War Criminal BUSH, Super-Champion of Environmental Causes, CynicallyCreates Pacific Ocean Military No Trespass Zones Under Guise of "NationalMonuments"!

IN A CYNICAL, last-gasp effort to create a "legacy" for his otherwise
failed administration, your Nincompoop in Chief is disguising --
"designating" -- three U.S. military "No Trespassing" zones in the
Pacific Ocean as marine national monuments. This, even though his
presumed authority to do so under the century-old American Antiquities
Act is extremely questionable; other nations are not signatories or
subject to the mandates of such a dubious "American" act.

And we doubt that the locations of these zones, smack in the middle of
Pacific shipping lanes, are merely coincidental. Figuratively if not
literally, these "monuments" are lines drawn in the sand -- in the
water in this instance -- telling potential intruders, "Do not even
think of drilling for oil or minerals, establishing naval bases, or
blocking shipping lanes in this region."

Naturally, The Washington Post, ever protective of its "George W. Bush
Historical Revisionist Program," not to mention its place on White
House party and gala invite lists, portrays this trickery as a Bush
"legacy moment," as if in his sniveling last days our White House war
criminal is above criticism, much less indictment, for crimes against
humanity.

Of course, millions of duped-and-media-manipulated red-staters will
buy the latest Bush lie, hook, line and stinker.

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"Bush to Protect Three Areas in Pacific"

"Marine Monuments Burnish an Environmental Record That Is Seen as
Mixed"

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 6, 2009; A01



President Bush will create three new marine national monuments in the
Pacific Ocean today, according to his top aides, a move that will help
preserve sprawling sea and island ecosystems and cement the one aspect
of his legacy that has won praise, sometimes grudgingly, from many
environmentalists.

Bush's decision to safeguard far-flung areas totaling 195,280 square
miles, which comes just two weeks before he leaves office, underscores
his contradictory environmental record. While he has resisted imposing
mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change
and has opened large areas of the nation to drilling, mining and other
use of resources, by the end of his term he will have protected more
ocean than any person in history.

Invoking powers of the Antiquities Act of 1906 that are used to
protect statues and cultural sites, Bush will sharply restrict oil and
gas exploration and commercial fishing around numerous remote islands
in the central and western Pacific that have long been U.S.
possessions. Scientists identified them as biologically and
geologically rich areas. The monuments, which together are equal in
size to Spain, include regions teeming with sharks and other top
marine predators, along with vibrant coral and hydrothermal vents.

James L. Connaughton, who chairs the White House Council on
Environmental Quality, said the new designations, coupled with Bush's
2006 decision to create the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument
in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and a handful of smaller
designations, mean that Bush has matched the record of some of the
nation's most conservation-minded presidents. Spanning an additional
138,000 square miles, the Hawaiian monument is one of the world's
largest protected marine reserves.

"In the last eight years, we've been able to accomplish conservation
in marine environments on par with what we've achieved on land over
the past 100 years," Connaughton said in an interview.

In making the decision, Bush overruled the objections of recreational
fishing interests and Vice President Cheney, who argued that the
restrictions would create a dangerous precedent. Recreational
fishermen will be required to apply for permits to fish in the
protected areas.

Bush, a fisherman himself, has consistently demonstrated more of an
interest in marine issues than in other environmental matters, even
making ocean conservation the theme of last year's Easter Egg Roll.
First lady Laura Bush, an avid bird-watcher, weighed in as well,
soliciting input from outside scientists, asking for briefings on the
proposed monument designations, and privately telling some
participants in the process that she considers the monuments a key
part of her husband's environmental legacy.

Among the unique ecological treasures that will receive new protection
are the giant coconut crab, the largest land-living arthropod; an
endangered bird that incubates its eggs with volcanic heat; a boiling
pool of liquid sulfur; and a 31-mile-wide active mud volcano.

Joshua S. Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group,
said Bush "has ushered in a new era of ocean conservation in the
United States and the world at large" with his push to protect
ecologically valuable marine areas.

"It has taken 137 years, since the creation of America's first
national park in Yellowstone in 1872, to recognize that unique areas
of the world's oceans deserve the same kind of protection as we have
afforded similar places on land," Reichert said. "And none too soon."

But Vikki Spruill, president and chief executive of the Ocean
Conservancy, an advocacy group, cautioned that in light of Bush's
other policies, it is too early to judge the impact of the new
protections.

"On balance, when you compare this to little to no action on climate
change and the lifting of the moratorium [on offshore oil drilling]
that's been in place for 27 years, that begins to paint a different
picture," she said. "This move, by itself, is a really positive move.
The net gain is a question we will have to address years from now."

The decision to protect some isolated islands along with the Mariana
Trench, the deepest ocean canyon in the world, also represents a
strategic shift by ocean conservationists, who have decided they are
better off safeguarding some of the sea's most pristine regions than
trying to curb fishing, drilling and other "extractive" activity
everywhere.

Diane Regas, managing director of the Environmental Defense Fund's
oceans program, said there is "an emerging realization" that some
places need to be cordoned off while others "need to be managed so
people can survive on the fish and enjoy fishing."

But Michael Nussman, president of the American Sportfishing
Association, decried the new policy, saying that it presumes
recreational fishing is "an evil activity."

"If you're going to keep the public out of a public area, you need a
darned good reason to do that," said Nussman, whose group represents
manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers who supply the sport fishing
industry. "We don't think they've met that 'darned good reason' test."

Some experts suggested that the administration should have imposed
more stringent protections in the three marine monuments, which
include Rose Atoll on American Samoa; seven islands that constitute
the central Pacific's Line Islands; and a grouping that includes the
three northernmost islands in the northern Marianas chain and the
Mariana Trench.

Enric Sala, a National Geographic researcher who has conducted two
expeditions to the Line Islands, questioned why the protections extend
only 50 miles from shore, rather than the 200 miles over which the
United States can claim exclusive economic jurisdiction, and why they
do not encompass the water above the rim of the Mariana Trench.

"In the ocean, everything is connected," said Sala, noting that the
sharks that inhabit the Line Islands feed on seabirds that travel
hundreds of miles from shore in search of food for their chicks.

Connaughton said the administration had determined that going beyond
50 miles would not provide significant "scientific benefits for
conservation" and that there was no scientific record demonstrating
that the waters above the trench need to be protected.

Still, Sala welcomed protection for the regions, which he called "the
instruction manual to understand how coral reefs function, and the
baseline to understand what we've done in terms of destruction of the
coral reef ecosystems. . . . For a president that's not very green,
ironically, this is going to be his largest legacy."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...5/AR200901050=
1181.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=3DAR

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"A Monumental Decision"

"George W. Bush becomes the conservation president, at least at sea"

Editorail
Tuesday, January 6, 2009; A12


YES, YOU READ that right. A man whose administration doesn't exactly
have a green seal of approval from environmentalists will grant
monument status today to three vast and breathtaking areas teeming
with marine life in the South Pacific. Combined with other
designations over the past eight years, including the creation of a
138,000-square-mile marine national monument in the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands two years ago, Mr. Bush has now protected more ocean
habitat (333,000 square miles) than any of his predecessors.

Mr. Bush is using the American Antiquities Act to protect more than
195,000 square miles of marine habitat. This 1906 law gives the
president the power to designate as national monuments any landmarks
and other structures with historic or scientific value. Because Mr.
Bush chose this route, as he did two years ago with the Hawaii
designation, his action takes effect immediately, without a lengthy
bureaucratic review under the federal marine sanctuaries law.

The Mariana Trench Marine National Monument includes 21 active
underwater volcanoes, geothermal vents and the Mariana Trench. James
L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental
Quality, noted during a media call yesterday that the trench is five
times longer than the Grand Canyon and deeper, at its deepest point,
than Mount Everest is tall. The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National
Monument encompasses five widely dispersed reefs, atolls and islands
that are home to seabirds, migratory birds, turtles and an abundance
of predatory fish, such as sharks. And, according to Mr. Connaughton,
the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument in American Samoa boasts "some
of the broadest extent of live coral cover on the Earth."

The ecosystems and geological formations that will now be protected
from exploitation or disturbance will preserve the environment and
some species that are disappearing in other parts of the world.
Equally important, the national monuments will provide a platform for
scientific discovery, particularly as the impact of climate change on
the oceans becomes more apparent. "These locations are truly among the
last pristine environments on Earth," Mr. Connaughton said. And thanks
to Mr. Bush's action today, they will remain that way.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...5/AR200901050=
2406.html