This story got almost no coverage in the US press (and that's because they cannot bring themselves to say a good word about a Bush environmental success), but on June 15th, president Bush signed an order that placed 140,000 square miles of Hawaiian Island waters off limits to fishing and other intrusions.
The BBC report dutifully reveals how happy environmentalists are over Bush's decision to bypass the years long process to negotiate this deal and simply sign an order protecting these waters. Bush has the authority under the 1906 National Antiquities Act to sign a law that protects such sites instantly, bypassing further machinations.
Naturally, they don't seem all worried over THIS exercise of executive power!
But, just as naturally, the BBC couldn't just let a story go all positive for Bush. After 16 mostly laudatory paragraphs where even environmentalists were on Bush's side, the BEEB had to end the story with the following:
Although environmental groups welcomed the news, many remain strongly opposed to other Republican policies on the environment, including a push to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration.
Yep, the BEEB had to say, in effect; Bush was a good boy this time... but we STILL hate him and so does everyone else!
-By Warner Todd Huston
