Damning evidence that shows that the Flint water crisis, as bad as it is, is a manufactured crisis.

Sarah Frostenson from the VOX news service wrote an investigative article on February 3, 2016, that shows Flint to not be as bad as the media is portraying it to be.

Other communities across the United States have a much higher lead content than Flint.

Compare that to Flint, where state data shows the rate of lead exposure for 5 µg/dL from 2014 to 2015 as 3.21 percent. (Flint started pumping water from the Flint River in April 2014). Other researchers have found that specific areas of the city have exposure rates as high as 6.3 percent. That's alarming, but still a lower rate than 18 of the 20 cities in Pennsylvania.

You can read Sarah Frostenson's full research article here.

Where Is The Money The Word Network Raised For Flint's Water Crisis?

Monday night, Flint's story was broadcast around the world on the

popular religious TV station, The Word Network.

Baltimore Pastor Jamal Bryant, who spent the day in Flint, turned his monthly program, 'The Empowerment Encounter' into the 'Water Telethon for Flint' at the network's Southfield studios. 100 percent of the donations will be turned over to the Concerned Pastors of Flint...to be used for not just water, but for rebuilding a city impacted by lead for years to come he said.

"The equity of their home is now under tremendous risk, the level of unemployment in that city, the inequity of the educational system. The whole city needs a renovation and tonight, the world is going to be able to help," said Bryant.

Pastor Stacy Swimp

What is odd about the telethon is  the fact that The Word Network will not release how much money the telethon raised.

One pastor in the city of Flint has some serious doubts about The Word Network.

Stacy Swimp a pastor and activist in the city of Flint had the following to say,

 “ So the The Word Network will not release how much money it raised after holding a telethon which was supposedly to support the Flint water crisis? They say, however, that 100 percent of the money will be turned over to a local group of pastors. That's strange. I don't think I have ever seen a telethon for anyone or anything where there is a refusal to be transparent about the money. Seems that a great deal of exploitation is taking place during this time of real crisis.”

Bob Cushman: The Root Cause of the Flint Water Crisis

Bob Cushman

As I look at the whole Flint Water Crisis, I am struck by the disingenuous accusations that are flying. One side would have us believe that this is all Governor Snyder’s fault. The other side points to a Mayor of Flint and his staff that no longer are in office. There is no simple easy villain in all of this. It is in fact quite complicated.

This crisis began because the city of Flint was attempting to save money from the over-charging of another municipality, the city of Detroit. Flint believed that they could save money by partnering up with a company to pull their water directly from Lake Huron. As we now know, the problem lead did not come from the Flint River but rather the pipes and joints in this aging infrastructure. It was enabled by the PH (acid vs base) property of the water from the Flint River. This acidic chemical property enabled the protective coating on the

inside of these ancient water pipes to dissolve enough to allow some lead to “leach” into the water.

Whom do we blame; the Governor, the State run Department of Environmental Quality or the previous Mayor of Flint for trying to save money?

The art of problem solving requires that we analyze all contributing factors prior to attempting to propose an all-inclusive solution. Let us closely examine the root cause. The City of Detroit has run a Water Department for more than two centuries. During the course of this time, it has grown to be one of the largest Water Departments in the United Sates. The DWSD serves 4,000,000 people, 40% of the population of the entire state. It is a monopoly of gigantic proportions. Imagine having a business where 40% of the state population is forced to buy this product from you in order to survive.

One of the responsibilities of government is to protect its citizens from abusive monopolies. Many states protect their citizens from Utility Companies that need to be monopolies with Public Service Commissions that regulate pricing. Michigan does this with gas and electricity but not water. Why not? Representative Heise has a bill to correct this which the Governor refuses to allow a vote on.

Bob Cushman has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue and has worked in engineering, sales engineering and aviation for more than 40 years.