Out like Flint...
A nice summary, from Michael Moore, of the massive republican criminality perpetrated on the people of Flint: http://michaelmoore.com/10FactsOnFlint/ . The Democratic presidential hopefuls, to their credit, are all over this one - and are holding a debate in Flint tomorrow. Meanwhile the media continues to give the Republicans - who are busy fighting a civil war rivalling Syria's - a free pass on Flint. After all, there are tedious national issues involved here like the infrastructure deficit and water that would kill ratings.
Comments (10)
The best I can determine is that the City of Flint had been for years trying to create its own water system and be free from sending money to Detroit for its water. That process had been going on through many administrations, although the city officials who signed off on it were Democrats. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/429803/flint-water-scandal-democratic-pattern.
Regardless, if you think the Flint water crisis is a matter of presidential concern (as the OP indicates it ought to be getting coverage in the Republican primary debates), then why aren't we blaming the current President?
So anyway, I checked the chemicals that Syria allegedly used on its own people, which was chlorine gas. It just so happens that the lethal dose level of toxicity of lead is about twice that of chlorine by weight. From there, it gets difficult to gauge. Lead is a lot heavier than chlorine, but poisoning the water supply is more effective than airborne toxins. I wonder if any foreign countries want to take on a similar role and invade the Michigan?
Why?
1. Neglecting the Infrastructure has worked so far (most of the time).
2. The problems are huge.
3. Infrastructure repair is gawd-awful expensive, takes forever, and is without glory.
4. People hate having the city dug up for years on end.
5. Today's problems are more pressing than next year's troubles.
Minneapolis and St. Paul had combined storm and sanitary sewers. Everytime it rained, the storm sewer load would cause a huge spill of raw sewage into the Mississippi River. Sometime in the early 1970s Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois sued the Metropolitan Waste Disposal System in federal court to force them to dig up the whole system and separate it. It took about 15 years of digging--sometimes enormous holes to uncover deep sewers (I loved it -- great sidewalk civil engineering opportunities). Eventually it was done -- huge expense, but now the rain water goes directly into the river and the sewage flows in solitude and serenity into the treatment plant, rain or shine. Except for the killer carp, everybody is happy down river.
I guess we need more inter-state, inter-urban lawsuits and court orders forcing civic governments to do their duty.
At any rate, bad things happened. The same thing can be asked about reportage. Is it slanted because of partisan preference, stupidity, or misdiagnosis. Are the Republicans getting a pass? Probably. It might be the case that reporters and editors find the municipal officials more attractive targets than the state level officials, like the governor.
The printed press has become somewhat anemic, as you know. Maybe they just aren't doing as good a job reporting as they should, could, would do if they had more resources. Or maybe the owners are disinclined to nail Republicans. Such things have happened that a newspaper owner is an ardent Republican.