I almost hate writing anything focused entirely on our outgoing Prez, mostly because I was always told you should never kick a man when he’s down… but seriously- fuck this guy.

Dubbya is trying his damnedest to look good and do good things in his last few days in office to try and maybe sway a few more in the “time will tell how good/bad a President he was” argument.  My opinion is that it’s simply too little too late for you my friend.  I don’t care if you suddenly learn how to cure cancer and give it to the world free of charge, you’ve been a reckless douche for 8 years and caused impossible amounts of harm to our country as well as others.

Anyway, his latest “hey look how good I am” stunt is the setting up of three new national monuments set off in the Pacific Ocean.

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.

Did you catch that bit in bold there.  Bush, the great guy that he is, has managed to keep up with the biggest ecologically minded Presidents we’ve ever had.  Bush.  The guy who:

• pretty much pretended Global Climate Change (for those who fear the words Global Warming) isn’t happening
• lifted the moratorium on off shore drilling that had been in place for 27 years
• basically doing anything he can to support big oil, and lets be honest, he’s done all he can for them

Now suddenly with one move, he’s done something that some conservationalists are calling his greatest legacy, (because obviously he can’t claim peace in the Middle East as he’d wanted, or a thriving economy, or an upholding of American institutions like… oh… say the Constitution on which this country was founded!) well good for him.  I hope he enjoys the moment, because soon people will get over the shock of the suddenly green move and remember how outstandingly fucked we are right now as a nation and get right back to counting down the moments til the p.o.s. is replaced.

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