Free Republic

NEW BEDFORD — Environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacked the Bush administration, corporate polluters, the media and a misinformed public Thursday night in an impassioned speech about the erosion of U.S. democracy and the global environment. "Democracy and the environment are intertwined," said Mr. Kennedy, who spoke in front of a crowd that half-filled the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. "You can't separate one from the other." Mr. Kennedy, who serves as a chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and president of Waterkeeper Alliance, also teaches law at Pace University in New York, writes books and co-hosts a weekly show...

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's emergence as Pope Benedict XVI serves as a sharp reminder that the church has a set of strong views that Catholic politicians often find themselves at odds with. Certainly this has been the case with the three Catholics -- all Democrats -- in Rhode Island's congressional delegation: Sen. Jack Reed, Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Rep. Jim Langevin. For example, Reed supports abortion rights. Kennedy generally does, too, although he makes an exception for certain late-term abortions. Langevin generally opposes abortion rights, so it's easy to think of him as closely attuned to church views. But he parts...