RUSH: Is this the day? Yeah. April 22nd is Earth Day. That's exactly what I was thinking. April 22nd is Earth Day. All right, so that's why everybody has been going nuts. I forgot. I confuse Earth Day and May Day because May Day is where the communists celebrate. You know, it's one and the same to me. That's why I keep thinking Earth Day is May 1st. But there's no reason the communists shouldn't have a couple days every year, and this is one of them, Earth Day -- and of course the environmentalist wackos have been running around for how many years, besides global warming what have they been saying? "We are polluting the planet! We're destroying our ecosystems! We're destroying animals. We're destroying life as we know it. We're leaving a future for our children, grandchildren, filled with nothing but coughs and wheezes and eventual death," and of course people are predisposed to hear negative news.

They're predisposed to believe it. It's almost automatic with most people. Pessimism will triumph over optimism. Well, try some optimism here: (Story) "On this, the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, our nation continues to enjoy improved ecological health. The question is not that, but who's responsible for the progress? Today, the country's going to be inundated with scary global warming scenarios and warnings of planetary doom to our polluting ways. Now, should anybody bring up the fact that the world is cleaner today than it was in 1970, the environmentalist [wackos] will, of course, take full credit for the progress before moving briskly back to their reflexive attacks on modernity and freedom and they will always say, 'Well, it's only temporary because our latest data show that we are polluting it at ever-increasing rate.'

"Nothing unexpected about that. If environmentalists declare victory, it would be political suicide for their movement and those who have set up nice lives by themselves by braying at corporate America and the conspicuous consumption of fossil fuel." So don't ever expect the environmentalists to go silent, just like the Reverend Jackson will never go silent. Race relations will never be, quote-unquote, "solved." It would put too many people out of business. Environmentalism will never be "fixed." It would put too many out of business. But nevertheless, there is great news out there. "The world is a cleaner place today than it was on that first Earth Day 35 years ago, this according to the EPA. Core air quality indicators -- such as ozone down 31%, nitrogen dioxide down 42%, sulfur dioxide is down 72%, carbon dioxide down 76%, particulate matter down 31% and lead down 98% -- are all now well below their mid-1970s levels, when this all got going." In fact, the 2005 edition of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators reveals that US air pollution levels have fallen to the lowest on record, ladies and gentlemen. It is not a calamity out there, but it's more than just air quality. "Authors of the index, which is published by the Pacific Research Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, have compiled a long list of indicators that show the environment as a whole has improved and will continue to do so. Threatened resources from whales to bald eagles to forests and wetlands are all on the increase. Meanwhile, fewer toxins are being released into the environment.

"Oil spills in both number and volume have declined precipitously. Mercury emissions fell by almost half during the 1990s and automobiles, one of the primarily contributors to air pollution, are spewing less than they were in the 1970s. Within 25 years, pollution from automobiles will be down by an additional 80% or more. The index also addresses global warming, the most prominent complaint among the [wackos], by pointing out that the hockey stick graph that purportedly shows the planet warming has been shown to be flawed. Now, lost in all the finger-pointing will be the contribution that capitalism has made to cleaning up the nation and the world. Environmentalism is a luxury that flourishes only in nations with advanced economies, and advanced economies are products of capitalist systems." Have you ever wondered why so many of the environmentalist wackos say, "We need to get back to a more pristine lifestyle! We need to shut down all this technological advancement. We need to live more like they do in the Third World because that pollutes less?" Go to the Third World and tell me if it pollutes less.

We as capitalists and as members of the community of capitalists in the world are the ones that have the means to best clean up our messes. It is in our interest to do so. The idea that the environmentalist wackos put forth that there are polluters that like living in pollution, that there are polluters who want dirty water and dirty air? They live on this misnomer -- and people actually begin to think because there's been such an attack on "evil corporate bosses" that they must really enjoy polluting their customers, and polluting their customers' water, and destroying their futures and so forth. "Developing nations cannot support an environmental movement. They're simply too busy meeting life's basic needs. Paul Taylor has written that the United States spends as much on environmental protection -- roughly 5% of GDP -- as much on that as we do on the defense department and on homeland security." We're spending as much on environmental protection as we are on defense and homeland security, and yet when there's a crisis of deficits, do you ever hear anybody say, "We need to reduce our expenditures on the environment"? No! They always focus on the military. Why? Because they're a bunch of socialists -- and in truth, folks, the environmentalist wacko movement is the new home of anti-capitalists. Listen to what they say. Capitalism is to blame for all this -- when, in fact, capitalism is the reason it's all getting better. That's the real news of Earf Day.