Who says the conservatives and Republicans have run out of ideas. They have boatloads of ideas, trust me. Its just that all their ideas involve screwing over anyone who isn't a millionaire for the benefit of people who are millionaires. You want an example? Well, the Bush administration is always ready, willing and able to oblige. Here's their latest great idea: to make your workplace less safe by making it harder to eliminate harmful chemicals and other toxins from workers' job sites.

Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins.

The agency did not disclose the proposal, as required, in public notices of regulatory plans that it filed in December and May. Instead, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao's intention to push for the rule first surfaced on July 7, when the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) posted on its Web site that it was reviewing the proposal, identified only by its nine-word title.

The text of the proposed rule has not been made public, but according to sources briefed on the change and to an early draft obtained by The Washington Post, it would call for reexamining the methods used to measure risks posed by workplace exposure to toxins. The change would address long-standing complaints from businesses that the government overestimates the risk posed by job exposure to chemicals. [...]

The department's speed in trying to make the regulatory change contrasts with its reluctance to alter workplace safety rules over the past 7 1/2 years. In that time, the department adopted only one major health rule for a chemical in the workplace, and it did so under a court order.

Isn't that special. I'm sure there's nothing America needs more than to turn our factories and other workplaces into toxic waste dumps. That will surely stimulate the economy by increasing corporate profits for those companies who haven't already moved their manufacturing facilities to countries with little or no standards regarding the health and safety of workers. Just think what a boost to executive compensation and shareholder value this sacrifice of workers' protection from toxins in their place of employment will bring. And of course, will all that new found wealth, the good people at the top of the economic food chain will trickle some of that back down to the "little people" right? Just like they do in every 3rd world country where a powerful elite own the majority of assets and receive most of the income. You know, countries like Mexico, Nigeria, Brazil, China, etc.

Now, I have a pretty good idea how John McCain feels about this sort of thing. After all he has a long record of voting against bills in Congress that would have strengthened worker safety laws. And his record regarding environmental protection isn't exactly stellar either. I'm sure that his campaign will tell you otherwise, of course, since telling the truth is never a Republican candidate's strong point. I mean, here we though Phil Gramm was finished, kaput, kicked out the door, never again to be a McCain adviser, and yet just last night McCain surrogate Steve Forbes was telling a national television audience that Gramm is still advising McCain, and will play a prominent role in a McCain administration regarding economic policy. The same Gramm whose successful efforts to deregulate the financial industry helped fuel the current mortgage/credit/banking crisis which threatens to tear apart the global economy.

Which means McCain as President would likely allow these last minute Bush regulations weakening worker safety to stand, and would likely veto any legislation by Congress to override those regulations. Because when it comes to Republican ideas, they always seem to benefit those who are the most well off in our society at the expense of those who are the least well off. Obama, at least, would feel some obligation to his labor union supporters to eliminate these despicable policies and to support new legislation protecting workers from harmful, polluted work environments. Hopefully he would also require reciprocal worker protections in any existing and future trade agreements. One thing we can be certain of, however. A McCain presidency would continue to cater to business and Wall Street interests over the interests of workers and consumers. And if he says anything different, rest assured he's lying.