House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has spoken out against the current administration's national forest initiatives, announced Wednesday:

"The Administration's draft rule, issued two years ago, was roundly and rightly criticized as a giveaway to corporate timber, mining, and oil interests. Apparently, the Bush Administration took that as encouragement, ignoring repeated requests to let scientists offer input into the new rules. The Administration instead pushed ahead with its plans to reduce the role of scientists and the public in managing our national forests, and the environment will pay the price.

"The national forests belong to the American people, but these regulations were written with the special interests, not the public interest, in mind. The Administration should go back to the drawing board."

Many in the GOP seem to value winning their elections and protecting their careers more highly than protecting the interests of the citizens they were elected to represent. Today, House Republicans are expressing concern that backing President Bush's Social Security plan could lose them precious votes among senior constituents.

"It's a no-win for people in the House," [Rep. Ray LaHood, a] moderate, 10-year House veteran from rural Illinois said recently. "We risk our political careers. We risk 30-second ads against you saying, 'You voted to gut Social Security.'"

Yesterday, the Washington state Supreme Court made a ruling that the 700+ disputed ballots in the race for governor could be counted. The final results in the hand count of previous ballots has Christine Gregoire in a 10-vote lead over her opponent, Republican Dino Rossi.

Though Republicans claimed the counting those mistakenly-disqualified ballots would "harm" election results, Justice Susan Owens has the right perspective. She said, "You're looking at it from the point of view of the winner or the loser — shouldn't we be looking at it from the point of view of the voter?'' Kudos to Justice Owens for recognizing voter rights as the truly important issue.