April 23, 2005
Smoke
Yesterday was Earth Day.
To make notice of it, the president came to the Smoky Mountains and made one of his tie-less, coat-less, and flagpin-less (aka earthier) speeches. Tennessee’s two senators stood photo-oply by, themselves appropriately in shirtsleeves.
Almost as if he were somehow surprised, the president said that the earth is not ours, we didn’t make it, so we have to take care of it. He failed to mention that the first thing we do is deregulate the caretakers, ignore the environmental treaties, and claim that the jury’s still out on global warming.
The Smokies got their name long ago because of their frequent low cloud cover and fog. To celebrate Earth Day, they were smokier than usual due to pollution. The speechifying party couldn’t get any closer than Knoxville.