DEQ agrees with EPA...

Well, yeah!!! Why not? Bureaucratic birds of a feather and all that...
Saginaw News version and here is the Midland Daily News version.

I STILL think the whole dioxin situation is overblown. It is a non-problem that was brought about when Dow Chemical scientists discovered a procedure by which they could measure dioxin in extremely tinier than microscopic amounts. (Correct me if this is wrong. I no longer have my 'live in source' to verify this kind of information.)

This is a political issue brought about in our area along the Tittabawassee River floodplain by enviro-extremists who convinced a few people - some gullible, some greedy, and some a little bit of both - to sue the Dow Chemical Company in order to get their environmentally extreme goals accomplished. Their goals appear to be 'zero tolerance' of any and all substances that they think should not appear in the environment 'naturally.' Not sure what they mean by 'natural' because for one example, dioxins occur naturally as results of fire such as forest fires and the wildfires in California.

The enviro-extremists and their litigious friends do not want to know if dioxin actually harms humans. They will be happy with tests where tiny animals are fed humungous amounts of dioxin and, if the critters develop diseases, they want to extrapolate that information to humans and the tiny amounts of dioxin that may or may not occur in a given backyard. Incidentally, if they find some animal not affected by this type of testing, they disregard it.

For example, they want to say humans will develop cancer from possible exposure to dioxin because mice develop cancer from gigantic amounts of dioxin. Conversely, bullfrogs are unaffected by dioxin, so there is no way they would allow a bullfrog experiment!!!

Oversimplified? - yes.
Wrong? - NO!!! Think about it.

Been out and about AND reading...

...and really don't know where the time goes! Here's what I've been reading lately but just haven't had a chance to just sit and talk about it yet. Yes I have a few comments for each and all of these articles. I've heard this will be another snowy blowy weekend so perhaps I'll get time to come back and bring a bit of 'Shirley's Perspective' to these latest media releases.

Midland Daily News - News - 02/22/2006 - EPA raps dioxin plan

EPA criticizes Dow plan

Rapanos case will make history

Today’s Oral Arguments in U.S. Supreme Court Wetlands Cases Suggest Court Is “Concerned About Federal Encroachment”

EPA raps dioxin plan

So how are all these articles related? It's all about the rights of private individuals and our property. It's all about government control. It's all about the ruination of the American dream!

You know what? There IS hope. Get political! If you don't like what you see happening to our properties and our dreams, get it changed. Let's use our political freedom to vote - before 'they' try to take that away from us too.

How did I ever miss this one?

I guess Mr. Chester is a bit perturbed by Dr. Reitz' article last week. He had to scurry to get his lawyerly viewpoint across about his 'scientific' empire!

Ya know, he just keeps referring to how well the Michigan Department of Community Health & MDEQ do their jobs. Really? If all that dioxin out in my backyard is so bad, why hasn't the MDCH identified it as a 'pocket of disease' caused by dioxin? After all... isn't that what they do? - keep track of disease in Michigan? After all... that dioxin has been here a long time... it is referred to as a historical problem, isn't it?

MDCH hasn't identified a big bad area of dioxin-caused disease because there is no big difference. This is NOT another Love Canal, Stevie, no matter how much you want it to be! ...and you don't want to give much credence to the U of M study because you're afraid the results will say there is no significant difference in levels of dioxin in people living along the Tittabawassee River compared to people in the control group.

Oh, I almost forgot... if you haven't seen Steve Chester's response to Dr. Reitz, find it here: DEQ goal: Protect public, environment: Midland Daily News - 02/19/2006.

Okay 'Priority 2's' - It's Your Turn...

Dow expected to enter round 2 of cleanup - Midland Daily News - 02/19/2006.

...but hey, to paraphrase the primary litigant in the 'wanna get rich by suing the chemical giant' bunch, The mighty Tipadawas done come up again already folks! Y'all come back now, hear?

Perhaps this is Ms. Jenny Granholm's idea of 'creating jobs.' As we try to put the big company out of business we will increase the lower paying jobs provided by all that environmental cleanup... again.............. and again................................. and yet again!

Oh yeah!.... and I might add - make lots of work for state employees. Duh! Where does the state get its money? Of course!!! ... from the taxpayers, who we might add are increasingly unemployed - only in Michigan - because hey, Jennifer is making LOTS of jobs - but pretty much mostly for state employees who are paid by - who? Oh, yes... the taxpayers, who....

Dr. Reitz addresses need for use of scienctific process at MDEQ...

Scientific, legislative oversight needed, please - Midland Daily News - 02/12/2006. Dr. Reitz has worked with other world-reknowned scientists. He knows the scientific process. Part of that process is oversight by another scientific group. If you haven't already, read what Dr. Reitz has to say. He KNOWS what he is talking about!

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is a political entity - NOT a scientific entity - with a lawyer, Steve Chester, running the whole shebang! It's possible that some people who work for MDEQ are scientists but they are not the ones who make decisions. Furthermore, their science is not looked at by scientists outside of their bureaucracy for relevance or authenticity. MDEQ, however, as a political entity, has taken it upon themselves to tell a scientific business entity how to do scientific studies. It's sort of like the artist who paints horses telling the veterinarian how to treat the horse for an ailment or injury!

Wondering where I've been? Following is an excerpt from my article for the March issue of the Blue Chip News, newsletter of the Saginaw Valley Computer Association.

March – springtime; sunshine, renewal. Is it just me, or is it true that winters are growing longer? For me this winter was one of realization that I have fears and weaknesses that just never surfaced until I found myself really alone in this great big old house. The doctor says my body decided it had enough, resulting in a weakened immune system.

A virus had been lurking in my body for years waiting for this moment and it struck – with a vengeance. The result is called herpes zoster, more commonly known as shingles. The virus snuck in, probably in my childhood, when I was exposed to Chicken Pox that never developed. Unlike Chicken Pox however, shingles is NOT contagious. You can only ‘catch’ it the way I did. However, now that it’s been here I’m vulnerable to more attacks. We are now medicating to fight that possibility… and yes, the muscles under the area of attack are still quite painful at times. I’m told this will lessen.

Enough about that. I was down - but not out! Every day is better than the day before - thanks primarily to modern SCIENCE. Some of the medicines I take today were not available for treating this disease twenty years ago. If the Luddites had their way, modern medical miracles would not be possible! You should SEE the string of possible side effects these meds have!!! Enviro-wackos don't want any possibility of side effects in our lives. Enviro-wackos want to 'protect' us!!! Oh! BTW - all of the wonderful modern medical miracles are created by brilliant scientists - just like Dr. Reitz and his cohorts. Furthermore, scientists in the pharmaceutical industry have oversight groups advising them.... and wouldn't you know? Those oversight groups are NOT lawyers and politicans!!! Golly, they are actually other scientific organizations!!! (Just a little back-up info for Dr. Reitz article from a simplistic viewpoint.)

My comments on other events surrounding our little dioxin issue here in the Tittabawassee River floodplain:

• the lawsuit - I'm glad it's back in the higher courts. The more this thing is delayed the more I feel like the majority of folks living here are not shoved into a lawsuit we do not want to support. Maybe common sense will prevail after all.
• MDEQ/Dow meetings - As long as these meetings conflict with my normal life, forget about seeing me there. The meetings appear to be planned for the same days as my SVCA meeting schedule. I now have a new vice-president who will fill in for me whenever I really feel a need to attend a dioxin meeting instead of our computer association.
• Dow decision to sample Midland property - I'm glad my Midland neighbors have choices. They can have their soil sampled if they want but it would appear they are still not labeled automatically as 'facilities' like their downstream neighbors! I personally feel persecuted by the MDEQ for their automatic and unscientific labeling process.

Enough for now. I will try to show up here at least once a week... but gonna take care of Shirley first! I remain.... healthy and kicking in the Tittabawassee River floodplain (finally again).