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Crichton is a novelist of some fame, but his opinions have as much influence on me as "Babs" or any other celebrity.
The Environmental Protection Agency was a Reagan initiative and I will always hold him in high regard for that alone. For those that don't remember the bad old days, the Detroit river could be easily set on fire, and eagles became an endangered species because they were at the top of the PCB/DDT food chain. It is still unsafe for pregnant women to eat fish, particularly salmon, but important protections have been put in place that I hope will lead to uncontaminated food sources.
I am old enough to remember that we dumped our raw sewage into Puget Sound; I am old enough to remember the pulp mills that left you gasping for breath; I am old enough to remember that people died when there was an inversion layer when rain didn't wash the air clean of our pollution. We have an inversion layer warning today.
My brother-in-law was born in Austria and has visited several time in the last decade. The rivers are filthy with human waste and clean/treated water is at a premium. Water is not wasted with hot showers every day, like we do. Austrian's fill a small tub, large enough for their feet, and wash themselves with that water. Or, so I am told.
Eco-terrorists belong in jail. Anyone claiming an ecological expertise, but are not a scientist, like Crichton, better have something better than rhetoric to back up their statements. The current administration dismisses scientific opinion for the corporate agenda and this will have a long-term cost if it is not stopped. Bush has done most of the derailing of Reagan's EPA through executive decisions (not subject to legislative vote), and legislative work via corporate donations (bribery).
Ayup, I'm angry about many things. But a celebrity opinion? Please excuse me while I drink a beautifully clean glass of water from my tap.
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