Bush sneaks through host of laws to undermine Obama

[kpete]

Source: Guardian UK

Bush sneaks through host of laws to undermine Obama

The lame-duck Republican team is rushing through radical measures, from coal waste dumping to power stations in national parks, that will take months to overturn, reports Paul Harris in New York

After spending eight years at the helm of one of the most ideologically driven administrations in American history, George W. Bush is ending his presidency in characteristically aggressive fashion, with a swath of controversial measures designed to reward supporters and enrage opponents.

By the time he vacates the White House, he will have issued a record number of so-called 'midnight regulations' - so called because of the stealthy way they appear on the rule books - to undermine the administration of Barack Obama, many of which could take years to undo.

Dozens of new rules have already been introduced which critics say will diminish worker safety, pollute the environment, promote gun use and curtail abortion rights. Many rules promote the interests of large industries, such as coal mining or energy, which have energetically supported Bush during his two terms as president. More are expected this week.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/14/george-bush-midnight-regulations

[Bragi]

1. Logical

Why would the wrecking crew not be destructive on its way out.

- B

[underpants]

10. Cheney hasn't darkly served his overlords for this long to let a chance like this pass

They are implementing all of these AND trying to effectively kill organized labor all while everyone is looking to Obama to see what he will do.

This is just like the "data dumps" they have pulled through out their horrific reign of terror.

[niceypoo]

2. Republicans hate America

They really do

[glinda]

3. Next step: Get rid of all the bad apples

This means Dems as well as Republicans. Out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[humbled_opinion]

5. Yeah right...

Everytime we start with that crap we hold ours accountable and they let theirs off the hook, hell they actually promote some of them for screwing up. No thanks... any Democrat is better than any Repuke.

[quidam56]

27. Sean Hannity says THE GOP is the party of GOD !

I doubt He put the Appalachian Mountains here http://www.wisecountyissues.com to be decapitated all for the love of money. Appalachia is THIRD WORLD AMERICA !

[zonmoy]

32. Someone should point out to sean that he is giving us another proof

of the malevolent nature of god.

[prostock69]

33. Another person who needs to be locked up in a mental institution

What is it about religion that makes a lot of people lose their minds?

[superconnected]

59. You got it wrong, they lose their minds and then fashion a religion for it.

They often do this to already widely established religions.

[dana_b]

35. well then God must hate the environment,

workers, people who want clean air, water, grounds, and the right to life.

[Lost-in-FL]

40. In that case God is an asshole. nt

[GCP]

4. I didn't think I could loathe him any more than I already did

Every day he sinks to a new un-previously-plummeted depth of just plain evil.

:banghead:

[Peregrine Took]

14. I agree -what other sociopathic, insane things are there left for him to do?

I wish Obama was meaner and had some "LBJ"or Sam Rayburn in him.

I'm afraid he will let them all off in an effort to quiet his yapping critics on the right (he never will) and appear to be non-partisan.

[zonmoy]

22. Lets see

set off a war with iran, declare martial law and cancel the transition so that he picks the nastiest republican to replace him instead of obama, plenty more that I dont dare think of.

[machI]

6. Fifth recommendation

And a Fifth for Bush

Rot in retirement you criminal

<>

[prostock69]

7. I don't understand how he can so easily do this.

If Bush can enact new legislation with a sign of his pen, outside of congress, why can't a new president just as easily reverse it? Why would it take years to undo these changes?

[AllentownJake]

19. Depends on when the rule change was made

If it was made in the last 90 days you can do it with a pen stroke. If it was done before that you have to go through a review process and a comment period to overturn the regulation.

If it was made within the last year congress can overturn it with a simple up and down vote.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. The claim is because of the public comment period

required when agency draft regulations are proposed. I.e., the draft language requires a period of time to allow public comment when there is a rules change and that can take months. A chunk of these Shrub changes were already in the works for some time (and had already included a public comment period) and merely needed to be finalized and put into place (published) at the last minute to try to slide under a radar.

However this whole article is MOOT because Congress can overturn almost ALL of it (i.e., anything put in place back to a certain point in time - some have reported even as far back as May) via a joint resolution (per the Congressional Review Act of 1996 - see post #16).

[prostock69]

34. I remember reading about the CRA of 1996. I hope they do reverse

all of Bush's changes.

[Optimistic]

8. Impeach Bush Today!

[zonmoy]

9. I was figuring that other than the destroyed economy and the mess he made in the middle east

bush would be leaving plenty of poison pills for obama to clean up though I figure these regulations will probably pale to whatever orders have been given to the cia and other black ops groups.

[scytherius]

11. Well, sure it will take months to overturn. but make no mistqake, they WILL be overturned. n/t

nt

[polichick]

12. Bush & Cheney are pure evil imo.

[bluesmail]

13. This is not a smooth transition. Never was there a sincereity for one.

Up is really down. Hot is cold...

[otohara]

18. Media Sure Fell For That "Smooth Transition " BS

didn't they?

I thought at first it's because Bush can't wait until he leaves and passes his mess on to Obama. I should have known even that wasn't in the cards - mother fucker Bush and his evil Veep always have ulterior motives.

[eagertolearn]

15. I don't think i have ever hated someone as much as this president!

Why does he want to destroy America? Does anyone notice that when he talks recently that he sounds like he is either drunk or heavily medicated (slurred speech)? Has he been taken over by the devil?? Why would he want his legacy to be any worst that it is already? No wonder his mom has an ulcer. How could anyone ruin the family name more than he has? He has totally destroyed America.:evilfrown:

[BumRushDaShow]

16. The Congressional Review Act of 1996 makes this article moot

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/bills/blcra.htm

Congress has the power to look at all this last-minute bullshit and repeal every last rule. I would expect that they are compiling a list of the crap and then will roll it into an omnibus joint resolution to pass after the 111th Congress convenes and Obama is inaugurated, and they can be done with it to get on with the business of governing and cleaning up the rest of the mess that Shrub has left behind.

It burns me up that the media, including clueless foreign media like this, keeps reporting this crap and only a few of the M$M outlets actually mention that this act even exists, and even if they do mention it, they do it as an aside, and way down at the bottom of an article. :eyes:

[Metta]

17. Happy karma, George.

You dumb bastard.

[zonmoy]

20. Bush and cheney are some of the few people who I would wish to rot in hell.

[Metta]

23. Yes, I think they're in danger of losing human rebirth.

They've certainly betrayed their human incarnation, as have their staffs, all of the Republican Senators and House members and about a third of the country, imho.

[zonmoy]

31. That might be true in a just universe

problem is that the universe we live in is the exact opposite of that.

[Metta]

45. No, friend. That stuff is immutable.

Whether one believes it or not.

[Fire1]

56. And karma's a 'mutha,' ain't it? We'll be waiting.

[pjt7]

24. I sincerely HOPE

Obama ALREADY has a team in place, moniteriing the WH moves 24/7. This is must. & you KNOW he is going to pull some sh&t the day of the inauguration.

[proud progressive]

25. yet, will obama do anything to 'punish' those responsible? OF COURSE, NOT!!

[proud progressive]

26. yet, will obama do anything to 'punish' those responsible? OF COURSE, NOT!!

[acmavm]

28. It was done with a signature. It can be UNDONE with a signature.

[ElboRuum]

29. Scorched earth politcs from Shrubya?

Naaaaah, no chance of that. :sarcasm:

[LynneSin]

30. Rolling Stone did a great article about this and how Bush locked these things in tightly

We have a way of overturning them thanks to a law passed by Newt Gingrich back in 1996 - but the law says if you overturn them then you can't undo what you've overturn.

Ok, seems like something that is a good thing except Bush built in stuff to make us look bad if we did overturn them. Like in the changes for the Family Leave Act - he makes it harder for someone with a medical condition to take family leave BUT he tossed in there something for the soldiers that would actually be beneficial. So if we overturn this law we benefit the rest of the country but screw over our soldiers.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/24991066/bushs_final_fu
But even this option, it turns out, is fraught with obstacles. First, the CRA requires a separate vote on each individual regulation. Second, the act prohibits reviving any part of a rule that has been squelched. Since Bush's rules sometimes contain useful reforms — the move to limit the Family and Medical Leave Act also extends benefits for military families — spiking the rules under the CRA would leave Obama unable to restore or augment those benefits in the future. Whatever Obama does will require him to expend considerable political capital, at a time when America faces two wars and an economic crisis of historic proportions.

[Amonester]

42. Is it possible to amend the CRA itself first...

an amendment that would scrap that creepy (and un-democratic) rule?

Otherwise, democracy is truly dead this time.

[LynneSin]

44. I hope so because what Bush is proposing is devestating

It's like a giant size "FUCK YOU" to the 85% of this country that have rejected him as a decent president

[RedCloud]

36. How about a national park around the Crawford ranch?

That way W. can't get in his home without a park permit, which might be tough to get through bureaucratic tape.

[Nevernose]

51. I thought he'd already sold it?

Or put it up for sale?

President Asshat already bought a new house in Dallas, and he'll probably spend most of his time in New England anyway.

[No Elephants]

60. They bought a place in Dallas, but, so far, are keeping the Crawford ranch.

[stlsaxman]

37. Someone should remind Congress that THEY write our laws...

Not the Executive....

:mad:

[notesdev]

39. Congress has ceded so much of its power to the executive

because they're chicken shits who don't want to take responsibility... this is many decades long of a practice.

Presidents have been legislating by Executive Order as long as I can remember.

[No Elephants]

61. Easier to get re-elected until you are 96, even 104, if you don't do much of

anything that might upset the folks back home. Just vote for pork for the folks back home and leave all the controversial stuff to the Executive, who will be gone in 8 years, no matter what. This is why Congress has an even lower approval rating than Bush.

[sharp_stick]

38. The guy that chucked

his shoes at this malignant POS poseur President is a hero to the free world IMO

[demgrrrll]

41. What was that about I missed that story

[sharp_stick]

43. All the news sites are probably covering now

Shrubbo was making yet another of his moronic "unannounced" visits to the great "free state" of Iraq or as shithead says it eyerack. During a news conference with the puppet regime some journalist ran toward the dias chucked a show, called shrub a dog (the nicest thing I've heard him called in years btw), took off his other shoe and chucked it. Almost got him, not quite but almost.

[annabanana]

46. This is his "sprint to the finish" . . . .

He was put in office (NOT elected) in order to spearhead the ideologically bankrupt neo-con policies. He has shoveled out the Treasury to privateers ("Contractors") in every branch and office of the Federal bureaucracy. He has operated at the behest of the Cheap Labor "Free Market" Radicals.. He has starved OUR Government as requested by Grover "Drowned the Government in a Bathtub" Norquist.

It has been a classic Mob "Bust Out" (See The Sopranos story arch about the Sporting Goods Store).

Anyone who thought he would behave differently has never, even ONCE, understood what this guy is about.

[juajen]

55. Please don't forget that our dems in congress let them do it, and even

have refused to impeach the bastard. I say they all should go. Obviously, they are not looking after our interests, just their own.

[judasdisney]

47. Remember the fables about Clinton stealing the "W" off keyboards on his way out?

Once again, another example of "what Neocons accuse is what they're doing or planning."

Watch & see, they'll accuse Obama of plotting a coup d'etat, because that's what their next move is.

Sarah Palin just burned down her own church. No joke.

[Kip Humphrey]

48. Pelosi's gifts to America for not impeaching the bastard. /nt

[xxqqqzme]

49. Lightening striking a tree and

splitting it in two; with one half crushing * in his golf cart - Now that would be justice.

[stillcool]

50. Mother bleeper...

[sofa king]

52. Shame on you, Guardian!

Certainly you must know the difference between laws and regulations!

[ohio2007]

53. memo to Guardian UK ;

US govt. 101


Article 1
Only congress has the power to pass laws and levees taxes, not the POTUS. This isn't "the court of King George"

http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A1Sec7.html


ie
http://www.909shot.com/PRESSRELEASES/101905Burrbill.htm

[The Stranger]

54. I'm sure glad the Pelosi Traitor covered for him all these years.

[Rwalsh]

57. Nothing new here.

Clinton passed "midnight regulations" in his last days in office. So did Bush 41 and Carter.

It's a common practice.

[No Elephants]

58. This article is from the UK. Is the US media reporting on these dastardly deeds of Bush?