Category: Fall 2002 Newswire
Kennedy’s Medical Records Tapped: President Suffered Incredible Pain, More Than Previously Thought, says Author
By Randy Trick
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2002–The cover of the December edition of The Atlantic Monthly pictures a vibrant President Kennedy frolicking in the Atlantic Ocean, and teases the cover story inside, by Robert Dallek, a professor of history and co-director of the Boston University Washington Center.
The photo is tinted blue, as is the tone of Dallek’s piece, based on the first opportunity for a writer to view Kennedy’s medical records from 1953 until his death in 1963.
Despite the healthy-looking photo on the magazine’s cover and a headline reading “A Picture of Health,” the article shows that Kennedy was a medical mess. Early in his life, he suffered chronic intestinal ills, the treatment of which may have led to the degenerative back troubles always searing though the adult Kennedy’s body, leaving him unable to put on his left sock.
It’s likely that the steroids Kennedy took in his teenage years led to his osteoporosis. X-rays Dallek viewed showed that Kennedy’s lower vertebrae had “turned to mush,” as Dallek said recently, and were littered with fractures.
Kennedy’s playboy lifestyle already having been discussed at length in a myriad of books and articles over the last decade, Dallek offers something new – the first ever analysis of Kennedy’s sealed medical records, based on research he did for his forthcoming book on the former president..
“It was pretty startling to see,” Dallek said. “It feels very good, of course,” to have been the first to look at Kennedy’s medical records.
Dallek said the sheer amount of medications Kennedy’s doctors gave him is sensational.
During his presidency, Kennedy was receiving steroids for Addison’s disease, a hormonal disorder; painkillers for his back; anti-spasmodics for his colitis; antibiotics for his urinary tract infections; and antihistamines for his allergies.
Researching Kennedy’s near -rippling health problems only bolstered Dallek’s appreciation for the man’s courage.
“He was so buoyant, courageous and stoic about it,” Dallek said. “I’ve said if I were in his health I’d cower in a corner with a blanket.”
Absent in the pages and pages of medical history Dallek waded through over two days is any mention of sexually transmitted diseases, about which several authors have hypothesized.
“There is nothing – nothing,” Dallek said. Intentionally, he avoided speculation about Kennedy’s womanizing.
In his article, Dallek mentions only a chronic urinary tract infection, attributable to just about anything.
The Atlantic article–the first of two that will appear in the magazine before Dallek’s biography of Kennedy, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, is published next spring, –reads like a medical analysis. It includes details never before unveiled, but perhaps even more spectacular has been the attention Dallek’s findings have generated.
“What impresses me is the phenomenal hold Kennedy still has on the imagination of the world,” Dallek said. “It’s fascinating why people like Kennedy, deceased, still capture the public imagination.”
Since Dallek’s discoveries were publicized over the weekend in The New York Times and early this week on major television and radio talk shows, he has received a slew of e-mails, including one from Greece – “It’s all the talk in Greece,” he recalled it saying.
To Dallek, his article is only a case study of a greater issue, one that, given Vice President Dick Cheney’s history of heart trouble, is ever-present. He wants readers to ponder some questions: To what extent should the health of public figures be public, and is society sophisticated enough to see through medical stereotypes to recognize the archetype of leadership?
Dallek called Cheney a “walking time bomb.” He said that the public does not know Cheney’s cholesterol level or the extent of his heart problems, although doctors attest publicly to his health.
During Kennedy’s years of public service, doctors also lauded his health, at one time calling it “exceptional,” Dallek said in his article. Records, however, reveal that the president’s cholesterol level once exceeded 400, and typically stayed in the 300 range.
The records “read like the ordeal of an old man, not one in his late thirties, in the prime of his life,” Dallek wrote in the article.
“These guys have their finger on the nuclear trigger,” said Dallek. “Yet Kennedy carried it out brilliantly.” Even with a backbone of mush.
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
Sununu Looks to the Future
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2002--Permanent tax cuts, a department of homeland security, terrorism insurance and a prescription drug benefit attached to Medicare. During an appearance on "John McLaughlin's One on One," Sen.-elect John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) discussed everything from the importance of these issues to an impending war with Iraq to his own recent victory over New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.
The program, produced and hosted by John McLaughlin, also featured Sen.-elect Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and will air on Sunday, Nov. 24, on New Hampshire Public Television.
Sununu said that although he supports the president now as he has before, his "primary role is not to work for the re-election of President Bush" but to provide the leadership his constituents are expecting because they want "leadership on issues even if they don't agree with you all the time."
He was elected because of the support and visits he received from both the president and First Lady Laura Bush and because he demonstrated the qualities that citizens of New Hampshire want during his campaign against Shaheen when he stood by his beliefs on Social Security despite attack ads against him, Sununu said.
"This is an important issue," said Sununu, who supports Bush's private investment plan for Social Security. "Retirees care about their future, and I didn't shy away from my ideas about Social Security."
McLaughlin praised Sununu and said he may be instrumental in winning over wavering senators. He "has a very bright future in the Senate and I admire him for sticking to his guns on Social Security," McLaughlin said during the taping.
When McLaughlin questioned him about how the Republican agenda would fit into a war with Iraq that might cost upwards of $9 billion to $13 billion a month, Sununu, a member of the House Budget Committee, stressed the importance of setting priorities when creating a budget.
"We've put together tough budgets before, and we'll do it in the future," Sununu said.
He added that it is difficult to estimate how much of the financial burden the United States might carry in a war against Iraq until it is known what part coalition partners will play in sharing those costs.
Alexander and Sununu agreed about the importance of passing bills for terrorism insurance and a Department of Homeland Security, saying that the threat facing the nation is different from what it was 10 to 15 years ago and that the passage of the two bills will help instill confidence in the American people about their protection.
In a post-taping interview, Sununu said his transition from the House to the Senate is going very well and that it is "a busy and exciting time."
"Finishing work in the House has given me an opportunity to see a lot of friends," Sununu said. "In the House there are people who are excited about the results of the election, picking up seats and taking back control of the Senate, and the orientation has gone very smoothly, I think, in part because I'm going to be entering the Senate with a number of other new senators that have been friends for years."
Following the Senate appointment in Alaska to succeed Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski, who won the state's gubernatorial race, and the resolution of next month's runoff election in Louisiana, Sununu said he expects to learn his committee assignments. Because of his background and interest in technology and science, he named the banking, commerce or foreign relations committees as his preferences.
Sununu added that he looks forward to working closely with Sen. Judd Gregg, the new senior senator for New Hampshire, and the entire New Hampshire delegation during the next session of Congress.
"We'll work closely on any issue that has a direct impact on families and the economy back in New Hampshire," Sununu said. "I don't think anyone has been happier about my election and regaining the Republican majority than Judd Gregg."
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire.
Democrats Expected to Support Homeland Security
By Andrew Kosow
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2002--Both Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) were expected to vote for the Republican version of the homeland security bill that was expected to pass the Senate late Tuesday or Wednesday.
"Almost 100 percent of the bill was exactly like the legislation some of us drafted," Lieberman said Tuesday on CNN, explaining why he would vote for a bill that includes key provisions he has vocally opposed.
"Many good things are still in this bill from the original Lieberman document," Dodd said late Tuesday on the Senate floor. "That is why I support this bill."
In what will be the largest reorganization of the federal government in a half-century, the new Department of Homeland Security would encompass 22 existing government agencies with approximately 170,000 federal workers.
As chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, Lieberman first crafted the legislation to create a Department of Homeland Security, but his version and the Republican version could not be reconciled.
Both sides have said the most contentious issue was the Bush administration's insistence on changing federal union protections. President Bush said the protections constrained his ability to protect the country during a national crisis.
The Democrats vehemently opposed Bush's approach and refused to allow a vote. Lieberman, speaking on the Senate floor earlier this fall during the debate over workers' rights, said that if union protections were removed, "we may as well not have a Department of Homeland Security at all."
The Democrats' defeat in the Nov. 5 elections - which many attribute to the perception that Democrats were obstructing the passage of this bill - all but assured that the Republican version would pass in January. The Democrats then relented and allowed a vote in the lame-duck session.
Those union protections were significantly watered down in the bill before the Senate.
A Congressional Quarterly analysis of the labor provisions reads, "It would give the president the ability to exempt some employees from collective bargaining units for national security reasons. It also would give the department the ability to make changes to personnel rules but would establish a process for unions to object to and negotiate on those changes."
When asked on CNN if he regretted his defense of union members' rights, Lieberman said, "You never regret when you do the right thing."
There are some provisions in the House version that Democrats said were sneaked in as a sop to Republican supporters, but they were assured by the Senate Republican leadership that much of it would later be "scrubbed from the legislation," as Dodd put it on the Senate floor while explaining his support of the bill.
The Republican-controlled House passed the legislation, 299 to 121, earlier this month.
During that debate, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) - who has held nearly 40 hearings and briefings as chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security - said, "We need to reorganize our government to be able to implement our new strategy and confront the new terrorist threat facing this nation and the world. We need to wake up and do it now."
Published in The Hour, in Connecticut.
Bradley Adjusts to Congress
By Riley Yates
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2002--He introduces himself as Jeb - not Congressman Bradley or, more casually, Congressman Jeb Bradley - just Jeb. He apologizes for being late, in a city where, as he readily admits, "if you are on time, then they say you've wasted a good 15 minutes."
Sitting at a restaurant in crowded Union Station near the Capitol, Bradley, in Washington last week to attend congressional freshman orientation, looked every bit the smooth politician, dressed in the typical Washington suit: blue jacket and pants, light blue shirt, setoff with a dark red tie.
But he has an element of self-confession that sets him apart from many of his soon-to-be colleagues in Congress.
"There's an awful lot to this job, and we have to put the pieces of the puzzle into place pretty quickly," he said between bites of a portobello mushroom sandwich. "There's a lot of times when I don't know what's going to happen. I'm learning every day, and I'm going to have to adjust my attention."
It is not that Bradley cannot assume the role of the golden-tongued, firm-handshake, yes- that-issue-is-one-of-my-priorities politician.
After all, he defeated seven other Republican candidates in the 1st District primary in September and won an often-bitter campaign on Nov. 5 against Democrat Martha Fuller Clark, an opponent with much greater name recognition, to take Sen.-elect John Sununu's House seat.
He answers the bread-and-butter questions - how do you stand on issue X, what are your priorities in Congress - with ease and has the requisite sound bite on hand.
At lunch, for instance, he deftly reeled off a several-minute discourse about the widening of Interstate 93, ending with every pol's go-to line: "I would hope that the parties [involved] could sit down around a table and negotiate."
What is unusual is that Bradley on occasion slips out of that mode. Asked how the orientation was going, he talked of a successful vote on a procedural motion that would allow the Republican leadership a greater hand in overseeing appropriations measures.
"Not really knowing the ins and outs and the people [involved] it makes sense to me," Bradley said. No 10 facts to support his vote. No this-is-what's-best-for-the-nation-and-New-Hampshire spiel.
Just that it made sense to him.
"I've always felt I don't know all the answers," Bradley said later in the lunch.
The role Bradley sees himself playing as a freshman reflects his apparently unassuming nature. A pro-abortion rights Republican who has also supported gay rights and environmental issues in the past, he said he does not envision making waves by battling it out with the GOP leadership or with Democratic members on the other side of the aisle.
"My style is not going to be to butt heads," Bradley said. "I'm going to focus on national security and economic security. Those are issues the Republican Party agrees on."
Given his lack of seniority, Bradley said he hopes for now to secure a seat on either the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee or the Armed Services Committee. "Probably not both," he said. "They're attractive committees to be on."
Other possible committee assignments he mentioned were Education and the Workforce, Science, Small Business and Veterans' Affairs.
But before committee placements are decided Bradley has more than a few basic housekeeping items to attend to. Finishing orientation in Washington this week, he also needs to set up his Manchester-based district office, rent an apartment here, get his Capitol office assignment and hire his congressional staff.
He said he did not mind being stuck on the top floor of a House office building, generally seen by lawmakers as unappealing property. "If I have a window, I'll have a view," he joked.
Regardless of where his office is located, Bradley said, he hopes it will have windows that open. As a mountain climber who has conquered 28 of New Hampshire's 48 peaks of 4,000 feet or higher, "I like my fresh air," he said.
As for a staff, he said, it will take some time to sort through applications and even more time to get used to having so many aides working for him.
During his six terms as a state representative from Wolfeboro, Bradley shared about a dozen aides with New Hampshire's 399 other House members, and had only seven paid workers on his election campaign staff. Sen.-elect Sununu and Rep. Charlie Bass, by comparison, each have more than 15 aides on their payroll.
His campaign manager, Debra Vanderbeek, will be his chief of staff in the next Congress, but beyond that, he said, he has made no decisions and is looking at "numerous" resumes.
"There's a lot to do," Bradley said as he glanced at the cell phone he also uses to tell time. Noticing that he was already five minutes late to his next orientation meeting -
"I'm not certain [what it's about], just doing what the schedule tells me" - he paid his bill and walked the three blocks to the Capitol building.
He was probably about 15 minutes late to the meeting. Maybe he is getting used to being a congressman after all.
Published in The Manchester Union Leader, in New Hampshire.
Anti-Gay Tactics Used by Both Parties During Midterm Elections
By Joe Crea
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2002--Through direct mail, radio and television, both Republicans and Democrats used a record number of anti-gay tactics during the midterm elections this fall said the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). But in the thirteen cases documented by the HRC, two involved Democrats attacking Republicans.
"HRC continues to assert a non-partisan element when almost all of the anti-gay stances in the midterm elections were conducted by Republicans," said Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass). "These examples further indicate that the Republican Party is anti-gay."
David Smith, communications director for the HRC, a non-profit group, said he didn't agree with that characterization since an "anti gay comment is an anti-gay comment" and were used by both parties.
Rep. Frank also said that there was an "organized effort" by Republicans to use anti-gay tactics. Speaking in reference to one of the two cases where a Democrat attacked a Republican, he said that Senate nominee Alex Sanders (D-SC) "just blurted out" an anti-gay comment during a debate when he attacked Rudy Giuliani's endorsement of his opponent Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) saying that "Giuliani's wife kicked him out and he moved in with two gay men and a Shih Tzu. Is that South Carolina values? I don't think so."
Smith said that HRC looked very hard for an organized national effort by Republicans in this midterm election cycle and found that none were "organized" and had no "common denominator except that they were anti-gay attacks."
The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), the largest group of gay and lesbian Republicans, said that Democrats did their fair share of gay baiting, some of which was not even listed on the HRC report.
LCR director of public affairs, Michael Mead, said Rep. Frank is "so partisan and so blind that he can't see the forest from the trees" and noted that Rep. David Phelps (D-Ill), who introduced a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, placed pink-colored leaflets on parked cars noting that his Republican opponent, John Shimkus, was endorsed by the LCR and was pro-gay rights. Shimkus went on to win the race.
And also missing from the list, according to the LCR, was a whispering campaign conducted by Democrats in Hawaii who sought to spread rumors that that Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle, was a closeted lesbian. LCR said that no gay Democratic leaders or groups spoke out against this action.
HRC cited various cases in which Republicans used anti-gay tactics. In Arkansas's 4th District race, Republican Jay Dickey smeared his Democratic opponent, Mike Ross, implying that he wanted to let "gays promote their lifestyle to children…"
And in the Florida Governor's race, a Orlando political consultant and former executive director of the state Christian Coalition, produced a telephone message that implied Democrat candidate Bill McBride supported gay marriage. The call ended with, "This call is paid for on behalf of Jeb Bush campaign, Republican," though it wasn't endorsed by Republican Governor Jeb Bush.
"If some right wing nut wants to do something, there's not much one can do," said Michael Mead, Director of Public Affairs for the LCR. "But when you have the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee doing this it is particularly egregious."
But according to the HRC report the National Republican Congressional Committee also sent out a direct mail piece attacking Ed O'Brien (D-Pa) saying he "received support from some of the most radical special interest groups in the nation-including groups that support expansion of gay rights."
One case during the midterm elections that has been met with a mixed response involved a television ad supported by state Democratic Party leaders in Montana that questioned the sexual orientation of Republican state Senator Mike Taylor. The piece showed Taylor, former beauty school owner and hairdresser, administering skin care to a man by massaging his cheekbones.
Rep. Frank called the ad more "insensitive" than a case of gay baiting but the LCR and HRC said it was an absolute attack piece.
"The audience it was intended for had anti-gay tones and the gay community as a whole was outraged," said Smith.
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
Mainer Looking Over the Star Spangled Banner
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2002--Groups of people stroll by an old and tattered flag on exhibit. One asks in a half-interested condition, "What's the big deal?"
Marilyn Zoidis steps out and explains in her best, animated story-telling voice the significance of the original Star Spangled Banner.
To Bangor native Zoidis, curator of the Star Spangled Banner exhibit at the Smithsonian National American History Museum, history is at the same level as a good Stephen King novel.
"Even growing up, I used to go in my room and read history books like novels," Zoidis said. "I read the new John Adams biography and cried when Abigail died and for the alcoholic sons. I understood John's pain. I am sick."
Back in her office, Zoidis shows off her coastal Maine paintings and a map of Bangor. University of Maine mugs and a few local history books crowd her shelves. Zoidis began her history obsession back in a living room on Sunday afternoons. She would sit in front of the television with her father Peter and watch shows like "Meet the Press" and "Big Picture" for hours on end. She would become mesmerized by the historic footage, the military uniforms of the time periods and the futility of the battle.
"I was only seven or eight years-old and I was captivated by this idea of war and it's long-term implications," Zoidis said.
Her father had served in World War II, and the war stories seemed incredible to her.
She still has her father's old college history textbooks sitting on her bookshelf.
Growing up, she worked in her father's restaurant, Pilot's Grill, typing the menus in the back room. Former Senator William Cohen's father, Reuben, worked as a baker and would bring bread to her father's restaurant daily.
"He would bring me a fresh, baked roll everyday," Zoidis said. "It's funny what a small world it is."
History has always been a thread connecting all the steps of her career.
Zoidis had taught history at Bangor High School, and had worked as director of the Bangor Historical Society and Freeport Historical Society in the late '80s.
Years later, at age 52, Zoidis now works as curator and historian at the Smithsonian museum, working closely on the Star Spangled Banner exhibit and the September 11 exhibit. She has degrees in both education and history. She still visits Maine a few times a year, to go sailing and to celebrate the holidays with friends and family. The magnitude of her job still hasn't hit her yet.
"Everyday I drive into work, and I pass by the Jefferson, Lincoln and Washington memorials. I make it a point to remind myself of where I am and what a special time it is," Zoidis said.
She still hasn't gotten quite used to the attention she garners and her eyes still light up at the very mention of celebrity figures such as Colin Powell and Senator Bob Dole.
"When Bob Dole came to take a tour of the flag exhibit, he was so respectful, saying hello to everyone," Zoidis said. "He didn't even put on airs when people asked him questions. He would say, 'You'll have to ask Marilyn that.'"
She receives confidential memos from the White House when the President and the First Lady want to make appearances.
"It's so elaborate. They give directions on where everybody should be every second. They need to get clearance on everyone and they send the dogs in," Zoidis said. "There are Secret Service looming everywhere."
Zoidis' charm stems from her fairness-- she doesn't treat anyone differently. Everyone from the security guard in the Smithsonian elevator to the President of the United States gets treated with kindness. This year, she received two big awards from the Smithsonian-The director's award for outstanding contributions and the peer award. She spoke about the peer award most fondly.
Valeska Hilbig, Smithsonian public affairs specialist, said that Marilyn is a very popular Smithsonian staff member to talk to.
"I have never seen more people interested in any of our staff," Hilbig said. "So many people want to come to talk to Marilyn."
"When you know your colleagues notice your contributions, it's such a great feeling," Zoidis said.
Zoidis had never figured she knew so many people until she went on television to support the flag exhibit.
"After I did the Today Show, I heard from people I hadn't heard from in ages," Zoidis said happily. "The only thing with television is, I will never master the thing in the ear."
Zoidis is working on co-writing a book called "For Which it Stands: The American Flag in American Life," along with the head conservator of the project, Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss. She hopes to educate people on many of the flag myths that simply aren't true.
"First off, Betsy Ross didn't make the first flag, and I want to blow that message right out of the water," Zoidis said. "Also, not many people know the Star Spangled Banner was written to the tune of a British drinking song."
While Zoidis has enjoyed taking part in the interpretation of an incredible American icon, she refuses to even touch the flag, leaving it up to the conservators. When she was offered to cut a stitch from the wool backing of the flag, she politely refused.
"I use scotch tape to keep my hems up," Zoidis said matter-of-factly. "When they asked me to cut a stitch on the flag I said no. I'd probably cut the flag."
Zoidis has also co-written a book on local Maine history called "Woodsmen and Whigs: Historic Images of Bangor," with a prelude by Senator Cohen.
"I'm just a kid from Bangor, Maine who never thought she'd end up at the Smithsonian," Zoidis said with a grin. "I really had no plan. I just love what I do."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Veterans’ Benefits Partially Increased
article missing
McCain Backs Meehan Suit, Has Plans for FEC
By Randy Trick
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2002--At a midday press conference Thursday, Sen. John McCain, the campaign finance reformer from Arizona, had harsh words for the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which, he said, distorted the landmark law he and Rep. Martin T. Meehan pushed through Congress earlier this year.
McCain, a Republican, said he backs a lawsuit Meehan has filed against the FEC, and plans many of his own. He charged that four commissioners on the six-member board are too tied to partisan politics and have created new loopholes to keep money flowing into the political system.
"A law borne of years of debate on the floor of the Senate and House, and which was secured by the mobilization of thousands upon thousands of Americans, should not be strangled in its crib by four unelected officials," McCain said.
The Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act, signed into law last March, sought to end the solicitation of soft money by the major parties and the prevalence of "issue ads," which do not directly name a candidate. However, both Meehan, the Lowell Democrat, and McCain allege the FEC commissioners allowed soft money to continue by giving the national parties a chance to create "shadow entities" which can still raise soft money.
"I don't think the FEC has gotten the message that the people want campaign finance reform," Meehan said.
Meehan and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) have filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The FEC has not yet responded to the suit.
"You can't have a better ally than John McCain," Meehan said. "He has a way with plain-speak that resonates with the American people."
McCain, in addition to lambasting the FEC commissioners, said he has plans to reform the entire FEC.
"Trust has been abused time and time again by some at the FEC … The FEC has lost all credibility," McCain said. "It must either be eliminated or fundamentally and dramatically reconstituted, and I will introduce legislation to accomplish this."
When asked for specifics, McCain said he was looking at all options, including changing how commissioners are appointed and how they can be removed, and possibly abolishing or restructuring the entire commission. Meehan said he hopes to co-author legislation with McCain to meet their goals.
"We're looking at what's wrong with the FEC," Meehan said. "It is by nature a partisan entity."
McCain indicated that he intends to file a series of lawsuits against the FEC, or corporations and unions that willingly circumvented his campaign finance reform law.
Also, McCain hopes to put the public spotlight on big-money donors.
"We will be challenging these individuals in public as well as in the courts," McCain said. "I am totally confident we'll succeed in court."
Published in The Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in Massachusetts.
On The Launch Pad and Ready to Go: All They Need Now Are The Funds
By Joe Crea
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2002--Citing a depleted Superfund program, the Environmental Protection Agency has denied Atlas Tack Corp and six other high-priority toxic waste sites, the necessary funds required to clean up year's worth of virulent wastes, according to various environmental groups.
The Sierra Club said the Superfund program, a trust fund that's used to clean-up hazardous waste sites when the polluter cannot be found or refuses to pay, is not being funded properly. It once boasted an impressive 3.6 billion in 1995 when a mandatory polluter's taxes expired. Presently, the funds have dwindled to nothing and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group projected 28 million in funds for FY03.
"Everyone knows that these are dangerous sites and you could get sick by being near them," said Julie Wolk, an environmental health advocate for US PIRG. "It's getting close to a crisis-type situation and becoming more obvious that they must be cleaned up."
US PIRG said that by refusing to reauthorize a tax that placed the burden on polluters rather than citizens, the Bush administration was trying to phase out the Superfund program completely.
"This is the first administration blatantly going on the record to not support this tax and Reagan was the one who authorized it," said Jessica Frohman, national conservation organizer for the Sierra Club. "It wasn't reauthorized during the Clinton administration, but he was trying to get it reauthorized. We feel there's no reason why the individual taxpayers should be cleaning up these sites."
According to the EPA's regional office in Massachusetts, Atlas Tack was asked to clean up their site in 2000 and they never responded. "The EPA could file a suit against then and at one point we asked for the money in phases to accomplish our three goals, taking the buildings down first, cleaning the upland areas and then the marsh but they never responded," said Elaine Stanley, the Environmental Protection Agency's remedial project manger.
In a profile on their website entitled, "Communities At Risk: Fairhaven, Massachusetts," the Sierra Club said that Atlas Tack Corp left enough wastes and pollutants behind that "could threaten the health of more than 7,000 people who live within a mile of the facility and more than 15,000 people who drink groundwater from wells within three miles of the site."
The EPA Mass office estimates that the cleanup is going to take a little over two years. The funding requested will handle what remains contaminated at the site.
According to Ms. Stanley, most superfund sites are getting less and less funding. "Once a site gets funding it's easier to get money," said Stanley. "It's hard to start new sites."
Since the beginning of 2001, the EPA Mass office has been examining how toxic the marsh is. Presently they are in the final stages of the clean up, having completed the chemical analysis and concluding the remedial design.
A priority panel, composed of managers from across the country, determines who will get funding. The sites get ranked based on cost, health, ecological risks and when it can be completed.
When Atlas Tack closed its doors in 1985, the cost for the EPA to clean up the site has been $2.8 million. Atlas Tack manufactured wire tacks, steel nails and similar items. The company discharged most of its wastes-cyanides, heavy metals and arsenic-for thirty decades into an unlined lagoon used as a settling pond. The deposits contaminated the groundwater and spread into neighboring estuaries.
"We've been funded for the feasibility study, which examines alternative options, and the remedial investigation which determines the nature of the risks," said Ms. Stanley. "We are pretty much dressed up and ready to go for the construction part but we have not been funded for this."
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
Veterans Frustrated by Compromise
By Andrew Kosow
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2002--John Walsh, a disabled veteran from Norwalk, is upset with Congress because of a compromise reached Wednesday night that he and many veterans groups say put too many limits on a new enhancement of benefits for injured veterans.
"I am disappointed," said Walsh, an Army and Navy veteran who took part in five major land battles in Europe during World War II with the 320th infantry division. "It is an injustice, but half a loaf is better than none."
Veterans groups said they were originally told that President Bush would veto enhanced benefits, known as concurrent receipt, because of the program's cost. A veto now seems unlikely.
The provision for veterans in this year's defense authorization bill would alter a century-old law that requires a deduction in a veteran's pension check equal to the amount of any disability payment. The new approach would allow veterans wounded in combat and those with service-connected injuries who are 60 percent disabled to receive both benefits in full.
"For more than a century, the law has unfairly forced disabled retirees to fund their own disability compensation," Norm Ryan Jr., president of the Retired Officers Association, said in a press release. "We intend to track implementation closely…and continue to fight to expand eligibility."
For example, if a retired veteran of 20 years - the minimum to receive a pension - was injured in combat and was entitled to a disability payment of $300 a month from the government, the $300 would be deducted from his pension check. This new bill would allow eligible veterans to keep the disability payment.
Agreement on the benefits was the last hurdle to congressional passage of a $393 billion defense authorization bill. The pension provision is a compromise between the Senate and House versions. The Senate had originally asked for full compensation.
There are no reliable estimates as to the cost because of the maze of new criteria that determine whether a veteran is eligible for the benefits.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that there are 33,500 disabled combat veterans in the United States. It is unclear how many will be affected by the new bill. But Richard Fuller, the national legislative director of the Paralyzed Veterans Association, said that every injured veteran should receive the special compensation.
"This bill is just a tip of the hat by Congress to this issue," he said in a telephone interview. "This is just another injustice for military retirees, and we will fight it. He indicated that the guidelines are so stringent that no more than 10,000 veterans might be eligible for the increases.
A spokesperson for Rep. Chris Shays (R-4th) said he supported full benefits for all combat-disabled veterans, but that the bill as approved would be an improvement for veterans.
Payments were expected to start six months after the legislation was signed into law.
Published in The Hour, in Connecticut.
