Friday "Mad as Hell" Post

Hi, everybody! It's Friday, and I'm mad as hell. Maybe this should be a regular feature on this blog. It wouldn't be hard to choose a maddening topic every Friday. That's for sure.

Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, also former head of the EPA just prior to Leavitt, has written a book, "It's My Party Too." In it she tells us about an outrage which should energize us to get rid of a few congress people in 2006. Republicans, sorry to say, if you're a republican. Ms. Whitman reports that she and Tom "Color-coded Alert Man"Ridge of Homeland Security put together some rules after the 9/11 attacks, requiring some 15,000 high-risk chemical plants to "take reasonable steps to address the vulnerabilities" of these in the event of another attack. (I didn't realize how many chemical plants there must be in the US.) The targeted chemical plants were to report to the EPA after they had complied with these safety measures. However, Congressional republicans, Sen. Inhofe (OK) and Rep. Billy Tauzin (LA), in particular, led a strong opposition to this modest legislation and made it difficult for these measures to be required. Gov. Whitman became so frustrated that she formally asked the White House to "relieve EPA of this responsibility for reducing the vulnerability of the chemical sector to attack." Industry lobbtists and key republican lawmakers sabotaged new security regulations.

There are hundreds of chemical plants which could release toxic clouds that could kill tens or even hundreds of thousands of people in case of an attack or a major malfunction. Congress failed to pass legislation to protect us. And they were at the same time assuring us all that they were, of course, doing all they could to make us safer. They were lying to the American people.

There are still no federal regulations requiring chemical facilities to gird against attack, according to an article by Alexander Lane of the Star-Ledger. Earlier this month, a derailed train car in South Carolina released noxious chlorine gas, killing nine people in a nearby town and injuring 250 people. 5,000 were evacuated. So this is a real threat to all of us, and our Congress sits by and does nothing even when confronted with serious problems relating to our safety. Kuehne Chemical Company in New Jersey told government officials in 1999 that one- just one- of its railroad tank cars could produce a chlorine cloud that "would be immediately dangerous to both life and health for a distance exceeding 14 miles." Fourteen miles.

When President Bush smiles and tells us we are safer today than we were in 2000, he is telling us a boldfaced lie. We are not as safe as we were then. The opposite is true. Bush lies to us. The Congress neglects its job on a regular basis. They have big salaries, staffs, health insurance, and a comfortable retirement waiting for them, to say the least. Yet they do nothing to deserve these benefits if they are not being vigilant and responsive to the critical issues affecting our daily lives. You know who those senators and representatives are who are really putting us in danger. I hope many of these pro-corporation/industry congress people will be defeated in 2006. It should be a privilege to represent the American people in Washington. It is not to be taken lightly. Why do so many in Congress shirk their duties?

[Click on the blog title to read the article from the Star-Ledger.]