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You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

motherjones.com

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Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#61
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is someone who wants non-contaminated drinking water incompetent?

Not everything you want - or need - is a right. And establishing a new right is not the only way to get what you want or need.

But this are just empty statements.

You forgot the actual argument about why this want and this way of getting it is a sign of incompetence

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US Constitution, by itself, grants US citizens everything as a right, then enumerates the exceptions to those all-encompassing rights carved out as necessary for the operation of a government. The correct question is: Where does the US Constitution grant governments the power to poison and lie to residents? This isn’t some pedantry but fundamental American civics. The US Constitution explicitly does not enumerate…

By this logic, state employees and elected officials, who are themselves US citizens, have the right to say anything at all to the public, including blatant lies about public health issues, because there's no specific legal exception banning them from doing so.

As government representatives, they’re limited to the behavior that the Constitution grants to the government. Here’s an explainer to said Constitution you may find useful: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-1/sec...

After reading that, please do tell where the power to poison water and lie about it is granted to the government, and the members of that government.

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everything you want - or need - is a right. And establishing a new right is not the only way to get what you want or need.

Stop editing your ridiculous comment. Rights are enshrined by society, it’s what we choose. Nothing is a right in and of itself contrary to what your comment tries to imply.

The natural state of being is freedom, it up to society to restrict what they deemed necessary and punish the offenders. Unless the body of water or reservoir are claimed by the government then it is free for anyone to use, quality notwithstanding. Safe, clean water implies certain amount of processing and I agree that unless it is explicitly written then it is up to the users to sanitize that water

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#64
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I'm saying though, is that he has room enough to interpret things so that a dismissal isn't necessary. It isn't the job of the courts to make minimal rulings and avoiding all substantial questions, but to solve disputes. Here we have a case where the government has harmed people in a way that would be a tort if it had been done by anybody else, and people arguing that the government by doing so breached a right.…

The judge can only rule on the arguments and evidence presented in their court.

Exactly, unless they ignore that and decide based on precedent. But after we fence them in with arguments, evidence, AND precedence then surely.. oh nope, they could ignore those things and talk about reliance interest! I'm sure someone wrote down exactly how much reliance interest is "sufficient" to justify doing something else though. No? Gosh it sounds like a rigorous process and all but I'm starting to think maybe they just do whatever they want

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everything you want - or need - is a right. And establishing a new right is not the only way to get what you want or need.

I am absolutely mindboggled at the idea that you think the US should not guarantee safe drinking water everywhere for everyone. Unless this comment is pedantic legal snark.

[deleted]

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everything you want - or need - is a right. And establishing a new right is not the only way to get what you want or need.

> Not everything you want - or need - is a right. Ok, agreed. But safe drinking water, should maybe be one of the exceptions? > And establishing a new right is not the only way to get what you want or need. What's a better way to guarantee safe drinking water to everyone?

> safe drinking water, should maybe be one of the exceptions?

If we invert it to the actual reality (many places have unsafe drinking water), then we get "the right to avoid being poisoned by your government".

It sounds obvious to me that that should already be the case.

But I don't know much about water treatment. Maybe it isn't always feasible?

Do people just have to drink bottled water in some places? Or get reverse osmosis filters?

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#67
post #30

Plaintiffs ... seek recognition of two new constitutional rights lacking any foundation in the history and tradition of our Nation—the right to be free from exposure to contaminated water and the right to accurate information from public officials. This is like filing a bug report that the Linux kernel allowed your Thunderbird to receive SPAM email containing false information. It's just a fundamental misunderstandin…

[flagged]

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#68
post #34

I'm not sure what a right to water really means. A lot of rural cities don't even provide water. People have wells and you pay for them yourself.

> I'm not sure what a right to water really means. Right to safe water. It means that the water in your kitchen faucet is expected/guaranteed to be safe to drink. It must not have: noxious bacteria causing diarrhea, or liver parasite eggs, or mud, or mercury/heavy metals, or remains of faeces, or fracking methane, or pesticides, or medicines, or obesogens [1]. It must had been professionally filtered and treated to a…

> And if in your small town everybody is obese, before to blame everybody for eating too much, or being lazy couch potatos, look for chemicals in the drinking water, leading to a broken satiety system, causing people to eat huge amounts of food. This is why the right to have safe drinking water is so important.

I don't think there's any reason to assume that obesity is caused by any specific chemical found in some but not all drinking water, in such a way that explains differences in obesity rates. If that were the case we probably would've figured that out by now and would be systematically treating drinking water to remove that chemical.

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#69
post #30

Plaintiffs ... seek recognition of two new constitutional rights lacking any foundation in the history and tradition of our Nation—the right to be free from exposure to contaminated water and the right to accurate information from public officials. This is like filing a bug report that the Linux kernel allowed your Thunderbird to receive SPAM email containing false information. It's just a fundamental misunderstandin…

[flagged]

"Plugging"? You mean "fundamentally altering the self-perception of the country founded on immigration"?

Re: You Don't Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

#70
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is someone who wants non-contaminated drinking water incompetent?

Not everything you want - or need - is a right. And establishing a new right is not the only way to get what you want or need.

But maybe it should be? What does it say about the US government apparatus and its basic claims to legitimacy if it can't even guarantee safe drinking water? What lack of aspiration and ambition does such a denial demonstrate? Why should its citizens accept such an abdication of even the most basic duties?
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