Rick Perlstein has an interesting and persuasive little column on AlterNet today. It goes sort of like this: First they came for the spinach. Then they came for the peanut butter. Then they hurt my dogs and I got pissed. Post pet-food recall, Perlstein looked into the Food and Drug Administration—the agency responsible for ensuring the safety of human and pet food—and found that it, too, had fallen victim to Bush’s starve-the-good-parts-of-government philosophy. Between 2003 and 2006 FDA safety inspections were down 47 percent and staffing, 12 percent. Safety tests conducted on food produced in the United States were down by three quarters from last year to this. Not only is no one making sure your food is produced safely, they don’t even care about your dog’s kibble.
I’m with Perlstein. Bush can take my money, my health insurance, and my civil liberties, but he’ll have to pry my little furry friend from my cold, dead hand.
