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May 20, 2013
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 Obama and Republicans: Champions of SmogPosted on Sep 4, 2011
Republicans are trying to sell the false premise that protecting the environment inevitably means sacrificing jobs. President Obama should denounce this snake oil for what it is—rather than appear to accept it. The GOP presidential candidates are in remarkable agreement on two articles of faith: The human imagination, apparently, is incapable of conjuring any circumstance under which any tax may ever be raised. And the Environmental Protection Agency is a sinister laboratory where Birkenstock-shod evildoers conjure regulations purposefully designed to rob Americans of their God-given jobs. Actually, I’m being somewhat unfair to Mitt Romney, who tempers his EPA-bashing with the admission that he supports the agency “in much of its mission.” When he was governor of Massachusetts, Romney favored initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, perhaps even a regional cap-and-trade system. He doesn’t bring this up much on the campaign trail, but his opponents do. The other contenders range from anti-EPA all the way to ... well, to Michele Bachmann’s pledge to abolish the agency. Bachmann told an Iowa crowd last month that if she is elected president, “I guarantee you the EPA will have doors locked and lights turned off, and they will only be about conservation. It will be a new day and a new sheriff in Washington.” At the GOP debate in New Hampshire, Bachmann added that “there is no other agency like the EPA. It should really be renamed the Job-Killing Organization of America.” Newt Gingrich agrees that the EPA—established in 1970 by that noted tree-hugger, Richard Nixon—should be dismantled. Advertisement Ron Paul says most environmental questions should be resolved through the courts. Herman Cain and Jon Huntsman take the orthodox position: that any new environmental regulations should be put on hold because enacting them would kill jobs. On Friday, Obama appeared to cede the point. He blocked new EPA rules limiting ground-level ozone—otherwise known as smog—as part of a larger effort to reduce “regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty” for U.S. businesses. The move came hours after a disappointing labor report showing that the economy added no new jobs in August. The move to block the ozone rules may make sense politically, since it defuses an issue on which Republicans were prepared to hammer Obama and the Democrats all year. As a matter of public policy, however, it’s wrong. In developing the rule that Obama nixed, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was simply fulfilling the agency’s prime mission: protecting human health. “Breathing ozone can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion,” says the agency’s website. “It can worsen bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma. Ground-level ozone also can reduce lung function and inflame the linings of the lungs. Repeated exposure may permanently scar lung tissue.” In 2008, the Bush administration set a permissible standard for ozone that exceeded the limit recommended by EPA scientists. Jackson sought to bring the standard within the range that her agency deems safe. As for the predictions of massive job losses, they sound just like the warnings we heard when environmental regulations ended acid rain, or ensured that the citizens of Cleveland no longer had to worry about the Cuyahoga River catching fire. There is plenty of evidence that the net effect of smart environmental regulation is to create jobs, not destroy them. New, more efficient plants are built; older, dirtier facilities are retrofitted. Companies innovate by developing new technology—ultimately making U.S. industry more competitive. And everyone is a little healthier. As Jackson noted in a statement, the Obama administration has made great strides in limiting such atmospheric pollutants as sulfur dioxide and mercury. Not every conceivable environmental regulation makes sense. But the ozone rule seemed well-grounded, and the objections to it were more political than rational. We don’t have to choose between jobs and health. History demonstrates we can have both.
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By Bernard Kirzner, M.D., September 8, 2011 at 7:01 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Obama’s behavior is understandable when you look at his base.
Report thisThe problem is that his base is not made up of the people who elected him.
He has sold out instead to the people who back him financially. Take a look at his record from the donators point of view. He’s a great president.
Talk about bait and switch.
By prosefights, September 7, 2011 at 7:32 pm Link to this comment
New Mexico fun smog.
http://www.prosefights.org/nmsea08232011/video/toltecpollution.wmv
Report thisBy Samson, September 7, 2011 at 4:38 pm Link to this comment
Why is it every time Obama does something evil, which
is pretty much every day and twice on Sunday’s when
its a slow news day and he hopes no one will notice,
its always spun to us as ‘bowing to the pressure of
republicans’.
Sooner or later the left needs to wake up to the fact
that Obama took more corporate money than any
president in history in the last campaign, and that
he’s a regular and faithful servant of the people who
paid him that money.
Obama didn’t need any pressure to do this. Obama
wanted to do this. Obama was paid millions to do
this.
The environmentalists made the mistake of voting for
Report thiscorporate America’s guy in the last election. It
seemed rather absurd to watch everyone out working
for the guy corporate America was backing, but that’s
what happened. This is what you get when what passes
for environmentalists in this country decide to back
corporate America’s power play.
By Rixar13, September 7, 2011 at 1:18 pm Link to this comment
“The human imagination, apparently, is incapable of conjuring any circumstance under which any tax may ever be raised.”
How much longer can this go on?
Report thisBy Baxter W., September 6, 2011 at 4:31 pm Link to this comment
The President, once again, is making a political calculation that he gains or retains more independent/conservative votes, than he loses moderate/liberal votes.
He amorally thinks that letting 12,000 people die of asthma is a politically acceptable price to pay to get re-elected and then start governing like he really wants to. He has lost his moral compass as well as his moral imagination.
Report thisBy drbhelthi, September 6, 2011 at 3:12 am Link to this comment
President Obama should denounce this snake oil for what it is—rather than appear to
accept it. Robinson article
Which profiteering pharmacist will denounce as contaminated, the concoction he has
assisted to mix up, and which he is aggressively passing off as “healthy” ?
Obama? A carefully-selected, CIA asset, mixed-race in order to attract the “people of
Report thiscolor.” It worked marvellously. The first time.
However.
While approx. 4% continue to spread CIA/Zionist disinformation, “People of Color”
are wising up to Obama and the USGOV.
The world is also wising up. Swiftly.
http://www.sweetliberty.org/shadow.htm
By peterjkraus, September 5, 2011 at 3:26 pm Link to this comment
This is a sure sign that we have all been
Report thissnookered by an unscrupulous Democratic
Party and candidate. I´ll never vote
Republican, but I refuse to vote for
Democrats in future.
By berniem, September 5, 2011 at 1:20 pm Link to this comment
Barack Obama- The Trojan Horse! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!!!
Report thisBy red quill, September 5, 2011 at 1:15 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
all you have to do to make Obama never again forget the
Report thispeople who supported him and all the environmentalists
he has betrayed is to sit on your hands the next
election and let any of the drummer-than-a-rock
Republicans get into the White House, that is the only
way the country will wake up and become mobilized
enough to snatch back the political process from the
Fascist corporate wealth that owns the country ...
otherwise we all continue on into this pr numbing
totalitarian smog now surrounding us!
By prosefights, September 5, 2011 at 1:00 pm Link to this comment
EPA hasn’t done anything about Toltec and Cumbres train air and noise pollution.
http://www.prosefights.org/nmsea08232011/video/toltecpollution.wmv
Video made Sunday September 5, 2011.
Saturday September 3, 2011 Electrical engineer told us
Commercial solar panels installed on businesses roofs absorb heat which requires more power for air conditioning than the panels produce.
Firefighters may not fight fires on roofs with solar panels installed for fear of toxic fumes.
Solar panel industry electric output has just matched the power required to produce the panels.
We’re invesitgating
Regards,
http://www.prosefights.org/nmsea08232011/nmsea08232011.htm#tatro
Report thisBy macattack, September 5, 2011 at 1:00 pm Link to this comment
How crazy is it that doing something that will benefit the public is made
Report thisout to be a bad thing? Obama should be embarrassed for bowing to the
Republicans, and the Republicans should be ashamed for using this as a
“jobs” argument. The only jobs they want to create, or sustain, is their
own. Neither side ever does anything for the greater good. They do things
to make themselves look good and to get themselves re-elected. That’s the
bottom line.
If the Republicans thought for one second that supporting these new rules
would help them get elected, jobs be damned, they’d be supporting them,
just like any other politician would. It’s just damn ridiculous.
The sad part is that nothing Obama does will ever be allowed to be a
positive as far as the opposition is concerned. He could cure cancer or
bring about world peace and somehow someone would bring up that the cure
has taken jobs away from cancer researchers or now our soldiers have no one
left to fight (so now they don’t have a job)... so bad, bad Obama. How dare
you do.
This might also cause the American public to focus on the internal insanity
happening in our government and with our financial system and GOD FORBID
that happens. Politicians may actually have to start doing their jobs under
such scrutiny. They could be held accountable for non-performance and be
(gasp!) fired. Oh, dear Lord, don’t ever let their be a cure for cancer or
world peace. Let’s get Obama out of there before any such actions are
taken.
The question I have is, if Obama is going to go down (which it seems at
this point is inevitable), why not go down fighting? Then at least you can
look your supporters in the face and say you tried.
By Birch, September 5, 2011 at 11:20 am Link to this comment
Why blame the Republican candidates? This was Obama’s
Report thisdecision to make. No one forced his hand. It didn’t even require
legislative approval; it was strictly in the hands of the Executive
Branch.
By Bernard Kirzner, M.D., September 5, 2011 at 10:59 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Let me get this straight.
We gave massive tax cuts to the wealthiest individuals and corporations in America, so that, in their own words, Private Industry could show us how they create jobs better than the Government. Right?.
Then a new lower standard of air contamination is recommended by the EPA…but now they don’t have enough money to fix it, to lower fossil fuel emissions.
What was all that money supposed to go for?
Obama had a wonderful opportunity to call Republicans on this issue. “Republicans. Put our money were your mouth is. Create the jobs, already.”
Another opportunity lost.
If we don’t dare vote Obama out of office, the only thing left is to campaign like crazy in 2012 for a Democratic Congress. That’s were my money is going.
Report thisBy steve binder, September 5, 2011 at 10:02 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Obama had given me hope when he campaigned for President that he could
Report thislead our nation in a new direction. He has failed miserably as a leader and
has sold out to the same miserable people who now own our electorate on
both sides of the aisle. What we democrats need now is a challenger to his
re-election at the democratic convention like an electable Bernie Sanders
type who isn’t afraid of the power brokers who are taking our country
down.
By Azcat85, September 5, 2011 at 9:56 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
There are already ozone limit levels in place. This doesn’t remove them only stops
Report thisdecreases in permissible levels. Ozone is created through natural climatic
processes and can be forced to the ground under inversions. Who gets
prosecuted for Mother Nature’s contribution?
By Peter Hanauer, September 5, 2011 at 9:50 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
President Obama’s retreat from implementing stronger ozone standards is only the latest in a long, dispiriting list of instances in which he has abandoned economic, environmental, and civil liberties policies he previously professed to support. Perhaps never before in American history has a President so thoroughly dissassociated himself from the policy goals and principles of the supporters who elected him, while simultaneously kowtowing to the opposition party and monied interests. This is one liberal who, after having contributed thousands of dollars to Obama’s 2008 election campaign, has no intention of voting for him in 2012. I refuse to vote for anyone so lacking in conviction, principles, and yes, loyalty, just because his opponent may be even worse.
Report thisBy JMD, September 5, 2011 at 9:27 am Link to this comment
Eugene Robinson: 9/05/2011
Report thisThere is absolutely no reason for anyone
running for,or appointed to any office,to be
concerned with what the citizens want or
need.Evidenced by what the politicians say,then do.I
am ignorant in knowing everything,everyone has said
to help ensure their own victory of winning the
nomination to the White House.But,I can’t remember
anyone,ever saying they would guarantee - anything!
Especially,a program or agency set-up to protect the
public.
Also,can you feel the shift,the sway,in the
direction that we are being taken - away from any
debate (talk) of peace? What does this portend about
the plebs?
History,repeats itself because it is allowed
too!That is the lesson learned from history - one
people accept as a phenomenon,that it is not!And we
now stand at “the point of no return”.
Thanking you for this opportunity to comment-
James M. de Laurier
By PatrickHenry, September 5, 2011 at 8:41 am Link to this comment
Was this the change we can believe in?
Report thisBy Gorgeous, September 4, 2011 at 11:54 pm Link to this comment
Obama is a Republican as far as I’m concerned. He’s the best Republican running but I really do wish we had a choice of a real Democrat to vote for. I don’t know how this man can face his children every day he’s so bent on destroying the world.
Report thisBy Queenie, September 4, 2011 at 9:53 pm Link to this comment
Fuck Obysmal and the pale horse he rode in on - death.
Report thisBy Timothy Blackmon Jr., September 4, 2011 at 9:18 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Obama and the rest of the “Democrats” say they care about about the people, but they
Report thisonly care about their image. Republicans love to drink the piss of Big Oil.It really is sad
about how much of a Capitalistic Plutocratic Dictatorship that America is becoming.
By gstoddard, September 4, 2011 at 7:11 pm Link to this comment
“The move to block the ozone rules may make sense politically, since it defuses an
issue on which Republicans were prepared to hammer Obama and the Democrats
all year.”
Eugene is living in a fantasy world. There is no way that this concession by the
Report thispresident will defuse this issue. It is instead more fuel for the Republican anti-
environment agenda and a confirmation that Obama is weak. The Republicans will
just move the goal posts again and demand further concessions.
By Dr Bones, September 4, 2011 at 5:36 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Mr. O is a fool, a corporate puppet. There isn’t much of a business burden because the equipment is part of the plant and would be depreciated and written off. So we hear this would cost $ 90 billion. Over about 40 years and as I said it’s all written off.
What we don’t hear is the medical cost, disability cost, the cost of people who will die (12,000 per year). The cost of children suffering from breathing corporate toxic waste.
What gives corporations or Obama the right to dump toxic waste into the air we all breath?
Back in December, when Mr. O was giving tax cuts to billionaires and millionaires, he didn’t say anything about not being able to affords things such as clean, healthy air. Quite the opposite, he was claiming the economy was recovering although “some still suffered from personal recessions”.
Report thisBy Roger Lafontaine, September 4, 2011 at 4:39 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Will the real Barack Obama stand up please ?
Report thisNobody stands.
There is no Barack Obama. It turns out he was simply a figment of our imagination.
The Republicans know this but the Democrats are still blindly searching in the dark.