Morford on Bush on Trees

Mark Morford has a few thoughts about Bush's environmental record. Snippet:

...Here's how successful the GOP's antienvironment brainwashing has been: With the exception of Dennis Kucinich, not one of the major Demo presidential candidates has truly focused on environmental issues in the debates or in their campaign speeches, for fear of being labeled "too liberal." Thanks to the GOP, to talk too much about the health of the planet now is to be thought of as anticapitalist and antiprogress and an outright traitor to the American causes of money-uber-alles and the-world-is-our-sandbox. So duped is the nation that to even hint that you care deeply about safe drinking water for kids or the direct connection between toxic big agribiz and the increased rates of heart disease and cancer in this nation is tantamount to spitting on the flag. BushCo even shames its own party members. Abundant, I imagine, are the staunch Republicans who still care deeply about the health of the planet and want to see pollution decreased and their children able to drink the water or go fishing at the local lake without worrying about mercury poisoning from the local coal factory -- the one Bush just excused from complying with the Clean Air Act. But they don't dare speak up. They don't dare mention that they care, lest the "liberal" label get slapped on their asses and they are instantly considered treasonous terrorist sympathizers who would happily give refuge and a nice organic chai tea to Osama bin Laden. This is the GOP credo: You're either with us 100 percent, or you're a commie hippie homo who should move to France. And there are few things a conservative fears more than being ostracized by the party. The truth is, no matter which party you align yourself with, nowadays it takes more guts, more outright nerve, to care about this planet, to work to strip your life of the plastic and the poisonous and minimize your waste and your impact, eat more consciously and support local farming and cherish the flora and fauna, than it ever could be to load up the Escalade with Malaysian-made crap you bought at Wal-Mart that's now 89 cents cheaper because it's made in a sweatshop and not at the local factory that was forced to shut down. This, then, is the ultimate BushCo credo: No sanctity. No reverence for that which is larger and more ancient and more divine. No concern for that which provides beauty and nourishment and sustenance. Mother Nature is not a source of life and inspiration and vital health -- she's just a lowly wench who needs to be put in her place. And this, then, is the only possible response: If there was any better time in American history to proudly announce yourself as an environmentalist, this is it. It really doesn't matter where you stand on other issues. Because when that beautiful bitch Mother Nature really begins to strike back, nothing else will matter.