Pelsoi on GOP: 'Do Their Children Breathe Air, Drink Water?'

Our air and water is cleaner today than it was in the 1960's even though we use far more energy today than we did back then. Why? Technological advancement which, by the way, depends on a continued supply of cheap energy. That last part infuriates liberals who have the typical knee-jerk reaction to such news:

During a Democratic fundraising event in San Francisco late last month, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared Republicans are 'hijacking' the deficit issue in order to 'destroy the public space' and wondered aloud "Do their children breathe air, do they drink water?"

Related is the liberal outrage that Obama is scrapping another regulatory overreach by executive fiat that would have cost the economy at least $90 billion a year. Typical headlines:

• White House moves to limit fallout from retreat on clean-air rule


• Did the White House double-cross its supporters on the smog rule?


• Obama to Breathers: Sorry, Wait Until 2013


• White House shelves smog rule in huge defeat for green groups


• Obama Administration Abandons Plan to Tighten Air-Quality Rules 

The Detroit Free Press, of course,is also outraged: Bad air day

How appropriate. President Barack Obama chose a day forecast to be one of the dirtiest air days of the year to announce a postponement of one of the new clean air regulations.

The reason he cited — that the science behind this particular smog standard is being re-evaluated in advance of another round of rules in fast-approaching 2013 — seems sensible. But the making of new air rules has been held up for years, mostly because of delay after delay during the Bush administration. The bing-bang-boom pace of recent EPA announcements is the result of all those delays and various court cases, not simple zealotry from Obama administration officials such as EPA administrator Lisa Jackson.

...In the long-term trend of mostly improving air quality, a delay of two years may not be significant. But in the medium term trend of all the politicking against the EPA and of all the claims that regulation hurts business so regular people just have to put up and shut up, this is disheartening. In 2013, do you think President Perry Paul Bachmann Romney will care about the air you breathe?

The same tired (and false) liberal meme, recycled over and over again. Obama's excuse that the science isn't there is false. He knows the science isn't there but that has never stopped him before. The reason this is getting shelved is the price tag - $90 billion annually in compliance costs to businesses that pass the cost down to the customer. And that after another bad jobs report. Obama is simply scared heading into the 2012 election cycle. He will pretend to be business friendly, only to go back to his destructive ways should he get re-elected. More from  JammieWearingFool, National Review, The Lonely Conservative, Legal Insurrection, The Heritage Foundation, Gateway Pundit, Campaign 2012, Hot Air and The Volokh Conspiracy

Irony: Pro-Abort Nancy Pelosi: The Rich Wont Pay Taxes Because They Want To Be Immortal

It's always amusing to see the morally depraved lecture about morality, and it would indeed be funny if it were not so serious:

Fact: Top 1% Pay More Fed Income Taxes Than Bottom 95%! Bottom 51% Pay None. Bottom 40% GET MONEY BACK! Worse yet, from my prior post: Good News: 51% of Households Pay No Income Tax (Most of Those Get Money Back!); Share of Taxes Paid by Rich Growing Faster Than Income. It's confirmed. There are now more people not paying federal income taxes than those paying them. So basically what is happening is a huge transfer of wealth from the productive to the unproductive, which will have the effect of incentivizing non-productivity while punishing productivity. Shouldn't that be backwards? So an update on a prior post on the issue before the 50% point was reached: not only does bottom 47% of taxpayers pay no federal income tax, but the bottom 40% GET MONEY BACK! Well, that 50% level, as Granholm would say, has been blown away. The majority of Americans don't pay any federal income tax. From Tax Prof via Instapundit: 51% of Households Pay No Income Tax; Share of Taxes Paid by Rich Growing Faster Than Income

In connection with the hearing, Ranking Member Hatch released this letter from the Joint Committee on Taxation reporting 51% of U.S. households did not pay any federal income tax in 2009.

As I mentioned up front, it's now gotten so bad, so unfair, that the top 1% pay more in federal taxes than the bottom 95% (60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: 50% of Americans that don't pay taxes thinks "rich" people ought to pay more, even though top 1% pay more than bottom 95%):The rich are paying far more than their fair share, and instead of being thanked are demonized by Pelosi.