(no subject)

[bobemm]

I'M SO GLAD THAT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION KNOWS HOW TO CHOOSE ITS BATTLES.

Government appeals currency redesign - so, an appeals court said that the federal gov't must redesign its bills to be accessible to blind people. And the administration is fighting it. I understand that a redesign could cost money, but how much? As much as we pay for one day in Iraq? Whatever.

Bush gives no hint of new Iraq direction - haha orly. "We're not about 'stay the course'", except, they are. SURPRISE.

Also, this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately - The Gutting of the Civil Service - the federal government is being very intentionally transformed from a somewhat functional organization working in the interests of the people, to an entirely political organization working for the interests of big political contributors. A good example is the inordinate number of e. coli infestations that have happened recently - the FDA has the power to police things like this, but they aren't. The number of inspections they do has plummeted under the Bush administration.

All of this sinister restructuring of the federal government would take decades to repair if we started today. But, we aren't.

Comments

[doombeast.livejournal.com]

>>I understand that a redesign could cost money, but how much? As much as we pay for one day in Iraq? Whatever.

Yo Apple! I'm Orange. We've very different. Your thoughts?

[chucknoblet.livejournal.com]

hahah you have an excellent point. The war in Iraq isn't helping anybody. Bills that blind people could distinguish could help hundreds of thousands of people.

[dearborn-guy.livejournal.com]

Is there evidence that Bush has gutted the FDA? Has their funding been cut directly or is it just general ineptitude and laziness?

[chucknoblet.livejournal.com]

The people at the top of all of the federal agencies are appointed by the President (at least by proxy). The most harmful thing that has happened is that people who actually have expertise have been replaced by political hacks. A good example is Michael Brown, former head of FEMA - he had absolutely no experience in emergency management, and it showed. If you look at other major appointees, there's a disturbing pattern of people at the heads of agencies that had previously spent their careers fighting those agencies. I can't think of any examples in particular, but you might find that the head of the EPA had formerly been a lobbyist for chemical companies fighting for looser environmental restrictions. Etc. And this sort of thing is pervasive throughout the federal government. There's a ripple effect to it as well - "careers", who aren't appointed and are subject matter experts, are given less and less input, basically being shut out.

So the point is, all decisions are made in terms of neoconservative politics rather than good policy.

Re: the FDA in particular, if you look at the article, it cites statistics about the number of inspections that are done by the FDA being significantly slashed, etc.

[dearborn-guy.livejournal.com]

Yikes!! 'nuff said.

By the way, I wasn't trying to be confrontational, just asking a question. In regards to your answer, I kinda figured as much.

God help us! Serenity NOW!!

[chucknoblet.livejournal.com]

nonono, I didn't take it as confrontational, I was just thinking that you might not know what's happening, and I think everybody should know.

Here's a firsthand account from another LJer that will remain unnamed (I'm crossing my fingers that I got permission to share this, I think I did...)

http://tomatoseed.org/nih.html