ADMINISTRATION
Stonewalling Consumer Safety
Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill strengthening the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) by
raising its budget, increasing its staff, and granting it "broad
new powers to police the marketplace" in the name of consumer safety. The vote
came over the opposition of an unlikely foe: the head of the CPSC,
Nancy Nord. The New York Times reported that Nord objected to
"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." According to her spokesman,
Nord worried that the new regulations would "put
the agency in court" rather than strengthen enforcement. Nord's
opposition comes after half a million toys imported from China were recalled earlier this month, adding to the millions
that have already been recalled for containing dangerous levels of
lead and other safety concerns. Though parents
are worried about their children's safety, the CPSC brushed off the latest recall.
"A lot of what is being recalled is because it violates the law, not that there is an
imminent health risk,"
CSPC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said. The CPSC's stonewalling of
effective reforms plays along with the White House's determination to
move towards even
greater deregulation across government agencies at a time when the questionable safety of
products demands increasing oversight. Straight from conservative
ideology, Bush's determination to "leave
it to the market" -- even at the expense
of safety -- has failed the American public.
CRONIES IN POWER: Bush's first CPSC chair, Harold
Stratton, assured the business world that he would "break
the barrier of fear" by making it more difficult to order product
recalls. After Stratton stepped down last year, Bush nominated Michael
Baroody,
the executive vice president of the National Association of
Manufacturers (NAM), to head the CPSC. NAM is "a
trade group that opposes
aggressive product safety regulation" and "has
called for weakening the Consumer Product Safety Commission." With
NAM, Baroody opposed asbestos regulations, highway safety reform, and government action to
combat
global warming. Consumer
groups, including Public Citizen, Consumers Union, and the Consumer
Federation of America, cried
foul, "saying he could
not possibly be an advocate for consumer safety having represented industries the agency regulates." "It's
sort of astonishing that the administration would pick someone from a regulated industry,"
Rachel Weintraub of the Consumer Federation of America said. Facing
mounting
criticism -- which only increased when it was revealed Baroody would
receive a $150,000
severance package from NAM upon taking up his new government post -- Baroody was forced
to withdraw
his nomination on May 23, the day before his Senate confirmation
hearing.
UNFIT FOR THE JOB: After Baroody's withdrawal,
Bush
appointed Nancy
Nord to serve as acting head of the CPSC.
Unfortunately, Nord is cut from the same political cloth as Baroody.
She had been a lobbyist for Eastman Kodak, the executive director of
the
American Corporate Counsel Association, and the Director of Consumer
Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Given her background, it is unsurprising that Nord does not recognize the challenges facing her agency or the
American consumer," a report released yesterday by the Campaign for
America's Future noted.
Nord's current resistance to legislative reforms -- which would
increase the
CPSC's budget and staff -- has perplexed lawmakers. Yesterday Speaker
of
the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called for Nord's resignation.
"Any commission chair who does not, in the face of the facts that
are so clear, say we don't need any more authority or any more
resources to do our job, does
not understand the gravity of the situation,"
she said. "I call on the president of the United States to ask for her
resignation." This is not the first time Nord has rubbed
lawmakers the wrong way. Last month, when she was asked to testify
about the safety of toys imported from China, she said she would "rather
go to the dentist."
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank noted that "instead of showing
contrition, Nord treated the lawmakers as if they were impertinent
children."
FAILURE OF CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES: The
politicization of the agency, coupled with the Bush administration's
adherence to a flawed conservative ideology, has crippled the CPSC. In its first year of operation in 1974, the CPSC
had a staff of 786 and a budget equivalent to $146.6 million in today's
dollars. Today it operates
with a budget of only $62.3
million and 420 full-time employees. Now is not the time to scale
back regulation of product safety, as imports of consumer goods from
overseas have reached
an all-time high. For example, the Toy Industry Association estimates
that 80
percent of all toys sold in the United States are imported from China. Because of this
deregulation, millions of children going trick-or-treating tonight to
celebrate Halloween will be at
greater risk than ever before from products made outside the United
States,
including tainted costumes
and plastic candy buckets. Even when faced with safety risks to
kids, conservatives would rather allow the markets to regulate
themselves and consumers to fend for themselves. "As
this point, when it comes to imported products, American are
basically
on their own," notes the Campaign for America's Future. "[T]hey
can't rely on what
they
need -- active and efficient government regulation and inspection that
can protect our children and insure that our safety standards are met.
It is past time for that to change."
HUMAN RIGHTS -- MUKASEY CALLS
WATERBOARDING
'HYPOTHETICAL,' DODGES LEGAL QUESTION OF WHETHER IT IS TORTURE: In a
written response to questions from Senate Democrats yesterday, Attorney General nominee
Michael Mukasey refused to say explicitly whether he believed
waterboarding to be torture. In the four-page letter, Mukasey called
the interrogation technique "over the line" and "repugnant" on "a
personal basis," but added that he would need the "actual facts and
circumstances" to strike a "legal opinion." "Hypotheticals
are different from real life and in any legal opinion the actual
facts and circumstances are critical," wrote Mukasey. CNN's
Ed Henry noted that with his "facts and circumstances"
hedge, "essentially Michael
Mukasey is dodging the question of whether legally
waterboarding is torture." In a statement, Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy
(D-VT) said he was "very concerned"
that Mukasey was "unable to state unequivocally that waterboarding is
illegal." "We asked Judge Mukasey a simple and straightforward
question: Is
waterboarding illegal?" said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). "While this
question has been
answered clearly by many others...Judge
Mukasey spent four pages
responding and still didn't provide an answer." Time reported
yesterday that if Mukasey "refuses to declare waterboarding expressly
illegal, he
looks likely to be rejected by the Judiciary Committee."
IRAQ -- GAO: REDUCTION IN VIOLENCE DUE TO 'ETHICALLY CLEANSED
NEIGHBORHOODS': The
Bush administration has been quick to jump on reports of reduced
violence in Iraq, with President Bush declaring that violence is "down
significantly from last year." In a hearing yesterday before the
House Appropriations
Committee, however, Joe Christoff of the Government Accountability
Office stated
that recent reductions in violence should be taken with a grain of
salt, as they coincide with increased sectarian cleansing and massive
refugee displacement. "You know, we look at the attack data going down,
but it's not taking into consideration that there
might be fewer attacks because you have ethnically cleansed
neighborhoods,
particularly in the Baghdad area," Christoff said. His comments confirm
the conclusions of ret. Gen. James Jones, whose report depicted the
reality
of ethnic cleansing in Baghdad in a stark
visual presentation. A report released yesterday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq
Reconstruction confirmed that sectarian strife still reigns throughout
Iraq, noting, "Despite reduced violence, [Provincial Reconstruction
Team] officials
are pessimistic that lasting reconciliation is occurring."
MEDIA -- CLEAR CHANNEL
REFUSES TO AIR SPRINGSTEEN'S ANTI-WAR ALBUM: Bruce
Springsteen's new album, "Magic,"
became the number
one selling album in America when it was released three weeks ago,
and his current U.S. tour is selling out stadiums across the country.
But despite the album's popularity, Clear Channel Communications, which
owns over 1,100 radio stations in the United States, has refused to air
any of its
songs. Clear Channel recently circulated a memo to its classic
rock stations "not to play
tracks from 'Magic.' But
it's OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as 'Dancing in the
Dark,' 'Born to Run' and 'Born in the USA.'" Springsteen, whose songs
have consistently contained anti-war
messages, is more explicit in "Magic" about his opposition to the
U.S. invasion of Iraq. The album includes a song entitled "Last
To Die" which features the lyrics: "Who'll be the last to die for a
mistake/The last to die for a mistake/Whose blood will spill, whose
heart will break/Who'll be the last to die for a mistake." Last month,
Clear
Channel also refused
to air a commercial by a veteran critical of the Iraq war during
Rush Limbaugh's program because the ad presented information that
"would conflict with the listeners who have chosen to listen to
Rush Limbaugh." Clear Channel is also the company responsible for
ostracizing the Dixie Chicks after they made comments critical
of President Bush in 2003.
|
One in eight: Number of veterans under the age of
65 who are uninsured, "a finding that contradicts the assumption many
have that all vets qualify for free health care through the Department
of Veterans Affairs." Approximately 1.8
million veterans overall lack health coverage, a jump of 290,000
since 2000.
"Preliminary Veterans Affairs Department research obtained by The
Associated Press reveals for
the first time that there were at least 283 suicides among
veterans who left the military between the start of the war in
Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001 and the end of 2005."
"Twenty-one states will run out of money for children's
health insurance in the coming year, and at least nine
of those states will exhaust their allotments in March if Congress
simply continues spending at current levels." President Bush yesterday threatened
to veto Congress's SCHIP legislation.
Lawmakers have increasingly steered federal funds to "overtly
religious organizations -- many of which claim proselytizing
or religious conversions as their primary function" -- using
earmarks. For instance, Sen.
David Vitter (R-LA) tried to earmark $100,000
for a creationist organization.
"In a shift of strategy that indicates an
increasingly weakened political position, President Bush has
included at least $2.51 billion for projects unrelated to the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in his latest 'emergency'
supplemental request."
Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates agreed
yesterday that "all State Department security convoys in Iraq will
now fall under military control." The move is the latest
effort "to bring Blackwater Worldwide and other armed
contractors under tighter supervision."
"Draft legislation that lifts immunity for foreign private
security companies gained the consent
of the Iraqi cabinet on Tuesday and was sent to Parliament for approval." Under the approved
version, security companies must have "all their weapons be licensed by
the Iraqi Interior Ministry."
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair "turned down a
last-minute offer from President George Bush for Britain to stay out of
the Iraq war because he
thought it would look 'pathetic,'" according to a new book on
Blair's tenure.
And finally: "There's a new birthday card on the market showing President
Bush, white earphones in his ears, showing off a new IPod,"
called the "I-Pres." Among the selections on the playlist: "Iraq Around
the Clock," "Knockin'
on Iran's Door," "Oil Fields Forever," and "Cheney's Got a Gun." |
|
|
MSN "has rolled out" a "green-themed
media venture" called MSN Green, "a new channel consisting of
environmental news and information aimed at the masses."
OREGON:
Portland boasts "the second highest rate of bloggers in the nation."
MISSOURI:
The first commercial wind farm in the state is pumping "tax revenue,
tourism dollars and civic pride" into a Missouri town.
ENVIRONMENT:
"Mountaintop removal and strip mining are decimating the majestic
Appalachian Mountains."
THINK
PROGRESS: Vice President Cheney visits a hunting lodge that hangs
the confederate flag.
DANGER
ROOM: Blackwater has its own "special edition" pistol complete
with the Blackwater logo on the grip.
HUFFINGTON
POST: Conservative candidates postpone yet another minority-focused
debate.
THE MIDDLE CLASS: The
Drum Institute launches a new resource for keeping Congress accountable.
"'If he does not believe that waterboarding is illegal, then that would
really put doubts in my own mind because I don't think you have to have a lot of
knowledge about the law to understand this technique violates' the
Geneva Convention and other statutes."
-- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), 10/28/07,
on Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey
VERSUS
"The letter shows that he understands mainstream legal
reasoning. There's nothing off base here."
-- Graham, 10/30/07,
after Mukasey again refused to state that waterboarding is illegal
|
Topic Cloud
