Wasn't that the job requirement?

This makes me feel so warm and fuzzy.

The Bush/Cheney administration credo - let our children break their necks, let them eat lead (paint), it's not our problem. We're busy looting YOUR Treasury.

The headline is misleading.

It should read "Bush Appointees Deliberately Gutted Agency".

Who are we kidding? They appointed a former industry lawyer as the watchdog. Ken Starr's former law firm is the gift that keeps on giving, for Americans.

Where would this country be without the brave soldiers of the Federalist Society cleverly subverting the intended function of regulatory agencies?

Weenies.

It's politically toxic to just dismantle the regulatory agencies, so they install some Right wing lawyer to insure the regulatory agency doesn't work, at all.

Americans only find out when they get the emergency warning on kids toys loaded with lead.

Nice people, on the Right. Real moral exemplars. Underhanded, slippery bastards.

These people are so balls to the wall for free trade. They told us that free trade would encourage competition which would in turn drive down the prices.

Well, they got the competition part right, but it seems that without some regulation, all competition is doing is driving down the QUALITY, not the price.

And shouldn't it also be part of free trade that if a company makes a product that kills people, that company SHOULD GO OUT OF BUSINESS instead of getting their bush crony lobbyists to relax the rules for them?

So. Free trade or fair trade? Well, the companies want to be FREE to put profits over people. But, when their product kills one of those people, we have to be FAIR to them and consider that their CEO would only make a 10 million dollar bonus instead of a 12 million dollar bonus if they were forced to make a safe product. Seems the corporations want it both ways, huh? Well, under BushCo they always get what they want...

and we can all just go and eat lead.

Bush's ideas on accountability and control over industry is short on oversight! Corporations like it that way and Bush being the devoted industry godfather is quite happy to sink watchdogs if it serves his cronies and family's interests!

All of this makes perfect sense if you keep in mind the Cheney/Bush regime's goal: the privatization of EVERYTHING.

The Grover Norquist faction of the 'pubs has not been shy about realizing their "dream state" where government has been downsized to the point it can be strangled in a bathtub, and corporate welfare has become "de rigueur."

And if you think they actually CARE about the average American citizen, well, the joke's on you.

Hey, ya gotta pay for those tax cuts somehow.

Of course, of course...it's the one thing the Bush Gestapo has done well. They've ruined government for the common man in favor of all their rich friends not to mention themselves. Rove said (if you can give credence to anything this SS trooper says or does) history will see President Bush as a far-sighted man. What the fuck? Does he mean Bush? Because the guy as president that can't even put a decent phrase together...heh, heh, is an embarassment to us all. The fact that two elections were stolen, and I hope the indictments roll after he's out of office, is the only reason he's in office. His legacy is the lying, cheatin', stealing, legislation editing, money grubbing presidency. Welcome to history shithead.

I think its funny that these manufacturers that were all for "self-regulation" are now calling for stronger rules because the Chinese openly call self-regulation the joke it is. If lighter manufacturers here could make them cheaper than the Chinese could, you wouldnt hear about them pushing for more regulation.

The only time manufacturers want the feds to step in is when "free market" forces conspire to make them lose their advantage over foreign competitors. Then, and only then, do they care about US consumers and health risks.

Again, I told everyone I knew in 2004 that it wasnt who you chose as president, its who THEY chose for the 1500 appointees that really effect your life. Dumb shmucks still voted for Bush, even if they wont admit it now.

The Busholini Regime only cares about money. Safety of children is of no concern. Adults & children safety from China's poison products also of no concern.

I'm going to keep an eye on this thread just to see what garbage the trolls come up with to defend this behavior.

Don't suppose its because the bush appointees all sit on the boards of companies that stand to lose boatloads of money if the laws are enforced? Nah, couldn't be that.

For over a generation our government has been dominated by people who will tell you they hate government. They have railed on about big government programs, government regulations strangling corporations. OSHA has been vilified as well as the Consumer Product Safety Commission. For years the Republicans have loaded the decks of these agencies with corporate thugs who have either gutted the agencies or maid them handmaidens for the industries they should be overseeing. Collapsing infrastructure, poisonous products beyond mere defective, insiders writing their own legislation and paying off politicians in the form of campaign contributions is the price we pay. We are finding out the true cost of Republican leadership. Fight the corporatocracy. They, and the minions doing their bidding, are liars and thieves. So much for the raygun revolution.

Of the 100 largest economic entities in the world 49 are sovereign nations and 51 are corporations. As globalization stretches it tenticles into nations worldwide this imbalance will only get worse.

No department of our government tasked with corporate oversight has not been gutted or coopted by the very companies they were sworn to regulate in the interest of protecting US citizens. The FCC has allowed massive consolidation of the media and allowed virtual monopolies in some markets. The SEC has presided over blatant corporate fraud, preditory lending,unregulated derivative sales that could very well cause the collapse of global markets. The FDA has become the handmaiden of "ethical" drug companies. OSHA and the bureau which is supposed to regulate mine safety are in league with of those that run the factories and the mines.

Global corporations owe no allegience to any country or its people. Their only concern for humans is that they consume their products or work to produce them at the lowest compensation possible. Middle managers and vice presidents believe by virtue of elevated salaries that they are superior to the average citizen. This delusion and the fear of losing their jobs and status causes them to turn a blind eye to or actively participate in actions which can bring harm to their fellow humans, poisoning them with foods and medicines, killing them or maiming them in unsafe work places, selling them inferior and shoddy products at inflated prices, defrauding them with bogus financial reporting.

Corporations are amoral entites. Bottom line their concern is for one thing only---growth at ANY cost. Their only excuse is that they have a duty to their shareholders, but even that is a lie. Think Enron.

So long as this government gives corporations welfare and allows them to buy votes and pack government agencies with their stooges citizens will be ill served by those they supposedly elect to protect them.