BUSH ALREADY WORKING ON FAR-REACHING RULES TO KEEP HIS PRIORITIES IN PLACE LONG AFTER HE'S GONE

[DeepModem Mom]

Will the Bush nightmare never end???

NYT: A Legacy Bush Can Control
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: September 9, 2007


AIR RIGHTS A coal-burning plant on Navajo land near the Grand Canyon. Officials are considering rules governing emissions at new power plants in areas with the cleanest air.

....President Bush has his cabinet and staff busily writing far-reaching rules to keep his priorities on the environment, public lands, homeland security, health and safety in place long after the clock strikes midnight and his presidential limousine turns into a pumpkin. With Congress in Democratic hands and his political capital all but spent by the Iraq war, Mr. Bush has scant hope of pushing significant domestic legislation through Congress. But he still controls the executive branch and can still accomplish much through regulation and executive edict....

***

One of Mr. Bush’s first official acts as president was to withdraw the Clinton regulations that had not yet been published in the Federal Register and delay the effective date of those that had. Some Clinton rules are still in dispute in the courts, but most eventually took effect unchanged, in part because the process of unwriting a federal regulation is as complex and time consuming as writing one.

The Bush White House has already issued new rules on an important environmental matter. The federal Office of Surface Mining last month announced regulations that it says clarify the rules on so-called mountaintop mining, in which the tops of Appalachian mountains are dynamited away to get at coal seams beneath. The new rules allow mining companies to continue to dump the excess rock and soil into valleys and streams.

Earlier this summer, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers issued regulatory guidance to field officers that officials say brings some certainty to wetlands standards, after a confusing 2006 Supreme Court ruling. But critics say the move will lead to the destruction of thousands of acres of wetlands. The government guidance will be reviewed early next year after a period of public comment....

***

On health care, the administration issued guidance last month that will make it more difficult for states to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover children in middle-income families....The administration is also preparing new regulations likely to be published next year on airline security, mine-worker protections and automobile safety and fuel efficiency, White House aides said....

***

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, a conservation group, said that the Bush administration is working on both formal regulations and a series of arcane procedural changes that have the effect of centralizing executive authority and making it difficult for Congress or a subsequent president to undo them....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/weekinreview/09broder.html?hp

[ananda]

1. Boy, that's some nasty, ugly, inhuman, meanspirited legacy..

nt

[DeepModem Mom]

2. You said it! It's been asked here many times, but how DO they sleep at night??? nt

[salin]

5. like babies

they got theirs, and are getting more - no one else matters.

[kenny blankenship]

13. ...nice little blood soaked psychopathic babies.

[Vidar]

3. Yet another reason to impeach. Bush must be completely discredited,

so that his ability to pardon is called into question & his legacy of wrong-doing will be easier to unravel.

[salin]

4. they (bush admin) appear to be on hyperdrive

Looting and plundering for their cronies while they can. They know that the next admin is not going to continue bush policies (as no republican can win) and cronies are pressuring to act now - act big - and loot and plunder while the looting and plundering is possible. The big question is how much of the damage done will be irreversable.

[DeepModem Mom]

14. THAT is the question, indeed. nt

[RestoreGore]

6. Well, he gets away with it all, so he figures why not?

It isn't as if he will actually be held accountable for it. And that is not only a reflection on him at this point.

[spanone]

7. the next president will take his/her pen and dismiss all the bu$h* bullshit.

criminals have to protect their own.

[madrchsod]

8. yes... the next president just writes new rules...

rules? who needs rules?

[begin_within]

9. The American people get what they deserve.

They allowed this to happen. Even a "Democratic victory" in the 2006 elections doesn't make any difference, it appears. In a democracy, the people have the right to make a mistake, and boy have they ever made a mistake. Now they are going to have to suffer the consequences - and hopefully learn something from it.

[helderheid]

10. K&R

[seafan]

11. Legacy is damn important to criminals.

A Legacy Bush Can Control

By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: September 9, 2007

.....

And now President Bush has his cabinet and staff busily writing far-reaching rules to keep his priorities on the environment, public lands, homeland security, health and safety in place long after the clock strikes midnight and his presidential limousine turns into a pumpkin.
With Congress in Democratic hands and his political capital all but spent by the Iraq war, Mr. Bush has scant hope of pushing significant domestic legislation through Congress. But he still controls the executive branch and can still accomplish much through regulation and executive edict.

.....

The Bush White House has already issued new rules on an important environmental matter. The federal Office of Surface Mining last month announced regulations that it says clarify the rules on so-called mountaintop mining, in which the tops of Appalachian mountains are dynamited away to get at coal seams beneath. The new rules allow mining companies to continue to dump the excess rock and soil into valleys and streams.

Earlier this summer, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers issued regulatory guidance to field officers that officials say brings some certainty to wetlands standards, after a confusing 2006 Supreme Court ruling. But critics say the move will lead to the destruction of thousands of acres of wetlands. The government guidance will be reviewed early next year after a period of public comment.

THE E.P.A. is currently contemplating a rule that would modify the Clean Air Act’s procedures for measuring emissions from new power plants in areas with the cleanest air, including park and wilderness areas. Democrats in Congress and environmentalists say it would allow soot and smoke from coal-burning plants to muddy the air in and around many national parks. The agency is also working on two other major air quality rules to be issued next year, regarding ozone and airborne lead particles.

The E.P.A. also recently issued a study concluding that the health and environmental dangers from toxins emitted from oil refineries are low enough that no further controls are needed.

.....

On health care, the administration issued guidance last month that will make it more difficult for states to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover children in middle-income families. The policy has no expiration date, but Congress could override it and allow states to apply for waivers to set more generous coverage standards.

.....

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, a conservation group, said that the Bush administration is working on both formal regulations and a series of arcane procedural changes that have the effect of centralizing executive authority and making it difficult for Congress or a subsequent president to undo them.

“If you want to have the regulations in place when you leave office in 2009, you have to start now, “ Mr. Clapp said. “It’s a way for an administration to have life after death.”

Brother Jeb! tried to do the same thing, passing the *sword* to 30-something Marco Rubio, now the Speaker of the Florida House.... and on his way out, by strategically placing his own loyal office hacks as *new staffers* into key Republicans' legislative offices in Tallahassee.


Jeb Bush installs 18 staffers in new jobs in FL House to guard his legacy,October 20, 2006


Rubio is indeed, Jeb's Chosen One.




Pirates of Tallahassee: Jeb Bush is gone, but raids on the housing fund continue


Jeb!'s Florida was a LARGE beneficiary of Reading First. Isn't that nice.....


A final, parting shot was when Jeb greased the Office Depot deal to benefit Armando Codina



A family legacy, tainted with a curse.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Thanks for adding this brotherly-bond info, seafan. What a family! nt