You probably saw this NYT article about Bush's last-minute push to irreversibly change a bunch of labor and environmental regulations; it was in a lot of newspapers and at the top of Huffington Post. The lede highlights a change to OSHA codes which would extend the process of banning hazardous chemicals from the workplace, effectively handing employers an extra couple years in which to kill their employees. (No wonder the Chamber of Commerce "unequivocally supports" it.) But let me encourage you to read the article closely, because there's some other outrageous stuff in there:

One rule would make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas. Another would reduce the role of federal wildlife scientists in deciding whether dams, highways and other projects pose a threat to endangered species...

One rule would allow coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. Another, issued last week by the Health and Human Services Department, gives states sweeping authority to charge higher co-payments for doctor’s visits, hospital care and prescription drugs provided to low-income people under Medicaid. The department is working on another rule to protect health care workers who refuse to perform abortions or other procedures on religious or moral grounds.

Both the implications of each regulation here, and the trend, should be obvious. This is an administration that has never had any interest in governing responsibly -- so naturally, in its dying days, White House policy is devolving into favors. Big Business put these boys in Washington, so it's only fair they get some rewards. Dance with the one that brung ya, I always say!

...To my left-wing purist friends: say what you want about the Democratic Party and its corporate ties, but an Obama (or Kerry) administration at least isn't actively hostile to workers, the environment, and the poor. Conservatives, on the other hand...