March 18, 2016 6:52 AM
Morning Reads for Friday, March 18, 2016
On this day in history, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. See what working together can do?
- For those who enjoyed Savannah just a little much yesterday.
- What could go wrong?
- Jamie Barton, Georgia star!
- Atlanta credit rating upgraded.
- Gator sighting in Cobb County park. No info available on his jorts/mullet style points.
- Everybody take a breath. This is HUMOR, folks.
- Too funny.
- Take the summer off, sport.
- Considering the last few days, it’s a fair question.
- Does no one understand parody anymore?
- We will all be Terminators some day.
- Dibs on the puppies.
About Author
Ginny
Get off my lawn.
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Tax payers saw massive finger pointing and grandstanding on this unsafe water issue at a hearing yesterday. This is why congress has a 12 percent approval ratings. This hearing should of focused on how to fix the problem, instead it was merely political grandstanding, while tax payers and their families are being poisoned by the water.
……amison’s school, Caroline Elementary in Ithaca, N.Y., is one of hundreds across the nation where children were exposed to water containing excessive amounts of an element doctors agree is unsafe at any level, a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation found. An analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data showed about 350 schools and day-care centers failed lead tests a total of about 470 times from 2012 through 2015.
That represents nearly 20% of the water systems nationally testing above the agency’s “action level” of 15 parts per billion……………..
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/03/17/drinking-water-lead-schools-day-cares/81220916/
………..In January, Democrats proposed $600 million in direct assistance to Flint, but have since negotiated with Republicans on a $220 million measure that would make loan credits available to any city facing a water emergency.
A spokeswoman for Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the Republicans who worked on the measure for weeks, said Monday that the senator is still negotiating.
“Inhofe is working to address concerns from all parties involved and to find a responsible path forward for this fully paid-for solution, which allows all states to seek a loan to help their communities that are facing dangerous repercussions from aging water infrastructure,” she said.
Snyder and the Michigan state legislature have proposed $230 million worth of assistance, with $70 million already allocated for things like bottled water and beginning to replace lead pipes. Lee said the state can continue ponying up its own money.
Lead is a national problem, however, with 10 million American homes and buildings getting water from lead pipes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. It could cost hundreds of billions of dollars to replace them all.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said Friday she was surprised that Lee had used a procedural hold on the Flint-inspired measure instead of letting it get an up-or-down vote.
“If Senator Lee opposes this bipartisan bill that is fully paid-for, he should vote against it, but he should not block it from even getting a vote,” she said.
Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also placed a hold on the legislation, but released it after a review……….
Flint a city of 100,000 the demos propose $600 million in direct assistance for a responsibility to their citizens they failed in ?
I’m ok with min. water standards but not the Feds getting financially involved. Those standards are there but the locals failed to stand by them. Cities do pick and choose enforcements. To ask the Feds to bail them out is something we haven’t built into the “budget” and shouldn’t.
The EPA has been out of control for some time.
Salt,
We are talking about a national crisis, if 20 percent of the water is poison. This is not only a moral issue, but economically it could drag our economy with the cost of care of people who will have IQs way below normal via the water.
……Lead is a cumulative toxicant that affects multiple body systems and is particularly harmful to young children.
Childhood lead exposure is estimated to contribute to about 600 000 new cases of children developing intellectual disabilities every year.
Lead exposure is estimated to account for 143 000 deaths per year with the highest burden in developing regions.
About one half of the burden of disease from lead occurs in the WHO South-East Asia Region, with about one-fifth each in the WHO Western
Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean Regions.
Lead in the body is distributed to the brain, liver, kidney and bones. It is stored in the teeth and bones, where it accumulates over time. Human
exposure is usually assessed through the measurement of lead in blood.
There is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe.
Lead poisoning is entirely preventable……….
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/
See my response to Ellynn below, no doubt it is a national mess as we neglect infrastructure.
>The EPA has been out of control for some time.
Nope. They’re not supposed to enforce the Safe Drinking Water Act – that responsibility is first and foremost on the state.
“In a hearing this week about the poisonous water in Flint, Mich., Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) tried to blame the lead-tainted water on the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency.
“EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy explained that, under the law Congress passed, states are in charge of enforcing drinking-water standards.
‘The law?’ Carter replied, contemptuously. ‘The law? I don’t think anybody here cares about the law.'”
Dana Milbank, Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-poisonous-conservative-thinking-that-caused-the-flint-crisis/2016/03/18/06700ca2-ed01-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html
My bad for not saying that correctly, no issues with the EPA on min. standards, my issue would be the Feds bailing the states/cities out.
Worst case could be interest bearing loans to the state on a repayment tax that will not be forgiven.
The water problem is public infrastructure allowed by locals to deteriorate, compounded by poor or negligent testing.
The state placed an emergency manager in charge of Flint. Under that law, the Governor’s appointed manager had more power than the elected mayor and the city official and forced the water change through the city government. Their are emails backing this up. The Governor and his hand picked manger failed Flint.
Half the info the state submitted for water testing was incorrect. The GM Flint plant voluntarily switched their water back to the Detroit system when the Flint River water was corroding engine parts, and they passed the reports on this to the state. Meanwhile the state voters over ruled by vote the emergency manager clause in 2014. When the state legislature got back in session in 2015 they passed a different emergency manager law, one that cannot be overturned by voters.
The new mayor of Flint is trying to replace the pipes, while the governor (who is sitting on a budget surplus) has refused to release the needed funds from the state for the process. She has the equipment, she has city crews trained on a pipe replacement system that has already been in use for a while in Lansing – not to mention almost every pipe fitting and plumbers union in 4 states has offered the city rotating fitting crews. This is a manmade disaster created solely by the state of Michigan. Once again the governor has failed Flint
Here is what I ‘loved’ most about the hearings yesterday (that’s typed in irony font)?, The same house members who were accusing the EPA of not doing their job and trying to place all the blame on them, are the same people who want to eliminate the EPA for something they have no control over. These same members are allows crying states’ rights! state’s rights!, yet clearly we have a state who created the problem, on multiple levels, all in the name of ‘Rights of States’ in the cause of saving Michigan taxpayers money. Now when the governor has to go into his surplus to fix his on fubar he tries to make anyone but him responsible. The truly sad thing is not one of his party members in arms questions his involvement. Not. One. Congress is failing Flint.
I have no issue with telling the state and city to fix the issue but for the Feds to jump in all over the country for negligent locals and foot the bill is nuts.
Where is the incentive to let everything go to pot, spend money on pet projects and let the Feds bail them out.
I Probably will regret that remark when Fulton and DeKalb get done with us.
So Ginny posts stories about a female gator in Cobb and a possible cloning of a T-Rex……..does anyone see what she is up to here ?
http://www.thenation.com/article/how-the-democrats-could-be-obliterated-in-the-fall-elections/
You may like this reading…..
Slick Hilly continues to have real major league probs…Poor Dems!
http://observer.com/2016/03/hillary-has-an-nsa-problem/