Rick Snyder, the embattled governor of Michigan, claims he wants to “fix” the poisoned city of Flint, but just keeps stumbling and stuttering and falling on his face so many times it’s becoming difficult to keep pace.
Although it’s disputed by his own emails and statements made by his staff, he claims he wasn’t aware of the water problem until October 1, 2015 and that he “took action” two days later. As of this evening, January 27, 2016, Lead-Head Rick’s republican legislature has yet to approve one dollar of funds to address this problem. Maybe tomorrow they’ll vote on it, or by the end of the week. Maybe when they’re done enumerating the ways they will mandate the oversight of the money to make sure the shifty poor people in Flint don’t squander it, or just plain keep it.
Bottled water is arriving by the truckload from all corners of the country, bought and donated by celebrities, corporations, sports figures, even Sister Reatha, but not one ounce from Snyder or his administration. Funds have been set up and money collected by thousands across this country. Anything from this state administration? Maybe tomorrow.
Here we go!
Rick “the Plumber” Snyder announced today that he has no plans to replace any of the corroded pipes in the city. Flint has approximately 25,000 lead pipe connections from water mains to homes, but to date, not one has been removed. Why not? When pressed by NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, “Fix-it“ Snyder said, "It's a lot of work to take out pipes, to redo all of the infrastructure, that's a whole planning process." Spoken like a true failed businessman turned politician with zero experience whose favorite phrases are, “ad hoc committee”, “task force”, and “blue ribbon panel”.
This morning Flint Mayor Karen Weaver was shocked to learn this. She thought pipe replacement was the first thing the government would do to “fix” this. "That's what the citizens of Flint deserve!" she said. "Nobody's going to trust the water if we don't do that!"
But Snyder isn’t even considering it. He said, "A lot of work is being done to even understand where the lead service lines even are," Furthermore, Snyder is beginning to hedge on EVER doing the job by pointing out that the city is only responsible for the pipe between the water main and the valve box, that turn-off valve buried in the front yard, 10 feet from the street. From there into the house and beyond is the homeowners responsibility.
What else . . Oh, yeah.
It came to light that Slick Rick has hired at least one out-of-state PR firm and is paying for it out of one of three political slush funds he’s set up for himself so his close “friends” can donate money anonymously and he can discretely spend it any way he wants without questions, without prying eyes, and without reporting. When asked about paying for PR from this fund, he said, “It’s all very legal.” Of course. He drafted the Michigan Laws that made them legal for him.
But why does he need a PR firm? His answer was precious. “Because we need to identify the best ways to get the truth out to the residents of Flint. “
NOTE TO RICK: THE TRUTH CAN CARRY IT’S OWN LUGGAGE. We all know what PR firms do. They make lies sort of look like the truth. They help a victim feel more like a criminal. They make a kick in the teeth feel like it could be a pat on the back. A good PR firm will make you look like a sweet nerd with a heart when you tell the impoverished, sick, and hopeless people of Flint that this is America — chin up! — cuz you’ve fucked ‘em again! Now that’s PURE Michigan.
So, as mentioned above, the state Senate is expected to approve a $28 million supplemental budget request earmarked for the water crisis any minute or week now, and that PR firm will be hard at work spinning this: That bill includes $3 million that can be used for water bill relief for residents. Alrighty — let’s get to work. How do we take state money out of this pocket, give it to the residents, then have them put it back in our other pocket, and we call it even for all our poisoned water that they drank? Hmmmm.
Another $8 million will cover the cost of bottled water being given to residents until the water is declared safe to drink. That will leave $17 million. But the new Emergency WATER Manager will need to be paid, as well as Snyder’s new Flint Emergency Manager (he happens to be his very good “friend”) and they will need staff, and cars, because they can’t LIVE there — it’s poisoned, for God’s sake.
What else. . . .Well, I’ve been reading that the average cost for the homeowner’s pipe replacement may be anywhere from $10,000 and up and they just don’t have that kind of money. With the median home value somewhere around $42,500 who would want to put that kind of money into it, anyway?
And that’s when my brain just broke.
What the hell are they saying? I think the market value of ANY home in Flint is in the neighborhood of ZERO, at the corner of Worthless and Deficient. It’s illegal to sell a home with lead in the water even if you had a buyer from Mars that needs lead to survive. Let’s see you fix that, Tricky Rick.
When is the election?