Salting The Earth

In the Third Punic War between the Romans and Carthage more than 2,000 years ago, the Romans sacked Carthage and poured salt onto the fields surrounding the city in a 50 mile radius, rendering the fields useless for crops for years.

The Romans didn't just defeat the Carthaginians, they completely ruined them on the way out the door. Carthage never recovered as a threat to the Romans or anyone else for that matter after that.

Which brings me to Bush and his executive order salting of the earth.

Bush administration aides are rushing to pass a safety rule which would make government regulation of workers' exposure to toxic chemicals more difficult; a rule President-elect Barack Obama opposes.

Public health officials worry the decreased protections will result in additional, unnecessary deaths.

It is just one of about 20 controversial Labor Department proposals being pushed by large business interests, according to a published report.

Other proposals would allow power plants to be built closer to parks and wildlife preserves, and further limit the role of environmental and animal experts in determining where major infrastructure projects may be carried out.

Obama will do what he can, but Bush is going out as nasty and as corrupt as he came into office.