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Water Water
Everywhere…
By Philip
Farruggio
April 30,
2016 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Nation
Of Change"-
Turning on
C-Span a few weeks ago and catching the
congressional hearing on the Flint water crisis made
this writer want to scream out loud! ‘You morons!’ I
would have yelled to the bunch of them, ‘Why no one
there will connect the dots?’ You had the
former Mayor of Flint, the former EPA regional exec
and the former ‘ Emergency City Mgr. all under the
gun from those diligent bulldog congress
people. The blame game was in full swing, and to
some extent it was and is justified. The
aforementioned group of bureaucrats did get early on
information as to the harm the river water and the
lead filled pipes was doing to the citizens of
Flint. Yet, there is a much more diabolical
aspect of this story, and it filters out too many
other municipalities throughout America. Part A of
this aspect was shared by Mr. Early, the former
Emergency Mgr. of Flint when he told anyone who
would listen that “We did not have the $18 million
it would cost.” He was referring to the charges made
by almost everyone at that hearing as to why
he did not heed the complaints he was receiving and
switch back to the Detroit Water Systems’ water for
Flint. Early is no saint here, not at all. He. like
the EPA exec and the Mayor, ignored the mountain of
resident complaints and fears (and the
whistleblower’s warnings) as to the lack of safety
in the river water (and of course the lead in the
pipes). Part B of this is why the governor did
nothing to help out Flint with this horror. When
push comes to shove, though, it was really about
Da Money or lack of it. Why?
One of my
Florida congress people on that committee, John
Mica, really took the mantle and lashed into the
group of bureaucrats for ignoring the warnings etc.
Yet, as with I am sure most and most likely all
of those others on the committee (and in the
whole damn Congress) Mica has continued to support
any military spending proposal that comes his way.
It matters not, and it mattered not, whether it be
under the Republican Bush Jr. or the Democrat Obama,
Mica and the rest of those hypocrites allowed over
50% of your federal tax money to go towards
military spending! They supported the illegal
invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq
and the illegal U.S. led NATO carpet bombing and
regime change in Libya. Of course, they vote to
support most, if not all, of the Pentagon’s new
weapons systems, nuclear subs and attack aircraft
which are, in plain English, Overkill on
steroids! These hypocrites and phony patriots
vote to support our 1000+ bases worldwide and
finance to the tune of over $one million dollars
yearly to keep one soldier in Afghanistan
(of course the cost of private mercenaries.. oh
sorry .. private contractors is another add on to
that cost). Imagine, if you would, that keeping 18
U.S. service people in Afghanistan for one year
equals the $18 million Flint needed to stay with the
clean water in the first place!
This writer
belongs to a nonpartisan group nationwide that
demands that 25% of our current military spending be
cut and sent back to our states and cities for use
on infrastructure and other local emergency needs.
One would speculate that having safe and secure
drinking water should be on top of any such list.
Apparently, John Mica and his fellow hypocritical
Two Party colleagues do not agree with that. No,
they continue to allow this Military Industrial
Empire to chug along over the worn out and wounded
majority of us. Sad.
Philip A
Farruggio is a semi retired baby boomer born and
bred in blue collar Brooklyn NYC. He is the son and
grandson of Brooklyn longshoremen, and educated at '
free tuition ' Brooklyn College, class of ' 74.
Philip has written over 300 columns since 2001 and
his work is found on many fine progressive sites
like World News Trust, Nation of Change, Information
Clearinghouse, Intrepid Report, Sleuth Journal,
Dandelion Salad, Counterpunch and Dissident Voice.
He can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net |
