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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is (per the November 5th Huffington Post) under consideration by President-Elect Barack Obama to head the EPA?
The Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who, in June of 2007, equated those people criticizing mothers of autistic children who believe that thimerasol in vaccines causes autism with those who “once blamed autism on ‘bad parenting,’ and ‘uninvolved’ moms”—with those who believe that”bad parenting” causes autism?
Being myself (as I wrote back in June of 2007) an “involved mother” of an autistic child, I appreciate this concern about public perceptions of mothers of autistic children. Once upon a theory of autism causation, mothers were held accountable for being cold “refrigerator mothers” whose extreme emotional reserve was thought to make their children autistic. Now, as Kennedy writes, scorn is cast upon some mothers of autistic children for being “too involved.”
But based on what he wrote back in June of 2007 and also in his 2005 Rolling Stone piece, Deadly Immunity: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. investigates the government cover-up of a mercury/autism scandal—-it might be said that Kennedy’s somewhat extensively “involved” in putting forth a certain hypothesis about what causes autism that is not substantiated by the latest studies? A hypothesis that has perhaps heralded the rise of dubious autism “treatments” such as chelation?
Seed Magazine endorsed Obama for his “embrace of transparency and evidence-based decision-making, his intelligence and curiosity echo this new way of looking at the world.” Here’s hoping this is not just a promise, but the reality for the next four years.
627 days ago
From the Washington Post a few hours ago,
“…Obama is expected to name Carol Browner, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as the head of a new policy council to coordinate climate, environment and energy issues. He is also planning to make official other choices: Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics, as his energy secretary; Lisa Jackson, the chief of staff for New Jersey’s governor, as head of the EPA; and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality…”
On a related note, the choice for Health and Human Services Secretary is Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Dashle
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646 days ago
Well, there’s some peace in not having the appointment made yet, but I confess to being pretty interested in who will be appointed.
Just for an idea of who else has their hat in the ring, at least according to Discover Magazine:
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection head Kathleen McGinty; California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols; Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection head Ian Bowles; Kansas governor Kathleen Sibelius; New Jersey environmental commissioner Lisa Jackson; environmental lawyer, activist, and prolific blogger Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Just if anyone is interested in checking on all the folks’ records, not just Mr. Kennedy’s.
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646 days ago
Bobby Kennedy Jr., would make an excellant choice for the head of EPA. He is a committed environmentalist which is what that agency has lacked for many years. He is also highly knowledgable about military munitions a growing threat to our environment. Non of the other candidates mentioned have any knowledge of the munitions issues and the threat munitions pose to drinking water.
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660 days ago
Keep RFK out of EPA
The job at the EPA calls for someone with a keen sense of both ethics and science. Kennedy is not that person.
The following letter was written in support of Robert H. Boyle (founder of Riverkeeper and author of “The Hudson River, A natural and unnatural history”) and others who resigned from Riverkeeper rather than support R. F. Kennedy, Jr.’s compromise of the principle that ethics must never be separate from science.
This letter was first published in the Putnam County News and Recorder, Cold Spring, New York, on August 30, 2000 and they have carried it on their website ever since for which they have my thanks. (AHS, 2008)
Letters:
Supports Former Riverkeeper Board Members’ Action
Editor,
The Fishkill Ridge Caretakers, Inc. supports Robert H. Boyle, former president of the Riverkeeper, Inc. and former Riverkeeper, Inc. board members John Fry, treasurer, Nancy Abraham, Kathryn Belous Boyle, Pat Crow, Theresa Hanczor, Robert Hodes, Ann Tonetti and Alexander Zagoreas in the action they have taken in resigning from Riverkeeper in opposition to the hiring of a convicted environmental felon to serve in the position of staff scientist on the staff of Riverkeeper.
In issuing this statement of support, The Fishkill Ridge Caretakers wishes to emphasize that ethics cannot be separated from science and that the environmental movement will prosper best in an atmosphere of demonstrated personal responsibility and earned mutual respect.
We encourage individuals as well as environmental organizations to join us in similar expressions of support for the principled stand taken by Boyle and fellow board members in their defense of the ethical integrity of the environmental movement here in the Hudson River Valley.
Boyle and 8 of the 22 Riverkeeper board members resigned from Riverkeeper, Inc. in protest of the hiring of William Wegner. For eight years Wegner operated a ring of smugglers who stole bird eggs directly from the nests of protected cockatoo species in Australia. Wegner and his ring then smuggled the eggs by air to the United States. Birds that hatched and survived were then sold for as much as $12,500.00 each. A federal judge accepted Wegner’s plea of guilty to charges of conspiracy and tax fraud and sentenced him to five years in prison. The judge also found that Wegner had attempted to obstruct justice by committing perjury at the trial of a co-defendant Wegner paid a $10,000.00 fine.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has stated that everyone deserves a second chance and notes that he himself had been given a second chance in that he had once been convicted of a drug offense.
We note, however, that Kennedy’s offense was essentially a victimless crime while Wegner’s offense was a crime against the environment, the people of Australia, the people of the United States and against the birds. In order to avoid detection during the flight, smugglers flushed newly hatched chicks down the plane’s toilet
Although Wegner has been convicted and served his sentence, nothing he or anyone else can do will correct the damage he has done or make his victims whole again.
Wegner’s prison sentence seems to have done little to improve his ethical sense. The resume Wegner submitted to Riverkeeper accounts for his period of incarceration without referring to the fact of the incarceration itself Wegner describes work he performed and omits the significant information that he performed this work while he was serving time as a prison inmate.
Kennedy overstepped his position as attorney for Riverkeeper when, in November of 1999, he hired Wegner. Boyle terminated Wegner after learning of the hiring and upon review of Wegner’s resume, court records and media accounts. The matter came to a climax at a board meeting on June 20th when Kennedy insisted that Wegner be rehired over Boyle’s objection.
While we hope Riverkeeper continues to work to produce changed human beings who think and act differently in regard to the Hudson River and all that pertains to it, we also recognize the primary mission of Riverkeeper is not the rehabilitation of Wegner or of those like him.
Sincerely,
Anthony Henry Smith
Fishkill
(for The Fishkill Ridge Caretakers)
(Fishkill Ridge Community Heritage, a separate organization, has also supported this letter from their beginning.)
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662 days ago
Harold quoting Healy:
“She dug a little deeper and was surprised to find that the government has not embarked upon some of the most basic research that could help answer the question of a link.
The more she dug, she says, the more she came to believe the government and medical establishment were intentionally avoiding the question because they were afraid of the answer. ””
Any of that supported by references or even an argument of more depth than a 30 second soundbite? Haven’t seen a thing. Healy’s good at motherhood statements and she’s a lousy administrator going by her track record so even if this little stir she’s created is designed as her stab at a poswition under Obama. let’s hope they keep that track record in mind.
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