Good steward of the land

Speaking of domestic issues, let's not merely get fixated on the deficit and the utter lack of progress on coping with the oncoming demographic bomb resulting from baby boomers retiring (starting in 5 years) and living longer after retirement. Because, as the President said just the other night, "he's a good steward of the land", so at least our children will be living in a clean environment, right? Sure.

From Knight-Ridder:

Over the past 30 years, the nation's air and water have become dramatically cleaner, but the steady improvement has stalled or gone into reverse in several areas since Bush took office, according to government statistics. On Bush's watch, America's environment deteriorated in many critical areas - including the quality of air in cities and the quality of water that people drink - and gained in very few.

Knight Ridder compiled 14 pollution-oriented indicators from government and university statistics. Nine of the 14 indicators showed a worsening trend, two showed improvements and three others zigzagged.

Statistics that have worsened:

-Superfund cleanups of toxic waste fell by 52 percent.

-Fish-consumption warnings for rivers doubled.

-Fish-consumption advisories for lakes increased 39 percent.

-The number of beach closings rose 26 percent.

-Civil citations issued to polluters fell 57 percent.

-Criminal pollution prosecutions dropped 17 percent.

-Asthma attacks increased by 6 percent.

-There were small increases in global temperatures and unhealthy air days.