The US EPA lead levels in water are too high.

February 15, 2019
By Ron Fonger

Flint -- The city’s chief financial officer (click here) says the state will release previously withheld funds for work completed by contractors replacing water service lines in Flint

“These are the funds that were being questioned by members of the (City) Council and media,” CFO Hughey Newsome, said in a statement issued by the city on Friday, Feb. 15. “As I stated time and time again, we, meaning myself and the MDEQ, were working closely to get it figured out. I was confident that we would be reimbursed for the work that was completed.”

In late November, the state said it was withholding reimbursement for Flint’s water service line replacement work in a dispute with the city over the cost of performing full, traditional excavations at homes with copper water service lines that do not require replacement.

DEQ officials have questioned the need for full excavations at such homes, advocating instead for the city contractors to use hydro-excavation, a less expensive method, to uncover pipes....

Thirty years ago the level was much different and one third what it is today. Thirty years ago there were more lead pipes than today. So why is the state and federal agencies allowing higher level today when there is less and less lead pipes used?

...In 1988, (click here) it was estimated that a lead level of 5 µg/l was exceeded in only 1.1% of public water distribution systems in the USA (16). A more recent review of lead levels in drinking-water in the USA found the geometric mean to be 2.8 µg/l (10). The median level of lead in drinking-water samples collected in five Canadian cities was 2.0 µg/l (17). A recent study in Ontario (Canada) found that the average concentration of lead in water actually consumed over a 1-week sampling period was in the range 1.1–30.7 µg/l, with a median level of 4.8 µg/l (18). In the United Kingdom in 1975– 1976, there was virtually no lead in the drinking-water in two thirds of households, but levels were above 50 µg/l in 10% of homes in England and 33% in Scotland (2). In Glasgow (Scotland), where the water was known to be plumbosolvent, the lead concentration in about 40% of the samples exceeded 100 µg/l (19)....

What Type of Plumbing Pipe is Best? (click here) 

• Copper Pipes (Metal)
• Galvanized Steel (Metal)
• Polyvinyl Chloride Pipes or PVC Pipes (Plastic)
• Chlorinated Polyvinyl Chloride Pipes or CPVC Pipes (Plastic)
• Cross-Linked Polyethylene or PEX Pipes (Plastic)

Therefore, 1 g/m3 (1 gram per meter cubed) = 1 mg/L (1 milligram/liter) = 1 ppm (1 part per million). Likewise, one milligram per cubic meter (mg/m3) is the same concentration in water as one microgram per liter (ug/L), which is about 1 ppb.(1 part per billion)

With the changes in pipes in homes across the USA why is any level of lead tolerated?

February 15, 2019
By Ron Fonger

Thirteen Michigan water systems failed (click here) to meet federal standards for lead in drinking water in the last half of 2018, and seven of those systems had lead levels at least twice as high as the state will allow starting in 2025.

Data requested by MLive-The Flint Journal from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality shows water systems above that action limit in the most recent Lead and Copper Rule testing are located throughout the state and are both large and small -- one serving less than 100 homes and others providing water to cities as large as Hamtramck and Benton Harbor.

A total of 27 water providers registered 90th percentile lead levels of at least 13 parts per billion, beyond the 12 ppb future threshold established last year by the state.

The 90th percentile is a formula used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to measure the prevalence of lead in water sampled by the more than 1,200 public water systems in the state. Federal regulations set the lead limit at 15 ppb....

Lead in drinking water, food or air is nothing to ignore.

June 1977
By Dr, Herbert A, Schreier, Norman Sherry, MD and Elizabeth Shaughnessy

Lead poisoning (click here) and subclinical body lead elevations have become increasingly widespread findings in children, not only in the inner cities but in the suburbs and rural areas as well. This paper reports on 2 institutionalized children with elevated urinary lead levels who subsequently developed astrocytomas. Lead toxicity may play a role in causing mental retardation, hyperactivity, and more subtle neuropsychological dysfunction in children. It has been shown to have a direct toxic effect on neurons, causing astrocytic proliferation in humans and central nervous system neoplasms in rats.

In Maine, Wind Power is In!

February 15, 2019
By Scott Thistle

The governor's order (click here) opens the door for state agencies to issue permits that were put in limbo under her predecessor.

"Think GM"

February 15, 2019
By Gina Heeb

US industrial production fell 0.6% in January, compared with expectations for a slight increase.

Manufacturing activity showed particular weakness, dragged down by falling motor vehicle output.

The sector is expected to continue to decline, economists say, potentially entering a mild recession this year.

A measure of factory output unexpectedly fell (click here) at the start of the year, raising concerns that the sector could be headed for a downturn.

Industrial production declined 0.6% in January from a month earlier, the Federal Reserve said in a report Friday, well below expectations for a 0.1% increase. Manufacturing production slid 0.9%, seen as the result of rising protectionism and decelerating economic growth around the world.

"Manufacturing is under real pressure from the slowdown in China and the trade war, and we expect output to drift down over the first half of the year, putting the sector into a mild recession," said Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics....

I think any court will find Trump's use of a national emergency to rebalance congressional spending a corrupt act. Congress gave him plenty of money for Border Security. He does not have the southern border fully employed due to the president's previous order to put a freeze on government hiring. Donald Trump has created this mess which never existed before and then has the nerve to ask for billions and billions of dollars besides. That is corruption to me. If the Robert's Court throws in with Trump for the sake of the integrity of the Executive Branch there is something very wrong.

A president cannot create a crisis that never existed before to satisfy his politics. That is pure unadulterated corruption of government.

First, Trump, FOX News and right wing media finds a subject that instills fear in their listeners and viewers. Trump finds the topic very helpful in his speeches to win the presidency. Once elected he places a hiring freeze so open jobs for Border Patrol can no longer be filled. Then he takes away funding to USA foreign interests causing people to migrate to the USA southern border seeking employment. Trump then describes them as killers, rapists and thugs, takes their children and puts them in separate detention without any means of identification that will reunite them, creating orphans that are wards of the court and dependents of the USA government. He then prosecutes the parents and deports them. He places people claiming asylum in detention facilities without adding judges (again the hiring freeze). He puts the USA military during the holidays near the border to lay barbed wire. He follows that up months later by deploying USA military men and women from Afghanistan to the southern USA. A USA general allows USA military troops in the country because, "He has a valid order." The general later resigns because of the removal of troops from Afghanistan. 

As a side note a Border Patrol officer goes off the grid and kills prostitutes. It is revealed an entire year before the American people were aware of the child separations it was being conducted without notice of any kind or in any speech, indicating the secrecy of the actions. Then two record setting drug busts take place in the USA, one at the southern border with both at USA legal crossings and any wall did not have a darn thing to do with it.

Trump has no plan because he keeps adjusting his approach to the USA southern border to satisfy his constituents. His administration is missing many qualified staff members and relies on Twitter to communicate with staff regarding firings and the like. Spending is out of control approaching trillion dollar deficits. He has a group of Americans ignorant of the national media and only listens to their master's voice. He puts billions back into his cronies pockets including that of his family and the Kushners by means of government mechanisms including a tax cut. All this while the Middle Class is burdened with more taxes, unwittingly paying less payroll deductions imperiling the cash flow within the USA government and Treasury.

Then to top off this disaster, he sends government employees on furlough as government has no money to pay them causing an enormously dangerous paradigm shifts as the of the government shutdown rolls on for far longer than any other. His calendar is exposed and he hasn't been conducting the business of the president relying on the Cabinet officers to keep things humming. Those cabinet officers, without research to back them up, often slashing budgets and regulations to dangerous outcomes.

To complete the picture, Russia is welcome to the White House for a picture opportunity and in receipt of classified information. Russia is catered to allowing secret meetings by Trump and even having the Treasury Department override legislation by Congress to provide billions back to a Russian oligarch.

Now, he places a national emergency on the country stating it is because of the problems at the southern border he created. He didn't call a national emergency months ago, but, only when he decides he needs was billions for a border wall that serves no purpose.

California has standing in this and they have filed a lawsuit to end the national emergency. Trump states if it weren't for the wall California would be in chaos. It will be interesting to hear exactly what California has to say including States Rights and perhaps removing the border wall already there.

National Aeronautics AND Space Administration

February 15, 2019
By Christian Davenport 

During the height of the Space Age, (click here) the United States and the Soviet Union bushwhacked a frantic path to the lunar surface, landing nearly 20 spacecraft softly on the moon between 1966 and 1976, including the six carrying NASA’s Apollo astronauts.

But after the last of these missions, a robotic Soviet probe that brought back 6 ounces of lunar soil, Earth’s closest neighbor was virtually abandoned. The public and politicians lost interest.

While the occasional orbiter has launched to survey the moonsince then,in more than 42 years only one spacecraft touched down softly on the lunar surface: China’s Chang’e 3 in 2013....

It is pretty much another space race with new players and technology. NASA retired the Space Shuttle and any program that is to carry people to the moon will probably be on the revised Apollo booster rocket. I thought that wasn't ready for some time yet.

The complaints from the public will be similar; the national debt and prioritizing citizens over the space program.

...There is the rise of China, which on Jan. 3 landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon, a historic first. This month, an Israeli spacecraft destined for the moon is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. If successful, it would make Israel the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface.

Later this year — the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing — two more moon missions are planned, one by India and another, by China. On Thursday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the space agency intends to partner with the private sector to land an American spacecraft on the moon as early as this year.

“It’s important we get back to the moon as fast as possible,” he told reporters. “We’re going to take shots on goal.”

If those landings are successful, it would set a record: the most soft lunar landings in a single year, surpassing 1966 and 1972, which each saw three vehicles touch down. (At the beginning of the Space Age, many spacecraft ended up crashing into the moon.)...

Speaker Pelosi and a number of Republicans are correct in that the idea of a national emergency at the USA southern border is not needed.

This is very plain. Donald Trump would USE the border issue to keep attention on him during his run for president.

And this is my memory, he did say to a national audience through the television media, during his Senate campaigning in 2018, that "The Wall" would always keep the attention of his audience if their interest was waning. Of course, he said it so other Republicans can use the idea in their campaigns.

Donald Trump has made undo cuts in funding to foreign interests and as a result, the people of the Northern Triad have migrated to the southern border seeking work. Donald Trump has created the so called "national emergency." He is attempting to keep a campaign promise that should not have been made in the first place.

There are problems with some undocumented people that have criminal records and their interpretation of freedom in the USA. They are used to violence and as a result, think little in using a gun if they get their hands on one. The occurrence of such lawlessness does not rise to a national emergency.

The GUN problem is a national emergency, including the fact gun stores, do not adequately secure the weapons in their stores in a way that prevents theft. There needs to be a bill that promotes sale stores and warehouses to secure their place of business to end burglary.

Gun stores have a particular problem in that they carry large inventories of guns, various other weapons and ammunition. I believe as a result they have sale stores that would require additional investment to better secure the premises from theft. The sale store owners are not making such investments, but, defer monies to purchases of more guns to sell.

The ability to steal a gun has to be brought under control and a bill WITH AVAILABLE FUNDING and/or AVAILABLE CONTRACTORS TO DO THE WORK should be passed to save lives and thwart criminals from using guns in their crimes.

The emergency is obvious, it is the easy availability of guns in the USA and not the Undocumented. There are Ports of Entry for asylum seekers and looking for work is not an issue of asylum. However, any fear of death is an asylum issue. There need to be more immigration courts, too. The open vacancies of Border Patrol officers need to be filled as soon as possible rather than the hiring freeze Trump has imposed to reduce the number of federal employees. Being short handed of enough officers/agents is a matter of safety, especially for the Border Patrol.

New York's abortion law is following the footsteps of other states.

October 1, 2018
By Tony Leys

...Fifty-four percent of Iowans (click here) now say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, compared to 48 percent who felt that way in a 2008 Iowa Poll. Thirty-nine percent believe abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, compared to 46 percent in the 2008 poll.

Iowa's fetal heartbeat law is on hold while opponents challenge it in court. It would ban nearly all abortions after a fetus' heartbeat could be detected. Experts say that can occur about six weeks into pregnancy, which is often before women realize they're pregnant.

The law’s supporters hope to use it to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide....

This is not her district and while the politics fits Ms. Ocasio-Cortez politics, Carolyn Maloney is their Representative.

Ms. Ocaaio - Cortez is not a spokesperson for every member of the US House. The Right Wing media is demonizing her and hanging every issue around her neck as if she speaks for Democrats. Knock it off. She should be referring questions outside her district, in cases like this, to the US Rep. that actually has information on the issue.

Ms. Ocaaio-Cortez knows little to nothing about this issue, has not attended one meeting with constituents and I doubt Ms. Maloney has either.

February 14, 2019

Notch another victory for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (click here)

The freshman Democratic representative celebrated online retailer Amazon’s decision Thursday to scrap its plans to build a new headquarters in her New York City district.

“I think it’s incredible,” Ocasio-Cortez responded when asked to comment on Amazon’s about-face. “It shows that everyday Americans still have the power to organize and fight for their communities and they can have more say in this country than the richest man in the world.”...

It is not unusual to have free people organize and demonstrate to have their will known to a company seeking to set up an office or warehouse in their neighborhood. Many Mom and Pop stores have done exactly that and complained whenever Walmart shows up to build another store. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. There are many examples of such issues and this is just one more.

It is true that the people won their fight, but, this isn't all that unusual. I believe it was a different district in New York City that turned away a Walmart some years ago.

Jeff Bezos has been in the media lately, so diverting headquarters all of a sudden is a big deal. This is not all that. The reason Bezos was turned away from Long Island City is because of a long standing complaint by residents about special treatment of some businesses and not others. It is about equitable treatment and Rep. Maloney should have known that rather than demanding Amazon keep their plans.

I strongly suggest House Members actually know their constituents and what THEY consider to be important and not what is imposed on them.

The Free World values property owners and the taxes they pay to local governments. As a result property owners have a significant importance and are taken seriously, as they should. If the people of Long Island City have a grievance then it should be known and addressed by local government and helped in any way by elected state and federal officials when it applies. This is a very interesting development of the disconnect between the people and their government. That should not exist.