N.C. Marine camp's water under scrutiny

[spinbaby]

Source: AP

TLANTA - Thousands of Marines and their families went to serve their country at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune.

Instead, many wound up fighting it, blaming the government for failing to protect them from an enemy that invaded their lives in a most intimate way: through the water that quenched their thirst, cooked their food and filled their bathtubs every day.

The gruff ex-drill instructor is angry leukemia claimed his daughter, Janey. Parents were guilt-ridden that perhaps their own actions had ruined their daughters' health. An aging major still mourns the wife who shared his torment over their baby's fatal birth defects. A former Navy doctor's career was demolished by his rare cancer.

(Snip)

"We wouldn't be investigating this disgraceful situation if (the Department of Defense) had put half as much effort into cleaning up the water as it has into stonewalling those who drank it," said Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A subcommittee expects to conduct an oversight hearing Tuesday, the first in a broader review by Democrats investigating the Pentagon's environmental record.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_go_ot/toxic_tapwater

[yardwork]

1. k&r This is heartbreaking and horrible.

[L0oniX]

2. Still want to join the military? Fools!

"Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." -- Henry Kissinger

:mad:

[SpiralHawk]

3. They can BUY clean water from Dickie 5 Deferment Cheney's Halliburton

I'm sure the republicon fatcat chickenhawk corporate pigs would be happy to automatically deduct a fat fee for clean water from our soldiers' pay checks

ANOTHER GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR REPUBLICON WAR PROFITS

[frogcycle]

9. except paying big bucks for it doesn't mean it will be clean

[EVDebs]

4. Looks like a great adaptation of Ibsen's play, An Enemy Of The People

Who brought this information out must have been retaliated against I'll betcha. Dr Stockman ?

BTW, Jonathan Turley lost a similar case re Area 51 employees w a Clinton exemption for defense sites like Area 51...

[Joanne98]

5. They need to hire Jonathan Turley!

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_13_16/ai_61551781
Nevada's Mysterious Area 51 Exempt From Toxic Pollution Regs - Brief Article

Paul M. Rodriguez
Don't drink the water or, for that matter, breathe the air in Area 51 because who knows what may be in it. President Clinton doesn't want you to know. He has declared the top-secret Air Force base near Groom Lake, Nev., off limits to national, state or local environmental laws.

For several years, Clinton has sent a letter to Congress exempting Area 51 from all environmental restrictions. The secrecy of Area 51 has prompted scores of UFO enthusiasts to insist alien autopsies are being conducted there. But, say news alert! sources, the base is likely a center for black operations dealing with sophisticated jets.

Clinton's decision to exempt the base comes in reaction to Washington attorney Jonathan Turley, who sued the Air Force and the Environmental Protection Agency about pollution concerns that he claims led to the poisoning of five workers. The lawsuit was filed in 1996 after five former workers at the facility complained of being exposed to lethal toxins at the site, which is located about 95 miles north of Las Vegas.

One of the major concerns among families who believe their relatives were poisoned is that doctors were denied chemical reports, news alert! has learned, which would indicate how the workers may have been poisoned. Therefore a proper treatment schedule could not be developed.

Clinton prevented those records from being released, citing national-security concerns. Ironically, the first time Clinton ordered the base exempt from environmental restrictions, Oct. 3, 1995, was the same day he apologized for the United States engaging in human radiation experiments during the Cold War on Oct. 3, 1995. Even that news was buried in the media because Clinton made the announcement the day that O.J. Simpson was acquitted on double-murder charges.

The lawsuit against the Air Force was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro. Turley then turned to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that lawyers for workers or widows are not entitled to learn what hazardous substances exist at Area 51 or how they are handled -- or, for that matter, if they are contagious. The Supreme Court denied the subsequent appeal.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_13_16/ai_61551781

[EVDebs]

7. KO's a friend of Turley. Maybe KO can do a segment on this for his show

and Turley can pro bono or sumthin' God knows the DoD needs to start getting 'green' and off oil dependency. We civilians can help the military by demanding the country do a Manhattan Project to get offa oil.

[Recursion]

6. Camp LeJeune is 150,000 acres of steaming s**t

It's a horrible post and you can't get off of it fast enough.

[frogcycle]

11. i take it you found the stumps more pleasant?

[Recursion]

12. Yep. Joshua Tree is a cool little town.

Obviously Hollywood's the best, though I never did Hilo so I can't judge that. But the stumps is actually kind of placid and nice in a desert kind of way.

Quantico's a horrible post too, at least if you're an E, along with pretty much all of naval district washington (especially NAS Anacostia -- God that place is horrible).

[frogcycle]

13. I lived on base @ Twentynine Palms in the 50's as a kid

just absolutely loved the Mojave

visited a few months ago - after a 47 year absence. Man, is that the town that time forgot!


Found the houses we lived in off-base before they built on-base quarters - no change! The quarters were torn down - whole base has sort of migrated west - even the main gate is moved.

Also lived @ LeJeune, Pendleton, Quantico (off base)


I was never in service; my Dad, sister, brother-in-law and Nephew were all marines though. And I fired a Browning 50 cal when I was six, got to fly a remote-control drone while M-42s shot at it!

Semper Fi

[frogcycle]

8. lovely -

I lived there twice - total of about three years - as a kid.

in addition to drinking the tainted water, we used to enjoy running in the white cloud behind the DDT truck that sprayed the neighborhood for mosquitoes every evening...

[donsu]

10. US military bases are toxic dumps

KNOWN toxic dumps