Shaking My Head in Disbelief
A couple of things I have commented on recently need a bit of updating. First, there's the Target thing, in which the giant retailer sought to take advantage of its new legal status in political campaigns (thanks to SCOTUS) to actually endorse the Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota, where the company is headquartered. It hasn't work so well for Target, whose stores are now frequently used as protest sites. You'd think a "person" of Target's age and experience would remember the lessons of Sunday School: you can make any choice you like, but you can't control the consequences.
It turns out that Levi Johnston, well documented non-relative of Sarah Palin does have a manager after all, and he's not the comic figure named Sol Overtown (ha ha) who I invented. The real guy is named - Tank Jones. Really. I don't know Mr. Jones' background, but he looks a little like an ex-NFL player who crossed over into management, three piece suit and all. Anyway, the Levi-Bristol Palin wedding is off, since it seems LJ has impregnated another young lady since the two broke up. Last I knew, Johnston and Jones were talking about taking it all off for Playgirl AND running for public office in, of course, Wasilla, AK, where it all began. Jones expects the latter effort to generate plenty of material for a "reality" TV show. Whatever he does, I hope he's a success, because babies don't come cheap. Good thing he's so well connected to the party of "family values".
Kellogg, ID is a town of about 2500 people in the state's northern panhandle. It was once known as a mining center, Now it's claim to fame is as a Superfund cleanup site. About 200 people work there for the EPA, which has been trying to undo the mining operation's damage to the local environment now for 20 years. Without going into great detail, there has been considerable progress, however EPA officials feel that to completely finish the job they will need an additional 150 people working full time for as long as 60 to 90 years.
What has me shaking my head is this: a considerable number of locals want the EPA to simply pack up and leave. One resident is quoted saying, "They've got their environmental science degree from some place like Berkeley and they drive their Prius to the back hills of Idaho and here are a bunch of miners and they want to do what they think is best for us." They fellow who said that - he's a lawyer. Idaho's governor, the interestingly-named Butch Otter, also wants the feds out of town on the next bus.
Aren't people interesting? The folks of Kellogg of course don't pay the EPA, and are, in fact, the main beneficiaries of their work, but some folks would evidently rather die of cancer from mining residue toxic glop than admit that somebody sent from Washington, D.C. had actually helped them. I hope if I lived in Kellogg that I'd at least have the decency to say "thanks".
It turns out that Levi Johnston, well documented non-relative of Sarah Palin does have a manager after all, and he's not the comic figure named Sol Overtown (ha ha) who I invented. The real guy is named - Tank Jones. Really. I don't know Mr. Jones' background, but he looks a little like an ex-NFL player who crossed over into management, three piece suit and all. Anyway, the Levi-Bristol Palin wedding is off, since it seems LJ has impregnated another young lady since the two broke up. Last I knew, Johnston and Jones were talking about taking it all off for Playgirl AND running for public office in, of course, Wasilla, AK, where it all began. Jones expects the latter effort to generate plenty of material for a "reality" TV show. Whatever he does, I hope he's a success, because babies don't come cheap. Good thing he's so well connected to the party of "family values".
Kellogg, ID is a town of about 2500 people in the state's northern panhandle. It was once known as a mining center, Now it's claim to fame is as a Superfund cleanup site. About 200 people work there for the EPA, which has been trying to undo the mining operation's damage to the local environment now for 20 years. Without going into great detail, there has been considerable progress, however EPA officials feel that to completely finish the job they will need an additional 150 people working full time for as long as 60 to 90 years.
What has me shaking my head is this: a considerable number of locals want the EPA to simply pack up and leave. One resident is quoted saying, "They've got their environmental science degree from some place like Berkeley and they drive their Prius to the back hills of Idaho and here are a bunch of miners and they want to do what they think is best for us." They fellow who said that - he's a lawyer. Idaho's governor, the interestingly-named Butch Otter, also wants the feds out of town on the next bus.
Aren't people interesting? The folks of Kellogg of course don't pay the EPA, and are, in fact, the main beneficiaries of their work, but some folks would evidently rather die of cancer from mining residue toxic glop than admit that somebody sent from Washington, D.C. had actually helped them. I hope if I lived in Kellogg that I'd at least have the decency to say "thanks".
posted by Mark at 7:04 PM
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