News bits and pieces 4/7/05

[TayTay]

Where is Teresa:

No Title Available
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Cancer conference today

The Cancer Institute at UPMC Shadyside will host a conference on the impact of environmental contaminants on human health today through Saturday. Doctors, scientists and public health officials will discuss the effect of mercury emissions on children, environmental factors involved in breast cancer and safer energy sources for hospitals.

Organizers said the event will kick off today at 7 p.m. with a keynote address by Teresa Heinz Kerry, who heads an environmental health initiative on behalf of the Howard Heinz Endowment. The conference will honor Herbert Needleman, the University of Pittsburgh doctor who initiated research on the effects of lead poisoning on children's behavior in the 1970s.

[TayTay]

1. Pure strategy and Rethug planning 4/7/05

Kennedy: Wealthy Foe On Horizon
Roll Call 04-06-2005
By By Nicole Duran ROLL CALL STAFF

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is gearing up for re-election as if he were a vulnerable freshman instead of an iconic figure who has loomed over his chamber since 1962.

Nonetheless, Kennedy says he takes nothing for granted and he fully expects Bay State Republicans to field an able, and wealthy, challenger before next year's election.

Though he coasted to re-election in 2000, he still remembers when now-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) spent $7.6 million against him, $6 million of which came from his personal fortune, in 1994.

"We'll have that kind of opponent again," Kennedy said in a meeting with Roll Call reporters and editors this week, adding that he expects the person to emerge late in the cycle. "We're gearing up with that expectation."

Kennedy ultimately spent almost $11.5 million on that race and held Romney to 41 percent of the vote.

But Romney was able to build on that performance to win the governor's race in 2002, just as Kennedy's 1988 opponent, Joseph Malone, positioned himself through his race against Kennedy, becoming the state treasurer two years later.

Kennedy predicted that another wealthy Republican looking to make a name for him or herself will emerge in this race with the real goal being 2008, when Sen. John Kerry (D) is up for re-election.

With Kerry contemplating another presidential bid that same year, some political watchers suspect that he could give up his Senate seat to pursue the WhiteHouse.

"Someone runs against me, and runs a strong campaign, is obviously going to have a long lead in terms of the next time,"Kennedy said.

But a spokeswoman for Kerry warned wannabe Senators not to get ahead of themselves. In addition to Republicans who may be eyeing the race, several Democratic House Members have been raising money at a furious pace in anticipation of an eventual Senate vacancy.

"I think any speculation about open Senate seats is wildly premature at this point," said Katharine Lister, spokeswoman for Kerry's re-election campaign. "Sen. Kerry is working very hard in the Senate. In terms of setting people up for 2008, Sen. Kerry is also helping Democratic candidates in 2005 and 2006, including Sen. Kennedy."

But Jane Lane, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said Kennedy's scenario is very possible.

"History has proven that the Republican Party under Mitt Romney will find any sacrificial lamb with deep pockets that will run," Lane said. "We suspect that they will follow the same pattern and will find someone who wants to make their mark."

[TayTay]

2. Geez, there are actual rules as to how many

Senators can ride on a plane at the same time. I did not know this.

Forty to Attend Papal Funeral
Roll Call 04-06-2005
By By Sonny Bunch ROLL CALL STAFF
SNIP

Congressional leaders are still in the process of working out logistical details related to travel and lodgings. Included in the list of problems are finding an airplane and waiving a rule that dictates that no more than 12 Senators can be on a single plane at one time.

The rule was imposed after 65 Senators flew to the 1968 funeral of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.). Although the plane reached its destination without incident, it was decided that the possibility of having a majority of the Senate wiped out in a freak airplane accident could be avoided by limiting the number of legislators on each flight.

[ginnyinWI]

4. good idea

I'm nervous about the Papal funeral too, about security. So many heads of state and government are going to be there! The good thing is that it has come up unexpectedly, so gives any bad guys less time to plan anything.

[TayTay]

3. Gun Makers look for Congress to shield them.

As gun makers seek to limit liability, a family stands opposed
'99 Worcester slaying highlights arms issue
By Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Correspondent | April 7, 2005

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/04/07/as_gun_makers_seek_to_limit_liability_a_family_stands_opposed?pg=full

THIS STORY HAD THE LOVLIEST PIC THAT IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND ON THE GLOBE WEBSITE. FULL BODY HUG FROM Sen. KERRY TO MOTHER OF VIC IN STORY. Sorry, everyone, I tried to get it.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, would exempt gun dealers and manufacturers like Kahr from virtually all liability lawsuits involving gun deaths. Backers of the bill -- including most Republicans, several Democrats, and Senate minority leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat -- say the law is necessary to protect the legitimate gun industry from an onslaught of what they consider baseless lawsuits.

But opponents of the bill, including Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, say gun makers would get more protection under the law than other US industries receive. And, they argue, the measure could help negligent gun dealers and companies escape punishment.

At a press conference this week, Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, stood with the Hernandez family and several other relatives of victims of gun violence at a press conference on Capitol Hill. Reed said the bill amounts to ''blanket legal immunity" for the gun industry and urged his colleages to stop it.

''What it would essentially do is legislate irresponsibility," Reed said.

[whometense]

6. The Globe is

notoriously STINGY with online photos. I'll try to remember to bring it to work tomorrow and scan it.

[blm]

9. Please post this in GD. It's important for others to see the fight goes on

.

[whometense]

10. obsessive much???

Ask and ye shall receive...sorry it's so newspaper-fuzzy, it's a sweet picture.

[TayTay]

11. Thanks Whome

I wish I had this one in color. It is so sweet.

[whometense]

12. you're welcome!

I'd love to have it in color too. It's a lovely picture, and perfectly in character. :loveya:

[LittleClarkie]

13. Call the Globe and see how much it costs to get a copy

I bet they'd reproduce it for you for some nominal fee.

[JohnKleeb]

14. Kerry and Reed are on the right side of this issue

Good on them.

[whometense]

5. Barbara Boxer was on Ed Schultz

yesterday talking about the new EPA(?) appointee(?? I was in and out of the car at the time, so I missed pieces - please correct me if I'm wrong).

She was talking about some pesticide study where poor parents who used pesticides like Raid were given camcorders and encouraged to keep up their pesticide use so the effects on their infants could be studied. Culture of life? Oh, yeah. Boxer was (rightly) beside herself, and put a hold on the nomination.

[TayTay]

8. Boxer, Kerry, Leahy news article 3/24/05

SENS. LEAHY, JEFFORDS, BOXER, KERRY ASK EPA ADMINISTRATOR/NOMINEE JOHNSON FOR EXPLANATION OF STUDIES’ OMISSIONS FROM FINAL MERCURY RULE
US Fed News 03-24-2005


WASHINGTON, March 24 -- The office of Sen. Patrick S. Leahy, D-Vt., issued the following press release:

On March 22 The Washington Post reported that the Bush Administration, in finalizing its recently released mercury rules, had failed to consider a report by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis that estimated much higher levels of benefits from controlling mercury emissions from power plants. The Harvard study estimated $5 billion per year in potential public health benefits 15 years from now by cutting mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants in half, compared to EPA's estimate of up to only $50 million a year. EPA estimated the cost of the cleanup to utilities and their customers to be $750 million a year in 2020. On Thursday, a further news report by Inside EPA revealed that an EPA water office report had reached similar conclusions and had encouraged the Agency to consider the cardiovascular benefits, as well as the neurological benefits, of controlling mercury. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), James Jeffords (I-Vt., and the Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) Thursday asked Acting EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson for an explanation of the omissions, and they sharply criticized the Administration for disregarding these analyses before finalizing the rules. In their letter to Administrator Johnson, the senators also asked him to stay implementation of the rules until the Harvard study's results now can be considered. The text of the senators' letter follows, below.]

[politicasista]

7. It's good to hear she is still out there