Wednesday, December 03, 2003  
WXPort
Feedback
 Clubs TonightHot TixBand GuideMP3sBest Music PollSki GuideThe Best '03 
Music
Movies
Theater
Food & Drink
Books
Dance
Art
Comedy
Events
Home
Listings
Editors' Picks
New This Week
News and Features

Art
Astrology
Books
Dance
Food & Drink
Movies
Music
Television
Theater

Archives
Letters

Classifieds
Personals
Adult
Stuff at Night
The Providence Phoenix
The Portland Phoenix
FNX Radio Network

   
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend

Give wind a chance
A proposed ‘wind park’ off Cape Cod deserves a closer look. Plus, the Episcopalians show why Catholics deserve better, and Romney tries to silence his critics.

WAR IN IRAQ. Instability in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East. Global warming. Acid rain. There are many good and vital reasons to cut our dependence on oil. Yet, locally, a proposal to do just that — to build a "wind park" of 130 turbines off the coast of Cape Cod, near Nantucket — has become mired in political wrangling on behalf of a few well-heeled property owners who fear that it would detract from their scenic view.

The benefits of the project seem clear. According to Cape Wind, which would build it, the wind park would produce a maximum of 420 megawatts of electricity, meeting three-quarters of the energy needs of Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard.

Still, that hasn’t stopped some prominent summer residents from complaining. Retired journalist Walter Cronkite and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough are among those who have lodged their objections. So, incredibly, has Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council. Yes, the high-tech windmills might harm the view from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. But how can he square his environmentalism with his opposition to a clean source of energy?

The state’s political leadership is moving more cautiously. Senator John Kerry, who’s running for president, has yet to take a stand; his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, owns a mansion on Nantucket. Senator Ted Kennedy has backed off plans to sponsor an amendment that would give governors the power to stop offshore wind parks, although he may still support it if it comes up for a vote. Since Governor Mitt Romney has said he would quash Cape Wind if given the chance, Senator Kennedy may be attempting to kill it while leaving only a few smudged fingerprints.

Not that Cape Wind should get a free pass. Concerns have been raised about the turbines’ possible effects on the fishing industry and on the safety of migratory birds. And Senator Kennedy has raised some important concerns about local control. Further, Cape Wind is a profit-making venture, so there are genuine economic issues over compensating taxpayers for the use of public natural resources.

But wind power is a potential boon, not just for Cape Cod, but for the nation. The proposal needs to be discussed openly on its merits — not held hostage to the self-serving complaints of a wealthy few.

DESPITE WHAT had all the earmarks of a last-minute smear campaign, the Reverend Canon V. Gene Robinson has won final approval as the bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church USA. Robinson is openly gay, and his elevation is a remarkable achievement for him, his church, and the broader culture.

Robinson’s elevation is not without controversy, of course. The role of gays in the Church threatens to split the Anglican communion both nationally and worldwide. But the acceptance shown by most Episcopalians is something that good Catholics can only dream about, as the latest outrage from Rome demonstrates — once again — that the hierarchy is unworthy of the people it purports to lead.

On July 31, the Vatican issued a document — overseen by Pope John Paul II’s right-hand man, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger — that amounts to nothing short of an assault on gay men and lesbians, and on anyone who would extend to them the same rights enjoyed by the heterosexual majority (see "Rome casts its ballot").

Two passages stand out.

In one section, Ratzinger criticizes adoption by gay couples, writing, "Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children." For Ratzinger to make such an outrageous comment shows that he doesn’t appreciate — or doesn’t care — how much real violence the Church has done to children over the course of many years by enabling pedophile priests to rape again and again.

In another, Ratzinger lays out in quite specific language exactly how elected officials are to respond to bills that would grant marriage or civil-union rights to gay and lesbian couples. The cardinal writes that "the Catholic law-maker has a moral duty to express his opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against it."

This is hateful, hurtful language, aimed as much at the Western idea of church-state separation as it is at gay men and lesbians. It is sad that at a time when the Episcopal Church — and society in general — is struggling to find a way to do the right thing, the Catholic Church finds it so shockingly easy to keep doing the wrong thing.

The 65 million Americans who are Catholic deserve better.

GOVERNOR ROMNEY this week found a new way to silence his critics. His chief legal counsel, Daniel Winslow, filed a letter with the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance aimed at ending the practice of allowing state employees voluntarily to have 50 cents a week withheld from their paychecks to go to union political-action committees.

According to the Boston Globe, which broke the story, Winslow’s action comes at a moment when two unions are beginning to air anti-Romney radio ads.

The unions do not have a First Amendment right to collect political contributions on public property. Still, it appears that Romney and his minions are going out of their way to torment their critics. Romney can raise all the money he needs by calling a few friends at Bain Capital. How are union officials supposed to counter that?

"Unions should have the ability to collect voluntary contributions, provided there is no coercion or significant financial burden on the state," says Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, who would prefer to see the whole issue go away by moving to a system of publicly financed elections.

John Reinstein, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, adds that Romney is relying on a "hyper-technical interpretation" of state campaign-finance law.

By trying so hard to appear strong, Romney only ends up looking like a bully: weak, unsure of himself, and afraid of criticism.

What do you think? Send an e-mail to letters[a]phx.com


Issue Date: August 8 - August 14, 2003
Back to the News & Features table of contents
Click here for an archive of our past editorials.

  E-Mail This Article to a Friend







about the phoenix |  find the phoenix |  advertising info |  privacy policy |  the masthead |  feedback |  work for us

 © 2000 - 2003 Phoenix Media Communications Group