An update on my prior diary concerning the poisoned water in Flint, MI. A few days ago the “business savvy” Governor Snyder begged President Obama to declare an emergency for the City of Flint MI. As if the water was a natural disaster and not the incompetent, corrupt, and penny pinching actions of Snyder and his gang of anti-government crooks.
AMERICANS WTF UP.
Government run like a business means Love Canals, Pintos, mine explosions, toxic pharmaceutical meds, etc. Businesses cut cost corners with as little regard for the health and safety of workers and the public and impacts on the enviroment as they can get away with. Always have. Alway will. And they call it efficiency until a chemical fertilizer plant blows up. Then it’s “who could have predicted?”
The measures of goo-goo are not those of business — although they may share some simililarities because they both have missions to organize the delivery of something to people. For business it’s to the people that can afford whatever. For government it’s to all the people. Basic rights of safety and health for the people. It was decided a long time ago in this country that safe, clean, and affordable water is a basic right. (And there are businesses out there today that are itching to take over the public utility of water. If they succeed, it won’t be as safe or clean and it will cost more. More will be denied any at all.)
Today, President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration for Flint, MI.
“The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Genesee County,”
It’s not always easy to remember that we are one nation. And when any community or large numbers of people are suffering and in need that, we together take care of that need first. However, there must always be follow-up. If there are people that are responsible for a disaster, they must and should be held to account. It’s galling that the people of Michigan that voted in Snyder and his gang, not once but twice, will unfortunately get a pass. Just as the voters for GWB get a pass on the war they wanted and pass the trillion dollars in costs to those that didn’t vote for GWB and opposed his folly.
Will Snyder, Inc. get bankster treatment or the law coming down on them like a ton of bricks that is familiar to all too many for a minor infraction?
Billmon on banksters and the sin even to think about holding them responsible much less accountable.
Nixon semi-accountable meant that Reagan, GHWB, and GWB got passes on everything. S&L meltdown and Milken gang semi-accountable means that LTCM and mega-fraud financial meltdown get passes. (Of course Neil Bush got his personal pass on Silverado Savings and Milken got to keep most of the money he ripped off investors. And Milken cohort Joe Cassano went on to collapse AIG with more “funny money.”)
Twenty-seven years ago: Flint, MI Roger and Me. Only the DFHs “got it.” Smug liberals (aka “moderate Democrats”) dismissed it as amateurish. Corp DEMs dismissed the messenger and message. Republicans mocked the movie. Corp DEMs and GOP haven’t changed their tune over almost three decades. Smug liberals only intermittently act as if they have a clue. (Depressing.)
I agree that it would be moral for Snyder and others to go to prison for this. Almost no punishment would be too heavy for their willful and shameful actions. The first of what I hope are many lawsuits will not get that done, though; it’s a civil suit:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/state-of-michigan-gov-snyder-sued-in-class-action-lawsuit-over-fl
int-water-crisis
What Federal criminal law could be employed to successfully prosecute the Governor and place him in prison? My worry is that there may not be one. Perhaps a RICO charge would stick?
Elected officials who commit financially-related crimes face a more substantial set of enforceable criminal laws than elected officials who execute policies which harm the bodies and circumstances of non-powerful citizens. I can see reasons for this to be so, chiefly around the concepts of provable motive and subjectivity, but they fail to satisfy.
The conservative movement throws claims of “moral hazard” around. People who showed a proper working definition of the term would say that if Governor Snyder and others in the decision-making trail here do not go to jail, the moral hazard would be extreme.
We can get wrapped up in the idea that elected officials should always transcend the more reprobate views of their constituents. I bring this up in the wake of having just read the comments section of a few Michigan news sources on this story, Many, many commenters blame Flint residents for not having bought filters which they falsely claim would provide 100% protection, then they go on to complain about the worthless Flint residents and their low education and high crime rates. These commenters seem to view this as a proper collective punishment for a group of people who deserve to be harmed.
It’s important for us to understand that there are a lot of Americans who literally do not care about the lives of fellow residents who are not in their tribe. Race is the easiest way for them to assign tribal identities. Many of those people vote; some of them run for office. These truths allow elected officials who wish to exploit government for profit to keep on getting elected.
For the most part, criminal offenses are state based. There may be statutes in MI that apply in this case, but who would prosecute them? So, it might mean that the voters in MI have to change their government before they can seek any prosecutions of the individual that perpetrated this travesty on the people of Flint. Too many victims for the state to handle it the way LEO shooting/killings are mostly resolved by paying off the victims’ families with large settlements.
It would be just for Michigan voters to elect new leaders who will increase taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations to finance programs and personnel to deal with the tremendous and permanent damage the Snyder era’s ALEC agenda has inflicted on many State residents.
Don’t know about Federal law, but at the state level, maybe reckless endangerment and criminal negligence?
MLK, Jr. 1967
On Snyder’s emails by Vann R Newkirk II.
(A bit of it does relate to what was presented in “Roger and Me.” And Michael Moore has appeared at recent protests in Flint.)
New Brunswick Today: Christie Decides Against Adding $10 Million to NJ Lead Control Fund
As the GOP clowns have stayed clear of the Flint water issue, none of them are in a position to trash Christie on his move.
Motor City Muckraker – Gov. Snyder lied: Flint water switch was not about saving money, records show . iirc I pointed that out in my last diary on this issue. But nice to get Snyder admin written documentation of this. Their focus wasn’t on Flint water but reducing revenues for Detroit Water while the city was in bankruptcy and under an emergency manager. Their wasn’t much for them to steal from Flint.
Michael Moore – Arrest Gov Snyder
Progress Michigan January 28, 2016–Document: Snyder Admin Trucked In Clean Water for State Building in January 2015