The essence of the Republican party

This isn't a joke.

The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.

The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry.

You read that correctly. A business wants to protect its customers from serious illness and the Bush administration is trying to prevent that from happening. Sadly, this isn't an isolated incident. Remember the salmonella outbreak in peanut butter? How about the E. coli in fresh spinach? Or the lettuce at Taco Bell? Tainted pet food? Think it's all a coincidence that these reports of food chain contamination are appearing with increasing regularity? Think it's just the "librul media" taking pot shots at Bush?

Think again. This is the predictable result of Republican policies. It's how Republicans protect American citizens. Despite all their rhetoric to the contrary, Republicans couldn't care less about small government, financial responsibility, "family values," national security, or any of their other "signature" issues. In fact, they couldn't care less about the health, safety, and welfare of American citizens if they tried. Their philosophy of governance is that their primary responsibility is to protect corporate interests. Period. What, you're not rich? Cry me a river about your petty health care problems and your stagnant salary.

The above are just a few examples dealing with food safety. If you really want to see the contempt the Republican party has for all of us, look at these:

• FEMA/Hurricane Katrina
• Dept. of Education/Every child left behind
• Alberto Gonzales/US Attorneys firings
  
• Cheney's energy task force
• Halliburton's No bid contracts
• Falsification of justification for war with Iraq
• Outing of Valerie Plame
• Warrantless wiretapping
• Walter Reed
• EPA/WTC Ground zero air quality
• Abu Ghraib/torture
• Extraordinary rendition
• Suspension of Habeas Corpus
  
• Jack Abramoff
• Extended tours of duty for soldiers in Iraq
  

The list goes on and one. Just think about these scandals the next time you hear a Republican proselytizing. He doesn't give a shit about you. He just wants your vote and he'll say anything he thinks you want to hear to get it. The evidence is right in front of you. All you need to do is open your eyes.