It's Friday the Thirteenth Again

Actually it isn't Friday the 13th. It's Friday, the 25th! The opening day for Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. But in one sense it is Friday the 13th. As Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has said, "For the environment, every Friday is Friday the 13th." [Better not tell Dick Cheney about this. He's already plenty steamed at Patrick Leahy!]

The White House has a standard procedure that may not be widely known. Unpopular policy changes are generally announced on Friday afternoons when such announcements will have little or no impact. Reporters can't adequately cover such stories. The news gets buried over the weekend. By Monday we're on to other things.

So George tells us about the destructive things he is doing to our Mother (and our children and grandchildren), but he whispers it late Friday afternoons when we are on our way home from work and getting organized for the weekend. He works in the shadows. He is a man of the darkness.

Click on the title of this article to see how many Fridays have been bad news for our environment. The Natural Resources Defense Council keeps track. Another watchdog group, The League of Conservation Voters, gave Bush an "F" on his environmental record in the first 2 years of his presidency.

How does Virginia rank on the environment? Virginia has the distinction of being last in the nation on money spent per capita on the environment. The League of Conservation Voters scored George Allen a big fat zero percent, John Warner, 11 percent, and Ed Schrock, 5 percent. This means that on legislation which involves or impacts the environment, Virginia congressional representatives basically vote against our Mother!

JOHN KERRY HAS BEEN THE NUMBER ONE ENVIRONMENTAL SENATOR FOR YEARS. Our next president, John Kerry, has figured out the importance of protecting our environment. This is not just a matter of coming to the aid of a stranded eaglet or stopping the destruction of the rain forests of South America. Protecting the environment is a public health issue, a jobs issue, and a national security issue. Part of our environmental policy must be ENERGY INDEPENDENCE. That is why national security is mentioned here. Virginia Beach Kerry Campaign Volunteer Dan Redwood reported last night at the Kerry Meetup that, if our country had continued the policies of the Carter administration in regard to the environment, we would not need a drop of Middle East oil today, and we would not have had a war with Iraq. Check out www.apolloalliance.org for more information on energy independence.

So on this Friday, the 25th, I hope you'll go to see Fahrenheit 9/11 and give some thought to Mother Earth, our island home. She needs our attention. We need John Kerry.