bush is poised to enact a bunch of new regulations--perhaps i should say "deregulations"--just as he leaves office. there's nothing all that unusual about this. clinton did the same thing during his lame-duck period after the 2000 election but before bush's inauguration.
i really think this is a bad idea no matter which party does it. there should be a rule that no regulation promulgated by an administration between election day and inauguration day can go into effect without consent of the successor president. the outgoing president could still make new rules at the end of his or her term, but if the lame duck wants to avoid the possibility that the next president won't sign off on them, the old prez has to promulgate no later than the day before the election. which means the people will have the chance to punish the sitting president's party if they don't like the new rules.
