Flint Michigan residents charged $150 a month for poisoned water

[RolloTheGreat]

Errrr....yes, I'm flaunting my middle class-ness....

[SickBeast]

Notice how this thread started with Rollo calling us all sorts of names for pointing the finger at the turkey Republican governor. Then he changed the subject and made all kinds of nonsense claims about immigration. Next he started talking about people's age and how that was somehow relevant to the discussion. All the while he was wrong about *everything*, and he particularly seemed to have difficulty reconciling the fact that Snyder poisoned thousands of people in Flint.

[RolloTheGreat]

Notice how this thread started with Rollo calling us all sorts of names for pointing the finger at the turkey Republican governor.  Then he changed the subject and made all kinds of nonsense claims about immigration.  Next he started talking about people's age and how that was somehow relevant to the discussion.  All the while he was wrong about *everything*, and he particularly seemed to have difficulty reconciling the fact that Snyder poisoned thousands of people in Flint.

Not much to say about Flint other than it's not a partisan issue.

It's a tragic mistake the state made that can't be undone. The victims will rightfully win their class action suit, the state and their insurance company will pass the damages on to people who had nothing to do with it.

Hopefully the events will prompt utilities to not make the same error again.

You're old too SB, old!

[BoFox]

Errrr....yes, I'm flaunting my middle class-ness....

UPPER middle class-ness, that is.  

In a SHRINKING middle class of America, that is. 

Unless you consider workers at Costco earning $22/hr as middle class citizens as well?  Nah, definitely not in bigger cities - unless the spouse also works full-time at Costco, with no more than 1 kid (that is old enough to go to school).  America bless Costco.

[BoFox]

Quality of life might be improving in China, but it's at the cost of pollution, tainted groundwater, massive agricultural land depleted of nutrients and damaged with salts, lack of personal freedom and eradication of family-hood and tradition.

More on this part -   it's not just China but the rest of the world:

Salinization is reducing the world's irrigated area by 1-2 percent every year, hitting hardest in the arid and semi-arid regions.

Irrigation produces much of the world's food, but about a tenth of the world's irrigated land has been damaged by salt. This has become a profound threat to food security.

http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsummit/engli...focus1.htm

It is really affecting both China and India.  Russia and the Asian ex-Soviet nations are hit the hardest by this.  I saw a detailed map showing the changes but it was in a recent National Geographic magazine from last year.

Deforestation is causing accelerated desertification of lands due to less moisture retention and greater water run-away, plus erosion.  Plus the quality of water used for irrigation is sometimes hazardous to the lands as the water is not properly desalinated from the source (like Aral Sea, which just exacerbated as it started drying up), and thus the salt just builds up in the soil.


What affects these areas affect the rest of the world.  If China alone is turned into vast wastelands, the rest of the world suffer accordingly.  The rivers and groundwater run-off from China are polluting the seas, killing off marine life.  Air pollution is affecting other countries, while China dams up all of the major rivers that feed Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia - stealing the natural water supply.  What should be dumped into controlled landfills and containers is being dumped out by cargo ships into the ocean, reaching shores across the world and affecting birds all over.  3rd-world countries might have less resources to control their pollution, but China the most of all, is knowingly screwing a good deal of the world over - trying to make deals with  logging businesses in Brazil to wipe out the Amazon forest for starters. 

Initial prosperity of global capitalization with cheap Chinese franchise = instant gratification for the rich American, but the grandchildren of the rich and especially grandchildren's children will suffer as a result.

Edit-

According to a study by UN University, about 62 million hectares (20%) of the world's irrigated lands are affected, up from 45 million hectares in the early 1990s.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_salinity_control#cite_note-physorg102014-1][/url]

Also affecting California (San Joaquin valley), Colorado river basin, Australia.

[RolloTheGreat]

Errrr....yes, I'm flaunting my middle class-ness....

UPPER middle class-ness, that is.  

In a SHRINKING middle class of America, that is. 

Unless you consider workers at Costco earning $22/hr as middle class citizens as well?  Nah, definitely not in bigger cities - unless the spouse also works full-time at Costco, with no more than 1 kid (that is old enough to go to school).  America bless Costco.

I suppose, but most of my "flaunting" has been in response to GStans yelling about how I'm foolish with money.

Note to GStan: if you live in less house than you can afford, you can spend that money on cars, consoles, and retirement. Pretty simple equation.

[SickBeast]

The governor should also face charges. He was the one that was too cheap to pay for a proper water supply for the city of Flint. It reminds me of how poor people don't have health care in the USA and they just let them die. That's how little empathy the people on the far right have. They are blinded by ideology.