In case you were wondering why I was so skeptical about the President’s willingness to listen to his advisors that don’t tow the party line, here’s a good example :

A high-ranking Food and Drug Administration official resigned Wednesday in protest over the agency’s refusal to allow over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception.

Susan Wood, director of FDA’s Office of Women’s Health, announced her resignation in an e-mail to colleagues at the agency. The e-mail was released by contraception advocates.

The FDA last Friday postponed indefinitely its decision on whether to allow the morning-after pill, called Plan B, to be sold without a prescription. The agency said it was safe for adults to use without a doctor’s guidance but was unable to decide how to keep it out of the hands of young teenagers without a prescription — a decision contrary to the advice of its own scientific advisers.

Kudos to Susan Wood for doing the right thing. I just hope she isn’t naive enough to think her actions will have any action beyond proving once again that there’s no place for dignity, intelligence, or independent thought in the Bush White House.