Howard Dean discusses Vieques in Puerto Rico Friday.

[madfloridian]

Dean says United States should clean up Vieques
http://www.wrgb.com/news/regional/regional.asp?selection=article_13298

(San Juan, Puerto Rico - AP) — Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean says the United States should clean up a former Navy bombing site on Vieques, an island in Puerto Rico.

Dean visited the site this weekend.

Residents of Vieques say the US Navy's bombing range left contaminants that have caused several health problems, including a high incidence of cancer. The bombing site was in use for six decades, until last year.

Dean, a former Democratic presidential candidate, met with community leaders and residents of Vieques yesterday. He said he's confident as a doctor that there are still enormous health problems on Vieques....."END SNIP

[madfloridian]

1. Kick because Reagan news is overwhelming the board.

Also I have concerns about the fact that this has been moved to Avon Park, Florida, with little oversight. I believe it is also going on in the panhandle of Florida.

This concerns me, and I wish it concerned others.

[cjbuchanan]

2. Good for Dean

We need more people to point things like this out. Thank you Dr. Dean.

[shance]

3. Thank you. I had not known about Vieques until now.

More important information Americans should know.

[madfloridian]

4. Close down Vieques, open up Florida.

No oversight, no clean-up. No outrage.

You are welcome...I wish more cared.

[Philostopher]

5. Have heard this mentioned.

I think it comes up any time a politician in a state with a large Puerto Rican constituency can be arsed to bring it up, but it never really goes anywhere. Kudos to Dean for making it visible again, and I hope people will start to pay attention -- but it's going to have to continue to be flogged until there are folks in power in DC who care enough about the results of our behaviors to do something about it. Let's hope Kerry does, and that that he wins in November -- it's a shitty thing to force people to live with, and far from the only place America has treated like a compost pile in the past fifty years.