This Week In The News
This week, congressional Democrats called for the resignation of Nancy Nord, the head of the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Nord, (who came from the US Chamber of Commerce) has consistently advocated for less regualtion of consumer goods, "voluntary" standards for industry, and a smaller manadate for her own agency. Recently the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have broken news of the lavish junkets Nord partipated in, all funded by the industries she supposedly oversees. This adds the CPSC to the long list of governmental agencies tainted by pro industry corruption or simply spreading misinformation: The Department of the Interior (oil leases, censoring information on global warming), State (Blackwater, Halliburton, torture), NASA (censoring information on global warming) Health and Human Servies (pro abstinence propanada) FEMA (Halliburton, making up its own press conference, New Orleans generally), the CIA (getting Iraq intelligence wrong or falsifying that intelligence). Asked if she felt the Administration had remained true to its goal of restoring "honor" to the Oval Office, Press Secretary Dana Perino responded, " Oh god yes. I mean first, people in the West Wing pray a lot. Ask anybody. Second, our files clearly indicate that not one employee of the Executive has had sex in the White House. Not one. Not ever. There was one incident involving Dick Cheney, but it turns out he was just recreating a scene from Hostel II...."
This week, Sen Hillary Clinton rolled out a comprehensive energy plan that included setting a mileage standard of 55 mpg to be met in the next twenty years and incentives for the production of hybrid vehicles. Immediately, the domestic auto industry attacked the plan stating that it would be far "too costly." According to Richard Wagoneer, President of GM, "Forcing our compnay to keep pace with its foreign rivals puts us at a tremendous disadvantage." Clintons plan was also attacked by the Republican National Commitee as an "unwarranted intrusion of the federal government into all areas of our lives" (real quote). According to RNC Chair Duncan Hunter, "The next thing you know, she will want the government monitoring the water we drink and the food we eat..."
This week, Rudi Giuliani went on the offensive against the various healthcare reforms proposed by his Democratic opponents. Rudi fired off that the survival rate for prostate cancer in Great Britain is half that of the United States. Seems Rudi was wrong and relying on some old statistics from a right wing think tank. His claim elicited a bit of press and a letter from the British National Health Service. Undeterred in his quest to smear anything even vaguely resembling socialized medicine, Giuliani continued his campaign and offered the following tidbits of information, "What they don't tell you about socialized medicine is that there are no doctors. Most exams and procedures are performed by people that failed out of technical schools and prison inmates. They also don't sterilize instruments, they just wipe them on their pants on pray for the best. Also, if socialized medicine is so good, how come Europeans weigh so much less than us and have bad teeth? Is that what the Democrats want? Pasty toothless citizens that have to limp through life and lisp when they talk? I think it is. That is what the Democrats and Osama Bin Laden both want. 9/11 and out."
This week the House Foreign Affairs Commitee questioned Yahoo's Chief Executive Jeffery Yang. In 2004 Yahoo cooperated with the Chinese government's investigation of a Chinese journalist who it later imprisoned for spreading a pro democracy message. Yahoo turned over evidence from the journalist's e-mail account and then later falsely testified to Congress about the matter. Asked why Yahoo cooperated with the repressive tactics of the Chinese government, Yang first conferred with his General Counsel and then said, "I'm guessing that a craven quest for maximum profits is not the answer you are looking for...."
This week, the House will vote on the so called Peru Free Trade Agreement which extends NAFTA style free trade to Latin America. The bill has been roundly criticized as lacking in labor protections, consumer safety provisions, and continuing the "race to the bottom" begun by similar free trade pacts. Despite these shortcomings, the bill is exepected to sail through the Democratic House and Senate. Asked why a party that claims the working class as its constituency would support a bill that only benefits foreign investors, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, "You are forgetting someone. Consumers. And we are the party of consumers. Bills like these clear the way for $5 t -shirts at the Gap, $4.99 towels at Target and hi definition TV for less than $1000. I mean people carp about low wages and health care and outsourcing, but give them some toys and they they are happy. Buying is the new caring. "
Quote of the Week:
"You appear to have consistent principled integrity. Americans don't usually go for that." (Jon Stewart interviewing GOP Presidential candidate Rep.Ron Paul (R. Tex))
This week, Sen Hillary Clinton rolled out a comprehensive energy plan that included setting a mileage standard of 55 mpg to be met in the next twenty years and incentives for the production of hybrid vehicles. Immediately, the domestic auto industry attacked the plan stating that it would be far "too costly." According to Richard Wagoneer, President of GM, "Forcing our compnay to keep pace with its foreign rivals puts us at a tremendous disadvantage." Clintons plan was also attacked by the Republican National Commitee as an "unwarranted intrusion of the federal government into all areas of our lives" (real quote). According to RNC Chair Duncan Hunter, "The next thing you know, she will want the government monitoring the water we drink and the food we eat..."
This week, Rudi Giuliani went on the offensive against the various healthcare reforms proposed by his Democratic opponents. Rudi fired off that the survival rate for prostate cancer in Great Britain is half that of the United States. Seems Rudi was wrong and relying on some old statistics from a right wing think tank. His claim elicited a bit of press and a letter from the British National Health Service. Undeterred in his quest to smear anything even vaguely resembling socialized medicine, Giuliani continued his campaign and offered the following tidbits of information, "What they don't tell you about socialized medicine is that there are no doctors. Most exams and procedures are performed by people that failed out of technical schools and prison inmates. They also don't sterilize instruments, they just wipe them on their pants on pray for the best. Also, if socialized medicine is so good, how come Europeans weigh so much less than us and have bad teeth? Is that what the Democrats want? Pasty toothless citizens that have to limp through life and lisp when they talk? I think it is. That is what the Democrats and Osama Bin Laden both want. 9/11 and out."
This week the House Foreign Affairs Commitee questioned Yahoo's Chief Executive Jeffery Yang. In 2004 Yahoo cooperated with the Chinese government's investigation of a Chinese journalist who it later imprisoned for spreading a pro democracy message. Yahoo turned over evidence from the journalist's e-mail account and then later falsely testified to Congress about the matter. Asked why Yahoo cooperated with the repressive tactics of the Chinese government, Yang first conferred with his General Counsel and then said, "I'm guessing that a craven quest for maximum profits is not the answer you are looking for...."
This week, the House will vote on the so called Peru Free Trade Agreement which extends NAFTA style free trade to Latin America. The bill has been roundly criticized as lacking in labor protections, consumer safety provisions, and continuing the "race to the bottom" begun by similar free trade pacts. Despite these shortcomings, the bill is exepected to sail through the Democratic House and Senate. Asked why a party that claims the working class as its constituency would support a bill that only benefits foreign investors, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, "You are forgetting someone. Consumers. And we are the party of consumers. Bills like these clear the way for $5 t -shirts at the Gap, $4.99 towels at Target and hi definition TV for less than $1000. I mean people carp about low wages and health care and outsourcing, but give them some toys and they they are happy. Buying is the new caring. "
Quote of the Week:
"You appear to have consistent principled integrity. Americans don't usually go for that." (Jon Stewart interviewing GOP Presidential candidate Rep.Ron Paul (R. Tex))
posted by Jack Reed at 9:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home