Stormy weather

Benjamin Franklin, Craftsman
Originally uploaded by kerrins_giraffe
I came across this photo of the young Ben Franklin at his printing press in a flickr.com search. Be sure to click on the link so you can see kerrins_giraffe's other photos.
Ben came to mind because it's raining this morning. On the horizon are the freezing rain and ice storms that have already hit the middle of the nation. The quantities of pollution in the Ohio River and our creeks and streams will increase all week, and it will be four days after the rain/snow/ice ends before the water is again safe.

The severity of the CSO problem across the country sent me searching out a quotation this morning. I thought it came from Nathan Hale but it was the charming Ben Franklin who said, on the occasion of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, "we must all hang together, gentlemen, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

A similar situation faces us with the out-of-code and/or now-antiquated infrastructure. As long as we prefer to drive on paved roads rather than dirt and to have sewage taken away through pipes rather than floating down the creeks we walk beside, then we must be willing to pay for their improvements.

It's easy to whine about the prospect of taxes going up. Personally, though, I'm willing to pay -- oh, let's say double what I'm paying now in taxes to keep the effluvium off my shoes, my floors, my dog, my grandchildren...

With our infrastructure problems, either we'll all hang together or we'll all be hung out to dry separately.