Bush the Lame Duck

[ParanoiA]

Actually the Secretary of State is already in the line of succession. She's next up after the Speaker of the House (who follows the VP), if memory serves (but don't quote me on it).

 

(That was why Al Haig tried to step up and say he was in charge after Reagan got shot.)

 

Isn't there a reason why Pelosi can't serve as president? I remember something disqualifies her, but I can't remember the details.

[doG]

She's a natural born citizen at 68 years of age and has been a resident in the U.S. all of her life so she meets all of the criteria for succession that I know of.

[ParanoiA]

Ok, maybe I dreamed it. Wouldn't be the first time...

[jackson33]

Since the 1947 'Presidential Succession Act', the Secr. of State was first in line if both the P & VP were incapacitated in some manner. From this act and today, the succession goes to the Speaker of the House (would be Polosi), Senate Majority leader or President pro tempore (would be Reid) then the Secretary of the State (would be Rice) and Treasury and on down the line of Cabinet members. Of course, this would only be used if several leaders were injured or killed near the same time (terrorist attack).

 

During every State of the Union address, at least one person in the upper chain is not present, for this very reason and I feel sure vacations and Congressional Sessions are built around some not being in Washington at any one time.

[Pangloss]

It's 'cuz they all read "Debt of Honor" by Tom Clancy.

[swansont]

Now NASA's Chief Information Officer (CIO) position is open at NASA HQ. But hurry up folks - once again it looks like NASA wants to slip this crucially important position under the Transition Team's nose in stealth mode between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The position is open 20 Nov - 4 Dec.

 

This happens more than you might think. You have to advertise positions, but if you have identified a candidate, you only advertise it for a short time. Under some circumstance, it can be advertised only locally. If it's the kind of job a person in interested in, they have to be watchful. But if you really have someone in mind, you can also tailor the KSAs (Knowledge, Skill and Ability descriptions) to them.

 

Isn't there a reason why Pelosi can't serve as president? I remember something disqualifies her, but I can't remember the details.

 

I think she'd stated that she wasn't going to pursue impeachment of both the Pres and VP. Presumably because it would be viewed as opportunistic and a conflict of interest.

Edited November 27, 2008 by swansont
multiple post merged

[Pangloss]

I don't think anybody will be slipping anything under this transition team's noses.

[iNow]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-cranks-up-the-green-revolution-1206394.html

 

The move, which signals perhaps his sharpest break with the outgoing administration, makes it clear that he was going to put climate change and the environment among the most urgent priorities of his presidency.

 

And as if to emphasise the difference, President Bush is using his last weeks of power to push through a record number of last-minute rule changes to increase mining and oil drilling on public lands, and even to allow people to carry concealed, loaded guns into national parks.

 

During its years in office the Bush administration attempted to muzzle senior government scientists who disagreed with it, and even altered scientific reports – causing more than 60 top academics to sign a petition accusing the White House of manipulating findings for political reasons.

Meanwhile, Mr Bush has been pushing through a record number of so-called "midnight regulations". He has enabled coal-mining firms to dump waste in valleys, relaxed pollution rules from factory farms, and allowed companies that produce toxic wastes to burn them as fuel.

 

 

At least there's a small reason to smile:

http://www.officialbushcountdown.com/?gclid=CIaw7-iF1ZcCFQZqswodMDorDQ

[iNow]

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=california-sues-bush-administration-2008-12-31

 

California sues Bush administration to protect endangered species

 

California this week sued the feds to block a new Bush administration rule from taking effect that would relax portions of the Endangered Species Act.

 

The rule, finalized Dec. 16, permits the Commerce and Interior departments to sign off on new projects that may threaten wildlife and their habitat without input from independent scientists that is now required. The new measure, set to take effect hours before President-elect Barack Obama is sworn into office Jan. 20, also allows regulators to ignore the effects on wildlife of potential greenhouse-gas emissions from those projects.

 

"The Bush administration is seeking to gut the Endangered Species Act on its way out the door," California Attorney General Jerry Brown said in a statement after the state filed the lawsuit Monday in Northern California Federal District Court in Oakland.

 

Conservation groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation and the Center for Biological Diversity, have also sued, but it's unusual for a state to make the same move. An aide said earlier this month that Obama "will review all [bush admnistration] eleventh-hour regulations and will address them once he is president."

 

Ken Alex, California's senior assistant attorney general, told the Los Angeles Times that the new rules would drive up the cost of protecting California's own species by removing the federal protections.

 

"These regulations are illegal," Alex told the newspaper.

 

Tina Kreisher, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, refused to comment in on an ongoing legal case. Spokespersons for the Commerce Department and National Marine Fisheries Service, which are also named in the suit, did not return calls for comment.

 

The rule is one of a series of so-called midnight regulations that the Bush administration issued in its waning days. Among the other controversial ones: a "right of conscience" clause that bars health care facilities from receiving federal funds if they fail to honor the rights of employees to refuse to provide services they oppose, such as abortion and emergency contraception.

[iNow]

More 11th hour rapin' lovin' from GWB and his administration.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/12/AR2009011203008.html?hpid=moreheadlines

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a new rule yesterday that will make it easier for industrial plants, refineries and paper mills to expand operations without applying for new pollution permits under the Clean Air Act.

 

The rule, part of the Bush administration's ongoing effort to revamp a pollution-control program known as New Source Review, says that when expanding or modernizing plants calculate their emissions to determine whether they need to install new control measures, they are not required to include emissions from unrelated activities at the same plant.

 

Robert J. Meyers, principal deputy assistant administrator in the EPA's office of air and radiation, said the agency determined that it did not make sense to count emissions from distinct projects collectively if they did not have "a substantial economic and technical relationship."

 

But environmentalists said the rule, which applies to about 3,500 facilities nationwide, could make it easier for the facilities to expand without limiting harmful emissions.

 

"It's a classic loophole," said John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. "What they've done is to allow industry to ignore these pollution increases, which decreases the likelihood of cleanup obligations."

 

 

How much much do these people not understand that this war on the environment hurts everyone?