10 Things They Won't Tell You About the Flint Water Tragedy

[snot]

From Michael Moore at http://michaelmoore.com/10FactsOnFlint/ :

"1. While the Children in Flint Were Given Poisoned Water to Drink, General Motors Was Given a Special Hookup to the Clean Water. A few months after Governor Snyder removed Flint from the clean fresh water we had been drinking for decades, the brass from General Motors went to him and complained that the Flint River water was causing their car parts to corrode when being washed on the assembly line. The Governor was appalled to hear that GM property was being damaged, so he jumped through a number of hoops and quietly spent $440,000 to hook GM back up to the Lake Huron water, while keeping the rest of Flint on the Flint River water. Which means that while the children in Flint were drinking lead-filled water, there was one — and only one — address in Flint that got clean water: the GM factory.

"2. For Just $100 a Day, This Crisis Could’ve Been Prevented. Federal law requires that water systems which are sent through lead pipes must contain an additive that seals the lead into the pipe and prevents it from leaching into the water. Someone at the beginning suggested to the Governor that they add this anti-corrosive element to the water coming out of the Flint River. “How much would that cost?” came the question. “$100 a day for three months,” was the answer. I guess that was too much, so, in order to save $9,000, the state government said f*** it — and as a result the State may now end up having to pay upwards of $1.5 billion to fix the mess.

* * * * *

"5. While They Were Being Poisoned, They Were Also Being Bombed. Here’s a story which has received little or no coverage outside of Flint. During these two years of water contamination, residents in Flint have had to contend with a decision made by the Pentagon to use Flint for target practice. Literally. Actual unannounced military exercises – complete with live ammo and explosives – were conducted last year inside the city of Flint. The army decided to practice urban warfare on Flint, making use of the thousands of abandoned homes which they could drop bombs on. Streets with dilapidated homes had rocket-propelled grenades fired upon them. For weeks, an undisclosed number of army troops pretended Flint was Baghdad or Damascus and basically had at it. It sounded as if the city was under attack from an invading army or from terrorists. People were shocked this could be going on in their neighborhoods. Wait – did I say “people?” I meant, Flint people. As with the Governor, it was OK to abuse a community that held no political power or money to fight back. BOOM!

"6. The Wife of the Governor’s Chief of Staff Is a Spokeswoman for Nestle, Michigan’s Largest Owner of Private Water Reserves. As Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein: “Follow the money.” Snyder’s chief of staff throughout the two years of Flint’s poisoning, Dennis Muchmore, was intimately involved in all the decisions regarding Flint. His wife is Deb Muchmore, who just happens to be the spokesperson in Michigan for the Nestle Company – the largest owner of private water sources in the State of Michigan. Nestle has been repeatedly sued in northern Michigan for the 200 gallons of fresh water per minute it sucks from out of the ground and bottles for sale as their Ice Mountain brand of bottled spring water. The Muchmores have a personal interest in seeing to it that Nestles grabs as much of Michigan’s clean water was possible – especially when cities like Flint in the future are going to need that Ice Mountain."


Much more at the link.

[Octafish]

1. I know the EPA will do something.

No. 3:

There’s More Than the Lead in Flint’s Water. In addition to exposing every child in the city of Flint to lead poisoning on a daily basis, there appears to be a number of other diseases we may be hearing about in the months ahead. The number of cases in Flint of Legionnaires Disease has increased tenfold since the switch to the river water. Eighty-seven people have come down with it, and at least ten have died. In the five years before the river water, not a single person in Flint had died of Legionnaires Disease. Doctors are now discovering that another half-dozen toxins are being found in the blood of Flint’s citizens, causing concern that there are other health catastrophes which may soon come to light.

Wait till President Obama hears about this!

ETA:

[JEB]

2. Fucking A.

Leaves me speechless.

[question everything]

3. On Melissa Harris Perry program, there was a mention of undocumented residents

who would not know what happen or what they should do since all the announcements were in English.

Also that for some help - don't remember the specifics - one needed a government issue ID which, of course they don't have.

[snot]

6. jeez . . .

[Igel]

8. Both points are true and not quite right.

The announcements were in English.

Not in Spanish. Or Vietnamese. Or French. Or the other languages that undocumented immigrants bear. In one case they interviewed an immigrant (undoc, of course) who'd lived here for well over a decade and only listened to Spanish-language information sources. Oddly, those sources apparently didn't mention the drinking water or the requirements; you'd think that would have happened, or perhaps the Spanish-language sources most listened to were entertainment and not news. At some point you really need to know the dominant language and listen to what's going on. Even if you're working 55-65 hours a week, with offspring and a commute. (Like me.)


That's sort of the same with the government ID "requirement." Those distributing the filters and water wanted to make sure that only residents got the stuff, and one per household. The requirement was that the resident give his/her address. So they asked for ID as proof of residence. Easy, quick, and common--proof given, can be quickly copied down. No ID, you ask if the ID's required or give your address, spell it, deal with language issues. The person involved in this incident didn't ask a follow-up question. Instead, she left, afraid that if she didn't have an ID she'd be detained and deported. Those interviewed were clear on these points, actually. What wasn't clear as the attempt to get us to infer that somehow there was an injustice involved. The "injustice" was the woman's fear and paranoia, coupled with the Guardsman's not stopping what he was doing to explain, carefully, in a language he probably didn't know, what the rules were before the woman left.

I thought Americans who lived in Prague in the '90s and made a little Anglophone bubble for themselves were idiots, because they were. For years they couldn't be bothered to pick up enough Czech to get by, to be aware of things that affected them. They wanted to be coddled and couldn't figure out why they were resented. They expected all Czechs to learn English, and when the Americans misunderstood things for slack to be provided over and over for their lack of competence in language, culture, and law in a society they chose to live in.

They were idiots. I refuse to discriminate and say only monolingual xenophobic English-speaking American expats can be idiots.

No, the Americans weren't all privileged. Many had just picked up and moved there because it was cool, because it was cheap, because a friend had done it. It was the Rive gauche of the '90s. While many Czechs said the Americans were raising rents and prices, this was a country where you could get a decent dinner with a pint of beer and provide for a good tip for $1.25. And low-income Czechs were also saying that Americans were also taking up a lot of low-rent housing. Like the ol' saying goes, Kdyz sesh v Rime ...

[Shankapotomus]

4. Why is Snyder allowed to stay?

Seems to me, since either his judgement or intentions seems to be highly questionable, it should be absolutely unacceptable for Snyder to lead any kind of resolution.

[snot]

5. +++!!!

[1939]

10. How do you depose him?

The president can't remove him from office, he doesn't have the power.

I am not sure of the wording of the Michigan Constitution, but it would have to make provisions for impeachment (by a GOP legislature0 or a recall which would have several hurdles to getting on the ballot.

Snyder will serve out his term (he is term limited) but any hopes he might have of a Senate seat are probably dead.

I highly doubt that any ethical investigation could lead to a criminal indictment and as governor, he is immune to being sued civilly for his acts in office.

People are still longing for a "Fitzmas" though.

[Stuart G]

7. k and r. ..nt

[gregcrawford]

9. If I were to start reciting right now the litany...

... of despicable Republican transgressions and treacheries, I probably wouldn't be halfway through by this time tomorrow.

I cannot fathom how any decent person can conceivably vote for a Republican. But then, I don't think any decent people do.