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Tuesday, June 12, 2007


Good News Tuesday

Jiminney Christmas ...
this story makes you feel all warm and cozy about things, doesn't it?

The
Portland Press Herald reported today about a report issued by the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine that documents the wealth of fine chemicals we Mainers are able to accumulate merely by frolicking within our state's natural splendor:
On paper, the high school senior, the Republican state senator and the operating room nurse appear to have little in common.
But test their hair, urine and blood, and a potentially toxic bond begins to emerge, according to a study of 13 Mainers being released today.
All harbor a surprising array of chemicals from household and personal care products that may seem innocuous but could have the capacity to cause problems such as cancer and damage to the reproductive system, says the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, a coalition of organizations concerned about the environment.
"People in Maine are not immune to chemical exposures even though we think we have a pristine and healthy environment," said Dr. Rick Donahue, a visiting scientist with the Harvard School of Public Health who collaborated with the University of Southern Maine on the study.
The study stresses that toxins are everywhere, from the televisions we watch to the shampoo we use to the foods we eat. Donahue said two participants with the highest levels of mercury, a neurotoxin that builds up in fish, were regular sushi eaters. The person with the most arsenic had built a garden using pressure-treated wood, which leached arsenic into the soil.
The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine is a coalition of other organizations including the Natural Resources Council of Maine, which posted a press release about the study here.

In a related story, The Onion reports that "Seven-Year-Old Enjoys Fun Toxic-Spill Evacuation":
Lucky second-grader Donny White, 7, enjoyed the thrill of a lifetime Monday, when a full-scale emergency evacuation of his small southern Ohio town was ordered following what EPA officials are calling one of the most disastrous toxic-chemical spills in U.S. history.

White, who reportedly giggled and clapped his hands with glee during his big adventure, was relocated along with 15,000 other Pleasant residents after a transport train derailed while pulling into the loading dock of a Global Tetrahedron chemical plant near the town's perimeter, colliding with the facility. The impact ruptured three of the building's five massive storage tanks, releasing an estimated 3.5 million cubic feet of concentrated Zardozichlorate-3 gas into the surrounding countryside.

"It was so fun!" the wide-eyed White said of his potentially fatal exposure to the toxic substance, which killed nearly $200 million in crops and livestock in a 20-mile-wide area downwind of the accident site. "We got to get out of school, and there was helicopters, and then we got to ride in an Army truck to go see Mommy and Daddy!"


Quoth Mr. Reed: "And the colored girls sing...

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what administrative state liberal means (except for the liberal part).

Anyway, have I expressed my wish that George Allen hadn't said that macaca thing lately? In my dreams, the Dems won the House in 2006 and the Senate was still in Republican hands. My dream was ruined by George Allen's incompetent racism (a racism that would have been exposed in his 2008 Presidential run, thus dooming the Right's Great White Hope).

I don't like owning Iraq. It should be Bush's War until 2009 when the Democrat withdraws (partially) American troops. In that scenario, millions of independents and libs would be so pissed at the obstruction of political will from the Republican Senate, they would sweep a 60 seat majority into the Senate (did you know the Republicans have 28 (!) seats up for grabs in 2008?) and the realignment would be complete.

So, what do I have now? I have an ineffectual Senate and House, controlled by Dems and partially owning Iraq. 'Tis sad as all the lefties get mad at Harry Reid. With that said, if there are major combat operations in Iraq in October 2008, the fate of the election is sealed.

The Republicans, thankfully, have also recently pulled a Pete Wilson Prop 187 on the America's Hispanics, and just like California, the Dems will be the winner of that civil war. There are 41 million Hispanic voters in this country (a number growing everyday) and they see who dislikes them (the crackers). I think two-thirds or more of them will vote Democratic in the near future and supply the Dems with 25+ million new voters. This can be a realignment for a generation!

So, while I understand your espousal of the cyclical theory, I reject cyclical theories. They are exceedingly fake constructions enabling us to better understand past relationships, but they offer (in my opinion) no real guidance or prediction of the future.

One further note, you might like that entry from 2 years ago and I may think McCain is more liberal than he currently sounds, but I think a) he believes his bullshyt about the war and, thus, I could never vote for him and b) he could no more win that nomination than I could. The crazies absolutely hate him and the crazies are Republican Party primary voters.

4:27 PM

 

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