do for your townsfolk? Book? Movie? You could singlehandedly give the world something that could raise enough money to fix the water supply in Flint and open the clinic. Writers have power. Writers have fortitude. You, Michael Moore, could not only get the hard-working and laboriously poor-mouthing people in Gate City to shell out money to help Flint; you could make us laugh out loud as we did it. And it's about time we had another good laugh out of you anyway. I'm not about to sell my copy of Here Comes Trouble
, which I believe my husband would've liked too, but it is practically old enough to be a Fair Trade Book.
But honestly...Penske
people, I know you're going to read this because I mentioned your company, are you going to leave everything to Michael Moore? Youall could put something about Flint on a racing car and take up collections at races. You have fans. You could probably collect enough to open a clinic at Charlotte alone...
Andrews University, where I met most of the real-world people I know in Michigan. How long are you going to be the only Adventist university that's not affiliated with a well-known present-time health care institution? Seventh-Day Adventists are not poor. Not all of them are rich, either, but they donate religiously to church, mission, and humanitarian causes. That whole clinic idea is calling yourall's names. "Holistic," Dream wrote. Think "naturopathic," A.U. people. And build it to last. A hundred years is long enough to coast on the memory of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
I'm not saying the legislators should sit on their hands either; they're human too, they'd have to have had quite a bit of lead poisoning themselves to want to sit on their hands. Virginia and Tennessee legislators "never allow a crisis to go to waste
"; in any kind of community disaster they're out there raising funds, boosting morale, and basking in free publicity. I'd be surprised if a Michigan legislator weren't in Flint as I type. But I am saying that raising taxes is not the ideal solution to everything. Raising taxes seems likely to be an especially non-ideal solution for a place like Michigan that still has way more than its share of money, but seems to be stuck in a state-wide, thirty-year-long shortage of healthy pride. A one-time crisis seems to call out for a one-time display of that "We can take care of our own" sort of pride.
Penniless as I am, I do want to be part of that one-time display. So here's what I can do: If any Michigan writer, ideally but not necessarily Michael Moore, it could be un-funny Dan Gilbert for that matter, cranks out a new documentary book about the Flint water crisis and/or what Michiganians are doing to solve it, and sells it at fundraising prices up to $50 per copy, I will personally walk into Kingsport and buy that book at the Fort Henry Mall bookstore. And I will photograph that walk. And that book. And tweet the images, using the "WalkWithMike" hashtag.
Here's Mom Dream's alternative solution...and it's not all bad; it just seems to me less efficient and less good. I could be wrong, and if convinced that I'm wrong I could support Moms Rising on this one. But I'd be greatly disappointed in Michiganians if they had to fall back on any solution that involved raising taxes.
"
As parents, we do all we can to keep our kids healthy. And we rely on our government to make sure we have access to essentials like clean water. That shouldn't change depending on what color we are, our income level, or where we live.
That's why we're beyond mad about the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan. Join us in demanding justice from the Michigan State Legislature: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Flint_2016/?t=5&akid=7553.1995681.1kHsbh
Here's what happened. In April 2014, in an effort to cut costs, an emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder switched the Flint water supply from the Detroit water system to the Flint River. Long story short: dangerous levels of lead seeped into the water supply, posing long-term and serious health risks for local residents.
Families in Flint knew there was a problem when the water turned brown, young children broke out in rashes, and the hair of some residents began falling out. Yet officials denied anything was wrong, as they failed to follow federal guidelines around lead safety and utilized faulty water testing techniques. [1] Can you imagine?
Refusing to stay silent, residents started organizing. Researchers found the water supply contained over 900 times the recommended amount of lead [2]. Even the City Council voted to reconnect to the Detroit Water Supply in March 2015. Yet Emergency Manager Gerald Ambrose continued to insist that the water was safe to drink [3].
Indeed it took WELL OVER A YEAR for the city to acknowledge that there was a BIG problem, and that the water in Flint was NOT safe to drink. There are no words for this kind of failure. Are the children and families of Flint so disposable that local officials didn't act more quickly and comprehensively?
Governor Snyder himself now refers to the situation as a "catastrophe". [4] The New York Times wrote: "Officials at all levels of government acted in ways that contributed to the public health emergency and allowed it to persist for months" [1].
We are outraged. It's time for urgent and comprehensive action on behalf of the families in Flint. Join us in demanding justice from the Michigan State Legislature: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Flint_2016/?t=7&akid=7553.1995681.1kHsbh
Earlier this month Governor Snyder finally declared a state of emergency in Flint, over a year and a half after the problem began. [5] Residents are now being told to use water filters and/or bottled water, and no one knows how many of the city's almost 100,000 residents have been affected by lead, and to what degree. What we do know is that ingesting high amounts of lead can have devastating and long-term effects on children, the elderly, and the sick. Current estimates are that it could take as much as $1.5 billion to fix the problem. [6]
Would officials have ever been so careless about the drinking water if over 50% of Flint's residents weren't black, and over 40% live below the poverty line, making Flint one of the most impoverished cities of its size in the US? [7] The appointment of an emergency manager in Flint, one of several Black cities across the state to have their elected officials replaced by an appointee from the Governor, is at the center of this crisis.
These kinds of environmental injustices happen time and time again in communities of color. Indeed, "Black people in America - especially those living in rural and poor areas - have long been denied the same access to clean drinking and water for bathing and sanitation as everyone else. The crisis in Flint is not an isolated incident," Black Lives Matter has stated. [7] We must do better.
Following the lead of our local allies, we're demanding the Michigan Legislature do the following:
ALL of our children and communities deserve access to safe drinking water. What's happening in Flint is a tragedy and a disgrace. Our leaders must be held accountable, and we must do all we can to ensure it never happens again.
Thank you,
- dream, Elyssa, Monifa, Karen, Gloria, Felicia and the rest of the MomsRising.org team
[1] When the Water Turned Brown, the New York Times. January 23, 2016.
[2] David Graham, What Did the Governor Know About Flint's Water, and When Did He Know It? The Atlantic. January 9, 2016.
[3] Stephanie Gosk, Kevin Monahan, Tim Sandler, Internal Email: Michigan 'Blowing Off' Flint Over Lead in Water, NBC News. January 6, 2016.
[4] Julia Jacobo, Flint Water Crisis: Michigan Governor Apologizes, Takes 'Full Responsibility' for 'Catastrophe’, ABC News. January 19, 2016.
[5] Paul Egan, Snyder declares emergency as feds probe Flint water, Detroit Free Press. January 15, 2016.
[6] Paul Egan, Flint mayor: Cost of lead fix could hit $1.5 billion, Detroit Free Press. January 15, 2016.
[7] Solidarity Statement with Flint, Michigan, Black Lives Matter.
"
Home of Gerald Ford..."President Nice Guy" wasn't our most memorable President, but he was nice.
Home of Michael Moore...a lot of this web site's correspondents bash him, and there were a few years when he bought into a conspiracy theory and even my Democrat husband was saying "Don't support that kind of lunacy," but he's a good writer and I've always liked his work. Conspiracy theories apart.
And the home of some, not all, of the "Moms" in a nationwide organization called Moms Rising. As an aunt I support some of their efforts in aid of children. Some, not most, because there are too many left-wingers in the group. Left-wingers are really good at publicizing problems. At generating workable answers they're not so good.
I mean to say...take a look at the e-mail below. The problem is that these people are poor...so their idea of a solution is to spend more tax money...but tax money has to be collected from local folks, and the local folks don't have much, so they're basically talking about a boondoggle that's going to require a bailout. There are disaster areas, like New York in 2001 or New Orleans in 2005, where a bailout may seem like the only remaining way to help. That's not what Mom Dream is describing to me, though. What she's conveying to my mind is definitely a problem, but it looks, sounds, feels, whatever, more like a problem that might be better addressed by collecting and spending less tax money.
I want to know, if the following commonsense suggestions don't work for Flint, why they don't work better than the ones the left-wingers are proposing:
1. Flint's city water is polluted. Buy filters. Lots of filters, because the chances are that residents of Flint are going to go through them like toilet tissue this year. Take up a collection to buy filters for those who can't afford them.
2. The city manager switched the water supply? Well, then, the city manager should switch it back. (Whether the city should switch managers, and/or take a switch to the manager who switched to the polluted water supply, is up to them.)
3. After exposure, the body recovers from lead poisoning...slowly. Some people benefit from chelation therapy to speed up recovery; most don't need it. A clinic to help identify anyone who does need treatment, and advise other residents of Flint about nutrient supplements during the recovery process, would be a good thought. Should the state use tax money to set up the clinic...taxes collected from poor people...or offer private people and organizations whose image could use a boost, of which Michigan has plenty, the opportunity to get credit for funding it?
Not being from Flint, I can't claim to know, but I would think that in a place as rich as Michigan a good marketing campaign could get richies competing over which of them could chip in most. There's the Meijer store chain fortune, Amway, Little Caesar's, Quicken, Penske, Stryker, Henry Ford's heirs, Dan Gilbert, what's left of General Motors, the university built on the ruins of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, and that one's not even close to being the biggest university/hospital system in Michigan. By now, for pity's sake, never even mind Roger Smith, Michigan has Michael Moore
! Admit it, conservative readers--no matter how much you disagree with his politics, there are times when you have to like Michael Moore:http://michaelmoore.com/walk-with-mike
At the right point in the recovery process, walking helps people recover from lead poisoning, too.
So, Mike From Flint, this is for you, from the friendly-looking fair-skinned woman who dragged in the judgmental-looking dark-skinned man, and sat at the back and didn't buy a book, at the Arlington book party after 9/11. (Oh, of course, at a mob scene like that any writer would remember the people who didn't buy the book after fifteen years...all two of them? Maybe.) If I'd written a book that had earned as much as any of your books, even the one my husband hated, and if my home town had a crisis, would I sit back and let people raise taxes on working parents to salvage my town? Like the Pope would convert to Judaism, maybe. Like thunder! What are you going to do for your townsfolk? Book? Movie? You could singlehandedly give the world something that could raise enough money to fix the water supply in Flint and open the clinic. Writers have power. Writers have fortitude. You, Michael Moore, could not only get the hard-working and laboriously poor-mouthing people in Gate City to shell out money to help Flint; you could make us laugh out loud as we did it. And it's about time we had another good laugh out of you anyway. I'm not about to sell my copy of Here Comes Trouble
, which I believe my husband would've liked too, but it is practically old enough to be a Fair Trade Book.But honestly...Penske
people, I know you're going to read this because I mentioned your company, are you going to leave everything to Michael Moore? Youall could put something about Flint on a racing car and take up collections at races. You have fans. You could probably collect enough to open a clinic at Charlotte alone...Andrews University, where I met most of the real-world people I know in Michigan. How long are you going to be the only Adventist university that's not affiliated with a well-known present-time health care institution? Seventh-Day Adventists are not poor. Not all of them are rich, either, but they donate religiously to church, mission, and humanitarian causes. That whole clinic idea is calling yourall's names. "Holistic," Dream wrote. Think "naturopathic," A.U. people. And build it to last. A hundred years is long enough to coast on the memory of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
I'm not saying the legislators should sit on their hands either; they're human too, they'd have to have had quite a bit of lead poisoning themselves to want to sit on their hands. Virginia and Tennessee legislators "never allow a crisis to go to waste
"; in any kind of community disaster they're out there raising funds, boosting morale, and basking in free publicity. I'd be surprised if a Michigan legislator weren't in Flint as I type. But I am saying that raising taxes is not the ideal solution to everything. Raising taxes seems likely to be an especially non-ideal solution for a place like Michigan that still has way more than its share of money, but seems to be stuck in a state-wide, thirty-year-long shortage of healthy pride. A one-time crisis seems to call out for a one-time display of that "We can take care of our own" sort of pride.Penniless as I am, I do want to be part of that one-time display. So here's what I can do: If any Michigan writer, ideally but not necessarily Michael Moore, it could be un-funny Dan Gilbert for that matter, cranks out a new documentary book about the Flint water crisis and/or what Michiganians are doing to solve it, and sells it at fundraising prices up to $50 per copy, I will personally walk into Kingsport and buy that book at the Fort Henry Mall bookstore. And I will photograph that walk. And that book. And tweet the images, using the "WalkWithMike" hashtag.
Here's Mom Dream's alternative solution...and it's not all bad; it just seems to me less efficient and less good. I could be wrong, and if convinced that I'm wrong I could support Moms Rising on this one. But I'd be greatly disappointed in Michiganians if they had to fall back on any solution that involved raising taxes.
"
As parents, we do all we can to keep our kids healthy. And we rely on our government to make sure we have access to essentials like clean water. That shouldn't change depending on what color we are, our income level, or where we live.
That's why we're beyond mad about the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan. Join us in demanding justice from the Michigan State Legislature: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Flint_2016/?t=5&akid=7553.1995681.1kHsbh
Here's what happened. In April 2014, in an effort to cut costs, an emergency manager appointed by Governor Snyder switched the Flint water supply from the Detroit water system to the Flint River. Long story short: dangerous levels of lead seeped into the water supply, posing long-term and serious health risks for local residents.
Families in Flint knew there was a problem when the water turned brown, young children broke out in rashes, and the hair of some residents began falling out. Yet officials denied anything was wrong, as they failed to follow federal guidelines around lead safety and utilized faulty water testing techniques. [1] Can you imagine?
Refusing to stay silent, residents started organizing. Researchers found the water supply contained over 900 times the recommended amount of lead [2]. Even the City Council voted to reconnect to the Detroit Water Supply in March 2015. Yet Emergency Manager Gerald Ambrose continued to insist that the water was safe to drink [3].
Indeed it took WELL OVER A YEAR for the city to acknowledge that there was a BIG problem, and that the water in Flint was NOT safe to drink. There are no words for this kind of failure. Are the children and families of Flint so disposable that local officials didn't act more quickly and comprehensively?
Governor Snyder himself now refers to the situation as a "catastrophe". [4] The New York Times wrote: "Officials at all levels of government acted in ways that contributed to the public health emergency and allowed it to persist for months" [1].
We are outraged. It's time for urgent and comprehensive action on behalf of the families in Flint. Join us in demanding justice from the Michigan State Legislature: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Flint_2016/?t=7&akid=7553.1995681.1kHsbh
Earlier this month Governor Snyder finally declared a state of emergency in Flint, over a year and a half after the problem began. [5] Residents are now being told to use water filters and/or bottled water, and no one knows how many of the city's almost 100,000 residents have been affected by lead, and to what degree. What we do know is that ingesting high amounts of lead can have devastating and long-term effects on children, the elderly, and the sick. Current estimates are that it could take as much as $1.5 billion to fix the problem. [6]
Would officials have ever been so careless about the drinking water if over 50% of Flint's residents weren't black, and over 40% live below the poverty line, making Flint one of the most impoverished cities of its size in the US? [7] The appointment of an emergency manager in Flint, one of several Black cities across the state to have their elected officials replaced by an appointee from the Governor, is at the center of this crisis.
These kinds of environmental injustices happen time and time again in communities of color. Indeed, "Black people in America - especially those living in rural and poor areas - have long been denied the same access to clean drinking and water for bathing and sanitation as everyone else. The crisis in Flint is not an isolated incident," Black Lives Matter has stated. [7] We must do better.
Following the lead of our local allies, we're demanding the Michigan Legislature do the following:
- Replace all public water infrastructure at no cost to residents or businesses.
- Refund all water bills since the switch to the Flint River water supply, and create a fund to repair property damage caused by toxic water.
- Launch an independent state and federal investigation into what happened in Flint. Lift executive immunity from the Governor’s office and release all communications.
- Create a Flint Citizen Civilian Core to train workers to repair infrastructure.
- Create a holistic medical care facility in Flint to offer therapies and other methods to treat lead poisoning.
ALL of our children and communities deserve access to safe drinking water. What's happening in Flint is a tragedy and a disgrace. Our leaders must be held accountable, and we must do all we can to ensure it never happens again.
Thank you,
- dream, Elyssa, Monifa, Karen, Gloria, Felicia and the rest of the MomsRising.org team
[1] When the Water Turned Brown, the New York Times. January 23, 2016.
[2] David Graham, What Did the Governor Know About Flint's Water, and When Did He Know It? The Atlantic. January 9, 2016.
[3] Stephanie Gosk, Kevin Monahan, Tim Sandler, Internal Email: Michigan 'Blowing Off' Flint Over Lead in Water, NBC News. January 6, 2016.
[4] Julia Jacobo, Flint Water Crisis: Michigan Governor Apologizes, Takes 'Full Responsibility' for 'Catastrophe’, ABC News. January 19, 2016.
[5] Paul Egan, Snyder declares emergency as feds probe Flint water, Detroit Free Press. January 15, 2016.
[6] Paul Egan, Flint mayor: Cost of lead fix could hit $1.5 billion, Detroit Free Press. January 15, 2016.
[7] Solidarity Statement with Flint, Michigan, Black Lives Matter.
"
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Book Review: Call Me Bandicoot
Book Review: Call Me Bandicoot
Author: William Pène du Bois
Date: 1970
Publisher: Harper & Row
Length: 63 pages
Illustrations: color paintings by the author
Quote: “Ermine Bandicoot...looks ratlike, as his name suggests.”
Actually, as painted, he looks like one of the masses of Beatle fans found in high schools at the time, and his name turns out to suggest that he belongs to one of New York’s old Dutch families, but why quibble? This is another funny story about inventions that might or might not have worked in real life, as designed by William Pène du Bois, as seen in Squirrel Hotel and Peter Graves...only there’s more to it.
When I consider the funny story in its historical context, I confess, Gentle Reader, I am puzzled. Toward the end of his distinguished career, William Pène du Bois set out to write a short book, accessible to children but amusing to adults, about each of the seven deadly sins. (He died without having figured out a way to write a kid-friendly story about Lust, though one might have thought that the 1980s panic about sexual predators would have simplified that problem.) There was no question that Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead was a caricature of Sloth. Porko von Popbutton and Pretty Pretty Peggy Moffitt were vaguely linked to historical events, but were clearly about Gluttony and Pride (well, vanity). Call Me Bandicoot is about Avarice, but it’s not clear what’s being held up as the bad example, or who learns what, or what the author wanted readers to learn from this story.
There are two forms of Avarice in Call Me Bandicoot. Which one you consider worse probably depends on which side of the famous “generation gap” you were standing on in 1970. Teenaged Ermine Bandicoot seems to be homeless; he rides around on the ferry, demanding snack-bar food from the audiences to whom he tells elaborate stories, presumably on the way to and from school. When the narrator realizes that a story he’s taken for fact was probably fiction, he takes an unfavorable view of young Bandicoot...until he sees old Hermann Vandenkroot and decides, “Ermine Bandicoot was as great as he had said he was.”
So, which of these stubborn men is “the stingiest, money-grubbingest cat that ever was,” and what’s the moral? While making their judgments, readers will be entertained by Bandicoot’s preposterous stories.
This book is recommended to anyone who likes picture books that are either funny or serious. It rates high on both qualities.
If you buy it here, the price is $5 for the book + $5 for shipping, and anything else that fits into the same package comes under the same $5 shipping charge. If you can get a better deal elsewhere...this author no longer needs a dollar, and I've sold the copy I had on display when I wrote this review.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Phenology 9.8.14: Goldenrod
(Reclaimed from Bubblews. Photo from Morguefile.)
Goldenrod is blooming abundantly in my part of the world now. It blooms about this time every year.
Goldenrod and another late summer wildflower called ragweed are often blamed for respiratory allergy reactions, or "hayfever." Isn't it interesting that "hayfever" didn't become a widespread or serious complaint until Americans started spraying poisons on land? Goldenrod certainly does release a lot of pollen. Pollen, dust, and other substances that can float through the air can irritate the human nose, sinuses, and throat. If the person is having an allergy reaction this irritation can trigger "hayfever." But the trigger is not necessarily the cause of allergies.
Most allergy reactions occur when people are exposed to either chemical pollutants in the air (such as pesticides), mold, or food they don't digest properly, or to some combination of these. Once the real cause of allergies is identified, a person who can avoid the real cause is usually free to enjoy flowers and animals.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Morgan Griffith on Virginia's "Navigable Waters"
Isn't it incredible? The same very bad idea that was defeated in the state legislature in 2013 is now before the federal legislature. From Morgan Griffith's E-Newsletter (full Newsletter at http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=WKHDH6X2T6GQ56LAWOM5JRT26E )
"
Government Control of Water
I often speak and write of overreaching Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. In what appears to be another power grab, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have proposed what is commonly known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which could expand EPA’s jurisdiction.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that the WOTUS rule “…would categorically regulate as ‘navigable waters’ countless ephemeral drains, ditches and other features across the countryside that are wet only when it rains and may be miles from the nearest truly ‘navigable’ water. It would also regulate small, remote ‘wetlands’ – which may be nothing more than low spots on a farm field – just because those areas happen to be adjacent to a ditch or located in a floodplain.”
What might the WOTUS rule do if it were officially promulgated? It might enable the EPA to dictate to farmers, land owners, economic developers, local governments, and others where they may or may not build fences, where they may or may not dig ditches, and more. When there are heavy rains in the mountains, there are many small streams which may only have water three or four times a year. Under these new regulations, land owners may be forced to chop up pastureland and fence these “dry branches” off, making it difficult to farm.
Many coal mines are being shuttered. Now the EPA wants to control use of our land. If we can’t use coal and if we can’t build or dig in the mountains, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to transition our economy as envisioned by the progressives?
“Under this plan, there’d be no body of water in America including mud puddles and canals that wouldn’t be at risk from job-destroying federal regulation,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) said. “This dramatic expansion of federal government control will directly impact the livelihoods and viability of farmers and small businesses in rural America.”
EPA maps of the country’s waters and wetlands appear to show the EPA’s plans to control significant amounts of property across the 50 States. These concerning maps, recently released by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, can be found at http://science.house.gov/epa-maps-state-2013.
In May, I joined 230 Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle in urging the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw their overreaching WOTUS rule. I believe that state and local governments ought to remain in control of decisions of this nature. I remain opposed to the WOTUS rule, and will continue working to fight it and other overreaching EPA actions.
As always, if you have concerns or comments or wish to inquire about legislative issues, feel free to contact my offices. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.
"
"
Government Control of Water
I often speak and write of overreaching Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. In what appears to be another power grab, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have proposed what is commonly known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which could expand EPA’s jurisdiction.
American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that the WOTUS rule “…would categorically regulate as ‘navigable waters’ countless ephemeral drains, ditches and other features across the countryside that are wet only when it rains and may be miles from the nearest truly ‘navigable’ water. It would also regulate small, remote ‘wetlands’ – which may be nothing more than low spots on a farm field – just because those areas happen to be adjacent to a ditch or located in a floodplain.”
What might the WOTUS rule do if it were officially promulgated? It might enable the EPA to dictate to farmers, land owners, economic developers, local governments, and others where they may or may not build fences, where they may or may not dig ditches, and more. When there are heavy rains in the mountains, there are many small streams which may only have water three or four times a year. Under these new regulations, land owners may be forced to chop up pastureland and fence these “dry branches” off, making it difficult to farm.
Many coal mines are being shuttered. Now the EPA wants to control use of our land. If we can’t use coal and if we can’t build or dig in the mountains, what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to transition our economy as envisioned by the progressives?
“Under this plan, there’d be no body of water in America including mud puddles and canals that wouldn’t be at risk from job-destroying federal regulation,” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (WA-04) said. “This dramatic expansion of federal government control will directly impact the livelihoods and viability of farmers and small businesses in rural America.”
EPA maps of the country’s waters and wetlands appear to show the EPA’s plans to control significant amounts of property across the 50 States. These concerning maps, recently released by the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, can be found at http://science.house.gov/epa-maps-state-2013.
In May, I joined 230 Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle in urging the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw their overreaching WOTUS rule. I believe that state and local governments ought to remain in control of decisions of this nature. I remain opposed to the WOTUS rule, and will continue working to fight it and other overreaching EPA actions.
As always, if you have concerns or comments or wish to inquire about legislative issues, feel free to contact my offices. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.
"
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Sick Building Update
(Reclaimed from Bubblews)
I know I've posted something on this topic at Bubblews before: Some buildings are sick. Some buildings make people sick. Some translations of the Bible, trying to express the concept of "something that needs to be quarantined because it will make people seriously ill," describe these houses as "leprous," while describing what's actually in the houses as fungi in the genera Cladosporium and Fusarium--green and reddish mold. Those lucky ancient Hebrews must have suffered terribly from exposure to out-of-control household mold, but they never had to contend with the modern-day pesticides that induce more serious allergy and flu-type symptoms in susceptible individuals, faster.
I know I've posted something on this topic at Bubblews before: Some buildings are sick. Some buildings make people sick. Some translations of the Bible, trying to express the concept of "something that needs to be quarantined because it will make people seriously ill," describe these houses as "leprous," while describing what's actually in the houses as fungi in the genera Cladosporium and Fusarium--green and reddish mold. Those lucky ancient Hebrews must have suffered terribly from exposure to out-of-control household mold, but they never had to contend with the modern-day pesticides that induce more serious allergy and flu-type symptoms in susceptible individuals, faster.
Is this a sponsor-friendly topic? Who knows, who cares, I want to be honest. The corporations that make these toxic chemicals also make other chemical products that aren't intended to kill smaller animals and that I've *not* seen do any great harm to humans and domestic animals. For example, in the U.S., I'd like to urge everybody to stop buying "Raid" (the insecticide) and buy "Off!" (the insect repellent, which also comes in an aerosol can that produces an oily vapor you could use to kill insects if you really wanted to, and which doesn't make me ill). The cats don't like the smell of "Off!" but I've never had a healthy cat collapse and die just after "Off!" has been sprayed.
Anyway, the update: Last week, when I didn't have a way to get online and didn't want to be inside a computer center anyway, I went into a cute little store down by the Clinch River.
It happens that a car pool buddy (for that day) had gone into that building with me, years ago, when it was up for sale. The owner had proudly told us he'd just sprayed poison on the weeds in the side yard that day. That was the last thing I heard before I started sneezing and couldn't stop. I grabbed a handful of napkins and ran outside, holding them over my face, and shut myself inside the car. The "hay fever" symptoms became less disabling right away. They lasted for another two hours. Car pool buddy had no explanation to offer the owner about why I'd rushed out, but decided not to buy the building.
So now, seeing that the building was finally open under new ownership, car pool buddy wondered who'd bought it and how they were liking it. So we went back into the building. Nobody had sprayed any poisons lately. However, the ground floor of the building was still just ten feet above the river, and we've had some very wet summers since then. The building smelled musty. I walked slowly down one aisle, looking at merchandise. By the end of the aisle I didn't notice the odor any more...because my sinuses had started to clog. I walked back up the next aisle, and by the time I got there I was trying not to sneeze. Car pool buddy had been talking to the new proprietor, who had released as much information as he wanted to and was now trying to sell my car pool buddy some overpriced object, so car pool buddy must have been glad to look at me and say something about "take her to the doctor." We got out fast, and since this was apparently a fungus allergy reaction rather than a pesticide reaction, I was breathing normally, three miles down the road.
And there, in the interest of science, is the difference between the way I react to mold and the way I react to toxic chemicals. As a child I had one allergy reaction or another, constantly; as an adult I rarely have allergy reactions. My whole family was seriously confused, at times, wondering what I was allergic to...because apparently I have no pollen allergies whatsoever and have very little reaction even to poison ivy. But I'm extremely allergic to some "pesticides."
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Coal-Burning Cars?
Thanks to +Congressman Morgan +Griffith for sharing the link to this +Fox News report:
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/02/27/could-clean-coal-power-cars/
Could coal be processed in ways that produce reusable metal instead of pollution? Sounds like the stuff of great science fiction, and even greater news if the technology turns out to be viable in the real world.
Makes me wonder whether existing coal could even be used to manufacture more coal. We know that coal is made, not "born." Some of us synthesized coal in our fifth grade science classes...well, peaty, low-grade "lignite" coal anyway. (What comes out of my +Sun-Mar toilet is one grade below peat on the way to becoming completely carbonized, or becoming coal.) The reason why we still have coal mines rather than coal factories is that, so far, the process of synthesizing coal is not energy-efficient. But I've never completely lost hope that this could change.
(What's with the little + signs in this post? Well, theoretically, Google has "improved" Blogspot such that typing in + signs before the names of people or businesses automatically gives them a Google+ boost. We highly recommend Sun-Mar toilets, respect Congressman Griffith, and figure that somebody out there has to have set up a Google+ account for Fox News, so why not test the system on these names? If you're seeing four little + signs instead of links to Google+ pages, this is an indication that the system isn't working. If you're seeing some + signs and some links, this is an indication that the system is working but not all four names are in the system.)
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/02/27/could-clean-coal-power-cars/
Could coal be processed in ways that produce reusable metal instead of pollution? Sounds like the stuff of great science fiction, and even greater news if the technology turns out to be viable in the real world.
Makes me wonder whether existing coal could even be used to manufacture more coal. We know that coal is made, not "born." Some of us synthesized coal in our fifth grade science classes...well, peaty, low-grade "lignite" coal anyway. (What comes out of my +Sun-Mar toilet is one grade below peat on the way to becoming completely carbonized, or becoming coal.) The reason why we still have coal mines rather than coal factories is that, so far, the process of synthesizing coal is not energy-efficient. But I've never completely lost hope that this could change.
(What's with the little + signs in this post? Well, theoretically, Google has "improved" Blogspot such that typing in + signs before the names of people or businesses automatically gives them a Google+ boost. We highly recommend Sun-Mar toilets, respect Congressman Griffith, and figure that somebody out there has to have set up a Google+ account for Fox News, so why not test the system on these names? If you're seeing four little + signs instead of links to Google+ pages, this is an indication that the system isn't working. If you're seeing some + signs and some links, this is an indication that the system is working but not all four names are in the system.)
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
HB 1768: Striking (Out) Environmental Courts by Popular Demand
The people for whom this story will be most "educational," in the words of the Tea Partier who sent it in, probably don't read printouts any better than they read web pages. They need help from Creative Tightwads. If anybody out there knows who they are, this web site offers two suggestions from which to choose:
(1) Tell the illegal dumpers that they can get actual money out of old tires, cars, refrigerators, etc., if they haul this junk to the right places and dispose of it legally. If they don't have a way to haul off their junk, help them connect with someone who does.
(2) If you know for sure that they're total jerks, not only illiterate but malicious, like the unspeakable something-or-other of a poacher who has been killing does out of season and killing my possums, wrapping the carcasses in plastic garbage bags, and pitching them into one of those scenic mountain streams from which Gate City and Kingsport get their drinking water, and if you can control your feelings about these alleged people enough not to do anything to them that our contract forbids me to describe here, which I can tell you is not easy...anyway, if they're that kind of neighbors, why help them make a dime? Raid their dumps and keep all the money. Even money probably prefers to be in your pockets rather than theirs.
Anyway, Virginia House Bill 1768 would, if enacted, have set up "environmental courts," an old Agenda 21 phrase, repugnant to many people in Delegate O'Quinn's district:
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+HB1768
The bill was written to set up a procedure for addressing some specific illegal dumping issues. However, in Washington County, county supervisor Bill Gibson smelled a rat. His e-mail to Delegates O'Quinn and Kilgore is now circulating around Tea Party mailing lists. In Bill Gibson's words, "I know you both must be against Agenda 21 as the national and state party have in their platforms and this bill only helps it get a foothold in local govt. "How do you eat a elephant? one bite at a time"....this is how Agenda 21 is being implemented in swva."
Delegate O'Quinn's response is worth sharing:
"I can assure you that we did not receive the bill from any elitist environmentalists. It came from the Wise County Sheriff's office to address several illegal dump sites across their county which contain items such as tires, couches, cars, refrigerators, etcetera and those who continue to add to the ever present problem...That being said, we certainly are not trying to create some completely new courts system and we don't want to overburden the court system or cause them undue financial burden. Thus, we are going to strike the bill.
www.israeloquinn.com
www.facebook.com/israeloquinn "
Would any Facebook users care to "like" this Delegate?
(1) Tell the illegal dumpers that they can get actual money out of old tires, cars, refrigerators, etc., if they haul this junk to the right places and dispose of it legally. If they don't have a way to haul off their junk, help them connect with someone who does.
(2) If you know for sure that they're total jerks, not only illiterate but malicious, like the unspeakable something-or-other of a poacher who has been killing does out of season and killing my possums, wrapping the carcasses in plastic garbage bags, and pitching them into one of those scenic mountain streams from which Gate City and Kingsport get their drinking water, and if you can control your feelings about these alleged people enough not to do anything to them that our contract forbids me to describe here, which I can tell you is not easy...anyway, if they're that kind of neighbors, why help them make a dime? Raid their dumps and keep all the money. Even money probably prefers to be in your pockets rather than theirs.
Anyway, Virginia House Bill 1768 would, if enacted, have set up "environmental courts," an old Agenda 21 phrase, repugnant to many people in Delegate O'Quinn's district:
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+HB1768
The bill was written to set up a procedure for addressing some specific illegal dumping issues. However, in Washington County, county supervisor Bill Gibson smelled a rat. His e-mail to Delegates O'Quinn and Kilgore is now circulating around Tea Party mailing lists. In Bill Gibson's words, "I know you both must be against Agenda 21 as the national and state party have in their platforms and this bill only helps it get a foothold in local govt. "How do you eat a elephant? one bite at a time"....this is how Agenda 21 is being implemented in swva."
Delegate O'Quinn's response is worth sharing:
"I can assure you that we did not receive the bill from any elitist environmentalists. It came from the Wise County Sheriff's office to address several illegal dump sites across their county which contain items such as tires, couches, cars, refrigerators, etcetera and those who continue to add to the ever present problem...That being said, we certainly are not trying to create some completely new courts system and we don't want to overburden the court system or cause them undue financial burden. Thus, we are going to strike the bill.
www.israeloquinn.com
www.facebook.com/israeloquinn "
Would any Facebook users care to "like" this Delegate?
Sunday, January 6, 2013
True Greens Will Love HB1430
Here it is, Gentle Readers: the Boneta Bill. You'll love it. It specifically preserves neighbors' right to complain about farm activities that do pollute, and thus do cause material harm to others--but it puts some teeth into the concept of property rights:
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+HB1430
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+HB1430
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
