corrente

So it's another Earth Day, and the House celebrates by passing a big ol' mess o' corporate welfare disguised as an "Energy Bill". I mean, who else in this country is more deserving of massive tax breaks and general obsequiousness than the largest, richest, most powerful cartel of industrial greedsters in the world? Amusingly, the bill approved shields makers of the gasoline additive MTBE from lawsuits involving the contamination of drinking water, which is just the perfect touch of irony to finish off the whole Earth Day concept.

And how will Bush-Lite celebrate? By visiting the Great Smoky Mountains, where NPR reported this a.m. that problems of smog, pollution, and the resulting decreased visibility and health dangers arising from them, have made a mockery of one of our most beautiful resources, and where he will stand on his hind legs and actually pretend to be concerned with the state of the envirnoment:

"He was to speak at the Cades Cove area near Townsend, Tenn., after some quick restoration work on one of more than a dozen trails that originates there.
"I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty," Bush, who spends hours during his down time clearing brush on his Texas ranch, told young people awarded for their environmental work at the White House on Thursday. "Looking forward to getting outside of Washington."

Getting his hands dirty? Why, he's spent more than 4 years doing it! His filthy handprints are all over the perversion of government and the handouts to the plutocracy that have been ongoing since he ascended the throne. But for sheer, unadulterated horseshit, you'd have to go pretty far to match this:

"McClellan said Bush would use his speech to emphasize the importance of personal environmental stewardship, volunteerism and cooperative conservation efforts.
"One of the greatest responsibilities in a free society is responsible stewardship of our natural environment," Bush said at the White House ceremony. "All of you have taken that duty seriously. You have set a clear and strong example, and you're inspiring others to do their part."

He's emphasizing volunteerism because he knows this government is sure as hell not going to be doing anything useful to help. As for his "clear and strong example", I'd guess that would have to be his promotion of mountaintop removal mining (nicely ironic touch, speechifying today in mountains that your policies are helping to destroy), his free pass to the meat industry regarding regulation of vast pig farm waste lagoons, his pro-mercury "solution", and so many, many more.

But who needs to worry about what happens to other people's living space, when you're rich enough to maintain a couple thousand acres all to yourself? And who needs to worry about being called to account for your hypocritical lies, when you have such a gloriously supine media to lick your boots and shield your Royal Person.

Happy Fucking Earth Day.


Update on Georgie's field trip from alert reader Charles:

"W's trip cancelled, due, it is reported, to bad weather. I think the real reason is that they couldn't find the Great Smokies in the smog, and had to turn back."