Bush's Dirty Tricks

The Bush administration's corporate-favoring policies have thrown us, and our planet, into the hazardous waste bin.

One example, "Philip Cooney, a former American Petroleum Institute lobbyist who became chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, acknowledged in congressional testimony earlier this year that he changed three government reports to eliminate or downplay links between greenhouse gases and global warming. He left in 2005 to work for Exxon Mobil Corp."

And now, WaPo reports on more Bush administration "dirty tricks".... via the Food and Drug Administration that oversees the safety of our food supply.

We learn that we have knowingly being fed disease and bacteria as the FDA "has known about contamination problems" for years.

For example, the FDA knew about ConAgra Food's salmonella-laced peanut butter from their plant in Georgia, and the E. coli bacteria-infected leafy vegetables from California's Salinas Valley.

As Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) reminds us, "This administration does not like regulation," and an underfunded and ineffective FDA is the poisonous result.

We know that Bush can increase department size and budgets, just look at his Keystone-Kops Homeland Security behemoth.

But, as Robert E. Brackett the director of the FDA's food-safety arm admits, because of manpower and budget restraints they visit problem food plants about once a year and the rest less frequently.

And, that doesn't address at all the contamination in imported foods.

ICK!

At heart, the people who died or have been sickened by these deadly-dirty foods are more casualties of the Iraq war. Funds that could, and should, have been used to oversee the safety of our foods were diverted to Bush's budget-gutting pursuit of his fatal obsession.

I think the answer is.... we should bring back the medieval custom of royal tasters.

Only in reverse.

The electorate doesn't eat anything until King George has tried it.