Stupid is as stupid does for stupid's sake
Terry Badman
Issue date: 11/15/06 Section: Opinion
I was in a good mood this morning.
The brisk November wind sliced through the crack in my apartment door as the weight of a potential snow sat patiently in the atmosphere outside.
I was well rested, which is a rare feat in itself these days, and I didn't melt my tongue to blisters with that college crutch known as coffee.
It was one of those ol' fashioned, good-to-be-alive mornings - a day to sit back without a care in the world, while slowly soaking in the comforts of a lazy Saturday.
I was happier than Jim Morrison in a swimming pool full of Southern Comfort.
Then I read the paper.
Somewhere in the span of a few minutes I went from John Denver 'Sunshine On My Shoulders'-happy, to Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"-pissed.
What set me off, you ask?
What was it that made me feel the urge to punt my sister's Chihuahua through a stained-glass church window?
I'll tell you what it was - stupid people.
I'm not sure if that word is entirely politically correct or not (perhaps "absent-minded" or "mentally-void" would work better), but frankly, I don't give a crap.
By the time you read this, the International Paper Mill in Ticonderoga, N.Y. will have begun their long-awaited effort to burn some 72 tons of tires a day for the next two weeks. The company wants to test the levels of pollution that are emitted from the burn into the atmosphere, and eventually hopes to use shredded tires as a means to fuel the factory's massive power boilers.
Practically every political figure in Vermont has been vigorously fighting this action for the last three years, but federal courts finally decided to give IP the go-ahead anyway.
Oh, did I mention that International Paper, which is located just across the lake (Champlain) from my home town of Orwell, is already the number one cause of pollution in the state of Vermont - and the factory isn't even on Vermont soil.
Take a moment to breathe, if you will, and join me in one giant, resounding, "WTF!?"
The brisk November wind sliced through the crack in my apartment door as the weight of a potential snow sat patiently in the atmosphere outside.
I was well rested, which is a rare feat in itself these days, and I didn't melt my tongue to blisters with that college crutch known as coffee.
It was one of those ol' fashioned, good-to-be-alive mornings - a day to sit back without a care in the world, while slowly soaking in the comforts of a lazy Saturday.
I was happier than Jim Morrison in a swimming pool full of Southern Comfort.
Then I read the paper.
Somewhere in the span of a few minutes I went from John Denver 'Sunshine On My Shoulders'-happy, to Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"-pissed.
What set me off, you ask?
What was it that made me feel the urge to punt my sister's Chihuahua through a stained-glass church window?
I'll tell you what it was - stupid people.
I'm not sure if that word is entirely politically correct or not (perhaps "absent-minded" or "mentally-void" would work better), but frankly, I don't give a crap.
By the time you read this, the International Paper Mill in Ticonderoga, N.Y. will have begun their long-awaited effort to burn some 72 tons of tires a day for the next two weeks. The company wants to test the levels of pollution that are emitted from the burn into the atmosphere, and eventually hopes to use shredded tires as a means to fuel the factory's massive power boilers.
Practically every political figure in Vermont has been vigorously fighting this action for the last three years, but federal courts finally decided to give IP the go-ahead anyway.
Oh, did I mention that International Paper, which is located just across the lake (Champlain) from my home town of Orwell, is already the number one cause of pollution in the state of Vermont - and the factory isn't even on Vermont soil.
Take a moment to breathe, if you will, and join me in one giant, resounding, "WTF!?"
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