Fratboy Friday

Bush & company have shown us over and over again that they don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and their elite pals.

If you're getting ready to go shopping for Xmas presents, here's something to think about as you try to figure out which toys won't poison the kids;

Industries Paid for Top Regulators' Travel
Two Heads of Product Safety Agency Accepted Trips From Manufacturer Groups
By Elizabeth WilliamsonWashington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 2, 2007; Page A01

The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.

The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Notable among the trips -- commonly described by officials as "gift travel" -- was an 11-day visit to China and Hong Kong in 2004 by Stratton, then chairman. The$11,000 trip was paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, an industry group based in an office suite in Bethesda whose only laboratories are in Asia. (more)

You can check ToyInfo.org for information about toy safety... it's sponsored by the Toy Industry Association and they might not being lying, at least not as much as Nancy Nord and the rest of the Bush Administration.

And now for an appropriately themed musical interlude:
Pink- Dear Mr President


H/T to Juan Cole