http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/regulation/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Fri, 25 Oct 2002 20:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/498/under_the_gun/ Here in Fredericksburg, Virginia, amid the fear and anger over the sniper rampage, one topic has been largely overlooked: how to revise gun laws to aid criminal investigations and to prevent some gun crimes from ever occurring. This is gun country. People here flock to gun shows, where rifles like the kind the sniper apparently used are for sale, no questions asked. Virginia’s Democratic governor, Mark Warner, eagerly courted gun owners in his campaign last year—and he has not disappointed them. While discussing the sniper attacks recently on a Sunday-morning TV talk show, the governor expressed support for maintaining the gun law status quo. But not everyone agrees with him. One idea receiving considerable attention is a proposed national firearms… regulation David Sirota Mon, 28 Jul 2003 09:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/461/sells_like_teen_spirit/ The nice thing about living in Washington is that on your way to the mall you can see ads promoting Lockheed-Martin’s Super Hercules airplane—“a totally new, advanced, fully integrated digital weapons system.” A study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania recently found that lobbyists spent $105 million during the 107th Congress on such advertising—designed for members of Congress, not the public. The nice thing about living in New York is that you can go see Josh Hartnett expound on the future of the Democratic Party. Talk about making love and not war. The Dems could do worse. Hartnett looks better in a swimsuit than John Edwards, even. He’s adorable, he’s a Midwesterner, and last month… media politics regulation David Sirota Wed, 03 Sep 2003 13:12:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/469/power_to_the_people/ With an estimated 50 million Americans and Canadians having been left without power (and in some cases water) in August, common sense requires us to reflect on the absurdity of deregulation of public utilities. The right of utility franchise is vested in the people. We give utilities permission to operate, and enable them to set up a profit-making business in exchange for the promise of affordable and reliable service. In 1992, investor-owned utilities pushed the Democratic House to pass HR776, which granted electric utilities broad powers. The bill was supposed to restructure the electric utility industry and thus spur competition. But utilities used deregulation to facilitate a series of mergers that limited competition. In order to increase profits, the utilities… regulation David Sirota Thu, 19 Feb 2004 15:56:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/514/what_the_fcc/ I am sure that if you, like me, see the footage of the “wardrobe malfunction” one more time you’re going to hurl your TV out the window. An entire week of the Dean scream, and now this. (Will we see, except on “The Daily Show,” repeated images of Bush’s multiple flubs on “Meet The Press”?) How much lower can TV news go, expressing its faux outrage so that it can show the offending video clip for the billionth time? It would be nice if the details of the Bush energy bill, or of Medicare “reform,” or of how many homeless people are freezing this winter had gotten a fraction of the coverage. And don’t you love the newly sanctimonious FCC… media regulation David Sirota Fri, 26 Mar 2004 16:33:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/716/bought_and_paid_for/ It’s official: President Bush’s re-election campaign is underway. For those who haven’t been paying attention—and Bush, Cheney and their corporate cronies certainly hope you haven’t—the president officially launched his campaign at a March 20 “kickoff” rally in Orlando. “I’m looking forward to this campaign ahead,” Bush told the assembled party faithful between chants of “Four more years!” and “USA! USA!” “With you at my side, there is no doubt in my mind we’re headed to a victory.” Bush may claim the “political season” is just beginning, but he has spent the past nine months crisscrossing the country on a dash for cash, personally headlining 45 million-dollar fundraising events on the way to amassing an unprecedented $170 million campaign war chest.… corporations economy media politics regulation election 2004 David Sirota Tue, 06 Apr 2004 23:17:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/410/meltdown_madness/ President Bush has always been a good friend to the nuclear industry, but his recent overtures should sound alarm bells. The White House has begun pushing to replace governmental safety standards at federal nuclear facilities with requirements penned by contractors. As Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) quipped, “It’s like the fox guarding the hen house.” What prompted the Bush administration’s move? Congress insisted the government start fining contractors for violations. The proposed weakening of safety standards would affect more than 100,000 nuclear plant workers and comes at an especially lousy time to lower their morale. A strike by 276 operations and maintenance workers was narrowly averted in January at the Indian Point 3 plant, 35 miles north of midtown Manhattan. When… environment government: administration regulation David Sirota Wed, 06 Oct 2004 07:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1124/environmental_hogwash/ Chicken has taken on a whole new meaning for Faye Lear, of White Plains, in western Kentucky, who lives 300 feet from two giant barns containing thousands of birds laying eggs for Tyson Foods. There are the sickening wafts of ammonia and bird feather dust that chase her inside from her front porch. Clouds of well-fed flies swarm her car windows. Once a year, when the barns are emptied for cleaning, mass infestations of mice overrun the neighborhood. “It’s like an open sewer for a big city,” says Lear, who works as a nurse. “It’s nauseating, it burns your eyes. I wouldn’t call them a farm—they’re like an industry.” Across the country, thousands of these “factory farms”—each warehousing thousands of… corporations economy environment regulation David Sirota Mon, 05 Jun 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2662/bankruptcy_law_in_shambles/ In December, Alfonso Sosa, a house painter in Fredericksburg, Texas, fell behind on the payments for the mobile home he shared with his wife Melba. The mortgage holder moved to foreclose, and Sosa filed an emergency petition in federal court for bankruptcy protection. But the Sosa family quickly ran afoul of the country's new bankruptcy law, which had gone into effect only six weeks before. One of the many new provisions requires all debtors to take a simple, one-hour credit counseling class before they file, but the Sosas had not known about the requirement. Although Sosa had taken the class by the time they got back to court, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank R. Monroe quickly dismissed their case, leaving the… economy judiciary politics regulation David Sirota Mon, 07 Aug 2006 05:00:01 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2733/economic_populism_proves_popular/ When Oregon voters head to the polls this fall they'll have 13 ballot initiatives to consider, everything from parental notification for teenage abortion to strict tax-caps. But they won't get a chance to vote to limit interest rates on payday loans. A coalition of progressive groups called Our Oregon had hoped to gather enough petitions to put the issue on the ballot, but they never got the chance: Once Republican lawmakers caught wind of the plan, they became so scared of its potential political impact that they passed the proposed referendum word-for-word in the state House. State House Majority Leader Wayne Scott, who voted against the bill, was blunt about his colleagues' motives. "We should come clean [about] what we're… Economy Regulation Congress David Sirota Mon, 20 Nov 2006 04:59:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2922/filling_the_void/ With the Bush administration offering little more than empty rhetoric to combat global warming, mayors in cities across the country have begun to accept that responsibility. In particular, Salt Lake City is leading the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Its successes stem from environmental efforts led by the city's Democratic mayor, Rocky Anderson. "What we have done to combat global warming has been received very well," Anderson says. "Nobody disagrees with decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, saving money and cleaning up the air locally." Started in 2001, Salt Lake City's Green program is "one of the most comprehensive municipal environmental programs in the nation," according to the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), a Toronto-based group that… Regulation Environment David Sirota Thu, 04 Jan 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2964/outlawing_legal_bribery/ According to a national exit poll, 42 percent of voters in November's election said that corruption was the most important factor in deciding who they voted for. Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has pledged that, within 100 hours of taking up the gavel, House Democrats will "sever the ties between legislation and lobbyists." And Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the Democratic caucus, sent a letter to colleagues in which he wrote, "Failing to deliver on this promise would be devastating to our standing with the public. ... The voters are looking to us for leadership, and it starts with real reform." Some reforms will no doubt be enacted in the first 100 hours of the new Congress. How "real"… elections regulation David Sirota Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3054/rolling_back_the_regs/ Emissions limits on coal-fired power plants, endangered species protections that inhibit logging, and restrictions on chemicals in drinking water have all been thorns in the side of the Bush administration. But an executive order released on Jan. 18 with little fanfare could give the White House-controlled Office of Management and Budget (OMB) much greater control over such agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With the new Democratic majority in Congress, the Bush administration has less power to pass laws that weaken environmental protections, worker safety, public health standards and the like. Critics fear the White House will now carry… environment regulation David Sirota Tue, 26 Jun 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3239/food_poisoning_for_thought/ If a country executes people who murder close-up with guns or knives, it should also put to death officials and executives who kill at a polite distance by knowingly approving and selling lethal products. For all its faults as the world's high-executioner state, China picked an equal-opportunity victim in Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of the State Food and Drug Administration. Lamentably, he was convicted of corruption, not murder. He took bribes to approve licenses for foods and drugs that killed consumers, including babies. When the greed and corruption of U.S. corporate and government leaders kill, we rarely punish those responsible, and never with the severity meted out to "real" criminals. While recent headlines about China spotlight deadly pet food, toxic… china medical health regulation David Sirota Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3275/tranche_warfare/ Now that the real estate bubble seems poised to go the way of its dot-com predecessor, a new narrative has taken hold in the business press. Where once reporters breathlessly touted double-digit, year-on-year gains in home prices, they now warn darkly of the "meltdown" underway in the class of exotic mortgages that added so much punch to the party. After months of dismal reports for the real estate industry--declining sales, rising inventories, softening prices, rising foreclosure rates--the news took a sharp turn for the worse in late June, when the investment bank Bear Stearns shut down two hedge funds whose holdings were laden with securities backed by subprime mortgages. Suddenly, finance pundits and insiders were speculating about just how far… economy regulation David Sirota Thu, 20 Sep 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3336/burned_by_flame_retardants/ The old joke was: Americans eat so many preservatives, our corpses will never rot. Now, it turns out they won't burn either. Americans' bodies have the world's highest concentration of the flame retardant polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)--10 to 40 times higher than Europeans--and our chemical burden is doubling every 3 to 5 years. PBDEs, which resemble PCBs, are added to upholstery, computer parts, mattresses, fax machines, carpets, car seats and house wiring. We eat, absorb and breathe PBDEs daily, and they end up in everything from baby's brains and mother's milk to polar bears. "What is in commercial products is getting into the environment," says EPA scientist Linda Birnbaum, "and what's in the environment is getting into wildlife and people."… environment medical health regulation David Sirota Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3340/lets_pry_open_those_cold_dead_hands/ The national news polls suggest that the majority of Americans support more gun control. You wouldn't know it from the mail I get. Whenever I write about the plague of gun violence, I get a huge blowback from the gun lovers of America. The rabid response of the gun lobby is damning, but impressive. They out-gun, out-email, gun-control advocates by more than 20 to one. Their ability to organize a rapid response is exactly the opposite of FEMA. The gun army, made up almost exclusively of white men from suburban and rural areas, is loaded for bear. The People of the Gun are beating their drums on websites from Keepandbeararms.com in Washington State, to alphecca.com in Vermont. Every time a… gun control regulation weapons David Sirota Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3351/recipe_for_disaster/ A decade after high school, and I'm still being served mystery meat. Oh sure, a label is slapped onto the package, but the secret isn't in the calorie count. The unaccounted for ingredients--or rather, what's been done to my food before it becomes dinner--is being quietly and covertly left off of the label. Hungry? No, I could go for an antacid. The realization that the public is left entirely in the dark about what's going in the pan really churns my stomach. It's the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) that are the lunch ladies who won't share the recipe. Fortunately, the recipe isn't too difficult to find: One part cloned meat: Last month,… agriculture medical health regulation David Sirota Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3371/lobbying_for_cancer/ Industry special interests are burying information on cancer-causing chemicals and, according to watchdog groups, the government is helping them do it--in the name of "data quality." In a study of the National Institutes of Health's National Toxicology Program, OMB Watch, a DC-based policy-research group, reports that industry is frustrating the work of government researchers with petitions that are light on science but heavy with accusations of anti-business "bias." Public interest advocates warn that corporations are co-opting the federal Data Quality Act to paralyze scientists with frivolous allegations of inaccuracy, driving a stealth assault on public-health research. In 2000, Congress passed the Data Quality Act under the guidance of lobbyist Jim Tozzi, a former administrator with the Office of Management and… environment medical health regulation David Sirota Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3413/air_polluters_sail_the_high_seas/ A threat to the world's atmosphere is sailing the high seas, but activists say government regulators are letting the culprit off the hook. The global shipping industry coughs up millions of tons of air pollution each year, yet its emissions are for the most part unregulated, aside from minimal international standards. Now, environmental groups are turning the country's seaports into a fresh battleground in the climate-change debate, demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rein in marine engines under the Clean Air Act. The environmental law firm EarthJustice, Friends of the Earth and other advocacy groups are taking action to compel the EPA to set comprehensive restrictions on the air pollution that clouds U.S. harbors. In a recently filed lawsuit… environment global warming regulation David Sirota Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3426/us_lobbyists_assault_eu_regs/ Iraq is not the only place that is handing the United States its ass. The European Union surpassed America in 2005 to become the world's largest, richest economy. America's former dominance had made it the global arbiter of health and safety standards, but its decline may be the best news in a long time. The E.U. is wielding its market clout to compel producers, including U.S. corporate giants, to eliminate toxic ingredients. REACH, the E.U. regulations that govern chemical use and production, recently forced Procter & Gamble to exclude suspected endocrine disputers and carcinogens from its products. As detailed in Mark Schapiro's new book, Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power, Procter &… europe medical health regulation David Sirota