Thoroughly Fucked
Mar 9th, 2008 at 7:55 am by Susie
The GOP hacks have left behind thousands of little time bombs like this, waiting to go off during a Democratic administration:
But no federal agency has pursued a preemption agenda as aggressively as the FDA did when Troy worked there. In 2003, he appeared at a conference of defense lawyers and in-house legal counsels from drug companies and publicly invited them to contact his office if they had a case the FDA could help them out with. “We can’t afford to get involved in every case,” he said, according to an affidavit written by someone who was there. “We have to pick our shots…so make it sound like a Hollywood pitch.”
[...] The “preemption preamble,” as it’s known, states that this rule preempts all state tort lawsuits against manufacturers who make drugs approved by the FDA. The regulation allows drug companies to invoke the FDA’s approval to beat back lawsuits without actually having to get the agency to enter the case. This is a hedge against future Democratic presidents who might want to institute a change of course. The preamble was inserted into the regulation without any public input. Since then, lawyers have repeatedly invoked it when defending companies against personal-injury lawsuits.
[...] If the Supreme Court follows Troy’s lead, it won’t just be pharmaceutical and medical-device lawsuits that are affected. A ruling for the drug company in Levine could also limit lawsuits over everything from toxic chemical exposure to tainted beef—a pretty grim scenario for the average consumer. And there’s reason to believe the court will do just that.
And you know these corporations will battle each one with ads claiming that this has always been the way and the evil government is tying our hands. And you know as well that shit for brains americans will eat it up.
Same thing with the FAA apparently. From Congressional review cited at Americablog: “Complacency has likely set in to the highest levels of FAA management,” the Minnesota Democrat said in a Capitol Hill news conference. “I think we have seen the pendulum swing away from vigorous enforcement of compliance toward a carrier-favorable, cozy relationship with the airlines.”
I think this country is going to need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission after this nightmare is over (assuming it will be over in November). The Bush administration has perverted the executive agencies to such an extent that it is going to take years to discover all the damage they have done.
If the Democrats decide to sweep this all under the carpet, they will be denying us the justice we deserve.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking that for a long time now. Because we can’t have reconciliation until we get it all out in the open.
Thanks for the link, thought you’d enjoy this little ‘journalamism’ I tracked down - always fun to see your referrals;
“Whether the FDA makes a mistake in approving a device or drug makes no difference here. State courts would be closed to litigants once the agency gives its approval.
Liberals and the plaintiffs’ bar smell conspiracy, but as Mother Jones makes clear there is one man to credit (or curse) here, Daniel Troy (above).”
“liberals” is cabdrollery. heh.
at http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=784
It’s not just the legal timebombs set to go off next year and the year after that. It’s also the sleeper cells in so many departments at so many levels, set to awake and sabotage any meaningful clean-up procedure.
Justice is probably worse off, but Education, Interior, and State are almost as bad. All have fundamentalist whackos in multi-level bueracracies spread throughout our government, using Inquistion level hiring practices to self-propogate the “Proper Employee Belief System”. Woe be to the worker that misses a prayer breakfast.