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Ryan, RFK Jr. chop down Bush
Kennedy: Environment has been under attack
Heidi A. De Vries
Issue date: 10/28/04 Section: News
Another duo comprising a pretty face and power brain visited UCF yesterday to persuade students to vote for John Kerry.
Actress Meg Ryan, popularly known for romantic comedies such as Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry met Sally, said she was concerned with how the current administration was treating the environment, "amongst other things."
In the standing-room only crowd that spilled out of the Student Union Key West Room, Ryan continued, "This administration seems to say that we have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. This seems all wrong to me."
She then introduced Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy didn't waste any time jumping into problems he said have been caused by the current White House, claiming President George W. Bush and his administration have "mounted an all-out attack" on the environment during Bush's tenure.
The lawyer added that over the last four years, more than 400 environmental laws and policies have been dismantled or diminished due to the "concealed radical agenda" of Bush.
One such change relates to the amount of mercury in freshwater fish. "In 19 states, it's unsafe to eat freshwater fish, including Florida ... I had my levels of mercury tested and it's way over the level that's considered safe, and that's from eating fish," he said. Kennedy said that one out of six pregnant women have such high mercury levels in their wombs that it causes an average permanent loss of five to seven IQ points in their unborn children.
"This is the worst administration in the history of the presidency," Kennedy said in a phone interview prior to his campus visit. "He is in the pockets of his corporate contributors and has been carrying out a stealth attack on the environment even before he took office."
Kennedy detailed that attack, mentioning several Bush-placed administration officials who are slated to protect the environment but were previously paid by the people who now "subvert" the laws set in place.
Actress Meg Ryan, popularly known for romantic comedies such as Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry met Sally, said she was concerned with how the current administration was treating the environment, "amongst other things."
In the standing-room only crowd that spilled out of the Student Union Key West Room, Ryan continued, "This administration seems to say that we have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. This seems all wrong to me."
She then introduced Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy didn't waste any time jumping into problems he said have been caused by the current White House, claiming President George W. Bush and his administration have "mounted an all-out attack" on the environment during Bush's tenure.
The lawyer added that over the last four years, more than 400 environmental laws and policies have been dismantled or diminished due to the "concealed radical agenda" of Bush.
One such change relates to the amount of mercury in freshwater fish. "In 19 states, it's unsafe to eat freshwater fish, including Florida ... I had my levels of mercury tested and it's way over the level that's considered safe, and that's from eating fish," he said. Kennedy said that one out of six pregnant women have such high mercury levels in their wombs that it causes an average permanent loss of five to seven IQ points in their unborn children.
"This is the worst administration in the history of the presidency," Kennedy said in a phone interview prior to his campus visit. "He is in the pockets of his corporate contributors and has been carrying out a stealth attack on the environment even before he took office."
Kennedy detailed that attack, mentioning several Bush-placed administration officials who are slated to protect the environment but were previously paid by the people who now "subvert" the laws set in place.