Bush the Deregulator

In a "Last Push to Deregulate" to accommodate their corporate buddies, "The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January." (WaPo)

That's right, not satisfied with deregulating banking and Wall Street into a financial free-for-all Armageddon, "The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

"Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining."

We must ask once again.... don't the conservative Bushies, their lobbyist enablers and corporate oligarchs breathe the air, drink the water, want to protect their children and grandchildren so they can continue to live on this earth?

Or has relentlessly narrow ideology so warped their world view that they would gamble with precious lives to add even one more piece of silver to their obscene stockpile.

"As many as 90 new regulations are in the works....the burst of activity has made this a busy period for lobbyists who fear that industry views will hold less sway after the elections."

Take for example "one rule, being pursued over some opposition within the Environmental Protection Agency would allow current emissions at a power plant to match the highest levels produced by that plant, overturning a rule that more strictly limits such emission increases.

"According to the EPA's estimate, it would allow millions of tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, worsening global warming.

Another "rule would allow increased emissions from oil refineries, chemical factories and other industrial plants with complex manufacturing operations.

"These rules will force Americans to choke on dirtier air for years to come, unless Congress or the new administration reverses these eleventh-hour abuses," said lawyer John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council."

The new administration to reverse these outrages isn't John McSame's.... he never saw a lobbyist he didn't like.... or employ.

Vote. It really matters!

Bush is Ozoning

In case you are in any doubt that The Decider has total and utter disregard for your health and the health of our "wildlife, parks and farmland," this should lay those doubts to rest.... "Ozone Rules Weakened at Bush's Behest." (WaPo)

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone" after an intervention by Bush as he "overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the agency to increase the limit" as White House lawyers "hustled to craft new legal justifications for the weakened standard."

Until Bush's interference, on the advice of EPA's expert scientists, the "public health" standard would have lowered the ozone level in the Clean Air Act.

Ozone, which is formed when pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and other chemical compounds released by industry and motor vehicles are exposed to sunlight, is linked to an array of heart and respiratory illnesses, and the health of "managed agricultural crops and natural terrestrial ecosystems."

Give the senior EPA officials and scientists credit. They resisted the White House position but their recommendations were trampled over and discarded by a White House with an agenda.

Let's face it, the EPA was going up against the "flat earth" mentality and knee-jerk reaction of The Decider against all things hinting that his corporate and oil buddies are greedily sliming the earth, water and air in the name of profits.

What profit it a man if he gains a dollar but loses his sense.

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.