The Administration Still Has Ways, and Eyes and Ears

Forget I even suggested that Dear Leader could have gotten something remotely right a few posts back. This article from yesterday's NYT should raise the hairs on the back of your neck and keep them permanently in that position: Bush Directive Increases Sway on Regulation. Here's what it's all about:

President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy.

In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president’s priorities.

This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts. It suggests that the administration still has ways to exert its power after the takeover of Congress by the Democrats.

The White House said the executive order was not meant to rein in any one agency. But business executives and consumer advocates said the administration was particularly concerned about rules and guidance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (My bolds)

I'm pretty sure you can immediately see the potential problems with such a directive, but in case they evade you, ponder this, in an administration that doesn't feel it necessary to listen to any experts beyond its controlling hand: Bush administration accused of doctoring scientists' reports on climate change: · Inconvenient conclusions censored, hearing told · Researchers warned not to talk about global warming

It's a story I've written about quite a few times in this blog, showing that even without yet having a "political appointee" lurking in each federal agency, such things as scientific evidence have gone by the board. Think what fun the administration will have "exerting its power" via the graces of its Big Brother puppets helping it "carry out its priorities." We don't need no stinkin' expert advice, let alone scientific expertise, to make rules and policy statements about such stuff as public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy. Nah, the administration and its friends "the business interests" are gonna take care of us just fine.

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