Chafee's Little Green Shitstorm

It's a rare day when a Republican gets confronted in the Halls of Congress after casting a decisive vote against homeland security.

So it's no surprise that Lincoln Chafee reportedly lost his green colors and turned red in the face when he was confronted outside the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee after voting (along party lines) against an amendment that would have reduced the number of terrorist targets around the country.

The bill would have mandated that sewage treatment plants switch from chlorine gas which, as I've blogged before, not only creates an unnecessary threat to hundreds of towns across the country but, because the stuff is transported on rails -- sometimes even within a few blocks of the Capitol itself (perish the thought of hundreds of pinsuited corporate lobbyists spread out along the halls of Congress, gassed like dead flies)...The point is that just about everyone remains at risk because the chlorine industry has just about poisoned the debate over community security in Congress.

As a result, politicians like Chafee may claim to be green, but as his namesake once said, "you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

But Chafee and his colleagues Lieberman, Carper, Lautenberg, Warner and Voinovich (who's expected to be the chemical industry's attack dog) will have another chance to "do the best we can" on June 14th, when Senator Collins' (R-ME) staff plans a vote on chemical security legislation in her Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

If it doesn't pass, maybe the next time the Chemical Brothers go to Rhode Island they should play a new song called "Chafee's Little Green Shitstorm"

The shitstorm's a coming.
No time to escape.
Toxic sludge bombing --
"Shelter in place."

The shitstorm's a coming.
"Duck and cover"
As the sky turns brown
Like a burka pulled over.

The shitstorm's a coming.
Won't Chaffee be proud.
When they turn our city's plumbing
Into yellow-green clouds.