6.09.2004
I don't know what drives some people to 'help' their neighbors..... especially we who don't need or want that 'help!' but I'm sure it's not love of humankind. As you know, I myself am currently driven, but only in self-defense! It all began when a local group of environmental extremist activists joined up with Michigan's prima donna government agency, the Department of Environmental Quality. Both have been out to get Dow Chemical for years... as a matter of fact, it is the reason for the existence of the local extremist organization.
Dow is one of two big industrial complexes in our area... providing jobs for just about everybody in the area who wanted jobs. The other company is General Motors. The extremists fail to be aware of the fact that Dow provides raw materials for most of the industry in our United States and in the world. They drive their cars, wrap their homes in plastic, wash their clothes, package foods... furnish their homes... medicate themselves and their families..... I could go on and on..... all with products made possible by the chemical industry! Apparently they would like to see us back in the pre-industrial horse and buggy days... the ultimate luddites!
Well the political climate changed last year and all of a sudden the extremists decided the way to 'get Dow' was to make a people sandwich out of local residents. Dow was doing a pretty good job of cleaning up their act... and then MDEQ changed the rules!!! Then they put residents in the middle of the situation by taking samples here and there along the river floodplain, extrapolating that information, which varies drastically in given areas, and proclaiming each and every backyard in the 100 year floodplain a toxic 'facility'! During this time the extremist fanatics found a few gullible people to sue the company because... get this!... they might get sick sometime in the future from the dioxins in the soil of their backyards!!!
People have lived here for years... first the native Americans, then the lumberjacks, and ultimately the rest of us! During much of that time the chemicals carried downsteam in the flood area were much worse and more concentrated than they are now!!! We have lots of people in our town who played in the river as kids... played in their backyards... ate foods, including meat, eggs and milk, that should have been affected by the dioxins in the soil! Many of these people lived to be in their nineties... back when the average lifespan was much lower I might add.
We keep telling the extremists... and the MDEQ... define the problem first! That's the scientific method. Instead of looking for where the dioxin is... the government scientists - Oooops! that is an oxymoron, isn't it? - should find out what levels of dioxin exist in the bodies of those of us who have lived here all our lives, eating veggies from our gardens, mowing our lawns and playing in our 'dioxin-laden' backyards.
We have made progress. Senator Stamos and Representative Moolenaar recently introduced bills to correct this gross attack on me and my fellow residents. God bless America! Now all we have to do is convince our new Governor that these guys are right and the extremists are wrong! Wish us luck.
Dow is one of two big industrial complexes in our area... providing jobs for just about everybody in the area who wanted jobs. The other company is General Motors. The extremists fail to be aware of the fact that Dow provides raw materials for most of the industry in our United States and in the world. They drive their cars, wrap their homes in plastic, wash their clothes, package foods... furnish their homes... medicate themselves and their families..... I could go on and on..... all with products made possible by the chemical industry! Apparently they would like to see us back in the pre-industrial horse and buggy days... the ultimate luddites!
Well the political climate changed last year and all of a sudden the extremists decided the way to 'get Dow' was to make a people sandwich out of local residents. Dow was doing a pretty good job of cleaning up their act... and then MDEQ changed the rules!!! Then they put residents in the middle of the situation by taking samples here and there along the river floodplain, extrapolating that information, which varies drastically in given areas, and proclaiming each and every backyard in the 100 year floodplain a toxic 'facility'! During this time the extremist fanatics found a few gullible people to sue the company because... get this!... they might get sick sometime in the future from the dioxins in the soil of their backyards!!!
People have lived here for years... first the native Americans, then the lumberjacks, and ultimately the rest of us! During much of that time the chemicals carried downsteam in the flood area were much worse and more concentrated than they are now!!! We have lots of people in our town who played in the river as kids... played in their backyards... ate foods, including meat, eggs and milk, that should have been affected by the dioxins in the soil! Many of these people lived to be in their nineties... back when the average lifespan was much lower I might add.
We keep telling the extremists... and the MDEQ... define the problem first! That's the scientific method. Instead of looking for where the dioxin is... the government scientists - Oooops! that is an oxymoron, isn't it? - should find out what levels of dioxin exist in the bodies of those of us who have lived here all our lives, eating veggies from our gardens, mowing our lawns and playing in our 'dioxin-laden' backyards.
We have made progress. Senator Stamos and Representative Moolenaar recently introduced bills to correct this gross attack on me and my fellow residents. God bless America! Now all we have to do is convince our new Governor that these guys are right and the extremists are wrong! Wish us luck.
# posted by sherle : 1:08 PM
