Anyone who doubts the threat George W. Bush and his ilk present to the future of public hunting and fishing need only remember the name Susan Dudley.

For many years Dudley headed the Mercatus Center, an industry-funded anti-regulatory think tank at George Mason University (read it here).

The philosophy of scholars there is that government should get out of the regulation business and allow the free market - or public reaction - to decide behavior. So, if a hamburger joint was selling tainted burgers that were killing people, it would quickly go out of business because people would stop buying burger there. Who needs meat inspection, right?

Taken to its logical conclusion there would be no need to regulate how oil and gas companies drill on public lands because a public outraged at their excesses would purchase gas from another brand. Or, buy electricity from another power producer. Or .. well, you get the point.

Over the years Dudley has opined against air bag and seat belt regulations, air pollution regulations, limits on arsenic in drinking water, a public pollution warning system, to name a few (click here to read).

That may sound extreme to you, me and most other Americans, and it is. But it perfectly reflects the ideals of President Bush and his small inner circle of ideologues. So last year the president nominated Dudley director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the White House Office of Management and Budget. That innocuous-titled position is one of the most powerful in government, because the person in that job has the authority to block or change all regulations proposed by all government agencies.

So what do you suppose Ms. Dudley would do if (and I'm dreaming here) the Bureau of Land Management suddenly got religion and issued a regulation that forbid oil drillers on the Rocky Mountain front from poisoning local water sheds?

Right.

Congress had the same concerns, so it blocked the appointment. But when Congress left for Easter vacation, the Sportsman-in-Chief used his recess appointment power to put her in that seat anyway. The Dudley appointment was so essential to this president that he felt it worthwhile forcing her into that key position. even if it meant used a tactic guaranteed to infuriate Congress.

And this is a guy who says he loves huntin' and fishin'.