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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums'The decorations, I'm told were a deep blue with diamonds.....
Nothing says you care about the people of Flint like hosting an opulent party for your friends in downtown Ann Arbor behind blacked out windows
By Mark | February 4, 2016
...........
In the whole scheme of things, having a party behind covered windows with a bunch of rich folks, eating expensive cake while poor people suffer, probably isnt that big of a deal. Compared with lying about water quality, and encouraging people to keep drinking poison, its really inconsequential. I think, however, it illustrates just how little the people we elect to look after our interests here in Michigan really care about us. While they may give a good speech or two, vowing to work diligently and make things right, all they really care about is moving the needle on public opinion enough so that they can keep going, doing exactly what they were doing before.
I like to think, if I had just played a pivotal role in one of the biggest public poisonings in our nations history, I might be a little more conscious of my actions and how they might come across to those who either lost family members to Legionnaires disease, or will likely spend their entire lives worrying about their childrens health and how their futures will be affected by lead poisoning. To have such a party, given the context of whats going on in Flint, not only demonstrates a complete lack of decency, but also levels of stupidity and contempt that are truly breathtaking.
And, before you start writing your irate comments, no, I dont begrudge this politicians wife her expensive cake. I just think this demonstrates yet once again the contempt this administration has for the people of Michigan. To think that they can continue on, as though nothing has changed, is absolutely insane to me. In an ideal world, a leader confronted by a situation like this would have immediately moved his/her office to Flint, and would have made sure people knew he/she was fighting every day, from sun up to sun down, to get water trucks on every corner and medical care for every man, woman and child. A decent leader would have gone on every news channel available to them, and demanded that the President come to Flint, and see firsthand what these people are dealing with. A decent leader wouldnt be at a hidden party in Ann Arbor, counting on the people of America to send individual bottles of clean water to the people of Flint. And I sure as hell dont think a good, responsible leader would have told people as late as December that the water of Flint was likely safe to drink, knowing full well that it wasnt, or deny that there was a link between the Flint River and Legionnaires disease for an entire year, when theyd known since last March that they were linked.
All of that aside, one hopes this big, lavish party was as fun as hell for all involved
as it may be the last one some of these folks see for a long, long time.
update: OK things have apparently taken off a bit since I posted this last night. Most notably, my friend Amber Fellows did some detective work, searching through the social media accounts of local cake shops, and found the above photo. Then, having seen that, the folks at MLive called up the cake shop in question and began asking questions. Heather Anne Leavitt, who made the cake, told them that she had no idea who the cake was for. I had no idea, like seriously no idea, she told them. We delivered it to the West End Grill and put it down and Im taking photos of the cake. Then Claudia, who was also working on the cake with me, looks up and sees Rick Snyder on all the photos in the room, and so we put two and two together. We knew that renting out West End Grill is not a cheap thing to do on a Saturday night, but we have a lot of high end clients. We just didnt know this one was the Governor. So, yes, its now public knowledge that party in question was thrown by Rick Snyder for the First Lady of Michigan, and that it was held at the West End Grill
.Drip, drip, drip
Little by little, ike dirty water from a tap in Flint, the truth keeps coming out.
http://markmaynard.com/2016/02/fiddling-while-flint-burns-a-blind-item-about-an-administration-that-clearly-doesnt-care/
MisterP
(23,730 posts)lob1
(3,820 posts)Manson is Mr. Niceguy compared to this jerk.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,699 posts)Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)tomm2thumbs
(13,297 posts)Now their corporate identities are intimately tied to lead poisoning, deformities, disease and corruption -- probably the bakery was smart enough to assign responsibility to using those trademarks to the cake buyer -- and the Governor will enjoy the ensuing lawsuit.
a kennedy
(29,706 posts)phantom power
(25,966 posts)kpete
(72,014 posts)Tsiyu
(18,186 posts)Because that's how you get torches and pitchforks.
This is proof that Republicans see their role as royalty, set apart from the masses. Any self-respecting first lady of a state in such crisis would open her heart to her state's people. She and her husband would be out there in shirtsleeves showing people they give a damn.
But no. They can laugh and carry on knowing Snyder and his minions caused so much suffering. Like Louis the XIV, (and the later Louis and Marie) it's all about appealing to the nobles. Let the voter, the working person, and the children of Michigan eat that fucking cake made with lead.
Sickening beyond measure. The GOP have no soul, and Snyder is their poster child.