It's clear that under Bush and the Republicans, science has taken a back seat to politics and money.
From evolution being pushed aside in favor of “intelligent design,” to political appointees at NASA downplaying the dangers of global warming. From hacks running FEMA and dropping the ball disastrously after Katrina, to the FDA stalling on the plan B morning after pill, even though medical experts say there is no reason it can't be approved for over-the-counter sales, the Republican war on science is a mixture of right-wing Christian ideology, and GOP legislators currying financial favor for their big corporate contributors.
And it appears it's the latter of these that is behind proposed legislation which will likely mean your food supply is going to get more dangerous.
As Harold Myerson points out in The Washington Post, while everyone was focusing on the Dubai ports deal last week, the GOP Congress was quietly hard at work on a plan that could endanger the nation's food supply.
Last Wednesday the House passed the National Uniformity for Food Act, which might better be named the Swallow at Your Own Risk Act. In one swoop, the bill preempts roughly 200 state laws governing food safety.
(snip)
The other problem is the FDA itself, which under the Bush administration has given "political science" a whole new meaning. It's the FDA that overruled its scientists to keep the morning-after pill off the shelves of America's pharmacies. It requires absolutely no leap of imagination to envision an FDA that comforts the food industry and afflicts consumers.
It's the food industry, of course, that cooked up this legislative swill. The bill's backers include most supermarket chains, and such food giants as Cargill, Coca-Cola, ConAgra and Kraft -- mega-contributors all. Its opponents include not just the usual consumer and environmental groups but a bipartisan group of 39 state attorneys general.
You really have to wonder what kind of country these people are envisioning for the future. The federal government in debt, unable to supply even basic services, a corporate oligarchy running everything, with CEOs making 500 times what the average worker makes, and a cowed and beaten middle class, whose jobs are being shipped overseas, and workers grateful for the scraps of having any kind of employment, with the perks once accepted as norm for the American worker – pension plans, and company paid health insurance – a long distant memory of an earlier time.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
-
▼
2006
(630)
-
▼
March
(82)
- Par-tay
- Can you hear me now?
- Jesus H. Christ
- Join the club
- It's the most wonderful time of the year
- Scalia is such un succhiatore
- They must be heathens
- The terrorists have won
- I loved Crazy Cat on the Cartoon Network
- Well, I must be a goddamn general by now
- I think I need a damn Tampon now
- What am I, Google?
- Ohh mah gaaahhd, like, I know gurrls like thaaat
- Is this the seventh sign of the apocalypse?
- Everything will be good now
- Now, if I can only find a place where they fry bre...
- Lara Logan on fire
- That sounds familiar
- That didn't last long
- Oy gevalt
- I'd be screaming like a little girl
- The sharks were better actors
- Another Bush foreign policy success story
- What - is he in the Rolling Stones?
- He's probably going to be the next Secretary of Labor
- Sanity in South Dakota?
- Pass that buck
- She didn't say anything about black and white cookies
- Greed in the record industry? Shocking!
- Maybe he was just afraid of getting shot in the face?
- Splash
- What's black and white and yummy all over?
- Seriously, can they get any scummier?
- Steaks and traitors and Scotch – oh my
- In-sane (adj.)
- It's about time
- Ladies, start your engines...of envy
- Can we at least call it a George Horse?
- Tall and tan and young and lovely....
- I hope they were wearing their protective vests
- I hear the call of the loon
- Reading is fundamental
- Corky or Lucy? You make the call
- There better be a goddamn revolution in November
- Blasphemy
- Good for her
- She wanted a salmon roll...in the hay
- SFX indeed
- His name will suddenly be very appropriate
- What's a little E. coli among friends
- March 14 - what a glorious day
- Is Erica Kane going to be named Secretary of State...
- Another glamorous night in the Big Apple
- The mind absolutely boggles
- Who are these heathens?
- His poll numbers are so bad he had to return to th...
- A bob job vs. a war? Not even close for Sen. Bill ...
- Now THAT'S my type
- Who knew so many people liked carrot juice?
- “That coat check girl has a name.”
- He's actually a small time piker in the usual scal...
- Where are the goddamn angry women?
- I survived!
- Bada bing
- George who?
- Someone didn't get the talking points
- What's wrong with this picture?
- Well, let me transfer my bank account info over to...
- Excellent
- It's a small world after all
- That little filly needs tamed -- and I'm just the ...
- They're just mad Bruce Willis hasn't been nominate...
- Piano Man
- Saturday rejuvenation tip # 26
- Speaking of God, it's about God damn time
- Pathetic
- I really want to be an astronaut! No, wait, a fire...
- Now he tells us
- Dance, puppet, dance
- It's one of the seven deadly sins, you know
- Move over Georgina Bloomberg
- What's up with this seeing a celebrity thing?
-
▼
March
(82)

1 comment:
This is scary and typical of what these people are doing to us. The democrats have to win the next election or I think we are all in a LOT of trouble.
Post a Comment