It took eight long years to push the Nation to the brink of annihilation...

Now they have just three months to finish the job.

White House Makes Final Push To Deregulate

The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.

Meanwhile, White House staffers are working behind the scenes to arrange an enormous dump on the Oval Office carpet which would be taken by a number of administration officials in the waning hours of the president's term. The officials would then slide through it, according to sources who declined to be named while plans are still being arranged.