8.17.2004
Regulation Raiding, Shrub Style
The New York Times ran a report about how the Bush Administration is using underhanded techniques to alter laws pertaining to the environmental, safety & health regulations.
...the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a regulation that would forbid the public release of some data relating to unsafe motor vehicles, saying that publicizing the information would cause "substantial competitive harm" to manufacturers.
Right, so throrough listings of vehicle's safety data certainly would hogtie manufacturers who produce unsafe cars, but I think that's the entire point of gathering said data. Certainly, I can't argue that previous administrations didn't use the same tactics, at times, because they all have. You take an event that catches the nation's and then you push through some "amendments" that no one but the most clever among the press corps and public interest groups will pay attention to. However, doing so on one of the deadliest days Iraq has seen seems a bit harsh. Indeed, the NYT article has it wrong. MSNBC stated the death toll was later lowered from 68 to 50, but that makes little difference overall.
The American people deserve an administration that will fight for it's people instead of lining the pockets of CEOs who're already making an absolute killing. When was the last time you and all your coworkers got a raise one year and then double that the next? I didn't think so...
...the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a regulation that would forbid the public release of some data relating to unsafe motor vehicles, saying that publicizing the information would cause "substantial competitive harm" to manufacturers.
Right, so throrough listings of vehicle's safety data certainly would hogtie manufacturers who produce unsafe cars, but I think that's the entire point of gathering said data. Certainly, I can't argue that previous administrations didn't use the same tactics, at times, because they all have. You take an event that catches the nation's and then you push through some "amendments" that no one but the most clever among the press corps and public interest groups will pay attention to. However, doing so on one of the deadliest days Iraq has seen seems a bit harsh. Indeed, the NYT article has it wrong. MSNBC stated the death toll was later lowered from 68 to 50, but that makes little difference overall.
The American people deserve an administration that will fight for it's people instead of lining the pockets of CEOs who're already making an absolute killing. When was the last time you and all your coworkers got a raise one year and then double that the next? I didn't think so...
