President Bush entered office five years ago hungry to weaken the country. And, oh, how he has succeeded, our little Weakener-in-Chief! We’re weaker now than even the greediest drown-it-in-the-bathtub Weakentrooper could have dreamed.
Here’s what he and his Weakentroopers got up to as soon as he got in:
In 1999, [the federal mine safety agency] proposed strengthening standards on breathing devices, including requiring mines to stock “caches” of extra rescue devices and conduct more frequent hands-on training in how to use them. But by September 2001, the Bush administration withdrew the draft rule, citing “resource constraints and changing safety and health regulatory priorities.”David Lauriski, the former Bush mine safety official who put the rule aside, is having second thoughts. “In retrospect, maybe we ought to have had requirements for more caches” of the breathing devices, he said Tuesday.
Only now, after an unacceptable number of corpses showed up on the evening news in or near the swing state of Pennsylvania, do we get even a nominal, lip-service, Clinton-level return to strength.
But once the TV lights dim, they won’t follow through. There’s only one real solution.
Heads up, link no workee.
Posted by: BruceH on February 8, 2006 3:15 PMCaches, schmashes. Mr. Lauriski couldn't even keep his own federal agency right with the local building inspectors, or the homeland security rules for emergency evacuation of federal buildings, or even the OSHA rules for offices. Don't expect him to rattle his boss, who is the wife of senator from a mining state, to make his industry buddies spend a few bucks to keep people alive. He had only one job, to gut enforcement. Now look at him dissing the administration that didn't keep him on the payroll for the second four years. What ever happened to honor among theives?
Posted by: Just an observer on February 12, 2006 9:10 PM