It had to happen sooner or later

It's been over 5 years since the (s)election of George W. Bush. There's always so much to complain about and very little positive news. If asked to name anything the Bush Administration has done that I applaud, I'd scratch my head and remain silent.

Read the full story at the

Washington Post.

Bush to Create Largest Marine Sanctuary

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is creating a vast new marine sanctuary Thursday, extending stronger federal protections to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and its endangered monk seals, nesting green sea turtles and other rare species.

The nation's newest national monument, which will be given a native Hawaiian name based on suggestions from state residents, covers an archipelago stretching 1,400 miles long and 100 miles wide in the Pacific Ocean. It's home to more than 7,000 species, at least a fourth of them found nowhere else.

It is only the second time that Bush has invoked the 1906 National Antiquities Act, which gives the president authority to create national monuments to preserve the nation's ancient cultural sites and unusual geological features.

In February, Bush used the antiquities law for the first time when he declared part of the African Burial Ground in the lower Manhattan section of New York City a national monument. The site, covering less than half an acre, marks where an estimated 20,000 slaves and free blacks were buried in the 18th century.

President Clinton used the act to create 19 national monuments and expand three others to set aside 5.9 million acres of land, mainly in the West, and he drew widespread criticism from conservatives.

Hmmm, I guess there's no oil around that 1,400 miles of archipelago.