Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

[ebonlock]

Ok I think one crosses the line into official political wonkdom when one can a) identify even relatively minor pundits and members of the current administration with barely a glance (me this weekend: "Oh that's Karen Hughes...wait, how do I know that?"), and b) one reads that Sandra Day O'Connor has retired this morning and is immediately flung into a deep depression.

*sigh*

Well, I guess it's going to be an interesting summer.

For those concerned about what the retirement of this Supreme Court Justice means to your right to choose, I direct you here.

Also more shennanigans from home via elenderel, apparently the local politicans are making a sweetheart deal with one of the main companies responsible for creating one of the most polluted lakes in the country. From the article she sent me today:


“The plan pushed by the State and Honeywell will remove only some of the toxic waste, put a temporary cap on only some the toxic waste that’s left, and pretend that the superfund sites leaching their poisons into Onondaga Lake don’t exist,” said Joe Heath, attorney for the Onondaga Nation. “The only thing this plan cleans up is Honeywell’s corporate liability, leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill once the long-term public health threat is exposed.”

From 1884 to 1986, Allied Chemical and AlliedSignal, who since merged with the Honeywell Corporation, used the region’s natural salt brines and limestone to produce soda ash and other industrial chemicals on the southwest side of Onondaga Lake. The pollution from these facilities turned the Lake, a former resort destination, into one of the most polluted bodies of water in North America. Although the site has been designated a Federal Superfund Site for over a decade, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ceded its authority for clean up to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Some quick facts for those who've never even heard of the lake:

Toxic Chemical

Estimated concentration in Onondaga Lake bottom sediment after clean-up and the factor by which this concentration exceeds safe level defined by NYS-

mercury 2,924 ppm 1,329 times higher

benzene 208 ppm 1,387 times higher

chlorobenzene 114 ppm 266 times higher

dichlorobenzene 90 ppm 377 times higher

naphthalene 20,573 ppm 22,435 times higher

xylene 142 ppm 253 times higher

ethlybenzene 1,655 ppm 9,043 times higher

toluene 2,626 ppm 62,524 times higher


Part of me is tempted to avoid all further political news for the day, but I'm just optimistic enough to hope that things can only get better from here...

Comments

[mallen.livejournal.com]

Justice O'Connor isn't the Chief Justice of the SCotUS. That'd be Rehnquist.

But maybe you already know that and your comment above is a thinko.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Justice O'Connor isn't the Chief Justice of the SCotUS. That'd be Rehnquist.

But maybe you already know that and your comment above is a thinko.

It was indeed a typo, will correct in an edit, thanks.