Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and that seems to be the situation today in Portland as the professional alarmists and litigators at Sierra Club cannonballed into the fluoridation issue surrounding Portland's water supply. Oddly enough, they oppose the unanimous decision by Portland's authoritarian City Council to add the toxin into the water (sorry, Tualatin, Beaverton, and you other folks who purchase water from Portland - you don't get a say in the matter).
The Council's unilateral decision ticked off many residents, who quickly hit the 30,000 mark on a petition to halt the plan until the matter could be put to a vote, and a support group - funded primarily by those who stand to profit should the project move forward - has been campaigning extensively in favor of the measure.
Two other environmental groups, Columbia Riverkeeper and Food and Water Watch, joined the Sierra Club in opposing Portland's fluoridation measure.
It's interesting to see the professional alarmists climb aboard the concept of leaving the water the hell alone; generally if something can have an adverse impact upon people, they're all over it; litigating to push it through if they feel it necessary.
At present, the battle rages on amid the intertubes, where the pro- and anti- fluoride factions have been duking it out:
The page contains status updates satirizing pro-fluoride arguments: "How many times do we have to tell you hippies, fluoride's not a poison in small doses? Just because there's no way to regulate the dose that you drink from the water supply doesn't change that. We're still pretty sure it's a small dose. Right? Yeah, it's small. Definitely smallish."
This is, for lack of a better term, a watershed moment in Portland politics; the first time in recent memory that the old It's For The Children™ chestnut hasn't been unquestioningly consumed.
