Yeh but once the gun is taken away they begin to rape and pillage all over again.
REH ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 8:31 PM Subject: RE: [Futurework] Exit ramp for Europe (collateral damage on Tar C reek) > What I meant to say is that free market idealogues suddenly see merit in a > welfare state: Looking down that barrel helps them to think more "clearly." > Survival is suddenly about trade offs and the trade offs look reasonable. > Enlightened self-interest. > > arthur > > -----Original Message----- > From: Brad McCormick, Ed.D. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 6:28 PM > To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Exit ramp for Europe (collateral damage on Tar > C reek) > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > When you are looking down the barrel of a gun you suddenly become > > enlightened as to what is best for your long term survival. > > I disagree: You become enlightened as to > what is best for your SHORT TERM survival, and > all higher culture and longer perspectives cease to > be worth anything. J.S.Bach, Immanuel Kant and > Kurt Godel really have no value to a person > looking down the barrel of a gun, but, as the atheist > Sartre obersved, we die only for others (becausxe > it is not possible to experience not-experiencing). > > Adversity destroys value. It's that simple, even > though most people's childrearing screws up their minds > so they (Yes, I include "myself" > here...) think and feel all sorts of perversities. > > Cheers! > > \brad mccormick > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > *From:* Ray Evans Harrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > *Sent:* Friday, May 30, 2003 12:32 PM > > *To:* Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > *Subject:* Re: [Futurework] Exit ramp for Europe (collateral damage on > > Tar Creek) > > > > Not a chance. Enlightened is not a term I would use. > > > > REH > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > *To:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ; > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ; > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ; > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > *Sent:* Friday, May 30, 2003 11:01 AM > > *Subject:* RE: [Futurework] Exit ramp for Europe (collateral > > damage on Tar Creek) > > > > That is why policy should appeal to the rich on the basis of > > "enlightened self-interest" Redistribution today or be attacked > > by the "shirtless" mobs tomorrow. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > *From:* Ray Evans Harrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > *Sent:* Friday, May 30, 2003 9:35 AM > > *To:* Ed Weick; Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > *Subject:* Re: [Futurework] Exit ramp for Europe (collateral > > damage on Tar Creek) > > > > Some things just have too low a flashpoint for capitalism to > > work before irreparable damage is done. If the law > > cannot truly dispense with justice there will eventually be > > a return to vendetta. Vendetta means that those hurt will > > aim at the group rather than the individual since the > > individual who hurt them is too well protected by the unjust > > laws. That is when people take to wearing dynamite > > belts. Do any of you remember a movie with George C. > > Scott where he was a sheep rancher in an area where the > > government was testing CBR weapons. They killed first his > > sheep and then his son. After that he blew up the > > place. That's vendetta law and is as old as Hammarabi. > > See article below about my home reservation: REH > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Ed Weick > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 8:58 AM > > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Exit ramp for Europe > > > > > > Maybe, Ed, you are part of the problem. > > > > That may be so. Part of me, the cussed part, tells me that > > I shoud let things deteriorate to some flashpoint. Another > > part, the compassionate, says yeah but what about the poor > > mothers and the older guys from the Ottawa Valley? And yet > > another part, the guilty, gnaws at me because I'm retired > > and have a decent income. God life is hell when you're > > comfortable! > > > > Ed Weick > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > THE TAR CREEK TIME BOMB > > Richard E. Meyer, Picher, Okla. from the Los Angeles Times > > > > Acid water from abandoned mines creates peril for thousands > > in four southern states. > > > > Water boiled out of a red wound in the pasture and spilled > > across the grass. It flecked the ragweed with rusty foam. > > George Mayer knew in an instant what it was. > > > > "The damn mines," he said to himself. "The mines are full, > > and the water's finally coming out." > > > > It washed around the ankles of his purebred Arabian horses, > > stained the ends of their tails and splashed against their > > roan-and-tan bellies when they ran. Their hides turned > > orange. The hair burned off their legs. They developed open > > sores, like bracelets, above their hooves. > > > > Not far away, water gurgled out of another hole in the > > ground. Then it surged from another. And another. It belched > > from a mine shaft and gushed out of an old cave-in. It > > splashed down ditches and gullies and into a meandering > > stream called Tar Creek. It turned the stream blood red, and > > it killed the fish. > > > > It flowed on into a larger river which carried it toward the > > largest lake in northeastern Oklahoma. Worse, it coursed > > straight down through abandoned wells and through cracks in > > the rocks. Bit by bit, it began contaminating the > > underground water supply for cities and towns and tens of > > thousands of people. > > > > The water, which started flowing in 1978, will not stop. It > > comes from the tunnels of interconnected lead and zinc mines > > that reach like the tentacles of an octopus across 40 square > > miles underneath Oklahoma and Kansas. When work in the mines > > ended more than a dozen years ago, the miners shut off the > > pumps. The tunnels filled with water. The water turned to > acid. > > > > Slowly, the mines became a 10-billion-gallon vat of > > subterranean poison. The U.S. Environmental Protection > > Agency says the vat has become one of the worst hazardous > > waste sites in the nation. The EPS calls the site Tar Creek, > > after the ravaged stream that bears the brunt of the acid > flow. > > > > Critics who want Tar Creek cleaned up say that the EPS is > > dragging its heels. Some say the agency is delaying to > > protect the corporations that might be responsible. The EPS > > denies stalling. But internal EPS memos show that the agency > > is being deliberately cautious because Tar Creek raises > > issues that affect mining sites across the country: > > > > Can the government use its cleanup fund, bankrolled by a > > special tax on the chemical industry, to clean up mining > waste? > > If it does, can the government require the mining industry > > of replenish the fund? > > The story of Tar Creek begins with the upheavals of genesis. > > A thousand feet below the surface of North America at > > mid-continent, creation deposited a layer of sand. It bore > > water of remarkable quality. The sand came to be called the > > Roubidioux Formation. Above the Roubidoux was deposited a > > layer of limestone 370 feet thick and laden with rich zones > > of lead and zinc. It was called the Boone Formation. > > > > Across the surface of the land, like the veins on the back > > of a hand, flowed a succession of creeks and rivers. Among > > the smaller streams was Tar Creek, named for the black ooze > > that seeped from two springs at its source. Tar Creek flowed > > south for 18 miles before spilling into the Neosho River, > > which swept it into the sapphire depths of a lake so > > magnificent that it came ot be called Grand Lake. > > > > In the beginning, the land was owned by the Indians, who > > leased it to white men. In 1901, O.W. Youse from Kansas > > drilled a water well for A.W. Abrams not far from what is > > now the town of Picher. His drill bored through the Boone > > Formation. At about 250 feet, it hit the lead and zinc. > > Early mining did not amount to much. > > > > Two men and a mule would sink a shaft where the men thought > > good ore might be. If they hit it, they tunnelled out > > laterally underground and followed the ore until it played > > out. If they did not hit it, they simply moved on and dug > > another shaft. > > > > As their techniques improved, the miners began drilling bore > > holes before they dug shafts. They drilled every hundred > > feet or so until they found ore. Then they tunnelled to it > > from existing shafts. If they wanted to use the bore holes > > for ventilation, they cased them with steel pipe to keep > > their walls from crumbling. > > Processing the ore required a mill, and the mills needed > > good water. But the water in the ore-laden Boone Formationw > > as too metallic. So the miners drilled 1,000 feed down > > through the Boone Formation and into the Roubidiox > > Formation. They cased their wells and pumped Roubidoux water > > up to the surface. > > > > In 1926, a centralized mill took over processing. Larger > > companies bought out the small operators. And production > > increased dramatically. > > > > Miners connected their tunnels. They hollowed out huge > > chambers. The mines grew into massive, tri-level honeycombs > > - with one operation at 200 feet, say, another at 300 feet, > > and still another at 400 feet. > > > > The mines grew so large that the men lowered disassembled > > trucks into their depths, reassembled the trucks, outfitted > > them with exhaust cleaners and drove them, underground, from > > Oklahoma to Kansas. Along the labyrinth of tunnels and > > drifts, they hollowed out chambers the size of Little League > > baseball parks. At strategic places, the miners left pillars > > of stone to hold the ceilings up. > > Eventually, what the miners called the Picher Field extended > > over 40 square miles. It undermined Ottawa county in > > northeastern Oklahoma and Cherokee County in southeastern > > Kansas. And the Picher Field was only part of the > > undertaking. The miners formed the Tri-State Mining > > District, which extended over 700 square miles and reached > > into the counties of Jasper, Newton and McDonald in Missouri. > > > > As the mines expanded, they drew more and more mineral water > > from the surrounding Boone Formation. If the water stayed in > > the mines long, it grew acidic and ate the nails out of the > > miners' boots. > > > > They pumped the water out - with wooden machinery at first, > > because the water would eat the working parts of an iron > > pump in little more than a shift. Eventually, they replaced > > the wooden pumps with improved large-capacity metal machines > > that pumped 23 million gallons a day. > > > > They dumped the water into Tar Creek. > > > > Fish died, and muskrat and beaver fled. The water left the > > creek bottom a dirty orange. > > Mining hit its peak during the Second World War. Between > > 1907 and 1947, the Tri-State Mining District produced 21.7 > > million tons of zinc and 18.7 million tons of lead, with a > > value of more than $1 billion. But after the war, production > > declined, and by the late 1950s and early 1960s the big > > companies started pulling their men out. > > > > The Tri-State Mining District warned: If the pumps are > > turned off, the mines will flood. > > > > Small operators stayed and finished removing the last of the > > ore. Some were so-called "gougers" who took everything - > > including many of the pillars that held the underground > > ceilings in place. > > > > Some mines caved in. Miners called the cave-ins > > "subsidencies." At the Sunflower mine, a chunk of ground the > > size of four football fields fell straight down and left > > cottonwood trees standing in mid-crater. The town of Picher > > abandoned four blocks of businesses on both sides of Main > > Street after a cave-in behind Picher High School. > > > > By the mid-1960s, most of the mining had ceased. But the > > land was devastated. > > In Oklahoma, the miners left behind 1,064 shafts, 500 of > > them open hazards. In Kansas, they abandoned 3,500 shafts, > > 600 of them open hazards. In Missouri, they left as many as > > 4,000 shafts, 300 of them gaping open. They left an > > uncounted number of bore holes, 100,000 in the Picher Field > > alone. They left 25 wells per square mile that reached down > > into the Roubidioux aquifer. > > They left gravel waste piled across hundreds of acres. The > > miners called it "chat" - because when someone picked up a > > handful and threw it hard against a boulder, it went "chat". > > > > And the miners turned off the pumps. > > > > The flow of acidic mine water into Tar Creek slowed to a > > trickle then stopped. Little by little, the creek came back > > to life. Bass, perch and catfish returned. Even a beaver or > > two came back to build dams. > > > > But below ground, a time bomb was ticking. > > In the empty mine tunnels and on the floors of the silent > > chambers, the miners had left piles of waste they had not > > bothered to hoist to the surface. Most of it was what they > > called "mundic" - worthless iron pyrite, or fool's gold. It > > oxidized. The chamber ceilings exposed more pyrite. It too > > oxidized. > > > > Slowly the mines filled with water. It covered the oxidized > > pyrite in the tunnels and on the floors of the chambers. It > > touched the oxidized pyrite on the chamber ceilings. > > > > The water and the pyrite reacted chemically. > > And the mines turned into a cistern of acid. > > > > The volume of acid grew, like an underground monster out of > > control. > > In 1978, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that the mines > > contained 100,000 acre-feet of water. Of that total, the > > Geological Survey said, 33,000 acre-feet was acidic. That > > totaled 10,753,097,000 gallons of acid water. > > The Geological Survey said the mines would overflow. > > > > And before the year was out, the did - into the middle of > > George Mayer's horse pasture. > > > > To Mayer, a World War II pilot who had turned a building > > stone business into a sizable northeastern Oklahoma > > enterprise, the water looked like it was bubbling out of a > > red fissure in the earth. > > > > A few miles away, more acid water began boiling out the > > another drill hole, this one near a dirt road. It flowed > > only intermittently, but it belched out an average 660,000 > > gallons a day. Still another bore hole spewed acid water out > > of casing four feet tall. After a hard rain, the casing > > gushed an acid geyser three feet into the air. Yet another > > bore hole sprayed acid through a cracked casing cap like > > champagne from a party fountain. > > > > Millions of gallons of discharge found their way down > > crevices and ravines to Tar Creek. The creek turned red > > again. Pumpkin-coloured sludge sank to the bottom. > > The beaver fled and the acid killed the fish. > > > > John Mott watched them die. A disabled retired tiremaker who > > had worked at B.F. Goodrich plant in nearby Miami, Okla., > > Mott, 55, is a bow hunter and fisherman. > > > > "We had quite a bit of rain, and water was running down this > > road right adjacent to Tar Creek, and there were fish in the > > ruts in the road trying to get away," Mott said. "The perch > > and small bass and sunfish and bluegill were already dead. > > But the bullhead catfish, they're pretty tough. They had > > open sores, like somebody took a knife and cut a chunk out > > of them. But they were still alive. They had acid in their > > gills, and it wouldn't let their gills get oxygen. They were > > gasping for air." > > From Tar Creek, the acid water spilled into the Neosho > > River. At their confluence, fishermen found particularly > > high concentrations of lead, zinc and cadmium in carp and > > red ear sunfish. > > > > The Neosho neutralized the Tar Creek acid. A hundred years > > downstream from the confluence, most of the metals in the > > Tar Creek water had precipitated out, and the Neosho ran > clear. > > > > But Mott worried. "If we get too much rainfall, you are > > going to have four or five million gallons a day running out > > of the ground and into Tar Creek," he said. "In some places > > right now, the sludge is three feet deep. It lays there in > > Tar Creek and in the Neosho, and come spring and we get a > > big flood it'll wash all that at once time right down into > > Grand Lake. > > > > Indeed, where the Neosho feeds into Grand Lake, fishermen > > already had started finding high concentrations of cadmium > > in carp and lead in smallmouth buffalo fish. > > > > At the same time, the acid water was leaking downward. > > Below was the Roubidoux aquifer. Acid water had eaten holes > > through the casings of some of the old deep wells that > > reached down into the Roubidoux sand. Now the acid water was > > flowing through the holes and into the wells. It plunged > > straight down - at 10 gallons per minute in one well and 200 > > gallons per minute in another. > > > > Slowly, it was ruining the Roubidoux. As early as the > > mid-1970s, the town of Commerce discovered contamination in > > one of its wells that drew water from the Roubidoux. A > > Roubidoux well that supplied a boron plant near Quapaw went > > bad last year. The town of Picher had two of its wells go > > bad. Acid water ate its way through the well casings. > > > > People complained that Picher water smelled metallic, tasted > > like rust, stained their bedsheets and turned their sinks > > and toilet bowls red. Because of its colour and taste, > > however, few people drank the contaminated water, so few > > people got sick. > > Mark Coleman, Oklahoma's deputy health commissioner, warned > > that the water, if drunk, could burn residents' intestinal > > membranes and poison them with cadmium and lead. > > > > Picher's contaminated wells were re-cased, but it was clear > > that the water supply for northeastern Oklahoma ultimately > > could be tainted. > > Some people said total contamination could affect 10,000. > > Some feared the total might be as many as 140,000 - > > including residents of Cherokee County in Kansas and Jasper > > County in Missouri. > > > > "More studies are necessary," Rep. Mike Synar, D-Okla., told > > a congressional hearing last fall, "to determine whether the > > main aquifer has been contaminated to where it would > > literally affect the water supply for hundreds of thousands > > of people in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. > > > > Concern was compounded by a study that showed > > higher-than-normal cancer rates near the mines in Cherokee > > and Jasper counties. > > > > The study, by Dr. John S. Neuberger, an assistant professor > > at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, showed that > > the incidence of lung cancer among men during the mid-1970s > > in Cherokee County was 54 percent higher than the national > > average and that lung cancer among men during the same time > > in Jasper County, Mo., was 42 percent higher. > > > > Neuberger suspected that radon gas from the chat piles was > > responsible for the increased cancer rates. But he said more > > studies were needed. > > It was easier to measure the danger in the water. John Mott > > was hired by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to chart the > > water's changing acidity and its metallic conductivity. Low > > pH means high acidity. Sever is normal. Mott measured a pH > > level as low as 1.7. High conductivity means high metallic > > content. Drinkable water can have conductivity levels of 445 > > to 450. Mott measured Tar Creek in the thousands. > > > > Ron Jarman, chief of the board's water quality division, > > sent the results to the governor. > > > > "And we said, 'Help!'" Harman said. > > > > Gov. George Nigh created a Tar Creek Task Force of 23 local, > > state and federal agencies. It hired Hittman Associates > > Inc., a firm of consulting engineers from Colorado, to > > figure out what could be done. > > > > Hittman said Oklahoma should catch the mine discharge, pump > > additional acid water out of the ground, purify it at a > > treatment plant and use it for farms and factories. Even > > with the best technology, Hittman said, it would take up to > > 23 years to ease the threat. > > > > And it would cost $20.6 million. > > > > That was more money than Oklahoma had - and more than a town > > like Picher, which paid for its only police car with a bingo > > game, could imagine. > > To help pay for the cleanup, Oklahoma asked the EPA to put > > Tar Creek on its lift of hazardous waste sites and make it > > eligible for money from a special federal fund, called > > Superfund. > > > > Totalling $1.6 billion, Superfund was established during the > > last days of the Carter administration to clean up the > > nation's worst accumulations of hazardous waste. Most of the > > money - 87 percent - comes from a special tax to be paid by > > chemical companies until 1985. The rest comes from the U.S. > > Treasury. > > Tar Creek made the Superfund list. > > > > Because its immediate threat to public health was not as > > severe as that at, say, Love Canal, the EPA was reluctant to > > call Tar Creek the worst on the list. But when EPA > > investigators ranked waste sites, using a formula designed > > for the agency by systems engineers at the Mitre Corp., Tar > > Creek came out No. 1. > > The sheer volume and uncontrolled nature of its poison gave > > Tar Creek the highest Mitre score of any hazardous waste > > site in the nation. > > The EPS awarded Oklahoma $435,368 in Superfund money. But > > that was more than $16.5 million shy of Hittman's lowest > > estimate. > > > > And none of the EPA money was for cleanup. It was for more > > studies. > > Oklahoma, Jarman found, was encountering opposition from the > > chemical industry. Chemical companies were against using any > > Superfund money for an actual cleanup at Tar Creek. The > > chemical industry wanted none of its taxes used to clean up > > mining industry wastes. > > > > In its pronouncements on the issue, the Chemical > > Manufacturers Association has stopped just short of saying > > it will go to court to keep Tar Creek from getting more > > money from Superfund. > > > > The EPA has little doubt that it has the authority to use > > Superfund money to clean up mining wastes - regardless of > > the chemical industry opposition. But it is less certain > > that it can recover the cleanup costs from the mining > > companies to replenish the Superfund afterward. > > > > Keeping the Superfund replenished is important to future > > cleanup activities. > > Meanwhile, George Mayer has a horse pasture full of acid > > water. And Oklahoma has a major pollution problem on its > hands. > > > > "What's going to happen ultimately, I don't know," Mayer > > said, eyeing his acid-burned grass and frowning. > > > > "There's nothing I can do to stop the flow of the water. > > There isn't anything I can do to remove it. I'll just have > > to accept it until somebody does something to remove it or > > eliminate it or dilute it." > > > > "Or something." > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > -- > Let your light so shine before men, > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
