They don’t even bother to pretend anymore
There once was a time, if I remember correctly, when the corporate apologists Bush puts in charge of regulating the very industries they serve would at least offer lip service to the public interest. Today, some don’t even bother to pretend.
(NY Times) Strengthening of Consumer Agency Opposed by Its Boss
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 — The top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation that would strengthen the agency that polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools.
On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.
Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistleblowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws.
The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels of almost 200 times the safety ceiling.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:48 am
It is glaringly obvious that George W. Bush has attempted and succeeded in emasculting any decent, ethical regulation of consumer goods. It matters not one iota to this sociopathic monster that children can be seriously harmed or even killed by toxic and defective products. Children don’t make campaign contributions, dont run million-dollar companies, dont pay sleazy lobbyists to promote each and every tax and regulatory loophole, to the pubic’s detriment. With such an unscrupulous leader as an example, corporations are reassured that they can run amok without punishment. Anything goes, as long as they can make a profit and the FAT CAT CEO’s can live like kings. They are all feeding at the trough together. The rest of us can suffer lead poisoning. We don’t count. Our children don’t count. Only the amassing of wealth for the wealthy counts. Cheney cackles with glee, when a piece of work like Nancy Nord does exactly what criminals like Cheney demand.The Republicans are sick with greed, sick with avarice, sick with selfishness. They are a disease upon the land, like a plague of locusts. If the sheeple dont see how toxic the Party has become, they deserve to wallow in pollution, and will.
Bush and Cheney, however, will run away to lives of luxury, having raped and robbed the country for their own benefit. Human life means NOTHING to them. Iraq proves that. Katrina proved that. If I were one of their family members, I would begin to worry about their level of callousness and cruelty.
October 30th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I stole this idea straight from Rosa Brooks’ Oct. 25th L.A. Times: “If a court or jury finds that [a] person is mentally ill and…is likely to injure himself or other persons if allowed to remain at liberty, the court may order his hospitalization.” If that definition doesn’t fit Bush & Cheney I don’t know of a more appropriate one. (Delusional war criminals?)