...to tax or to take a hiatus, that is the question

Just a little historical something from last summer, and across the ocean:

TV Asahi to pay settlement, air apology over dioxin report
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 at 04:00 JST

TOKYO — TV Asahi, a Tokyo-based network broadcaster, will pay 10 million yen and air an apology for a 1999 report on dioxin contamination that farmers in Saitama Prefecture said triggered a plunge in vegetable sales, sources familiar with the case said Tuesday.

These conditions are part of a settlement package TV Asahi will reach with a group of 29 Tokorozawa farmers who were seeking 26 million yen in damages from the broadcaster, the sources said. (Kyodo News)

Hmmm. Now who do you suppose should pay residents of Tittabawassee Township and the city of Midland for defamation of our residential properties, our towns and our rivers? Should we continue to ask for a tax hiatus until the 'facility' title on our residential properties disappears? What about businesses in our area?

I do not believe this should be paid for by the State of Michigan. I personally have developed a fondness and respect for Lieutenant Governor John Cherry. He appears to be a fair man, trying to reach a compromise between those lobbyists who choose to cuddle close with the Michigan DEQ and those of us who actually live here and do not want extremists to represent us.

I would also like to add that I personally do not put all of MDEQ personnel in one basket (as the 'bad guys'). Some of the DEQ folks I've met are rather pleasant people. This does not include, however, either His Majesty King Steve Chester or the really scarey Andrew Hogarth, Chief of MDEQ's Remediation and Redevelopment Division. Sorry Patricia, I still can't find anything nice to say about some people. You seem quite amiable however.

You know what!!??? I think the environmental extremists should pay us! These are the groups who weasled their way into our lives under the guise of environmental correctness. These are the people who think we're all too dumb to think for ourselves so they claim to represent us. These are the people who would vote for a minority in the Democratic party but try to defame honorable minorities in the Republican party. These are the people who divided our states into 'red' and 'blue' states. These are the people who would create a society in which all of us are dependent on the government for our very livelihoods.

Sorry, now I'm getting political again. But this dioxin thing is all about our health, isn't it? Is it?