Bush Creates a New Natural National Monument

Bush is using the 1906 National Antiquities Act in order to create a massive marine sanctuary in Hawaii. (Bush Plans Vast Protected Sea Area in Hawaii )

I wonder if Republicans will attack this as vehemently as they attacked Clinton when he used the 1906 Notional Antiquities Act, or, as usual, show their hypocrisy by not offending their King-in-chief.

I applaud Bush for doing this. I don't know his motivation behind the move to create the sanctuary, and I really don't care all that much. If it were not for the Antiquities Act, we would not have Yellow Stone or Yosemite or many of the other parks and national natural monuments that we visit today. The Antiquities Act, along with several other similar acts have saved millions of square acres of some of this countries most precious natural treasures. Without them, we would have condos overlooking the Grand Canyon tight now.

I am just waiting to see if the Republicans read Bush the riot act as they did to Clinton when he used the Act to protect a bug chunk of the Grand Canyon from development along with 5 other national treasures.

But for people like R.J. Smith ot the Competitive Enterprise Institue (CEI seems to also hate clear air and advocate more pollution because pollution is the "foundation of life"), find it more important for someone to make a buck than to have something that every American can enjoy.

"I think this is a blatant attempt by President Clinton to use the Antiquities Act for political purposes to essentially shut out the democratic process," says R.J. Smith, senior environmental scholar with the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington.

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When the proposals were announced by Babbitt in December, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, said Clinton had no right to make such a move "unilaterally."

Arizona officials have urged Clinton to include state residents in any such decision, while Republican lawmakers say Clinton is using his executive privilege to bypass the Republican-led Congress.

McCain, Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull and other Arizona lawmakers rebuked Clinton in a joint letter for creating the two national monuments in their state.

Clinton declares new national monuments