Tom Toles for January 22, 2016

Mr. Toles is on a roll.

Funny! Excellenttttttt!

The Republican jobs program: tutors for children with lead laden brains.

When I saw the cartoon I had the same thought, mikefive.What I don’t understand is why it took so long to see it as a serious problem which needed to be addressed quickly.

It is a poor community. The plan to save money was essentially a good one but they screwed up and for some reason somebody did not add the hundred dollars of chemicals to reduce the acidity of the water to federal standards. It is much worse than racism, it was stupidity and incompetence that the water treatment management failed to notice and the political leaders failed to react and correct the situation until it became a disaster.

Can someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that the corrosive fluid in the water system has irrevocably damaged the water delivery systems. Every building with lead pipes will need to be plumbing-gutted and updated. Merely fixing what is in the water will not be enough. I don’t believe there is enough money to cover that. The residents will have to be relocated and Flint will essentially become a ghost town. Again, please correct me if I’m wrong.

First off Michael Moore would like to think he is from Flint, Mi. He is actually grew up and graduated from Davison , Mi which is right next to Flint. I know this because he graduated with my brother form Davison High Shcool. Also, it is the mayor of Flint that is trying to make this a racial issue, she is upset that the city was put under State Emergency Managment when the city went bankrupt. It was the Gov. EPA advisors that did not feel it was an important enough issue to let him know about the water problem. I grew up in this area and I would never drink the water out of the Flint river not after GM dumped there waste into the river.

Clean water, we don’t need clean water. Let’s shrink government so small it can be drowned in a bathtub.

If you don’t study history, etc. Call it Gauleiter, Commisar, or Emergency Manager, an all-powerful regional dictator is the way to ruin every time.

the officials’ conduct was reckless and outrageous it shocks the conscience they were deliberately indifferent to constitutional rights.An estimated 6 – 12 k children were affected by lead poisoning. It’s almost funny that you think most of the Emergency Managers were African American – the only one during that period was Darnell Earley. I’m wondering for all of those who are whining about Mr White – how long would this go on in an affluent white neighborhood?

maybe he should drink the water in flint and make his kids and grandkids drink and bathe in the water. if this situation happened in a wealthy suburb, they would immediately resolve it, instead of waiting 2 years, belittling residents, made people boil their water(which concentrated the lead), and sending everyone involved to prison.

replied to @jack75287: “Their color doesn’t change any of the facts considering the outcome.”

Night-Gaunt informed omQ R something he was well aware of: " The Governor is White and a Republican, most of Flint is Black and poor."

Night-Gaunt, dude, you should always, but always doubt what jack says. I have no idea why you felt you needed to let me know what race the governor was, nor the composition of Flint’s population. Surely from my response to mikefive it showed I was already aware of this? Doubt jack75287 whose hero is a fellow word salad dresser, Sarah Palin, not me.

History of Flint water supply

“In March 2013, the Flint city council voted to switch their water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewer Department (DWSD) to the new $233 million Lake Huron-sourced Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA). The switch was also approved by the Flint emergency manager. DWSD strongly opposed Flint being allowed to join KWA and released a document accusing Flint of starting a ‘water war’ and asked the state to block Flint’s participation in KWA.

”The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), on April 1, sent out a press release demanding the state should block Flint’s request as it would hurt Detroit Water and start a water war and said that “any claim that it would save the cash-strapped city money is specious”‘Official City of Detroit press release, April 1, 2013: WATER WAR UNDERMINES FLINT – DWSD RELATIONS’

The wiki entry points to the multiple problems that led to a flawed decision. You guys wanting a clearcut Republican/Democrat blame are going to have to work harder.

You have to admit, though, that when the GOP governor became aware of the problem, he took immediate steps to cover it up and minimize it. (That’s the PR problem, of course. It’s the only ‘real’ problem from his POV.)

So glad tomtoles was able to pin all of the blame on GovWhite who has an “R” after his name. That Obamite Ineptark EPA official that sat on the info for months got to resign with full benes. GovWhite should have told this particular Demo-ruled rathole, “No, you don’t get to save costs by quitting your contract with Detroit for a safe water supply. You can just raise your utility rates.” Really, you just have to let these places go until they reach some sort of new equilibrium. People usually vote with their feet . . . becoming secondarily responsible for the mess leads to exactly what happened to White.

It is not about Republicans or Democrats. It is about an incestuous relationship between politicians, regulators, bureaucrats and business. E.g. The 3 month old Porter Ranch gas leak in California. Democratically controlled state and a wealthy neighborhood being gassed. Opposite of Flint?

@Den O similar but much less harmful – 3 months compared to 2 years, I’m assuming sparsely populated ranchland and much less harmful natural gas vs lead poisoning…

Sorry MikeFive, a city that’s 2/3rds minority population can be labeled minority w/o it being racist. Are you daft?