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Toxic ideology by Rick Perlstein, OurFuture.org | October 30, 2007
Just in time for Campaign for America's Future's new report on "Toxic Trade: Globalization and the Safety of the American Consumer," documenting how the budget and staff of the Consumer Protection Agency has been cut in half during the same period imports from nations with lax safety standards have exploded, the good folks at read more »Morning links by Rick Perlstein, OurFuture.org | October 30, 2007
More Big Con highlights from across the web: read more »Deregulation + Free Trade = Danger by David Sirota, OurFuture.org | October 30, 2007
This New York Times' story could not be more fitting, really. It details how the Bush administration is aggressively fighting a proposal by Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor to strengthen the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). read more »The Politics of the Personal: Growing Up Idahoan by David Neiwert, OurFuture.org | October 29, 2007
[First of a five-part series, appearing Mondays.] There's one thing about growing up in a place like Idaho: If you can't make friends with conservatives, you won't have many friends. read more »Sounded better in the original German by Rick Perlstein, OurFuture.org | October 29, 2007
Michigan State University's Young Americans for Freedom chapter (whose timely logo depicts a stalwart YAFer attacking a hammer and sickle) invites British Holocaust denier whose party opposes interracial marriages to campus during Islamofascist Awareness Week. read more »The Big Con: Back with a vengeance by Rick Perlstein, OurFuture.org | October 29, 2007
Last week I took a break from blogging. This week I'll try to catch up on some of the things I missed. Forthwith, some quick and dirty links. read more »Twin Housing Disasters by Danny Schechter, <i>The Huffington Post</i>, Huffington Post | October 29, 2007
The California fires have not destroyed nearly as many homes as the mortgage meltdown. read more »Dark Legacy Of Torture by Liliana Segura, <i>AlterNet</i>, alternet.org | October 29, 2007
Hollywood fiction can hardly match the harsh reality of Bush's rendition policy. read more »Weekend Watchdog Wrap-Up by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | October 28, 2007
The substitute Watchdog gave something of a break to the chattering Sunday morning class. George Stephanopoulos and Tim Russert took advantage of it. Chris Wallace didn't. read more »Weekend Watchdog by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | October 26, 2007
Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, we post suggested questions for scheduled Sunday guests. You can add your own questions in the comment thread. We'll also include contact information for the shows, so we can let them know what their viewers want asked. And on Sunday at 4 PM ET, tune in to Air America Radio's "Seder on Sundays" program, where I'll offer the Weekend Watchdog Wrap-Up. read more »
The Latest
Watchdog Digs Into Conduct At SEC, The Washington Post | May 18, 2009
A Securities and Exchange Commission official attempted "to intimidate and influence" a family member's broker on multiple occasions by invoking her position, potentially violating agency rules, according to the agency's inspector general. read more »
Rove To Be Queried On Attorney Firings, USA Today | May 15, 2009
Former top Bush White House aide Karl Rove, who has said he will cooperate with an investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys, is scheduled to be interviewed by a special prosecutor, a lawyer familiar with the probe says. read more »
Food Companies Placing the Onus for Safety on Consumers , The New York Times | May 15, 2009
Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients. ConAgra could not pinpoint which of the more than 25 ingredients in its pies was carrying salmonella. read more »
Obama To Expand Consumer Commission , Associated Press | May 5, 2009
President Barack Obama is turning to South Carolina's former school superintendent to head an expanded Consumer Product Safety Commission, an embattled agency that has been criticized by advocates for being too cozy with industry. read more »
Mobile Food-Safety Labs Get FDA up to Speed, USA Today | May 4, 2009
A month ago, three gleaming white trailers — the Food and Drug Administration's $3 million mobile food-safety lab — rolled into a major port of entry for people and goods coming from Mexico. They joined an alphabet soup of federal agencies sifting through millions of tons of goods in search of drugs, guns, invasive plants and tainted foods. read more »
Many States Lack Drug Supplies, MSNBC News | May 1, 2009
More than two dozen states, including Maryland, as well as the District, have not stocked enough of the emergency supplies of antiviral medications considered necessary to treat victims of swine flu should the outbreak become a full-blown crisis, according to federal records. read more »
Pandemic-Preparedness Money Stripped From Stimulus, USA Today | April 28, 2009
Congress stripped nearly $900 million to combat an influenza pandemic from the economic-stimulus package earlier this year as part of last-minute negotiations to gain GOP support for the plan. Now, with the spread of a potentially deadly strain of the swine flu, public-health advocates and liberal bloggers are sharply criticizing the move. Key Democratic lawmakers, including Iowa Sen. read more »
Food Inspections Vary By State, The New York Times | April 20, 2009
Congress and the Obama administration have said that more inspections and new food production rules are needed to prevent food-related diseases, but far less attention has been paid to fixing the fractured system by which officials detect and stop ongoing outbreaks. read more »
Homeland Security Chief Defends Report , USA Today | April 17, 2009
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano dismissed criticism of her agency's intelligence assessments and defended a recent report that says some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or lone acts of violence. read more »
Spice Recall Expanded Because of Salmonella Threat, Associated Press | April 16, 2009
Union International Food Co. is expanding a spice recall to include all Lian How brand and Uncle Chen brand sauces, oil and oil blends in various size packages because the products may be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. read more »
