To protect kids from smog without freaking them out, we could bring back World War II vintage Mickey Mouse gas masks
Here’s some news that’ll give you even more confidence in your state government. As Raleigh’s News & Observer reported Friday, the N.C. agency responsible for enforcing air pollution standards is actually fighting a federal plan to mandate cleaner air. This kind of political surrealism could only be possible in a state in which the labor commissioner doesn’t believe in keeping workplace safety records (that would be Cherie Berry, the woman peering at you in every N.C. elevator).
North Carolina’s worst ozone, as we all know, is right here in Mecklenburg County. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce the country’s strictest-ever ozone limits sometime this month. The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, however, has told the EPA it should weigh the economic consequences of cutting ground-level ozone (smog). The DENR, apparently mistaking its role for that of economic soothsayer, says stricter standards could cause people to lose their jobs, homes and health insurance. Of course, without new standards, people in N.C. could lose their breath, lungs and asthmatic children, but hey, times are tough and you gotta have some priorities, knowwudImsayin?
The DENR also says that, in any case, it can’t enforce tighter regulations because that would mean buying three new ozone monitors, and the agency’s budget has been cut, it’s lost employees, they don’t have a pot to piss in, etc., etc. I’d say the DENR has a great opportunity to go back to the General Assembly and make the case for restoring some of the agency’s funds due to federal mandates. Instead, they tell the EPA it shouldn’t do its job and mandate cleaner air. From the N&O story:
John “Mickey” Aberman, a Charlotte lawyer, sent comments to the EPA describing the asthma suffered by his three children, ages 10, 13 and 18. Aberman said he and his wife have considered moving from Charlotte out of concern for their children’s health. “You wonder if living in bad air is a form of child abuse,” Aberman said.
To protect kids from smog without freaking them out, we could bring back World War II vintage Mickey Mouse gas masks
John Grooms is a multiple award-winning writer and editor, teacher, public speaker, event organizer, cultural critic, music history buff and incurable smartass. He writes the Boomer With Attitude column,...
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I’m posting this as a public service- you’re welcome very much. >>> Perhaps if the Bush Administration had not used everything from opposing tax breaks for US renewable energy companies (and the jobs they would have created right here in America) to using federal agencies like the Bureau of Land Management to give companies like Goldman Sachs(!) land that was intended for solar and other renewable energy development, we’d much further along. If only ‘conservatives’ hadn’t pushed us into a needless war against a country that was not a clear and present danger and had no connection to 9-11, trafficked in right-wing religious chicanery, run up such a massive deficit, helped BIg Oil and it’s campaign of denying climate science, waged an across-the-board assault on critical environmental laws, poisoned the Supreme Court with extremist right-wing ideologues who tell us that corporations are now ‘people’ and that we should all compete globally against each other for who will work themselves to death for the lowest wage. If only. Maybe we’d have good American jobs and more renewable energy by now and a less wrecked country. By the way, have fun trying to sell the snake oil tea that the likes of Richard Burr and his love of *denying* tax breaks in order to destroy American jobs is *really* for the ‘little guy’ or telling your Grandmother that while she’s seeing her grandkids’ libraries, schools and essential services hollowed out and shut down by these depraved right wing ideologues that they’re after her Social Security check, too. Too selfish to pay their fair share in a society they take advantage of living in. Too privileged and bigoted to care about anybody’s welfare or well-being- never mind the general welfare or infrastructure of America. Consumptive, hypocritical, judgmental, ethically bankrupt, greedy and willing to do horrible things to others just *because they can*. Wow- talk about an ‘immoral lifestyle’.
It’s nice to occasionally see that I am not alone.
Every day I see so many lemmings posting so many stupid things and I wonder what our future holds. It seems that Americans can be so easily controlled with a good pep rally.
I’m posting this as a public service- you’re welcome very much. >>> Perhaps if the Bush Administration had not used everything from opposing tax breaks for US renewable energy companies (and the jobs they would have created right here in America) to using federal agencies like the Bureau of Land Management to give companies like Goldman Sachs(!) land that was intended for solar and other renewable energy development, we’d much further along. If only ‘conservatives’ hadn’t pushed us into a needless war against a country that was not a clear and present danger and had no connection to 9-11, trafficked in right-wing religious chicanery, run up such a massive deficit, helped BIg Oil and it’s campaign of denying climate science, waged an across-the-board assault on critical environmental laws, poisoned the Supreme Court with extremist right-wing ideologues who tell us that corporations are now ‘people’ and that we should all compete globally against each other for who will work themselves to death for the lowest wage. If only. Maybe we’d have good American jobs and more renewable energy by now and a less wrecked country. By the way, have fun trying to sell the snake oil tea that the likes of Richard Burr and his love of *denying* tax breaks in order to destroy American jobs is *really* for the ‘little guy’ or telling your Grandmother that while she’s seeing her grandkids’ libraries, schools and essential services hollowed out and shut down by these depraved right wing ideologues that they’re after her Social Security check, too. Too selfish to pay their fair share in a society they take advantage of living in. Too privileged and bigoted to care about anybody’s welfare or well-being- never mind the general welfare or infrastructure of America. Consumptive, hypocritical, judgmental, ethically bankrupt, greedy and willing to do horrible things to others just *because they can*. Wow- talk about an ‘immoral lifestyle’.
progressive:
It’s nice to occasionally see that I am not alone.
Every day I see so many lemmings posting so many stupid things and I wonder what our future holds. It seems that Americans can be so easily controlled with a good pep rally.