Sunday, March 08, 2009
Bush's "Conscience" Ruling Rescinded
Obama does the Right Thing * Earmarks * Bay Area Rainfall
A misnomer to begin with, Bush's last minute ruling (one of the so called "Midnight" rulings) was a gesture to please the hardcore social conservatives.
Reuters - March 6, 2009 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration moved formally on Friday to rescind a Bush administration rule to protect health workers who refuse to provide services and information on moral grounds, which had inflamed abortion-rights advocates. The rule took effect hours before President Barack Obama took office in January, and opponents say the previous administration rushed it through in a last-minute push in a bid to deny patients not only abortion rights, but also contraception and other care. In a statement on its website, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department said it was "proposing to rescind" the rule "in its entirety." |
While the Obama Administration continues to leave intact some major policies of the previous administration -- the war in Iraq, for one, on this particular issue, followed by reports that ban on Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is to be lifted, Obama decided to risk the wrath of the conservatives. Good for him.
Earmarks Alive and Well
Earmarking (funding for pet projects) has become an entrenched tradition. Roundly condemned by many Democrats who are now doing their share of continuing the practice. Obama's budget director Peter Orszag said on CNN:
- "[Such bills] will not happen when the president has the full legislative and appropriations process in place," Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told CNN's "State of the Union with John King."
The Rains Came
But not enough. The latest table shows that the Bay area precipitation is still below the norm, and so is Sierra snow pack level. While not full, reservoirs have benefited from the rains that began late February. Most of next week is expected to be sunny and dry.
The rains were too late for chanterelles. They decided to stay underground. Very meager pickings this season. Perhaps we'll be rewarded by a bumper crop in November.
"Sound of rain,
Memories of years past
Pleasure and pain."
