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October 31, 2007

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"One lab worker used a magnifying glass and a mechanical stop watch to help conduct a fabric flammability experiment — the same equipment she has used for three decades. The toy laboratory, down the hall, is an office so cramped [etc]"

This isn't an argument against the Bush admin so much as one against the last several admins.


"Personally, I have no real desire to be protected against the possibility that I might try to use my toaster oven in the bathtub"

Really you ought to have ground fault circuit interrupters, esp. in your bathroom. If it's not code then boo, hiss - and I can't see why it's not required by law, since they're cheap.

Ladies and gentlemen: your Republican Party in action.

just to get it out of the way:

it's worth noticing that the low point in the CPSC's budget did happen during Clinton's presidency...

Actually, it looks bipartisan, with the greatest decreases spread over Carter and Reagan. That's not a reason for the current Admin to accept the way things are, but the budget looks relatively flat for the past 25 yrs or so. It seems as though the reason for the problem is that the budget hasn't kept pace with the increase in imports from China. This can be laid on every Admin since Carter (and doesn't Congress get a say in the matter?).

Oops. Make that increase in imports from the world. Guess I was thinking that most of our recent problems were due to China.

They are attempting to quell the 'Nanny Government'. The market can fix these things.

Next stop: fluoridated water; Iodized salt; bleached flour; minimum wage/overtime pay; child labor restraints; speed limits; traffic lights; etc.

Dammit, we've got to be more self reliant. These people need to get and keep good crdit ratings.

You'll shoot your eye out!

1.The funding chart shows random ups and downs in the $50 - 75B range under every possible political party composition of the White House and Congress for more than twenty years. I guess Bush had something to do with this when he was just drinking and doing cocaine all the time.

2. The CPSC apparently has enough money and time to warn everyone that the most dangerous thing in your house is magnets. I'm sure they're going to be a scientific powerhouse with this extra funding.

3. No epistemological connection between conservatism and e.coli has ever been demonstrated. It's such a dishonest slogan it rivals Rush Limbaugh.

The stated goal of the Republican Party has been to market bathtubs in which babies can accidentally-on-purpose drown, held under by the invisible hand.

Ms. Nord is merely trying to prevent one of the babies from investigating the bathtubs. Babies have no rights, that I know of.

Now, lead paint in the blood stream of a fetus? Republican fetuses grow up to escape regulation by moving their manufacturing operations abroad, where babies drown freely without interference from the gummint.

That's the great thing about free trade. You can have your lead paint and eat it, too. And, it's cheaper for consumer fetuses.

Yes, Carter and Clinton (and Gore) were cheapskates. Screw them, too.

I have an idea to further efficiency in the United States, since that seems to be the ultimate ideal for everyone (else). Let's limit staffing for all organizations to zero; that's right, no bothersome employees any longer.

Let the Chinese produce everything. Maximum efficiency for us, and they get to do all of the work.

(I'm not anti-free trade. I condemn the motivations for it).

This staffing shortfall, by the way, is endemic (purposely) throughout most of the Federal agencies.

Jonas:

"No epistemological connection between conservatism and e. coli has ever been demonstrated. It's such a dishonest slogan it rivals Rush Limbaugh."

I would still suggest washing your hands after handling Rush Limbaugh. That cramping, fever, and gut torsion may not be a figment of your imagination.

"I can't imagine what the CPSC would do with a budget increase. Can you?"

Yes, of course: Hire more PR people.

This is a very clever and subtle message that Karl Rove has concocted for Bush to signal to his base that he hates children as much as they do.

What next? I'd guess something like a law against undocumented puppies.

"anyone who hates children and dogs can't be all bad."

Tip for making Chocalate Covered Razor Blades:

Roll razor blade in a mixture of caramel and crused peanuts. Refrigerate.

After razor-roll is cooled to a solid consistency, bring milk chocolate to a simmer (in a double boiler to prevent scalding), and dip the peanut-razor-caramel ball.

Place on wax paper and cool for 3 hours.

Serve at your own risk.

Psychotic breaks are definitely not work safe. Somebody should delete the previous comment.

Personally, I have no real desire to be protected against the possibility that I might try to [...] use my Cuisinart to trim my nails.

They do sell an attachement for that.

Coinkidinkily, I used to manufacture chocolate-covered razorblades as part of a small family business operated out of the warrens in our basement.

But I moved our operations to Shanghai to escape the ever-increasing burden of regulation, not to mention my brother-in-law nagging me about unionization and health insurance.

First, some wag at the CPSC tested the treat and found that 100% of the rats tested had their tongues sliced off in the first bite. Can I help it if the first rat didn't warn the other rats about this mildly unlikely risk? The rats could have used the market to transmit this information to the other rats and eventually, ipso fatso, su generis, and caveat emptor, the message would have been delivered to me in good time via the invisible hand, if the invisible hand wasn't too busy shaving with a razor blade concealed inside a chilidog.

I would have consulted my accountant, totaled my inventory costs, and eventually reached a point where including razor blades inside candy bars would have been uneconomical. My valued customers would have come to me, tongueless, and let me know by saying "Gnagh, nagah, knua, gngh, gagh".

The market would have spoken.

But no, the troublemaker bureaucrats told Congress about the severed tongues, and THOSE busybodies mandated that I include warning labels on the packaging, at great cost to Larry Kudlow.

I did manage to successfully lobby for VERY VERY small print and then I sold sticks of dynamite made to look like magnifying glasses for the reading public, my valued customers.

But I can see a Hillary Presidency coming and the inevitable demands that NO razorblades be allowed inside candy bars, the socialist boogymenandwomen.

So, off to Shanghai I go where they let me use lead-coated razorblades, the commie bastids.

Yes, the last few administrations, including the Clinton administrations have let the budget decline. Has any other president appointed someone who wanted to refuse a budget increase? I don't know, I'm asking seriously.

Happy Halloween!

It was just announced on CNBC that the CPSC has ordered a recall of "ugly teeth", you know, those fake plastic or rubber dental works you put in your mouth to scare the kids.

Lead contamination.

Seriously.

Thullen - do you really think the market would produce lead contaminated fake plastic dental teeth for children if there wasn't a demand for them? What about all the kids who are being denied their right to suck on lead-lined fangs by the Nanny-State™? The resulting distortion in the market will likely cost billions of dollars and millions of jobs. Wouldn't it be better to just have thousands of developmentally disable children who, of course, wanted the lead infused dentures in the first instance?

Commie.

It's hard to tell from the graph, but it LOOKS like there was a significant upwards spike in the budget during the very brief period where Clinton held the White House and Democrats held Congress.

Then it seems to have spiked back down, right around the time of the Gingrich Revolution.

Hey, is there a problem with dental lead? Don't forget that your dental fillings are mainly mercury, so what harm can a bit of sweet lead* do beyond that? ;-)
Razor blades made from lead have the clear advantage that you are unlikely to cut yourself too badly.
Lead is good for your health as sound scientists from the Saturn Institute for Plumbic Studies have stated for years.

*Hooray for leaded wine!

"*Hooray for leaded wine!

Some years back I was talking to a researcher who's done work re: lead and mercury contamination, and she mentioned that at one point she was involved in testing ancient Roman wine in a sealed amphora recovered from a shipwreck for lead (which was present, albeit in reasonably small quantities, iirc). So she opened it up and tested it, with museum staff looking on - but then of course, they had a open bottle of Roman wine that was only going to start going bad, and there was only one thing to do . . .

"...but then of course, they had a open bottle of Roman wine that was only going to start going bad, and there was only one thing to do . . ."

That's a great story, but I'm reasonably sure that wine, no matter how sealed, will go bad after a couple of hundred years, let alone longer. Even Falernian.

I'll certainly willing to be told I'm wrong by someone more expert, but Pliny famously said that "nothing experienced a greater increase in value than wine that had been cellered up to twenty years or a greater decrease in value afterwards."

Call me when they excavate some Sumerian beer ;-)

They've excavated a Sumerian beer recipe.

I know. And the Egyptians also had several different sorts, though few would pass modern regulations, I presume.
I bet some paleos even then complained about too strict regulations of their ox-gall enterprises.

No epistemological connection between conservatism and e.coli has ever been demonstrated. It's such a dishonest slogan it rivals Rush Limbaugh.

OK, for "conservatism" let's substitute "drown-it-in-a-bathtub small-government, anti-regulation public policy".

Any resemblance between that and "conservatism" is purely coincidental.

Thanks -

It is the corporate entity's God Given Right to poison my children with lead paint! Indeed, if they are not poisoning my children, then they are at an economic disadvantage to those companies that are poisoning my children.

You damned Liberals don't understand the basics of Free Market Capitalism Hallelujah!

If a CEO gets his jollies by putting anti-freeze in mouthwash, or lead paint on fake teeth, no one should have the ability to stop him. And it certainly should never be illegal to knowingly kill people! Damned Nanny-state Liberals!

See, regulations are laws for corporate entities. There should be NO LAWS for corporate entities. Companies should have the right to slaughter as many of their workers and consumers as they can! And they should also have the right to NOT pay their workers a cent for their labor. How dare those damned workers want to get paid for thier work! That's COMMUNISM!!!1!

You Liberals are so stupid!!1!!1!!1!!!!!!!!11!!1!

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