Michael Daly wrote:
On 12-May-2006, wrote:
People claim that the environmental kooks are a problem becauce they
are totally unreasonable and opposed to almost everything.
Well, did it ever occur to you that there's a difference between an environmental
kook and an environmentalist? I didn't think so...
That's why I used the term environmental kook. Sure there are some
environmentalists that have some balance, but they are rarely heard
from. Instead the ones we hear from and that have control of the
movement are largely the kooks that show up opposed to everything
except conservation.
A classic case of the hypocracy is Robert Kennedy Jr.
He's in politics. Enough said. I was talking about environmentalists.
In politics? He holds no elected office that I am aware of, but he
sure is deep into environmental organizations and causes. But it's ok
for him to own multiple vehicles, SUV's, fly in corporate jets and
oppose windmills when they turn out to be in his families area of
interest.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Biography
The way Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has assumed command of the Water Keeper
Alliance, you'd almost think he started the environmental movement on
his own. But he actually stumbled into it as a result of a 1984
criminal conviction for heroin possession. A judge sentenced him to 800
hours of community service, which he satisfied with volunteer work for
the Hudson River Foundation. After his 800 hours were used up, the
organization (now operating as the Hudson Riverkeepers) hired Kennedy
as its "chief prosecuting attorney."
In the years since his drug conviction, Kennedy has also gone to work
for the Natural Resources Defense Council and assumed a professorship
in the law school at Pace University. Kennedy also started Pace's
environmental law clinic specifically to sue governments and businesses
on behalf of Riverkeeper.
Robert Kennedy approaches environmental law with a brash,
take-no-prisoners approach that tends to alienate many who might
otherwise be his allies. After working with him on a $10 million New
York City watershed agreement, Putnam County (NY) legal counsel George
Rodenhausen told reporters that "he separates himself from good
science at times in order to aggressively pursue an issue and win."
In July 2003, a major U.S. pork producer obtained an indictment against
Kennedy in Poland for committing slander during an inflammatory rant
against the company's Polish subsidiary. The indictment charges that
Kennedy spouted "untrue information" and "consciously manipulated
the facts" with the intent to "discredit the company."
Kennedy's harshest public thrashing to date, however, came from one
of his closest colleagues, Riverkeeper founder Robert Boyle. Along with
seven other Riverkeeper board members, Boyle resigned in 2000 after
Kennedy insisted upon hiring a convicted environmental felon as the
group's chief scientist. At the time, Boyle told the New York Post
that Kennedy "is very reckless," and added that "[h]e's assumed
an arrogance above his intellectual stature."
Reflecting on the episode later, Boyle gave the New York Times an apt
summary of Kennedy's attitude regarding his environmental crusades:
"I thought he was thinking of himself and not the cause of the
river," Boyle said. "It all became his own greater glory."
but in general, they are not
opposed to everything and do want to move ahead on finding more energy,
which we ultimately need.
Then why did it take so many years for Bush to even mention alternative energy?
Get your head out of your republican butt and look at the real world.
Maybe because he thinks the free market is better at figuring out
solutions than another government boondoggle. I'm still waiting for
the first gallon of oil from the billions that Jimmy Carter took from
the oil companies to produce oil from shale. Actually it was taken
from consumers, because taxes just get passed on like any other cost.
Mike