Kerry on Earth Day: Lowell Sun ARticle 4/23/05

[TayTay]

http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_2680887

Kerry: Bush, EPA fail the public on mercury In Earth Day visit, calls for tougher pollution laws
By MATT MURPHY, Sun Staff

LOWELL -- With the Merrimack River glimmering in the background, Sen. John Kerry yesterday chided the Bush administration and the Environmental Protection Agency for weakening its stance against mercury pollution.

“You can't talk about a culture of life in one breath and turn around and poison our children with the next,” Kerry told a small crowd, including several environmental youth groups, on the riverfront behind the Tsongas Arena.

Kerry's remarks came during an event celebrating the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, which featured several speakers addressing mercury contamination in the Merrimack Valley and the related health risks.

According to Merrimack River Watershed Council President Elizabeth Coughlin, the Department of Agriculture in a March 8 report identified the Merrimack Valley as one of nine “hot spots” in North America for mercury contamination in its waterways.

Note to Sen. Kerry's staff. I might have been there if I knew the fricking thing was happening. If they can use the mailing list to notify Texas folks about an upcoming speech, perhaps us Massholes in the Merimack Valley could have been notified too instead of having to read about it the next day. (TayTay's nose is out of joint.)

Note to TayTay: Get over yourself. Some people have more important things to do than cater to you. Get ya next time.

Sigh! There were nice pics too! Not up on the webiste. Maybe I'll scan them in later.

[muse]

1. I would love to see the pics . . .

of Kerry standing there with the Merrimack River gleaming in the background.

Sounds divine.

Seriously, it would have been nice for news of this event to have been spread a little farther and wider.

[TayTay]

2. Yeah, I am really miffed

but at the local Dems. I know people who were there. We live half a mile from each other. We are going to Convention together in May. They couldn't pick up the phone and call and tell me Kerry was going to be appearing 12 minutes from my house?

I am not miffed at Kerry. It's not his job to notify the locals. The locals need to get their act together.

My apologies for being pissy in public. I will now take my own advice and get over it.

[TayTay]

3. Newspaper pic from today

It was a lovely backdrop. Too bad the Mighty Merimack is so toxic.

[TayTay]

4. Kerry Pic from Lowell 2

Still nice in Black and White.

We still haven't gotten full bore into spring either. The trees are just now starting to bud out.

[ginnyinWI]

5. thanks for the pics TayTay

gotta have a steady supply of new ones, you know! :)

Our trees in Wisconsin are just beginning, too. leaves as big as "squirrel's ears" as they say. But today it is cold and there were even a few snowflakes drifting down this morning! :(

[politicasista]

6. Thanks too.

:hi:

[TayTay]

7. I kept the text on the pics

because I just absolutely adore the fact that Sen. Kerry invited a guy who hosts a local cable fishing show to talk about the state of the Merrimack River. (It's a signature move. Honestly! Who would be better in tune with the river and it's health than somebody like that. Sigh! That is a really nice touch.) :loveya: :loveya:

In a week, the trees will be in full bloom. I have two apple tress in front of my house and they are full of pink blossoms. Next week I won't be ablt to go outside of my house without being overcome with the sweetness of them. The intoxicating apple scent will permeate my house, my car, my clothes. Hmmmm, spring! Of course, this being New England and all, the first scent of spring is actually skunk cabbage. (Smell like rotting meat. It's because New England is originally all forest and any other types of blooming plants have to leaf out and bloom before the shade of the trees block their light. The early pollinators are carrion flies and such, attracted to the smell of decay. So early spring in New England actually reeks. We have gorgeous native plants called trilliums that you can still find in the wild. Alternative name for some varieties: Stinking Benjamins. Sigh!)

[BlueIris]

8. Aw, man. That photo is NICE.

The pollution? Not so much.

Also, Tay, I wouldn't beat yourself up about not appreciating Kerry's staff for dropping the ball like that--which is what, IMHO, they appear to have done. I mean, one imagines they're busy, but you folks are part of his base.