And we haven't even gotten to the pardons yet. Seeking to burnish his record as the Worst President Ever, disciples of Bush are busy rewriting federal regulations to add insult to eight years' worth of injury.
According to reports, the lame-duck Bushies are moving heaven and earth to enshrine into law what they could not get from Congress or the voters. A memo from the White House chief of staff to all executive agencies set a Nov. 1 deadline for completing major regulation changes that must undergo a 60-day window for comment by members of Congress before taking effect. Currently out of session (and coming back only to deal with the Bush recession), Congress will not be able to focus on the avalanche of regulatory changes-- and the Bushies are counting on that. A sampling of what's in store:
Interior Department officials are pushing for changes that would let federal agencies approve projects that have an impact on threatened species and their habitats without consulting Fish and Wildlife Service scientists as currently required.
A proposed Justice Department regulation would allow local and state law enforcement to collect and share sensitive information on citizens even when they are not suspected of involvement in criminal activity.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is about to be be weakened by permitting state and local governments to make only a fraction of their facilities accessible to the handicapped.
A Department of Health and Human Services rule change would deny federal funds to family planning organizations and clinics that refuse to hire staffers who will not provide birth control to patients upon request.
Another proposed HHS regulation would define forms of birth control as abortion, allowing physicians and others a legal basis for declining to provide family planning counseling that includes birth control techniques.
The White House is preparing rules changes to eliminate environmental reviews for fishing regulations and allow regional councils dominated by both commercial and sports fishing interests to make those judgments.
The EPA is seeking to permit increased emissions from older power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, while watering down prohibitions against discharges of industrial effluent into waterways and curbs on mountain-top coal mining.
The Bureau of Land Management is rushing to open millions of acres of wilderness areas in Utah to development, including tracts close to national parks.
In order to avoid reversal by the Obama administration, these last-minute regulations must be published by Nov. 20. Because of lengthy time requirements for undoing the changes, we could be stuck with them for several years to come.
It's no secret that Bush doesn't give a rat's ass about the international community or basic human rights-- why should we expect him to care about sticking it to the American people?
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