Read All About It In the Sunday Papers-First First-Person Edition

I’m back from Clown College rehab. Haven’t had much sleep, as the tortuous techniques inflicted upon me included aversion therapy right out of ‘A Clockwork Orange’.  I am now officially totally averse to the ‘Old Ultra Third Person-ness’. I’ll tell my terrifying tale once I’ve gotten the proper perspective on it (I had no idea that Lorrie Moore could be such a gleeful sadist…will never look at Birds of America the same), but, for now, the news awaits.

LEAD STORY-NYTimes: Clean Water Laws Have Been Ignored for Years

Over 1 in 10 Americans are routinely subjected to unclean water for drinking or other uses, according to this landmark report from the New York Times:

In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.

However, the vast majority of those polluters have escaped punishment. State officials have repeatedly ignored obvious illegal dumping, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which can prosecute polluters when states fail to act, has often declined to intervene.

The Times has amassed copious research for this major series of stories:

The Times obtained hundreds of thousands of water pollution records through Freedom of Information Act requests to every state and the E.P.A., and compiled a national database of water pollution violations that is more comprehensive than those maintained by states or the E.P.A. (For an interactive version, which can show violations in any community, visit www.nytimes.com/toxicwaters.)

In addition, The Times interviewed more than 250 state and federal regulators, water-system managers, environmental advocates and scientists.

Let’s just take a look at the tracking of Delaware violations and the fines imposed, shall we?  Hmmm, if the chart from Delaware is accurate, I count about 40 violations and zero fines. Nothing to see here, folks, just business as usual. I hope that DNREC’s new Wonder Boy will step in where the EPA and his predecessors have dared not tread.

This NYTimes series is Pulitzer-worthy. I haven’t even begun to scratch the oil-slicked surface of it. If you only read one story this week, this should be it.

The (UK) Guardian: Islamic Militias Target and Kill Gay Iraqis

They infiltrate gay chatrooms and go out and kill those who participate:

Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

“It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up,” he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

Hamizi, a computer science graduate, is at the cutting edge of a new wave of violence against gay men in Iraq. Made up of hardline extremists, Hamizi’s group and others like it are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year alone.

The deputy leader of the group, which is based in Baghdad, explained its campaign using a stream of homophobic invective. “Animals deserve more pity than the dirty people who practise such sexual depraved acts,” he told the Observer. “We make sure they know why they are being held and give them the chance to ask God’s forgiveness before they are killed.”

And, lest you think that noted terrorist Saddam Hussein endorsed this policy:

Homosexuality was not criminalised under Saddam Hussein – indeed Iraq in the 1960s and 1970s was known for its relatively liberated gay scene. Violence against gays started in the aftermath of the invasion in 2003. Since 2004, according to Ali Hali, chairman of the Iraqi LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) group, a London-based human-rights group, a total of 680 have died in Iraq, with at least 70 of those in the past five months. The group believes the figures may be higher, as most cases involving married men are not reported. Seven victims were women. According to Hali, Iraq has become “the worst place for homosexuals on Earth”.

So, it appears that, if nothing else, the government is supporting the killing of different targets than those targeted by Hussein. At least Rush Limbaugh can claim one ‘success’ for his troglodyte flock:“We’re killing gays in Iraq. No wonder the libs and feminazis are so upset!”  

Denver Post: Free Dental Clinic Attracts Hundreds of Uninsured

While the Rethugs tout hypothetical ‘terribles’ in whatever’s in Obama’s Health Care Reform plan this week, and while Obama and the D’s imitate freshly-caught fish flippin’ and a floppin’ on the pier, the real cost of doing nothing for the uninsured is out there for everyone to see, if they’d just pay attention, and if the press would just report it. Here, in anecdotal form, is how  hundreds of uninsured got free dental care in Brighton, Colorado:

Despite missing, throbbing or rotting teeth, hundreds of Coloradans were all smiles Friday as they received dental care at a free clinic that also is open today.

“This is a godsend,” said David Hathaway, 49, of Arvada, who is unemployed and doesn’t have insurance.

The Colorado Dental Association for three years has sponsored the two-day free clinic, known as the Colorado Mission of Mercy. Dentists, hygienists, assistants and others donate their services. About 2.4 million Coloradans had dental insurance as of Dec. 31, 2008, according to The National Association of Dental Plans, meaning as many as 2.5 million people in the state could lack dental coverage.

Well, at least hundreds of Coloradans, out of the 2.5 million uninsured, got much-needed dental care. I wonder if Tom Carper has adequate dental care for him and his family. Actually, no I don’t. It’s easy for a guy who has been subsidized by the health insurance lobbyists to mumble mumbo-jumbo about all sorts of convoluted health care formulae. Betcha he’d have a different take if he was wandering around Brighton, or Southbridge, for that matter, with an aching jaw and all sorts of illnesses borne from his lack of dental care.

McClatchy Papers: Afghanistan Fast Turning Into Obama’s Vietnam

How one operation shows just how SNAFU’d the entire situation is over there:

(U. S. Marine Corporal Steven) Norman and other combat veterans who were caught in the Sept. 8 ambush that killed three U.S. Marines, a Navy corpsman and nine Afghans said it was the deadliest, most intense combat they’d faced in Afghanistan or Iraq. The insurgents never ran out of ammunition, they recalled, and some even wore helmets, flak jackets and military-style magazine pouches.

“They were firing from every direction. They were well placed. We could hardly see them,” Norman said. “They were very coordinated in their fire. When we’d suppress that fire, they’d hit us from somewhere else.”

The ambush and the nearly nine-hour battle in the rugged mountains of eastern Kunar province illustrated many of the toughest challenges inherited by the Obama administration and U.S. commanders and their soldiers, who’re scrambling to regain the upper hand in an eight-year-old guerrilla war that’s growing bloodier and more unpopular in both countries by the day.

Look, I get that the situation is so dire in large part due to the diverting of resources to the Iraq Debacle during the Bush Years. But, Obama is perilously close to the Bush Broke It, Obama Bought Into It breaking point, if he’s not already there. Once he is, it’s his war. And, just like Vietnam did to LBJ, it will consume his Presidency. I say it’s time for Obama to call together both his military and civilian advisors, inform them that we’re getting out, and ask them how as that’s the only question left to be determined.

LATimes: How Recession May Change California’s Real Estate Market Forever

And for the better. It could mean smart development and smart redevelopment, starting with the home buyers:

This save-more, spend-less trend has potentially significant implications for Southern California’s real estate-centric economy, some analysts think. They believe that the nascent age of frugality — if it has staying power — could forge a new sort of California homeowner, one who ranks energy-efficient appliances and access to public transit ahead of granite countertops and luxurious bathrooms.

Economist Edward Leamer, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, believes that wholesale shifts in Southern California’s suburban land-use patterns may emerge, so that Los Angeles begins to look a little less like a giant cul-de-sac and a little more like Manhattan.

During the housing boom, homeowners had no qualms about spending money to commute to distant suburbs carved out of the hinterlands. But frugal home buyers, he said, will be more inclined to look first at homes that are closer to their jobs.

Jes’ thinkin’: Wouldn’t it be nice if smart redevelopment lured people back from their (by Delaware standards) distant McMansions in Hockessin to a newly-vibrant Wilmington? $6 gas could make it happen. Speaking of housing…

Dallas Morning News: Housing For Chronic Alcoholics Big Success in Seattle

An $11 million investment for housing homeless alcoholics in Seattle turns out to save taxpayers’ dollars:

SEATTLE – An attractive blue and gray apartment building with views of the Space Needle saved taxpayers $4 million in one year – simply by giving hardcore homeless alcoholics a place to live.

 This home for the homeless has attracted visitors from across the country – including Dallas – looking for ways to move the most seriously ill off the streets and cut costs. But it has detractors because it doesn’t require residents to stop drinking.

The $11 million project is one of the country’s best-known examples of housing first, an approach to combating chronic homelessness by providing homes upfront and offering help for illnesses and addictions. The concept turns the traditional model, which typically requires sobriety before a person can get housing, upside down.

The Downtown Emergency Service Center, a nonprofit that runs 1811 Eastlake, has a philosophy that housing is a right and people have a better chance of recovering without the chaos of homelessness.

 Counselors, nurses and caseworkers are on duty to help residents. But they do not force anyone into treatment.

 “We call it romancing people into service relationships,” said Bill Hobson, the executive director.

On a personal note, I would like to thank Homey D Clown for ‘romancing me into a service relationship’. For the time-being, I will withhold thanks from Lorrie Moore. The sting of the literary lash is still all-too-fresh on my well-proportioned posterioso.