Shocked and a bit awed.

This NY Times article covers something that might actually be good for Americans to come out of the BushCo WASP Mafia*, and their increasing consolidation of power and authority.

The article states that while no new legislation is enacted, several departments are more closely coordinating their efforts; namely the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA) as well as a group in the Justice Department to go after some of America's most unsafe companies to work for.

" Instead, it seeks to marshal a spectrum of existing laws that carry considerably stiffer penalties than those governing workplace safety alone. They include environmental laws, criminal statutes more commonly used in racketeering and white-collar crime cases, and even some provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a corporate reform law.

The result, those involved say, should be to increase significantly the number of prosecutions brought against dangerous employers, particularly in cases involving death or injury.

This new approach addresses a chronic weakness in the regulatory system - the failure of federal agencies to take a coordinated approach toward corporations that repeatedly violate the same safety and environmental regulations. The E.P.A. and OSHA in particular have a history of behaving like estranged relatives. Yet the central premise of this unfolding strategy is that shoddy workplace safety often goes hand in hand with shoddy environmental practices."

It begs one question though; who benefits? If BuschCo is so pro-big business, and anti-environment, how come this? Then again, even Nixon did a few good things for the country.

I recommend reading the article, they have a very good example of how multimedia works well on the web to present information more completely than just one medium alone.

The New York Times site does require you to sign in, but it's not that big of a deal, just use a throwaway password, and create a dead-end email address that's only for stuff like this.

That's what I've always done.

*Again, courtesy of Mr. Morford and his column