While in Flint, Don't drink their water

[313WX]

hired by the EM

Not only that, the contract was no-bid [[when city of Detroit leaders engaged in this type of activity, they were the devils, but it's ok when Snyder does so apparently) and the residents of Flint are also supposed to trust that same contractor to locate the lead lines in the city.

[313WX]

I'm embarrassed to even say I'm a Michigan citizen at this point.

Now this loon wants to poison the leader of the free world, despite both Dr. Marc Edwards and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who actually know what they'e talking about, advising the citizens of Flint to continue using bottled water.

That alone should be grounds for an arrest and a royal beat down [[at the very least) by the Secret Service.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b096e9f08f226a

[313WX]

BTW, I think this brief editorial about Dr. Marc Edwards, which I agree with, is interesting also...

http://www.michiganliberal.com/pure-...ble-operation/

The other thing it does is raise questions about Marc Edwards. Not is credentials as it pertains to lead in water. But every time someone asks him about this, he claims the EPA was involved in some kind of cover up. In fact, the things he’s said has provided much of the grist for the “Don’t forget to blame the feds also” which are the Flint water scandal equivalent of the “Both sides are equally guilty” argument. This is not Edwards’ first go around with the EPA over lead, mind you. So, you have to wonder if some of his harsh criticism is based more on an pre-existing animus than it is an understanding of how federal regulatory agencies work.

[SDCC]

Excellent Speech President Obama

[65memories]

Agree....the President's remarks were excellent. He was direct and provided hope. His presence was definitely welcome to the citizens of Flint and worthwhile.

[canuck]

I'm embarrassed to even say I'm a Michigan citizen at this point.

Now this loon wants to poison the leader of the free world, despite both Dr. Marc Edwards and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who actually know what they'e talking about, advising the citizens of Flint to continue using bottled water.

That alone should be grounds for an arrest and a royal beat down [[at the very least) by the Secret Service.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b096e9f08f226a

Since this story broke, I have heard radio talk and read news articles about lead poisoning telling us it is a known problem since the late nineteenth Century. What boggles the mind is the actual science is much older. The Roman sages were aware of lead lipe poisoning two thousand years ago and wrote about it at length.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/...poisoning.html

[G-DDT]

When I'm at my mom's watching the update on the news for Flint's heath [[after the break), I snidely comment "probably drugs to keep folks' befuddled and quit complaining". When they returned with the story, my mom shouted "Your right!" http://woodtv.com/2016/05/02/snyder-...int-next-week/

On the surface, it sounds like all those clumsy commercial pills are "intricately there" to handle one's "physical health" [[actually, removal from the unhealthy situation and living as naturally as possible will bring about the healing, and nothing-including "what is natural?"-is to be contended about that there, as I can personally attest.), but it is only to stop people's ability to speak up.

[Wesley Mouch]

Excellent Speech President Obama

I have not heard [[nor read) the speech. I trust the President avoided the 'blame game' and I hope focused not just on Flint, but on the urban water crisis nationwide?

Flint got hit bad, but they are far from the only place where there are either unacceptable levels, and/or future situations where unintended consequences can have dire outcomes.

[Dumpling]

Wesley, I thought your post was going to be about:

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...box_news_flint

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...tion/84145898/

Since no one is saying much, I really can't tell what Miller-Canfield's exact involvement
in this matter is. Miller-Canfield is the law firm that supplied a hundred or so advisors
to Mayor Bing at the start of his term as Detroit mayor. Mayor Weaver's fundraising
website, KarenaboutFlint, could be on the up-and-up, but commenters are proclaiming corruption already.

[Vic01]

Wesley, I thought your post was going to be about...

quotes from the article:
Former Flint city administrator Natasha Henderson is suing Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and the city for wrongful termination, alleging her rights under the Whistleblower Protection Act and the First Amendment were violated after she reported that Weaver was redirecting charity cash.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Flint, Henderson is seeking unspecified damages related to her firing on Feb. 12 when Weaver announced that Henderson had been “relieved of her responsibilities.”
The complaint alleges Henderson’s termination was in retaliation for disclosing an alleged redirection of charity funds. Henderson was fired after reporting the information to the city’s interim chief legal counsel Anthony Chubb, Henderson’s attorney Katherine Smith Kennedy said.

“In a community where the current water crisis repeatedly exposed how people failed to do the right thing, Ms. Henderson did the right thing and was fired for it,” Kennedy said. “Her goal was to ensure the integrity of the city at a time when its reputation has taken many blows. Instead, she was penalized for bringing forward these concerns"...


...According to the lawsuit, an assistant to the mayor told Henderson that Weaver instructed that money sent to Safe Water/Safe Homes, an official donation fund to help provide clean water to families in Flint, instead go to a different fund.

That fund, named “Karenabout Flint,” was believed to be a political action committee or campaign fund created at the direction of Weaver, the complaint says.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...tion/84145898/

[Wesley Mouch]

Wesley, I thought your post was going to be about...

quotes from the article:
Former Flint city administrator Natasha Henderson is suing Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and the city for wrongful termination, alleging her rights under the Whistleblower Protection Act and the First Amendment were violated after she reported that Weaver was redirecting charity cash.
...

I didn't know about it. The blame game is being played out in the media and courts. Its not very interesting. Everyone just applies their prejudices and sees the victims and heros they wish to see. Sometimes, Erin Brockovich is a hero, sometimes a goat.

In the bigger picture, it doesn't matter. We need to find a way that our cities control all environmental risks in balance with the need to exploit the world for the benefit of all of us.

[SDCC]

I have not heard [[nor read) the speech. I trust the President avoided the 'blame game' and I hope focused not just on Flint, but on the urban water crisis nationwide?

The President mentioned the emergency manager position, and that the EM was charged with cost cutting. No names were mentioned, and his comments were left for interpretation by those listening. Yes, he was talking to you Snyder.
He spoke for 30 minutes.

[Wesley Mouch]

The President mentioned the emergency manager position, and that the EM was charged with cost cutting. No names were mentioned, and his comments were left for interpretation by those listening. Yes, he was talking to you Snyder.
He spoke for 30 minutes.

Better than being blatantly partisan, I suppose.

No national initiative to address lead in water supply? Is this really not a problem these days except where cost cutting can be blamed?

[313WX]

It's amazing how "people of influence" in Michigan are going out of their way to protect Snyder...

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/0...ve-gov-snyder/

But what happened to me at Eastern Market fits right in with what the new business-first politics has done to this state and this city. The previous day I had to leave a sidewalk outside of a Secretary of State office because that office – a government facility – was located in a privately owned small shopping center on Mack. And at Eastern Market I learned that our great meeting place for people, food, flowers, and crafts doesn’t belong to the citizens of Detroit and Michigan. It’s also run by a private corporation, as Chief Operating Officer Emma Velasco explained to me after she was summoned to help security guards persuade me to leave. She also had bogus arguments about public safety and big crowds threatened by an old man with a clipboard offering market customers a service they’re eager to have. She also said the recall campaign can’t buy any space to set up a table, though “community groups” like the Girl Scouts can. Cookies before democracy, you see.

[Wesley Mouch]

It's amazing how "people of influence" in Michigan are going out of their way to protect Snyder...

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/0...ve-gov-snyder/

But what happened to me at Eastern Market fits right in with what the new business-first politics has done to this state and this city. The previous day I had to leave a sidewalk outside of a Secretary of State office because that office – a government facility – was located in a privately owned small shopping center on Mack. And at Eastern Market I learned that our great meeting place for people, food, flowers, and crafts doesn’t belong to the citizens of Detroit and Michigan. It’s also run by a private corporation, as Chief Operating Officer Emma Velasco explained to me after she was summoned to help security guards persuade me to leave. She also had bogus arguments about public safety and big crowds threatened by an old man with a clipboard offering market customers a service they’re eager to have. She also said the recall campaign can’t buy any space to set up a table, though “community groups” like the Girl Scouts can. Cookies before democracy, you see.

Bogus arguments by bureaucrats should not be a surprise... intuitively, what you were doing seems fine, and I'm distressed that you were prevented from your fools errand in what acts like a public space.

But rules and rules. Remember this when you make a call for yet another rule to regulate something. In 99% of the cases, the regulation is enforced by fools. You can end up with bad drinking water.

[compn]

could you explain your argument wesley?

do you like the regulation of the LCR [[lead and copper rule) that says drinking water must have less than 15ppb of lead in it?

or do you not like any regulations?

[Wesley Mouch]

could you explain your argument wesley?

do you like the regulation of the LCR [[lead and copper rule) that says drinking water must have less than 15ppb of lead in it?

or do you not like any regulations?

No, I'm fine with regulation. They are essential components of our society. Was just pointing out that regulations can also empower the bureaucratic class, and with unintended results. In this case, a bureaucrat finding rules to regulate away an anti-Snyder advocate.

We also need to be vigilant about regulations being used to suppress competition. Look at taxis. Sure, we need some regulation on taxis -- but it clearly is an industry that's using regulation as a means of preventing competition and maintaining price control. A lot of regulations and licenses don't serve the public.

No, I'm not against regulation in principle.

[Dumpling]

This might come close to Jimaz' "Disaster Capitalism".

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/f...r-breakthrough

This inventor saw a sales opportunity. It's interesting that he, like myself at that time,
most likely saw The Governor Snyder Emergency Decision as continuing and irreversible,
having come down from on high with the backing of the State Legislature and interests
backing Gov. Snyder and the State Legislature, and removing local official control.
The inventor invented a "fix". Which is nice of course and will be used and appreciated.
He did not apparently go out and join the picket lines or email Gov. Snyder about the
problem.

[Jimaz]

This might come close to Jimaz' "Disaster Capitalism"....

Thanks to Dumpling for remembering way back to January-18-16.

I have nothing against individuals making money. But if they're striving to construct a crisis to make money even less than other's greater losses, where is the benefit?

That net imbalance of the actions of The Parasitic Saboteurs in Power™ is what is inexcusable.

[Wesley Mouch]

Thanks to Dumpling for remembering way back to January-18-16.

I have nothing against individuals making money. But if they're striving to construct a crisis to make money even less than other's greater losses, where is the benefit?

That net imbalance of the actions of The Parasitic Saboteurs in Power™ is what is inexcusable.

They aren't STRIVING to construct a crisis. Snyder, the EPA, MEDQ and the bottle watered industry DID create a crisis.

Michael Moore and Naomi Klein's future Michigan would be quite different. It'll more resemble Venezuela, but with fewer cars and no auto jobs.

Meanwhile, seems like the activists have moved on, leaving only Parasitic Saboteur Snyder doing much for Flint.

[Dumpling]

Venezuela? The largest chunk of emigrants from Venezuela, some 165,000 of
its best and brightest, immigrated to South Florida after the Hugo Chavez
takeover in Venezuela right around 2000. This is a mere drop in the Florida
population increase bucket of about 2,800,000 in the decade from 2000 to 2010.
[[Which of course meant that Florida real estate was a better investment during
that time frame than either the Book-Cadillac or the Renaissance Center.)
Most of that increase came from the northeastern and midwestern United States.
The percent of the very poor population in Venezuela halved from 20% to 10%
and its literacy rate improved into the 90 percent range during this decade. The
problem in Venezuela is that the intended social reforms were imposed dictatorially,
not democratically, causing economic disinvestment [[the fall in the price of oil
didn't help them either). The intended reforms in Flint were also imposed
dictatorially rather than democratically.

[313WX]

Below is a very good, thorough, bipartisan analysis of the big players involved in the Flint Water Crisis and the roles they played. I also like how it lambastes Obama's recent publicity stunt for the BS that it was.

BTW, this key part is very interesting [[and one that's overlooked):

...While attempting to exercise “plausible deniability” throughout the Flint water crisis, Snyder’s political agenda led directly to the disaster. As governor of Michigan, his primary undertaking has been to implement drastic cuts in social and public services and to change the laws to allow the state to override any legal obstacles to plundering public-sector workers’ pensions and municipally-owned public assets. Snyder was personally at the head of engineering the forced bankruptcy of Detroit, using the system of unelected “emergency managers” he put in place.

That bankruptcy, which gutted city workers’ pensions and benefits and privatized assets such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, has served as a model for similar attacks across the country. The DWSD’s loss of the Flint water contract—its largest suburban customer, accounting for 20 percent of its revenues—played into the hands of Snyder’s co-conspirators in seeking to “monetize” and eventually privatize one of the country’s largest water systems...

...Despite President Obama’s arrogant and dismissive assertion that the lead-poisoned children of Flint “will be fine,” the Flint water crisis has inflicted, and continues to inflict, widespread devastation upon the residents of the city. Government corruption and criminality throughout the crisis has caused irreparable harm and catastrophic injury to countless people, including deadly disease, permanent neurological damage to developing minds, and severe psychological trauma. The entire city has become the scene of a massive crime, whose victims number in the tens of thousands, and whose perpetrators infest every level of government.

A convergence of powerful financial interests worked to sever the city of Flint from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s [[DWSD) water system, which it had been connected to for half a century. At stake were the viability of the Karegnondi Water Authority [[KWA) pipeline project as well as a long-standing plot to monetize, and eventually privatize, the Detroit water system. With Democrat and Republican officials colluding to end Flint’s relationship to the DWSD, and the KWA pipeline still years from completion, the city of Flint needed a primary drinking water source to meet its needs until the pipeline’s completion...

Part 1

https://www.wsws.org..../flin-m07.html

Part 2

https://www.wsws.org...1/who2-m11.html

Part 3

https://www.wsws.org...8/who3-m18.html

Who’s who in the Flint water crisis

[Wesley Mouch]

Below is a very good, thorough, bipartisan analysis of the big players involved in the Flint Water Crisis and the roles they played. I also like how it lambastes Obama's recent publicity stunt for the BS that it was.

BTW, this key part is very interesting [[and one that's overlooked):

...While attempting to exercise “plausible deniability” throughout the Flint water crisis, Snyder’s political agenda led directly to the disaster. As governor of Michigan, his primary undertaking has been to implement drastic cuts in social and public services and to change the laws to allow the state to override any legal obstacles to plundering public-sector workers’ pensions and municipally-owned public assets. Snyder was personally at the head of engineering the forced bankruptcy of Detroit, using the system of unelected “emergency managers” he put in place.

That bankruptcy, which gutted city workers’ pensions and benefits and privatized assets such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, has served as a model for similar attacks across the country. The DWSD’s loss of the Flint water contract—its largest suburban customer, accounting for 20 percent of its revenues—played into the hands of Snyder’s co-conspirators in seeking to “monetize” and eventually privatize one of the country’s largest water systems...

...Despite President Obama’s arrogant and dismissive assertion that the lead-poisoned children of Flint “will be fine,” the Flint water crisis has inflicted, and continues to inflict, widespread devastation upon the residents of the city. Government corruption and criminality throughout the crisis has caused irreparable harm and catastrophic injury to countless people, including deadly disease, permanent neurological damage to developing minds, and severe psychological trauma. The entire city has become the scene of a massive crime, whose victims number in the tens of thousands, and whose perpetrators infest every level of government.

A convergence of powerful financial interests worked to sever the city of Flint from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s [[DWSD) water system, which it had been connected to for half a century. At stake were the viability of the Karegnondi Water Authority [[KWA) pipeline project as well as a long-standing plot to monetize, and eventually privatize, the Detroit water system. With Democrat and Republican officials colluding to end Flint’s relationship to the DWSD, and the KWA pipeline still years from completion, the city of Flint needed a primary drinking water source to meet its needs until the pipeline’s completion...
...

Perpetrators infesting government is something we can all agree upon.

We tried the ballot box, but the usual suspects remain in charge of city government. So I think you're right. Everyone must participate in this purge of government. A cultural revolution. We need a leap forward [[Canadians, think Naomi & Avi if you wish).

[313WX]

I just heard from a little birdie that the charges against the 3 low-level employees will likely be dropped soon.

Take that FWIW.

[Wesley Mouch]

I just heard from a little birdie that the charges against the 3 low-level employees will likely be dropped soon.

Take that FWIW.

Hate to see misbehavior ignored, but I must think its being done to get at the bosses who set the culture. Besides, these 'birds' deserved the money since they were underpaid and underappreciated.