Come Heller high water…
- Whether they’re ultimately convicted or not, the fact that five public officials are facing charges of involuntary manslaughter ( including Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon and four others) in the poisoning of Flint is important. It says to all public officials that it’s not OK to half-ass your job or save a buck at the expense of public safety.
Where has our sense of public service gone? No one who cared about the public’s well-being would have said, as the charging documents claim Lyon did about the Legionnaire’s disease that was killing people in Flint “[we] can’t save everyone” and “everyone has to die of something.” Even if that was some sort of attempt at dark humor, those are words that should rightly haunt Lyon forever, whatever the outcome.- And of course Attorney General Bill Schuette isn’t charging Gov. Snyder, who signed the emergency manager law that led to the water crisis and who appointed the people who enabled it and who continues to slow-roll the fixing of the problem. Schuette’s reasoning: “In any investigation, we only file charges when there’s probable cause to establish a crime has been committed.” Too bad relentlessly indifferent leadership isn’t a crime.
- And of course Snyder isn’t even suspending Lyon or Eden Wells, the state’s chief medical executive who faces charges of obstruction of justice and lying to a police officer, which is unimaginable. Think about that: People who are charged with seriously damaging the public’s health are still working in the department that’s supposed to protect the public’s health. It baffles me how Snyder can sleep at night.
- By the way, quick reminder: Michigan voters are clearly smarter than Lansing. We rejected the beefed up emergency manager law in 2012. But of course the state GOP thumbed its nose at voters and passed the bill anyway just a few months later. Good call, GOP. Good call. I like to think voters will hold them accountable in the next election, but that’s not likely given the way the GOP also gerrymandered the hell out of the state, thus ensuring Forever Rule for their party. It’s a charming little system these patriots have devised.
- An NPR print story about the horrific shooting at the Congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, included this caveat at the end, which was noteworthy: “This is a developing story. Some things that get reported by the media will later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from police officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.” With everyone so confused about what’s real news and what’s not, I think all media outlets should include statements like that. All news stories should be clearly and prominently labeled news (meaning every effort was made to be accurate and objective) and all commentary – especially those ridiculous panels of talking heads on TV – should be labeled opinion. Maybe that way we can end the era of presto chango facts.
- I don’t give a damn if a recent test of the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac is “robust” (as one analyst described it) or not. An oil and gas pipeline does not belong underwater, much less a 60-year-old one. It will break or leak at some point. And when it does, imagine the damage to the Great Lakes.
- My friend and longtime boss at The Flint Journal, Cookie Wascha, passed away this week, and I’m heartbroken. She was a great journalist but an even better person, one who was quicker to smile and laugh than anyone I’ve known. Her gift to the world was that her good humor helped others find their good humor more often. It’s hard to say much better about a person than that. Farewell, my friend.
- “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Image credit: Mike Licht
Great Column!
Flint Water Debacle: …and we don’t even know about the long term effects
yet!
GOP: Given the state of the Union and the state of the State, a LOT of offices
should be cleaned out in the next election. With the options of re-calls
and impeachment we don’t even have to wait that long.
Thank You NPR: I never thought I would hear people say they can’t trust the
news anymore. They give us all the scoop on the sexual harassment
the network musical chairs, but we can’t trust the really important
stuff! How sad is that?
Very good column. It is so sad what has happened to our beautiful state and the City of Flint.
We can only hope the elections will bring better government to Michigan but I’m not going to hold my breath.
I saw Schuette’s news conference,and we know he’s running for Govenor,so he need’s Snyder’s people’s Money for his Run…He offer’s the standard reply when asked Why Snyder hasn’t been charged,as you state,
“we only file charges when there’s probable cause to establish a crime has been committed”.Perfect!!>>you have enough buffers/bodies between you and the actual CRIME!.I thought the law says neither ignorance,nor interpretation of the Law,shall still be grounds for Charges of a crime to be brought..Relentlessly indifferent Leadership resulting in the loss of human life,,is not an actual chargeable offense of course>.How conveinient for Snyder!
Public Service used to mean something Remember??>>Now it just means a Big paycheck,with Healthcare,and Pension.Power!,Position,Favours,more Money,to the people be damned!!,that is what it has come to.
I know about the pipe line issue,and 60 years is past lifetime of this pipeline..Specially when it’s been underwater..The Leaks are coming,and I fear for our Great Lakes with the damage it will do.Just like anything else it comes down to Money,and the Cost to replace,to hell with the Human life that it will cost.
I was proud to be a county public health nurse. We went out to the community, I went into a skid row bar to find and give TB meds, house to house to educate and test little ones for lead, we didn’t know everything about HIV at the start but learned and tested, educated fearful citizens. We followed up on reports of communicable disease. I felt I was doing what our mission was ..health promotion, disease prevention.
Our county medical director was able to navigate the politics and still promote firm transparent health practices..example standing up to local pols who wanted our clinics to stop giving condoms to high risk patients, this when we had little else to offer re HIV AIDS.
To have heard the top officials of MI state health dept have behaved as alleged and quotes of their own statements, emails is beyond disgusting. I and my fellow public health workers at local levels will continue to do our jobs. These people, until trial or plea, guilty or whatever need to leave their positions.
If you want to go after someone for the water problems that Flint has been suffering from go after those on the city council. They were the ones that could not balance a budget. They spent money like there was no tomorrow, or that there would someday come a time when there would be no more money.
The state had to step in twice years ago and appoint Ed Kurtz as an emergency manager after it was proven that the City of Flint was heading for bankruptcy.
Ed Kurtz straitened it out once and turned the budget back to the City Council and the Mayor. Then within a couple of years Flint was again in the middle of financial crisis. Ed Kurtz tried to stabilize the situation, but gave up.
Leading to other not so capable financial managers. The blame needs to start with the city council. No, wait, that will not happen most of them are democrats.
In all the news casts that I have been listening to, they have identified the shooter as a supporter of Bernie Sanders. The shooter is a democrat, who asked a congress man if it was democrats or republicans or democrats playing baseball. As soon as he was informed that they were republicans, the shooter walked away and got his weapons and started shooting. If the answer had been democrats, then he would have gone on his was until he found the republicans.
Democrats are all about violence. JFK was shot by a democrat. Martin Luther King Jr. (registered republican) shot by a democrat. Robert Kennedy, shot by a democrat. Gabby Gifford, shot by a democrat. Abraham Lincoln, shot by a democrat. There are a few more examples, but this is enough.
As far as the line 5 pipeline goes, it needs to be shut down. the company that owns it is not telling the truth about the condition of the pipeline. If or when the pipe ruptures ( I hope that it does not) the owners and the board of directors need to be locked in prison and be made to help in the clean up of the man made disaster.
You make some good points. There is lots of blame to go around. And I’m shocked you agree with me about Line 5. But in a good way.
Jimmy 3, You are wrong. The guy who shot JFK was a Communist. The guy who shot RFK was a Palestinian Fanatic. The guy who shot MLK Jr. was a hicky pervert. Please stop telling dopey ignorant lies on this web site.
You mesn you didn’t know? Democrat = socialist = communist. I heard it on Fox News
Timothy McVeigh was a registered Republican when he lived in Buffalo, New York. Go figure! Ignorance lives on in the mind of the believer.
As always, I appreciate your viewpoint! On target!