Get the lead out... no says Nancy Nord

With toy recalls seemingly happening every week, the Senate Commerce Committee is trying to write legislation to return the Consumer Product Safety Commission to its former strength so it can prevent things like lead-filled toys from entering the market.

But Nancy Nord, "President" (a term I use very loosely) Bush’s acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is trying to preserve republican "ideals" of small government and is asking Congress to reject legislation that would strengthen the agency by giving them more money and resources so they could properly do their job.

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With toy recalls seemingly happening every week, the Senate Commerce Committee is trying to write legislation to return the Consumer Product Safety Commission to its former strength so it can prevent things like lead-filled toys from entering the market.

But Nancy Nord, “President” (a term I use very loosely) Bush’s acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is trying to preserve republican “ideals” of small government and is asking Congress to reject legislation that would strengthen the agency by giving them more money and resources so they could properly do their job.

From the New York Times;

On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff. [...]
Ms. Nord, who before joining the agency had been a lawyer at Eastman Kodak and an official at the United States Chamber of Commerce, criticized the measure in letters sent late last week and this afternoon to the Democratic leaders of the committee. She was critical, for instance, of a provision to ban lead from all toys. [...]
She opposed making it easier to bring criminal prosecutions of companies that knowingly sell defective products and also criticized a measure that would make it easier for the commission to publicly disclose reports of faulty products.

So let me make sure I have this straight; she opposes a ban on lead in toys. She opposes making it easier to bring criminal charges against these companies and she opposes making her committee stronger...

What in God’s name is wrong with this woman? Government regulation is needed for consumer goods as it will NOT come from the companies whose primary goal is to make themselves money. Think about it; to oppose a ban on lead in toys, and on top of that refusing to explain yourself, is, at its core, criminal, especially when so many children, and adults, are at risk.

Makes you realize that the old mantra about the Bush administration is pertinent; their concern for children is conception and birth, and after that they’re on their own.

Isn’t it ironic that Nord recently complained to Congress about the agency's lack of resources, and confirmed that the commission only has one person who tests toys? Hearing that, then hearing her now makes an intelligent person, and by intelligent I mean a non-lemming, wonder – she was complaining to Congress about lack of funds and all that before, but suddenly she thinks these measures are no good... methinks Ms. Nord got chastised from someone on top above her, despite a White House spokesman insisting that the White House didn't coordinate with Nord on her comments (cause they’ve never done anything like that before) but still "shared many of her concerns."

Irony notwithstanding, the line of incompetent Bush officials never seems to end and we as a nation will be very lucky to come out of 8 years of this 'mis'- adminstration’s lies and deceptive dealings with even 50% of the national societal strength that we had at the end of the 1990's.

January 20, 2009 can NOT come soon enough...