Sunday, February 18, 2007
Whomever said irony was dead has not been following President George "Commander Cuckoo Bananas" Bush's choices to fill key federal positions and the language decisions he employs in bills submitted to congress. Sure, we thought it was all a bit much when he hired Gale Norton, good pal of Jack Abramoff, as head of the interior department. She was a lobbyist for the National Lead Industry before she helped Bush out with "Healthy Forests" and "Clean Skies".
Now we have the top lobbyist for the manufacturing industry, Michael Baroody, set to protect consumer rights George Bush style. Consumers expect your furniture to explode pretty soon. Michael Baroody would just call that dual use technology. Bush is going to go the recess appointment route with this nominee because sane people (aka democrats) would find it a bad idea to appoint somebody whose career is based on shafting consumers in favor of manufacturers into consumer protection position. There are no sane people left in this administration.
Baroody's less than impressive pro-consumer biography is steeped almost exclusively in public relations work for major Republican figures. He served as Bob Dole's Speechwriter and Executive Assistant, and later as a flack for the RNC and the Reagan White House. Baroody has served as the chief spokesmen for the National Association of Manufacturers, a group the San Francisco Chronicle described as "an industry group that opposes aggressive product-safety regulation and punitive fines."
Baroody's less than impressive pro-consumer biography is steeped almost exclusively in public relations work for major Republican figures. He served as Bob Dole's Speechwriter and Executive Assistant, and later as a flack for the RNC and the Reagan White House. Baroody has served as the chief spokesmen for the National Association of Manufacturers, a group the San Francisco Chronicle described as "an industry group that opposes aggressive product-safety regulation and punitive fines."
The CPSC's ability to regulate and fine serves as a powerful tool to protect consumers. We show each day that industry alone cannot secure the well-being of its customers. Baroody's past makes us question whether he will work for consumers or the industry. For the sake and safety of consumers everywhere, we hope it is the former.
I think that Bush needs to try even harder. We need Michael Jackson to monitor child safety. We also could get David Duke to head the EEOC. If we are going off the deep end here, lets go with panache. We also need Chalabi appointed to determine the extent of Iran's involvement in supplying insurgents in Iraq. We should call it "Operation You Have Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me!", or we could cry.
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